Death in the Dorms Season 1: Episode 6: Katie Autry

Summary

Death in the Dorms: Season 1, Episode 6 – "Katie Autry"

Introduction

In the final installment of the first season of Death in the Dorms, ABC News' 20/20 delves into the tragic and mysterious case of Katie Autry, a first-year student at Western Kentucky University. This episode meticulously unpacks the events leading up to Katie's untimely death, the subsequent investigation, and the lingering questions that remain unanswered.

Background on Katie Autry

Katie Autry was born on June 10, 1984, in Rosine, Kentucky, where she spent her early childhood. Growing up in a family with deep roots in Rosine, Katie was admired for her loving nature and vibrant personality. Deborah Roberts, Katie's cousin, shares fond memories:

"Katie was a very funny and sweet person. She couldn't stand for somebody to be around her and be down. She wanted to make them smile and be happy" ([00:53]).

Despite facing challenges early on, including entering foster care at the age of seven or eight due to her mother's illness, Katie thrived academically and socially. She attended Western Kentucky University to pursue a career as a dental hygienist, marking a significant milestone as the first in her family to attend college.

College Life and Events Leading to the Incident

Katie's transition to college life was filled with excitement and newfound freedom. Living in Poland Halls, she quickly formed close relationships, notably with her roommate Danika Jackson, a cheerleader at the school. Their bond was described as sisterly:

"They kind of described each other almost as like sisters, you know, in addition to being best friends" ([09:56]).

Katie was actively involved in campus life, balancing her studies with extracurricular activities and a part-time job at a smoothie shop. However, financial strains led her to take a job at a local gentleman's club, Tattletales, a decision that sparked rumors and affected her reputation.

On May 4, 2003, the night took a dark turn. Around 4:00 AM, a fire alarm at Poland Hall led to the discovery of Katie seriously injured in her dorm room. What was initially presumed to be a prank quickly unraveled into a horrifying crime scene.

The Incident: Fire and Violence

Emergency responders arrived swiftly, with firefighters finding Katie in critical condition. Captain Bob Sanborn recounted:

"I saw something glistening. And that was Katie. And the part that was glistening was a part of her arm that was exposed that wasn't blackened by the fire. She was still alive and she was in a very bad place" ([14:51]).

Medical staff at Greenwood Hospital noted the severity of her injuries, which included burns and signs of sexual assault. Katie was placed in a medically induced coma but tragically succumbed to her injuries after three days.

Investigation and Trial

The investigation revealed that Katie had attended a fraternity party on the night of her death, where she had an altercation with her on-and-off boyfriend, Maurice Perkins. Katie left the party with a designated sober driver, Ryan Payne, but circumstances following their departure raised suspicions.

Key developments in the investigation included:

1. Interviews and Leads: Katie’s roommate, Danika Jackson, provided crucial information about Katie's interactions that night, including a phone call where she heard a second male voice ([09:07]). Maurice Perkins initially provided a solid alibi, but inconsistencies emerged when his friend, Stephen Sewells, confessed involvement under coercion.

2. Stephen Sewells' Confession: Sewells revealed he was forced by his acquaintance, Lucas Goodrum, to rape and murder Katie. He stated:

   "He made me do it. Lucas made me do everything he did" ([43:04]).

   Sewells agreed to testify against Goodrum in exchange for a plea deal, which ultimately led to his life imprisonment without parole.

3. Lucas Goodrum’s Trial: Lucas Goodrum, identified as having connections to a prominent family, faced trial with limited physical evidence against him. Despite Sewells’ testimony, DNA evidence was inconclusive, leading to Goodrum’s acquittal after a three-hour jury deliberation ([55:34]).

Notable Quotes:

• Deborah Roberts: "She did matter. She mattered to a lot of people" ([01:44]).
• Stephen Sewells: "This was pure torture. That's what it was" ([16:56]).
• Danika Jackson: "Police seem to put a lot of weight on Danica's testimony that there were two men in that room" ([46:25]).
• Deborah Roberts: "We know that Lucas is innocent. We believe him 100%" ([53:11]).

Conclusion and Reflection

The episode concludes with reflections from Katie’s family and those involved in the case. Deborah Roberts expresses enduring sorrow and the unresolved anguish from the verdict:

"I believe that I will probably never know exactly what happened and get all the answers that I'm asking for, and that eats at me" ([56:02]).

Detective Kevin Pickett highlights the profound impact of narratives on public perception and justice:

"I see this case as it's all about, you know, narratives, and, like, whoever establishes the first narrative, that's the one that people stick to" ([56:33]).

Katie’s legacy is remembered fondly by her family and friends, emphasizing her vibrant spirit and the loss felt by her untimely death. The episode underscores the complexities of criminal investigations, the influence of societal narratives, and the enduring quest for truth and closure.

Closing Thoughts

Death in the Dorms presents a compelling and heartfelt exploration of Katie Autry’s life and tragic death. Through interviews, investigative insights, and personal reflections, the episode not only recounts the events but also delves into the emotional and societal ramifications of such a loss within a community.

Transcript

[Deborah Roberts]

This episode is brought to you by Amazon. The holidays are here and you know what that means. It's time to get your friends and.

[Danika Jackson]

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[Deborah Roberts]

Take the stress out of shopping with Amazon's great deals and low prices on a huge range of items from toys to tech and much more. Whoever you're gifting for, Amazon has great prices on everything you need this holiday season. Shop Black Friday week starting November 21st. Hey there, 2020 listeners. This is Deborah Roberts. This week we'll be bringing you the sixth and final episode of Death in the Dorms. In our closing episode, you'll hear the story of Katie Autry, a first year student at Western Kentucky University, and a horrendous act of violence that leaves police struggling to find answers.

[Danika Jackson]

Let's listen.

[Deborah Roberts]

We were very proud of Katie for going to college. She was actually the first member of our family that went. For my family, that's a major deal.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

What was initially thought to be a simple fire is turning into a mystery. All the students got out a few Poland Halls safely, except for one.

[Kevin Pickett]

It was apparent this did not happen, that this was done to her.

[Deborah Roberts]

And me at 16. I didn't really understand.

[Stephen Sewells]

This was a horrific, horrific crime. We were playing with a crime scene. Not only just locating his dorm, but we were playing with a crime scene that spread the whole campus.

[Deborah Roberts]

She did matter. She mattered to a lot of people.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

What happened, what happened to Katie, I.

[Deborah Roberts]

Feel like I still need to fight for her and I'll continue to do that as long as I'm breathing. My cousin Katie was born June 10, 1984 in Rose Innucky, which is where she spent most of her young childhood at. I always looked up to Katie, just in general, just because she was such a loving person. Like she loved so many people. She loved life. She was so happy all the time.

[Kevin Pickett]

Rosine, Kentucky was, you know, it sounds kind of cliche, but if you drive by and blink and miss it, it was one of those kinds of things. If you didn't know that you were within Rosine, you wouldn't register that you're in a town. It's just a stoplight.

[Deborah Roberts]

We grew up most of our early life there. What we call the home place, which is family land that's been in our family since like the early 1900s, is where my grandparents raised our parents and us. Initially, Katie lived with her grandparents, Peggy and Debbie D. Autry, her mother Donnie, and she has one sister, Lisa. Keddie's my cousin and I'm about 11 years younger than her. My Sister and Katie liked to play dress up with me whenever I was little. They enjoyed that. Katie was a very funny and sweet person. She couldn't stand for somebody to be around her and be down. She wanted to make them smile and be happy. My sister has always said that Katie was her best friend. And you can tell just by the pictures of them and by the memories that I do have that they were very close. Katie was probably about 7 or 8 when she went into foster care. It was because her mother was sick and couldn't take care of the girls. Katie and Lisa both went into foster care together. They moved foster home several times in the beginning before they finally went to Jim and Shirley Inman. They were her foster parents for 10 years. When Katie lived with the Inmans, her life was a little bit stricter than most people's. She was allowed to go to church. She was allowed to attend school, school functions. But Katie wasn't allowed to, like, just go out with her friends or date. They were trying to, you know, keep her out of trouble. When Katie was in school, she was very determined. She was an AB student, honor roll, every club imaginable. She was in track. She got several awards for cheerleading. I think she actually got cheerleader of the year a couple of times. Around here, there's not a whole lot of opportunity as far as work goes. You're gonna work in a factory or a fast food joint. Katie did not want to end up in a dead end job. She wanted more for her life. Katie wanted to make a life for herself better than what she had. She wanted to have a family, kids, and just be around the people she loved. Katie decided to go to college to be a dental hygienist. She said she wanted to make people smile. We were very proud of Katie for going to college. She was actually the first member of our family that went. For my family, that's a major deal. Just because up until that point, we'd actually only had one member that had graduated high school. So for her to graduate high school and go to college, we had major dreams for art.

[Danika Jackson]

I'm sorry.

[Deborah Roberts]

Katie decided to go to Western because it was closer to her biological family. She could come visit us on the weekends. Yeah, I know, I know that the.

[Stephen Sewells]

Sun shines somewhere Somewhere behind grave Western.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

Kentucky is a nice college campus in a rural town out in the country. You know, there's a lot of activities to do. Western Kentucky is definitely a fun place to go to college.

[Danika Jackson]

Western had a couple majors that they were pretty well known for. It certainly attracted, you know students of all talents and academic abilities. It definitely had a reputation for partying. It had a pretty strong Greek life.

[Deborah Roberts]

Katie was super excited about college. Whenever she first got there, she was excited because it was a new town. She was excited because, you know, it was really the first time she'd had freedom to do whatever she wanted to do. You know, all 18 year olds get excited whenever, you know, they have a little bit of freedom.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

I did meet Katie right outside of the Hugh Poland hall where we were both living. I think we kind of bonded over the fact that we both came from a strict upbringing, Christian household with a lot of rules, a lot of expectations. So the opportunities for us seem to be a lot bigger than what other students may have experienced.

[Deborah Roberts]

I definitely think Katie was finding herself that year. She was experiencing a lot, having heartbreaks for the first time, but she was feeling more comfortable with who Katie was. And I think that first year of college, she was starting to like herself a little better.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

Katie was quiet and shy, I think, but again, one, once you got to know her, she would open up. She was a pretty funny girl. She liked to laugh, she liked to crack jokes. She was well liked around our groups, the different cliques that we had in the dorm. Katie was in room 214 on the second floor. She had a roommate. Her roommate was Danika. Danika was a cheerleader at the school. They formed a really tight friendship.

[Danika Jackson]

They kind of described each other almost as like sisters, you know, in addition to being best friends.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

Yeah, I've always loved that song. Social life was a big deal. Thursday nights were the unofficial party night, I would say, on campus. Pizza parties, movie gatherings, you name it. If it was something that we could do other than schoolwork, we were probably doing it.

[Deborah Roberts]

One of the biggest things that Katie did during her freshman year that shocked me was if you knew Katie, you knew she was terrified of needles. And somehow, for some reason, she decided to go get her tongue pierced and get a tattoo. It just blew my mind to think of Katie doing that. I guess it was her experience in life, you know, just trying things.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

Katie did get a job on campus. We had a little smoothie shop in the university center where our cafeteria and bookstore was. You could always count on seeing her behind the counter when you walked through the door there.

[Danika Jackson]

It was the end of the semester, and so a lot of students were preparing for finals, finishing up their last papers. There was a lot of like, kind of end of the year partying as well.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

May 4, 2003, somewhere around 4:00 in the Morning, the smoke alarm in the building went off. This was not an unusual thing. Kids like to play pranks and the fire alarms got pulled quite often. At some point, our floor RA resident assistant came around and started knocking on all the doors.

[Danika Jackson]

I was in my dorm room sleeping. I covered police that semester for the Herald. And so we had like a little portable police scanner that the police reporter would have. And so I just had that in my room and it just kind of stayed on. When I heard the alarm call because I was so close to there, I just headed over just to see what was going on.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

It was a chilly, brisk, early early morning. The dew had settled on the grass. It was a thick, moist night. Everybody's standing around. We're all in kind of little groups, chatting and trying to figure out and understand what going on. We're starting to hear little bits and pieces of rumors. Something happened in room 214. It was the blonde, the blonde girl there.

[Stephen Sewells]

Fifty years ago, a young woman named Karen Silkwood got into her car alone.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

She was reportedly on her way to deliver sensitive documents to a New York Times reporter.

[Deborah Roberts]

She never made it.

[Stephen Sewells]

And those documents she'd agreed to carry were never found. Do you think somebody killed her?

[Kevin Pickett]

There's no question in my mind that.

[Danika Jackson]

Someone killed her that night. I think they were trying to stop her in order to get the documents.

[Deborah Roberts]

A new investigation into the life and.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

Death of America's first nuclear whistleblower.

[Stephen Sewells]

Listen to Radioactive the Karen Silkwood Mystery from ABC Audio. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

[Deborah Roberts]

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[Katie Autry's Cousin]

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[Deborah Roberts]

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[Stephen Sewells]

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[Katie Autry's Cousin]

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[Danika Jackson]

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[Katie Autry's Cousin]

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[Danika Jackson]

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[Stephen Sewells]

My name is Kevin Pickett. I'm a retired Kentucky State police sergeant at the time. In 2003, we were assigned as a team, the investigative team, to assist West Kentucky University in the case. On May 4, at approximately 4:08am the fire alarms went off at Poland Hall. The fire department was there in less than three minutes. The sprinkler has flooded the room and fire is now smoldering. It's very Contained at this point.

[Kevin Pickett]

Captain Bob Sanborn was with the fire department. And he entered room 214. It was just pitch dark. And he saw something glistening. And that was Katie. And the part that was glistening was a part of her arm that was exposed that wasn't blackened by the fire. She was still alive and she was in a very bad place.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

Firefighters sort of cleared the perimeter. They didn't want anybody to really get too close. And I was sort of trapped in the crowd, but I was able to identify that that was Katie.

[Danika Jackson]

She was still breathing. And a firefighter took his mask off of himself and put it onto Katie's face to try to help give these life saving measures there until EMS could arrive. One of the firefighters looked up and said, if you're a praying person, now is the time to pray. And that was pretty, you know, a moment that has stuck with me all these years later.

[Kevin Pickett]

They took her to the, I think it's called Greenwood Hospital in Bowling Green. While the police were trying to figure out what happened.

[Stephen Sewells]

When the Archbishop came in, the firemen. We look up on the sprinkler head and there's a rag over the sprinkler head to detain the heat. So there's a lot of thought that went into this fire. This is most obvious. You got a crime scene.

[Kevin Pickett]

Once she was at the hospital, you know, the medical staff, they were immediately struck with this. These are not the burns that happens when someone falls asleep with a cigarette. It was apparent this did not happen, that this was done to her.

[Stephen Sewells]

She was stabbed three, four times in the neck on the left side. She had a T shirt wrapped around her neck and appeared to be trying to choke her. It was kind of over her face. She was beaten. There was a curling iron with a cord wrapped around her neck. So this was a horrific, horrific crime. This was not just a beating. This was pure torture. That's what it was.

[Deborah Roberts]

It was probably around 5 when the phone was ringing, the answering machine picked up, and I heard Shirley Inman, which was Katie's foster mother. And she said, katie, you've been in an accident. So me and mom and dad and Johnny, my little sister got dressed real quick, jumped into the truck, drove to the medical center in Bowling Green. We waited for the doctor to come in and he sat down and he immediately was like, you know, she had a towel tied around her throat and her mouth. And me at 16, I was like, what does he mean? You know, because I didn't really understand. But he was talking to my mom and she was like, he means that somebody done this to her.

[Danika Jackson]

Katie's condition was very critical. She was essentially in a medically induced coma the entire time that she was at the hospital. It wasn't as if police were ever able to talk to her or get information from her. After the fire.

[Deborah Roberts]

Mom had asked to see Katie because at this point, she was fixing to be airlifted to Nashville. She looked like she was sleeping, and my mom started panicking and screaming for her to wake up. Katie, get up. Katie, wake up. They told us we couldn't touch her because of the burns. You know, we didn't want to cause an infection. So me and my dad had to literally physically remove my mom, run the room.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

What was initially thought to be a simple fire is turning into a mystery. I Woke up at 4 in the morning, and I thought it was just a regular rehearsal fire drill.

[Kevin Pickett]

Then they actually brought her out, and.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

Then they were like, medic.

[Kevin Pickett]

And that's when everybody knew it wasn't a joke.

[Stephen Sewells]

Katie's body was burnt up all the way from her inner thighs all the way up to just above her breast. And you don't have to be a great detective to figure out, okay, somebody's trying to cover something up here. In areas of concentration would lead you to believe it's some type of sexual assault.

[Kevin Pickett]

In the very beginning, there was participation from many different agencies. There was Kentucky State Police, there was the Bowling Green Police, and there was the Western Kentucky University Police.

[Danika Jackson]

Those agencies all met and decided that Western's police department would take the lead in the case. Definitely fire, arson investigations and murder were not the kinds of cases that Western police handled with any kind of regularity or at all. The investigators first steps were trying to figure out where Katie had been and who she might have been with.

[Stephen Sewells]

They interviewed Danika Jackson, who was Katie Autry's roommate. Details is huge in an investigation of the science. So Danika Jackson was filling in these details for us.

[Danika Jackson]

According to both police records and an interview that I'd done with Danica that night, the two of them had gone to the pike party together, a fraternity house not too far from campus. And Danica told police that at one point, Katie got into a fight with her on again, off again boyfriend, Maurice, and she slapped him. She was drunk, and after both of those things, just kind of had decided it was best for her to go home. Often at the fraternity parties, they would have either pledges or freshmen that were designated to be sober, and so they were kind of there to give people a ride home. Danica helped connect Katie with somebody to get a ride home from the party. It was about 1:30, 2:00 in the morning.

[Kevin Pickett]

The important thing of Danica's interrogation was that they split up. Katie goes home with the sober driver. Danica goes on to her other party.

[Danika Jackson]

Danica was pretty protective of Katie. In addition to making sure she got home with a sober driver, she called Katie later that night to make sure she was okay after the fight with Maurice.

[Stephen Sewells]

So she calls her approximately 2:30am in the morning. Katie answers. Danika says, what are you doing? She said, I'm back, but somebody's here with me. And Danika says, who is with you in the room? And she said, I don't know who it is, but I just want to go to sleep. Danica Jackson says, put him on the phone. I want to talk to him.

[Danika Jackson]

Danica told police that Katie handed the phone to the man and he told Danica that he was the person who took Katie home from the fraternity party. And so at that point, Danica said, okay, you know, just make sure you put her on her stomach so she doesn't throw up. She's been drinking a lot, or if she does throw up, then, you know she's not going to choke. Danica heard another man's voice in the background, but she couldn't hear what he was saying.

[Kevin Pickett]

For Danica, this wasn't some profound red flag that something had happened. Katie got a sober ride home. You know, Danica was glad she made it to the room. But after Danica's interview, the police were starting to kind of zero in on, you know, there was a culprit or two in the room.

[Stephen Sewells]

According to Danika, we had two people in Katie Archie's dorm room.

[Danika Jackson]

Police had to figure out who those people were.

[Deborah Roberts]

Investigators gather evidence on the scene and look for signs of foul play. The victim was life flighted to Vanderbilt Medical center and is in critical condition.

[Kevin Pickett]

Once it's found out that there was an injury and that there was a fire, there's more questions than there are answers.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

The entire building was a crime scene. I don't think anybody really had any idea that something like this could possibly take place.

[Danika Jackson]

It came out pretty quickly that it was more than just a fire. And there was a lot of shock for me as a 21 year old student, you feel pretty invincible, you know. So the idea that this happened to somebody was pretty shocking. Students were walking in groups and we talked to some students who were putting like chairs in front of their dorm room doors because they were scared that somebody was still out There.

[Stephen Sewells]

Western Track University was elite police department. University police are very small. The chief of Westero University says, you know, we need help. And so he went very high up on the chain. And then we were called in. We were playing with a crime scene. Not only just locating his dorm, but we were playing with a crime scene that spread the whole camp. This.

[Danika Jackson]

The two voices that Danica said she heard on the call that she made to Katie seemed to be a really key part of the investigation. But police had to figure out who those people were, and to do that, they needed to start investigating, you know, who was with her, who might have seen them or talked to them.

[Stephen Sewells]

Now everybody's got video and security cameras and everything. Yes, but I know the technology. In 2003, 19 years ago, they didn't have no video. Some of us started doing the interviews in the dorm.

[Danika Jackson]

The RA told police that they remembered Katie coming in around 1:30 or 2am and that she was alone and that she seemed in good spirits when she came into the dorm. That really lined up with their timeline of when Danica said Katie left the party. And none of the RAs or those working the desk reported seeing or hearing anything suspicious in or around that dorm that night.

[Kevin Pickett]

Maurice Perkins was the guy whom she was seeing.

[Danika Jackson]

It was obvious to police that they needed to look at him as a possible suspect and, you know, make sure that he had a clear alibi, something that could be backed up by several other people.

[Deborah Roberts]

Katie really seemed to like Maurice, but I think it was the difference in the fact that Katie was a little more sheltered. She was in love with Maurice, and he kind of more wanted to play the field a little.

[Danika Jackson]

Danica told police that at the Pike House party, Katie had gotten in a fight with Maurice.

[Deborah Roberts]

I think he did care about Katie quite a bit, but I just don't think he was ready to settle down for a serious relationship, which is what she wanted from him.

[Stephen Sewells]

When we talked to him, he said Katie slapped him. I never hit her. I've never hit her back.

[Danika Jackson]

He told police that after the party, he had been with friends, playing video games and watching, I think, of Slam Dunk Contest. Maurice's doormates confirmed that he was with them that night.

[Stephen Sewells]

Maurice had alibis. He covered every minute, every hour, every single time. And we just kept working the case, doing some interviews, and trying to get leads on this case.

[Kevin Pickett]

It was clear that the police needed to talk to the sober driver.

[Danika Jackson]

In the initial interview with police, Danica wasn't even able to tell police the name of the person who gave Katie a ride home. She just described what he looked like and, you know, what he was driving. The police talked to people at the fraternity party who would have seen her or been around Katie that night. They learned that Ryan Payne was one of the designated drivers that night, and he was the one who took Katie home from the party. So he may have been one of the last people to have seen Katie alive.

[Kevin Pickett]

I think they located him in a dorm called Bemis, where he resided.

[Danika Jackson]

Ryan told police that he dropped her off at Poland hall and that she walked in alone. He said that he was not the one who spoke to Danica that night on the phone and that after he dropped Katie off, he went back to the park, but that things had pretty much cleared out. And so he went and hung out with some friends until, I think, 5am Ryan's friends corroborated his alibi, saying that he was with them playing video games.

[Deborah Roberts]

In the dry states of the Southwest.

[Danika Jackson]

There'S a group that's been denied a basic human right in the Navajo Nation. Today, a third of our households don't have running water, but that's not something they chose for themselves. Can the Navajo people reclaim their right to water and contend with the government's legacy of control and neglect?

[Stephen Sewells]

Our water, our future. Our water, our future.

[Danika Jackson]

That's in the next season of Reclaimed the lifeblood of Navajo Nation. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. While Ryan was talking to police, telling them about dropping Katie off and what he did afterward, he also said that there was somebody else in the truck. Ryan was borrowing another fraternity member's car to take people home. And the guy whose truck it was one of his friends, Stephen Sewells, was passed out in the truck.

[Stephen Sewells]

Well, when Katie gets in, he's been out there long enough to kind of detox a little bit and come to his senses. So they drive to Poland hall, which is not that big of a distance, some of side of campus from the podcast where the fraternity was. So they drive across there. Brian Payne, Steven Soz is in the middle, and Katie's on the passenger side. And so he drives her down there and she gets out.

[Danika Jackson]

Brian told police that he dropped Katie off at Poland hall and that she walked into her dorm. Brian also dropped Steven off nearby, and he was walking in the same direction as Katie Storm.

[Stephen Sewells]

Okay, now I'm on to Steven. So still don't know where Stephen went. I don't know where he went, says Ryan Payne, that drove off.

[Kevin Pickett]

Steven Soules was not a college student. He lived in Scottsville, which is about 20:25 minutes from bowling Green. It is a very, very small town.

[Danika Jackson]

Police first interview Steven on May 7th. During that interview, he had said that he was blacked out drunk and doesn't remember really any interaction with Katie. He said that a friend picked him up from the dorms and he went back to his house and stayed with him for the rest of the night.

[Kevin Pickett]

Doing initial investigations. The cops interviewed Stephen's friend and he gave Stephen an alibi.

[Danika Jackson]

So police have interviewed lots and lots of people, but at this point, they're kind of at a standstill because there wasn't a lot of action in the investigation. Police were trying to find out more about Katie's whereabouts and just Katie in general, you know, who she was and if anybody would have any reason to, to want to hurt her. It became public knowledge that Katie had been working at Tattletales, a local gentleman's club in Bowling Green.

[Deborah Roberts]

18 year old college freshman at Western.

[Danika Jackson]

Kentucky University, worked at the strip club.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

In Bowling Green part time.

[Danika Jackson]

And that was the subject of a lot of rumors. Was her work there a part of this?

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

There was a gentleman's club, I think it was the next county over, a really small dive bar basically that girls could dance in. And I did know that Katie had gotten a job there.

[Deborah Roberts]

When Katie was in college, she decided she no longer wanted to be a part of the foster system and she had her removed. She just wanted to make decisions for herself. Now she was responsible for paying for her own school and taking care of herself while she was at school. So she was working at the smoothie shop on campus, but she wasn't making enough money to take care of all of those bills. So at that point she got a job working at a strip club. Katie was just trying to take care of herself. She was trying to take care of her bills, she was trying to take care of college. And I'm really proud that she was trying to do that.

[Danika Jackson]

Police have the responsibility to follow leads and to investigate people that might know anything. The folks at her job might know of people who were around her or had something, you know, against her.

[Kevin Pickett]

What was striking about Tattletales, the club is that it wasn't within the confines of the city and it drew in people, not just the patrons, but the dancers from like tiny little towns and villages around Bowling Green as well.

[Deborah Roberts]

Katie only worked there for a few weeks, but eventually decided it wasn't something that she wanted to continue doing.

[Danika Jackson]

Police very quickly determined that her employment at Tattletales had nothing to do with what happened to her.

[Kevin Pickett]

Even though that this had nothing to do with what happened to her, all of a sudden that throughout the coverage that Katie wasn't like a murdered college student is that she was this, you know, stripper who had been taken down.

[Deborah Roberts]

That was hurtful and that was angering at that time. It was like the only thing we could really focus on other than her was the things that people were saying about her because we wanted to make sure that when she did wake up, because we expected her to be okay, that she didn't have to hear these things. At this point, she was still fighting for her life. For three days, she fought very hard. Early in the morning on May 7, the doctors actually had taken us in there and you know, told us, you know, we're at a turning point. Her lungs are our main concern. She's not getting enough oxygen. And you know, they were trying to talk to us. I got up and left the room. I couldn't take it. I remember sitting on the concrete bench in front of the burn unit at Vanderbilt, clutching, clutching Katie's graduation picture, just praying that she would be okay. And when I come back inside, everybody was taking turns going in and sitting with Katie and me and Lisa and mom went in. Lisa was laying with her in the bed and. And we stayed with her until, until she was gone. It was a hard thing to watch. And poor little Lisa just clutched into her screaming. And we had to literally, physically pull her off of Katie because she just. It was her sister. It was our world.

[Stephen Sewells]

Because of the grisly murder, new rules.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

Have been instituted across campus. We put our Dorms on a 24 hour lockdown.

[Deborah Roberts]

It kind of scares me, you know, and to think that this could happen here is just like. It's like a horror movie, you know.

[Stephen Sewells]

Like come to life.

[Deborah Roberts]

It's really scary.

[Danika Jackson]

When word got out that Katie had passed, the police investigation at that point had kind of hit a roadblock. They had interviewed several people and gotten some potential suspects, but each of those potential suspects had seemingly been cleared. The day after Katie died on May 8, the man who, who was the alibi for Stephen Sewells, he called police back saying that he wanted to talk to them again.

[Kevin Pickett]

He called the cops to rescind his alibi. In the beginning, he said Stephen came and slept here at like one or something when it was really not the case. So he told them what really happened, that he couldn't give an alibi, that he had been up until like 4:30 in the morning and Stephen was not there.

[Danika Jackson]

After learning more about Stephen's possible involvement. The police know they need to talk to Stephen again and get some more information from him. So they go to his family's house to try to find him.

[Stephen Sewells]

Western Kentucky University police, they have no power outside of that university. And so they had to go with us. We were the state police. We have Statewide jurisdiction in 120 counties, State of Kentucky.

[Danika Jackson]

His family says that they haven't seen him all day. And it seems as if he's kind of trying to hide out, you know, lay low.

[Stephen Sewells]

Then I have to establish rapport with somebody so I can get ahold of Stevens older brother. I can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice. He's very concerned about Ste. Stevens. Let's listen, here's the deal. I need Dr. Stevens. I don't know what he's into, I don't know what he's done, but I really, really need to talk to him. Next day at 10 o'clock that night, I'm sitting in my house after a very, very long day, and my phone rings and he goes, detective Pickett. I said, yes, this is Stephen, sos.

[Danika Jackson]

Stephen was definitely nervous, but he did agree to come in for another interview.

[Stephen Sewells]

I take Stephen in, reading his rights. I've got video cameras going, I've got tape recorders going. And so he starts. He said, I didn't do that to that girl.

[Danika Jackson]

During that interview, he initially told police that he met back up with Katie in the dorm lobby and that he went up to her room with her and they eventually had consensual sex. And Steven said that he didn't know anything about the attack or the fire.

[Deborah Roberts]

I thought I was like, well, you know, I'm leaving. She's like, okay. And I just leave.

[Danika Jackson]

Police said that they didn't really believe this. So they kept pushing Stephen for more details, knowing that there was more to the story than what he was sharing with them. At the time of Stephen's interview, police were able to use props as part of an interrogation as a way to make the person being interrogated feel like police already have something and it's in my best interest just go and tell them what I know.

[Stephen Sewells]

So I made some props and I'm thinking, okay, is there videos? No. Does he know that? No. So then I take VHS tapes and I write Poland hall security cameras and I set them on the table. So I got Steven there. He's staring at them the whole time. From the minute he walks in, he's staring and he. I didn't do this to this girl. I said, the girl's got a name. And then I sent a picture. I can't look at it. I can't look at it. I said, I bet you could.

[Deborah Roberts]

But.

[Stephen Sewells]

I want you to see her. And he's broke down. He said, somebody made me do it.

[Danika Jackson]

Stephen told police that he went into Katie's room, had consensual sex with Katie, but that while he was still there, a stranger entered the room and then attacked her. In hearing from Steven that there was a second person that entered the room, police recalled their interview with Danica where she talked about hearing a second male voice. And so police don't believe this version of the story. They suspect that Stephen does know who this person is and keep pushing him for a name. Lucas Goodrum is another, you know, non student who was known to come over to Bowling Green. He was in the same social group as Stephen Sewell. Police knew that Lucas had been at the party because Lucas and Stephen came together to the pike party.

[Stephen Sewells]

Steven says, Lucas made me do it. Lucas made me do everything he did. I said, what did Lucas do? He come in and seen what we were doing.

[Deborah Roberts]

You know, he wanted to do something, but he went down with him. He just got forceful.

[Stephen Sewells]

He just grabbed her, helped her down by her throat. Helped her down by her throat. I said, who stabbed her? Lucas. I said, you stabbed her too though, right? Uh huh. He made me do everything he did.

[Danika Jackson]

Stephen told police that he went along with it and did this because Lucas threatened and said that he would do something to his family if he didn't do what he told him to do.

[Stephen Sewells]

So after many hours of interviews, Stephen confesses that he raped Katie Autry. But he was made to do it. He's scared of Lucas Goodrich. So we gotta find Lucas Goodrum.

[Danika Jackson]

Lucas was kind of a small town kid who grew up in Scottsville with Stephen. According to police, Lucas had a history of domestic violence and had been ordered to go to anger management classes. Detectives eventually found him and brought him into custody. They brought him to the police station for the interview.

[Kevin Pickett]

When Lucas was asked about Katie, he does remember seeing her at the party.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

I saw her in there dancing. She was really intoxicated and I saw she needed a ride home.

[Stephen Sewells]

She was in no shape to drive. Sure you didn't dance with her over the fight?

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

No, sir.

[Deborah Roberts]

No, sir.

[Stephen Sewells]

All she did was walk by and.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

She rubbed on my stomach.

[Stephen Sewells]

She walked by her.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

What she said about that, I thought she was drunk. That was it, you know.

[Kevin Pickett]

But once the crime is brought up, there is a complete shift in him and Just denial. Flat out denial.

[Stephen Sewells]

After the party, they were pretty much close to Poland hall, and they were kind of hanging out there at the other dorm in the common areas with the Scottsville crowd. This is what Lucas is telling me.

[Danika Jackson]

Lucas told police that he was looking for Stephen, but he ended up driving back to Scottsville at that point, since he hadn't found Steven and went to his dad's house. And he said he got there between 3:30 and 4.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

I'm going to call my dad right now. My dad will tell you. I come home. My dad will sit there and say I slept there.

[Deborah Roberts]

My dad would tell you that.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

My dad wouldn't lie to you.

[Deborah Roberts]

I did not.

[Stephen Sewells]

This is.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

I mean, this is.

[Stephen Sewells]

And I'm sure your dad come and say he was there because he was dad, but I'm a different. And I said, what about these tapes and stuff? And I said, you're on them. He said, show them to me. He caught my blood. He said, take my fingerprints. They won't match because my fingerprints ain't on there. Kind of like poker. He call, you bluff. You either play your head or you fold. I had to fold.

[Danika Jackson]

Police seem to put a lot of weight on Danica's testimony that there were two men in that room and they knew that Stephen and Lucas had grown up together and were friendly with one another. Lucas did admit that he had been a. And that Katie had come up to him and rubbed his stomach.

[Stephen Sewells]

Lucas comes out at West Connecticut University late. Detective said, what do you think? And I says, guys, the only thing I know is we got a testimony from Steven, so is that he's there. Don says, it's not my call, it's yours. So they put him under arrest for murder and arson.

[Deborah Roberts]

They decided to have a viewing and then a memorial service and then the actual funeral for Katie. There was so many people at Katie's funeral. All during the services, literally, there was standing room only. It was touching to see so many people cared, because I think that that's. That's important is that, you know, she did matter. She mattered to a lot of people. It was the morning of the memorial service when we heard there had been an arrest. They had arrested two boys. We had never heard of either one of these boys before this time.

[Danika Jackson]

Soules and Goodrum both attended at Allen.

[Kevin Pickett]

County Scottsville High School.

[Deborah Roberts]

Goodrum played football and graduated in 2000. Soules dropped out after we initially heard about the arrest. My mom then, of course, started trying to call the cops and find out, you know, more about what was going on. In Katie's case, we really didn't have to do a whole lot of research because the reporters done most of it for us. We very quickly became aware that they were at this party because they had friends there that attended the college. It became very well known that Lucas Goodrum was the stepson of the family who founded Dollar General and that Stephen Soules was a poor kid from Scottsville who went to high school with Lucas Goodrum.

[Danika Jackson]

Lucas mom was married to the grandson of the founder of, of Dollar General. And while Lucas didn't grow up with that kind of wealth in the media, Lucas was often identified as, you know, the heir to the Dollar General fortune. Although in reality he was nowhere near getting the Dollar General fortune.

[Kevin Pickett]

The media narrative was just, oh, there is this, you know, like heir of this fortune who created this crime and was a mastermind and forced this less fortunate boy to take part in it with him when really that wasn't the case. But that being said, Lucas was able to hire a big lawyer whereas Stephen did not have access to this. He had like a state assigned attorney.

[Danika Jackson]

Police weren't releasing much of anything other than these two people have been arrested. And so the community didn't know if there was a lot of evidence or no evidence. And so the community kind of was making assumptions on guilt and innocence just based on names being released. It's not unusual for DNA evidence to take days, weeks or even months to come back. So at that point in the investigation, police really just had Stephen's word against Lucas. Word. You know, Steven's giving one version of events that involves Lucas and Lucas is saying, I wasn't there. I had nothing to do with it. Lucas provided police with some evidence to help corroborate his whereabouts. They had the interviews with Lucas dad confirming that he was there. And he also provided gas receipts that he had from getting gas on the way to Scottsville from Bowling Green.

[Stephen Sewells]

As far as Lucas Goodman, I had Stephen's statements, I had the Nikki Jackson statement saying, I heard another male voice. I can put Lucas Gooderman bowling, I can put him at the pike house in contact with Katie Autry. We know she rubbed his stomach. He admits to his own that he's at the other Dollar in the common areas with the Scottsville crowd. He admits to leave and then I've got a gas ticket and then I've got his dad as an alibi telling me, yeah, he's with me at the time. And you know, the gas receipt didn't mean it was Lucas by any means. They didn't have no video. And the only thing I've is a father's statement saying, he's with me.

[Kevin Pickett]

It was months later when they finally got DNA evidence back.

[Stephen Sewells]

What little evidence was recovered with some DNA, body fluids, some little blood, some hair. Every single piece of it went right back to Stephen's office.

[Deborah Roberts]

At this point, as Katie's court case starts coming up, you know, we have Stephen Sowles, who has confessed to his part in her attack. And he's, you know, stated in his confession that Lucas Goodrum was there. Lucas Goodrum is at this point, still saying he wasn't there. He had nothing to do with it. You know, so nobody really knew at this point for sure what had happened.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

Stephen Sowles made a plea deal wherein.

[Deborah Roberts]

He pled guilty to murder and rape.

[Stephen Sewells]

Charges and agreed to testify against Goodrum.

[Deborah Roberts]

Stephen Sowles did take a plea deal. He took life in prison without the possibility of parole.

[Danika Jackson]

Stephen pleaded guilty to seven of the nine charges against him with the understanding that he would testify truthfully against. And also part of that plea deal was that he would not be sentenced to death. Even with Stephen testifying against Lucas, it wasn't going to be an easy case to prosecute. There was zero physical evidence against Lucas in connection with Katie's murder or rape.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

After more than a year since Goodrum's arrest, and with the trial now just over a month away, both sides seem to have much more to say.

[Deborah Roberts]

We know that Lucas is innocent. We believe him 100%. You know, just the same as she doesn't want to admit he's guilty, she needs to realize that he might be.

[Kevin Pickett]

The trial of the Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. Lucas. Bryan Goodrum was moved to Owensboro because of the complete media saturation in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

[Deborah Roberts]

I attended the trial pretty much every day. Danika, Katie's roommate, she actually testified that while she was talking to Stephen Sells on the phone, she heard a second male voice enter Katie's dorm room.

[Danika Jackson]

The key evidence or witness for the prosecutors was Stephen's testimony against Lucas. And for the defense, the key witness or testimony was the corroboration of his alibi by both evidence and testimony, as well as the fact that there wasn't any physical evidence placing him into that dorm room or, you know, connected to Katie at all. One of the problematic things was that Steven's story had changed several times. That led to some doubt being put on Steven's character and, you know, how much he could be trusted.

[Deborah Roberts]

When the trial started to come to a close and we knew that the jury Was going to deliberate. Lisa was with me, and she'd had a panic attack, so I had to take her home. We didn't expect the jury to come back as quickly as they did. I was at home with Lisa and Donnie, Katie's mother. Donnie was watching tv. All I remember is screaming. And so I run in there and I'm like, what, Donnie, what's wrong? You know, literally, it was running across the bottom of the screen that they had acquitted Lucas Goodrum.

[Kevin Pickett]

There was, like, a good pool of journalists there. And, you know, we all went into it thinking that, you know, Lucas is guilty. Like, oh, my gosh, we can't believe it. And then just all of us were just floored. Once the trial unfolded and saw the lack of evidence, it really swayed us and it obviously swayed the jury. They deliberated for three hours and declared him not guilty.

[Deborah Roberts]

I understand why the jury went the way that they did, but for us, we felt like it was the wrong verdict. I believe that I will probably never know exactly what happened and get all the answers that I'm asking for, and that eats at me. But I feel like it's important that we keep asking the questions in the hopes that we do get the answers.

[Kevin Pickett]

I see this case as it's all about, you know, narratives, and, like, whoever establishes the first narrative, that's the one that people stick to.

[Danika Jackson]

I just think that you often see that not just in this case, but in lots of cases where someone is convicted by the court of public opinion before they're given a chance to face the actual court of justice.

[Stephen Sewells]

I believe in the justice system. Since he has a right to a trial by his peers, he has a right to representation. He was acquitted, so he's innocent.

[Deborah Roberts]

Have I forgotten how to be? I do notice that as the years go on, I remember the little things more than, like, the big memories. I miss the way that she would literally spend hours curling her hair, only to turn her head upside down and shake it all out. Am I leaving me? I miss the hugs, the laughs. I liked the old me. I loved everything I did. I was bolder.

[Katie Autry's Cousin]

She would do anything for you if. If she cared about you. I think that's really what should live on in people's memories.

[Deborah Roberts]

A lot of people only know Katie for what happened to her. And even people that didn't know her. A lot of the times, the first thing they think about is what happened. Not who she was, but Katie was someone that you don't forget. Have I left the world as me? I would want Katie to be remembered as strong, determined, fun and loving. You know, she's just one of those genuine people who could have made a difference in the world. She could have literally changed it if she'd been given the chance. Don't wanna laugh, don't wanna cry. Just wanna wait and find that spark, that life, that energy. I this is Deborah Roberts. That does it for season one of Death in the Dorms. The series was produced by ABC News Studios with the Intellectual Property Corporation. And yes, like a river for Hulu Originals. It's now streaming on Hulu. Next week, we're bringing you a new series, radioactive the Karen Silkwood Mystery, an original ABC audio podcast marking the 50th anniversary of the nuclear whistleblower's death. For all new broadcast episodes of 20 20, remember to join us Friday nights at 9 on ABC. Thanks for listening.