Loading summary
A
So you're telling me that the AI that's meant to make everyone's job easier to manage just adds more to manage on top of the thousands of apps the IT department already manages? Funny how that works. Any business can add AI. IBM helps you scale and manage AI to change how you do business. Let's create smarter business IBM.
Hey, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. You know one of the perks about having four kids that you know about is actually getting a direct line to the big man up north. And this year he wants you to know the best gift that you can give someone is the gift of Mint Mobile's unlimited wireless for $15 a month. Now you don't even need to wrap it. Give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for.
B
Three month plan equivalent to $15 per month. Required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes if network's busy, taxes and fees extra.
A
See Mintmobile.
Forget everything you had planned for this weekend because you are sitting on your couch and winning from the comfort of your own home. I'm here with Spin Quest where you can play hundreds of slot games, all the table games you love, and you could even win real cash Prizes. New users. 30 coin packs are on sale for 10@Spinquest.com SpinQuest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.
B
Previously on Death and Deceit in alliance.
A
The police started putting the pieces together which was the first time they had been given the name of Joe Wilkes. Did you grab her by the hair? Yeah, I pulled her hair pretty hard. She was standing next to the sliding glass door. No, she was sitting on the couch to begin with. Then she jumps out and runs over the sliding glass door after you cut it. Yes, she. Two blocks away from Yvonne Lang's house.
B
They recovered that lock blade knife. Detectives did find a print on the handle.
A
They got fingerprints of people involved in the case. No match. I did not do this. And although you thought that the evidence proved it, I know in my heart and soul I did not do this. And I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
B
This is death and deceit. An alliance. A real time investigation into whether David Thorne killed Yvonne Lane. I'm Maggie Freeling.
David Thorne has now been incarcerated for the murder of Yvonne Lane for nearly a third of his life after being convicted of the 1999 murder of his ex girlfriend. Evidence Yvonne lane. He's now 48 years old.
A
Do you.
I mean even today, do you sometimes feel like this isn't real.
Yeah, because this is a life that's inside of a life, because this is. This is only existing. It's not really living.
B
He figures his best chance to get out of prison is to help figure out who really killed Yvonne, which is tough to do behind bars. But he does have allies on the outside who support him in different ways. Sue, for example, we met her in the previous episode.
A
I'm out of breath. I just walked up the stairs.
B
Oh, no, that's okay.
A
I have David's dog. And I had to lock him in the cage or you'd be hearing.
Wait.
B
So how is he David's dog? Did he have him in prison?
A
There was a prison program, and he's not allowed to be part of it because he's got a life without parole sentence. So he would just kind of buddy up to the guys who had dogs for the dog program so that he could hang out with the dogs.
B
Sue is David's wife and longtime advocate and knows more about the case than anyone. Sue felt like the system did David wrong in her gut. She just didn't believe he hired a hitman, let alone A teenage one for 300.
A
Something's missing. I can't. I can't understand. There's got to be more.
B
And when she started doing her own digging, she did find more.
So when you first came on the case, what was the first things that you did?
A
I said, okay, well, I need to talk to Joe. So I wrote Joe a letter, but I didn't put a return address because I thought, if this guy's a good killer, I don't want him to know where I live. And so I didn't get a response. And then the second letter I wrote, I was real vague, and I didn't put my last name, but I had a P.O. box by then. And he wrote me back and said the typical. Will you send me a picture? You know, I'd like to get to know you. And I'm like, oh, brother, child. But.
But I. I finally wrote him and just put it on the table.
B
She told him that she'd gotten documents and there was something wrong. She wondered if he'd been wrongly convicted.
A
It doesn't make sense to me. So I gave him my phone number, and he called me. And that was on New Year's Eve 2000.
Hello. Hello. I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Smart Talks with IBM. I recently sat down with IBM's chairman and CEO, Arvind Krishna, and I asked him, how can companies Use AI to its fullest potential to create smarter business. My one advice to them, pick areas you can scale. Don't pick the shiny little toys on the side. For example, if anybody has more than 10% of what they had for customer service 10 years ago, they're already five years behind. If anybody is not using AI to make their developers who write software 30% more productive today with the goal of being 70% more productive. Yeah. Wow. So we are not asking our clients to be the first experiment on it. We say you can leverage what we did. We are happy to bring out all our learnings, including what needs to change in the process. Because the biggest change is not technology, is getting people to accept that there's a different way to do things. To listen to the full conversation, visit IBM.com smarttalks.
Spinquest Social Casino the presents are open and you're over the in laws. It's a perfect time to grab your phone and play spinquest.com with live dealer blackjack, craps and a ton of slots. And here's a great deal for the holiday. A $30 coin pack for $10. And if you're hearing this ad, you can play right now on spinquest.com Spinquest is a free to play social casino. Visit spinquest.com for more details.
B
You can't solve every case for your kids, but with greenlight, they'll have the instincts and the money skills to stay out of trouble. With a greenlight debit card and money app, parents can monitor spending and teach financial responsibility.
A
It's an easy way to guide kids as they grow from earning allowance and.
B
Tracking chores to teaching how to save and even invest. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today@greenlight.com iheart that's greenlight.com iheart.
The tape is super hard to hear. I give Sue a pass for a 2000s era recording. It's only half an hour long and then it cuts off. As soon as sue answers, Joe pretty much got to the point.
A
But you're saying, you're saying that you're changing your statement that you did not do this and David did not. He had nothing to do with it.
B
Just a few months after he testified at trial, Joe had recanted his confession. Joe said that he and David absolutely had nothing to do with Yvonne's murder. So sue asked the obvious question. Why would he say he did something he didn't do, like murder someone?
He's hard to hear here. What he said is the police told Joe that David was filing for immunity. Joe tells sue that the police told him David was in the room next door giving him up, asking for immunity. In other words, they said that David was making a deal and it involved blaming Joe, so.
A
Oh, I see. So you said what they wanted you to say to get back at him? Kind of. No. Okay. Pretty much what they say. Try to stay, fine. But they had nothing on you if you didn't do it, did they?
They told me a story. They told me a double for me to tell them the same story they did. I know this.
Lawyers faked it. Right. Court. He said that they put him in a room and they chained him to the wall by his arm and they spit on him. And they told him that they wanted him to confess because David was in the next room implicating him, and they were going to put him in the electric chair and so forth.
B
Joe said his lawyers told him it was in his best interest to take a plea to avoid the death penalty, considering the alleged statement David was making against him. This phone call with sue was actually the first time Joe was hearing that David, in fact, did not make any statements to police, nor implicate Joe in the murder. And this wasn't the first time Joe was telling someone he didn't kill Yvonne. Actually, his minister and youth leader wrote in an affidavit that when she first went to visit him after his arraignment, he was crying and told her he didn't do it.
A
Who do you think did this?
I don't know. But you don't believe it's David? No, it's mostly Carol.
B
After speaking with Joe, sue knew she opened a can of worms, but she wasn't deterred. In his first interview with her, Joe put himself at the scene.
A
So from the day from the moment you walked in that door, what. What is your story then you walked into. Why did you go there? You just went to see her? You walked there from the hotel? No, I worked with that. After she wanted to.
B
Joe still said that he walked from the hotel to go see Yvonne and invite her to a hotel party. This was one of the many stories Joe would tell. And when he walked in, Yvonne was dead.
A
And then what did you think when you saw her laying there? I think you didn't think. You mean think I thought I was completely get my ass out of where I was. How did you have to step in the blood? How did you happen to step in the blood for her to keep kiss?
B
So Joe put himself at the scene, but he said he didn't do it. And that's possible. Sue found out something about the defense.
A
I discovered after trial that they had contacted somebody and not used him. They contacted somebody in, I believe it was New Milton, Ohio, or somewhere in southwestern Ohio. And he had examined Joe's pants and Joe's knife, quote, unquote. And he said that there was no blood evidence on them, and he would expect to find blood evidence even if they'd been in the elements for a period of time. He said there is no evidence at all of any blood on either of these items.
B
No blood evidence whatsoever on the pants or knife that was allegedly used in this incredibly brutal, violent, virtually decapitating murder. But for some reason, the defense didn't call the expert to the stand. That would have been pretty important for a jury to hear. Sue was able to get her own expert to examine the crime scene photos and form his own opinion.
A
Brent Turvey, a nationally known criminal forensics expert, picked apart what he calls a botched case.
B
Brent Turvey said Joe could not have cut Yvonne's neck. On the couch, for one. Where Joe would have been sitting was covered in blood.
A
Where there's. Where he supposedly is sitting while he does this, there's blood spatter all over the skirt of the couch. So there's. Unless the blood transferred through his entire body, there is no way anybody was sitting in that spot.
B
This is what Turvey told Channel 5 News he believed happened and how the blood got on the couch. He said that the heavy blood spurs on the sliding glass doors suggested Yvonne was standing at the doors facing the puppies outside when her throat was slit from behind.
A
Expert Brett Turvey says the killer struck while the victim was standing here by the sliding glass doors. Slicing from behind, she begins to spurt blood, pumping blood violently out of her, out of her neck. The killer supported the victim on the way down, then pulled her across the floor. And there's drag and smear marks in the blood. She's being assisted from the sliding glass door area to the area between the couch and the television.
B
Based on the photos, it appears there was also a drag mark on the floor, like the killer may have dragged Yvonne after slicing her throat, touching her bloody body. And again, it was incredibly bloody, and Joe had no blood on his clothes.
A
She said that Joe's statement did not match the evidence.
B
Now, I'm not saying Turvy's account is the right one, but if someone like him had testified, it certainly could have left reasonable doubt that Joe did this. But David's team never called a rebuttal witness. And then there's the motive? Prosecutors said David didn't want to pay child support. At the time of the murder. David said he was making about $14 an hour at a high end car shop, which in 1999 was pretty good money. Around $26 today. And since he was working on cars, he says he also went to swap meets and sold expensive parts for cash. He tells me one part could pay a month of child support, which again was $351. And again, that motive to me is a bit off. Not to mention paying $300 for a teenage hitman. It just seems so weak to me.
Did you know Tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean in cold water? Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it. Even in cold butter. Yup. Chocolate ice cream. Sure thing. Barbecue sauce. Tide's got you covered. You don't need to use warm water. Additionally, Tide pods let you confidently fight tough stains with new coldzyme technology. Just remember, if it's gotta be clean, it's gotta be Tide.
A
Hello. Hello. I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast smart talks with IBM. I recently sat down with IBM's chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna and I asked him, how can companies use AI to its full, fullest potential to create smarter business? My one advice to them, pick areas you can scale. Don't pick the shiny little toys on the side. For example, if anybody has more than 10% of what they had for customer service 10 years ago, they're already five years behind. If anybody is not using AI to make make their developers who write software 30% more productive today with the goal of being 70% more productive. Yeah. Wow. So we are not asking our clients to be the first experiment on it. We say you can leverage what we did. We are happy to bring out all our learnings, including what needs to change in the process. Because the biggest change is not technology is getting people to accept that there's a different way to do things. To listen to the full conversation, visit IBM.com smart talks.
Every story begins somewhere for your child. It could begin with a Guardian bike, built right here in the usa, engineered for safety and designed for confidence. Kids of all ages are learning to ride in just one day. No tears, no frustration. It's why Guardian is America's favorite kids bike. And the New York Times and Wirecutters top pick three years in a row. This holiday season, give the gift that's safer, smarter and built to last. Visit guardianbikes.com to save up to 40% on all bikes plus a free accessory bundle worth over $100.
B
When sue first started on the case, it was 22 years ago. She was young and passionate and put in a ton of legwork. One of the first people she spoke with was Linda McLaughlin, Eric Cameron's mother. Remember, Eric is the father of three of Yvonne's children. He's the reason David and Yvonne broke up. Yvonne couldn't quit Eric even when he was in jail. You talked to Linda at length about, you know, maybe her involvement?
A
Yeah, I suspected everybody.
B
Linda was taking care of Eric and Yvonne's special needs son. Actually, she basically raised him from the time he was born.
A
Yvonne gave her Vinny from the hospital is what I understand. Vinny needs special care, and I think she kept him until he was 4 because she took Yvonne, took him back just before the murder, which made me.
B
Go, hmm, right, Because Linda wanted him.
A
Right.
B
But Yvonne had recently taken Vinnie back from Linda, and that was causing tension between the two. Sue thought, could this be a motive? Linda passed away some years ago, so we weren't able to speak with her. But luckily, sue recorded her conversation and asked Linda straight up.
A
I understand that there are special circumstances. You could put somebody in that position, her taking Vinnie from you. Would that make you go, I just want to kill her? No, no, no. Would you tell me if it did? Oh, yeah.
We're very good friends. Yeah. And I have no power. I can't take you in how you want to jail. Well, there were times when I wanted to punch her out. But as far as killing, that, that never even went through my mind. I. I loved Vinnie probably as much as I love my kids and still do. But I understood to a certain degree why she was doing what she was doing.
B
Sue is also suspicious about Linda's boyfriend at the time, and his name is Jeremy. Remember, Vinnie was supposed to have said he saw a Jimmy, Josh, or Jeremy kill Mommy. The name was hard to make out. Well, he certainly would have known a Jeremy who was virtually his grandfather. Sue put the question to Linda. Does she think or know anything about Jeremy killing Yvonne?
A
I don't see Jeremy doing anything like that. Would he do it for you?
B
Of course.
A
No. Because you're irritated she took the baby. I don't think Jeremy has that in him to do something like that, and I'm probably part of it. He got a fault. Yeah. Would have been me, because he did. He beat me up. He beat me up a few times there.
B
Sue says she knew Jeremy was violent and the police should have looked at him.
A
I came to your house and I asked him something about if he was at work that night. And he said they. I asked why they came to talk to him and he said they considered him a suspect.
B
But if the police considered Jeremy a suspect, there is no record of any conversation with him. I also want to note that when I spoke to Preston, one of Yvonne's kids, who is now a grown man, he pointed something out to me.
A
When I went to bed that night, Vincent was in his underwear.
B
Vinnie had already been put to bed that night in his diaper and slept in a crib on the ground floor. He couldn't climb out alone. Yet when Tanya came in the house, he was out of the crib and fully dressed when police arrived.
A
So that means somebody got him dressed. So who would know where Vincent's clothes were?
B
What do you think about that? I mean.
A
Well, not many people could just grab Vincent. Vincent would. If she didn't know you, he would freak out. You couldn't just pick him up as a total stranger.
B
So to Preston, it seems likely the person who murdered his mom was someone who knew Vinnie was able to hold him, dress him and took care of him. Someone like Vinnie's grandmother or her boyfriend Jeremy, or maybe a friendly neighbor.
A
And there's a guy that she used to hang out with right around the corner from her house named Jim. And I interviewed Jim.
And he was a interesting character.
B
Jim lived directly behind Yvonne, and as sue mentioned, Yvonne would often hang out with Jim. Jim's never been formally accused in this case, so I'm only going to use his first name.
A
I went to interview him just as a neighbor and a witness, and I thought, something's not right here.
B
Remember, there's a neighbor across the street who said she saw Yvonne on the night of March 31, the night she was killed. The neighbor said Yvonne was outside around 5:30pm crushing soda cans, talking to a 40 year old white man, about 50, 5 foot 7 in a plaid shirt with curly graying hair. Turns out this was Jim. And we know this because it's documented in police reports that Jim himself told officers he talked to Yvonne around that time in her driveway, just as the neighbor described.
A
He was seen by a neighbor standing at her front door. She's got a bunch of cans, pop cans, stuffed on the ground on her sidewalk, right outside her door, smashing with her feet. And the neighbor saw her doing it. She never finished smashing them. They were still laying there when they found her body. Now, wouldn't you go finish that? Yeah, but he was standing outside her front door with her and he told them In a police handwritten note that it was he was there to see the puppies because he might want a puppy.
B
Jim told officers he went to Yvonne's to see the puppies were on the deck, visible to anyone who could see the house.
A
And I thought, oh, I'd never even, you know. And then I started putting the Jimmy stuff together.
B
Josh, Jimmy or Jeremy. From what we know, Jim, the neighbor, was the last person to see Yvonne alive. That was about 5:30pm the coroner said Yvonne could have been killed as early as 7pm just 90 minutes later.
A
So if you're at the, at the door at 5:30, she's dead at 7. In that hour and a half, he had to see the puppies, have a conversation. You don't walk in and go, okay, there's puppy.
B
Jim told the officers that that night, March 31, he worked from 10pm to 6am this would have given him plenty of time to commit the crime, get to work by 10:00pm so Jim, like Joe, placed himself at Yvonne's house at 5:30pm the night of the murder. When police questioned what he did after he was seen in Yvonne's driveway, he said he went on a bike ride. Something that's just impossible to verify. But then it looks like police stopped following up on Jim, the last known person to see Yvonne alive. Jim was not called to testify and there's no formal interview with him in the case file. All there is is one officer's third person mention of what Jim told police the day her body was discovered, that he was there about 5:30pm and then a second neighbor told police they saw a guy leaving Yvonne's house before she was discovered that morning. He gave police his statement well before David's trial. But that report was never given to David's defense team and that could be a bombshell.
A
So frankly, when I was reading first about Joe, I was like, yeah, I think David might have done it. I think he might have. But then as I then when I read the report in the George Hale story, it's like, no, something's missing here. Why didn't the prosecution turn this over and what is going on here? What's up with that and why it wasn't further investigated? So it makes me feel like there's more to the story.
B
Coming up on Death and Deceit in Alliance.
A
This man was in a house with a dead body and was either cleaning up for the killer or was the killer. Then a guy came out with a trash bag. That's all I see, just glance. Why that report wasn't provided to the defense. Like, what's up with that? Did you find somebody you recognized? I did point out somebody, hale says detectives told him later. The picture he pointed out was that of an alliance police officer. That is the one key part of this case that just never sat right with me. Like the fact that it was never turned over to the defense is shocking.
B
Death and deceit and alliance is produced and reported by me, Maggie Freeling with editorial consulting from Amber Hunt. Aaron Case is our legal researcher. Our executive producer is Steve Fishman. Our engineer and production coordinator is Austin Smith. Eric Axelrod is our assistant producer.
A
Amazon Five Star Theater presents Real customer reviews, performed by Eva Longoria. Tonight's review, sports briefs. Oh boy, where do I even start.
B
With these performance mesh boxer briefs?
A
These boxer briefs are like a magician's trick. You know, the one where you go, where did that rabbit come from? So if you're looking for underwear that not only performs well but also gives.
B
Your package the attention it deserves, then look no further.
A
5 stars Nickalicious shop the perfect gift this holiday season on Amazon. You know what a girl's best friend is not diamonds. Her lawyers. From executive producer Ryan Murphy comes a fiery new legal drama.
B
It's our own boutique women representing women.
A
You can't afford to miss.
B
Make it rain Showtime, ladies.
A
Stand up straight and breeze into that room like a storm no one saw coming.
Hulu Original Series All's Fair, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.
B
Make their holiday unforgettable with a gift that says it all from Pandora Jewelry. A gift that tells a story and shows you know theirs that doesn't just sparkle but speaks. From new festive charms to forever rings and personal engravings, this season give a gift that's perfectly theirs. Whether you're shopping for a shiny surprise for your significant other, matching bracelets to.
A
Celebrate your friendship, or a heartfelt gift for a family member. Say more this holiday season with Pandora. Shop now@pandora.net or visit your closest Pandora store.
Host: Maggie Freeling, Orbit Media
Date: December 9, 2025
In this pivotal episode, Maggie Freeling dives deep into the ongoing investigation of David Thorne’s conviction for the murder of Yvonne Layne. The spotlight is on Sue—David's wife and tireless advocate—whose relentless digging raises critical questions about the prosecution’s case, the alternate suspects, and the possibility of mishandled or suppressed evidence. Listeners are led, through Sue’s eyes, across a labyrinth of false confessions, questionable motives, hidden reports, and overlooked suspects. This is the episode where alternate suspects emerge, evidence is re-examined, and the presumed narrative is set on its head.
Eric Cameron & Linda McLaughlin:
Linda's boyfriend, Jeremy:
Clues from the Crime Scene (Vinny’s Clothing):
On Prison Life:
On the Prosecution’s Motive:
On Police Coercion:
On Unused Evidence:
On Neighbor Suspect (Jim):
This episode interrogates the foundations of the state’s case against David Thorne and reopens the file on overlooked suspects, questionable motives, and missing evidence. Thanks to Sue’s determined groundwork, fresh doubts are cast on the investigation’s integrity and the validity of David’s conviction. The closing preview teases bombshells to come—including an alleged police connection in withheld witness testimony—signaling that new revelations may further upend what listeners think they know about the case.
Key Question: Is David Thorne serving life for a crime that neither he nor Joe Wilkes committed—and has a combination of tunnel vision, police mishandling, and prosecutorial omissions led justice astray in Alliance, Ohio?