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- [00:01]
Target Advertiser
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- [00:30]
Ameca Insurance Representative
At Ameca Insurance, we know it's more than just a car. It's the two door coupe that was there for your first drive, the hatchback that took you cross country and back, and the minivan that tackles the weekly carpool for the cars you couldn't live without. Trust Ameca Auto Insurance Amica. Empathy is our best policy.
- [01:01]
Thrivent Financial Representative
For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include a lot more people than ourselves. Loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrivent, we help plan your financial picture with the bigger picture in mind. Because even though our business is helping guide your finances, our ambition is to make it mean so much more. Thrivent, where money means more. Connect with us@thrivent.com.
- [01:43]
Justin
Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. You know, he has. He's just straight evil. I was always scared. It's like my biggest fear was being him.
- [01:54]
Narrator
Jeremy Scott was a shadow in Justin's life. Always there, but only mentioned in hushed tones. Growing up, he'd hear stray comments about Jeremy, but the details were always vague. A hazy mix of fact and fiction.
- [02:10]
Justin
There's like different stories, like killing two people in one time. I was under depression. From all the information I gathered that he's killed at least 12 people.
- [02:18]
Narrator
Justin also heard bits and pieces about a true story. The story of the one murder his dad did get convicted of.
- [02:27]
Justin
Killing this one guy because he was gay. He said that, you know, the dude tried to touch him, but apparently the dude didn't touch him. He just wanted to rob him for money.
- [02:36]
Narrator
Now Justin wanted to know everything about who his dad was and what he'd done. As long as it was finally the truth.
- [02:45]
Justin
If you really want to make amends, just, you know, come clean and just open, open yourself to yourself.
- [02:53]
Narrator
There are some things, Justin, I can tell you about this murder. Hey, Shane. Hey, buddy. How are you, sir? This looks different. I can tell you about the evidence Kelsey and I saw at the Polk County Courthouse. Same as last time. Don't touch anything. Take some pictures and correct that. We saw the blood spattered shirt your dad was wearing the day he was arrested. Spud McKenzie, seizure or something.
- [03:20]
Jamie
Yeah.
- [03:21]
Narrator
Okay. That the weapon was a bottle. Sparkling white grape juice. That's what it is. Okay. The confessions exist on two black cassette tapes.
- [03:31]
Jamie
Testing, testing. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 5, 4, 3, 2.
- [03:36]
Narrator
I can tell you what's in them and I will. But there are other parts of the story. Parts I could never have known if your mom hadn't chosen to share her side of things. She's the one who can tell you about your dad's final moments of freedom. Because your mom was there, Justin. And in a way, so were you. Do you hear my madness Laughter hides my fears Sorrow steps are endless in this valley of tears I wanna see a revelation I wanna know who you are I'm reaching out in desperation to the one who's holding the stars to the one who's holding the star to.
- [04:58]
Jamie
The one who's holding the stars to.
- [05:04]
Narrator
The One Bone Voice Valley Season 2 Jeremy Chapter 2 Destroyer.
- [05:20]
Jamie
I remember him calling and saying that him and Brian were coming. They were going to pick me up.
- [05:29]
Narrator
Jamie thought she was done with Jeremy. He broke up with her after finding out she was pregnant. But the morning after Halloween, Jeremy shows up in a Chevy Beretta. Brian's in the front seat.
- [05:42]
Jamie
I knew Brian from high school. He was always kind of a quiet guy. One of the potheads, you know, he's hung out with the potheads that smoked out under the oak tree. That. When I saw him in that car, he was. He just. He didn't even look like the same person. His face was all broke out. It was really pale. I remember getting in the backseat and we left.
- [06:08]
Narrator
Jamie turns to Jeremy, where'd you get the car?
- [06:12]
Jamie
And he said, oh, it's Donald's car now. Don. I remember him mentioning Donald before. Donald, I think was the guy that he owned trailers or ran a trailer park or something. And Jeremy would do side jobs for him.
- [06:29]
Narrator
Here's what I learned from police files and trial testimony. Jeremy met 37 year old Donald Moorhead that fall at a gay bar called Fantasy 2000. Don gives him some weed, asks if he wants to make some money. And Jeremy begins doing handiwork at his trailer. Sometimes Don would let Jeremy stay overnight if he had no place to go. Don's friends later testified that Don was paying Jeremy for sex. Jeremy denied this.
- [06:59]
Jamie
And it was weird. He said, don let me borrow his car. And I remember thinking, why would Don let you borrow his car? He knows you don't have a driver's license. You've never had one.
- [07:13]
Narrator
Jeremy circles the block a few times. From the back seat, Jamie notices both boys are jumpy and nervous. Jeremy looks like he's starting to cry.
- [07:25]
Jamie
He had spots on his pants. He was wearing this white and blue shirt and these jeans. And they had kind of like ragged places, not really holes, but like real thin ragged places. And there were spots all over it. And I remember thinking he just bought that shirt not too long ago because it was the shirt he got with the money they gave him when he got out of prison. He got it from the dollar store, but it had spots on it.
- [07:58]
Narrator
The spots are dark and red.
- [08:04]
Jamie
And I think my brain registered what it was.
- [08:08]
Narrator
Jeremy tells her something really bad happened and that he and Brian have to leave town. They let Jamie out of the car and they drive off. Jamie is terrified. She runs inside and calls her friend Jennifer.
- [08:26]
Thrivent Financial Representative
I remember her calling me. And she was upset. She was crying. And I thought that maybe they had a fight, whatever. But she was telling me that she was worried about Jeremy. Something had. Something bad had happened. Jeremy had told her he'd gotten into a fight with some guy. And the story was that the guy was gay and made a pass at him. And he had grabbed a. A bottle and he hit him with it. Didn't know if he knocked him out or what happened. And they got out of there. So she's telling me he's telling her all of that. And she kept saying, I think there's more. I think there's more. There's more to it. And she sounded scared to me. And I remember telling her, whatever you do, if he shows up, don't leave with him. Don't go anywhere. I made a promise, but swear to me you're not going to do anything stupid. You're not going to go anywhere. Basically trying to talk her into staying put.
- [09:25]
Narrator
Later that night, Jeremy calls again. He says he wants her to lay low with him for a few days, then make a run for Texas and a fresh start. He's coming back to get her.
- [09:39]
Jamie
I remember going out back to smoke a cigarette and just thinking. And it was almost like I was trying to think of a way to get out of it, but couldn't find a way to get out of it. But I can remember smoking a cigarette and hearing the car pull up and my heart just dropping. And I remember walking around the side of the house, and I figured he'd be sitting in the car. Well, he was already at the front door and my grandmother was at the front door. Well, he had told my grandmother, I'm here to pick up Jamie. So you know, he already told her I was leaving so she's like, oh, okay. Well come pack your stuff. You didn't tell me you were going.
- [10:20]
Narrator
Jamie takes another look at Jeremy. He's still wearing the blood stained clothes he had on earlier that morning.
- [10:28]
Jamie
I knew I wasn't coming back.
- [10:40]
Target Advertiser
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- [11:11]
Ameca Insurance Representative
Insurance we know it's more than just a house. It's your home. The place that's filled with memories. The early days of figuring it out to the later years of still figuring.
- [11:27]
Target Advertiser
It out.
- [11:31]
Ameca Insurance Representative
For the place you've put down roots. Trust Amica Home Insurance Amica empathy is our best policy.
- [11:40]
Greenlight Advertiser
This message comes from Greenlight. Ready to start talking to your kids about financial literacy? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app that teaches kids and teens how to earn, save, spend wisely and invest with your guardrails and place. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores automate allowance and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real time notifications. Join millions of parents and kids building healthy financial habits together on Greenlight. Get started risk free@greenlight.com iheartra and so.
- [12:19]
Jamie
People would ask me, well, why you knew he showed up at your house in this guy's car and he had blood on his pants. Why did you get in the car with him? I was not telling him no. You don't understand and people just don't understand. I wasn't telling him no.
- [12:38]
Narrator
Jeremy and Jamie set off in Don's Chevy Beretta. As they drive, Jeremy talks about his plan. He's got family about 30 miles away. They can hang out with them for a few days before hitting the road. Maybe leave Polk county for good. An hour later, they arrive at a trailer in Davenport. Jeremy's younger brother, Royal Dean, is there with his teenage wife Anna and their baby.
- [13:06]
Jamie
The Baby was walking, so she had to have been, you know, over a year. And I remember the baby being in a diaper and just dirty, just covered in dirt, and the house was dirty, and the baby was crying, and I wanted to get the baby something to eat. There was nothing. Nothing. There was nothing in that kitchen. Nothing. And I came out and I said, there's nothing in this house. What are you going to give her to eat? And I remember Ann getting mad, talking about, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. She's already ate. She's fine. She's fine. And Jeremy told me to go to bed.
- [13:47]
Narrator
Back in Lakeland, Jennifer spent the whole night worrying about her friend.
- [13:52]
Thrivent Financial Representative
I remember getting up, you know, took a shower. My hair was wet. I was combing my hair, and I walked out through the kitchen into the dining room, and on the dining room table was the newspaper, Lakeland Ledger. That was normal. And I went over and I grabbed it. I always like to read the comics, you know, So I grabbed it, and bang, right on the front page, there's the story about someone found murdered. And the things that they were saying in the news article were, you know, pretty much lining up with some of the stuff that she had told me.
- [14:23]
Narrator
The headline in the Lakeland Ledger reads, neighbors and Investigators Mystified by Lakeland man found dead in Home. Below it, a photo shows a sheet covered body being wheeled to a van. Jennifer skims the article, reading that the victim, Donald Moorhead, died from a head wound and that police believe his Chevy Beretta was stolen. Jennifer's thoughts jumped to Jamie's panicked call and to Jeremy Scott.
- [14:53]
Thrivent Financial Representative
So I started freaking out, like, oh, my God, he killed this guy. You know? So I called her grandmother's house, and she was gone. They didn't know where she was. She had left with Jeremy. And at that point, I kind of freaked out because I. I'm reading this. He's obviously murdered someone in my mind, obviously murdered someone. And now my friend is gone. My pregnant friend is gone somewhere with him. I went and I found my mom, and I went to her crying. I had the paper in my hand, and I took it to her, and I told her what Jamie had told me. And I showed her the article.
- [15:35]
Narrator
That same morning, across Polk County, Jamie wakes up in a trailer with Jeremy.
- [15:42]
Jamie
And I was starving. I was so hungry. Now, mind you, I'm six months pregnant and the baby's still crazy crying. That baby was always crying. And I know she was hungry. You can just tell she was hungry. And I Remember coming out and the keys to that car sitting on this little table thing that was sitting by the door. And I didn't care what they said. I was going to get something to eat. And I knew from sitting in the back seat that that center came council thing had a bunch of change in it. And I grabbed them keys and Jeremy said, where are you going? I said, I'm going to get me and this baby something to eat. And I walked out the door and I made it maybe a block, maybe two blocks, I'm not really sure. And all of a sudden, all these cops came flying from nowhere. And I can remember just sitting there petrified and thinking in the back of my head, the first thought I thought was, I knew it. I knew it. My gut knew. When he picked me up, I knew it. I knew something was wrong. And I remember putting my hands up and them all getting out, and they all had their guns pointed at me. And I can remember hollering out the window, I'm pregnant. Please don't shoot. Please don't shoot. I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant. And I'm just bawling and bawling. And they're like, where's Scott? Where's Jeremy Scott? Where's Jeremy Scott? I'm like, I'm alone. I'm alone. Don't shoot. Don't shoot. Please don't shoot. And I remember this one cop and he came and he grabbed my arm and he held it out the window. And then he opened the door, and I can remember him yanking me out and putting me across the hood. And all I kept thinking about was the baby. And so I was grabbing my stomach, and so then they got really mad, and so they're grabbing my arms, and all I kept hollering was, I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant. And this one cop got down in my face and he says, if you care about your baby, where's Jeremy Scott? And I said, I'll tell you where they're at. I'll tell you what they're wearing. Just let me get off my baby. And so he let me stand up. I said to that house, I told them the description of the house. This is what they're wearing. This is how many people are there. I said, there's a baby in the house. And I remember this lady cop being there. And I can remember I looked at her and I was crying, and I said, please take some food for that baby. And she just looked at me and she said, what? I said, please feed that baby. And the tear and I mean, she started crying. They did put me in the back of the car and they told me they were taking me to the station. And I said, okay. And when they shut that door, I could breathe. It was like the whole time I couldn't breathe, like I was underwater. And I think that's when it finally hit me that I was free, that I was finally going to get away. And they took me to the station and they were asking me everything and I told them everything, everything I knew. And they were asking me about calling Jennifer. And then that's when I knew Jennifer had called the police.
- [19:10]
Thrivent Financial Representative
I was scared and I was upset for her, but I was also mad at her because she promised me that she wouldn't go with him. She promised me.
- [19:20]
Jamie
So Jennifer saved my life. I'm telling you right now, I still firmly 100% believe if he had not been arrested, I'd be dead. It was getting more and more violent each time. And the look when I first met him, he was intense and you could just feel him. By the end there was nothing. There was nothing in his eyes. And he would look at you and you would just feel like ice water.
- [20:13]
Target Advertiser
Bring spring to your door with target circle 360 get all you need for Easter hosting spring get togethers and more with unlimited same day Delivery through Target Circle360. From Easter Basket goodies to fresh florals, getting everything the same day is easy. Open the Target app and bring the magic of the season to your door with unlimited same day delivery Through Target Circle360. Visit target.com circle or the Target app for more details. Subscribe Prescription required Same day delivery is subject to terms applies to orders over.
- [20:41]
Ameca Insurance Representative
$35 at Ameca Insurance. We know it's more than just a car. It's the two door coupe that was there for your first drive, the hatchback that took you cross country and back, and the minivan that tackles the weekly carpool for the cars you couldn't live without. Trust Amica Auto Insurance Amica Empathy is our best policy.
- [21:13]
Greenlight Advertiser
This message comes from Greenlight. Ready to start talking to your kids about financial literacy? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app that teaches kids and teens how to earn, save, spend wisely and invest with your guardrails in place. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores, automate allowance and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real time notifications. Join millions of parents and kids building healthy financial habits together on Greenlight. Get started risk free@greenlight.com iheart 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
- [21:49]
Jamie
We'll be speaking with Jeremy. J E R E M E Y Scott.
- [21:56]
Narrator
When Jeremy and Brian are arrested, they eventually tell police everything. That the murder happened the morning after.
- [22:03]
Jamie
Halloween night, going back to Halloween, that.
- [22:08]
Narrator
They were drinking and smoking in Don's trailer. Jeremy knows Don's got hundreds of dollars on him. He wants the cash and Don's car. And when he sees Don asleep in the recliner, Jeremy smashes him over the head with a bottle.
- [22:23]
Justin
I hit him one time on the bottle and that's when he went down.
- [22:28]
Jamie
He was like.
- [22:28]
Justin
Then he was unconscious.
- [22:30]
Narrator
When Don doesn't die fast enough, Jeremy wraps a telephone cord around his neck.
- [22:36]
Justin
So I got a piece of cord.
- [22:37]
Narrator
And watches Don take his final breath. From the tapes, it's clear the murder, like so many of Jeremy's violent acts, was completely senseless and not well thought out. He kills Don to give himself time to search for money. He knew Don was hiding in the trailer, but the murder didn't bring him any closer to finding it. But you couldn't find it.
- [23:00]
Justin
Couldn't find it. You won't find it. I don't care what you do, you won't find it. You won't find none of his coke either.
- [23:05]
Narrator
Jeremy gave up looking for the cash and left a fake note on Don's door to buy themselves time to get away. It reads, friend was in trouble in Orlando, went to help him. Be back in a few days. Don't. That's when Jeremy drives over to Jamie's with blood on his clothes and brings her to the trailer in Davenport. When police pull Jamie over in the Chevy, Jeremy hears a dog from the K9 unit. From inside the trailer, he sees the helicopter circling above. With nowhere to go, he and his younger brother, Royal Dean, take off into the wood woods. Dean's got a warrant out for his arrest. It's an unrelated charge, but he doesn't want to be thrown in jail either. They wade into a creek, hoping the water will mask their scent. But the helicopter stays fixed above them. They sit together on a log, and Jeremy finally tells Royal Dean what he did to Donald Moorhead. They're after me. Not yet you, he says, watching the scene unfold through the trees. From where they sit, Jeremy sees the officers putting Jamie in the back of a cop car. And then he does something that, for me, looking at it now reveals what a complicated and conflicted person he is.
- [24:34]
Jamie
My brother said he was going to turn himself, so that's what he did.
- [24:39]
Narrator
Jamie had nothing to do with this murder. And he doesn't want her or Royal Dean caught up in it.
- [24:45]
Jamie
He gave me enough time to get away, and he turned himself in.
- [24:50]
Narrator
What I know from police records is that Jeremy walks up the hill toward the waiting detectives. Are you looking for me? He asks. His voice is calm, almost resigned to his fate. He's been behind bars ever since. Somebody told Jamie that you were gonna kill Jamie. What? Yeah. I'd take my own life or I'd kill her. That's the only girl I ever really loved. And she was pregnant with Justin at the time. Yeah.
- [25:35]
Jamie
Yeah.
- [25:40]
Narrator
On March 5, 1989, while Jeremy is locked up in the Polk County Jail awaiting trial for Donald Moorhead's murder, Jamie checks into the hospital with her mom.
- [25:51]
Jamie
I was petrified. You know, you see movies about evil children like. Like Damien and stuff, and. And I. I'm not gonna lie, I had those thoughts. I had those thoughts that, what if this kid is just like. When Justin was born, the day he was born and the way he was. I had a really rough labor. He was in stress. It was just. It was scary. And he ended up being in the hospital for, like, six weeks. And I couldn't hold him, and I couldn't touch him. And I would sit there and I would look at him, and I told my. I remember telling my mom, this baby's not gonna love me because I can't bond with him. I can't touch him. And I can remember him just looking at me and my mom saying, you see how he's looking at you? He knows who you are. And I just fell so in love with this baby, and. And I just knew. I just knew he was mine. I didn't care who his dad was. I didn't care how he came. That was my baby. That was my child.
- [27:26]
Narrator
By the time Jeremy's trial began, his son was six months old. This trial was not a whodunit. Both Jeremy and his co defendant, Brian hall, had already confessed to killing Donald Moorhead. Even though the jury recommended life in prison at Jeremy, sentencing prosecutor John Aguero convinced the judge to send him to the electric chair. So Jeremy was shipped off to death row at Rayford to wait for his execution date. And while he waited, he could not stop thinking about his son.
- [27:59]
Jamie
He would write. I mean, at first, it was like almost every day, I would get a letter, get a letter, get a letter. And then I can remember him begging to meet Justin, begging to meet Justin. I wanted to meet Justin. I wouldn't write him back. I wouldn't respond. And I kept Thinking if I don't answer him, he'll quit writing. He's gone, he's gone. Don't answer him. But he kept asking about Justin, and he wanted to meet Justin. And I finally broke down and I thought, okay, I'm going to let him meet Justin one time.
- [28:36]
Narrator
Jamie drives north to Rayford to visit Jeremy. In the visitation area, death row inmates are separated from visitors by thick glass. When Jeremy's escorted in, he's wearing blue prison pants with an orange shirt reserved for death row inmates. Jamie is seated on one side of the glass. Jeremy sits down on the other side.
- [29:01]
Jamie
I let him see him for. It was like five minutes. Wasn't very long.
- [29:07]
Narrator
Jeremy can't take his eyes off of Justin.
- [29:11]
Jamie
And I remember him starting crying. And I told him, this is the only time you'll ever see your son. I think me being able to finally tell him no without the fear was what I needed. And I remember leaving and the relief that I felt and knowing that I'd never have to see him again. And it was just so much relief, so much relief. And I can remember going out and sitting in the car, and I know I sat there for probably an hour and I just cried. And a part of me felt guilty because Justin was going to grow up without a dad, but I wouldn't want him growing up with that dad. And the letters stopped not long after that. They got less and less. And it wasn't much longer after that that he finally just gave up and stopped writing.
- [30:26]
Narrator
Jamie tries to move on, to forget. But every time there's a change in Jeremy's status, the doc notifies her. Like a few years later when the Florida Supreme Court overturns Jeremy's death sentence, citing all the physical and emotional. Emotional abuse he suffered as a child. She's told that his sentence has been reduced to life in prison. When she gets these calls about Jeremy, she has to start forgetting all over again.
- [30:56]
Jamie
I used to have some of his clothes and stuff that I held onto for a long time. I got rid of all of that to try to get rid of demons, and it didn't work. Yeah, I had a really rough time with nightmares and stuff for a long time. And that didn't help. It didn't help.
- [31:22]
Narrator
But then she also has this little baby. And as he grows up, it becomes even harder to forget.
- [31:31]
Jamie
From the day he was born, he looked just like Jeremy. Looked just like him. Especially when he reached those teenage years and when he first sprouted up and when that voice changed and he started getting the little scruffy hairs. And, oh, God, my heart would just clench. It would just clench and see. Justin doesn't have the dark hair. He's got the blond hair. So he would look like Jeremy when I first met him. Sometimes the way he walks, he's got Jeremy's walk. He walks like Jeremy and those blue eyes and, you know, the Jeremy I first met. And it would make my heart hurt.
- [32:21]
Narrator
But she doesn't talk about it, doesn't share the hurt she feels. Not with her son. As he gets older or with anyone else.
- [32:30]
Justin
As I'm getting older, one thing I'm realizing. Humans are very fragile. They're very emotional creatures, all of us. I'm a human, too. I promise.
- [32:40]
Narrator
I fly down to Florida to visit Justin about a month after our first phone call. First thing I notice is how much he resembles a younger version of his father. I've seen Jeremy's mug shots, the. And the photos taken during his prison transfers when he was around the same age as Justin. Both father and son have the piercing blue eyes Jamie talked about. Justin isn't as tall as Jeremy, but he shares the same thin build. Even their voices have a similar tone and cadence. The other thing that stands out about Justin is his nature. He's a real people pleaser, thoughtful, sensitive. He tells me that for as long as he can remember, he's yearned for a strong and stable family.
- [33:27]
Justin
I did have times when I would see families and I would, you know, cry in my head type thing, because I would always want a father. And that goes for a mother, too. Like, I wanted a happy mother type thing.
- [33:40]
Narrator
There were years when Jamie couldn't care for her son. Justin spent time living with his grandmother and then an aunt While his mom fought to push away her painful past.
- [33:52]
Jamie
I never talked to anybody about any of this. I bottled all that up and put it away. Well, the way to keep it put away was to do drugs and to drink and. And get in these bad relationships. And it was just recycling and recycling.
- [34:13]
Narrator
Even as she tried to avoid talking about Jeremy at all costs, he had a way of resurfacing in her life. Like how in 2005, Jamie got an unexpected knock on her door.
- [34:27]
Jamie
When those detectives showed up, it was like somebody just took a bandage and just tore it off, and everything just came out. They just said, we need to talk to you about Jeremy's Scott.
- [34:40]
Narrator
Investigators had just learned that Jeremy Scott's fingerprints were identified inside the car Michelle Schofield was driving the night she was killed.
- [34:50]
Jamie
And as soon as they said that, I hit the Floor. And I just started crying and I said, how did he get out? Because that's been my biggest fear is he's going to get out, he's going to find me and he's going to kill me. And they were like, oh no, no, no, he didn't get out. We just need to talk to you. And for him to still have that hold on me 16 years later, I thought I was over that. I don't even remember most of that interview. I'm going to be real with you. I don't remember a lot of it. And when I left that interview, and I'm just going to be honest, I went on a three week binger and pretty much disappeared.
- [35:46]
Narrator
Justin learned not to ask too many questions about his dad.
- [35:51]
Justin
The only time anything was mentioned it was either when I was in argument needle neither be like your father, you don't blah blah, blah blah blah anytime they ever talked about him, you're not like him type thing. So I wonder how much of my life I followed in his footsteps. Because if you keep telling someone they're not something, they end up being something like I gotta make sure not to do that with my kids.
- [36:14]
Narrator
What was it like when you found out you were gonna be a father?
- [36:19]
Justin
I was scared. I was, I was. Well, I'm still scared, but it was just more or less me being scared about anger issues.
- [36:29]
Narrator
Justin doesn't have a criminal record. He's never gotten into the kind of trouble Jeremy did.
- [36:35]
Justin
You know if I'm gonna be like my dad, which I'm not. Cause I don't even know what my dad would be like in a dad role.
- [36:43]
Narrator
The first time Justin heard his dad's voice, he heard him confessing to a murder.
- [36:49]
Justin
I had to live with this every day.
- [36:54]
Jamie
Can you describe that? What is it like to live with this?
- [36:59]
Justin
It's not a good feeling, put it this way. Let's put it this way. I dream, I wake up, I turn over, I see a dead body sleeping next to me. I sleep with dead bodies every night when I go to bed. That's my punishment. Cuz I was expecting, I was expecting someone cold. I was expecting like a, like someone that really don't care. And then I heard someone genuinely crying. And so I'm like, all right. So it makes sense. His demons finally caught up to him. He was forced to break and he didn't know how to handle that.
- [37:40]
Narrator
Jeremy can never set things truly right. He can't bring back the dead or erase the ripples of pain he's caused for so many. But he can set the record straight, which he hopes and Justin hopes and I hope will one day help to exonerate Leo Scofield, whose conviction for the murder of his wife still stands today. Justin wants to support his dad through this struggle. He wants him to be honest about his past.
- [38:13]
Justin
My dad was a destroyer. I'm a healer type thing. So in the beginning is to heal what my dad had broke. And I feel like if I do that then I could unlock the power of healing. That's how my mind frame works.
- [38:29]
Narrator
Justin tells me he wants to talk to his dad.
- [38:32]
Justin
I want to be able to talk to my dad cuz I don't even know how to take the steps to talk to him. I'm not scared of my.
- [38:37]
Narrator
He wonders if this will help him be a better father to his own son so he can someday show him that even broken pieces can be put back together in their own way.
- [38:47]
Justin
I know that if anything, I have.
- [38:49]
Jamie
To help my dad.
- [38:50]
Justin
How can I be a father to my son if I can't even stand up to my own?
- [38:53]
Narrator
I tell Justin I'll try to help him. We can definitely help you with this. We have. We've been corresponding with him. I'll just tell you right now. But deep down I was unsettled. Connecting Justin with his father means bringing him into the chaos of Jeremy's life. I knew what that was like. But Justin is his son. How would he respond to getting a letter like this? Mr. King, I have no hard feelings toward you or to society. I'll make this short. This will be my last time writing to you. They are going to lock me away for a long time. The monster in me is coming alive one last time. Hope everything works out for you. Goodbye. That's next time. Bone Valley is a production of Lava for Good podcast in association with Signal Company Number One. Our executive producers are Jason Flom, Jeff Kempler and Kevin Werdes. Kara Kornhaber is our senior producer. Jackie Pauley and Hannah Beale are our producers. Britt Spangler is our sound designer. Marianne McCune is our editor. Fact checking by Daniel Suleiman. Jeff Clyburn is our head of marketing and operations. Our social media director is Ismati Guardarama. Our social media manager is Sarah Gibbons and our art director is Andrew Nelson. Additional research and production by Kelsey Decker. Additional sound recording by James Johnson. Bone Valley is written and produced by me, Gilbert King. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and threads @ Lava for good.
- [40:59]
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Narrator
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