Episode 332

Summary

Sword and Scale – Episode 332 (December 12, 2025)

Episode Overview

This episode of Sword and Scale dives deep into the brutal 2000 murder of 18-year-old Jessica Curran in Mayfield, Kentucky, a crime that would expose colossal failures in the criminal justice system—corruption, mishandled evidence, coerced testimony, and the questionable rise of a citizen sleuth. The episode closely follows the investigation’s tortuous path: the initial focus on Jeremy Adams, the intervention of homemaker-turned-sleuth Susan Galbraith, the eventual conviction of Quincy Cross—now claimed to be unjust—and the campaign for his exoneration led by high-profile innocence advocates. With raw testimony, first-person interviews, and a narrative that questions whether justice is ultimately served, the episode reveals the devastating ripple effects of flawed policing and unreliable storytelling.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Discovery of Jessica Curran’s Body

• Setting the Scene: August 2000, Mayfield, Kentucky. Early morning, her charred remains are found behind Mayfield Middle School by a teacher tending a memorial garden ([02:27 – 04:28]).
• First Observations: The body is “burned to a crisp,” hard to identify, and found with a sandal and a black leather braided belt ([03:44]; [04:28]).
• Initial Forensics: Cause of death presumed to be strangulation (due to the belt), with evidence of severe facial beating. No evidence of sexual assault, but ripped underwear found nearby ([04:28 – 06:24]).
• Notable Quote:
  “It was hard to tell it was a human body though. The corpse was burned to a crisp.”
  — Mike Boudet ([03:44])

2. Jessica’s Background and Family

• Jessica’s Life: Daughter of a respected local fire captain, once a motherly figure to her younger brothers, known for her vivacious personality ([07:29 – 09:11]).
• Pregnancy and Rumors: Became a young single mother; the paternity of her son Zion was ambiguous, with suspects Marcus Morris and Jeremy Adams ([09:11 – 11:29]).
• Community Reaction: Family expected support, but instead, community members recoiled, highlighting the isolating effects of tragedy ([16:09]).

Memorable Moment

“I went in Walmart...and I would see somebody that I knew and I was friends with...and they would turn away, and some of them wouldn't know what to say, and some of them would just turn and go a different direction to avoid me.”
— Jessica’s father ([16:09])

3. Early Investigation and Initial Suspects

• Suspect #1 – Jeremy Adams: Rumored father of Jessica’s child, implicated by testimony from jailhouse snitch Jesse and prior acquaintances. Jesse described specific details of the crime that were not public knowledge ([13:47 – 15:00]).
• Suspect #2 – Carlos Saxton: Accomplice allegedly present with Jeremy during the night of the murder.
• Case Collapse: Indictments against both men dismissed in 2003 due to police procedural errors—failure to turn over evidence ([15:00 – 16:09]).

4. Citizen Sleuth Enters the Scene

• Susan Galbraith: Local homemaker becomes obsessed with solving the case after seeing Jessica's body. She uses persistence, notes, and outreach, eventually attracting the attention of UK journalist Tom Mangold ([17:13 – 22:58]).
• Galbraith’s Influence: Gains extraordinary access to witnesses, alters the trajectory of the case, and is allowed to participate in police interviews and evidence review, despite no law enforcement background ([36:41]; [60:01]).

Notable Quote

“She was just a homemaker who they allowed to run roughshod over this case. And she was given full access to everything. ... She got her way and she got some awards, and she's not around anymore, but... she left a trail of bodies in her wake that is really... extraordinary.”
— Jason Flom ([38:48])

5. Redirection of the Case: New Suspects and Coerced Testimony

• Victim’s Best Friend Flip: Victoria Caldwell, pressured into multiple statements and cross-examinations, implicates Quincy Cross and several others after law enforcement and Galbraith push her into cooperation ([24:46 – 29:41]).
• Alleged Crime Chain: Victoria’s account evolves—now, Jessica was strangled by Quincy Cross (with Tamara Caldwell and others present), body transported to the school, doused in gasoline, and burned ([27:28 – 31:22]).
• Witness Testimony: No physical evidence, no confession; the prosecution’s case built almost exclusively on testimonial evidence, including recanted and contradictory statements ([32:59 – 33:59]; [55:27 – 56:43]).

Notable Quote

“There were no dramatic forensics, there was no hard physical evidence and no confession from Quincy. It was all a narrative built from testimony with Victoria Caldwell at the center of it all. And it worked.”
— Mike Boudet ([33:25])

6. Systemic Failure: Corruption and Flawed Police Work

• Police Incompetence: Rookie detective assigned to the case, mishandling of evidence, and descriptions of Mayfield Police Department as “hopelessly corrupt” ([35:59 – 37:56]).
• Corrupt Leadership: Police chief Ronnie Lear later found with caches of drugs and weapons in his desk, charged with multiple crimes ([37:56]).
• KBI Takes Over: Interview key witnesses in a hotel, allegedly use threats (“stick a needle in your arm”) and promises of money and protection to coerce testimony ([53:39 – 54:25]).

Notable Quote

“They conducted these very unorthodox interrogations in a hotel instead of at the police station... Victoria says they threatened to do all this at the Drury Inn in Paducah, Kentucky.”
— Jason Flom / Mike Boudet ([54:21])

• Payments to Witnesses: Victoria Caldwell relocated, had expenses covered by the Attorney General and KBI—including rent, groceries, even purchases from sex shops ([56:43 – 58:17]).
• Other Witnesses: Paid for controlled calls or threatened with jail/loss of children if they didn’t cooperate, especially amid addiction crises ([58:17]).

7. Media Influence, Advocacy, and Doubt

• Journalist Role: Tom Mangold, at first supportive of Galbraith’s work, later voices regret: “...there's a teeny, weeny, itsy, bitsy chance we've got this whole fucking murder story wrong” ([67:05]).
• Wrongful Conviction Movement: Jason Flom (Wrongful Conviction Podcast, Innocence Project) takes up Quincy's cause. Both Jessica’s and Quincy’s fathers, previously on opposite sides, now align to campaign for a retrial/exoneration ([35:51]; [64:02]).
• Quincy’s Optimism: After nearly 25 years, he remains hopeful, maintaining innocence, with lingering legal avenues and a possible clemency push ([67:58]).

Notable Quote

“Quincy is still in prison. I spoke to him today, actually. He's excited... He's relentlessly optimistic. He's not bitter. He really just wants his story to be heard...”
— Jason Flom ([67:58])

8. Enduring Impact and Open Questions

• Community Fracture: The tragedy and its “solutions” left emotional wounds, damaged families, and fostered distrust in authorities ([70:05]).
• Unanswered Questions: The episode ends questioning the reliability of recanted or ever-changing stories, and whether testimony alone can ever be enough for true justice ([33:59]).

Memorable Closing

“The fire that took Jessica Curran's life never really stopped burning. Susan Galbraith reignited the sparks, maybe hoping the flames would clear the debris and reveal the truth. Or maybe to burn away evidence that pointed towards Jeremy Adams...those flames weren't a tool of justice. They were chaotic, aimless, driven by something other than truth. And they eventually consumed everything in their path.”
— Mike Boudet ([70:42])

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:27 | Discovery of Jessica Curran's body | | 07:29 | Jessica’s family and background | | 11:29 | DNA test reveals Jeremy Adams as possible father | | 13:47 | Jailhouse informant implicates Jeremy Adams | | 16:09 | Impact on Jessica’s family and community isolation | | 17:13 | Susan Galbraith begins her independent investigation | | 24:46–31:22 | Victoria Caldwell’s revised testimony implicates Quincy Cross | | 33:51 | Jason Flom introduces wrongful conviction movement involvement | | 35:59 | Police misconduct and corruption detailed | | 53:39 | Testimony about witness intimidation/coaching | | 56:43 | State payments to key witness Victoria Caldwell | | 64:02 | Quincy’s current legal status and clemency efforts | | 67:58 | Interview insights about Quincy Cross’s attitude and optimism | | 70:05 | Jessica’s father reflects on the lasting pain of loss | | 70:42 | Mike Boudet summarizes the chaos and loss of truth |

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Notable Quotes by Speaker with Timestamps

• Mike Boudet:

  “It was hard to tell it was a human body though. The corpse was burned to a crisp.” ([03:44])

  “There were no dramatic forensics, there was no hard physical evidence and no confession from Quincy. It was all a narrative built from testimony with Victoria Caldwell at the center of it all. And it worked.” ([33:25])

  “The fire that took Jessica Curran's life never really stopped burning... those flames weren't a tool of justice. They were chaotic, aimless, driven by something other than truth.” ([70:42])

• Jason Flom:

  “She was just a homemaker who they allowed to run roughshod over this case. And she was given full access to everything. ... She got her way and she got some awards, and she's not around anymore, but...She left a trail of bodies in her wake that is really...extraordinary.” ([38:48])

  “Quincy is still in prison. I spoke to him today, actually...He's relentlessly optimistic. He's not bitter. He really just wants his story to be heard... and he wants justice, not just for himself but for Jessica and for the others.” ([67:58])

• Victoria Caldwell (on changing statements):

  “I really feel like my...statement that I gave on video was stopped lots of times, and I was told what to say, and people could see these scratches.” ([53:59])

  “They told me they'll stick a needle on my arm on the elevator at the tree. It was kind of like Jurian in Paducah, Kentucky...” ([54:25])

• Jessica’s father:

  “I went in Walmart...and I would see somebody that I knew and I was friends with...and they would turn away...That night, I realized what an impact it had on the community...” ([16:09])

  “It don't get better. You learn to live with it, but it never gets better.” ([70:18])

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The Sword and Scale Tone

The episode retains Mike Boudet’s signature style—cynical, blunt, darkly ironic, and relentless in exposing the failings of the justice system. First-person narratives, court audio, and witness interviews give the story an immersive and disturbing edge. Jason Flom provides advocacy and hope amid the legal bleakness, while witness voices reveal the confusion, trauma, and inconsistency at the heart of the case.

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Summary

The murder of Jessica Curran led to a quest for justice defined less by forensic certainty and more by corrupted processes and the heavy reliance on human memory and motivation. The episode unflinchingly examines the roles of failed police work, the problematic input of a well-meaning citizen sleuth, and a justice system that allowed manipulated, paid-for, or coerced testimonial evidence to take precedence over true investigation. In the end, listeners are left to decide for themselves whether the right person is in prison—or if the system, once again, has created not just victims but scapegoats.

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For true crime listeners or anyone interested in the consequences of deep-seated corruption, human error, and the volatile nature of justice, this episode is essential, chilling, and thought-provoking.

Transcript

[Mike Boudet]

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Listener discretion is advised.

[Victoria Caldwell]

I remember her saying that she has a little boy and she just kept saying Zion. But they didn't let her up.

[Mike Boudet]

Welcome to episode 332 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monster are real. The final episode of this season was written and produced by Elena Thomas, one of our senior producers. As this year comes to a close, I'd like to say thank you to our entire staff, including producers Evan Ziegelman, Valerie Vernon, Michael Stabile, Mish, Barbara Way. Also our engineers Rob revelli and John McMichael Gertie, who works our customer service Whenever you have a problem with your app, which you can download by the way, right now in the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. I know we've been losing a few of you the last year or so and we'll try to get you back.

[Jason Flom]

Looks like a guy can't even have.

[Mike Boudet]

A mental breakdown anymore.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

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[Mike Boudet]

In early August of the year 2000, just before the new school year was about to begin, the heat sat heavy over Mayfield, Kentucky. It was still early in the morning and everything was quiet and still. The only sounds were the occasional bird chirping on the rooftop of Mayfield Middle School and the floor waxing machines humming inside the building. Out behind the school, a teacher spotted an unusual dark shape in the grass.

[Victoria Caldwell]

I taught an environmental science class and.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

This was a memorial to a teacher that had died at our school and.

[Victoria Caldwell]

We always kept fresh flowers and kept.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

It planted, weeded and stuff like that.

[Victoria Caldwell]

I went out the door and I.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Just, I still had my hand on the door.

[Victoria Caldwell]

I remember because if I had closed.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

It it would have locked.

[Victoria Caldwell]

And I saw this sandal laying right by the door.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

There's a little concrete pad there and I saw the sandal laying there and I just thought, you know, I wonder what that sandals doing there.

[Victoria Caldwell]

And when I looked over to the.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Left is when I saw the body.

[Mike Boudet]

It was hard to tell it was a human body though. The corpse was burned to A crisp.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

It just took me a few seconds.

[Victoria Caldwell]

To try to figure out, you know.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

That it was a body.

[Victoria Caldwell]

And I just.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

I was still holding on to the door and I just turned around, you know, I said to myself, I believe that's a body. And I went back in the building.

[Victoria Caldwell]

To find Mr. Almond, my principal, to tell him. And I told him, I said, Mr.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Almond, I think there's a dead body out back. And he immediately just started, you know.

[Victoria Caldwell]

Running down the hall.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

And.

[Victoria Caldwell]

We went back out there.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

And.

[Mike Boudet]

Sure enough, the next day, August 2nd. Officials used dental records to make an identification. The charred woman was confirmed to be 18 year old Jessica Curran. The autopsy offered few answers. It looked like she'd been badly beaten in the head and face. But a segment of a black braided leather belt found beside her body is what took center stage. Based on that, the medical examiner determined that she must have been strangled because the top half of her body was so badly burned. The usual indicators of strangulation weren't there. But the belt was enough just the same. There weren't any physical signs of sexual assault. But detectives had found Jessica's ripped underwear near her body. So the assumption was made. Over by the glass doors of the school, they found a clump of Jessica's hair and some suspicious smudging near the door handle. Jessica hadn't gone down without a fight. Here are a couple of detectives from the Mayfield Police Department.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

It was obvious, even that part you could tell that there's. The smudges could have been from anything. But I mean, it looked like hands had been, you know, like this smudged over there. So 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. You figure with that kind of violence, I mean, there's a big smash. Back of her head or nose is driven up into. I mean, this part is driven up into the brain essentially. I mean, she shit pretty hard and she was, she was tagged hard, very painful, had to be. So you figured blood's spattering somewhere. So probably did. But with all the rain, it washed his way. And then, 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 there. And definitely the burning happened there because the grass is firm.

[Mike Boudet]

The grass around her body was scorched. Detectives took that to mean she was set on fire right there in that spot, not burned elsewhere and moved. This was assumed to be a violent, bloody struggle, but there was no Blood evidence found at the scene. After all, Jessica had been laying in this spot behind the middle school for two days or more. Because of the environmental damage, the medical examiner was limited in what he could say for sure. He listed strangulation as the cause of death. The rest, possible head and facial injuries, couldn't be pinned down with certainty. In truth, there wasn't much left to go on. What everyone hoped, though, is that Jessica died before she was set on fire.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

From what we gathered, it was from the autopture fort. We don't know for sure. There's no way to kill perfectly other than there's no soot in there to where she would have breathed any soot at that point. So, I mean, obviously we're hoping she was dead before she was certified.

[Mike Boudet]

Forensic evidence can give you an approximate time of death and tell you how someone was killed, but it can't tell you who a person truly was. 18 year old Jessica Curran came from a notable local family. Her dad, Joe Curran, was the definition of Mayfield. High School football, church on Sundays, a small business, and eventually captain of the fire department. Can you picture it? Typical Americana stereotype. The dark irony of the situation was not lost on anyone. When his daughter was killed, Joe believed his town would rally and discover the truth. Years later, though, he would still be asking for it.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

She was pretty tiny. I think she was about £7 or so when she was born in the lower. After she grew up, she was more like five, nine or so long legs tall. My next son came three years later and she was pretty much a mother for him. She packed him around all the time. She recorded his football games, she recorded his basketball games. And you could tell most of the time when she did a recording because most of the time recording was only on him. It wasn't on the team, it was just on him. I thought that was so funny. I'm like, who scored the points and who else is playing on this team? She's had everything on Josh. She showed everything on him. She just act like nobody else was on the team. You could hear a hollering for him, go Josh.

[Jason Flom]

Go Josh.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

She really loved her brothers. She really loved her family.

[Mike Boudet]

But soon Jessica grew up. She wasn't a little girl anymore caring for her brothers. She was a young woman who had just entered adulthood and found herself unexpectedly pregnant.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

It wasn't a happy time. I wasn't ready for that at that time. But she was old enough and I know she would. We've been seeing a few guys and I knew it was a possibility.

[Mike Boudet]

Now this was a community where word got around. People were talking about who the father of Jessica's son, Zion, might be and why he might have wanted Jessica dead within two months. Two local men were under the microscope at the time of her murder. Baby Zion was only seven months old when she first had him. She thought Zion's father was a guy she really liked, someone named Marcus. But there was a possibility that it was another man, someone Jessica really didn't like.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Do you know Jessica Kern?

[Victoria Caldwell]

Yes, I do.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

How did you know Jessica?

[Victoria Caldwell]

I met her at Grace County High School. We went to school together. We had a math class together, and we just started interacting with one another and started hanging out and became pretty good friends. I consider her one of my best friends. Well, that night had to have been the night she got pregnant. So she probably conceived that night because the person she was seeing on the regular, her sexual partner, was Marcus Morris. And she swore that's who the baby. She just knew that's who the baby's daddy was because, I mean, for real, it was one time with Jeremy, you know, and she. We didn't even think about that night because we hadn't even seen the dude since then, you know? And so when the baby was born, she was trying to get child support ordered for Marcus or whatever, and they done a DNA test, and it came back negative. Or however they come back, it wasn't his. And so she called me and she told me, and she's like, Jessica. The only other person that could be is Jeremy Adams.

[Mike Boudet]

According to her best friend, Jessica was devastated and for good reason.

[Victoria Caldwell]

When we were hanging out, we first started hanging out, she wasn't really dating anyone. There was a few. I mean, we just hung out with people. We didn't really date. We would go to football games and, you know, just things like that with our friends. And then she did start seeing Jeremy Adams, but it wasn't a date thing. It was a hangout thing. Like, so we all went back to my house and we hung out or whatever. And that night, he kind of forcibly took her around the building, and they had sex. It was, like, two seconds they were around there and came back, and he walked off, and that was that. And then we didn't really see him again. We didn't really hang out with him again or anything because she felt uncomfortable about that.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Okay. Mayfield PD never interviewed you? State police has never contacted you?

[Victoria Caldwell]

Nope.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Okay.

[Mike Boudet]

Rumors that Jeremy was the father of Jessica's baby gave rise to theories. This was only fueled by the indicators that there had been a struggle at the middle school, the clump of Jessica's hair, the smudges on the glass doors, and a baby that might not be his. All this put him right there in the crosshairs of the investigation. The circle soon widened to include Carlos Saxton, who moved in Jeremy's orbit. And according to Mayfield police was with him the night they went looking for Jessica. They would both face indictment. Jeremy with murder and Carlos as an accomplice to murder. The audio you're about to hear is from the grand jury proceeding.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Would you state your name for the record, please? Detective Tim Fortner. I'm Tim. And how are you employed? I'm employed by the city of Mayfield as a police detective. So if you would. Let's tell the grand jury what happened and how you got involved in investigation and where we are.

[Mike Boudet]

Apparently, Jeremy Adams had a cellmate at the county jail named Jesse. Well, Jesse desperately wanted to tell authorities what Jeremy had shared with him while they were locked up together.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Jesse was very distraught, crying, said that this has bothered him. That's the reason he wanted to talk to us. He never mentioned anything about any money, any crime stoppers, nothing. He just. Just was very distraught about this.

[Mike Boudet]

Jesse seemed genuinely terrified at the prospect of sharing a cell with a murderer. So scared, in fact, that he requested a different cellmate. Eventually, he even requested to be transferred to a different facility. Here's Jesse's statement.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

On January 15th, Jeremy came to my cell while me and two other inmates were there and started talking about Jessica's case again and made the statement that he had been seeing Jessica and that she had messed around with someone. Then he was talking about an argument and her running out of her brown sandal and then hitting head so hard that her tongue was hanging out. Vinny had made the statement that her little white panties had been tore off and thrown beside her and that she had been killed in one spot and drugged to another. He also at one time said something about after she was burned and turned over, about the braided hair being stuck to the ground, and said something about not wanting his girlfriend finding out about the baby they had together.

[Mike Boudet]

These are a lot of details that, as far as I know, weren't public knowledge at the time. And if Jeremy had a girlfriend, that's another possible motive. Jeremy stated that he didn't want his girlfriend to find out that he had a baby with another woman. Based on all of this, a grand jury returned indictments for both Jeremy and Carlos. The cases were slowly headed towards trial. Jeremy was set for February of 2003, but less than a week before the start date, a judge dismissed the case entirely. The reason? Mayfield police had failed to turn over audio and video evidence. They had, you know, fucked up a procedural thing, some paperwork, some nonsense, and that was that. Jessica's family felt they knew who had done this. Jeremy's cellmate was certain he was the one who had killed Jessica. But now Jeremy was walking free. Here's Jessica's dad.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

I wasn't really happy about that at all. I felt like they finally got somebody and now they're releasing them. I remember the first time that I. After the case had went, they had released the first three, and me and my wife went to Walmart. And I know a lot of people have been around this area all my entire life, and I went in Walmart and I would see somebody that I knew and I was friends with, and I always speak to, talk to, or shake hands with, and they would turn away, and some of them wouldn't know what to say, and some of them would just turn and go a different direction to avoid me. And that night, I realized what an impact it had on the community, the people here. So I went back to the car. I told my wife, I'm not going to put those people through that. They really didn't know what to say to me. What do you say to a person who's lost their daughter? And then they released the people. They really didn't know what to say. What do you say?

[Mike Boudet]

For years, Jessica's murder sat unsolved. But sometimes the person who breaks a case doesn't carry a badge. In Kentucky, a homemaker named Susan Galbraith decides Jessica's murder shouldn't fade into the shadows. If you've spent any time at all in the Facebook community, especially the true crime community, you'll know that there's a whole lot of these people out there. They call themselves, I guess, web sleuths or armchair detectives or, I don't know, any number of things, but they got a whole lot of time on their hands, and they spend it trying to solve cold cases, often to the detriment of the official investigation. Anyway, Susan Galbraith was one of these people, and she says she was at the crime scene that day. And when she saw Jessica's body, she knew she had to help. So she starts small with a phone, a list of names, and the patience to call dozens of people. She keeps notes about things that don't sit right with her. She shows up with questions and lets people talk. Tips all start landing in one place. Susan's notebook. Bit by bit, doors that stayed closed for law enforcement open for her. Officials learn her name. Reporters do also. And for the first time in a long time, this case feels like it might actually be solvable by a determined woman with a stubborn streak. This is the part that really makes you want to believe in humanity, at least a little bit. The crazy and hopeful idea that an armchair detective can do what the system can't. Or won't. Because it looks like maybe, just maybe, Susan would be the one to solve the murder of Jessica Curran.

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[Mike Boudet]

In August of the year 2000, the charred body of 18 year old Jessica Curran was found behind a middle school in Mayfield, Kentucky. The autopsy leaned on a piece of braided belt that was found nearby. So the medical examiner deduced that the cause of death was strangulation. The early case zeroed in on a man named Jeremy Adams and his friend Carlos Saxton. They were both indicted, but in 2003 the cases were dismissed after discovery violations. Years passed without answers until 2004 when a Kentucky homemaker and self proclaimed citizen sleuth put the case back up on the map. Susan Galbraith had no law enforcement experience and had never done any real detective work. But sitting alone at home, she started investigating.

[Victoria Caldwell]

Remind me when you said you became interested in this case the day the body was found.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

The day Jessica's body was found.

[Victoria Caldwell]

And did you have contact with the Currans around that time?

[Detective Tim Fortner]

No. I knew. Follow it in the paper. Yes.

[Victoria Caldwell]

Say that you weren't.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Were you employed at that time? No, I've been hurt on at my job in 98, so I hadn't had a, you know, a job since then, so.

[Mike Boudet]

And this new job that had fallen into her lap was the one she knew she couldn't do alone. So shooting for the moon, she started reaching out to celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Julia Roberts. Most never wrote back, of course. I mean, I doubt they even see their own fan mail. But one person did. Not any of the A listers, but a guy named Tom manGold, a veteran BBC journalist in London. Susan, it seems, had cast a very wide net. Her matter of fact email landed in Tom's inbox and he answered it in quick succession. He shelled out his own cash, bought a plane ticket, and flew to Kentucky.

[Jason Flom]

I don't think Susan herself is quite sure what it was that particularly grabbed.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Her about the Jessica Curran case. If I had to hazard a guess.

[Jason Flom]

And I've never really done more than.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Guess about it, I think she has.

[Jason Flom]

A kind of Erin Brockovich dimension which.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Came out at that particular time, and.

[Jason Flom]

I think it's still there, and I think it could come out again tomorrow. You're asking me why did I sense the story?

[Detective Tim Fortner]

One just does. I mean, it seemed to me that here was. Here was a very interesting situation where you have a murder.

[Jason Flom]

Well, murder is pretty commonplace everywhere in the Western world, but you had somebody.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Who was absolutely dedicated to finding who the culprits were. Didn't quite know why she was so dedicated and was up against what was effectively a corrupt police force. A totally failed series of investigations that just plowed on and on without any.

[Jason Flom]

Particular benefit to herself.

[Mike Boudet]

By the spring of 2004, Tom Mangold was on the ground reporting with Susan. He once was a journalist reporting on wars, organized crime and UK politics. Now he was in Mayfield, Kentucky, reporting on a young woman's murder. Susan opened doors, and Tom put a spotlight on what they were hearing. In the fall of the same year, Tom put the case under the microscope with an article called Murder in a Small Town. Around the same time, the state's investigative arm, the newly built Kentucky Bureau of Investigation, got involved. In 2005, two women who had already been interviewed years earlier, Victoria Caldwell and Venetia Stubblefield, changed their stories. Those new statements taken by state investigators now pointed to an entirely different suspect.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Why did they ask you to make that statement?

[Victoria Caldwell]

They asked me to make this statement because they wanted me to lie for Quincy.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Quincy Crops.

[Mike Boudet]

These re interviews were done in a hotel Conference room. For some reason, people who had told one story the first time around were now telling an entirely different story. But KBI ate up every bit of it. Susan Galbraith was happy to see her cunning detective work finally paying off.

[Commercial Announcer]

You're fully confident in the results that you got?

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Obviously I am, yes. I interviewed Quincy Cross. I spent about an hour and a half long interview with him. And in that interview, Tom told me, don't expect a confession. And so I didn't. But the truth never changes. But lies do. In that interview, he gave me some telling information that I knew had never been made public. I remember at the time screaming pretty much to Kentucky State Police that, you know, this is enough to arrest him on right here. Did it happen? No.

[Victoria Caldwell]

But I definitely believe they've got the.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Right culprit with Quincy Cross.

[Mike Boudet]

Quincy Cross was Victoria's cousin's boyfriend. Victoria tells KBI that somehow everyone involved knew they were going to be interviewed by the Mayfield Police. And 15 year old Victoria says she was told to lie to divert attention away from Quincy. She says she obeyed.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

How did you come up on your information.

[Jason Flom]

That you knew about Quincy?

[Victoria Caldwell]

What do you mean?

[Detective Tim Fortner]

How did you. Well, how did you know your information?

[Victoria Caldwell]

Because I heard my cousin speaking about it and I heard him say some things.

[Jason Flom]

Okay.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

When you talk to us, if we.

[Jason Flom]

Had no knowledge of the case, Victoria.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

I want you to use names because you know, if you know all the people that you're talking about, we need to know.

[Mike Boudet]

Victoria's first statements to KBI were cautious. She says she just overheard her cousin talking to Quincy Cross about the case and that's where she was getting her information. But after numerous follow up interviews that summer, her story crystallized. Victoria's statements would implicate six people in total, including herself. By the time she took the stand in 2008, her story had become sharper, more linear and much more disturbing.

[Victoria Caldwell]

And that's when Quincy and Tamara and this white guy, I don't remember his name, but they had pulled up to my house.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

You said you remembered his first name.

[Victoria Caldwell]

Yeah, it was Jeffrey. My cousin asked me if I wanted to take a ride with them and I was like, yeah, because she's older than me, you know, so it's cool to hang out with older people. So then I get into the car with them, which I got into the backseat. They picked up Venetia. Venetia had mentioned that Jessica had needed a ride for the party. And I guess nobody wanted to give her a ride. So I don't remember what said. But Quincy and Tamara something to each other, and they're like, okay, then we'll go pick her up. Jessica gets into the car. When we got to the white guy's house, they had gotten out. We all had gotten out, but they had pulled Jessica to get out of the car with them, kind of like forcing her to get out the car. And they go inside, and then they go into this bedroom. The white guy had left me and had went into the room with them, and he came right back out. But then I heard yelling and screaming, so I was wondering what the hell was going on. And so I opened the door, and that's when I had seen Tamara holding Jessica down and Quincy over her with the belt around her neck. And Quincy was kind of over her, like. Kind of like over her stomach, like, up high on her stomach area. And he had a belt that he had gotten from his pants and had put it around her neck. And she was just. I remember her saying that she has a little boy. And she just kept saying Zion, but they didn't let her up. And I just went back out of the room real quick. And I had just sat down on that couch, and then I just ran back in there again. And that's when I was like, she's not breathing. So I touched her neck, and I told him that she was dead.

[Mike Boudet]

Victoria says her cousin Tamara took some photos of Quincy with Jessica's body. These photos were never found.

[Victoria Caldwell]

From the pictures that I saw, Tamara had to take a couple of those pictures because Hugh, like, had his private area out. And I was, like, kind of towards her lips, just his lips.

[Jason Flom]

And this is.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Was this before or after she was murdered?

[Victoria Caldwell]

Not that she was murdered. That's what I mean by they were getting off on it.

[Mike Boudet]

Victoria says they wrapped Jessica's body in a blanket and threw her into the trunk of the car. They drove around for a while and eventually ended up in the Mayfield Middle School.

[Jason Flom]

Okay, so they stopped at the school. Who gets the body out of the trunk first?

[Victoria Caldwell]

Quincy and the white guy tried to lift the body out of the trunk, but they couldn't. So Tamar went to the back and helped them lift the body out.

[Jason Flom]

Okay, and what do they do with the body then?

[Victoria Caldwell]

They lay it in the flower bed area, where the flower bed is.

[Jason Flom]

Okay, and then what happens?

[Victoria Caldwell]

They. I don't remember if they took the blanket off. I don't remember. They. Quincy poured the gas on her, and Venetia had threw the match.

[Jason Flom]

Where did he pour the gas?

[Detective Tim Fortner]

What was the majority of the gas.

[Victoria Caldwell]

Poured on I believe it was her face. I'm not really sure.

[Jason Flom]

Okay, so he pours the gas. What does he do with the cup?

[Victoria Caldwell]

I don't remember what he did with the cup. Because after he poured the gas inisha to the match by ran.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Okay, so Quincy, everybody gets their story together. Jeremy Adams is going to be the fall guy. Was there any discussion? How did Jeremy Adams name come into it? Whose idea was that?

[Victoria Caldwell]

That was Quincy's, because I guess Jeremy owed him some money.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Okay, was there a mention. Was there any mention about. Did anybody know that Jeremy ever had a relationship with Jessica?

[Victoria Caldwell]

Tamara knew that.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

How did she know that?

[Mike Boudet]

I don't know.

[Victoria Caldwell]

Tamara has known Jessica for a long time, from my understanding.

[Mike Boudet]

But it wasn't just Victoria Caldwell who had changed her story and agreed to testify. Venetia Stubblefield wasn't a primary witness, but she corroborated pieces of Victoria's story. This included the others that were implicated in Victoria's version of events. A man named Jeff Burton, the owner of the house. She testified that the murder happened in her cousin, Tamara Caldwell, and a guy named Austin Leach and someone named Isaac Benjamin. All this testimony gave the jury a cohesive chain from the house to the car to the middle school. Victoria also testified that after that day, Quincy Calder claiming the belt used to kill Jessica was his and offered Victoria money to keep quiet. The Commonwealth put all of this in front of a jury. There were no dramatic forensics, there was no hard physical evidence and no confession from Quincy. It was all a narrative built from testimony with Victoria Caldwell at the center of it all. And it worked. Ultimately, the jury decided this group of people were guilty and that Quincy Cross was the ringleader. After being found guilty on charges of murder, first degree rape, first degree sodomy, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence, Quincy was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After the trial, guilty verdict and sentencing, numerous questions still hung in the air. When a case leans this hard on human stories, some of them changing over time, how should we weigh them? What's the standard? People forget things and get things wrong all of the time. We know that. We've seen it. So what do you do with human testimony?

[Jason Flom]

As you can imagine, I get presented with cases many times a day, all day. I mean, you know, that's one of the things about being known in this space, right? A lot of people need help, and if they're smart and, you know, and they have the ability, they're going to reach out.

[Mike Boudet]

So this is Jason Flom. He's a veteran record executive turned innocence advocate. Whether you think you're the next big pop star or you're wrongfully convicted, he's the guy to call when I first.

[Jason Flom]

Heard about this case from a guy in prison in Mississippi who I've been trying to help for some time now. His name is Sherron Edwards, but he calls himself Sherlock Homeboy. He's a great guy. He's not an innocent guy, but it's a complicated case. But anyway, Sharon, Sherlock enjoys researching cases around the country and bringing them to me when he finds cases of actual innocence. So he spends his time in the law library. And he brought me the case of Quincy Cross. And when I heard about it, I just was blown away. I mean, I hear so many crazy cases, but the deeper you get into this one, it's like layers of a rotten onion. You just keep peeling them and it just keeps smelling worse and worse. And you go, wow, how could this be? And then I came to find out. Sorry for my rant here, but I came to find out that the two dads, Quincy Cross's dad and Jessica Curran's dad, have been aligned for many, many years now, working together to try to get justice. David Cross wants justice for his son who's wrongfully convicted, and Mr. Curran believes. Wants justice for his daughter. And he's unequivocal in that he doesn't believe they got the right person. And so it's such an unusual and powerful alignment to have the two dads working together when one would think that they would be mortal enemies.

[Mike Boudet]

If the people who lived this case say Quincy isn't the killer, what do they know that the jury didn't?

[Jason Flom]

One of the things that makes this case so maddening is the idea that first thing they did was they assigned a rookie cop. Well, a rookie, a guy who had just been promoted to detective. He was a patrolman up until, you know, I don't know, days or weeks before this happened in a place that has hadn't had a murder in over a year. And they assigned this guy, Tim Fortner, who has said that he. He thinks that they were setting him up to fail. He didn't know anything. He didn't even know. To secure the crime scene, they threw out evidence, like, lots of evidence. They threw out the maggots that were on the body. Sorry for that detail, because she had been dead for some time, which would have helped to determine how long she had been there for. They threw out all sorts of other evidence, and they allowed people to sort of traipse through the crime scene, which is, you know, again, give me your random, you know, teenager. And they would know from watching crime shows on. On their laptop, that or their iPad, that that's. You don't do that. Right. But Tim was way over his head. But there was a lot of stuff going on. I mean, the Mayfield Police Department was hopelessly corrupt. And that's not speculation. Right? That's been proven. The head guy there, Ronnie Lear, was almost comically corrupt and was, you know, indicted and charged and convicted of all sorts of, you know, all sorts of crimes. You know, when he cleared out, when he was fired from the police department, they cleared out his desk. They found, as his successor said they found enough drugs for half of Mayfield in his desk, and they found guns that weren't his police weapon, and they weren't registered to him, and they don't know who it belonged to. He was. He was caught stealing from the evidence room and selling various items. I mean, he was. He was. He was a character.

[Mike Boudet]

And into this mess enters Susan Galbraith, the professional armchair detective. You know Susan Galbraith? Yes, sir, I do.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

And she was involved in the investigations of this case, was she not? Yes, sir. She has nothing to do with law enforcement, does she?

[Mike Boudet]

No, sir.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Yet she was actually involved and present during official questioning of witnesses, was she not?

[Mike Boudet]

Official questioning of witnesses, yes.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

In other words, we look at transcripts where they say persons present, and we'll.

[Mike Boudet]

See you and Wise. O'.

[Jason Flom]

Neal. Calvary.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

So and so and so and so.

[Jason Flom]

Calvary.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

She was at these interviews?

[Mike Boudet]

That's possible.

[Jason Flom]

She was, you know, bizarrely, almost anointed, deputized. Someone who had no experience, no background in law enforcement or any investigative experience or anything. She wasn't a journalist. She was just a homemaker who they allowed to run roughshod over this case. And she was given full access to everything. And sure enough, she got her way and she got some awards, and she's not around anymore, but she. She died relatively young, I guess, but she left a trail of bodies in her wake that is really. It's really extraordinary.

[Victoria Caldwell]

Did you have an interest in criminal law in general?

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Well, when I was a child, I either wanted to be a comedian or a police officer, so I'm neither, of course, but I've just always had a fascination with the law and things like that.

[Victoria Caldwell]

You taken an interest in other cases.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Prior to this one? Yeah, like followed Court tv, stuff like that. And so I. I, of course, was at. 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 interest in me, you know, so Detective Steger and I, through Detective Mills, became acquainted. And so I started. Anytime I had anything that I could give him, I would call him.

[Mike Boudet]

Then, you know, just a reminder, this was quite literally a random unemployed woman calling to interview people, taking notes and reporting back to authorities. And they were taking her seriously. This should tell you something about the state and effectiveness of government more than anything. That is, if you're smart enough to pay attention. The audio you've been hearing, by the way, is from her testimony at Quincy Cross's trial. That's how deeply she was integrated into this case.

[Jason Flom]

She was definitely a key piece of it. They really didn't have much else. They had some circumstantial evidence that even after it was disproven, they clung to and they kept reinforcing it and hitting the jury over the head with it. Figuratively. And, you know, but there's so much to process because it's such a crazy web of lies and corruption and, you know, and nine people arrested for this crime under these whacked out theories and, you know, several of whom ended up in prison. Quincy's the only one who's still in prison. But some of them, you know, there were people who were forced to testify in a certain way and then have recanted. All the witnesses have recanted, and there's no physical evidence of any kind. All these years later, as we know now, there's none. There's zero evidence connecting any of the people who eventually were targeted and I believe, framed for this horrible crime to the crime itself or to Jessica. And what we know now is that most of them didn't even know each other at the time that they supposedly committed this crime together. Things that make you go right that, that pointed towards, you know, some of the people who ended up in the crosshairs of the. Of law enforcement. But how those things unravel is breathtaking. Foreign.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Mike Boudet]

When 18 year old Jessica Curran's body was found behind a Mayfield middle school in 2000, the crime scene was handled sloppily, to say the least. Evidence went missing. The Mayfield Police Department was corrupt, and as a result, they dropped the ball and the ball fell through the grate and into the sewer. Their original suspect, Jeremy Adams, slipped through their incompetent fingers. Then, after a year of stagnation, a new storyline formed around Susan Galbraith, the local sleuth. Suddenly, memories started to change. With Susan's help, Victoria Caldwell and a few others came forward to law enforcement with their new story that Quincy Cross had killed Jessica Curran. But there are glaring issues with this second attempt at justice. We know the justice system is flawed, but digging into the intricacies of a case like this reveals just how deep the roots of corruption can grow. This is a complicated story, but if you've been listening to our show for many years, you'll keep up just fine.

[Jason Flom]

You're not a Sword and Scale regular listener and you don't know what you're doing right. I mean, you. That doesn't make you mean you're going to be right all the time, but you're more informed than 99% of the general public if you're listening to Sword and Scale on a regular basis. So I'm a podcast fan and true crime podcasts are my jam. And maybe that sounds terrible, but it's true. But this one, I believe, is as good as any that you've ever heard that I've ever heard.

[Mike Boudet]

Jason Flom isn't just a huge name in the music industry. He's one of the founding members of the Innocence Project. I'm sure you've heard of it. And I'm not just being nice to him because he's kissing my ass.

[Jason Flom]

My origin story goes back to 1993, when I randomly picked up a newspaper on my way in a taxi to go somewhere, and there was a story about a kid named Stephen Lennon who was serving 15 to life on a non violent first offense cocaine possession charge in a maximum security prison in New York state. And it was in the paper because his mother, who was just a mother who wanted her son back, right? She wasn't like any influential person, had no particular means. She was just a regular everyday person from Rome, New York. And she had been petitioning for clemency for her son. He had already been in for eight years. He was 32, I was 32 at this point. I had been sober almost eight years. And I was like, this is too close for comfort. That could have been me, right? I'm not a religious guy. But there before the grace of whatever you believe in goes I, right? So a major political figure at the time had asked the governor to grant clemency to her son. And he had refused, which is why it was in the newspaper. So I just thought, this is insane. I didn't know that we put people in prison for 15 years to life for a nonviolent first defense cocaine possession charge. Like, ah. I was like, this is, you know, it freaked me out. And I decided I had to try to do something knowing nothing at all. I'm a 32 year old ANR guy aspiring to make my way in the music industry. And I called the mother on the phone. Her name was Shirley. Her number was in the phone book. Luckily, I offered to send some money to get a new lawyer. She said they'd exhausted all their appeals and it was hopeless. And one thing led to another. I called up the only criminal defense lawyer I knew at the time, a guy named Bob Kalina. He represented Stone Temple pilots in skid row. And they were getting arrested weekly back then. Those of your listeners who are old enough to remember would remember that got him to agree. He agreed to take the case pro bono. He said it was hopeless, but he was going to try. And six months later, we ended up in a courtroom in Malone, New York. And I sat there holding Mrs. Lennon's hand. Her husband Stan was on the other side. Stephen was there in shackles as if he was some serial killer or something, right? And I said, non violent first offender. And the judge was this old guy with white hair. And I was like, this is not gonna go well. But it did. And he banged that gavel down and sent Stephen home. And that was my moment. I said, this is. I didn't know I had a superpower, but if I do, this is it. And I'm gonna use it as much as I can for as long as I can. And I looked back. I've never stopped. That's literally half a lifetime ago for me. So from there, I learned about an organization called Families Against Mandatory Minimums, now called fam. I became their first board member. And soon after that, I learned about the work of the Innocence Project. Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld had started the Innocence Project in the early 90s. And what I saw on TV was even another level of insanity, which was a case where this guy had been scheduled to be executed. And these guys, these two geniuses had come along with their law books and their microscopes and their knowledge of science, and they found the DNA and they identified it, and they proved that he could not have been the person that committed this crime. And he was not only not executed, he was freed. And I said, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard. And I rushed down to their office, and I walked in, and I said, I don't know what you guys need me to do, but I'll do it, and I'll do more. And so myself and a guy named Jack Taylor became the first two board members of the Innocence Project. So, founding board member. Not the founders, because the founders are Barry and Peter, but, you know, who are heroes of mine. And so I've been, you know, working on these issues ever since, and I'll never stop as long as I'm breathing.

[Mike Boudet]

Jason's decades of experience have helped him and his team to suss out false claims of innocence. Sometimes a guy saying he's been wrongfully convicted really did commit the crime. In fact, that's often the case. But Jason is confident that this isn't what happened with Quincy Cross.

[Jason Flom]

I'm so glad I get the opportunity to tell you the story. So after I heard about the case from Sherlock Homeboy, there's another case, another Kentucky case I've been working on for some time of a guy named James Mallory. And he's been in prison. Oh, my God. For. I mean, pretty much since he was 11. I've been working on trying to help free him. And I happened to be on the phone with him not too long after I first heard about this crazy case. And I said to him, james, you're not gonna believe this. I just got involved in another Kentucky case. It's this horrible case where this poor girl was 18 years old and, you know, just a beautiful young girl starting her life and, you know, was set on fire behind the middle school. And he goes, oh, you're talking about Quincy Cross case. I'm like, yeah, Quincy Cross. He goes, oh, man. He goes, that motherfucker's innocent. I'm like. He's. I go, what? He goes, oh, yeah. He says, I'm. He's. I'm. He's definitely. I know he's innocent. How do you know he's innocent? He goes, man, I was in jail with him. He says, he's a good dude. He goes, I read his transcripts. I know the case inside and out. That guy's definitely innocent. I go, he's definitely innocent. He goes, no, I'm telling you, he's really, really innocent. How are you saying he's really, really, really innocent? He said, well, because, dude, he goes, the actual killer was my cellmate. He goes, look it up in the DOC Records. And he confessed to me and everybody else in the jail. And he goes, I know every detail of the case. He told it all to me. And he goes, and I'm from that area, so I recognize. I know some of the people.

[Mike Boudet]

The cellmate this guy said had confessed to the murder was Jeremy Adams.

[Jason Flom]

I was like, oh, my God, what are the odds of this? And, you know, the first thing I did was call. Actually called Barry Scheck at the Innocence Project. I said, barry, is this hearsay? He goes, no, that's a statement against interest. If he actually. And I said to James, I don't want to put you in a. In a bad way. Like, if you're. You know, I don't want you to be labeled as somebody who. Who told on somebody who confessed you. He said, no, no, in this case, it doesn't matter, because he confessed to so many people, and everybody here knows that Quincy ain't the guy. So he goes, I'll sign affidavits. I'll do whatever you want. I don't know the exact number, but there could be as many as 15 people who have come forward, either with affidavits or with statements that Jeremy confessed to them.

[Mike Boudet]

And let's not forget that Jessica's best friend, someone who hasn't changed her story over the years, told police that Jessica knew her baby's father had to be one of two men. She had a paternity test done, and it came back negative for the first guy. So, you know. But let's now take a moment and revisit people who did change their stories, because that's the crooks of the case.

[Jason Flom]

There were witnesses who have come forward and talked about how the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation, state police threatened them with really terrible things. Taking their children away, sending them to prison for the rest of their life, jabbing them with a needle. They conducted these very unorthodox interrogations in a hotel instead of at the police station. You know, the whole thing is really pretty grotesque. And when you hear, which you will hear these people come forward and tell their truth, the pain is palpable as they talk about how they were made to lie under these threats. And they were kids, you know, so they were. They were kids. Some of them were troubled. One was a crack, you know, was addicted to crack. And that's how you end up in this situation.

[Mike Boudet]

Jason hosts his own podcast called Wrongful Conviction. He's the founder of the parent company Lava For Good, a media company that partners with the Innocence Project. His team spent several years digging into the case, and the result was a full season of their show Bone Valley. Go check it out on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. At first, when the team reached out to interview Victoria Caldwell, she seemed almost afraid to talk about the case.

[Victoria Caldwell]

I don't know. I might want to talk about. I don't want to piss these people off, and they're very powerful, so.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Piss them off in what kind of way? What you mean powerful?

[Mike Boudet]

You making me nervous. Maybe I should rethink having this conversation.

[Victoria Caldwell]

Very powerful people.

[Mike Boudet]

Eventually, they coaxed Victoria and others to talk.

[Victoria Caldwell]

I really feel like my. I guess my statement that I gave on video was stopped lots of times, and I was told what to say, and people could see these scratches.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Who was telling you what this?

[Victoria Caldwell]

From Ronnie Lear to the kbi.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

How did they get you to say what they got you to say what happened?

[Victoria Caldwell]

They told me they'll stick a needle on my arm on the elevator at the tree. It was kind of like Jurian in.

[Mike Boudet]

Paducah, Kentucky, in case you couldn't understand what she was saying in context. Victoria says they threatened to do all this at the Drury Inn in Paducah, Kentucky. That's the hotel. KBI conducted the interviews at Venetia Stubblefield. The peripheral witness who corroborated parts of Victoria's second version of events signed an affidavit admitting that she gave false testimony at the behest of law enforcement. Another witness admitted that she had been willing to testify for money and said that officers threatened to put her in jail or take her kids away if she didn't keep lying. And remember, all of these people were implicated by the story. They served their short sentences, and years later, they've recanted. Sounds like a bunch of shitty police work. If you Ask me, but hey, what am I other than an Internet sleuth?

[Jason Flom]

They took plea deals. Cause Quincy went to trial first. And when he was convicted and sentenced to life, you know, for the other people, they were looking at a similar fate. And when they were offered a deal, this is Sophie's Choice. But you can't blame them for taking it. This is some small town stuff. And if you're looking at basically a living death sentence, right, and the prosecution certainly in Prince's case, asked for him to get the death penalty, then I, you know, that's, that's a, that's a choice that you can. I hope nobody that's listening ever has to make that choice. But you can, you can understand how that choice could have been made by people who were actually innocent. It happens all the time. Well, unsurprisingly, the lowest sentences were the ones who testified for the government. Two of them. And there's so many people. There were nine. Right. And I can't even keep them all straight in my head, but when you hear the podcast, you'll know, because that's the awesome power of the government, right? They can say to you, you give us information on so and so, and we're going to make sure things go well for you. So the sentences were, I mean, almost ceremonial in those cases, right? Because if that's the right word.

[Mike Boudet]

And the power of the government doesn't stop there in this case. Jason's team at Lava For Good and the Kentucky Innocence Project separately uncovered evidence that Victoria Caldwell had been paid by the state and was essentially put in their witness protection program, relocating her to North Carolina and funding her entire lifestyle while the case was being built. Records show that the Attorney General's office and Kentucky State Police were reimbursing her from February 2007 through January of 2008, almost a year. They paid for rent, utilities, groceries, restaurants, gas, car repairs, clothing, phone cards, and even purchases from places like sex shops. Yeah, yeah, that's where your taxes are going. Believe it or not, I read an.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Article from some time ago that there was a rumor that some cop name o'. Neill. The next time I'm hurt.

[Victoria Caldwell]

Huh?

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Was there ever any monetary exchange between you and him?

[Victoria Caldwell]

What do you mean, monetary money.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Did he send you money at all?

[Victoria Caldwell]

He's always giving me money.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Okay, when you say money, what kind of money? Are we talking like a couple hundred bucks just to get by, or we talking like a couple grand to help? More than a couple grand.

[Victoria Caldwell]

But he's always taking care of me.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Is it cash, check?

[Victoria Caldwell]

No, cash. Always cash.

[Mike Boudet]

You meet in public places or he comes to you. How does that work?

[Victoria Caldwell]

No, he comes to my house.

[Mike Boudet]

At trial, when the defense asked about this, KBI downplayed it, acting as if they'd only paid for rent and utilities. This wasn't an isolated incident either. Another state witness said Officers paid her $100 to make controlled calls, cash for cooperation, all while she was in the grips of drug addiction. But all of this is just the tip of the iceberg. Let's get back to Susan Galbraith and Tom Mangold for the moment. Susan was actually the very first person to put Victoria Caldwell in touch with the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation for a second round of questioning. She steered the narrative prosecutors eventually ran with. And she had a motive much deeper than just a cursory interest in this case.

[Jason Flom]

She was in a relationship with the mother of the obvious suspect, Jeremy Adams. And it seems like she found something to do. I think she was bored. And she found this opportunity to become famous, important whatever was she was after, and at the same time, help to steer the cops away from the son of her partner relationship, whatever they want to call that, you know, to her, her lover. And then, of course, in order to finish that job, she had to pin it on somebody else.

[Mike Boudet]

And to think that this woman was allowed behind the crime scene tape. She was given backstage access to the evidence rooms, told authorities who to interview, sat in those very same police interviews, discussed her theories with the Kentucky State Police, and even testified at Quincy's trial. She inserted herself into this crime to a degree that is unprecedented.

[Jason Flom]

I don't think we'll ever know all of it because there weren't records made of all the conversations. But what we do know is that she was given a level of access that is confounding, to say the least. And not just access, but influence. She was allowed to steer the investigation as if she was some senior official empowered to run roughshod over this whole. This whole thing. And, you know, all those years later, she starts building this case based entirely on circumstantial evidence and rumors and innuendo. And then that takes on a life of its own when the authorities get involved and start getting these people in a room again. A room in a hotel. It is a hotel, but it's something I don't want to conjure up. Something fancy. It certainly wasn't anything fancy. But why? Why, why? Why? I mean, wouldn't you want to? I mean, how basic is it to take someone to the police station and do it there?

[Mike Boudet]

But Hotel interviews are really at the bottom of the list when it comes to the issues with this case.

[Jason Flom]

It's really heartbreaking. Not just because of what happened to Quincy, who got the worst of it, because he got life without parole, and he's been in for almost a quarter of a century, but what happened to these other people, you know, the ones who were forced to testify or the ones who just got caught up in it because of Susan? I mean, Jeff Burton, you know, who's a white kid who got caught up in this. He never met Quincy. You know, he doesn't know anything about this. He didn't. You know, he wasn't a troubled kid. He was a good kid. He was a young father making his way. But when Susan became convinced that there was a couple of white people involved, she just went searching for some white people that she could sort of rope into this thing. And she found out that there was a couple of parties in Mayfield. One of the nights in question. She found out he was at one of the parties, and that was good enough. And so literally, he knows nothing about this. And he ended up serving, you know, many years in prison and still suffering to this day. And the ripple effect of all of this, how it hurts the community taking him. Just take Jeffrey alone, leaving aside, you know, so many of the other people who were wrongly targeted and ultimately so badly hurt, you know, Venetia, Victoria, Jeff Burton, we talked about Tamara Caldwell. Each one of those people has people that love them. Some of them had children that they left behind. All of them have scars that don't easily heal, you know, from this horrific experience of being betrayed by people who their taxes go to pay in service of somebody who skated.

[Mike Boudet]

Quincy was convicted in 2008. He lost his first appeals. By 2010, after three more attempts to get his case revisited, he was denied for several years. Now, Jason, his team at Lava for Good and the Innocence Project had been pulling out all the stops trying to free him.

[Jason Flom]

I called Joe Curran. I spoke to David Cross, the dads of the victim and the wrongfully convicted man. I believe he's wrongfully convicted again. Listen, make your own judgment. And I said, I gotta help. And one of the things I've done over the years is try to appeal to governors and even presidents for clemency in situations where I know a wrong has been done. And it's a power that's vested in these people because they are the last stopgap in a system that gets it wrong far too often. There's that great saying from the English jurist William Blackstone, who said it's better that 10 guilty men go free than that one innocent should suffer. And so in this case, I thought, let me try to reach out to the governor, because this has got to change. And when you've got the victim's father advocating for the guy who's wrongfully convicted, that's powerful. You know, that should go a long way. I feel connected to Kentucky. You know, my. My wife's father is Muhammad Ali. So, you know, he's a Louisville. So I reached out. I didn't know. I don't know the governor. I met him only once, actually, at the ALI center in Louisville, but only for a minute. But I didn't know him back then. I'd never met him. But I was able to get somebody in a position of significant power and influence in the highest levels of government. I won't name names on the phone. And I figured he'll give me three or four minutes just to. I don't want to say humor me, because there's nothing funny about it, but to, you know, placate me. And I ended up speaking to this person for 26 minutes. I remember that because I remember looking at my phone and going, damn, that was a long conversation. And he was like, oh, my God, this is the craziest case. And, you know, Mayfield, Kentucky, there was a tornado there recently. And, you know, you know, the mayor and, you know, we're going to get involved like this. This has got. You know, he was like. He was almost breathless. And I've never had a conversation with a person in a position like that. I've had a lot of conversations, but never somebody who's, like, so enthused to get involved and help. Usually it's very, you know, monotonal, you know, relatively curt. And then he called me back that night at home, kids running around, making noise in the background. He's like, I just want to make sure I got this straight. And he's going through details of the thing. I'm like, oh, my God. I called Mr. Cross. I'm like, I think we're going to get somewhere with this. This is. I mean, I hate to say that, because you never want to raise expectations. Well, I was like, this is unbelievable. It really seems like they're really interested in this injustice. And then he ghosted me. Never heard back again. Tried reaching out, and I'm the farthest thing from a conspiracy person, but one might speculate that perhaps he was excitedly talking to somebody else who. I don't know who. Who said to him, Back off. Leave that one alone.

[Mike Boudet]

Victoria Caldwell has flipped back and forth over the years, recanting her statements and then turning around and saying that she was actually telling the truth. Jason's team uncovered emails between Susan Galbraith and Tom Mangold from all the way back in 2012, where Tom wrote that there's a teeny, weeny, itsy, bitsy chance we've got this whole fucking murder story wrong. In public, though, he doesn't want to talk about the case. After the Kentucky Innocence Project got involved, CNN covered their progress. They reached out to Tom for comment, and he said, if your project is any attempt or reference to the fact that Quincy Cross and all the others who were convicted of Jesse's murder might be innocent, then I want nothing to do with it. If it's anything else, I'd be pleased to help.

[Jason Flom]

Quincy is still in prison. I spoke to him today, actually. He's excited that we're today, as we're recording, not today as anyone's listening, as people listen, whenever they listen. But, yes, I spoke to him today. I've spoken to him many times. He's relentlessly optimistic. He's not bitter. He really just wants his story to be heard. And he wants justice, not just for himself, but for Jessica and for the others. I've interviewed hundreds of people on the Wrongful Conviction podcast who've been either, you know, who are either on death row or they're in prison for life, or they've been. They've been freed after serving 10, 20, 44 years more, 48 years, like Glenn Simmons in prison. And every one of them is, you know, optimistic, thoughtful even. I mean, they exude this sort of grace, you know, and it's just mystifying and inspiring to hear them. And it puts gratitude in my attitude and puts any other problems that we all have in perspective. There's still some legal remedy. I'm trying to remember what it is. But he does have. Yes, he does have some court proceedings still to come. There's some discovery being done, so follow along. And I believe that there's still a. A strong chance I have to cling to that belief that he can be exonerated in court. But the other last option is if. If that's what it takes, then I hope that the governor, this governor, the next governor, we'll take a hard look at this case and see what now is clear to anybody who takes a serious look at it, which is that the wrong guy's in prison and he's been in for a very long time for Jessica's parents.

[Mike Boudet]

The system's failures have a different cost. The paperwork, the headlines, the endless retellings, none of it brings their daughter back.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

And they tell you, you know, well, something good will come out of this and things get better with time. And you could ask my wife, and it's just like it happened last week.

[Jason Flom]

It's.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

It don't get better. You learn to live with it, but it never gets better. We're going to miss her until the day we're gone, no doubt about it. And so will everybody else in our family because she had that big of an impact on all of us, and I would say most of her friends. She was just that kind of person.

[Mike Boudet]

The fire that took Jessica Curran's life never really stopped burning. Susan Galbraith reignited the sparks, maybe hoping the flames would clear the debris and reveal the truth. Or maybe to burn away evidence that pointed towards Jeremy Adams. In the end, those flames weren't a tool of justice. They were chaotic, aimless, driven by something other than truth. And they eventually consumed everything in their path. Sa. That's going to do it for this episode and this year. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll be back after a short break.

[Jason Flom]

Mike, what's up, my man? This is Ken from Tennessee. Listen, first thing I gotta say is that a lot as a law enforcement officer, it's truly makes my blood boil.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Sometimes when you say that you don't.

[Jason Flom]

And people on your show should not talk to cops. As much of an advocate as you.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Are for the victims that you portray.

[Jason Flom]

That are led on your show, you.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

Saying don't talk to the cops, totally badass to me. But nonetheless, I gotta say, I. I was one of those guys who never liked podcasts.

[Jason Flom]

I thought they were for weird people who had no good taste in music. When I was introduced to your show, I was. I gotta say, I was instantly. Obviously, I drive a lot for my job, so when somebody gets in my.

[Mike Boudet]

Car, they hear what's on the radio.

[Jason Flom]

The looks, I get a pretty stamp. So from your law enforcement fan base.

[Detective Tim Fortner]

I say to you, stay safe and keep up the good work. My dude.

[Jason Flom]

Thanks.

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