The Last 12 Weeks - Ep. 2

Summary

Serial: The Last 12 Weeks — Ep. 2 (June 18, 2026)

Podcast: Serial
Produced by: Serial Productions & The New York Times
Episode Title: The Last 12 Weeks - Ep. 2
Summary prepared for listeners who want an in-depth recap of the critical points, as well as those new to the series.

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Episode Overview

This episode continues documenting the frenzied, high-pressure efforts of attorney Greg Werchuck and his team as they fight to save David Wood — a man on death row for a series of 1987 El Paso desert murders. With only weeks left before Wood's scheduled execution, the defense is scrambling to find any new evidence, alternative suspects, or procedural missteps that could prompt a last-minute stay. The episode brings listeners along for real-time investigative work: chasing down tenuous leads, interviewing potential witnesses, wrestling over “junk science,” and confronting the limitations of the legal process — all under the looming deadline of an execution date. At its heart, the episode explores the challenges and contradictions of capital defense work and the systems surrounding it.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Building a Defense in a Circumstantial Case

• Initial Case Weakness: Prosecutors at the 1992 trial labeled the case against David Wood as "purely circumstantial" (00:35), noting a lack of direct proof, reliance on problematic witnesses, and a small amount of physical evidence (some orange fibers and jailhouse informant claims).
• Greg Werchuck’s Legal Strategy: Greg and his small legal team have long pressed for expanded DNA testing — previously finding DNA from an unknown male, not Wood. Following a final denial for further testing, they are forced to dig deeper into records and alternative theories in the little time that remains. (00:35–04:45)

2. A New, Unsettling Lead: The Bradley “Alternative Suspect” Theory

• Emergency Meeting: The team learns of a Brady disclosure — new information provided by the Attorney General — involving Michelle Bradley, an El Paso woman who believes her late father (James Patrick Bradley) might have been the true killer. Bradley was convicted in 1995 for murdering and dismembering his wife. (05:34)
• Team Reaction:
  • Jeremy (co-counsel) is skeptical: "the information we have right now, it's not very... compelling to me" (06:29).
  • Naomi Fenwick is more hopeful: "it adds to the list of folks who they… could test against the DNA... helpful in continuing to paint this picture that they're refusing to investigate or explore other options" (07:31).
• Decision: The team decides to pursue the lead, sending Naomi with Alvin (reporter) to interview Michelle Bradley directly. (08:45–09:51)

3. Investigating Michelle Bradley’s Claims

• Witness Interview Dynamics: Naomi expresses discomfort being followed by press during sensitive witness work: "I'm going to regret all of this deeply" (09:08).
• Michelle’s Story: Michelle describes her abusive, violent father and, crucially, recalls seeing a woman in 1987 who later seemed to match a Desert Killer victim, Ivy Williams. Much of her claim is hearsay and highly emotional (11:00–12:40).
• Weighing Evidence: Naomi considers trying to corroborate Michelle’s story with her estranged sister Misty — a step considered critical but difficult.

4. Dead-End or New Thread? Interview with Misty Metz

• Findings: Misty immediately dismisses her sister’s theory: "I don't think he had anything to do with this situation with Woods... I don't" (24:34). She does, however, corroborate the father's violent character.
• Naomi’s Take: "In terms of facts, Misty did not say anything different... they've both said their father was a terrible person and a very violent person." (26:27)
• Reflection: The team and Alvin discuss how much nuance is lost in legal filings: "It did make me wonder about a process where you could leave this much of it out." (27:18)
• Result: The lead is left as thin and single-sourced — useful for legal narrative, but unsubstantiated.

5. Revisiting Police Tunnel Vision & Suppressed Suspects

• Greg’s Theory: Citing pressure on police and evidence of tunnel vision — discarding evidence that doesn’t fit the existing David Wood narrative.
• Alternate Suspects: The police had a list of 36 suspects, including Salvador Martinez, who failed a polygraph and whose DNA was never tested despite proximity to victims. Greg’s attempts at follow-up meet with resistance and health-related obstructions (Martinez’s dementia). (14:32–17:12)
• Debunking the Pickup Truck Key Evidence: Greg finds evidence that David Wood’s truck, allegedly used to take women to the desert, was wrecked and unavailable for much of the relevant period, plus police surveillance saw nothing suspicious. (14:32–17:12)

6. Physical Evidence: The Problem with “Orange Fibers”

• Scene at Evidence Room: Greg, Jeremy, and Naomi pore over trial evidence — mainly bags of orange fibers.
• Junk Science: Greg’s experts say it’s “junk science” to claim the fibers match — they’re synthetic and indistinct. Still, the defense faces a dilemma:
  • Option A: Argue the evidence is unreliable.
  • Option B: Allege evidence was planted, riskier but juicier, supported by the fact that the crime scene was left unsecured for nine days and fibers found in strange clumps. (17:35–20:02)

7. Race Against Time, Critiquing Capital Case Tactics

• Judicial Criticism: Greg faces accusations of “piecemeal litigation and delay” — that capital defenders drag out the process with last-minute filings. But Greg notes the vast volume of information, limited resources, and structural constraints. (21:03)
• Host Reflection: The host frames these delays not as lawyer misconduct, but as a byproduct of the high stakes of the death penalty system itself. (21:03)

8. Door-Knocking Amid Desperation Yields a Surprising Witness: Ramona Desmukes

• The Witness: Greg meets Ramona Desmukes, best friend and sister-in-law of one victim (Cheryl Vasquez), for a lively, chaotic interview at a Whataburger. (31:09)
• Ramona’s Story:
  • She and her mother tried to trap the killer by posing Ramona as bait.
  • She first met David Wood when he tossed a quarter at her and told her to go home, mistaking her for Cheryl (35:08).
  • Her family befriended Wood, spied on him, and concluded he could not have been the killer — he was “nauseous around blood,” for instance.
  • Ramona alleges police pressured her to falsely accuse Wood: “We need you to tell us that David Wood tried to take you. I said, but he didn't try to take me.” (36:52)
  • She claims detectives bullied and threatened her ("are you threatening me?") (37:34) and generally disregarded evidence that didn’t fit Wood’s guilt.
• Assessment: Ramona is energetic and willing, but mixes fact, gossip, and conjecture: "She mixes theories and stories and gossip and evidence so effortlessly... a little hard to keep up, much less to accept it all at face value." (39:33)

9. New Questions About Informants and Michael Plyler ("Skeeter")

• Key Bombshell: Ramona claims critical trial witness Judith Kelling privately said Wood didn’t rape her; she testified as part of a deal, and that the real rapist was "Mike Plyler" (41:47).
  • "They made a deal with me to get me out of jail, and all I gotta do is testify against this guy. ... Were you even raped? She's like, yeah, but not by him. I'm like, who? She says, Mike Plyler." (41:47)
  • Greg and the team are stunned, as Plyler hadn’t been a focus, though his name appeared in old files with a truck resembling Wood’s and a mysterious nickname "Skeeter" that several witnesses mentioned.
  • Ramona says Judith called Plyler "Skeeter" (42:59).
• State Response:
  • Detective Guerrero, the original investigator: "she's full of shit," denies misconduct, and says he was "never accused of any wrongdoing or coercion" (37:34, 39:56).
  • Judith Kelling died years ago. The team struggles to corroborate the informant/informee relationships.
• Outcome: Greg adds the Ramona revelations and Plyler theory into the evolving legal motion, knowing it’s speculative but aiming for enough new information to pause the execution.

10. The High Stakes of Last-Minute Discovery

• Contacting the Newly Alleged Suspect: The team visits Plyler’s home for comment; Plyler steadfastly denies wrongdoing and won’t engage: “I haven’t done nothing. I don’t have nothing to hide,” but then cuts off all contact (44:30–end).
• Host’s Larger Point: The narrative ends on a meditation about how precariously accusations, reputation, and legal claims can hang in this space – "how easy it is for anyone to be accused of pretty egregious stuff... all because some stranger mentions your name in a Whataburger."

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On the Case’s Circumstantial Nature:
  • “Purely a circumstantial evidence case” (Prosecutor via Greg Werchuck, 00:35)
• On Discovering the Bradley Lead:
  • Jeremy: "I don't want to pour water over alternative suspect, but the information we have right now, it's not very compelling to me..." (06:29)
  • Naomi: "...it adds to the list of folks whose DNA they could test against... helpful in continuing to paint this picture that they're refusing to investigate or explore other options." (07:31)
• Naomi’s Anxiety Over Media Presence:
  • "I already know I am going to regret all of this deeply." (09:08)
• Misty (Michelle’s Sister) on Their Father’s Guilt:
  • "My dad did something terrible. He murdered my stepmother. He did. That's indisputable. But I don't think he had anything to do with this situation with Woods. I really don't." (24:34)
• On Defense Team’s Delay Tactics:
  • Host: "The real issue here isn't the lawyers... It’s the death penalty itself. A punishment that takes all the tension... and ratchets it up." (21:03)
• Ramona on Her Undercover Plan:
  • "Go sit on that wall and somebody's going to come and try to kidnap you, and I'll call the cops and we'll get them and we'll know who it was. ... Thanks, Mom." (33:47)
• On Police Pressure:
  • “They wanted me to write a statement. They told me, out there in the desert, we need you to go back and write a statement. We need you to tell us that David Wood tried to take you. I said, but he didn't try to take me.” (36:52)
  • "Are you threatening me?" (36:52)
• Ramona on Alternative Suspect:
  • "They made a deal with me to get me out of jail, and all I gotta do is testify against this guy. … Were you even raped? She's like, yeah, but not by him. I'm like, who? She says, Mike Plyler." (41:47)
• Greg’s Dilemma:
  • "He says it's buried in 12,000 pages of records. His point being that, yes, he's technically had Michael Plyler's name for years, but he's been working solo for much of that time." (21:03)
• Host's Reflection on Process:
  • "It did make me wonder about a process where you could leave this much of it out." (27:18)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:35 — Case’s circumstantial weaknesses, Greg’s solo defense, overview of the timeline
• 05:33 — Discovery of the Michelle Bradley lead, defense’s debate on its value
• 08:45 — Naomi and Alvin’s approach to Michelle Bradley; witness interview process
• 12:40 — Report-back on Michelle’s allegations, consideration of corroborating sources
• 14:32 — Police tunnel vision and alternative suspects (Martinez, the truck alibi)
• 17:35 — Physical evidence: orange fibers, “junk science” argument
• 21:03 — Critique of defense delay tactics, systemic pressures
• 22:48 — Tracking down Michelle’s estranged sister Misty; lead fizzles out
• 31:09 — Door-knocking pays off: Interview with witness Ramona Desmukes
• 33:47 — Undercover operation at Circle K, meeting with David Wood
• 36:52 — Police intimidation and forced statement allegations
• 39:56 — Discussion of trial witness Judith Kelling and police informant theory
• 41:47 — The revelation about Mike Plyler/Skeeter, new alternative suspect
• 44:30–end — The challenge of being named in legal proceedings, pursuing Plyler for comment

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Final Thoughts

In this episode, listeners accompany the defense through the chaos and ambiguity of last-chance capital litigation — where new “leads” may be red herrings, procedural flaws must be found in thousands of pages, and evidence is always incomplete. The episode explores how, in the final weeks, the search for a “game-changer” presses up against the realities of memory, legal process, and systemic inertia. The host ends with a promise: Next time, the team will test their new findings against the scrutiny of a victim’s mother — the supreme test for any narrative in this wrenching case.

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For deeper context, legal documents, and additional reporting, visit Serial Productions and sign up for their newsletter at nytimes.com/serialnewsletter.

Transcript

[Maurice Shama]

This podcast is supported by BetterHelp. Summer can feel like a sprint. Kids home, trips to plan, routines flipped upside down. It's easy to slip into survival mode just trying to get through it. Then suddenly it's over and you're wishing you enjoyed the days just a little bit. More. Therapy can help you slow down and actually be present for the moments that matter. With BetterHelp, you can connect with a licensed therapist from anywhere on your schedule. Don't just survive this summer. Thrive. Visit betterhelp.com newyorktimes

[Greg Werchuck]

At David Wood's original trial in 1992, the lead prosecutor acknowledged there was almost no direct proof tying Wood to the desert murders. In fact, she said it multiple times like she was trying to get in front of it. Called it, quote, purely a circumstantial evidence case. This is exactly what David Wood's legal team is now trying to exploit. The lack of direct evidence, especially for a serial killer case involving six murders. The only physical evidence against David Wood are the fibers found at his apartment and on one of the victims. Then there's the rest of it. The jailhouse informants who claim Wood confessed to them a rape that resembled the murders, David Wood's prior criminal history, and witnesses. People who saw him or someone who looked like him. With the victims. Some of these witnesses were pretty fuzzy on details or had credibility issues. You might think the overall weakness of the case would be good for David Wood's lawyers, make it easier to prove his innocence. But the problem is the way the state constructed the case. There's no one big, shiny piece of evidence for the defense to knock down. Instead, they have a million little threads they can pull at seemingly endless rabbit trails to run down. For the last 15 years, Greg Werchuck, the lead attorney on the case, has been working pretty much solo. And for much of that time, he's been focused on the DNA. When a few items were tested in 2010, they turned up a match to an unknown male, not David Wood. So Greg's been litigating back and forth for more than a decade to test more items from the crime scenes. He got a final no just a few months before we started following him around. But now Greg has a team and a dwindling number of days to do every little thing he's put off. Comb through the records one last time. Look for remaining witnesses he and his team need. The kind of bombshell the courts just can't ignore. And 58 days before the execution, they just may have one. From serial productions, the Marshall project, and the New York Times. This is the last 12 weeks. I'm Maurice Shama.

[Naomi Fenwick]

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[Maurice Shama]

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[Naomi Fenwick]

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[Maurice Shama]

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[Ramona Desmukes]

Today.

[Greg Werchuck]

On a Tuesday afternoon, Alvin and I get texts from Greg and his co counsel Jeremy with links to an emergency Zoom meeting. Well, we can just start going. I forwarded you guys the email with the information we got from the ag. Pretty interesting stuff. In a few weeks, the lawyers will send the courts a giant legal filing with all their best arguments for why they think David Wood is innocent. This kind of filing has a bunch of rules. Chief among them. They can't just rehash a bunch of old claims from previous appeals. They need new arguments. Jeremy's gathered everyone together for just this reason. Something new has come in. A grisly story from a woman in El Paso named Michelle Bradley.

[Ramona Desmukes]

The information is pretty interesting.

[Greg Werchuck]

So she says that she thinks her father, James Patrick Bradley is responsible for the murders here. Her father was convicted in 1995 of chopping up Michelle Bradley's stepmother and James Bradley's wife at the time, dismembering her body and tossing it around in El Paso, New Mexico. I guess it was like. Michelle has a pretty radical theory. She's not so sure David Wood actually killed all those women. She thinks someone else was involved, her own father. So Michelle called the Attorney General's office, the prosecutors in this case, that office handed over her information to the defense because they're legally required to. It's called a Brady disclosure. As Jeremy lays this all out, I'm thinking, oh my God. But I look over at Greg on his little zoom screen and he's giving nothing. His face is totally blank.

[Jeremy]

I mean, you know, again, I don't want to pour water over alternative suspect, but the information we have right now, it's not very. It's not very compelling to me. I mean, you know, when we first got the message, you get your hopes up. But it. The daughter thinks dad may have committed these crimes he didn't confess to her, it's pretty tenuous.

[Greg Werchuck]

Anyway, part of Greg's reaction can be chalked up to the source of the information. Sure, the AG's office has to hand over leads, but Greg has been at this long enough to be skeptical of anything that comes from that office. And these are tough calls. Every hour the lawyers spend running down one lead, that's a dead end. It's an hour they could spend on another. At the same time, they have no idea which lead could finally pay off and maybe even save David Wood's life. As Greg is talking, I notice another lawyer from Jeremy's office, Naomi Fenwick, is pursing her lips, almost wincing. She lets Greg finish before jumping in.

[Naomi Fenwick]

Well, I'm going to strike the hopeful note and say that I think it's potentially really important. At the very least, you know, it adds to the list of folks who they. Whose DNA they could test against. The DNA they know is male and is unidentified and is not David Wood. And I think it's helpful in continuing to paint this picture that they're refusing to investigate or explore other options.

[Jeremy]

I don't want to be distracted too much because I, I'm not saying people can come out of the Woodwork on a high profile case like this, that they just. It can be distracting. Anyway, I'm not being unhopeful. I'm just saying let's not lose focus.

[Greg Werchuck]

You're supposed to be the eternal spring of optimism, Greg.

[Jeremy]

I am. I am. But I'm saying let's not, you know, let's not start heading down too many rabbit trails. And this might be the Ages very strategy is to send us off on a wild goose chase.

[Greg Werchuck]

The lawyers talk some more and ultimately decide the lead is worth checking out. We meet up with them in El Paso. Naomi is the one assigned to pay a visit to Michelle Bradley. And Alvin goes with her. I'll let him take it from here.

[Alvin Melith]

One important thing I learned about Naomi pretty quickly as we're driving around El Paso is that she has, let's call it some ambivalence about me tagging along with her.

[Naomi Fenwick]

I already know I am going to regret all of this deeply. And I'm going to wake up at 2am replaying everything I've told you and telling myself it was a terrible idea.

[Alvin Melith]

Naomi, from what I've noticed in zoom calls at least, is sharp with a teasing sense of humor. Bit of a shit talker. But on this car ride she's also cautious, even a little cagey. It's not that Naomi is against press interest in her client's case. She knows it can be useful. It's more that me being here observing her at work. Observing her.

[Naomi Fenwick]

I don't know. It's really jarring. I'm not a trial lawyer, right? I don't stand up in court and put on a show.

[Alvin Melith]

I think some of the cajuness has to do with a mission today. Michelle Bradley's dad died in prison more than a decade ago. So Naomi needs Michelle to give her some more detail, flesh out her theory about her dad. The hope is that Michelle will say something that Naomi can then corroborate with other people, nudge this whole thing out of the realm of theory and ground it in some facts. The lawyers call it developing a claim. The plan to develop this claim, I am somewhat surprised to find out, is to knock on Michelle's door without any advance warning. No phone call, nothing. This, I learn, is standard operating procedure with habeas lawyers and investigators. They prefer to take their chances in person rather than entertaining the risk of getting a no over the phone. Under ideal circumstances, Naomi would be taking great pains to carefully choreograph her approach to build a quick intimacy with Michelle, get her comfortable and talking. But my presence in all this and staking Naomi's partner dance and turning into more of a flash mob situation, we spend a good deal of time rehearsing how I'm not gonna get in her way.

[Naomi Fenwick]

If we do find her, what are we doing? Remind me.

[Alvin Melith]

You're gonna go up and say who you are and then I'm gonna say who I am.

[Naomi Fenwick]

Okay?

[Alvin Melith]

And give her the option of telling me to fuck off, I think. When we finally knock on Michelle Bradley's door, she looks completely out of sorts. She's in a T shirt and shorts, pacing around her living room. Her large fluffy dog is mirroring her panting and Naomi introduces herself and Michelle asks why Naomi didn't call or text first. Michelle is on the verge of tears, saying she didn't even have a chance to brush her teeth or take a shower yet. She seems like she's just about ready to kick us out, but suddenly thinks better of it. She says she may as well get this all over with. She says I can stay, but she doesn't want to be recorded. Over the next half hour or so, Michelle describes her father, James Bradley, as an extremely abusive man who spent a lifetime terrorizing her, her sister and their mother before moving on to her stepmother, who he killed, chopped into pieces and buried around El Paso in New Mexico. The details are raw heart to stomach. Michelle gets through it in fits and starts between crying jags and long sips of water. When Michelle eventually tells us about why she's suspicious of her dad, a lot of it is hearsay, stuff she's heard through relatives over the years. But there is one thing she says she witnessed directly. Michelle told us that one day in 1987, she walked into her dad's house and saw a woman she didn't know relaxing on the couch, looking very comfortable. Years later, she thought she recognized the woman's face. On the news. It looked like one of the Desert Killer's victims, Ivy Williams. We leave the apartment and sit in the rental car. Naomi calls her boss, Jeremy.

[Naomi Fenwick]

Hey, Jeremy, how are you?

[Greg Werchuck]

I am good.

[Maurice Shama]

How are you?

[Naomi Fenwick]

What's up? So Alvin is here with me, recording.

[Ramona Desmukes]

Hey, Alvin.

[Jeremy]

Hi.

[Alvin Melith]

You couldn't see that, but Naomi full body side at that.

[Naomi Fenwick]

I just wanted to update you. So we spoke to Michelle and she was really distressed.

[Alvin Melith]

Naomi gives Jeremy the rundown of what Michelle said and they run through their options together. They don't have to have someone corroborate Michelle's story. That's not necessary for their legal filing. But it would definitely be stronger if they did. Their problem is they don't have many people to choose from. Some people are dead, like Michelle's dad. Others, like an aunt who lives out in Washington, would require a special trip, which they have to weigh against the other things on their to do.

[Jeremy]

List.

[Alvin Melith]

Michelle did mention an older sister to us, though, who also lives in El Paso. Michelle told us they mostly aren't on speaking terms at this point, but she suggested it might be worth asking her sister what she remembers. Given that menu of options, Jeremy suggests we give the estranged sister a visit. Naomi doesn't skip a beat, starts looking for an address on her phone. I can't figure out if they're digging into this because they see something tenuous but worth pursuing or because they're desperate and they have unlimited miles on the rental car. Did Michelle say something in there that tripped some lawyer wire? I couldn't see. I checked with Naomi, hoping she'll let me in on her thinking. What of what she said was seemed useful to you?

[Naomi Fenwick]

Ask me in a couple hours.

[Greg Werchuck]

While Alvin is off with Naomi, I'm spending the day with Greg. If there's one overarching story that Greg has been telling himself and anyone who will listen about this case, it's that the cops had tunnel vision. They took every piece of evidence and either massaged it to make it fit David Wood or discarded it if it didn't. This was a hard case to solve, Greg's theory goes, and there was a ton of pressure to solve it. Some cops were calling it the biggest case in the history of the police department, and victim families were demonstrating in public. So Greg thinks the police took shortcuts and zeroed in on David Wood because it was convenient and they were desperate. And over the years, he has found some evidence of that tunnel vision. For one, there were other suspects the police could have spent more time investigating. Greg has the list from the original police file. There were 36 names on this list. Arguably the most important one, though, was. Was a guy named Salvador Martinez. He was a friend of David woods, who also admitted to police that he knew some of the victims. According to court documents, one woman claimed to the lawyers that Martinez once put her in a headlock and said, quote, do you know how easy it would be for me to snap your neck in two right now? She later told the police that they should be investigating him rather than David Wood. The police did give Martinez a polygraph test about the Desert murders, which I know. Unreliable. But he failed it. Police went ahead and collected his saliva and blood, but for reasons that aren't totally clear, they never tested whether his DNA appeared at any of the crime scenes. Both Greg's team and I have talked to Martinez. I tried to reach him for months and finally just went to his house. He wouldn't let me record him but he denied having anything to do with the murders. When I followed up later about the allegation that he'd threatened to snap a woman's neck, I got an email from his wife. She said he couldn't talk to us anymore because of his dementia. But the story quote, does not sound like anything Sal would do. So, alternate suspects. That's one part of Greg's tunnel vision theory. And then there's David Wood's pickup truck. A key piece of the state's narrative was that he used this truck to take the victims out to the desert. But Greg has since figured out that the truck was in a wreck and sitting in a salvage yard for all of August 1987, which is when three of the victims disappeared. Plus, El Paso police were actually surveilling David Wood for part of that August, and they didn't see any evidence of him killing anyone. Greg's tunnel vision theory even extends to the physical evidence in the case. That evidence is now in the El Paso County Courthouse. So that's our first stop.

[Jeremy]

Oh, so you brought all these photos. Right.

[Greg Werchuck]

I see a clerk ushers us through a side door into the bowels of the building to a low lit room, very law and order. A giant table is covered in white butcher paper with 30 year old evidence from the trial. Greg throws his tie over his shoulder so it doesn't get in the way and starts picking up these little canisters and bags.

[Jeremy]

So it's got the vacuum bag and then the plastic evidence bag that it came in, I assume.

[Naomi Fenwick]

Right. So the vacuum bags there, and then you could see the particles here.

[Greg Werchuck]

From where I'm standing across the table, it looks like these bags are just full of dust. But when I lean in and squint, I can see what Greg sees. Tiny orange fibers, like from a blanket or a rug. These fibers were key to the state's case. The police found them in a vacuum cleaner in David Wood's apartment and also on a victim's T shirt. At the trial, an expert witness testified that the two sets of fibers were identical. Greg has consulted his own experts who have told him this testimony was junk science. They say there's no way to prove that the fibers match because they're synthetic. Greg has two options for what to put in the legal filing. Option A, he can use the junk science argument, But I can imagine a judge might find this unsatisfying. I find it unsatisfying because, sure, the fibers may or may not match, but why were there orange fibers with the victim at all? That's suspicious. Right. This brings me to option B, which is a much bolder option. Greg can say, sure, the fibers match because you guys planted them there. He can accuse the cops of taking the fibers from David Wood's apartment and placing them at the crime scene. Far fetched. Maybe. But Greg points out that the crime scene was left unsecured for nine days. And also the police found a lot of fibers in big clumps. Even the prosecution's own expert witness said that was a little strange. This theory is juicier, but also riskier. The legal filing is going to go to judges who are predisposed to think Greg might be full of it and take all of his other arguments less seriously. On the way out of the courthouse, Greg says he wants to grab one more thing from a clerk. He asked for any and all criminal records related to a guy named Michael Plyler. This is a new name to me. It wasn't on the El Paso PD's list of 36 suspects, but the other night, Greg came across Plyler's name in old state records along with a picture of a truck which looked a lot like David woods truck. So Greg wondered, could this all be a case of mistaken identity? He wants to look through Plyler's criminal files to see if there's anything in there that might tie him to the case beyond the truck. Like if he went by the nickname

[Jeremy]

Skeeter, because Skeeter is this nickname that keeps popping up throughout the case as David Wood. But David Wood's never used that as a nickname, so it seems a bit odd that that would be a name he would be giving to people.

[Greg Werchuck]

This depends on believing David Wood about the nickname, which Greg does. But either way, this Plyler deep dive seems to me like a real long shot. And it reminds me of a criticism I've heard a lot, mostly from prosecutors and judges. They say lawyers like Greg have years to do this stuff, but they wait until the last minute so they can maximize the drama. I ask him about this. So these are files that you've had for a long time, and you're just.

[Maurice Shama]

Now they'll give you the.

[Greg Werchuck]

I. I guess I wondered if this name had emerged.

[Jeremy]

Yeah.

[Greg Werchuck]

In something you just got.

[Jeremy]

No. Yeah. But it's in. I've had it for a long time. In the sense that it's buried in 12,000 pages.

[Naomi Fenwick]

Right.

[Greg Werchuck]

He says it's buried in 12,000 pages of records. His point being that, yes, he's technically had Michael Plyler's name for years, but he's been working solo for much of that time. So he's had to pick and choose what to focus on. But it's also true that Greg is incentivized to stretch this out as much as possible to show up at court with new information right before the execution. That way, the judges will be so overwhelmed, they'll have to hit the pause button, and Greg's client gets to live another day. In fact, Greg's already been accused pretty harshly of delaying David Wood's execution in all kinds of ways. Last year, a judge summarizing the last 15 years of this case accused David's defense of a, quote, pattern of piecemeal litigation and delay. Over those years, Greg has filed motions to replace prosecutors to claim a judge had a conflict of interest to test this or that bit of evidence. He lost all these arguments, but the judge's point was this guy just throws spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, and he does it one noodle at a time. Other lawyers get accused of the same things. There's a perception on the part of prosecutors and also lots of judges that lawyers like Greg are such extreme anti death penalty zealots that they're willing to bend the rules, if not outright break them. To be clear, there's no evidence here that Greg broke any rules and he would deny bending them. But I personally think the real issue here isn't the lawyers and their individual conduct. It's the death penalty itself, A punishment that takes all of the tension that's inherent in a criminal case and ratchets it up. It's an invitation for a certain amount of distrust on all sides.

[Alvin Melith]

While Maurice finishes up at the courthouse, Naomi and I are off looking for Michelle Bradley's sister, Misty Metz. Naomi is hoping Misty will corroborate the Brady disclosure, Michelle's claim that her father was involved in the desert killings. We're driving for a bit when Naomi looks down and sees a text on her phone. Her brows immediately furrow. What happened?

[Naomi Fenwick]

She told her sister, we're coming

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[Alvin Melith]

Michelle reached out to Misty. Bad news for Naomi. Her element of surprise is now gone, but we're pretty close to the address at this point, so Naomi Parks breathes it out for a minute and pushes forward. We walk up to the door, and Naomi rings the doorbell. I hear barking before I see anyone. I've already fixed my face into a defeat grimace when a slightly confused woman opens the door and welcomes us in. Misty shows us into her living room and introduces us to our very friendly dog named Brady, of all things, and lets me start rolling.

[Naomi Fenwick]

So I Don't know. Did Michelle tell you that we. My sister don't talk, but I just got a message from her telling me that you might be contacting me, so I didn't know it was going to be today. That's why I'm kind of a little caught off guard. But that's fine.

[Greg Werchuck]

Yeah.

[Naomi Fenwick]

Sorry for showing up unannounced on your doorstep. Did your sister tell you a little bit about why we're reaching out? Only that she believes that my dad had something to do with the murders that David woods is accused of and

[Alvin Melith]

that despite being a little caught off guard, Misty is surprisingly open to talking. Almost immediately, though, she throws cold water on her sister's theories.

[Naomi Fenwick]

My dad did something terrible. He murdered my stepmother. He did. That's indisputable. But I don't think he had anything to do with this situation with Woods. I really don't. I. I don't.

[Alvin Melith]

Misty tells us she understands her sister's feelings about their dad. She shares some of them. She grew up in the same house and experienced all his abuse, too. But that's where the corroboration ends. She has no idea if her sister really saw one of the victims on their Dad's couch in 1987, but she doesn't buy Michelle's theory. For what it's worth, Misty remembers her mom and dad were together at the time, so it's unlikely to her that another woman would just be lounging around the house like that. We talk for a little bit longer, but after a while, it's pretty clear Misty has said just about all she knows.

[Naomi Fenwick]

I don't have any other questions. I don't know if you have any questions for me. I think this is a figment of my sister's imagination. I'm sorry. You know, I wish I could give David Wood something to, you know, feel hopeful about, but I really don't think this is.

[Alvin Melith]

Was hard to walk out of that conversation feeling like there was anything left to this lead. It was like witnessing a balloon deflating in real time. I can't totally get a read on how Naomi felt about it, though. Her expression is pretty sphinx, like sitting next to me in the car. So I sneak in a temperature check. Can I ask really quickly, just while we're still here?

[Naomi Fenwick]

Yes.

[Alvin Melith]

Did hearing any of that change the way you heard Michelle's conversation.

[Naomi Fenwick]

In terms of facts? Misty did not say anything different to the extent that she confirmed that her father was a very violent and abusive man. So it's a difference of not opinion, but it's a difference of like belief as to whether their father was involved or not, which neither knows to be factually correct or incorrect. You know, they've both said their father was a terrible person and a very violent person.

[Alvin Melith]

I was not surprised by Naomi doing her job here, spinning me a little bit, trying to make the best possible case for her client, which is basically two women confirmed their father was an abusive murderer who happened to be in El Paso at the time of the Desert Killer. But it did strike me that Naomi could leave out the part where Misty throws cold water on her sister's story. In fact, it seems like she's incentivized to leave it out. If more digging wasn't going to help, and it really didn't seem like it would at this point, then it was probably better to leave the whole thing kind of thin and single sourced. It was a little surreal to me to imagine this going into a legal filing, but eventually I will read the lawyer's final draft and there It'll be, page 197, all dressed up and respectable in its severe font and 1 inch margins. It will include lots of Michelle's claims, like the story about seeing Ivy Williams on the sofa, but it will not include any trace of the messy relationship between two estranged sisters. No hint of their radically different versions of the past. It wasn't Naomi's job to present all of this context, but it did make me wonder about a process where you could leave this much of it out. Naomi and I head off for Misty's it's been a long day of driving around El Paso and to me at least, it doesn't feel like we've got much to show for it. There's a punchy, lightly defeated air in the car, Naomi's head in the direction of her hotel, but then our phones light up. Greg apparently struck gold with one of his own door knocks, so one unexpected opened up and had real information to share. That's after the break.

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[Naomi Fenwick]

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[Greg Werchuck]

Equal Housing Lender Greg and I finish up at the courthouse around lunchtime. Before we head back to the hotel, he proposes we swing by someone's house first. A woman he's been trying to talk to for some time now. Ramona Desmukes. Her importance as a witness is kind of questionable. She was best friends with a girl who disappeared back in 1987. A lot of people in El Paso assumed David Wood was responsible, but police never found evidence, and he wasn't convicted of it. It's the kind of witness I could imagine skipping, but Greg decides it's worth a try. We pull off the highway and drive up to this small house where a guy with a Mohawk is hauling stuff out to a dumpster. Greg hops out of the car and talks to him. He comes back looking defeated. But as we're pulling away, I see a woman in the rearview mirror.

[Jeremy]

Here, let me see. Hi.

[Greg Werchuck]

How are you? Greg leads the woman towards the car, and I roll down my window. What's your name? I'm sorry.

[Ramona Desmukes]

I'm Ramona Desmut.

[Greg Werchuck]

Everyone is half interrupting each other. Ramona tells us the Mohawk guy is actually her husband. She moved out of state and is just back to do renovations. She seems excited to talk to Greg, but says the house is too much of a mess to invite him in. She suggests another spot.

[Ramona Desmukes]

I mean, there's like a, like a water burger up the street right around the corner, and I can go.

[Jeremy]

Your husband said you might have, like, files and records still.

[Ramona Desmukes]

I still have all of the old articles. I have everything.

[Jeremy]

All right.

[Greg Werchuck]

Naomi and Alvin, meet us at the Whataburger. As the only native Texan in this group, I feel obligated to say Whataburger is a state institution, but it is not a great place to do an interview. There's loud music, soda fountains and fryers going, people coming in and out. Ramona Blazes in big, expressive face. Her hair is wild and curly, some of the layers dyed cherry red. She slaps down this giant binder, very dusty, that says Mona's Articles. She also goes by Mona in cursive letters, next to what looks like a cigarette burn. It's full of old newspaper clippings that leave flakes on the table. Apparently, all those years Greg was developing his theories of what really happened in 1987, Ramona was nursing her own. El Paso is a pretty big city, but Ramona talks about it like a small town. David Wood, the police, the victims, their parents, everybody knows everybody, as if somehow they all went to high school together. Even this Whataburger is relevant in a way. Ramona tells us she got involved in this case because of her best friend, Cheryl Vasquez. When they were still teenagers, Cheryl married Ramona's brother, which made them best friends and sisters in law. And Cheryl, she worked right here at this Water Burger.

[Ramona Desmukes]

This is where she worked when she went missing. She was working here. And she never even got her last check from this place because she was gone.

[Greg Werchuck]

But Cheryl was 19 when she disappeared. The same summer as all the Desert killer victims. When bodies started turning up in the desert, Ramona was worried that Cheryl was going to be one of them. She felt the cops weren't looking hard enough for her friend. So she enlisted her mom, and they decided to figure out what happened to Cheryl themselves. They knew Cheryl was last seen at this one Circle K convenience store, and so they came up with, frankly, a totally bonkers plan.

[Ramona Desmukes]

We started hanging out at that Circle K, and my mom was literally tricking me. She was like, go sit on that wall and somebody's going to come and try to kidnap you, and I'll call the cops and we'll get them and we'll know who it was. And I'm like, sounds like a real

[Jeremy]

character from what I.

[Ramona Desmukes]

She was feisty until the moment she died. She had me sitting on that wall in little shorts, 17 years old, waiting to get me kidnapped. I'm like, thanks, Mom.

[Greg Werchuck]

But by way of explanation, Ramona says that her mom was, quote, German. The lawyers don't ask her to explain more. But as strange as the plan was, there was some logic to it. Ramona and Cheryl were about the same age, and according to Ramona, looked so alike that they got mistaken for sisters. Ramona's mom thought she could use her daughter's looks to lure out the desert killer. Ramona says that she and her mom did this Circle K routine over a few Days with no luck. Then one afternoon, she was sitting on a wall outside the store in her shorts when she saw a truck approach. Word around town was that the desert killer drove a beige or a brown truck.

[Ramona Desmukes]

One day, this brown truck came rolling in and went to the store and came out and looked over at me and was like, oh, shit. Threw a quarter at me. Go home. Huh? Go home. Your family's looking for you. They said I stole you. The cops have been asking me questions. You need to take your ass home. And I'm like, who are you talking to?

[Greg Werchuck]

This was how Ramona first met David Wood. At this point, the cops were starting to zero in on him for the disappearances, including Cheryl's, and he knew it. He mistakenly thought Ramona was Cheryl because, again, they looked alike. So that part of the plan actually worked. Ramona says he tossed a quarter at her, as in, you're the girl the cops think I abducted. Please use this quarter to call home on the payphone. Tell everyone you're safe. Ramona goes on to tell us about the surprising relationship that developed between her, her mom, and David Wood. Something between a friendship and a covert op. David Wood himself remembers spending time with the two of them, but what he didn't know is that they were also spying on him. Ramona says her mom started inviting David Wood to their house.

[Ramona Desmukes]

He'd come over. She'd give him coffee. They'd hang out. They talk. My mom thought she was slick, and she was. My mom was like, you know, I'm gonna sit here and talk to him. You go search his truck, you know?

[Greg Werchuck]

She says she stole David Wood's keys and rifled through his truck trying to find something incriminating, but she never did. She also saw him get nauseous around blood. She cut her hand in front of him once, which, while not exactly exonerating, didn't scream serial killer either. For Ramona and her mom, it all added up to one thing. David Wood could not be the desert Killer. Ramona says her mom was eager to help clear his name.

[Ramona Desmukes]

My mom immediately called the detectives. He's the wrong guy. You got the wrong guy, because he didn't kidnap my daughter, and she looks just like Cheryl. And he me.

[Naomi Fenwick]

Threw.

[Ramona Desmukes]

Threw a quarter at her and told her to go home. And, you know, my mom's German. Very feisty, very loud. She's like, d d. So they're like, oh, we want to come and talk to you.

[Greg Werchuck]

The police came to the house and asked Ramona to come down to the station to give a statement. To detectives. She was sketched out.

[Ramona Desmukes]

And I said, no, I'm not going to give you a statement. They said, well, we want to show you something. So they put me in the car and took me out to the desert. And they're like, you know, there's bodies out here and people really easy for you to be out here. And they wanted me to write a statement. They told me, out there in the desert, we need you to go back and write a statement. We need you to tell us that David Wood tried to take you. I said, but he didn't try to take me. He threw a quarter at me and told me to go home. Well, that's not what we need you to say. I said, but that's not the truth. And they said, you know, you look just like all the other girls that are gone. This could be you. And I was like, are you threatening me? And they're like, well, no, we're just telling you that if you don't put him away, he might take you.

[Greg Werchuck]

Ramona says the detectives who drove her out to the desert Were Johnny Guerrero and his partner, Alfonso Marquez. She eventually put all of this in a sworn statement to the court. Ramona is not the first person to accuse these guys of abusing their power. There's George hall, the guy who called Greg with the whole story of the jailhouse informants and the red carpet treatment, and later laid out his claims in a sworn declaration. According to trial transcripts. At least one other witness claimed the police tried to add falsehoods to her statement. In a different case from around this time, A suspect told a reporter that Detective Guerrero bullied him into a false confession. We asked Detective Guerrero about that interrogation, and he said he didn't remember it. He also denied ever taking Ramona out to the desert. Actually, what he said was, quote, she's full of shit. Moreover, he told us, in his 15 years in homicide, quote, I was never accused of any wrongdoing or coercion by anyone I talked to or any case I worked. Detective Marquez, for his part, died a couple of years ago. But it is worth noting that he had a reputation for lying and using force. In a different case, he allegedly bullied a 16 year old kid to make him confess to two murders. The kid was later exonerated after serving nearly 20 years in prison. Watching the lawyers interview Ramona, watching them jot down notes, at every twist and turn, I was struck by how absurd it was that this was where we found ourselves. 50 days out from the execution, all of us huddled around a table in this whatburger, the lawyers trying to piece together something useful from this zany story. Ramona is entertaining, but since I'm not steeped in the case, it also seems like she mixes theories and stories and gossip and evidence so effortlessly. And it's such a rapid clip that it's a little hard to keep up, much less to accept it all at face value.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, right, fine.

[Greg Werchuck]

I look over at Greg and Naomi to see how they're reacting, to get some clue about how seriously I should take all of this. But there are more or less statues, very stoic, these two lawyers and a whataburger. All of which to say I'm not sure how to assess some of the other claims Ramona makes. The most explosive ones concern a very important person in the case against David Wood, Judith Kelling.

[Ramona Desmukes]

And when I heard her name, I'm like, is that prostitute that's saying David raped her?

[Jeremy]

Yes.

[Greg Werchuck]

Judith Kelling was the woman who claimed David Wood raped her out in the desert. She had been a crucial witness at his murder trial, and her account helped establish the Desert Killer's mo. Ramona says she was out one day looking for her sister in law who was still missing when she spotted Kelling and sidled up to her.

[Ramona Desmukes]

So I'm like playing it cool with her and I'm like, oh, yeah, you know, I'm looking for my sister. And she's like, oh, the David Wood thing? She's like, yeah, you know, that's all bullshit. And I was like, what do you mean? And she's like, he didn't do anything to me.

[Jeremy]

Really? So she told you this in after David Wood's arrested in October of 1987.

[Ramona Desmukes]

He was already charged with her rape when he was charged with before he was.

[Greg Werchuck]

You can tell in Greg's voice how much he would love to poke holes in Judith Kelling's credibility. It's something he's been trying to do for years. For example, he found one source who gave a sworn statement to the court that Judith Kelling had been a police informant, and specifically that she'd been Detective Johnny Guerrero's informant when she reported her rape. Judith also spent long stretches in jail around this time on drug charges. On top of that, Greg has noticed that her story of what exactly happened in the desert kept changing, getting more and more aligned with other things the police believed about David Wood and the murders. Greg uses these points to make an argument in court filings. Desperate to solve the murders, Detective Guerrero squeezed an equally desperate Judith Kelling to point the finger at David Wood. We asked Detective Guerrero about all of this, and he denies that Kelling was ever his informant. Judith Kelling died a decade ago, so Greg can't ask her about it. But here in this Whataburger, Ramona claims Kelling revealed much more to her about what really went down.

[Ramona Desmukes]

This is what she's telling me. They made a deal with me to get me out of jail, and all I gotta do is testify against this guy. I was like, well, were you even raped? She's like, yeah, but not by him. I'm like, who? She says, mike Plyler.

[Greg Werchuck]

I'm like, who's this guy, Mike Plyler? What? The same guy Greg asked about at the courthouse a few hours ago. The one I thought was a long shot. I look over at Greg, and I can see he's just as surprised. He's barely able to contain himself, nodding so hard, it's like he's swaying. Ramona says that after she got Mike Plyler's name from Judith, she and her mom looked for the guy and, well, basically stalked him. They staked out his apartment, watched him come and go. They were blown away by the similarities between this man and David Wood. Similar builds, similar tattoos on top of the similar trucks. They also both drove red motorcycles. I can practically see the gears turning in Greg's mind. And as the water burger fills with the sound of someone making the world's loudest milkshake, he tosses out one more question.

[Jeremy]

Do you have any information about this nickname, Skeeter, that supposedly is.

[Ramona Desmukes]

That's Skeeter. My father is Skeeter.

[Jeremy]

Well, when you say that, how do you know that he's Skeeter?

[Ramona Desmukes]

That's what Judith called him.

[Jeremy]

Is that right?

[Ramona Desmukes]

That's what she called him. She called him Skeeter. So that's Skeeter.

[Greg Werchuck]

Ramona says that she went to the cops back in 1987 and told them everything she learned about David Wood, about Judith Kelling, and about Michael Plyler. And she says the cops did nothing. They could have, for example, looked more into Plyler, gotten some DNA samples, polygraphed him. Instead, Ramona says they simply told her to stay away. Ramona's whole story is wild, obviously. And as we wrap up at the Whataburger, it's not clear to me how Greg is going to use it all, whether he's going to try to corroborate any of these details, and I'm not sure that's really possible. I can imagine what a prosecutor might say. For example, the Judith Kelling story that it wasn't David Wood who raped her. Well, the state could point to trial testimony from Kelling's sister, who said Judith identified David Wood as the rapist right after it happened. Greg could go after the sister's credibility, but the question remains. Why would Judith Kelling make a grand revelation to Ramona, a teenager she just met? There's also a question about Ramona's motivations. I found an old news story that says she was banned from the El Paso County Jail. She had allegedly graffitied I Love David Wood on the wall of a visiting booth. Ramona denies it and says people were just out to tarnish her reputation because she was questioning the police department's version of events. Still, not a great thing to have out there on the Internet. But what's most useful to Greg, I think, are all those moments when the cops appeared to have tunnel vision. For example, when Ramona says they tried to get her to falsely accuse David Wood. Or when she says they ignored the Plyler story. Especially if the state didn't tell Wood's lawyers about this stuff before his trial. I wouldn't call these bombshells, but I would call them good evidence. And you could argue that Greg only found it all because the execution date forced him to knock on every door one more time. I ended up calling Mike Plyler. A few weeks later. He confirmed that he did live in El Paso. During the time in question. His tone got a little sharp. When I asked if he went by the nickname Skeeter, he interrupted me and said, that's false. When asked about raping anyone or being the Desert Killer, he said, I haven't done nothing. I don't have nothing to hide. After we hung up, I sent him Ramona's claims. He ghosted me. I do feel for him. This whole episode made me see just how easy it is for anyone to be accused of pretty egregious stuff in a legal filing. In this case, rape, and being a suspect in a serial murder case, all because some stranger mentions your name in a Whataburger. We felt we had to use Plyler's name, given how much it showed up in the lawyer's legal filing. But we also felt like this man deserves every possible opportunity to respond. So after I sent a ton of follow ups that went unanswered, Alvin and I decided we just had to try in person. Plyler lives in a mid sized city in the South. When we got to his house, there were a couple of warning signs about a pit bull. And then we heard barking. I did see a dog through the window. Pretty cute, actually. Plyler opened up just to tell us, quote, I'm not interested. I asked if I could give him a folder with Ramona's claims. He suggested I throw it in the garbage. I leaned over to put it on the doormat, and by the time I stood back up, the door was closed. The whole thing lasted maybe 10 seconds. I haven't been able to reach him since. Greg will add Ramona's claims to what he'll file in court in a few weeks, but first he tells me he wants to bring what he's found to another audience. An audience that will, if it's possible, be even more skeptical than the judges. Even more likely to see it all is Smoke and Mirrors, the mother of one of the Desert Killer's victims. That's next time on the last 12 weeks. The last 12 weeks is written and reported by me, Maurice Shama and Alvin Melith. Alvin produced the series. Jen Guerra edited the series along with Anita Batijo. Julie Snyder is the Executive Editor for Serial Productions. Additional editing from Akiva Solomon. Fact checking and research by Ben Phelan. Music supervision by Jen Guerra and Phoebe Wang with mixing by Phoebe Wang. Additional mixing by Katherine Anderson. Tracking direction from Sean Cole. Our associate producer is Mac Miller. Additional production by Anita Badajo. Additional reporting by Reyes Mata iii. There's a lot about the death penalty that we couldn't fit into this show. Stories from Capitol defense lawyers. A fascinating look at the data behind executions. You can find all of that in our newsletter. Sign up for it at nytimes.com serialnewsletter. Original music for this series by Adam Dorn, aka Motion Worker, Matthias Basse and John Evans of Stellwagen Symphonet. Additional music by Dan Powell and Marianne Lozano. Adam Dorn, AKA Motion Worker, composed our theme song. Video production by Sean Devaney. Our Standards Editor is Susan Wessling. Legal review from Alamin Sumar and Jackson Bush. The art for our show comes from Pablo Delkan. Sam Dolnick is Deputy Managing Editor of the New York Times. Special thanks to Reem Akkad, Jill Castellano, Mara Corbett, Jelena Fong and Janelle pifer. The last 12 weeks is a production of Ciro Productions, the Marshall Project and the New York.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

This podcast is supported by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online. They give you everything you need to offer services and get paid all in one place. And with their collection of cutting edge design tools, anyone can build a beautiful professional online presence that perfectly fits their brand or business. Head to squarespace.com NYT for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, use offer code NYT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.