In March of 1987, a female University of Alabama student was returning to her apartment in Tuscaloosa, AL, when she was attacked by a masked man who raped her and stole her car keys and bank card. The woman’s abandoned car was later located, and a witness reported seeing a man emerge from it some time earlier. This witness’s singular identification of 23 year old Jeffrey Holemon, who had been in jail on an unrelated, nonviolent charge, led to Jeffrey’s conviction and life sentence. Beth is an aw...
Nov 07, 2022•40 min•Ep. 306
On July 10, 1994, Wendell Scott Simpson was found dead in his car on Kilmer Street in Dayton, OH. Shortly after police arrived, they encountered 16 year old Raymond Allan Warren who also lived on Kilmer street. Warren told the police that he and his friends Antonio Johnson and Chante Hunt saw Simpson looking to buy drugs earlier that day. Police later questioned Johnson and Hunt who were both pressured into testifying that Warren was the shooter. By relying on the testimony of 2 minors and a que...
Nov 03, 2022•44 min•Ep. 305
On August 19, 1983, a 19-year-old woman was found raped and beaten to death in Tampa, FL. Police focused on 18-year-old Robert DuBoise who allegedly “caused problems” in the area. Dr. Richard Souviron, a forensic odontologist, matched Robert’s teeth to a supposed bite mark on the victim’s cheek using bite mark analysis techniques that have since been discredited. Based on the supposed dental match, Robert was ultimately sentenced to death. Gilbert King is the writer and host of the Lava For Good...
Oct 31, 2022•48 min•Ep. 304
On March 18, 1997, two men exited a minivan and walked into the lobby of a bank in St. Louis, MO wearing ski masks and armed with semi-automatic rifles. Shots were fired and a security guard, Richard Heflin, was shot and fatally wounded. Billie Allen, aged 19, was arrested at about 2am the next morning and taken to police headquarters where he remained in an interrogation room, handcuffed to a table, for the next several hours. Later that morning, he was positively identified in a line-up by two...
Oct 27, 2022•53 min•Ep. 303
On August 20, 1991, 24-year-old Tae Jung Ho was robbed and shot to death while walking with a friend in Philadelphia, PA. A coincidence involving a rental car and license plate number led to Chester Hollman III being stopped by police and arrested. Chester was convicted of second-degree murder and robbery and sentenced to life without parole. In 1991, Jimmy was only 21 years old when he was wrongfully convicted of a gruesome murder committed in broad daylight in North Philadelphia, PA. Jimmy was...
Oct 24, 2022•53 min•Ep. 302
On February 27, 1992, Bernard Jiminez, along with his wife, Kimberly Belinsky, and three children were robbed at gunpoint in a neighborhood in Gary, Indiana. Bernard and the gunman struggled and Bernard was fatally shot. Belinsky selected 23-year-old Willie “Timmy” Donald out of a photo lineup believing he was the gunman. Another woman who was robbed in her home that same day selected Donald as well. Both women described their robbers similarly, they mentioned that the man had a severely scarred...
Oct 20, 2022•36 min•Ep. 301
In April 1989, a drive-by shooting in San Francisco, CA, left at least 11 people injured, and 2 people dead. Despite the lack of physical or forensic evidence, Caramad Conley was convicted of conspiracy to commit first degree murder, two counts of first degree murder, and eleven counts of attempted murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole on the strength of one man’s testimony, Clifford Polk. Earlonne is a podcaster and author, best known for co-hosting and co-founding the ...
Oct 17, 2022•36 min•Ep. 300
On October 9th, 1990 at 12:10am, police responded to shots being fired at a housing project in Brooklyn, New York. They ended up arresting 23 year old Terence Rice, a man who lived next door to the scene and who was making a call at a payphone in the midst of the chaos. They claimed that Terence was shooting at them, as well as at other things and people, from an apartment window two stories up. Contrary to the policemen’s testimonies, there is no evidence that this shootout actually took place ...
Oct 13, 2022•41 min•Ep. 299
On December 9, 2001, Michael Peterson, an acclaimed novelist and one-time mayoral candidate, found his wife Kathleen dead at the bottom of their staircase in Raleigh-Durham, NC. Primarily due to the junk science of blood splatter analysis, Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. David and Sonya are a criminal defense duo who fight for victims of injustice, misconduct and faults of the system. Their podcast, Abuse of Power, ...
Oct 10, 2022•58 min•Ep. 298
On April 10, 2002, Victor Vulcain was shot and killed in broad daylight in front of 201 Linden Blvd. Brooklyn, NY. There were several witnesses, each of whom provided a version of events to police that stood in conflict with the other witnesses; not even their descriptions of the shooter matched. No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no DNA evidence connected Gary to the murder. Yet Gary was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. To learn more and get involved, v...
Oct 06, 2022•54 min•Ep. 297
On June 7, 1988, joggers discovered the body of 35 year old Robert Mejia on a running trail in the woods behind his apartment complex in Pontiac, MI. Mejia had been stabbed to death. Primarily due to the junk science of bite mark evidence, Gilbert Poole was convicted of first-degree murder, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. With 20 years of expertise in criminal justice, Chris Fabricant leads the Innocence Project’s Strategic Litigation Department as the Joseph F...
Oct 03, 2022•38 min•Ep. 296
On February 6, 1996, three men dressed in black fled in a white car after robbing and murdering George Bryant and Oscar Bridges at Bryant’s home in Kansas City, MO. Bryant’s 4 year old daughter was present and survived unharmed. Bryant’s daughter told police she was watching TV when men came to the house in a white car. Her father let them in and while they were in the kitchen, she heard a gunshot. She said her dad fell and tried to run but was shot again. Police received numerous anonymous call...
Sep 29, 2022•52 min•Ep. 295
On January 10, 1998, a 60-year-old woman was robbed and sexually assaulted in her home in Violet, LA. Upon his arrest, Ulysses Pierre implicated his cousin, Jarvis Ballard, in the crime. After severe abuse from detectives, Ballard produced a confession and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for aggravated rape. Patrick was wrongfully convicted for a 1993 murder in Rockford, IL, for which he spent nearly 24 years in prison. Remarkably, he ended up writing the law th...
Sep 26, 2022•30 min•Ep. 294
On April 25, 1990, a 10 year old girl was allegedly abducted from her backyard in Columbus, OH. She said that a man grabbed her, pulled her over a fence, tied a sock around her eyes and put her in his car. He then drove to a nearby abandoned house, took her inside and sexually assaulted her on a couch. Afterward, the man took the girl in his car to a convenience store and went inside. While he was inside, the girl jumped from the car and ran home. She told her mother about the attack the next da...
Sep 22, 2022•38 min•Ep. 293
Author Gilbert King receives a message from a Florida judge who claims that there is an innocent man in prison, wrongly convicted of murdering his wife back in 1987. King and researcher Kelsey Decker meet Leo Schofield in prison and learn about the disappearance of 18 year-old Michelle Schofield. Bone Valley is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Sep 21, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 1
On July 4, 2002, two men shot and killed 36-year-old Tony Cox outside a restaurant in Chicago, IL. Suspecting the murder was gang-related, police arrested Eric Blackmon. After claiming Blackmon was selected from a lineup by eyewitnesses, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to 60 years in prison. Guest Host Patrick Pursley was wrongfully convicted for a 1993 murder in Rockford, IL, for which he spent nearly 24 years in prison. Remarkably, he ended up writing the law that set him free. Patric...
Sep 19, 2022•37 min•Ep. 292
On October 25 1986, a 25 year old woman was attacked as she walked to a bus stop in Decatur, GA. The assailant approached her, hit her in the face, and sexually assaulted her. He stole her wristwatch, money, and broke two of her front teeth. Police were led to Clarence Harrison because he lived near the site of the assault and neighbors told police that they heard someone at his house had a watch they were trying to sell. But Clarence had an alibi. He was at a neighbor’s house playing poker all ...
Sep 15, 2022•41 min•Ep. 291
On January 13, 1994, two men hijacked the car of three travelers at a gas station in Chicago, IL, killing Reginald Wilson and Felicia Lewis. Carl Williams was implicated in the crime by the two hijackers and eventually produced a confession after hours of abuse and coercion from detectives. Williams was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Patrick speaks with Carl Williams, and Attorney Karl Leonard, from the Exoneration Project at the Univers...
Sep 13, 2022•37 min•Ep. 290
On November 28, 2002, 94-year-old Helen Sailor spent Thanksgiving with her family before returning to her apartment at a high rise building for the elderly and disabled in Elkhart, Indiana. The next day, a health care provider found her strangled to death in her apartment. One of the detectives assigned to the case had a theory about another high rise resident, Lana Canen, and a string of previous burglaries at the building. Investigators coerced a friend of Lana Canen's to give a false statemen...
Sep 08, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 289
On February 12th, 1990, a tragic accident occurred in which it is believed that Kathy Middleton mishandled a gun in her left hand, accidentally shooting herself one time in the head. The state turned this tragedy into a homicide investigation, sending her husband Ken Middleton to prison for life plus 200 years. In 2004, Ken had an opportunity to present to his motion trial court evidence of ineffective assistance of his counsel, as well as ballistics evidence that proved that the state's theory ...
Sep 01, 2022•50 min•Ep. 288
In early May of 1977, Keith Laborde and his 14 year old twin cousins, Karen and Sharon Sanders, allegedly picked up a hitchhiking black man at a gas station in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. About 2 weeks later, when asked about a scratch on his neck, Keith Laborde and the twins told a story about this armed hitchhiker who allegedly forced Laborde into the trunk and raped both girls. Despite not matching the description, a man with a few petty priors, Vincent Simmons, was arrested, put into a sugg...
Aug 25, 2022•43 min•Ep. 287
James King has been sitting in prison for almost 25 years for a rape that he adamantly maintains he did not commit. His conviction strongly relied on the inconsistent and contradictory word of a then 13-year old girl who was allegedly hiding her inappropriate relationship with a neighbor twice her age. Despite the lack of material evidence, changed testimonies for the prosecution, and the credible rebuttal of the state’s expert’s absurd findings, King remains incarcerated, desperately working to...
Aug 18, 2022•40 min•Ep. 286
When Tammy Poole and her husband Michael Poole argued, Tammy says that Michael would threaten to commit suicide. Then on April 22, 2007, in their hometown of Chatsworth, GA, a rifle took Michael’s life. While Tammy adamantly claims that her husband tragically shot himself in front of her, a single declaration from a pathologist led investigators to theorize that Tammy actually pulled the trigger. Despite numerous experts proving this pathologist wrong, and countless examples of an unfair trial w...
Aug 15, 2022•42 min•Ep. 285
At about 9:40 AM on March 19th, 2010, John Jones awoke to find his daughter Jada unresponsive and called 9-1-1. She was rushed to the hospital where she remained until July 16th, 2010 when she was removed from life support and passed away. Based on the junk science of shaken baby syndrome, John was convicted of murdering his daughter and sentenced to 15 years to life. Greg Glod, Criminal Justice Fellow at Americans for Prosperity, returns to our podcast to co-host with Jason Flom and share this ...
Aug 11, 2022•47 min•Ep. 284
In October 2007, 42 year old Rhoni Reuter was shot and killed in her Chicago, IL apartment. She was 7 months pregnant by her boyfriend, Shaun Gayle. Gayle, a Chicago Bears 1985 Super Bowl winner, allegedly had 17 other girlfriends at the time. Marni Yang was one of them, and police began looking into her and her son as suspects. In an attempt to protect her son, Marni confessed to the crime. While she adamantly declares the confession was false, this, along with other circumstantial and potentia...
Aug 08, 2022•37 min•Ep. 283
In 1977, Arthur Samson was shot in the stomach and stabbed approximately 100 times inside his New Orleans, LA antique store. The store was ransacked, and the safe was missing about $2,000. A month later police stopped 2 men and Bobbie Jean Johnson for a traffic violation in a stolen car. At the time Johnson was not a suspect, but police were on the lookout for a .32 caliber revolver. They found one in Bobbie Jean’s purse. She endured a violent interrogation that resulted in a tape recorded confe...
Aug 04, 2022•34 min•Ep. 282
In the evening of April 21, 1990, two masked gunmen shot and killed 27 year old Michael Wilson while he was walking with a friend on a Washington D.C. street. The Wilson murder went unsolved for years until police offered deals to jailhouse informants which included reduced jail time, cash payments and free housing in exchange for their testimony in over 3 dozen cases that included the Michael Wilson case. The informants implicated Troy Burner and three other men at the Wilson shooting. Despite ...
Aug 01, 2022•28 min•Ep. 281
On June 28, 1997, 25-year-old member of the Lil Watts gang, Antonio Alarcon, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Hawthorne, California, by a rival gang, Lawndale 13. In exchange for release on unrelated charges, Santo “Payaso” Alvarez deflected attention for the Alarcon shooting toward fellow Lawndale 13 members Eduardo Dumbrique and John Klene, when he knew who the actual shooter was. Witness Daniel Curiel testified that after he was not able to make an identification in a photo lineup, Sergea...
Jul 28, 2022•51 min•Ep. 280
In May of 1992, Sylvia Boykin and Bernetta Pope were struggling with substance addiction. Pope owed Boykin money who, in turn, owed money to two younger men. So Boykin and the men went to the house where Pope stayed in Philadelphia, PA to collect the drug debt. Boykin went inside alone but when she returned empty handed, the men went in with guns. An argument ensued, shots were fired, and Pope was killed. Since Boykin was unarmed, she should have been considered a witness. Nevertheless, she was ...
Jul 25, 2022•35 min•Ep. 279
On October 3, 1993, 21-year-old Marvin McCloud was leaving an after-hours club in Anderson, Indiana, when he was shot and killed in his car by two gunmen, Romeo Lee and Khaidi Harvell, who drove off in Romeo's half brother Walter Goudy's car. Months later, Walter Goudy went to that after-hours club in the same car, and the police brought him in for a one-person show up in which a passenger in the car, Jill Barclay, identified Walter, mistaking him for Romeo. Initially, Walter was charged with mu...
Jul 21, 2022•46 min•Ep. 278
