WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.879 Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is 2 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:05.719 not intended for all audiences. 3 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:08.519 Listener discretion is advised. 4 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:18.320 I remember her saying that she has a little boy, 5 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:22.559 and she just kept saying Zion, but they didn't let 6 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:23.000 her up. 7 00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:28.760 Welcome to episode three hundred and thirty two of Sword 8 00:00:28.839 --> 00:00:32.280 and the Scale Show that reveals that the worst monsters 9 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:47.520 are real. The final episode of this season was written 10 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:51.159 and produced by Elena Thomas, one of our senior producers. 11 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:55.439 As this year comes to a close, you'd like to 12 00:00:55.560 --> 00:01:01.079 say thank you to our retire staff, including producers Evan Siegelman, 13 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:07.079 Valerie Vernon, Michael Stabile, Mish Barbara Way. Also our engineers 14 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:13.920 Rob Ravelli and John McMichael Gerdy, who works our customer service. 15 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:17.159 Whenever you have a problem with your app, but you 16 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:20.400 can download By the Way right now in the Google 17 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:25.040 Play Store or the Apple App Store. I know we've 18 00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:28.519 been losing a few of you the last year or so, 19 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:33.439 and we'll try to get you back so a guy 20 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:58.359 can't even have a multiple breakdown. In early August of 21 00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:01.439 the year two thousand, just before the new school year 22 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:06.239 was about to begin, the heat sat heavy over Mayfield, Kentucky, 23 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:09.520 It was still early in the morning, and everything was 24 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:14.400 quiet and still. The only sounds were the occasional bird 25 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:17.919 chirping on the rooftop of Mayfield Middle School and the 26 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:22.479 floor waxing machines humming inside the building. Out behind the school, 27 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:26.879 a teacher spotted an unusual dark shape in the grass. 28 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:33.280 I talked an environmental science class, and this was a 29 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:37.159 memorial to a teacher that had died at our school. 30 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:41.759 And we always kept fresh flowers and kept it playing. 31 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:45.080 We did and stuff. I that I went out the door, 32 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:49.439 and I just I still had my hand on the door. 33 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:53.319 I remember, because if I had closed it, it would 34 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:58.520 have locked. And I saw this sandal lane right by 35 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:03.039 the the door. There's a little concrete path there, and 36 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:05.479 I saw the sandal laying there, and I just thought, 37 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:08.439 you know, I wonder what that sandal's doing there. And 38 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:12.360 when I looked over to the left is when I 39 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:13.000 saw the body. 40 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:15.840 It was hard to tell it was a human body, 41 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:19.439 though the corpse was burned to a crisp. 42 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:22.639 It just took me a few seconds to try to 43 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:25.319 figure out, you know, that it was a body. 44 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:25.560 And I. 45 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:30.560 Just I was still holding on through the door, and 46 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:33.000 I just turned around, you know, I said to myself, 47 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:36.680 I believe that's a body. And I went back in 48 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:41.199 the building to find mister Almond, my principal, to tell him, 49 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:45.680 and I told him, I said, mister Almond, I think 50 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:50.199 there's a dead body out back, and he immediately just started, 51 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:55.319 you know, running down the hall and we went back 52 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:59.599 out there, and sure enough. 53 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:04.039 The next day, Argus second officials used dental records to 54 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:08.199 make an identification. The charred woman was confirmed to be 55 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:13.280 eighteen year old Jessica Curran. The autopsy offered few answers. 56 00:04:13.879 --> 00:04:16.199 It looked like she'd been badly beaten in the head 57 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:20.199 and face, but a segment of a black braided leather 58 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:24.519 belt found beside her body is what took center stage. 59 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:28.040 Based on that, the medical examiner determined that she must 60 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:31.160 have been strangled because the top half of her body 61 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:35.519 was so badly burned. The usual indicators of strangulation weren't there, 62 00:04:36.279 --> 00:04:39.240 but the belt was enough just the same. There weren't 63 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:43.439 any physical signs of sexual assault, but detectives had found 64 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:47.319 Jessica's ripped underwear near her body, so the assumption was 65 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:51.120 made over By the glass doors of the school, they 66 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:54.759 found a clump of Jessica's hair and some suspicious smudging 67 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:59.399 near the door handle. Jessica hadn't gone down without a fight. 68 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:03.800 Here are a couple of detectives from the Mayfield Police Department. 69 00:05:04.519 --> 00:05:06.480 It's obvious even that part. You can tell that they're 70 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:09.600 saying the sponges could have been from anything. But I mean, 71 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.279 you look like hands had been you know, like this 72 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.879 smudged over there. So with the clump of hair there, 73 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:18.199 it certainly appeared to have been some type of struggle, 74 00:05:18.279 --> 00:05:20.920 perhaps somebody trying to get in or the door open. 75 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:23.160 Uh you figure. 76 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:24.000 What that kind of violence. 77 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.680 I mean, the big smashed back her head, her nose 78 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:30.720 is driven up into I mean, this part is driven. 79 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:34.439 Up into the essentially, I mean, she shit pretty hard. 80 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:39.000 She she was tagged hard. They're painful, had to be. 81 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.360 So you figured blood spattering somewhere, so it probably did. 82 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:45.240 But with all the rain it washed its way and 83 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:47.319 then and then they found later that there was still 84 00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:49.680 on flood there and it drained there, So most of 85 00:05:49.720 --> 00:05:52.279 it happened pretty close to there. And definitely the burning 86 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:54.040 happened there because the grass is firn. 87 00:05:54.920 --> 00:05:58.639 The grass around her body was scorched. Detectives took that 88 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:01.160 to mean she was set on fire right there in 89 00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:05.759 that spot, not burned elsewhere, and moved. This was assumed 90 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:10.120 to be a violent, bloody struggle, but there was no 91 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:14.199 blood evidence found at the scene. After all, Jessica had 92 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:16.800 been laying in this spot behind the middle school for 93 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:21.360 two days or more because of the environmental damage. The 94 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:24.399 medical examiner was limited and what he could say for sure. 95 00:06:25.240 --> 00:06:28.519 He listed strangulation as the cause of death. The rest 96 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:32.879 possible head and facial injuries couldn't be pinned down with certainty. 97 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:37.519 In truth, there wasn't much left to go on. What 98 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:41.360 everyone hoped, though, is that Jessica died before she was 99 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:42.079 set on fire. 100 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:45.399 From what we gathered, it was from the out tops 101 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:47.920 for Ford. We don't know for sure. 102 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:51.600 There's no way to kill perfectly other than there's no 103 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:54.360 soot in there to where she would have breathed an. 104 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:57.240 Any soot at that point, So obviously we're hoping she 105 00:06:57.319 --> 00:06:59.079 was dead before she was certified. 106 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:02.680 BOK evidence can give you an approximate time of death 107 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:05.639 and tell you how someone was killed, but it can't 108 00:07:05.639 --> 00:07:09.639 tell you who a person truly was. Eighteen year old 109 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:13.839 Jessica Currn came from a notable local family. Her dad, 110 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:18.360 Joe Curran, was the definition of Mayfield High School football, 111 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:23.120 church on Sundays, small business, and eventually captain of the 112 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:29.800 fire department. Can you picture it? Typical Americana stereotype. The 113 00:07:29.879 --> 00:07:32.720 dark irony of the situation was not lost on anyone. 114 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:36.240 When his daughter was killed, Joe believed his town would 115 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:41.680 rally and discover the truth years later, though he would 116 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:43.000 still be asking for it. 117 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:48.040 She was pretty tiny. I think she was about seven 118 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:51.560 pounds or so when she was born the lover. After 119 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:53.959 she grew up, she was more like five nine or so, 120 00:07:55.160 --> 00:07:59.160 long legs tall. A Nick's son came three years later. 121 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:02.759 She was pretty much a mother for him. She packed 122 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:06.120 him around all the time. She recorded this football game, 123 00:08:06.199 --> 00:08:09.639 she recorded his basketball games, and we could tell most 124 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:11.680 of the time when she did recording. Most of the 125 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.720 time recording was only on him. It wasn't on the team. 126 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:17.800 It's just on him. I thought that was so funny. 127 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:21.920 I'm like, who's scoring the points and who else is 128 00:08:21.959 --> 00:08:26.120 playing on this team. She's had everything on Josh. She 129 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:29.759 showed everything on him. She said, act like nobody else 130 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:32.480 was on the team. You could hear a hollering form, 131 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:36.440 Go Josh, Go Josh. 132 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:39.120 She read it loved their brothers, and she read it 133 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:39.879 loved their family. 134 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:44.679 But soon Jessica grew up. She wasn't a little girl 135 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:47.440 anymore caring for her brothers. She was a young woman 136 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:52.840 who had just entered adulthood and found herself unexpectedly pregnant. 137 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:56.639 It wasn't a happy time. I wasn't ready for that 138 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:00.799 at that time, but she was all and I know 139 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:04.320 she would have been seeing a few guys, and I 140 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:06.080 knew it was a possibility. 141 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:10.799 Now, this was a community where word got around. People 142 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:13.720 were talking about who the father of Jessica's son, Zion, 143 00:09:14.039 --> 00:09:17.080 might be, and why he might have wanted Jessica dead. 144 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:21.120 Within two months, two local men were under the microscope 145 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:24.600 at the time of a murder. Baby Zion was only 146 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:28.519 seven months old when she first had him. She thought 147 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:32.080 Zion's father was a guy she really liked, someone named Marcus. 148 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:36.600 But there was a possibility that it was another man, 149 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:40.960 someone Jessica really didn't like. 150 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:44.120 Do you know Jessica Kerr? 151 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:45.600 Yes? I do. 152 00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:48.320 How did you know Jessica? 153 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:51.840 I met her at Grace County High School. We went 154 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:54.519 to school together. We had a math class together, and 155 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:59.720 we just started interacting with one another and started hanging 156 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:05.159 out and became pretty good friends. Considered her one of 157 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:10.600 my best friends. Well, that night had to have been 158 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:16.320 the night she got pregnant, so she probably conceived that 159 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:19.840 night because the person she was seeing on the regular, 160 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:25.799 her sexual partner, was Marcus Morris, and she swore that 161 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:28.720 to the baby. She just knew that the baby's daddy 162 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:31.600 was because, I mean, for real, it was one time 163 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:35.200 with Jeremy, you know, and she we didn't even think 164 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:37.759 about that night because we hadn't even seen the dude 165 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:42.279 since then, you know. And so when the baby was born, 166 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:45.960 she was trying to get child sport ordered for Marcus 167 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:48.240 or whatever, and they'd done a DNA test that it 168 00:10:48.279 --> 00:10:52.240 came back negative or however they come back it wasn't his, 169 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:55.480 And so she called me and she told me, and 170 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:57.639 she's like, Jessica, the only other person that could be 171 00:10:57.799 --> 00:11:00.000 is Jeremy Adams. 172 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.200 Wording to her best friend, Jessica was devastated, and for 173 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:03.879 good reason. 174 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:07.320 When we were hanging out and we first started hanging out, 175 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:11.159 she wasn't really dating anyone, and there was a few, 176 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:13.480 I mean, we just hung out with people. We didn't 177 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:16.759 really date. We would go to football games and you know, 178 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:20.279 just things like that with our friends. And then she 179 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:23.600 did start seeing Jeremy Adams, but it wasn't a date thing. 180 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:27.759 It was a hangout thing, like so we all went 181 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:30.639 back to my house and we hang. 182 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:31.200 Out or whatever. 183 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:37.720 And that night he kind of forces lee took her 184 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:40.720 around the building and had said they had sex. It 185 00:11:40.840 --> 00:11:45.320 was like two seconds they were around there and came 186 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:50.279 back and he walked off and that was that. And 187 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:54.799 then we didn't really see him again. We didn't really 188 00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:57.159 hang out with him again or anything because she felt 189 00:11:57.240 --> 00:11:58.320 uncomfortable about that. 190 00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:03.960 Okay, Field, He never interviewed to State police, is never contact. 191 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:04.440 No. 192 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.360 Rumors that Jeremy was the father of Jessica's baby gave 193 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:13.480 rise to theories this was only fueled by the indicators 194 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:15.639 that there had been a struggle at the middle school, 195 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:20.039 the clump of Jessica's hair, the smudges on the glass doors, 196 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:23.600 and a baby that might not be his. All this 197 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:26.519 put him right there in the crosshairs of the investigation. 198 00:12:27.639 --> 00:12:32.279 The circle soon widened to include Carlos Saxton, who moved 199 00:12:32.279 --> 00:12:35.720 in Jeremy's orbit and, according to Mayfield Police, was with 200 00:12:35.879 --> 00:12:39.519 him the night they went looking for Jessica. They would 201 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:43.600 both face indictment, Jeremy with murder and Carlos as an 202 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:47.240 accomplice to murder. The audio you're about to hear is 203 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:48.840 from the grand jury proceeding. 204 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:52.200 Would you state your name for the record, protective partner, 205 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:54.759 jam And how are you imployant? I'm employed by the 206 00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:57.039 City of Mayfield at the police detective So. 207 00:12:57.039 --> 00:13:01.720 If you were, let's celebrand jury, what happened in how 208 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:03.720 you got involved investigation and who we are. 209 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:08.080 Apparently, Jeremy Adams had a cell mate at the county 210 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:13.399 jail named Jesse. Well, Jesse desperately wanted to tell authorities 211 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:16.240 what Jeremy had shared with him. Well, they were locked 212 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:16.840 up together. 213 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:25.000 Jesse is very distraught crime said that this has bothered him. 214 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:28.240 That's the reason he wanted to talk to us. He'd 215 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:32.279 never mentioned anything about any money, any crime stoppers. Nothing. 216 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:35.080 Was very distraught about this. 217 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:39.720 Jesse seemed genuinely terrified at the prospect of sharing a 218 00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:43.320 cell with a murderer, so scared, in fact, that he 219 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:47.039 requested a different cell mate. Eventually, he even requested to 220 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:51.519 be transferred to a different facility. Here's Jesse's statement. 221 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:54.679 On January the fifteenth yearm and came to my sale 222 00:13:54.919 --> 00:13:57.159 while me and two other inmates were there and started 223 00:13:57.159 --> 00:13:59.559 talking about Jessica's case again and made a statement to 224 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:03.480 THEE been seeing Jessica and that she had messed around 225 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:06.240 with someone. Then he was talking about an argument and 226 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:08.639 held onion out of her brown sandal and been getting 227 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:10.600 head so hard that her tongue was in and out. 228 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:13.559 Then he made a statement that her little wife, Hannies, 229 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:16.200 had been tore off and throug beside her, and that 230 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:18.480 she had been killed in one spot and drove to another. 231 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:21.759 He also at one time said something about after she 232 00:14:21.879 --> 00:14:24.159 was done and turned over about the Brady hair being 233 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:27.039 stuck to the ground, and said something about not wanting 234 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:29.279 his girlfriend finding out about the baby they had to 235 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:29.679 get her. 236 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:33.039 These are a lot of details that as far as 237 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:36.279 I know, weren't public knowledge at the time, And if 238 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:40.799 Jeremy had a girlfriend, that's another possible motive. Jeremy stated 239 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:43.080 that he didn't want his girlfriend to find out that 240 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:46.240 he had a baby with another woman. Based on all 241 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:51.480 of this, grand jury returned indictments for both Jeremy and Carlos. 242 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:56.720 The cases were slowly headed towards trial. Jeremy was set 243 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:59.879 for February of two thousand and three, but less than 244 00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:03.480 week before the start, data judge dismissed the case entirely 245 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:08.399 the reason Mayfield police had failed to turn over audio 246 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:11.559 and video evidence. They had, you know, fucked up a 247 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:16.600 procedural thing, some paperwork, some nonsense, and that was that 248 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:29.480 Jessica's family felt they knew who had done this. Jeremy 249 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:32.480 sellmate was certain he was the one who had killed Jessica. 250 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:38.759 But now Jeremy was walking free. Here's Jessica's dad. 251 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:40.720 I wasn't really happy about that at all. 252 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:45.159 I felt like they finally got somebody, and now they're 253 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:48.840 releasing him. I remember the first time that I after 254 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:52.639 the case had went they had released the first three 255 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:53.720 and me and. 256 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:54.879 My wife went to Walmart. 257 00:15:55.799 --> 00:15:57.919 And I know a lot of people have been around 258 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:01.159 this area on my entire life, and I went in 259 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:04.120 Walmart and I would see somebody that I knew and 260 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:06.799 I was friends with, and I always speak to talk 261 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:10.080 to or shake hands with, and they would turn away, 262 00:16:10.919 --> 00:16:14.320 and some of them wouldn't know what to say, and 263 00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:16.559 some of them would just turn and go a different 264 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:21.759 direction to avoid me, and that night I realized what 265 00:16:21.879 --> 00:16:26.000 an impact it had on the community, the people here. 266 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:29.159 So I went back to the car. I told my wife, 267 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:31.639 I know, I'm not going to put those people through that. 268 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:34.639 They really didn't know what to say to me. What 269 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:36.879 do you say to a person who's lost their daughter? 270 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:40.000 And then they released the people. They really didn't know 271 00:16:40.039 --> 00:16:43.639 what to say. What do you say? 272 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:48.679 For years, Jessica's murder sat unsolved. But sometimes the person 273 00:16:48.679 --> 00:16:52.759 who breaks a case doesn't carry a badge and Kentucky, 274 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:58.440 a homemaker named Susan Gallbreath decides Jessica's murder shouldn't fade 275 00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:02.360 into the shadows. If you've spent any time at all 276 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:08.960 in the Facebook community, especially the true crime community, you'll 277 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:11.599 know that there's a whole lot of these people out there. 278 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:15.599 They call themselves I guess web sleuths, or armchair detectives, 279 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:19.759 or I don't know any number of things, but they 280 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:21.640 got a whole lot of time on their hands, and 281 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:26.119 they spend it trying to solve cold cases, often to 282 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:31.440 the detriment of the official investigation. Anyway, Susan Golbrith was 283 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:33.599 one of these people, and she says she was at 284 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:36.240 the crime scene that day, and when she saw Jessica's body, 285 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:40.680 she knew she had to help. So she starts small 286 00:17:40.839 --> 00:17:43.720 with a phone, a list of names and the patients 287 00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:48.079 to call. Dozens of people. She keeps notes about things 288 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:51.039 that don't sit right with her. She shows up with 289 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:56.599 questions and lets people talk. Tips all start landing in 290 00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:02.240 one place, Susan's notebook. Bit by bit, doors that stayed 291 00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:07.680 closed for law enforcement open for her. Officials learn her name. 292 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:11.559 Reporters do also, and for the first time in a 293 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:14.400 long time, this case feels like it might actually be 294 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:20.160 solvable by a determined woman with a stubborn streak. This 295 00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:22.359 is the part that really makes you want to believe 296 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:26.039 in humanity, at least a little bit, the crazy and 297 00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:29.920 hopeful idea that an armchair detective can do what the 298 00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:37.039 system can't or won't, because it looks like, maybe, just maybe, 299 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:41.359 Susan would be the one to solve the murder of 300 00:18:41.480 --> 00:19:20.519 Jessica Curran. In August of the year two thousand, the 301 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:23.400 charred body of eighteen year old Jessica Kurran was found 302 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:27.839 behind a middle school in Mayfield, Kentucky. The autopsy leaned 303 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:30.799 on a piece of braided belt that was found nearby, 304 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:34.559 so the medical examiner deduced that the cause of death 305 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:38.440 was strangulation. The early case zeroed in on a man 306 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:42.440 named Jeremy Adams and his friend Carlos Saxton. They were 307 00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:44.799 both indicted, but in two thousand and three the cases 308 00:19:44.839 --> 00:19:50.119 were dismissed after discovery violations. Years passed without answers until 309 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:53.279 two thousand and four, when a Kentucky homemaker and self 310 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:57.240 proclaimed citizen sleuth put the case back up on the map. 311 00:19:58.119 --> 00:20:01.640 Susan Galbreath had no law enforcement an experience and had 312 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:05.799 never done any real detective work, but sitting alone at home, 313 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:09.599 she started investigating, when you. 314 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:18.359 Said you became interestood in this case? Oh, so did 315 00:20:18.359 --> 00:20:23.640 ay Jessica's body was though? And did you have contact 316 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:26.720 with the currents? No? 317 00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:30.759 I knew following in the paper. 318 00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:36.160 Yes, said that you were when you employed. 319 00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:36.279 At that time. 320 00:20:38.119 --> 00:20:41.279 No, I have been heard of my job in ninety eight, 321 00:20:41.960 --> 00:20:45.000 so I hadn't had you know a job since it so. 322 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:48.759 And this new job that had fallen into her lap 323 00:20:48.920 --> 00:20:52.039 was the one she knew she couldn't do alone. So, 324 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.039 shooting for the moon, she started reaching out to celebrities 325 00:20:55.079 --> 00:21:00.279 like Oprah Winfrey and Julia Roberts most never wrote back, 326 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:03.160 of course. I mean, I doubt they even see their 327 00:21:03.160 --> 00:21:08.480 own fan mail. But one person did, not any of 328 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:11.920 the A listers, but a guy named Tom Mangold, a 329 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:16.039 veteran BBC journalist in London. Susan, it seems, had cast 330 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:19.599 a very wide net. Her matter of fact, email landed 331 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:24.519 in Tom's inboxing. He answered it in quick succession. He 332 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:27.079 shelled out his own cash, bought a plane ticket, and 333 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:28.759 flew to Kentucky. 334 00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:32.519 I don't think Susan herself is quite sure what it 335 00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:36.240 was that that particularly grabbed her about the Jessica Couren case. 336 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:38.680 If I had to hazard a guess, and I've never 337 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:41.920 really done more than guess about it, I think she 338 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.880 has a kind of theirn Brockovich dimension which came out 339 00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:47.880 at that particular time, and I think it's still there, 340 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:50.519 and I think it could come out again tomorrow. You're 341 00:21:50.519 --> 00:21:53.480 asking me why did I sense the story one just does? 342 00:21:53.559 --> 00:21:56.799 I mean, it seemed to me that here was he 343 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:00.839 was a very interesting situation where you have murder world. 344 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.039 Murder's pretty commonplace everywhere in the Western world, but you 345 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:08.240 had somebody who was absolutely dedicated to finding who the 346 00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:12.000 culprits were didn't quite know why she was so dedicated 347 00:22:12.519 --> 00:22:15.640 and was up against what was effectively a corrupt police 348 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:20.920 force totally failed a series of investigations that just plowed 349 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:24.079 on and on without any particular benefit to herself. 350 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:27.359 By the spring of two thousand and four, Tom Mangold 351 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:31.119 was on the ground reporting with Susan. He once was 352 00:22:31.160 --> 00:22:35.440 a journalist reporting on wars, organized crime, and UK politics. 353 00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:39.039 Now he was in Mayfield, Kentucky, reporting on a young 354 00:22:39.079 --> 00:22:43.279 woman's murder. Susan opened doors and Tom put a spotlight 355 00:22:43.319 --> 00:22:45.920 on what they were hearing. In the fall of the 356 00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:48.759 same year, Tom put the case under the microscope with 357 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:53.319 an article called Murder in a Small Town. Around the 358 00:22:53.319 --> 00:22:57.400 same time, the state's investigative arm, the newly built Kentucky 359 00:22:57.559 --> 00:23:03.079 Bureau of Investigation. In two thousand and five, two women 360 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:06.759 who had already been interviewed years earlier, Victoria Caldwell and 361 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:12.400 Venetia Stubblefield, changed their stories. Those new statements taken by 362 00:23:12.519 --> 00:23:16.440 state investigators now pointed to an entirely different suspect. 363 00:23:17.079 --> 00:23:19.400 Wow did they ask you to? 364 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:24.599 Maybe said that's because through where I need to life 365 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:28.920 life or fency cross. 366 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:33.400 These reinterviews were done in a hotel conference room. For 367 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:36.920 some reason, people who had told one story the first 368 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:40.799 time around were now telling an entirely different story. But 369 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:44.880 KBI ate up every bit of it. Susan Gobbreath was 370 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:48.279 happy to see her cunning detective work finally paying off. 371 00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:51.119 You're fully confident in the results that you've. 372 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:52.440 Got, Obviously I am. 373 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:53.039 Yes. 374 00:23:53.319 --> 00:23:54.920 I interviewed Quincy Cross. 375 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:57.640 I spent about an hour and a half long interview 376 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:01.680 with him, and in that interview, Tom told me don't 377 00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:06.759 expect the confession, and so I didn't. But the truth 378 00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:11.079 never changes, but lies do. In that interview, he gave 379 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:15.000 me some telling information that I knew had never been 380 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:19.039 made public. I remember at the time screaming pretty much 381 00:24:19.160 --> 00:24:21.839 to the Douga State Police, did you know this is 382 00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:24.480 enough to arrest him on right here? Did it happen? 383 00:24:24.599 --> 00:24:24.640 No? 384 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:28.359 But I definitely believe they've got the right colprit with 385 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:29.119 Quincy Cross. 386 00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:35.519 Quincy Cross was Victoria's cousin's boyfriend. Victoria tells KBI that 387 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:39.400 somehow everyone involved knew they were going to be interviewed 388 00:24:39.400 --> 00:24:43.039 by the Mayfield Police, and fifteen year old Victorious as 389 00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:46.400 she was told to lie to divert attention away from Quincy. 390 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:49.160 She says she obeyed. 391 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.759 Did she come up on your information that she knew about? 392 00:24:59.359 --> 00:24:59.839 What told me? 393 00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:02.240 How did you? How did you know your information? 394 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:10.039 Because my pason speaking about it and I heard them 395 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:10.720 say some things. 396 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:13.680 Okay, you talk to us. 397 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:20.400 If we had no knowledge of the case of Victoria. 398 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:25.079 How did you use names? Because you know you knew 399 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:26.880 all the people that you're talking about. 400 00:25:28.119 --> 00:25:28.880 We need to know. 401 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:34.640