488: #488 Maggie Freleng with Belynda Goff
On the morning of June 12, 1994, Belynda Goff woke up to find her husband Stephen bludgeoned to death in their Green Forest, AR, apartment. From the jump, investigators pegged Belynda’s reaction to the tragedy as suspicious. That initial hunch would set the course of the investigation and subsequent prosecution, leading law enforcement to ignore far more plausible leads and key witnesses, and i...
53m Oct 28, 2024
53m
487: #487 Guest Host Conor Hall with Angel Bumpass
On January 16, 2009, Linda Bonner found her husband Franklin duct-taped to a chair in their Chattanooga, TN home, with tape over his nose and mouth and signs of blunt force trauma. He was dead from suffocation. Police found fingerprints on the duct tape, but no matches were found. Nine years later, in 2019, 23-year-old Angel Bumpass was arrested after failing to appear in Kentucky court for a t...
40m Oct 24, 2024
40m
486: #486 Maggie Freleng with James Degorski
On January 8, 1993, seven employees at a Brown’s Chicken and Pasta in Palatine, IL. were brutally murdered. With no solid physical evidence, police unsuccessfully chased down hundreds of leads. Local officials established a $100,000 reward. Still, the case went cold for nine years. Then, in 2002, two of James Degorski’s ex-girlfriends came forward with a story implicating James, and what they s...
49m Oct 21, 2024
49m
485: #485 Jason Flom with Lamont Hunter
January 18, 2006, 3-year-old Trustin Blue tumbled down his basement stairs in Cincinnati, OH, became unresponsive, and later brain dead. Trustin had been under the supervision of his mother’s boyfriend, Lamont Hunter, at the time of the incident. When Trustin was declared dead, the police began suspecting that Trustin had been raped and abused by Lamont, and had not actually fallen down the sta...
53m Oct 17, 2024
53m
484: #484 Maggie Freleng with Ben Spencer
On the evening of March 22, 1987 a businessman and father were robbed and killed in Dallas, TX. Just a few days later, 22-year-old Benjamine Spencer, a newlywed with a child on the way, was arrested for the crime. A reward for any information on the killing would lead several eyewitnesses to fabricate a story implicating Ben. Despite the fact that he had an alibi and there was no physical evide...
56m Oct 14, 2024
56m
483: #483 Jason Flom with Arvel Marshall
On the night of July 15, 2008, 22-year-old Moustapha Oumaria was shot and killed while hanging out with three friends outside his Crown Heights, NY home. The three friends described the shooter as a black male wearing a white t-shirt and dark pants. When shown a photographic lineup, they identified Arvell Marshall as the shooter. But police had in their possession video surveillance footage tha...
35m Oct 11, 2024
35m
482: #482 Maggie Freleng with Eddie Ramirez
In the winter of 1995, Joyce Dennis was killed during her closing shift at a laundromat in North Philadelphia, PA. Police then rounded up a group of teenagers and, over the course of several months, got them to implicate two of their friends for the crime, including Eddie Ramirez. Despite the fact that no physical evidence tied him to the murder scene, Eddie would spend 27 years in prison for a...
46m Oct 07, 2024
46m
481: #481 Jason Flom with Chris Turner
On the morning of December 9th, 1984, 19-year-old Christopher Turner woke up to the police breaking into his bedroom with guns drawn. He was arrested for the murder of Catherine Fuller, who was assaulted, robbed, and killed on the evening of October 1st, 1984. Based on testimonies delivered under coercion, Christopher was convicted of first degree murder, along with 8 other defendants, and sent...
51m Oct 03, 2024
51m
480: #480 Maggie Freleng with Marty Levingston
On December 28, 2007, a young man was shot and killed outside an apartment complex in Cincinnati, OH. Ten days later, an eyewitness identified Marty Levingston as the gunman, and eventually, a jailhouse snitch would point to him too. Though the eyewitness would eventually express doubt at trial, Marty was sentenced to 15 to life for a murder he always claimed he did not commit. Click here (htt...
43m Sep 30, 2024
43m
479: #479 Jason Flom with Eric Brown
On August 25, 1994, a woman found her boyfriend shot dead in his Louisiana apartment. His stolen car was found across from 16-year-old Eric Brown’s sister’s house. Without any DNA evidence, eyewitnesses, fingerprints, or murder weapon, the state took Eric to trial, and the jury found him guilty. That jury was composed of eleven white members and one black member. Two members of that jury also f...
45m Sep 27, 2024
45m
478: #478 Maggie Freleng with Tonia MIller
Shortly after 18-year-old Tonia Miller brought her newborn home in Calhoun County, MI in 2001, she noticed something was off. Her baby wouldn’t eat much and she’d often gasp for air. Tonia asked doctors for help to no avail. “I don't know if it was because I was a young, unwed mother of two children on Medicaid,” Tonia says. “They didn’t take me serious at all.” Despite Tonia’s efforts to get h...
46m Sep 23, 2024
46m
477: #477 Jason Flom with Roosevelt Myles
Shortly before 3 a.m. on November 16, 1992, 16-year-old Shaharain Brandon was shot and killed in Chicago, IL. An eyewitness who was with Shaharain at the time of the shooting talked to police numerous times in hopes of identifying the gunman. Despite not mentioning him numerous times in her initial interviews, the eyewitness ended up identifying Roosevelt Myles in a photo lineup. Despite no phy...
42m Sep 19, 2024
42m
476: #476 Maggie Freleng with Marvin Haynes
In 2004, Marvin Haynes was a pretty average 16-year-old — watching Nickelodeon, chasing trends and girls, just having a good time. “I just couldn't wait for the weekends” Marvin says. Until he was picked up by police for a murder at a Minneapolis, MN flower shop. With no physical evidence tying Marvin to the scene, shaky witness IDs, and even a witness recanting at the stand, teenage Marvin was...
51m Sep 16, 2024
51m
475: #475 Jason Flom with Leslie Vass
One morning in February of 1975, 17-year-old high school basketball star Leslie Vass was running an errand for his mother at the local pharmacy in Baltimore, MD when he was approached by a police officer. This was Vass’s first encounter with the police, and he was confused and frightened when they placed him under arrest at gunpoint. Four months prior, three men robbed a delivery man at this sa...
42m Sep 12, 2024
42m
474: #474 Maggie Freleng with Andre Causey
On August 11, 1991, the body of a young woman was found outside an apartment building in Austin, TX. A bystander reported a black man rubbernecking at the incident, causing the police to question 26-year-old Allen Andre Causey for “suspicious behavior.” After hours of interrogation police handed Andre a written statement claiming it was his alibi. Andre says only after signing did he learn it ...
36m Sep 09, 2024
36m
473: #473 Jason Flom with Robbie Roberson
On January 31, 2002, Robbie Roberson was awakened at his home in Palestine, TX by a cry and went to find his two year old daughter, Nikki Curtis, on the floor at the foot of the bed with a small amount of blood on her mouth. He cleaned up her mouth and kept her up for a while, then they both fell back to sleep. A few hours later, Robbie awoke up to find Nikki unconscious and turning blue. He t...
49m Sep 05, 2024
49m
Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freleng Season 4 - TRAILER
Pulitzer Prize winner and iHeartPodcast 2024 Social Impact Award Honoree Maggie Freleng brings compelling stories of redemption and justice with new episodes of Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freleng starting September 9, 2024. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freleng is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1. See https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...
4m Sep 01, 2024
4m
472: #472 Jason Flom with Kevin Dykes
In June 1986, Kevin Dykes witnessed the attempted murder of 2 people and the actual murder of a 3rd person in his neighborhood in Compton, CA. Kevin decided to go to the police, partly out of fear of reprisals by the killers who knew he witnessed the murder. The prosecutors then used his knowledge of the crimes that he witnessed against him and charged him with all 3 crimes. Learn more and get ...
50m Aug 29, 2024
50m
471: #471 Jason Flom with Steven Carrington
After a short stint in prison, Steven Carrington was a newlywed father, training to be an EMT and getting his life back on track. But when the police came looking for his brother at the same Brooklyn, NY address, the police mistakenly zeroed in on Steven as the primary suspect of a felony murder at a Brooklyn lumber store. Steven was convicted and sentence to 23 years to life. Learn more and g...
51m Aug 22, 2024
51m
470: #470 Jason Flom with Chris Vaughn
On June 14, 2007, 32-year-old Christopher Vaughn was found limping on the side of the road near Joliet, IL, bleeding from two gunshot wounds. When police arrived on scene, they found the bodies of his wife and three children shot in the car. Chris is unable to recount the events of that early morning, and there are no other witnesses to the crime. Chris was subsequently convicted of 4 counts of...
47m Aug 15, 2024
47m
469: #469 Jason Flom with Calvin Buari
In the early 1990s, Calvin Buari was a well-known crack cocaine distributor in the Bronx, NY. In 1992, a disgruntled associate who had recently shot Calvin implicated him in the murder of Elijah and Salhaddin Harris. Calvin was charged with the double murder and six rival drug dealers testified against him at his 1995 murder trial. No physical evidence connected him to the crime. A jury took on...
1hr 14m Aug 07, 2024
1hr 14m
468: #468 Jason Flom with Terrel Barros
Terrel Barros and his friends thought they were just going out clubbing until a tragic encounter changed all that. Then, authorities compounded that tragedy by sending an innocent man to prison and setting the confessed killer free. Learn more and get involved at: http://www.change.org/freeterrelbarros https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LQPNFwumJQ https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with...
41m Aug 01, 2024
41m
467: #467 Jason Flom with Jerome Curry
Jerome Curry was arrested in connection with several shootings in the Bronx, NY, on September 20, 1996. When taken in for questioning, Jerome faced verbal and physical abuse from the police and ultimately falsely confessed to the shootings. Despite no physical evidence tying him to the crimes and questionable police tactics, Jerome was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for murder and atte...
51m Jul 25, 2024
51m
466: #466 Lauren Bright Pacheco with Joe Giarrantano
One morning in February 1979, 21-year-old Joe Giarratano woke up to a horrific scene. Two of his housemates had been brutally murdered. Joe had a drop of blood on his shoe and no memory of the previous night due to alcohol and drug use. He was terrified that he had been the one that killed the two women. Overcome with grief and guilt, he turned himself into the police. Despite his descriptions ...
1hr 4m Jul 22, 2024
1hr 4m
465: #465 Jason Flom with David Ayala
On August 16, 1981, shots were fired from a gangway into Piotrowski Park on the southwest side of Chicago, IL. As a result, two people were fatally shot, and another was injured. Initially, the police identified two men as their main suspects, but ultimately dropped those leads. Due to a combination of unethical interrogation techniques and faulty eyewitness testimony, a few members of the Two-...
42m Jul 18, 2024
42m
464: #464 Lauren Bright Pacheco with Jofama Coleman
In 2003, 20-year-old Jofama Coleman was just getting his life together - he had a stable job, a nice place to live, a girlfriend, and a baby on the way. After a tumultuous childhood, things were finally going well. Then one day the police came to his workplace to question him about a murder in his Los Angeles, CA neighborhood. Due to faulty eyewitness testimony, Jofama was ultimately convicted ...
59m Jul 15, 2024
59m
463: #463 Jason Flom with Ashunte & Willie Smith
On April 8, 1995, Reggie Lewis’s body was found in a creek behind the Dalebridge Apartments in Warrensville Heights, OH. He had two gunshot wounds to the back of his head. Willie and Ashunte Smith are serving life sentences for his murder based on testimony by their own cousin, William Marshall. Marshall recanted in 2022 and now swears it was actually his uncle who committed the crime but Marsh...
46m Jul 11, 2024
46m
462: #462 Lauren Bright Pacheco with Greg Bright
Greg Bright was wrongfully convicted in New Orleans, LA for the murder of Elliot Porter in 1975. He would spend more than 27 years in Angola, the notorious prison in Louisiana built on a former slave plantation, and in many ways still run like one today. While incarcerated, Greg not only taught himself to read and write, he also learned enough about the law to challenge his conviction. After...
1hr 13m Jul 08, 2024
1hr 13m
461: #461 Jason Flom with Anthony Legion
On January 24, 2001, a man was fatally shot while being chased from a home in Detroit, MI. Anthony Legion was one of three men who were identified as being in the home at the time of the shooting, but no one claimed to have witnessed it. Due to a combination of questionable police tactics and false testimony from a jailhouse informant, Anthony was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced ...
53m Jul 04, 2024
53m
460: #460 Lauren Bright Pacheco with Alan Beaman Pt. 2
In Part 1, the Beaman family’s lives were torn apart by Alan’s wrongful conviction for the murder of Jennifer Lockmiller. It would take 13 years and the best legal team they could find to finally get Alan out of prison. But the story never ends when a wrongfully convicted person is released. Alan’s wife Gretchen joins the conversation to discuss the ripple effects of American Injustice, even de...
59m Jul 01, 2024
59m
459: #459 Jason Flom with Melissa Calusinski
On January 14, 2009, sixteen-month-old Benjamin Kingan died after being in daycare at a suburb outside of Chicago, IL. Despite no physical signs of abuse or injury, police took 22-year-old Melissa Calusinski, an employee at the daycare, in for extensive questioning. Melissa repeatedly told officers she had nothing to do with the baby’s death, but after nine hours of interrogation, she falsely c...
52m Jun 27, 2024
52m
458: #458 Lauren Bright Pacheco with Alan Beaman Pt. 1
Alan Beaman was 21 years old when his life was forever altered. Going into his senior year in college, he suddenly found himself ensnared in the Normal, IL murder investigation of his former girlfriend, Jennifer Lockmiller. Despite a total lack of evidence, Alan was arrested just weeks before his graduation. He was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to 50 years. Through it all, his pa...
58m Jun 24, 2024
58m
457: #457 Jason Flom with Robert Almodovar at the 2024 Innocence Conference
Shortly before 1 a.m. on September 1, 1994, a car pulled up in front of an apartment building in Chicago, IL and a passenger fired several gunshots at a group of people, killing two and injuring a third. Notorious police detective Reynaldo Guevara was assigned the case and claimed that surviving eyewitnesses identified 19-year-old Roberto Almodovar and 17-year-old William Negron as the perpetra...
53m Jun 20, 2024
53m
456: #456 Lauren Bright Pacheco with Frank Benitez
On April 28th, 1989, 18-year-old Francisco Benitez was having a normal day. He picked up his paycheck, got a haircut, then went to his friend’s house to watch Beetlejuice on HBO. That same night two teenage boys were shot and killed. An eyewitness said as the shooter ran from the scene, she noticed that he had a fresh haircut. Despite no other similarities between Frank and her description of t...
57m Jun 17, 2024
57m
455: #455 Jason Flom with Darrell Siggers at the 2024 Innocence Conference
Shortly before midnight on February 16, 1984, James Montgomery was shot and killed as he walked with two friends on the eastside of Detroit, MI. Montgomery’s friends told police they recognized the gunman as 20-year-old Darrell Siggers who they had seen earlier in the night at a gathering. Despite no physical evidence linking him to the crime, Darrell was convicted of murder and sentenced to li...
43m Jun 13, 2024
43m
454: #454 Lauren Bright Pacheco with James Soto
When he was just 20 years old, an act of violence changed James “Jimmy” Soto’s life forever. Despite no physical evidence and numerous alibi witnesses, Jimmy and his cousin David were convicted of a 1981 double homicide in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, IL. They would end up serving 42 years in prison, the longest served wrongful conviction sentences in Illinois history. While inca...
59m Jun 10, 2024
59m
453: #453 Jason Flom with Jennifer McMullan at the 2024 Innocence Conference
On March 6, 2001, two masked men attempted to rob a small restaurant in McHenry, IL. The owner, wielding a butcher knife, and his employee chased the men out of the restaurant, and in the ensuing chase, the owner was shot and killed. Police began to focus on 19-year-old Jennifer McMullan and some of her friends after finding out that they were in the area at the time of the shooting. A couple o...
47m Jun 06, 2024
47m
452: #452 Lauren Bright Pacheco with Miguel Solorio
In December 1998, 81-year old Mary Bramlett was killed in a drive-by shooting near Whittier, CA. That same night, Miguel Solorio went to the movies with his new girlfriend Silvia Torres then to a party hosted by Miguel’s sister. Despite many alibi witnesses and no physical evidence to tie him to the murder, Miguel was ultimately convicted of the crime. But Miguel’s wrongful conviction didn’t s...
53m Jun 03, 2024
53m
451: #451 Jason Flom with Ricardo Gray
In September of 1998, a shooting took place in Cleveland Ohio’s Kinsman neighborhood resulting in one fatality. According to eyewitness testimony, Ricardo Gray was identified as the shooter. The existence of another potential suspect was ignored by the prosecution during trial, and Ricardo was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison. It has now been 26 years, and even though the persuading eyew...
40m May 30, 2024
40m
450: #450 Lauren Bright Pacheco with Michelle Morrison
In 2009, Michelle Morrison was convicted on a felony murder charge along with aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, and conspiracy over a 2007 shooting that left a man dead. Not only did Michelle not fire the weapon that took the man’s life, but she never even set foot in the house where the shooting occurred. In fact, she didn’t even get out of the car. And yet, Michell...
59m May 27, 2024
59m
449: #449 Jason Flom with Frederick Willie Kearse
On August 6, 1993, Devon “Dog” Brown and Raymondo “Ray” Frazier exited a bodega in Brooklyn, NY, when at least two people fired a slew of bullets from a passing car. Ray was shot in his legs and survived, while Devon was killed. 911 calls came in around 3:03pm describing 2-3 young black men in a Buick Century - a drive by shooting. Primarily on the strength of three questionable eyewitness iden...
43m May 23, 2024
43m
Introducing: Wrongful Conviction with Lauren Bright Pacheco - Trailer
Wrongful Conviction with Lauren Bright Pacheco. Ten new, inspiring episodes of Wrongful Conviction, hosted by Lauren Bright Pacheco, that celebrate the potential of human connection to empower ordinary people to overcome extraordinary odds and injustices. Real individuals who unexpectedly became one another’s personal heroes by turning tragedy into triumph. Click here (https://link.chtbl.com/v...
4m May 20, 2024
4m
448: #448 Jason Flom with Chris Miller
On April 28, 2001, two men attacked a woman as she returned home in Cleveland Heights, OH. The men sexually assaulted her and then left with various items, including her cell phone. In the following days, police traced the cell phone to 24-year-old Chris Miller. Chris said that he had just bought the cell phone from someone else, but despite no forensic evidence tying Chris to the crime, the vi...
45m May 16, 2024
45m
Introducing: Wrongful Conviction with Lauren Bright Pacheco
Jason welcomes Lauren to the team and they chat about the upcoming season launching on May 27th. Wrongful Conviction with Lauren Bright Pacheco is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1. See https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
25m May 13, 2024
25m
447: #447 Jason Flom with Darien Harris
On the evening of June 7, 2011, police responded to a shooting at a gas station in Chicago, IL, and found one victim dead and another wounded. Relying on various conflicting statements from eyewitnesses, and questionable incoming tips, police focused on 18-year-old Darien Harris as their main suspect. Some eyewitnesses identified Darien in a photo line-up while others did not. Nevertheless Dari...
49m May 09, 2024
49m
Introducing: Ozarks True Crime - The Sandra Hemme Story
In season three of Ozarks True Crime, host Anne Roderique-Jones returns to her home state of Missouri to report on the case of Sandra Hemme: a person living with mental illness who could soon become the longest-known wrongfully convicted woman in the United States. Anne speaks with journalists, lawyers, and mental health professionals to try and uncover why Sandra was found guilty of a murder, ...
15m May 06, 2024
15m
446: #446 Jason Flom with Dan Carnevale
A fire erupted in the basement of an apartment building in Pittsburgh, PA, on January 17, 1993, killing three people. Arson officials believed the fire was set purposefully, but the case went cold for 13 years. Dan Carnevale was arrested for the fire in 2006 based on the questionable testimony of a man claiming to be an eyewitness. All of the physical evidence in this case had been destroyed so...
52m May 02, 2024
52m
Introducing: The Burden
In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers (who all say they are innocent!) turned jailhouse-lawyers. In prison they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away. They set out...
20m Apr 29, 2024
20m
445: #445 Jason Flom with Donte West
On March 8, 2016, Officer Nicholas Blake became suspicious of two vehicles traveling together on Interstate 70 toward Manhattan, KS due to their appearance and registration inconsistencies. He suspected they were involved in drug trafficking, with one acting as a decoy. Following a series of stops and surveillances by multiple law enforcement officers, a considerable amount of marijuana and met...
38m Apr 25, 2024
38m
Bonus Episode | Leo's Parole Hearing Comes to a Close but it's not Over
Leo Schofield’s parole hearing in Tallahassee, FL, April 17th, 2024 with reporting from Gilbert King and Kelsey Decker. Bone Valley is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1. See https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
29m Apr 22, 2024
29m