0:03

It was murder, all right. Anyone

0:06

who walked into apartment 12 that winter

0:08

night could plainly see that. A

0:11

brutal, violent death.

0:13

Lamps overturned, blood

0:15

soaked into the carpet, smudged on

0:18

walls, spattered on the kitchen

0:19

stove. I could just see

0:22

that someone had hurt

0:24

her terribly. A

0:27

local beauty queen, battered and beaten,

0:31

dead the week before

0:33

Christmas, just days short

0:35

of her 20th birthday. They

0:43

had found a condom wrapper in the crime

0:45

scene. Her body was disrobed. There

0:49

are boyfriends who became suspects

0:51

in this story. One with

0:54

blood on his hands. I

0:56

didn't do it. I didn't do it. I didn't

0:59

do it. I didn't do it. Some scumbag

1:01

did this to my girlfriend and I wanted to get

1:03

put in jail for it and I didn't do it. But

1:07

there was also a stranger who lived nearby,

1:10

one with a history of violence against women.

1:13

So who did it? The

1:16

young detective in charge was sure

1:18

he knew. Listen, I

1:22

process crime scenes. My

1:24

primary function in this department is

1:27

to collect evidence, interpret a crime

1:29

scene, and I'm good at it. Our

1:32

latest podcast takes us to a small town

1:35

where murder is rare and intense

1:38

media coverage is unheard of.

1:41

This case probably had more statewide

1:44

publicity than any criminal

1:46

case in many, many years,

1:49

perhaps ever, in Arkansas.

1:57

It's a story of what happens when the awesome

1:59

power of the the state is misdirected when

2:02

theory trumps fact when opinion

2:04

distorts truth. This is a little

2:06

town of Arkansas. They wanted a neck. They wanted somebody

2:08

to know.

2:09

Everybody has an opinion, but

2:12

that doesn't convict in our

2:13

court. Is about hubris

2:15

and pride and reputation.

2:19

I have been brutalized

2:21

nationwide that I'm

2:24

an inept investigator, that

2:27

I don't know what I'm doing locally.

2:30

I've been fried. I've

2:32

had enough of that. Most

2:34

of all, this is the story of

2:36

how decisions made long ago

2:39

on a frigid night in apartment 12 nearly

2:42

put an innocent man in prison for life and

2:45

allowed a predator to roam free.

2:48

And I'm really glad I found the courage to

2:51

call the police on this man because

2:53

there's no telling what could have happened if I

2:55

didn't.