Chapter 8 | Dear Mr. King

Hey, Oh my god, I'm so excited.

I'm not ready for you.

I thought I want to talk about that's bullshit.

We don't need setup.

This is okay, That's what I thought.

One afternoon, I see a white envelope sitting in my mailbox in Brooklyn, stamped in red letters. It says mailed from a state correctional institution, and on the top left of the envelope, I see his name, Oh Journey. I had to call Kelsey right away. She was back in her home state of North Carolina after months of living between Florida and Brooklyn, reporting on the Leo Schofield case with me. Okay, it looks like it's it's on prison paper and it's not the original thing.

I said, Okay, just read it.

Jesus Christ, oh.

My God, says I want you to know that Polk County gave me a call about you. I don't think you can come see me. Who knows what will happen? And that is sad when they can't see that.

I have kept my damn mouth shut for thirty one years Schofield case.

Let's say he should be out. I've thought about writing my story that no one wants to hear. I just don't really know how gotta go Jay.

Scott moment.

That has my field.

Sut sory in this vass.

To see gralation, brag desbish to the world.

Solding, s.

To the word solding, So.

Things Bone Valley, Chapter eight.

Dear mister King, I'd started writing Jeremy because honestly, I didn't know what else to do. After working on this story for a year, the evidence I'd seen pointed more and more towards Jeremy Scott as Michelle Schofield's killer. So I sent my letters out hoping that Jeremy might decide to open up to me, to converse in a way that he hadn't with the lawyers, investigators, and cold case detectives who read him his rights and make him swear

So.

Now, almost two years after Jeremy Scott confessed on the stand, Leo was given another chance to make his case in court to argue that he deserves a new trial. This hearing will be before a panel of three judges seated on the Second District Court of Appeal. It's about to start when we see Leo's wife Chrissy and their daughter Ashley walk through the door.

Yeah, you know what you're like, trying to get somewhere on time. Oh yeah, don't get stressed.

But you made it.

Everything's fine. They're just starting to see people. So you guys are in great shape.

How are you.

Am I today?

Hmmm, I don't I don't know if I have a word for it.

Actually, just.

Hopeful.

Hopeful, Yeah, that's probably.

The best word. At Leo's last hearing, Chrisy witnessed how Jeremy Scott withstood the prosecutor's verbal abuse. How by the end of his testimony, Jeremy maintained that it was he alone who killed Michelle Schofield back in February of nineteen eighty seven. Some of his last words in court that day were, I killed her.

It's maddening that we are still here all these years later, and I was thinking about it's been two years since I got the call about the confession. Two years. He described in detail what he did, how he did it, what he was thinking when he did it, what Michelle was saying when he killed her two years later and we're still talking about this.

If these three judges don't grant Leo a new trial, it will become even harder for him to successfully appeal to a higher court and get another opportunity to prove his innocence. Leo isn't allowed here to watch the hearing, and he won't find out how it went until he calls Chrissy later in the day. How are Leo's spirits lately?

He's hopeful, but he's also afraid. He's afraid that we'll get more of the same. He's afraid that he'll disappoint his family. When I think about that is when I get choked up, because he doesn't disappoint us. But so that's where he is.

So that's that I think we should go in.

The room is more like a lecture hall than a courtroom, but there's a tenseness in the air. More than a dozen people have come in support of Leo. They are all aware that this may be Leo's last chance for justice.

You know my name is, said Seth Miller from the Edison's Project Flores, my co counsel mis Stolen, who will not arguing.

Today, First, Leo's attorney, Seth Miller from the Innocence Project of Florida, gets up and begins his oral argument about the new evidence of Jeremy Scott's confession to killing Michelle. He only has twenty minutes to present his case, but the judges can interrupt at any point to ask questions.

We have additional fact.

That Seth brings up. How there are certain details Jeremy knows that only the murderer could know, how Jeremy's story is consistent with the forensic evidence, and how Michelle was found in the same spot that Jeremy used to take

His ex girlfriend Jamie Nellens testified that he used to bring her to.

Then few mornings after the incident, the defendant's father had a premonition that that's where the body was and led police to that location.

Is what really bothers me listening to the judges questions, is that Leo Senior's story about a vision from God continues to be treated as a fact in this case, as if he woke up that morning with a premonition and then led police to some random ditch in Polk County where Michelle's body just happened to be. That's not what happened. Leo Senior had been searching for Michelle for nearly three days and nights. He didn't lead police to the body. He found her body, then flagged down a

His version of events, which was deemed credible by his court in twenty ten, that he stole the stereo equipment and found the abandoned car and did not kill michelle'sko field, matches much more logically with the evidence known in the case than his version of events.

This is the preposterous position the state is forced to defend that a man who has confessed to three different murders in Polk County that he is forensically linked to is suddenly nothing more than a car stereo thief. It's like they're refusing to acknowledge the fact that the State Attorney's office has already prosecuted Jeremy Scott twice for murder.

If this court does not have any further questions, I would ask that you affirm the trial court's denial of the motion for newly discovered evidence thank you very much.

The hearing doesn't last long, about thirty minutes, and then it's over. We all walk out into the lobby and don't know how to feel. It's hard to read what the judges are thinking, and Leo's family wants to remain optimistic. But now the waiting begins. For the next eight months. We will all wake up in the morning and refresh the second DCA's website to see if their decision has been posted online, to see if the court has ruled that Leo should be granted a new trial.

Hi, I'm Jason Flamm, CEO and founder of Lava for Good podcasts, home to Bone Valley, Wrongful Conviction, The War on Drugs, and many other great podcasts. Today we're asking you, our listeners, to take part in a survey. Your feedback is going to help inform how we make podcasts in the future. Your complete and candid answers will help us continue to bring you more insightful and inspiring stories about

Thank you for your support.

Bone Valley is sponsored by Stand Together. Stand Together is a philanthropic community that partners with America's boldest change makers to tackle the root causes of our country's biggest problems, including the failed War on drugs that has criminalized addiction, fuelled over incarceration, and shattered communities. At eleven years old, Scott Strode drank his first beer. At fifteen, Scott went to a mental health facility because of suicidal thoughts, where he tried cocaine.

Like many others who experience addiction, Scott.

Was using drugs and alcohol to numb the pain he was trying to numb childhood trauma. In his early twenties, Scott was invited into a boxing gym by a friend.

That's where he.

Discovered the healing power of sport and community that helped propel him towards sobriety. In two thousand and six, Scott founded The Phoenix, a free, sober, active community that uses the transformative power of sport to help people treat and heal from addiction and imagine new possibilities for their lives through fitness. The program restores compassion to a system that has long relied on locking people up to solve the

And criminal justice.

To learn more about addiction and the War on drugs, listen to the War on.

Drugs podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. While Leo and his family wait for the judges to release their decision about whether or not Leo will be granted a new trial, Leo has one other chance for freedom, not through a new trial that will allow him to

I've graduated college, I've gotten awards from the toast Masters. I can't do anything else. There's nothing else to do here. I've been the pastor of the Messionic community here since twenty eleven. I invented programs to graduate from and.

Leo hasn't had a single disciplinary infraction in fourteen years. In fact, over his thirty years in prison, he's been written up just five times, and only for minor infractions, like once he missed a day of work because of an injury and another time he handed out one of Chrissy's mary K Cosmetics cards to a corrections officer he

I read through it and I was like, dang man, this stuff's pretty substantial. Fingerprints was a big deal. Jeremy's history was a big deal. By the fact that he had murdered other people and that he was around that same area frequently was a big deal. And and a lot of that stuff just started adding up.

Do you believe that Jeremy Scott killed your sister? I think so.

I think he did. Yeah, And I think that Leo's been wrongfully in prison this whole time. And you know, it's it. It bothers me. It makes me sad, you know that they won't try to pursue the evidence that's boiled up after all these years and at least process it, you know, and then we'll all know, you know, if he did or not. I mean, dude, we're all just searching for the answer, you know, So why wouldn't we pursue it?

Yeah, the parole hearing, it started pretty early in the morning. Got there, saw Chrissy and Ashley and you know, the whole gang.

It's January eighth, twenty twenty, about four months after the second DCA hearing that would determine whether or not Leo will get a new trial, but there's still no decision in time for Leo's parole hearing. I had something scheduled that day, so Kelsey made arrangements to fly down to Tallahassee to cover the hearing herself, and I knew Kelsey was kind of nervous about this trip.

Texted Gilbert, I said, don't see Hill yet.

Jerry Hill was John Aguero's boss at the time of Leo's trial back in nineteen eighty nine. He's a tough talking law and order prosecutor who ran unopposed in his last seven elections. Parole is different from Leo's other hearings because a representative from the state doesn't have to be there. But Jerry Hill in his office have made a point

We have a number of those people here and I'd like to call on.

Some of them.

Seth Miller from the Innocence Project makes the case for Leo's parole. He has just ten minutes and he has to share that time with Leo's family members and people whom Leo mentored in the prison, all of whom have shown up to speak on his behalf.

He's a leader, a mentor.

He encouraged me to participate in programs, and here I am today.

With so many speakers in so little time. Even Chrissy and Ashley are given less than a minute to explain to the commissioners who they are and why they want Leo home.

Good morning.

My name is Chrissy Schofield. I've been in prison with Leo for about twenty eight years now, and one thing that I do know about the Department of Corrections is it's not designed to build better men.

But there are a few that do rise and Leo's one of those guys.

Hi, my name is Ashley.

All I have to say is I will take advantage of every opportunity every family outing, everything that they teach us, I will take in just so when my dad gets home, we can have the best life that we possibly can.

That's all I have to say.

The ten minutes are up. Everyone who speaks on Leo's behalf a seat. Then it's the other side's turn.

Think.

I look to my right. I glanced up and I saw Jerry Hill walking down the aisle approaching the podium. So I immediately like stopped breathing for a minute. It was just like kind of in shock, like, oh my god, he's here.

Borning commissioners. Jerry Hill on behalf of Brian Haas, the state attorney for the.

Dense Circuit, texted Gilbert again, JK. Hill is here. Gilbert says, Okay, stay cool, you got this.

The next ten minutes of the hearing is supposed to be allotted to any of the victims' loved ones who want to speak or have a letter read. They usually asked the parole board not to release the convicted person that's up for parole, but Jesse Michelle's brother had written a different kind of letter to the state, and he asked for it to be read at the hearing. He wrote, I do not have confidence in the conviction of Leo Schofield and I support his request for parole. But Jesse

Of prison, and he starts talking about the facts of the case.

The defendant's car and his wife's car was abandoned on a F four. It was discovered by the father and Leo before law enforcement could find it.

By this point, I was getting used to the state twisting the facts and injecting bad evidence into every proceeding. But then Jerry Hill takes it to another level. Instead of the usual mention of Leo's father's vision from God, jerry Hill gets it wrong in a major way.

Leo said he was driven by an interforce to go back to the pit area again. Leo's say that he felt drawn to that area and felt that Michelle was calling out to him.

He makes it sound like it was Leo himself who had the premonition.

Leo said he began to search. The closer he got to Michelle, the worst's head hurt.

It's not the job of the three parole commissioners to know all the facts of Leo's case. In fact, the point of the hearing isn't supposed to be about the facts of the case at all. Most of the people who are hoping to be granted parole have admitted their guilt in the crimes they've been convicted of the point of parole is to evaluate how they've conducted themselves in prison, to see if the inmate can be safely released back

I listened to that presentation, how this individual has taken advantage of a lot of opportunities, But folks, I got to point out an absolute glaring hole in that presentation. I didn't hear one word about regret. Sarah wish I hadn't done it. I was a different person. Then this guy is an unrepentant, jury convicted first degree murderer, proven beyond into the exclusion of every reasonable doubt. There's no remorse,

I know this is a subsequent and I'm sorry. I'm so emotional about it.

I just feel very strongly that this is a cold, calculating first degree murder. He's a manipulator and this is exactly where we.

Ought to be.

After Jerry Hill speaks, the commissioners announced their decision right then and there, Leo is denied parole. The commission makes it very clear that parole is not a right, but quote an active grace of the state. There will be no active grace for Leo Schofield.

You can't really react to the ruling in the room. So we all were kind of devastated, but trying to hide it a little bit until we got out into the lobby. And then we all stepped outside and I glanced over and I saw Hill walking out, and I knew. I knew that that was my opportunity. It's just like, can't hesitate. I just like turned on my heel and called out, mister Hill.

I'm working on a story with Gilbert King about the Riosco Field. King, can I ask you a question. Well, let's see, this case was originally handled by John Aguero.

That's correct.

What do you think when you take on a case of his friend so long ago.

I think John was a brilliant prosecutor and that he was spot on.

He could probably tell how nervous I was. My hands might have been shaking a little bit. I wish it hadn't been so obvious that I was nervous, But to some degree, I think maybe that worked in my favor. I think maybe it disarmed him a little bit, and I was able to kind of gain my confidence back when I realized how little he knows about this case. And what did you think when you first learned that the fingerprints in michelle'skoe Fields car were identified to Jeremy Scott?

I thought Jeremy Scott was a thief.

Your office prosecuted him twice for murder?

Didn't it since then? Not before then? Not at that time? Subsequent long suchan.

Poel Johnson murder was in eighteen eighty five, that was after I believe, No, that was before Michelle's murder was at eighty seven.

Okay, you may be right. It doesn't add Did you hear the transcript? Did you see the judge's findings? All he's a liar. He offered to sell his testimony for one thousand dollars. That's hardly a basis for suggesting that he's the actual murderer.

Couldn't he be a stereo thief and the actual murderer.

Now that's a theoretical question, and I guess in theory the answer is, of course he could be.

I mean, it shouldn't it be your responsibility to investigate.

Wait a minute, we have investigated this thing upside down. Leo'scholfield is a cold blooded murderer, and if I have my way, he'll never get out of prison.

Right now, Leo's case is being reviewed by the Second DCA. If they were to reverse the lower court's opinion, would you try him again?

Oh, let me tell you, I'm not too worried about that. We're not gonna have to try him again.

You wouldn't do that, Oh.

We'll try him again if he were to get off me. Let me tell you right now, he's a killer. And unless you want to take him home, will you, then he's where he ought to be.

Thank you very much.

All of the stuff that I've read before that i'd read in transcripts, just how the state talks about Leo in his case, I think maybe i'd kind of been telling myself like, oh, you know, they can't be that bad, right, Like I see the words on the page.

But it just can't be that bad.

I've been listening to Jerry Hill. It's just like, oh gosh, no, it really is that bad.

It's really worse.

Now.

I think Jerry Hill he had an opportunity to be the hero, and they can still be the hero. I don't want money, I don't want fame, I don't want any of this stuff. I just want justice for my dead wife. That's what I want. Give that to me and I'll put my mom over your shoulder and say you're the hero. You're the frigging hero.

Just do what's right.

Do what's right, because you're never going to give me justice.

Never.

You can't give me back thirty four years. You can't give Michelle back her life. The least you can do when you say that you care about her is do the right thing by her. Because this is not it. This is definitely not it.

After Leo learns he's been denied parole, he sends Chrissy an email through the prison system's computers. As usual, it's Leo who is trying to buoy everyone's spirits. Leo writes, I'm so sorry you have to deal with this. I was so hopeful that it was going to be different this time. I'm just sorry.

I love you.

A few months after Leo was denied parole, I go to my computer and there it is the second DCA's decision. Leo is also denied a new trial. His chances of proving his innocence and getting out of prison and having a normal life with his family they're pretty much gone. I text Chrissy, I text Judge Scott Cupp. I struggle

I mean, it really is shocking to me that we can get dis and not get any relief at all, you know, and then the reality is settling in that the the nightmare scenario that I could die in here, you know, and and that's just too heavy for me.

Kelsey, I that's.

Gonna be the straw that breaks my back.

I can't do that. I just I'm not gonna give him another thirty I don't want to.

I don't.

I would feel totally wrong to allow that. I would rather end it myself. That's the gospel truth. I'm not gonna let my wife my daughter suffer through this crap anymore.

I'm not. I'm just not gonna do it.

So we're not gonna l anticipate it going that way. I'm believing I'm willing to take anything that allows me to go home and take care of my wife and daughter, short of admitting to something I didn't do.

As Leo struggles to keep hope, I think about all the work Kelsey and I have put into this case. Nobody around Leo will ever say it, but we can feel it. They're putting all their hopes in our investigation, our story about Leo's case, and because I'm also very aware of the mountains that must be moved in order to overturn a wrongful conviction. I always make sure to

Oh he shouldn't, Jeremy.

And seven months later, I see that first letter sitting in my mailbox.

She says, I want you to know that Polk County gave me a call about you. I don't think you can come see me. Who knows what will happen? And that is sad when I have kept my damn mouth shut for thirty one years. Schofield case. Let's say he should be out. I've thought about writing my story that no one wants to hear. I just don't really know how. Gotta go.

Jay Scott, Well, okay, I.

Think he's looking to as again.

He got a call.

It sounds like Peulk County made him believe that he is not allowed to talk to us, which they can't do.

No, they can't, and that's why we're going to figure out what they did. We file a record request to find out who might have called him, but we're informed by the Florida Department of Corrections that they can't release those records. So I write Jeremy another letter. I want to see if he'd agree to a visit from us. I want him to know that I'm eager to hear his story, that I'm interested in anything and everything he has to say. I also send him a pre written

Okay, excellent.

So I'm just going to.

Talk to you a little bit about why I'm doing this and what I've learned and why I'm really getting.

In touch with you.

But I go through the whole thing. How while working on Leo's story, we came across the Lavere case. We tell them that Jeremy's girlfriend, Jamie, said that Jeremy made a spontaneous confession decades ago to getting away with killing a taxi cab driver, and how we think we've linked that spontaneous confession to the murder of Joseph Lavere, an

I know it was a lot to sort of absorb, and like I said, I'll hand over any documents, recordings, anything you think that might be helpful to you.

They seem to understand how this investigation relates back to Leo's case.

I just wondered if whole County wouldn't be cana frustrated a little bit to look at Jermaine's God. But they know that we're look at him or cold case, and I think it's with Scott absolutely.

We tell them that we're hoping to meet with Jeremy. We're just waiting for him to get out of disciplinary confinement.

You have every right as a citizen to engage other citizens, who include people who are in custody. But I think if if law enforcement's going to try to work this case, I would think they would want to be part of that conversation.

If you're willing to extend that to the agency.

They're basically saying that they can't stop us from meeting with Jeremy, but they'd rather we don't. It could interfere with an investigation. In other words, let the cops do their job. I'm happy to step back and see what comes of their work. It could mean justice in a decade's old cold case, and it could also bring renewed attention to Leo's case.

I just sort of want to see this move forward because I feel very strongly that Jeremy Scott is the suspect.

We're hopeful that someone is finally going to investigate Jeremy's.

It's nice to you.

Thank you very much.

I really appreciate it.

I'll be in touch.

I'll send my PowerPoint and i'll send documents and recordings. A few weeks later, we get a second letter from Jeremy. It's been seven months since the first one. I call Kelsey right away. She was sitting in a parking lot in Durham, North Carolina, trying to get the internet set up in her new apartment. So I record the call on my end or I think I do, okay, So I completely fucked that up and forgot to press record.

So there we go.

Yes, no, it doesn't happen to you, but it happens to me. Okay, So here it is. Okay. This letter dated March sixth, twenty twenty one, and it's from Jeremy, and he says, dear mister King, I don't know what it is that you want to know about Polk County prosecutors. They lied told me what they were gonna help me, but that never happened. That's why I told the whole truth about Leo Schofield. And I had also told them things that a killer would know. Leo didn't kill his wife.

I did.

That taxi cab driver that was shot by a three point fifty seven gun. They didn't want to hear what I had to say, that taxi cab driver. This is stunning to me. I never mentioned the cab driver in my letters. I was very intentional about that. I didn't want to confront him about the murder of Joseph Lavere because I was worried Jeremy might shut down and I'd lose the opportunity to sit with him in person. But how do we have this letter from him? And he's

How are you feeling it's this?

I think, I mean, I feel pretty good that they're gonna have to do something about this. I don't think they can just blow us off. But I don't know what kind of worries me is. This is a dirty case, and they have to know it. If they look into it a little bit, they have to see it.

All right, Well, it's about time to go in, right, all right, let's do it, Okay, I'm going to turn this off a degree after.

We're brought inside to a conference room. About a half dozen people are there, and I set up my PowerPoint to display a big screen. I have police reports with witness descriptions and a sketch of the alleged suspect in the Joseph Lavere murder, a thin man around five foot ten, much closer to Jeremy's appearance than six foot four, two hundred and thirty five pound Dan Odie, who has tried

I'd heard about the cab driver, uh may Rob, and I remember him saying something about it and that he had.

To leave for the law.

Then I have Jeremy's letter mentioning how he got the gun and how he has more to say about that killing. I stole the gun after Michelle was killed, maybe a week or two. I can tell you the gun belonged to a cop. I think it's time for to talk about it. I'll wait to hear from you, Jeremy Scott. It seems like the main person we're trying to convince in this meeting is Major Wiley Black. He's the head

How do you think that went?

I don't think it went very well at all. What do you think, really?

Yeah, why do you say that?

I think they were engaged, they were listening. But I think the homicide detective Wiley Black, I think he to me, I felt like he was signaling that this case is going nowhere. Did you get that?

I don't know, I thought he. I mean he said he was going to into the evidence. I think he was being realistic that it very likely could not exist at this point.

But the fingerprints we know exist. I mean, they have copies of those prints and those can be at least be run. As we're getting ready to leave the parking lot at the Sheriff's office, it begins to rain like it does almost every summer afternoon in central Florida. The darkening sky matches our mood. I just got the feeling that this is going to die right here. This is a little frustrating because you can see the black hole sort of develop. I'm not encouraged at all by this.

I mean, they didn't tell us to not go and talk to Jeremy, so yeah, there's that.

I think that's what we have to do now.

I just I just.

I don't know. But it's freaking hot in this car. So you've got any of this? Is well? Do you have any final thoughts?

Yeah? I want to keep investigating this, and I want to talk to some of these witnesses that I've been steering clear of. And I want to start asking Jeremy in letters about that taxi cab driver. There could be something there. I don't want to stop on this Jeremy thing now. I just feel like, what are we gonna do?

Right?

Well, at least we got some free coffee out of that.

Right, Yeah, free coffee. Nice ride through Intercession City, all right, let's get out of here, all right. We follow up with Major Wilie Black, who was sitting in the room with us, but our emails go unanswered. Weeks go by, and there doesn't seem to be any forward movement on the case. I get the sense that the Osceola County Sheriff's Office doesn't want this case reopened.

Hey you there, yeah in.

Here, ooks, are you recording?

Yes, recording.

Now we get another letter from Jeremy.

All right, I'm opening this one. Feels this one feels a little thicker.

I don't know why. Oh lord, Okay, okay, this was said on May sixte.

Dear mister King, I received your letter along with ten stamps. First, let me tell you why I ask for stamps. It's the only way I can buy soap and food back here on CM. I don't have anyone to help me. I just want you to understand why I ask for stamps. I really don't have shit to do. I read when I can find books. I don't get any mail, not unless it's from you. Now about some of the things that you asked me about, Yes, John Aguero did prosecute both me and Leo, And yes, mister John Aguero did

I know it well.

So she pulled in. Then she said there's no one here. I pulled a knife out. She went crazy, tried to push the gas, but I threw the car in park. When I first read this letter to Kelsey, this detail hit hard.

Michelle tried to put the car and drive like it makes me sick, and that.

You would have sucked up the car. That like that that's the reason it wasn't working. He sucked it up by doing it.

Yeah, she tried to open the car door. That's when I lost it. I didn't remember how many times I stab I get out the car, went over where she was laying out the car door. She had opened it. I look at her, not knowing what.

I just did.

I was just pulling the knife so I could robbed her. I went look around for something to hide her. I found something looked like a big bag. I lay it out. Then I put her on the bag and rolling her up in it. Then took her down by the creek. I found a place where I could push her in, then cover her with wood trash. I don't understand why there was no blood in the car. She was stab in the car, not her trailer. I only took ten dollars that was on herd take any rings or anything else.

I only took ten dollars that was on her, you know what, Like he took the bills the coins like they're fucking in the road, right, I mean, yeah, yeah, it's close enough to whatever. Thirteen dollars, you know what I mean?

Also, I was never clear whether she had used the the tip money to buy the coke and the gas and the phone call. Oh, like, I don't know if it had been thirteen dollars.

Holy shit. Yeah, that's amazing because she says what twee dollars, a gas and a coke. Yeah, there's no fucking way he knows that. Wow.

I got back in the car, put it in drive, took off on I four. The car started slowing down. It wasn't out of gas. I don't know why. It just died on me. I pull it along the road, park in the rain started stopping. It was close to midnight. No car were on I four, so that when I start cleaning up most of my prints and if there were blood, I cleaned it up. That when I tried to pull the radio and speaker out, they didn't tell people about that. Once I cleaned the car, I left

What am I to do?

I'm been telling the truth. I don't know what else to do. I really want this to go away, but it won't. There's so much shit I need to tell, but I don't know how to put it. I will tell you this, even though John Aguero died, he knew from the start that I was the one who killed not Leo, mister king, I still would like to know how or who got you to write me. I hope to hear from you soon. I hope you can understand my letter. I ain't good at painting putting words together.

Holy fuck, oh man, Oh god, damn it, God fucking damn it. This is unbelievable. There's something fucking unbelievably sincere that comes across in that letter. I don't know what to think. Man, that that was really fucking powerful.

For some reason, Yeah, that only makes me want to.

The fact that this guy is still saying the ship and his story makes so much sense.

And it's just like knucking that to be done about it.

And he's also saying like, I think I'll be out of here in June.

By out of here he means out of close management, out of solitary. Once he's back in general population, we can schedule our interview with him. What I want to talk to him.

I mean, honestly, I don't give a shit about those stamps anymore. Let them I'm just fucking keeping this guy talking. And if they say you gave him stamps so he bought soap, I'll go fuck you. He can have soap.

Seriously, I don't have any hesitation keep sending him stand.

That he can only buy.

So For Jesus Christ, I think fuck it. I'm just I'm done with these I'm just done with asking permission to like reopen this case.

Hey be there, yeah, right here, what's going on?

So I just got off the phone with Paul Walker at the Department of Corrections and he said that Jereney is now in general population.

Oh my god.

So yeah, and so he's eligible for visitors again.

But Jesus, finally some good news.

I hope this.

I just hope this holds.

You know, after three years of investigating Leo's case, We're finally going to meet Jeremy's got Bone Valley is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number One. Our executive producers are Jason Flam and Kevin Wordiska Kornhaber is our senior producer. Britz Spangler is our sound designer. Roxandra Guidy is our editor. Fact checking by Maximo Anderson. Our producer and researcher is Kelsey Decker. Our theme song, The One Who's Holding the Stars, is