Grossberg and Peterson dated while at Ramapo High School, growing up in the affluent suburb of Wyckoff, New Jersey.
[3] Conflicting stories have made the subsequent events a mystery to anyone except the couple, but Peterson and Grossberg claim they believed the infant to be stillborn, wrapped him in a garbage bag, and disposed of him in a dumpster.
An autopsy indicated that the infant was delivered alive and that the cause of death was several head fractures and Shaken Baby Syndrome.
A concern of attorneys for both defendants regarding going to trial was that the pictures of the baby's head would be displayed in court and lead to more severe penalties.
[15] Peterson relocated from Wyckoff with his mother and step-father to Jupiter, Florida, where he works for his family's video company.
[16] These events were depicted in a non-fiction crime book by journalist Doug Most, who covered the case for The Bergen Record of Hackensack, New Jersey for more than two years.
The book traces the story from their high school days in New Jersey through the pregnancy and secret delivery in the motel room, to the court hearings and ultimately the sentencing.
After learning of the story in the media, Boyle became curious as to how a couple could commit such an act, and explored their points of view through a fictionalized account of the case, changing certain details such as the characters' names and the gender of the infant.
[citation needed] The Grossberg-Peterson case is obliquely referenced in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut: an article about the trial is visible in a fictitious New York Post edition, adjacent to the plot-advancing story about the death of a model perused by Tom Cruise's character.