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Southern fried True crime covers cases that
are not suitable for young listeners, and

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there may also be some explicit language
used. Listener discretion is advised in Fort

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Campbell, which is located astride the
Tennessee Kentucky border. Friday, September second,

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twenty sixteen was a beautiful evening around
seventy five degrees, clear, cloudless

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skies. The wind, which was
a bit nippy earlier in the day,

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died down. It would have been
a great night for an outdoor party or

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bonfire, or to take a stroll
where you can breathe in the crisp fall

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air. The possibilities were endless,
especially for a young twenty something year old

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woman with her whole life ahead of
her. So when twenty five year old

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PFC Shadow McLane got into a car
with her ex husband Jamal, we're not

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sure what she was thinking. To
say they had a complicated history would be

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putting it mildly? Would she willingly
go with him? Shadow in Jamal's relationship

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had fallen apart in a really bad
way. But no matter what Shadow's intentions

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were for that evening, her ex
husbands were not the same. Jamal thought

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Shadow was in his way that she
was the one obstacle blocking him from having

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a fulfilling career and a well traveled
life, and that night he was going

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to do something about it. He
had been planning it for months, and

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he was finally ready to execute his
vision. Welcome to episode two oh seven,

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The Murder of Shadow McLain. Shadow
Bernice Willis mclin was born on January

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two, nineteen ninety one, to
her mother, London Weggersen, and her

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father, Jesse Willis, in Roseville, California. Shadow had one sister who

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was two years older than her,
and two brothers who were both about sixteen

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years younger than her. Shadow evidently
sometimes used the name Bernice Willis. I'm

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not sure exactly why, but I'll
explain how. We know that later.

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Shadow and her brothers were especially close. Those who knew her said she adored

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them. I have to wonder if
she might have played an important role in

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raising her younger brothers, considering their
sixteen year age gap. Throughout her life,

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Shadow was a great big sister to
her little brothers. She was patient,

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smart, and creative. Plus she
loved the outdoors. She loved spending

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the day hiking or fishing with her
dad, and she also loved to read

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and was into rollerblading. Shadow grew
up in Uba City, California. Her

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parents were both from the area.
Uba City is a medium sized city of

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approximately seventy thousand people. It's about
forty miles north of Sacramento, and honestly

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you might have heard about it before. During my research, I was shocked

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to see how much had happened there. I'll give you the highlight reel.

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In December of nineteen fifty five,
Uba City experienced the worst flood to ever

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hit California. Over the course of
nine days, twenty inches of rain fell

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into Uba City. For reference,
two inches of rainfall can cause a flash

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flood. By the end of the
downpour, three hundred and thirty eight people

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were injured, three hundred and thirty
five people were hospitalized, and eighty had

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died. Then, in March of
nineteen sixty one, a plane crashed in

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Yuba City. It was a Boeing
B fifty two Strata fortress carrying two thermonucular

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weapons. The bombs were destroyed on
impact and luckily did not explode, so

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no radioactive material was released, thank
god. After that, in May of

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nineteen seventy six, a school bus
carrying Yuba City High School's choir drove off

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the edge of an exit ramp.
They fell twenty eight feet and crashed.

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Twenty seven students and one adult died. More than twenty others were injured.

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Of course, this isn't a history
lesson on Yuba City. I'll let you

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google all the other crazy things that
have happened there yourself. I just had

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to share some of the more infamous
incidents with you. When researching Shadow's case,

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I was fascinated that her hometown was
the site of so much disaster.

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Shadow herself was probably aware of these
events in Yuba City. None of them

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happened in her lifetime, but she
did go to Ubi City High School.

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The school held memorials for the crash
victims for a long time. I found

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record of one remembrance ceremony event as
late as twenty sixteen. Beyond Yuba City's

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pension for bad luck, it's also
known for being home to the Bill Air

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Force Base. Maybe the military presence
in Yuba City had a profound impact on

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Shadow, because after graduating from Uba
City High in two thousand and nine and

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a brief stint at Yuba College,
studying art history. She joined the U.

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S Army in September of twenty eleven. Upon entering the Army, Shadow

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was trained as an air traffic controller. Throughout her career with the US military,

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she was stationed in South Korea and
deployed to Afghanistan. Afterward, she

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was stationed at Fort Campbell in the
one hundred first Airborne Division. The Fort

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Campbell Army Installations traddles the border between
two states, Kentucky and Tennessee. Fort

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Campbell sits on over one hundred thousand
acres or one hundred and sixty square miles,

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and is more than seven times the
size of Manhattan. Today, it

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is home to about twenty seven thousand
active duty soldiers and with about fifty thousand

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of their family members. It has
its own Starbucks, Bowling Alley, and

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fast food joints, and is pretty
much a small city unto itself. The

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base is home to three major combat
units, the fifth Special Forces Group,

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the one hundred and sixtieth Special Operations
Aviation Regiment, and of course, the

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Screaming Eagles, the renowned one hundred
and first Airborne Division. As I said,

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the base sits on the border of
Tennessee and Kentucky, closest to Hopkinsville

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and Clarksville in terms of larger cities, but close enough in proximity to Nashville,

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where some of this story takes place. After five years of military service,

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twenty five year old Private first Class
Shadow MacLean was ready for a new

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adventure. She was set to retire
on October eleventh, twenty sixteen. She

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had shared with her family that she
was excited for the change. She was

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going to return to Yuba City,
enroll in college, and pursue a career

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in either photography or writing. According
to her mother, Shadow had truly enjoyed

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her time in the army at first, but her appreciation for the Army waned

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after certain people entered her life.
According to her mother's court testimony, I'm

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going to pause now for a short
commercial break. One of those certain people

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Shadow's mother was alluding to was likely
her ex husband, Jamal Jamal Williams mc

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cray was born in nineteen ninety two. He spent some of his childhood with

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his father, Kenneth, but at
age six, Jamal was sent to live

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with his mother in Florida. According
to Kenneth's court testimony, Jamal's mother was

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abusive. She would harshly and unfairly
discipline Jamal throughout his earliest years. Jamal's

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father believed that his mother inflicted this
abuse in part due to his son's small

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stature. Kenneth attributed Jamal's slim frame
to being born prematurely, and he claimed

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that Jamal was a quiet kid due
to his skinny body and his mother's abuse.

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As he got older, Jamal aspired
to be a pilot, but when

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that didn't work out, he turned
to the US Army, and that's how

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Jamal met Shadow. In the early
twenty tens, they were in the one

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hundred Forced Airborne together at Fort Campbell. He was a sergeant, she was

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a private first class. By the
end of September twenty fourteen, twenty two

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year old Jamal and twenty three year
old Shadow were married, which was a

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big surprise to their families. For
a while, Jamal's father didn't even know

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he was married, and Shadow's mother, London, had never even met Jamal.

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This was strange for London since she
and Shadow were incredibly close despite living

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several states apart. The mother and
daughter communicated in some way every single day.

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To not meet your daughter's husband before
they were married. I bet that

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was a shock. Now, if
you're familiar with the military, you know

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marriages can happen fast between military spousal
benefits and the possibility of deployment and the

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stress of literally putting your life on
the line for your country. The culture

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of let's do it now versus later
makes a lot of sense, and it

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works out for many people, but
it did not work out for Shadow and

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Jamal. Shortly after their marriage began, they experienced major issues. Shadow's mother

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characterized the relationship as toxic, with
vicious fighting that often turned physical, and

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five to six months later, in
early twenty fifteen, they were divorced.

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According to Shadow's own posts on her
social media accounts, Jamal had cheated on

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her multiple times. Shadow's mom,
London, said her daughter would find condoms

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in his clothing along with the other
signs of infidelity. Shadow alleged that Jamal

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had slept with a woman who waited
tables at Hooter's. That woman, named

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Tiffany, gave interviews to the media. She claimed that Shadow was stalking her

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and had allegedly sent harassing messages to
her on social media. She also said

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that Shadow had the wrong Tiffany,
claiming that there were like eight Tiffany's working

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at Hooters at the time. She
also said Shadow zeroed in on her after

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she found a receipt in Jamal's pocket
from the restaurant with the server's name Tiffany

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printed on it. However, Shadow
claimed that some or all of these harassing

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comments did not come from her.
She believed that Jamal and others were making

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fake accounts in her name that way
they could stage a stalking scenario, but

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one direct message apologizing to Tiffany for
the comments did come from a Facebook page

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called Shadow McLean Photography. By the
end of it all, Shadow was arrested

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twice for stalking charges. Then later
in twenty fifteen, Shadow alleged that Jamal

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had raped her. As a result, the military opened an investigation into Jamal.

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At one point Shadow rescinded her allegation, but later she said it was

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true Jamal had raped her, and
she told officers that Jamal had intimidated her

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into recanting the report of sexual assault. The military investigation for these rape allegations

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stopped Sergeant Jamal Williams McCrae from being
transferred to South Korea, which was what

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he wanted. However, Shadow's family
has frequently asserted on social media that the

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military did not do enough to investigate
her claims. On an Instagram post from

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November nineteenth, twenty fifteen, Shadow
wrote, after being forced into a divorce

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by by narcissistic ex husband who got
me arrested to get away with his infidelity

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with a Hooter's girl and then with
a cop out of Springfield he met on

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match dot com while he was fucking
the Hooters girl for two months and me

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at the same time during the divorce
process, I am focusing on getting myself

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back into shape now. Never trust
a man who cheats, and Carmel will

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give him a swift kick in the
ass soon when he loses his job and

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goes to prison. Her public Pinterest
profile read x cheated on me with a

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cop and got away with many more
crimes against me. His loss for losing

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my loyalty. Now he has Hooters
bitches lying to police for him. They

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will end up going to jail soon. Rest assured, I'm at a better

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place in my life now and found
someone worth my time and love. In

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May twenty sixteen, Shadow had told
the authorities that someone had cut her vehicle's

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brake lines. She suspected whoever did
it was somehow connected to Jamal. In

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an interview with her friend Tristan Harding, there was a photo of what appeared

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to be her breaks shown in the
news clip. However, it appears there

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were questions about whether or not shadows
break lines had actually been cut. According

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to Shadow's mother, these doubts were
cast in an effort to shove the incident

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under the rug By military and authorities. Her mother, London, recalled how

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tumultuous Shadow's relationship with Jamal was.
She realized that her daughter had made some

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mistakes, though she did not elaborate
on what she did. I suspect they

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were related to Shadow, perhaps stalking
Jamal's girlfriends. London told Dateline, She's

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not totally innocent in all this,
but it's not all her either, and

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she's been trying to clean herself from
it. The people posting don't have all

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the facts and are trying to paint
my daughter as a villain regardless. By

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September of twenty sixteen, it appeared
that Shadow had moved on from Jamal.

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She was seeing someone new, just
as her pint's profile alluded to and her

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mother confirmed, and she was about
a month away from getting out of the

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military and returning home. A clean
start was just on the horizon, but

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it would always stay out of reach. At seven oh seven pm on Friday,

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September second, twenty sixteen, Shadow
texted her mother that she was driving.

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At this day and time. She
was supposed to be dog sitting at

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a friend's house, but no one
ever saw her alive again. I'm going

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00:14:35,679 --> 00:14:41,799
to pause now to hear a word
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on Saturday, September three, Shadow's
mother, London, was worried.

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Shadow hadn't touched base the night before, and she hadn't texted or called on

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Saturday either. By the next day, London was scared and nervous. In

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00:17:27,319 --> 00:17:33,359
interviews, she said she had hoped
everything was fine, but she suspected something

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00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:37,279
awful had happened. Monday, which
was Labor Day, came and went without

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any word from Shadow. London told
the Huffington Post quote, we are always

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00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:48,720
in communication, so I knew something
was terribly wrong. This just wasn't like

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00:17:48,799 --> 00:17:53,079
her. Shadow was also supposed to
be dog sitting for her friend Tristan over

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a Labor Day weekend, but never
showed up. London contacted officials at Fort

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Campbell on Tuesday, September sixth.
She let them know that she hadn't heard

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00:18:03,839 --> 00:18:07,960
from Shadow. The officials verified that
Shadow had not reported for active duty on

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00:18:08,039 --> 00:18:11,960
that day. Also, on that
day, she was supposed to go to

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a court appearance related to her rape
allegation, but she didn't show up right

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away. London believed something had happened
to Shadow. Her daughter was missing,

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not just ignoring calls and texts,
So London traveled from her home in North

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Carolina to Kentucky. She was there
by September eighth. Shadow's father, who

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lived in California, also came Now, family, friends, and law enforcement

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00:18:38,759 --> 00:18:45,279
officers were searching for Shadow. Later, the US Army Criminal Investigation Division and

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the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation joined forces
for Shadow's case, and according to USA

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00:18:52,559 --> 00:18:57,920
Today, these agencies worked closely with
shadows family. Supporters had also started a

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GoFundMe to help costs for shadows family. People donated more than eleven thousand dollars,

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00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:11,279
and the National Veterans Search and Recovery
Program was also instrumental in providing resources

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00:19:11,319 --> 00:19:18,640
to shadows family. On Monday,
September twelfth, volunteers and investigative officials looked

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00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:22,640
for Shadow in the Dunbar Cave State
Park. They didn't find her or any

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00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:30,200
evidence. Around this same time,
Shadow's other family members confirmed that Shadow hadn't

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00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:34,559
reached out by text or calls,
and her phone was either dead or turned

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00:19:34,599 --> 00:19:41,559
off. Missing Persons, posters and
flyers were distributed with shadows details, but

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00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:48,039
also revealed she had also gone by
Bernice Willis her middle name and maiden name.

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00:19:48,039 --> 00:19:52,759
Perhaps she was shedding memories of her
married name or even avoiding the notoriety

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00:19:52,799 --> 00:19:56,839
of her legal name, considering the
legal trouble she had recently been in.

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00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:03,160
On Tuesdays at Timber thirteenth, more
than a week after Shadow went missing,

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00:20:03,559 --> 00:20:08,640
her car was found. She drove
a silver Tudor Hyundai Elantra with California tags,

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00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:14,559
and it was recovered in a parking
lot in Nashville, Tennessee. That's

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00:20:14,599 --> 00:20:19,279
about an hour's drive away from Fort
Campbell. According to London's interviews with True

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Crime Daily, Shadow's car was getting
repeatedly ticketed. The authorities eventually put a

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00:20:25,759 --> 00:20:30,839
boot on it, and that's why
police ran the plate. London explained that

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00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,119
she couldn't imagine why Shadow would have
left her vehicle in the specific area of

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00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:41,839
Nashville. There just wasn't anything nearby
related to Shadow's daily life. London believed

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00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:47,319
that her daughter's car was left there
by someone else. Days after Shadow's car

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00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:51,880
was discovered, a candlelight vigil was
held in her honor. It was held

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00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:56,359
in front of the Montgomery County Courthouse
in Clarksville, Tennessee. Many of Shadow's

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00:20:56,359 --> 00:21:00,680
friends, family, and supporters attended, including the mayor of Clarksville at the

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time, Kim McMillan. McMillan said
the following about Shadow's mother, It is

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00:21:07,759 --> 00:21:11,519
something I believe that no parents should
have to go through, and as mayor

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00:21:11,559 --> 00:21:15,240
of this city, I wanted her
to know that clarks Full stands behind her,

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00:21:15,759 --> 00:21:18,599
fills with her, and wants her
to know that we are there for

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00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:25,400
her. On Thursday October sixth,
twenty sixteen, twenty four year old Jamal

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00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:30,279
Williams McCray, shadow's ex husband,
was held in the Montgomery County Jail in

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00:21:30,279 --> 00:21:36,079
Clarksville on out of county warrants,
reported the Leaf Chronicle. The warrants were

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00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:42,200
officially unrelated to Shadow's case, but
unofficially many suspected Jamal's current charges were a

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00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:48,279
placeholder, at least until more evidence
about Shadow's case came to light. By

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00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:53,640
Thursday, October twenty seventh, twenty
sixteen, seven weeks after Shadow vanished,

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00:21:53,960 --> 00:22:00,359
authorities announced that two men were taken
into custody in relation to shadows disappear pearants.

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00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,799
These men were booked into the Montgomery
County Jail. At the time of

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00:22:04,839 --> 00:22:08,880
their booking, the US Army would
not release the men's names or charges.

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00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:15,160
They only stated that the two soldiers
are currently being held as persons of interest.

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00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:19,759
However, Shadow's mother, London,
unofficially confirmed that one of the men

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00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:25,880
was Jamal. A month later,
on Friday, November twenty fifth, the

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00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:32,440
government revealed more details. They explained
that two soldiers with the one hundred first

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00:22:32,519 --> 00:22:37,240
Airborne Division faced conspiracy, kidnapping,
and murder charges related to the slaying of

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00:22:37,319 --> 00:22:44,599
Private First Class Shadow MacLean. These
charges came under the Uniform Code of Military

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00:22:44,799 --> 00:22:49,720
Justice, and these two previously unnamed
men were Jamal, Williams McCrae and a

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00:22:49,759 --> 00:22:56,039
man named Charles Robinson. Charles Robinson
third was born in Springfield, Illinois,

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00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:02,920
but spent much of his childhood and
Charlotte, North Caroline. According to Charles,

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00:23:03,279 --> 00:23:07,799
he was raised in a rough environment. He claimed that his father was

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00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:11,720
jailled for domestic violence and that his
father once stabbed a man fifteen times with

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00:23:11,759 --> 00:23:18,440
a screwdriver. He also claimed he
was sexually assaulted by a family friend.

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00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:22,480
By twenty sixteen, Charles was married
and a father to a young son,

263
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:29,960
and an army specialist in the one
hundred first Airborne Division with Jamal in Shadow.

264
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,799
However, Charles had never met Shadow. He had only ever heard of

265
00:23:33,839 --> 00:23:38,759
her through her ex husband, Jamaal. Charles would later admit he didn't even

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00:23:38,799 --> 00:23:45,319
know Shadow's name. At the time
of Jamal and Charles's arrest in late November,

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00:23:45,519 --> 00:23:51,640
Shadow's mother asked the public to provide
information pertaining to Shadow's whereabouts. She

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00:23:51,759 --> 00:23:56,079
said, we just need to find
her. I'm missing her. I have

269
00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:02,480
so many questions. The waiting is
the hardest part. I'm going to pause

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00:24:02,519 --> 00:24:12,279
now for a short commercial break.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation discovered twenty five

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00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:18,680
year old Shadow McLean's skeletal remains on
Monday, January twenty third, twenty seventeen.

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00:24:19,839 --> 00:24:26,119
They were located on I twenty four
off Exit nineteen in Robertson County.

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00:24:26,519 --> 00:24:30,680
Some news reports say a passerby found
Shadow's body, but it's possible Charles or

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00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:36,119
his wife, who becomes important,
later told authorities where to find her.

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00:24:37,079 --> 00:24:42,400
She was positively identified by dental records. After the investigators recovered Shadow's body,

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00:24:42,759 --> 00:24:48,359
her father told reporters quote, I
do know now where my daughter is at.

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00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:53,960
I get to take her home.
Shadows remains were flown to California as

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00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,920
a soldier. Her casket was shrouded
in the American flag and the traditional four

279
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:06,559
normal military procession as they transported Shadow
to the airport. A motorcycle group known

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00:25:06,599 --> 00:25:11,759
to honor deceized soldiers and veterans called
the Patriot Guard Riders, also escorted Shadow

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00:25:11,799 --> 00:25:18,359
to the plane. Major General Andrew
P. Poppas commanding General for the one

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00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,759
hundred first Airborne Division, said,
all of us here at Fort Campbell are

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00:25:22,799 --> 00:25:26,160
saddened by the news, and our
thoughts and prayers are with the family.

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00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:30,839
At this time. Shadow's mother,
London, told Fox forty News that the

285
00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:34,839
U. S. Army hadn't respected
Shadow since she had made the initial rape

286
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:41,759
allegation against Jamal. Now, London
felt Shadow was getting the respect she deserved

287
00:25:42,079 --> 00:25:48,640
at noon on February eleven. Shadow's
memorial service was held at the Crossroads Community

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00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:55,599
Church in Yuba City in lieu of
flowers. Shadow's family requested that mourners donate

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00:25:55,920 --> 00:26:00,319
to the National Headquarters for Disabled American
Veterans. She was buried in the Yuba

290
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:07,799
City Cemetery. At this time,
Shadow's cause of death was still unknown.

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00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:12,000
After finding her body, court proceedings
came next, and Shadow's family was ready

292
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:18,279
for a fight. According to The
Leaf Chronicle, Shadow's father said, we

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00:26:18,319 --> 00:26:21,519
are going to make everyone who had
anything to do with this pay for what

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00:26:21,599 --> 00:26:25,359
happened to my daughter. We are
coming for you. You will not get

295
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:30,039
away with this. London told reporters, I want justice. Eye for an

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00:26:30,079 --> 00:26:37,079
eye, blood for blood. Shadow's
family also proclaimed that they would have supporters

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00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:41,759
at every single court date around this
time. In February of twenty seventeen,

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00:26:42,279 --> 00:26:48,559
both Jamal and Charles were in pre
trial confinement awaiting their impending court martial a

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00:26:48,599 --> 00:26:53,839
few months later in April of twenty
seventeen, the prosecutors had established a strong

300
00:26:53,920 --> 00:27:02,319
circumstantial case against Jamal and Charles.
Believed that the two men killed Shadow to

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00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:07,920
silence her rape allegations against Jamal.
One prosecutor said in the preliminary hearing closing

302
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:11,720
arguments, we don't have an eye
witness, we don't have a manner of

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00:27:11,759 --> 00:27:15,799
death. Yet what we have is
circumstantial evidence, and a lot of it.

304
00:27:18,039 --> 00:27:23,319
And this circumstantial evidence primarily came from
Charles's wife, Jade Robinson. Jade

305
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:29,200
told the authorities that she had overheard
Charles and Jamal. They were whispering together

306
00:27:29,279 --> 00:27:33,319
on her and Charles's porch. She
heard them discuss Exit nineteen and getting rid

307
00:27:33,319 --> 00:27:40,359
of a car. Both details were
directly related to Shadow's case, since her

308
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:45,119
body was found at Exit nineteen and
her car was abandoned in Nashville. According

309
00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:51,039
to Jade Robinson's interviews with the authorities, on the night Shadow vanished, Charles

310
00:27:51,039 --> 00:27:55,400
told his wife he was going to
rave. He wore dark clothing and a

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00:27:55,440 --> 00:28:00,839
face mask. The next day,
Jade watched Charles clean his trud with bleach

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00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:04,799
and a mob She also claimed that
Charles said, if you're asked, say

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00:28:04,799 --> 00:28:08,920
I was home all night. She
also said she heard him ask a neighbor

314
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:15,200
to borrow a pressure washer. During
preliminary hearings, it was revealed that Jamal

315
00:28:15,279 --> 00:28:19,400
had claimed that he was at home
during the time and date of Shadow's murder,

316
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:26,640
but this did not align with what
Jamal's girlfriend told detectives. She said

317
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:30,200
that Jamal told her he was in
Nashville. When she asked, why are

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00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:36,000
you in Nashville, Jamal explained that
he was looking for Shadow, she was

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00:28:36,079 --> 00:28:41,240
missing. However, at the time
that Jamal said this, it was still

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00:28:41,319 --> 00:28:45,200
Labor Day weekend of twenty sixteen.
Shadow had not been reported missing yet.

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00:28:47,119 --> 00:28:52,000
But at the Nashville parking lot where
Shadow's car was found, security camera footage

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00:28:52,079 --> 00:28:56,680
showed a black male leaving Shadow's car, and a search of Jamal's car turned

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00:28:56,759 --> 00:29:00,480
up a Duffel bag with clothing that
matched those worn on the man in the

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00:29:00,559 --> 00:29:07,319
video. That's why he was in
Nashville. At these preliminary hearings, Jamal

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00:29:07,359 --> 00:29:14,079
and Charles's defense council asserted that the
prosecution was relying on unreliable witnesses. They

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00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:18,559
argued that these accusations were baseless,
and they requested that the death penalty not

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00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:26,200
be considered for Charles and Jamal's cases. Jamal's attorneys said that the sexual assault

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00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:32,079
allegation was the result of their acrimonious
divorce. He also said that the couple

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00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:37,359
engaged in a BDSM lifestyle, which
explained the text messages found about physical acts

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00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:45,319
that could be seen as abuse.
According to military prosecutors, the sexual assault

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00:29:45,359 --> 00:29:51,759
investigation remained open over the next several
months before Shadow disappeared in September twenty sixteen.

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00:29:52,039 --> 00:29:57,000
Prosecutors argued that Jamal wanted the military
assignment in Korea, but could not

333
00:29:57,079 --> 00:30:03,759
move on with his career because the
sexual assault allegation remained unresolved, and also

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00:30:03,319 --> 00:30:07,759
that he was angered by Shadow's continued
presence in his life, as she had

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00:30:07,759 --> 00:30:15,119
been accused of stalking one of his
girlfriends. After these pre trial hearings,

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00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:21,599
the commanding officer's report directed that the
men be bound over for trial. On

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00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:26,279
Friday, August eleventh, twenty seventeen, Charles Robinson the Third began his court

338
00:30:26,319 --> 00:30:32,200
martial proceedings in Fort Campbell. At
first, he didn't enter a plea,

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00:30:33,319 --> 00:30:36,279
and he had his case heard by
a U. S. Army judge rather

340
00:30:36,359 --> 00:30:41,200
than a jury. A little over
a month later, on September twenty eighth,

341
00:30:41,279 --> 00:30:47,039
twenty seventeen, Charles suddenly accepted a
plea deal and pled guilty to premeditated

342
00:30:47,119 --> 00:30:52,640
murder, conspiracy to commit murder and
obstruction of justice, and he agreed to

343
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:59,880
provide honest testimony during Jamal's court proceedings
in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

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00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:10,799
I'm going to pause now for a
final commercial break. Charles admitted to his

345
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:17,599
role in killing Shadow McLean, and
he explained exactly what happened. According to

346
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:22,599
his story, Jamal had approached him
about killing Shadow beginning on June first of

347
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:29,039
twenty sixteen, four months before she
went missing. Apparently, Jamal had already

348
00:31:29,079 --> 00:31:33,720
made other attempts to kill Shadow on
his own, but he had failed the

349
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,920
first time he tried to poison Shadow. Then he had attempted to strangle her.

350
00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:42,759
Now the story of her cut brake
lines doesn't seem so paranoid or unlikely.

351
00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:48,720
On August fifteenth of twenty sixteen,
Jamal went to Charles's home in Fort

352
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:53,359
Campbell. This is likely when Charles's
wife, Jade overheard the two men talking.

353
00:31:55,960 --> 00:32:00,039
Jamal and Charles hammered out the details
of Shadow's murder, and Jamal agreed

354
00:32:00,039 --> 00:32:04,680
to pay ten thousand dollars to Charles
for him to do the actual crime.

355
00:32:05,599 --> 00:32:08,839
Later on, Charles said that he
only ever received two hundred dollars of that

356
00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:15,839
payment, The two men decided that
Shadow's murder had to happen before Labor Day.

357
00:32:15,559 --> 00:32:20,880
They knew that Shadow had a court
hearing regarding her rape allegations against Jamal

358
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:27,400
on Tuesday, September sixth. According
to Charles, his wife Jade Robinson was

359
00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:31,200
involved in these discussions. She had
not overheard anything, as she had claimed

360
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:37,599
to the authorities, she was a
participant according to her husband. However,

361
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:42,039
it's important to note that Jade has
never been charged with anything related to Shadow's

362
00:32:42,119 --> 00:32:47,160
murder. As Charles, Jamal,
and perhaps Jade continued to plot Shadow's murder,

363
00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:52,680
Charles proposed that they used Jamal's gun
to kill her. However, Jade

364
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:57,960
thought this was a bad idea.
She suggested using a knife or a box

365
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:02,880
cutter instead. Initially, the idea
was to kill Shadow at Exit twenty four

366
00:33:04,039 --> 00:33:07,200
on I twenty four, but on
the evening of Friday, September second,

367
00:33:07,599 --> 00:33:13,440
there was a party happening at this
location too many people were nearby, so

368
00:33:13,519 --> 00:33:19,039
they changed the murder site to Exit
eleven. Then Jamal approached Shadow. He

369
00:33:19,079 --> 00:33:22,920
told her he had a scavenger hunt
planned for her. They went to Exit

370
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:28,799
eleven together and began digging a hole
in a field, presumably to find something

371
00:33:28,839 --> 00:33:31,839
related to the scavenger hunt. At
this time. It was early in the

372
00:33:31,839 --> 00:33:38,000
morning on September third, and as
they were digging, Charles, whom Shadow

373
00:33:38,039 --> 00:33:44,640
had not met, approached them.
He pretended to own the land where Jamal

374
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:50,640
and Shadow were digging. He acted
upset at their trespassing. Charles ordered Jamal

375
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,000
and Shadow to their knees. He
said he was going to search them and

376
00:33:53,039 --> 00:33:59,480
hold them until the police could arrive. Next, Charles searched Jamal. He

377
00:33:59,519 --> 00:34:05,000
found the box cutter that they had
previously planted on him. Then Charles went

378
00:34:05,039 --> 00:34:09,119
to Shadow to search her, and
instead he killed her with the box cutter

379
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:14,840
and a knife. He slashed her
throat and stabbed her in the chest.

380
00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:21,039
Afterward, he broke her neck to
assure that she was dead. Then the

381
00:34:21,039 --> 00:34:25,039
two men put Shadow's body into Charles's
pickup truck and Jamal poured ammonia on her

382
00:34:25,079 --> 00:34:30,320
to hide the evidence. He also
poured ammonia on the grassy area where she

383
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:36,960
had been killed. Then they left
Shadow's body in a field on Exit nineteen

384
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:43,199
near Maxie Road. After that,
Charles drove Jamal to Shadow's car and Jamal

385
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:47,199
disposed of the car in Nashville,
where it was later found. Jamal was

386
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:52,519
also in charge of getting rid of
the bloody clothing and boots. Meanwhile,

387
00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:55,880
Charles got rid of the knife and
the box cutter. He threw the murder

388
00:34:55,920 --> 00:35:02,079
weapons in the Cumberland River. They
were later found by investigators. According to

389
00:35:02,159 --> 00:35:06,960
Charles, after killing Shadow, he
then went home and told his wife what

390
00:35:07,079 --> 00:35:10,880
happened. He testified, I informed
my wife where we had placed the body

391
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:17,119
and what had happened, and then
we had sex. Shortly after, Charles

392
00:35:17,199 --> 00:35:22,880
washed his truck bed with acetone.
His goal was to remove both Shadow's blood

393
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:30,039
and the paint. Then he repainted
his truck bed. During Charles's sentencing,

394
00:35:30,559 --> 00:35:35,599
he apologized to Shadow's family. He
said, I think about your daughter every

395
00:35:35,679 --> 00:35:38,199
day. If someone killed my son, I would be a broken man.

396
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:43,320
I deserve to be punished. I
want to set a better example for my

397
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,599
son than my father was to me. Shadow didn't deserve to be hurt.

398
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:53,119
Shadow never hurt me. His words
were related to him requesting a more lenient

399
00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:59,119
sentence, and in the end he
got it. He was sentenced to twenty

400
00:35:59,159 --> 00:36:04,239
five years in military prison. He
was also credited with five hundred and fifty

401
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:07,239
eight days of time served, which
was two hundred more days than he had

402
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:14,840
actually served. Apparently, the US
military had made some administrative errors and Charles's

403
00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:20,480
incarceration and this was their gesture to
make up for it. But one was

404
00:36:20,519 --> 00:36:23,320
that they would have a superior visit
him once every two weeks, and they

405
00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:30,639
didn't. Charles was also demoted and
dishonorably discharged. The prosecution wanted a harsher

406
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:35,920
sentence. One lawyer said the following
of Charles. This is not a man

407
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:39,480
who committed an act of passion.
This is someone who said I'll kill her

408
00:36:39,559 --> 00:36:45,280
for ten thousand dollars. He didn't
even know her name. The information that

409
00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:51,480
Charles provided was huge for the case. It was the catalyst that caused more

410
00:36:51,559 --> 00:36:57,280
charges to be brought against Jamal.
In March of twenty eighteen, Jamal was

411
00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:02,880
charged with multiple conspiracy offenses, obstruction
of justice, sexual assault, attempted murder,

412
00:37:04,239 --> 00:37:09,719
solicitation for murder, and premeditated murder. At this point, newspapers reported

413
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:15,480
that two women were suspected to be
involved in Shadow's death. It saved to

414
00:37:15,519 --> 00:37:19,719
assume one of those women was Charles's
wife, Jade, whom we have discussed

415
00:37:20,599 --> 00:37:25,320
and the other was likely Jamal's girlfriend, though that is unconfirmed. Jamal claimed

416
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:29,800
the second woman knew of the crime, gave him advice on it, and

417
00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:35,239
helped him clean Shadow's items out of
his apartment, but both women denied any

418
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:40,400
involvement and were not charged. As
prosecutors geared up for Jamal's trial, they

419
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:45,960
decided to seek the death penalty.
Jamal's defense counsel asserted that if Charles hadn't

420
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:51,320
faced the possibility of death, then
neither should Jamal, but that did not

421
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:57,880
stand. On April sixth, it
was determined that Jamal Williams McCray would face

422
00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:04,159
the death penalty. In early January
of twenty nineteen, Jamal requested that his

423
00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:08,760
trial be moved to a different county
due to rampant pre chrill publicity. His

424
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:15,719
lawyers also requested that Shadow's family be
limited in their remarks if they were allowed

425
00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:22,079
to provide victim impact statements. On
Wednesday, February twenty seventh, twenty nineteen,

426
00:38:22,519 --> 00:38:25,880
Jamal appeared in court. It was
assumed that he would continue making his

427
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:31,360
case for those requests I just mentioned, but in a shocking twist, Jamal

428
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:37,760
admitted to everything he confessed to orchestrating
Shadow's murder and assisting in hiding her body.

429
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:44,199
He pled guilty to two counts of
conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to

430
00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:50,039
commit murder, and conspiracy to obstruct
justice. Shadow's family and friends were at

431
00:38:50,039 --> 00:38:54,639
this hearing. Many wore T shirts
bearing the words Shadow's Army. After the

432
00:38:54,679 --> 00:38:59,679
hearing, Shadow's mother, London,
said, we are just glad we are

433
00:38:59,679 --> 00:39:06,679
getting justice finally. However, there
were portions of Jamal's plea that upset Shadow's

434
00:39:06,679 --> 00:39:13,960
family, namely how Jamal's version of
events differed from Charles's. Jamal claimed that

435
00:39:14,039 --> 00:39:17,079
he and Shadow were not on a
scavenger hunt. Instead, they were planning

436
00:39:17,079 --> 00:39:23,559
the murder of Jamal's current girlfriend,
who Jamal claimed Shadow wanted dead. According

437
00:39:23,599 --> 00:39:28,880
to Jamal, he and Shadow spent
that Friday, September second working out the

438
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:34,159
details, and that night they were
scoping out potential places where they could kill

439
00:39:34,159 --> 00:39:38,000
his girlfriend and hide her body.
That's what they were doing when Charles,

440
00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:45,079
pretending to be the landowner, approached
them. When this information was shared during

441
00:39:45,159 --> 00:39:52,000
Jamal's hearing, Shadow's family was outraged, and understandably so, it's important to

442
00:39:52,079 --> 00:39:57,360
emphasize that there is no evidence that
Shadow was trying to kill Jamal's girlfriend.

443
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:04,039
Also, Jamal claimed that he wasn't
present during Shadow's murder. He said he

444
00:40:04,079 --> 00:40:07,880
had returned to his truck, leaving
Charles in Shadow alone together. Then Charles

445
00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:15,039
approached him and said it's done.
It's unclear which version of events is more

446
00:40:15,039 --> 00:40:20,920
true. Regardless, the result was
the same. They killed Shadow, there

447
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:25,480
was no doubt about it. On
Thursday, February twenty eighth, twenty nineteen,

448
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:30,159
twenty seven year old Jamal William Spincray
was sentenced to life in prison.

449
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:37,880
This came after several witnesses, including
an expert witness who described the pain Shadow

450
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:43,199
would have gone through after having her
throat slashed. Due to a sealed deal

451
00:40:43,239 --> 00:40:47,280
between Jamal and the authorities, he
will be eligible for parole in ten years.

452
00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:52,039
He also gets credit for the eight
hundred and seventy five days he had

453
00:40:52,079 --> 00:40:57,519
already spent in jail before trial.
But, as The Leaf Chronicle pointed out,

454
00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:02,400
military parole after such a short time
is extremely rare. Most think it's

455
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:07,199
unlikely he will be released. Jamal
will only be able to serve a maximum

456
00:41:07,239 --> 00:41:12,039
of seventy five years, and if
that's the case, he'll get out of

457
00:41:12,039 --> 00:41:16,599
prison when he's one hundred and two
years old. With conflicting stories by the

458
00:41:16,599 --> 00:41:22,400
co conspirators, we may never know
why Shadow agreed to accompany her ex husband

459
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:29,760
late that terrible night in September twenty
sixteen. Maybe she didn't agree, Maybe

460
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:34,440
Jamal forced her. It certainly wouldn't
be the first time in their relationship that

461
00:41:34,519 --> 00:41:38,119
he had been violent with her.
No, it's more likely he was worried

462
00:41:38,119 --> 00:41:43,480
that Shadow would struggle and draw attention
to them, so he did use some

463
00:41:43,679 --> 00:41:47,960
ruse to lure her out to her
death. I find Charles Robinson's version of

464
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:53,079
events more likely. Why would he
lie about that, especially since he took

465
00:41:53,119 --> 00:42:00,239
full responsibility for actually killing Shadow MacLean. He easily could have point out the

466
00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:05,159
finger at Jamal or said they did
it together. But it doesn't really matter.

467
00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:09,480
Shadow was now threatening Jamal's career,
not just missing out on going to

468
00:42:09,519 --> 00:42:15,000
Afghanistan, but he could have been
charged with sexual assault, spent time in

469
00:42:15,039 --> 00:42:20,960
a federal prison after being dishonorably discharged. She was wrecking his whole life.

470
00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:27,079
She wouldn't just walk away quietly,
and for that, she had to die,

471
00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:36,320
even if he was too cowardly to
kill her himself. Southern Fried True

472
00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:40,000
Crime is hosted and produced by me
Erica Kelly. Today's episode was researched and

473
00:42:40,039 --> 00:42:45,239
written by Andrea Marshbank and Erika Kelly. As usual, any editorial comments and

474
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:51,039
opinions are my own. Southern Fred's
original music is by Rob Harrison of Gamma

475
00:42:51,159 --> 00:42:53,960
Radio and the original graphic art is
by Kully Horner. If you have any

476
00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:59,679
case suggestions, please go to my
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477
00:42:59,719 --> 00:43:06,360
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478
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489
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