Jerry Springer producer withheld guest's plane ticket home for refusing to fight before her murder

Many attribute the death of Nancy Campbell-Pantiz to her appearance on The Jerry Springer Show after she made an appearance with her ex-husband and his mistress.

During the Netflix docuseries Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action, producers reflected on what really went down during that episode as Nancy's mother revealed her side of the story. On the original episode, Nancy felt sideswiped after she appeared, believing her ex-husband, Ralf Panitz, would choose her over his mistress, Eleanor Panitz. However, she was stunned when he came onto stage and proclaimed his commitment to Eleanor.

Rather than get up and start swinging, like many guests on the show did, she remained demure, saying, "that's fine," and walking off the stage toward the greenroom. The producers were frustrated that she didn’t fight back or create more drama in the moment, so, according to her son, they threatened her.

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Her son said in the docuseries: “Backstage she was informed that if she didn’t return to the end of the show, that they would not provide her with her return ticket back to Florida … And she wasn’t having that. She said, ‘No way. You guys lied to me? I’m done.'"

Former producer Melinda 'Mele' Chait confirmed this was a "tactic" that was used on the show: “Certainly during my tenure, that was a threat we would tell people before they ever got on a plane to come and a lot of people that came on the show couldn’t afford to pay for a plane ticket home.”

Another former producer, Toby Yoshimura, explained their scheme to keep their guests up for the drama. He said: “It was a tactic so that you as a producer, had one more opportunity to keep them. They should feel beholden to you, that they’re gonna let— that they’re letting you down and you’ve done all of this for them.”

Nancy's son took issue with the way the show left her without any support. "Somehow, she found her way to the bus station in Chicago, walking along the streets by herself and didn’t have any money, didn’t have anywhere to go. Just— just her, crying. Finally, a good Samaritan saw her visibly upset and bought her a bus ticket to come home. As strong as she was, I’m sure she felt confused and didn’t understand what had happened. After the show, no one from The Jerry Springer Show contacted her to see where-- where she was, where she went. As far as I know, never happened," he explained.

Mele confessed that this was normal for the show. After the taping was done, they were quick to usher them out the door, noting that it was "usually" over. However, in Nancy's case, she was later murdered with the primary suspects immediately being those who appeared on the show with her.

Ralf was found guilty of second-degree murder and violating a domestic violence order. However, Circuit Judge Nancy Donnellan scolded the show, too. She said: "Are ratings more important than the dignity of human life. Shame on you. Shame on you."

Executive producer Richard Dominick wasn't necessarily opposed to this management where they offered little to no follow up support to guests after the filming.. He told the Netflix cameras: “We were problem solvers. We’re gonna give you the chance to come on, tell your story, get it all out, but we’re not going to help you.”