My Girl Susan

Summary

Bone Valley Season 3 | Graves County

Episode: "My Girl Susan"
Date: October 1, 2025
Host: Maggie Freleng

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Overview

In "My Girl Susan," Maggie Freleng continues to unravel the tangled web of the Jessica Curran murder case in Graves County, Kentucky. This episode spotlights the pivotal and polarizing role of Susan Galbraith, a self-styled citizen investigator whose involvement deeply influenced who was blamed—and who was exonerated—in the case. Through testimony, interviews, and newly uncovered evidence, the episode probes Susan's motives, her relationships, and the ways her actions redirected the course of justice, potentially sending innocent people to prison and shielding others from scrutiny.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Susan Galbraith: From Citizen Investigator to Power Broker

• Susan’s Courtroom Presence

  • Susan Galbraith is depicted as scattered and evasive when on the stand, chewing gum and providing incomplete answers ([02:01-02:23]).
  • Attorneys on both sides complain to the judge:
    • “This witness is not being responsive. She’s meandering.” ([02:23])

• Her Stated and Actual Motives

  • Publicly portrays herself as an ordinary citizen called by “divine forces” to seek justice for Jessica ([25:29])
  • Evidence suggests her main goal was to clear Jeremy Adams, her neighbor and friend ([22:07], [25:11])

• Relationship to Key Players

  • Maintained a friendship with Donna Adams (Jeremy’s mother) and sometimes worked with Jeremy’s girlfriend, Net, on her investigation ([22:07-22:40], [29:04])
  • A witness statement says, “Susan Galbraith was friends with Donna Adams... Donna was under the impression that Susan was going to help get Jeremy out of trouble.” ([26:02])

2. Early Suspects: Jeremy Adams and Carlos Saxton

• The Initial Police Theory

  • Jeremy Adams (Jessica’s child’s father) and Carlos Saxton (her boyfriend) were indicted for her murder, largely due to hearsay and alleged confessions to jailhouse informants ([06:25-13:30])

• Unreliable Evidence

  • Case against Jeremy and Carlos built overwhelmingly on prisoner informant testimony, without substantive physical evidence ([14:09-14:40])

• Grand Jury Proceedings

  • Magistrate’s frustration:
    • “I have never seen a case so encumbered with problems, and I hope I never see another one.” ([15:26])

• Case Dismissal and Shift of Focus

  • Charges were dropped due to missing evidence and prosecution errors ([15:26-16:33])
  • With Susan’s involvement, focus shifted away from Jeremy and back toward other suspects—especially Quincy Cross.

3. Shaping the Case Against Quincy Cross

• How Susan’s Investigation Shifted Blame

  • Through working relationships with law enforcement and journalists (particularly Tom Mangold), Susan promoted the narrative that Quincy Cross was the true perpetrator ([27:30-29:04])

  • Attorney Miranda Hellman (Kentucky Innocence Project) explains:

    • “Welcome to Susan Galbraith world, whose main goal was always to get Jeremy Adams out of this.” ([21:53])

  • “If you look at the record, the prosecution used a story that was developed by Susan Galbraith. And Susan…her goal was to save Jeremy Adams.” – John Poole, Private Investigator ([25:11])

• Hiding Evidence and Manipulating the Narrative

  • Susan shared emails with KBI agents but tried to avoid subpoenas and withheld documents from defense ([30:51])
  • Her emails and records are now key evidence in the latest bid to overturn Quincy’s conviction.

4. The Aftermath and Jeremy Adams’s Continuing Shadow

• Jeremy as a Suspected (and Self-Proclaimed) Informant

  • Jeremy routinely offered to be a wire-wearing informant to get himself out of unrelated charges ([32:13-32:30])
  • He name-drops his “girl Susan” as a critical source of information ([33:02-33:19])
  • “A whole lot of information that’s been found out now came through my girl Susan…” – Jeremy ([33:06​])

• “My Girl Susan” Was Actively Defending & Covering for Jeremy

  • Susan often trailed Jeremy to encourage people not to repeat his incriminating stories; when he said he was with Jessica the night of the murder, Susan called police to correct him ([39:13])

• Testimony from Jessica’s Family & Friends

  • Joe Curran (Jessica's father) describes how Jeremy would repeatedly offer to reveal the killer’s identity in exchange for family information, or would alternately claim responsibility to others ([39:55-40:35])
  • The community remains divided and unsure who to believe ([40:35])

5. The Ripple Effects: Perjury, Coercion, and the Search for Truth

• Other Witnesses Recant Under Pressure

  • Rosie Kreiss, who was convicted of perjury for recanting her original testimony, claims she lied under police threat ([46:54-48:31])
  • Victoria Caldwell (a key prosecution witness) is said to have been paid to fabricate testimony ([48:36-48:52])
  • “Victoria told me she got paid to make up a whole story just to get rid of this case. …She got paid to do this case.” – Rosie Kreiss ([48:36-48:52])

• Rosie’s Justification for Telling the Truth

  • “Telling the truth. It’s what God wants you to do. I know that. I know Jesus name is truth.” ([48:55])

• Crucial Insight:

  • The episode notes that Rosie was the first but not the last to reveal coerced, possibly false testimony had helped convict Quincy, Jeff, and Tamara.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Susan’s Influence:

  • “She was the person who put Quincy Cross in prison. She’s the person who handed the police their theory, their investigation and their star witnesses.” – Maggie ([34:46])

• On Investigation Misconduct:

  • “You couldn’t cross examine someone who was actively hiding information from the prosecutors and the defense attorneys and not giving them a fair shot.” – Miranda Hellman ([31:24])

• On False Confession Risks:

  • “A lot of wrongful conviction cases I’ve covered involve the false testimony of jailhouse informants. They often lie to get a better sentencing deal from the prosecution or to get even with another prisoner.” – Maggie ([37:44])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Susan Galbraith's Court Testimony: 01:53–02:23
• Initial Suspicions: Jeremy & Carlos: 06:25–13:30
• Informants and Theories: 13:30–16:33
• Case Dismissal & Focus Shift: 15:26–16:33
• Miranda Hellman on Motives and Evidence: 19:15–22:07
• John Poole Details Susan’s Role: 24:08–25:29
• Shift to Quincy Cross: 27:30–29:04
• Emails and Withholding of Evidence: 30:51–31:24
• Jeremy Adams’s Informant Proposals: 32:13–33:41
• Jeremy's Perspective & Public Statements: 44:20–45:51
• Family Impact & Jeremy’s Background: 41:03–43:55
• Rosie’s Recantation of Testimony: 46:54–48:52
• Rosie on Truth and Faith: 48:55–49:15

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Tone and Style

Maggie Freleng’s narration is probing, empathetic, yet unflinching—balancing skepticism towards official narratives with a compassionate ear for the marginalized. Key characters, such as John Poole and Rosie Kreiss, add color, candor, and sometimes moments of dark humor to the otherwise grave proceedings. The presence of community gossip, personal grievances, and family heartbreak is palpable throughout.

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Conclusion / Looking Ahead

This episode reveals how Susan Galbraith’s personal agenda may have tipped the scales of justice in Graves County, possibly damning innocent people while never truly answering who murdered Jessica Curran. As wrongful conviction challenges unfold and more witnesses reclaim their stories, Maggie promises further unmasking of the network of lies, half-truths, and coercion underpinning this small-town tragedy.

Next time: More revelations from recanting witnesses and a deeper examination of the holes in the state’s case.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

State your name for the record, please. Susan Galbraith.

[A]

When Susan Galbraith was called to testify in the Jessica Curran murder trial, she started with an apology for the judge.

[B]

I'd like to first apologize for being late, I say. Again. I didn't mean to be late today. I wanted my. That's fine. The defense will ask some questions for you now. Okay.

[A]

This set the tone for the rest of her testimony. She was kind of scattered, hedging on her answers, chewing gum loudly.

The attorneys on both sides even approached the judge to complain. This witness is not being responsive. She's saying Susan's not answering the questions. She's meandering. Susan sounds nothing like the woman who so clearly had written and talked about her fervent commitment to solving the murder. Like this is how she describes her feelings about Jessica's case.

[B]

Yeah, I followed Core tv, stuff like that. And so I, of course, was at the time. There were so many murders in Mayfield going on that it. I was. I was just, you know, dumbfounded by it. It was just, you know, and here was another one. And it just. All of them kind of captured an.

[A]

Interest in me, you know, and this strikes me as odd considering there weren't many murders in Mayfield around 2000. Police said it had been the first in over a year.

Now, I can't ask Susan what was going on in her head, but the way it looks to people who Susan accused is that she's trying to downplay her involvement in the case and with some of the people embroiled in it.

[B]

So what about Jeremy Anders?

Jeremy.

[A]

Jeremy Adams is a name you've heard before. He's the unwitting father of Jessica Curran's baby boy, Zion. You might remember Jessica's friend describing their encounter. He kind of forcedly took her around the building and they had sex.

[B]

It was like two seconds they were.

[A]

Around there and came back and he walked off. And that was that.

She said how disappointed Jessyca was to find out that Zion was Jeremy's son.

[B]

She was very upset.

[A]

Another significant fact about Jeremy Adams. He was initially charged with Jessica's murder.

When the Mayfield Police Department bungled the investigation, he got off. And when Susan Galbraith began her citizen investigation, suddenly the blame shifted elsewhere.

This is graves county chapter four. My girl susan.

You've now heard the story the prosecution used to convict Quincy Cross, Tamara Caldwell and Jeff Burton. A kidnapping, a drug fueled orgy and rape, necrophilia and a murder. But many of the people I've talked to about this case have told me that if I want to figure out exactly why Quincy was arrested in the first place, then bits of truth lie somewhere in the beginning, back when police had a much simpler theory and alternate suspects, their main one was Jeremy Adams.

Jeremy Adams was only 20 when Jessica was killed. A skinny kid with a buzz cut and the whisper of a mustache on his top lip, he was known as a local troublemaker with a growing rap sheet. Charges like promoting contraband, robber and assault, but nothing that merited serious prison time. Until 2001, when he was arrested for Jessica's murder.

Jeremy wasn't charged alone. His co defendant was another person. You've heard of Carlos Lolo Saxton. Jessica Curran's boyfriend at the time she was killed. Remember her best friend said about Carlos, I mean, she liked him. She really liked him. He and Jeremy were both indicted the year after Jessica's killing Jeremy for murder and Carlos for complicity to commit murder. And the person who was among the first to point the finger at them was none other than Victoria Caldwell, the state's key witness against Quincy Cross.

[B]

Do you want to be called Victoria or Vicki or. Doesn't matter.

[A]

In September of 2000, more than one month after Jessica's body was found, Victoria told the very first investigators on this case that she had overheard Jeremy, Carlos, and others talking about Jessica. This tape has been edited for length.

[B]

All I know is that first jury said, pay that for the b. Worse. Payback's a bitch.

[A]

Okay, the recording is not very clear, but she's saying Jeremy said payback's a bitch, and we're gonna get her. Good.

[B]

Why would payback be a bitch? What did she do to Jeremy? Or. Well, I guess they found out that the baby was Jeremy. Okay, so maybe. Maybe he got upset because she was telling everybody that the baby was his or something.

[A]

Jeremy was in a relationship with a girl named Net Todd back in 2000. They even had kids. And the rumor around town, which then became the first official theory, was that Jessica went to confront Jeremy about child support. Maybe she even threatened to tell Net that the baby was his. This made Jeremy lash out, and then he accidentally or intentionally killed her.

Jeremy and Carlos have been tough to track down, but Net Todd lives about 20 minutes outside of Mayfield, and she's one of the many people I've reached out to for this story.

Hey, my name is Maggie. We have been looking into a really old case from a long time ago. Quincy Cross.

[B]

I don't have anything to do with.

[A]

That, but she's not exactly happy that I'm standing here.

[B]

I don't know anything about that. Y' all can leave my property.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

I don't have anything to do with it.

[A]

There aren't that many details in the press about the case police built against Jeremy. And there's even less out there about the charges against Carlos. On top of that, many of the files in the case were destroyed in December 2021, when a devastating tornado hit western Kentuck and leveled the Graves County Courthouse. A lot of those records were kept there, so getting the full story is tough. But I've got a secret weapon.

[B]

Well, at least y' all can't never say that I don't keep you informed with the going zones and the gossip, so.

[A]

Daryl Wolman.

[B]

Anyway, love your faith. Jesus, America. Trump and.

Shovels.

[A]

She got me a partial recording of the 2001 grand jury proceedings against Jeremy and Carlos.

[B]

Would you state your name for the record, please? Detective Tim Fortner. All right, Tim. And how are you employed? I'm employed by the city of Mayfield as a police detective. I actually have.

[A]

Grand jury proceedings are secret. These tapes aren't usually made public. We are lucky to have this insight.

[B]

And in that capacity, you are here to be testifying on cases now being brought against the Jeremy Adams and also Carl Saxton, is that correct? Yes, sir, that's correct.

[A]

That's Tim Fortner, the lead detective for the Mayfield police, who very politely declined to talk to me for this series. In this proceeding, you hear him laying out the first police theory of the case. He says Jeremy and Carlos knew each other from around Mayfield and dealing drugs. And he says they both went out looking for Jessica.

[B]

Jeremy and Lolo had went out looking for Jessica. They found her. An argument ensued.

[A]

One of the doors to the middle school had unidentified palm prints smeared on it.

[B]

Looked like there may have been somebody trying to get into the door or something.

[A]

And there was also a clump of hair laying nearby.

[B]

With the clump of hair there, it certainly appeared to have been some type of struggle, perhaps somebody trying to get in or throw the door open. May not be, but it certainly feels.

[A]

He says maybe Jessica fought back.

[B]

Jessica hit Jeremy in the face. Jeremy then hit Jessica in the face.

[A]

That would explain why Jessyca's body was found with cuts to her face and a broken nose.

[B]

He said it knocked her down. When she got up to take off running, he found a piece of metal and hit her in the back of the head, which also would coincide with the crimes reportedly here.

[A]

Mayfield police aren't discussing the belt fragment much, the one found near Jessica's body, like you heard the prosecution do at Quincy's trial. Instead, they're saying blunt force trauma to the head is what most likely killed Jessyca.

Now, even though they suspected Jessica had been bludgeoned, they didn't find any evidence of blood spatter. But Mayfield police theorized that was most likely because it had rained those days.

[B]

But with all the rain, it washes away. And then they found later that there was still a lot of flood there and it drained there. So most of it happened pretty close to it. And definitely the burning happened there because the grass is burned. What's the.

[A]

Either way, the police concluded that Jessyca had to have been killed at the school grounds. Then, he says, the killers pulled her underwear off to make it look like a rape. And they burned her body.

[B]

They burned the body so that they could cover, remove any DNA evidence. And that's what I want.

[A]

Detective Tim Fortner got these theories from the testimonies of at least three jailhouse informants who had all shared a cell with Jeremy at some point in 2001.

[B]

Tell us to come up here and talk to you about the Jessica Kern murder down in Mayfield. Go ahead and tell us.

[A]

I've listened to those recordings. And they either say Jeremy admits at various points to attacking Jessic.

[B]

He said then he hit her in the back of the head with the steel pipe and that's when her tongue.

[A]

Came out, or they say Jeremy appears worried about any DNA they might find on some cigarette butts the police collected near Jessica's body.

[B]

If DNA could be brought off a cigarette butts.

[A]

Now, to be clear, I haven't been able to find what physical evidence the police had against Jeremy and Carlos. They found those cigarette butts Jeremy was worried about, but didn't make an official DNA connection to either of them. And I already described the mistakes Mayfield police made in their investigation. There's a chance that all they had against them was the word of three jailhouse snitches saying Jeremy had something to do with it.

[B]

Again, we received several tips. Jeremy Adams might be involved. Jeremy Adams might be involved.

[A]

Jeremy, in turn, implicated Carlos. As far as he goes, the police always described Carlos as someone who may have helped plan the murder or failed to stop it. On top of that, remember the party Quincy Cross was at the night Jessica was last seen? The one on Chris Drive? Carlos was also at that party. He was arrested for drugs along with Quincy Cross and everyone else on Sunday morning, hours after Jessica was last seen alive. So it's unclear as to when exactly he would have picked up Jessica and helped Jeremy kill her.

But I might never have a clear answer because Jeremy and Carlos would never see their day in court. In the lead up to their trial, the prosecution and police failed to turn over evidence to the defense, including 18 to 20 audio and video recordings Jeremy and Carlos attorneys thought could point to to their client's innocence. And the prosecutor basically said, we can't find a lot of this evidence. The judge was pissed. He told law enforcement, quote, I have never seen a case so encumbered with problems, and I hope I never see another one. The judge dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning that Jeremy and Carlos were could be charged and tried again. And when the Kentucky State Police took over the investigation, it appears as if they did chase the case against Jeremy for a bit. But then, just a year later, came Susan Galbraith.

[B]

So, pretty much Susan Galbraith ran the investigation, but what is her motive?

[A]

Like, why is Susan Galbraith investor in this?

[B]

Because she's around with Donna Adams, Jeremy's mother.

[A]

That's coming up.

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When Quincy Cross was convicted, Susan Galbraith wrote an email to her journalist friend Tom Mangold saying, quote, I can hardly see from tears falling. This was her crowning moment. Years of her labor finally paying off. But now, almost two decades later, Susan's own work is being used to try and get Quincy Cross out of prison. So I just wanted to tell you, I was looking at my timeline and I have around 2004, Susan Galbraith first pops into the picture. Miranda Hellman is an attorney, and for four years, starting around 2020, Miranda worked with the Kentucky Innocence Project on the post conviction case for the main person found guilty of murdering Jessica Curran, quincy Cross. So mid 2004 is when I really Miranda's walking me through a timeline she's put together, connecting Susan's involvement in the case to changing stories of the state's main witnesses and law enforcement's theories. What I did was compare that with the statements of Victoria and Venetia up until that point. So up until late 2003 is the last one I have from them. And there is no sexual component and there is no Quincy. The story is absolutely we left the card party. It was Jeremy Adams.

The Kentucky Innocence Project actually first took on Quincy's case in the early 2010s, but they had to shelve it because of funding. When Miranda and her team picked it back up, they had their work cut out for them. It's very hard to get a conviction overturned in the state of Kentucky or in most of the country, really. One of the many hurdles is that Quincy's attorneys have to present new evidence that points to his innocence. So it has to be something that wasn't available or should have been discovered at the time of trial. And so the burden is incredibly high. It has to be something that truly is new. Then in 2022, Miranda and her team had a lucky break. We've been able to obtain new documents that weren't part of the original discovery or part of the initial investigation. A lot of that is centered around Susan Galbraith. They obtained years of emails between journalists Tom Mangold and Susan Galbraith, which you've been hearing throughout this series last episode. Those emails helped explain how Susan's suspects and theories found their way into the prosecution's case. And now Miranda says they can give us insight into Susan's motive. Welcome to Susan Galbraith world, whose main goal was always to get Jeremy Adams out of this.

At Quincy's trial, his attorneys did try to point out Susan's relationship with Donna Adams, Jeremy's mom. They even said both women were invested in finding the, quote, real killer together. But when questioned by the defense, Susan denies being close to Donna.

[B]

Years ago, she lived upstairs from me, and that was how I met her. And you know, those. I did partying then, you know, we might party together or something like that, but we have never hung out.

[A]

She says they were neighbors in the late 90s and they lost touch for a few years.

[B]

And then you rekindled your relationship with.

[A]

Her in terms of being acquaintances?

[B]

You make rekindle sound as though we were like in slow motion running towards one another. There was nothing like that at all. Nothing.

[A]

When did you reacquaint yourself with her?

[B]

What year in 2004 did you consider her a friend?

I don't, I don't. I really don't think that I would even consider it that.

[A]

But new emails and testimony that the Kentucky Innocence Project obtained and that my team and I have reviewed tell a different story. As do the findings of other people invested in clearing the names of Quincy, Tamara and Jeff.

[B]

Excuse me one second.

[A]

Like private investigator John Poole.

[B]

Have you got Ed Johnson working?

[A]

When I first Met John in 2023, he drove me around Mayfield and he knows everyone. We stopped to say hi to some construction workers.

[B]

I figured you're the worker beast. I figured that Ed wouldn't be doing anything.

[A]

John grew up in Mayfield. He left to work as a police officer in California, then came back home. Home in his 50s. Since returning he's been a three time council member, heavily involved in the community. He's also a dead ringer for the late actor Leslie Jordan.

[B]

Plus, I'm the uncle of Jeffrey Burton. He was one of the people that was charged in the Jessica Curran murder.

[A]

Jeff Burton, the white boy Susan Galbraith helped find. She made his house the scene of the crime. John has also become a good friend of Dara's.

[B]

I was sitting on his floor three years ago, almost to the date, and we were looking through papers and the light was hitting him so perfectly. I said, why are you still do this, John? Why are you still involved, you know, other than Jeff? And he said.

He said vengeance, Vengeance over the fucking judicial system and how much it needed to be changed. There's no physical evidence in this case that indicates any of them did anything.

[A]

John also believes that Susan Galbraith played a big role in shaping the case against Quincy, Tamara and Jeff.

[B]

If you look at the record, the prosecution used a story that was developed by Susan Galbraith. And Susan, in any of the stuff that you look at, her goal was to save Jeremy Adams.

[A]

This is a big departure from Susan's publicly stated goal that she was a selfless everyday citizen called by divine forces to help find justice for Jessica Curran. John managed to find A friend of Susan's of over 20 years who often helped her with the case.

[B]

Lacey Gates gave us some information and tried to clean this up. We even had her down here. She knew that it was wrong.

[A]

Where is she now?

[B]

She is deceased.

[A]

Lacey Gates died in 2022. But before that she did give an affidavit to the Kentucky Innocence Project which said, I feel that Susan Galbraith directed the police in the wrong direction and the wrong people were convicted. Susan Galbraith was friends with Donna Adams, the mother of Jeremy Adams, one of the first persons accused of Jessica's murder. Donna was under the impression that Susan was going to help get Jeremy out of trouble.

[B]

Susan Galbert was able to get the discovery in the Adams case.

[A]

Jeremy signed over his case files to journalist Tom Mangold. And those documents were part of what Tom used to source his first articles on Mayfield and Jessica Curran. Before those articles came out, Susan writes to Tom that Donna was anxious that her son's name still hadn't been cleared. Here's my colleague reading the email. I have pleaded with her so many times to stay level headed and to wait. Remember, the charges alleging Jeremy had killed Jessica in a supposed fight over child support had been dismissed, John says, but.

[B]

They were dismissed without prejudice and that means the case could have been brought back up at any time. But again it's. It appeared that Galbraith was pushing the other scenario, the one the state used.

[A]

And the scenario Tom Mangold used in his articles.

In these stories, Tom states matter of factly that Jeremy was obviously an innocent man. And he repeats that sentiment years later in his BBC retrospective.

[B]

By the end of the first week, we'd established that Jeremy Adams, the local small time criminal, had been wrongly charged by the cops.

[A]

Tom describes a bumbling police department that just wanted to pin the murder on a petty criminal. Tom says the strongest evidence the Mayfield police had against Jeremy was the alleged confessions he made to those cellmates you heard from earlier. But Jeremy's attorney told Tom that the only reason Jeremy confessed was because Detective Tim Fortner had shown Jeremy pictures of the crime scene.

[B]

They went there to ask him about a murder and they showed him evidence that no one had really seen before.

[A]

So of course he's going to implicate.

[B]

Himself in some way. Jeremy is a simple minded gentleman. He can be led very easily. He was one of the town criminals and it was very easy for them to close this case and make themselves look good.

[A]

Besides, Tom Mangold and Susan Galbraith had a much better suspect.

[B]

A seriously nasty drug dealer called Quincy Cross had been arrested just hours after the murder.

[A]

He was a pretty easy mark as well. You know, he had a little bit of a history with the law as far as the drugs went. He was an outsider, which I think is incredibly important to this case. Not from Mayfield. He had very few ties to Mayfield. It was easy to point the finger at him because he was kind of a nameless, faceless person that was not her best friend's son. But what Tom ignores or fails to mention in his stories is that it wasn't just him and Susan out investigating. Susan had help. She conducted part of her investigation alongside Jeremy's mom, Donna, and the mother of his children, Net. According to her emails, they went on at least half a dozen interviews together. She even used NET to collect DNA evidence from people they suspected. After one of Tom's stories accusing Quincy and clearing Jeremy was published in late 2004, Susan wrote him. Can you believe it? Jeremy is becoming a celeb now. Who'da thunk it? And while Susan was more than happy to share information with law enforcement, she didn't want anyone else getting their hands on her correspondence or files. In the lead up to Quincy, Tamara and Jeff's trials, Susan was worried that defense attorneys wanted to subpoena her computer. She writes, tom met with my friends today and was told not to worry about anything concerning my PC. I was told that even if they subpoena my hard drive, as a private citizen, I can do whatever I want to with my computer except break the law. Her friends are the KBI agents you met last episode, the ones who would eventually solve Jessica Curran's murder with the help of Susan Galbraith.

Attorney Miranda Hellman says if the defense had had full access to Susan's documents and emails at trial, they could have shown the jurors the full extent of Susan's involvement in accusing Quincy and shifting the blame away from Jeremy. Things could have played out differently. You couldn't cross examine someone who was actively hiding information from the prosecutors and the defense attorneys and not giving them a fair shot.

And there's one more thing. Even though Susan publicly denied wanting to help Jeremy, that was not the impression Jeremy Adams got.

[B]

This is an interview with Jeremy Adams, President or myself, Detective Sam Steger, Kentucky State Police and the Commonwealth Attorney's Office.

[A]

Just listen to parts of his interview between him and law enforcement in 2005.

[B]

My number one priority is to get this case out of the way.

[A]

By this time, Jeremy had actually met Quincy Cross in jail, one of the many times they'd both been Locked up on various charges. And Jeremy says he knows Venetia Stubblefield, the last person to see Jessica alive. He says they'd hooked up once, and he's making the case that he could be of use in the investigation.

[B]

And I believe with all my heart, I know for a fact that. That if I was out that I'd be able to wire up on them or whatever and get them on tape talking about these things.

[A]

He just needs prosecutors to cut him a deal so he can get out of jail on his other charges.

[B]

Give me 60 days and watch me. I guarantee you, if it's not solved, if it's not solved in 60 days, lock my ass right back up and convict me of them charges. That's how much faith I got in myself.

[A]

And part of his pitch is that he can help find the real killer because he's connected in Mayfield.

[B]

I have a whole team of people that's been in Mayfield for years that's got people talking out of the way. One of them, you know who it is?

Susan. Susan. Oh, Susan.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Children. Gomers. Yeah, yeah. She knows. People galore. A whole lot of information that's been found out now came through my girl Susan and this other guy, because they.

[A]

Went out there and they personally wired my girl Susan. And the other guy, journalist Tom Mangold, who by that time had published two articles saying Jeremy had been wrongly accused.

[B]

What I'm saying is I have a connections to where if I can't get them, somebody else can. You see what I'm saying?

Why haven't they so far there? Because they were, you know, Susan was working pretty hard for you, apparently, Scott, come over from Britain and do the story and all that kind of thing. Right. See, there's a whole lot of things that they can do that I can't do. There's a whole lot of things I can do, do that they can't do.

[A]

As far as I can tell, law enforcement never takes Jeremy up on his offer to be an informant. But they do maintain a working relationship with Susan Galbraith. In a phone call with one of those same officers in the years before Quincy's trial, she tells him to hurry and charge Quincy already.

[B]

I mean, there. There was so much more on him than they ever had on Jeremy Adams. Oh, I agree. I totally agree. Oh, my God. I totally agree with you there. Amazing. I. I agree. But, you know, it's. Right, but that is out of my control. Right? Yeah.

[A]

As you know now, Quincy Cross is serving life in prison for the murder of Jessica Curran, Miranda and the folks at the Kentucky Innocence Project have filed state and federal motions looking to vacate Quincy's conviction. The emails between Susan and Tom are part of their case, Miranda says. They show how Susan influenced the investigation beyond what was originally known, revealing how Susan worked alongside two women who had a vested interest in seeing Jeremy's name cleared, his girlfriend and his mom. And they show that Susan fought to conceal her documents from defense attorneys. She was the person who put Quincy Cross in prison. She's the person who handed the police their theory, their investigation and their star witnesses. What we want to present to the court is that they never had the full story.

And where is Jeremy Adams?

That's after the break.

This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, or osa, in adults with obesity? They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly, or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability and concentration issues, it may be due to osa. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don'tsleep onosa.com this information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company. Protect your pet with insurance from Pets Best Plans start from less than a dollar a day. Visit petsbest.com Pet insurance products offered and administered by Pets Best Insurance Services LLC are underwritten by American Pet Insurance Company or Independence American Insurance Company for terms and conditions, visit www.petsbest.com. policy products are underwritten by American Pet Insurance Company, Independence American Insurance Company or Ms. Transverse Insurance Company and administered by Pets Best Insurance Services LLC. $1 a day premium based on 2024 average new policyholder data for accident and illness plans pets age 0 to 10.

[B]

So let me get this straight. Your company has data here, there and everywhere, but your AI can't use the data because it's here, there and everywhere? Seems like something's missing. Every business has unique data. IBM helps your AI access your data wherever it lives. To change how you do business, let's create Smarter Business IBM.

[A]

The people I've talked to who are invested in clearing Quincy, Jeff and Tamara's names have all pointed to Jeremy Adams as a more obvious suspect in the murder of Jessica Curran, and I want to be fair to him. Based on the evidence I've been able to see, it seems like the Mayfield police relied heavily on the word of Jeremy's cellmates when they were building the case against him. A lot of wrongful conviction cases I've covered involve the false testimony of jailhouse informants. They often lie to get a better sentencing deal from the prosecution or to get even with another prisoner. So I know better than to trust them uncritically. But the thing is, Jeremy went on to tell more people about his involvement or knowledge surrounding the death of Jessica Curran.

[B]

Jeremy Adams kept hanging around my office up there and wanted to talk to me.

[A]

He reached out to private investigator John.

[B]

Poole, and so I finally talked to him. In fact, I even gave him a ride to where he was staying at the time. And he claims that he was going to tell me who did it.

[A]

He never did. But Jeremy did tell even more cellmates through the years that he either attacked Jessica or knew who did. And John says Susan often trailed behind Jeremy, trying to do damage control.

[B]

Once Susan knew what was going on, she would go to those people and try to talk them into not saying anything or correct their story. So she was a busy little bee.

[A]

According to court filings from the Kentucky Innocence Project, at one point, Jeremy tells the police he was in the car with Jessica the night she was killed. And that same day, Susan calls the police to say Jeremy was mistaken. On top of that, he talked to Jessica's family. I asked Jessica's father, Joe Curran, about it. From what I understand, Jeremy Adams told you he knows who did this.

[B]

He wrote letters from prison and jail saying, if you'll tell me whether or not I'm Zion's father, I'll tell you who did it.

But of course, he never told him.

[A]

And Jeremy didn't stop there.

[B]

But one incident happened when we saw him at Paducah Mall, and he walked and followed my wife and was telling her that he would tell us who done it, you know, and telling her that he didn't do it. And that's what he was saying, but he was telling people on the street that he did it. He was the one who did it.

So it was such a, you know, you really don't. Don't know who's responsible. I've always felt like that he's definitely involved. If he didn't do it, he's definitely involved.

[A]

The Currans never let Jeremy have a relationship with their grandson.

[B]

Interesting.

[A]

My producer and I went looking for Jeremy in August of 2024. We checked out one of his known Mayfield addresses, a modest one story home in the outskirts of town. Hello. We're looking for Jeremy Adams.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Do you know who that is?

[B]

Yeah, I know who that is. But the hell? I knew where he was at.

[A]

You wish you knew where he was?

[B]

Of course I know. He's my nephew.

[A]

The woman who opens the door is Alice, Jeremy's great aunt. Alice has had a couple of strokes, so it's a little hard for her to talk. She says she's been getting his mail for years.

[B]

That mail here comes here every day, every other day.

[A]

She shows us his medical bills and traffic tickets. But she says she hasn't seen Jeremy in forever. Where are his parents?

[B]

Dead. Dead?

[A]

His mom, Donna, died in 2019 at the age of 60, most likely from an overdose.

[B]

Wait. Is the man. Come on in.

[A]

All right.

[B]

Thank you. Come on, Doctor.

[A]

Is anyone else here with you? The TV is blasting in the cozy living room. It's full of black and white family pictures cluttered with mail, magazines and dog food. The things of life. A big house, all alone. Alice sits down in her armchair, and we start to talk. And then she points to a corner.

[B]

Jeremy. Jeremy about to.

[A]

Jeff, she says when Jeremy was little, he used to sit there in her antique chair, banging his head against the wall.

He was a troubled child, she says, who grew up to be a troubled man.

Drug addiction runs in the family. His mom, Donna, also drank a lot. And Alice says Jeremy never stood a chance. He never had a steady home and got into drugs and drug dealing when he was just a kid. And he could be violent, though never with her. Alice says he's been in and out of prison or jail a lot. And the few times I. She's seen him over the years, he's been high and struggling.

[B]

I mean, to me, he was strange.

[A]

Do you know what kind of drugs, maybe?

[B]

No, Just a hard one. Bad one. Yeah. Okay. He was right on all that.

[A]

One of the last times Alice saw Jeremy, he was sleeping on the street.

[B]

On the street or whatever. I picked him up when. Cold winter time. I found here on the street in Mayfield.

[A]

She gave him a warm bed for a few days. Her eyes well up with tears, talking about her nephew. Thank you for talking to us.

[B]

You're welcome.

[A]

Then we say goodbye. Thank you.

[B]

Nice to meet you.

[A]

Jeremy has spoken publicly in recent years. In 2020, he talked about being arrested for Jessica's murder on the Steve Wilkos show, which is kind of like Jerry Springer, but somehow trashier.

[B]

For 20 years, I've been accused time and time again of this horrific crime that I did not commit, had no involvement whatsoever, and because of the way my case was dismissed, the police didn't go back on television to say, hey, we charged the wrong man, when they later charged, tried and convicted this other man, they didn't say, I'm sorry, they just left it out in the open. Being that I was the one that originally charged in the case, they left it for the community to decide. And it left doubt in the community. That is my purpose for being here today. To clear my name in the eyes of the world.

[A]

He even wrote and self published a book titled Almost the Diary of Jeremy M. Adams.

[B]

It's one of the best books ever. The fact that it hasn't won a Pulitzer is fucking astonishing.

[A]

I've skimmed a PDF, but Dara has the hard copy.

[B]

Yeah, I've had the book for two and a half years and.

I can't finish it. It's that fucking genius full of emojis.

[A]

In just over a hundred pages. Jeremy relitigates the case.

[B]

He talks about racism and how Jessica's father was so mad because she was gonna have a biracial child.

[A]

He goes further than that. He accuses Joe Curran of his daughter's murder.

[B]

It talks about how he was framed by the cops. It talks about the night that they met. It talks about really nothing.

[A]

It would almost be funny if it weren't so cruel. And it just adds to the noise of an already complicated case where so many people have lied or told half truths. Noise Miranda and the Kentucky Innocence Project have had to contend with. The truth may just be gone. We just have no idea.

But there are people in this case who have tried to tell the truth or a version of the truth. Like Rosie Kreiss, Victoria Caldwell's sister. You heard her at Quincy's trial recant on the stand saying police made her lie and prosecutors punished her for it, charged her with perjury and sentenced her to three years in prison.

[B]

I mean, nobody's perfect. But Rosie was a good hearted woman before all this started. It made it seem like I was just a monster.

[A]

Rosie is 44 years old today. She's a mom. And she says she was born to be a singer, but instead she works at the fast food chain Sonic. And Rosie refers to herself in the third person.

[B]

Everybody loves Rosie. I mean, Sonic's up there. My job can tell you better than anybody. I mean, the whole Sonic's love Rosie. I mean, any job I get loves Rosie because that's who Rosie really is, a Rosie person. My name fits me. It really fits me.

[A]

She's all smiles and her eyes disappear into tiny slits as she talks. She's wearing fuzzy sandals and floral tights. It's a cheerful outfit to match her demeanor, Nothing like the 26 year old at Quincy's trial who came off as angry, especially at the prosecution.

[B]

But I wasn't. It was just like I was trying to. I was mad and angry because even though I lied the day before, I knew what I was saying the next day was the God honest truth.

[A]

Which was what?

[B]

Which was that Quincy and them didn't have no involvement in the case. They had took me, threatened me, told me that I didn't even need a lawyer. Told me they could make it look like I was the one that murdered Jessica Curtis if I didn't say their story, what they wanted to hear. I mean, then they started talking about, I'mma take your kids from you.

[A]

Well, look, I'm threatening to take your kids.

[B]

Yeah, everything. Take my kids, make it look like the murder's on me. Told me I'mma get lethal injection and stuff, all that.

[A]

Has Victoria ever told you the truth of what happened?

[B]

Oh, she told me she telling a damn lie. She did say that. Victoria told me she got paid to make up a whole story just to get rid of this case.

[A]

And get money, right?

[B]

Yeah, and get money. Yes. She got paid to do this case. Yeah, she got paid to do it.

[A]

And Rosie stands by her story.

[B]

Telling the truth. It's what God wants you to do. I know that. I know Jesus name is truth. I do know that. And with that being his name, that's what you're supposed to do, is tell the truth. I know it's righteous to do. It's the right thing to do. That's all I do know.

[A]

I want to believe Rosie. And I think I do believe Rosie in part because while she was the first person to publicly say that law enforcement made her lie on Quincy, Jeff and Tamara, she wouldn't be the last. That's on the next episode.

[B]

They literally made me say that I took part in it. They literally made me say I had this part I done in it. They literally made me say that I took a match and struck and threw it on her. They made me say that I poured gas on her and every. Everything. They made me say that I took part in the. Having sexual contacts with her when she was already dead and everything. Yes. But I did do something in the courtroom when I went to go testify against Quincy. What? You know how they tell you to raise your right hand? Yeah. I didn't do that. Oh, wow. So you were never sworn in, Is that what you're saying? Yes. Oh, wow. I would never lie on the Bible.

[A]

Graves county is a production of Lava for Good in association with Signal Co. Number one, this show is written and produced by me, Maggie Freeling and Senior Producer Rebecca Ibarra, Jason Flom, Jeff Kempler and Kevin Werdis, our executive producers. Our editor is Martina Abrahams. Ilunga Dania Suleiman is our fact checker. Sound design and mixing by Joe Plord Music created by Wrench. Our theme song is the Gangsta Grass version of the One who's Holding the Star by Leo Schofield and Kevin Herrick. Dara Woolman is investigative producer, Our head of Marketing and operations is Jeff Clyburn. Ismari Guadarrama is our Social Media Director and our Social Media Manager is Sarah Gibbons. Andrew Nelson is Art Director with additional production help from Jackie Pauley, Kara Kornhaber and Kathleen Fink. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and threads lavaforgood and follow me at Maggie Freeling and We know there's a lot of names for you to keep up with in this series, so for a detailed list of characters, please go to our show Notes.

[B]

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Special guests to discuss the latest and.

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[A]

This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA in adults with obesity? They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly, or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability and concentration issues, use it may be due to osa. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don't sleep on osa.com this information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company.