Episode 3: The Mother & The Informant

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Last 12 Weeks – Episode 3: The Mother & the Informant (June 18, 2026)

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Main Theme

This episode follows two high-stakes avenues pursued by David Wood’s defense as his execution date nears: hunting down a possible alternate suspect and making a last-ditch effort to discredit a jailhouse informant, all set against the fraught and lingering pain of victims’ families. The team also takes listeners inside a tense encounter with the mother of one victim—Marsha Fulton—who has become the public face of the push for Wood’s execution.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Search for an Alternate Suspect: Eddie Barton

[00:33–08:13]

• Road Trip to St. Louis: With 42 days left, producer Alvin Melith accompanies Jeremy (the boss of the capital habeas unit), as they track down Eddie Barton, who in 1989 confessed to killing young women and burying them in the El Paso desert—the same MO as Wood.
• Barton’s Confession History: Barton confessed to the murders under the influence while talking to FBI agents about an unrelated murder-for-hire plot. By the time local authorities followed up, Barton recanted, blaming his confession on being “strung out on dope and booze.”
• Awkward Nursing Home Interview: The defense team finds Barton in an assisted living facility. Presented with his old confession, Barton is confused, denies everything, and wonders if he needs a lawyer.
  • Notable Quote:
    “$40,000? I ain’t never seen $40,000… I don’t remember claiming killed people. That’s wrong. I wasn’t even there. Do I need a lawyer?” – Eddie Barton [06:23–07:03]
• Lawyers’ Dilemma: Jeremy realizes Barton won’t exonerate Wood. Still, Barton expresses a desire for the innocent to be spared execution, showing the gravity even peripheral players feel.
  • Notable Quote:
    “I don't want nobody to go to death row. I hope the guy, if he didn't do it, gets off.” – Eddie Barton [07:50]

2. Unraveling Jailhouse Testimony: Randy Wells

[11:39–20:14]

• Importance of Informants: David Wood’s conviction relied heavily on two jailhouse snitches; only one survives: Randy Wells, a career criminal who got charges dropped after testifying that Wood confessed.
• The Chase for a Recantation: Naomi from the defense team tries for months to get Wells, now terminally ill, to recant. Hopes for a deathbed confession run aground as Wells becomes too sick to speak.
  • Strategic Debate: The team weighs the ethics of bedside confronting a dying, incapacitated man, balancing “human decency” against their duty to exhaust every option to save their client.
  • Notable Quote:
    “It could be such a game changer for the case… if the option is don’t talk to him or awkwardly and offensively knock on his hospital door…it’s door two at that point.” – Greg Werchuck [16:23]
• No Closure: Wells dies the day after a failed hospice visit—no recantation, no new evidence, and the defense is left with what-ifs.

3. The Other Side: Marsha Fulton, the Victim’s Mother

[21:04–42:59]

• Introduction to Marsha: Marsha Fulton’s daughter, Desiree (“Desi”), was one of Wood’s alleged victims. For nearly four decades, Marsha’s been the most steadfast advocate for Wood’s execution.
• Personal Story: Marsha’s loss is profound but handled with pragmatism and candor. She recounts her role in pressuring police for action and insists on holding authorities accountable.
  • Notable Quote:
    “When a parent loses the child, there’s no name for that. And it’s like you are lost.” – Marsha Fulton [23:57]
  • On lobbying DA for the death penalty:
    “Do your job, Period. I could be a real bitch when I want to be, but I had rights. That’s what I figured.” [27:54]
• Defense’s Unlikely Pitch: The defense team, hoping she might harbor doubt, visits to share new evidence and request support for more DNA testing and alternate suspect investigation.
  • Lawyers use a soft, empathetic approach focused on her feelings and loss, though the hosts know she prefers straight talk.
• Marsha’s Response: She listens but remains skeptical, citing circumstantial evidence and her own thirty-seven years of following the case.
  • Notable Exchange:
    “So, you know, these things I hear from different people is what makes my radar just go, beep, beep, beep…those are things in my mind that just—I just can’t let go.” – Marsha Fulton [36:07]
  • On why the lawyers defend Wood:
    “I want a person. I want the person. So, you know, I got that.” – Marsha Fulton [40:46]
• A Small Shift?: The defense detects “a tiny seed of doubt” after the meeting, but its value is unclear, especially since Marsha’s current influence is limited.

4. Pencils Down – The Final Hail Mary

[42:59–End]

• Filing the Application: With three weeks to go, the lawyers file a massive 371-page application for a writ of habeas corpus, hoping to convince a hostile court to at least stay the execution for further review.
• Slim Hope: The odds for a stay in Texas are less than 6%. The application is packed with challenges to evidence, not irrefutable proof of innocence.
• Emotional Toll: Maurice, the host, reflects on the crushing weight these cases inflict on everyone involved—lawyers, witnesses, victims’ families—underscoring the high-stakes, “all hands on deck” urgency as the clock ticks down.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jeremy on confronting Barton:
  “There’s not soft lead-ins to that. At least not that I can think of.” – [03:08]
• Greg on visiting dying informant:
  “If we’re still here in two weeks and the option is don’t talk to him, or awkwardly and offensively, you know, knock on that hospital door, to me it’s door two at that point.” – [16:23]
• Marsha Fulton on her relentless advocacy:
  “He took my daughter…but he's not gonna take me. I refuse. I went no corner.” – [30:12]
• On parent’s grief:
  “When the parent lose the child, there’s no name for that. No name for that. And it’s like you are lost.” – Marsha Fulton [23:57]
• Host Maurice Shama on lawyer burnout:
  “The execution of a client is a shattering event for habeas lawyers...a dark cloud lingers. Burnout is pretty common. Alcoholism and divorce too.” – [17:11]
• Marsha on questions for defense:
  “What is it in you that makes him feel he might not be?” – [39:21]
• Naomi Fenwick’s human touch:
  “I'm not trying to... you know, someone did take your daughter...[pause] her friend saw her get in a pickup truck. What we do know now is that ... there was at least one other person...” – [36:44]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:33 – Search for alternate suspect: Eddie Barton
• 04:33 – Confronting Barton at assisted living facility
• 06:23 – Barton’s confusion and denial of murders
• 07:50 – Barton on his willingness to help
• 11:39 – Lawyers strategize about jailhouse informant Randy Wells
• 13:56 – Struggles to contact Wells’ wife, Tracy
• 15:26 – Debate on approaching Wells in hospital
• 16:23 – Greg on necessity of talking to Wells
• 20:14 – Wells dies; lawyers left with “what-ifs”
• 21:04 – Introduction to Marsha Fulton and her background
• 23:57 – Marsha on the unique pain of losing a child
• 27:54 – Marsha’s confrontation with DA, refusal to settle for single murder charge
• 31:16 – Lawyers plan outreach to Marsha Fulton
• 34:27 – Defense team’s meeting with Marsha
• 36:07 – Marsha describes circumstantial evidence against Wood
• 37:13 – Alternate suspect Michael Plyler mentioned
• 39:21 – Marsha’s question: why defend Wood?
• 40:09 – Lawyers’ response: importance of testing DNA evidence
• 42:59 – Filing the final appeal; setting up next episode

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Structure & Tone

• Language/Tone: Direct, sometimes darkly humorous, often candid—with the emotional labor and exhaustion of everyone involved pressed into every exchange.
• Emotional Undercurrents: The episode is driven by a sense of barely controlled urgency, exhaustion, and the emotional ambiguity of a case with no easy answers. The lawyers’ professional duties are set against the private grief and dogged certainty of a mother who’s waited nearly four decades for closure.

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In Summary:
This episode illustrates the relentless but uncertain work of capital defense in the final weeks before execution—tracking down improbable leads, navigating the ethics of bedside interviews, and engaging the unwavering mother of a murdered child. Every effort reveals the emotional and strategic complexities of trying to stay or overturn a death sentence, with neither catharsis nor victory guaranteed. As the legal clock runs out, the defense’s last filings are in the court’s hands, and the story turns toward David Wood himself in the next installment.

Transcript

[Maurice Shama]

Hi, diva. It's Rachel and Jordan.

[Greg Werchuck]

Yeah, hi. Quick question.

[Naomi Fenwick]

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[Maurice Shama]

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[Jeremy]

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[Alvin Melith]

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[Marsha Fulton]

Mm.

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[Maurice Shama]

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[Alvin Melith]

There are 42 days left before the execution, and Maurice and I have split up again. I'm heading out to St. Louis to meet Greg's co counsel, Jeremy. It's very bleak and rainy, and we're setting off on a little road trip to go look for yet another alternate suspect.

[Greg Werchuck]

What we are going to do is we are going to interview, hopefully at least a man named Eddie Barton. He came up in the.

[Alvin Melith]

Eddie Barton is on Jeremy's list because. Because back in 1989, Barton confessed to killing young women and burying them in the desert in El Paso. He actually confessed to the murders while also confessing to another completely unrelated crime. All this confessing happened to FBI agents in Las Vegas. Unfortunately for Barton, and please forgive me, this was not the kind of thing that would just stay in Vegas. In their interview with Barton, the FBI recorded details about why he chose the desert to bury his victims. Barton claimed he picked victims who were, quote, small, petite, young, with features similar to that of his wife. According to court records, the FBI decided to alert the El Paso Police Department. But by the time anyone in El Paso got around to talking to Eddie Barton, David Wood's trial for the murders was already ramping up. Three years had passed since Barton's original confession, and by now, he denied everything, said he didn't even remember confessing at all, given that he was really strung out on dope and booze at the time. So Jeremy's dream scenario is to see if he can jog Barton's memory and get him to come clean on a series of grisly murders that he once confessed to more than three decades ago, thereby saving David Wood from an impending execution. Jeremy knows they've already dug into other alternate suspects who went nowhere. And he knows some of the other claims they developed for their petition are more promising. But Jeremy's also Aware that someone else confessing to the desert murders would be huge for his client. A long shot that might be worth the trouble. Jeremy has tracked Eddie Barton to an assisted living facility a little more than an hour west of St. Louis. It's worth noting that Jeremy, who is the boss of the capital habeas unit in Dallas, is not generally out in the field like this anymore. Which tells you a little something about how much of an all hands on deck situation we've entered into. As we pull over at a gas station about 10 minutes away, Jeremy takes out a pad of paper and starts going over notes.

[Greg Werchuck]

Yeah, scribbled a few things down.

[Alvin Melith]

Usually, Jeremy tells me, he instructs the other lawyers on his staff to look for light topics to start a conversation, something easy and soft to lead with. But he's really struggling with this one. How exactly is he gonna lightly accuse someone of being a serial killer?

[Greg Werchuck]

There's not soft lead ins to that. At least not that. At least not that I can think of.

[Alvin Melith]

And here, the only other thing Jeremy really knows about Eddie Barton isn't particularly promising either. And that's the other crime Barton confessed to in Las Vegas.

[Greg Werchuck]

The reason why he was speaking to the police is because he had, according to him, put a hit out on his wife and paid, you know, a business associate $40,000 or something like that to kill her.

[Alvin Melith]

Well, to be specific, according to the court records, Barton had gone to the Vegas police because he actually changed his mind about the hit on his wife and wanted to put a stop to it. Only it appears he couldn't contact the business associate he paid the $40,000 to and started to suspect that maybe the business associate want dead, perhaps on account of Barton implicating him in a murder for hire plot.

[Greg Werchuck]

That's obviously not a fucking soft lead in either.

[Alvin Melith]

Jeremy continues to ponder his approach as we head back on the road. We drive past the address he has for Barton's nursing home. It's a series of connected gray trailers in front of, honestly, the saddest looking pond I've ever seen.

[Greg Werchuck]

I don't know what the fuck this is in the front yard, but the

[Naomi Fenwick]

destination is on your right.

[Greg Werchuck]

Interesting.

[Alvin Melith]

Do we have a sense of which door?

[Greg Werchuck]

Nope. We have a sense that we're about to get wet, muddy, and probably have a very awkward conversation with a nurse.

[Alvin Melith]

Jeremy picks a door and we walk in. He asks someone who looks like they work there if Eddie Barton is around. He's in the day room having lunch, she says, points him out. We head to the day room and there's about 30 residents in there, all eating and watching a TV show. Jeremy sidles up to Barton and introduces himself. Says he's here to ask some questions about some bodies found in the desert in el Paso in 1987. He says this at what I would consider a professionally discreet volume, when it doesn't matter. Everyone in the room is now staring at us, maybe because Barton, who is in his 60s, squat and tattooed, and also apparently a little hard of hearing, repeats Jeremy's words at a much higher volume. Bodies in the desert. He says he'll talk, but he wants to finish his lunch first. We go down a corridor and wait by some couches. After about 20 minutes, Barton gives me the okay to record, and Jeremy dives in.

[Greg Werchuck]

I've got a copy of an FBI report. Do you mind if I just show that to you a second?

[Eddie Barton]

It's from the FBI.

[Greg Werchuck]

That's what it says, so I hope so. So there's some stuff. There's a couple of. There's a couple of pages here.

[Alvin Melith]

Jeremy hands Barton a summary of what Barton told the FBI. Barton's alleged hit on his wife, his confession to killing women and burying them in the desert. Barton takes the pages and reads. He's scowling, looking like he's trying to take the information in.

[Eddie Barton]

Who said all that stuff? Who gave that statement?

[Greg Werchuck]

So this is the. This is just the recap of their conversation with you from the jump.

[Alvin Melith]

Barton's obviously confused, almost a little disoriented, but it seems like he's making a real effort to focus. He makes his way through the report slowly, his eyes getting wider and wider as he reads.

[Eddie Barton]

Paid $40,000 to kill his wife. What is. This is crazy stuff here. $40,000 I ain't never seen $40,000 issued cash machines to kill his wife. Varden told Saver he wanted. I suppose they said this. You know what they said?

[Greg Werchuck]

That's. That's what they say. I mean, it's just what's in the report. I mean, I'm not sure how seriously they took it.

[Eddie Barton]

I don't remember claiming killed people. I don't. That's wrong. I wasn't even there. Do I need a lawyer?

[Alvin Melith]

It's possible that this represented the high point of the interview with Eddie Barton. Because as we continue talking, the employees at this care facility start wondering if maybe their visitation protocols are a little too loose. Someone comes over. They say to observe, but I peek over and see them on their phones, Googling all the desert killer stories I've Googled in the past myself. We have now fully entered Coen Brothers territory. Other residents scoop by as we talk, rubbernecking as they slowly push their walkers past us. At some point, apparently fully on alert now, someone on staff tells us they've called the sheriff's office. They tell Barton they want to protect his privacy. This kind of pisses Barton off, who does not appreciate being infantilized. He explicitly told us he didn't commit these murders. But he tells his minders that he still wants to talk to Jeremy about David Wood.

[Eddie Barton]

This guy's gonna die the 13th. They're trying to tie some loose ends or what? I might be able to help. I don't want nobody to go to death row. I hope the guy, if we didn't do it, gets off.

[Alvin Melith]

Somehow in all this, Barton seems to have missed the central thrust of Jeremy's reason for being here. Jeremy could clarify, could explain, that there's really only one way Eddie Barton could help David Wood get off death row by confessing to the murders himself. But I can tell by Jeremy's expression, he knows this isn't going to happen. It is striking how quickly Barton wanted to help. Though he might not have understood the specifics, but he certainly seemed to understand what was at stake. That a man's life was on the line. If he could help in some way, shouldn't he? The lawyers on David Wood's defense team are living with a magnified version of this urgency all the time now. The feeling that anything they do or decide not to do could lead to their client's execution. An almost impossible amount of pressure to find something, anything, that'll improve their odds. With six weeks left before the execution date, the lawyers now have very little time to work with. Exhausting every avenue for their client will mean putting themselves right in the middle of some messy human dramas with complicated stakes all their own. And the Laurie's will have to figure out just how far they're willing to push people to save David woods life. From serial productions, the marshall project, and the new york times, I'm alvin melith.

[Maurice Shama]

And I'm maurice trama.

[Alvin Melith]

This is the last 12 weeks.

[Naomi Fenwick]

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[David Sanger]

Equal Housing Lender I'm David Sanger. I cover the White House and national Security at the New York Times, and I try to explain what decisions made in Washington mean for you wherever you live. This is why the Times sends me to the Oval Office when the President is making a major decision or has me ride along on Air Force One on critical trips. And I talk to foreign leaders, exploring why they're so often at odds with the United States. We live in a world of misinformation and disinformation. It's never been more important to have reliable sources of on the ground reporting. If you want firsthand reporting on how U.S. policy affects the world, consider subscribing to the New York Times.

[Maurice Shama]

The lawyers have determined that they've got about three more weeks they can spend knocking on doors before it's time to write up their final legal filings. So now they have to decide once and for all what to do about Randy Wells. Randy Wells was one of the two jailhouse informants who were in prison with David Wood. These informants testified at trial that David Wood admitted to them that he was the Desert Killer, that he bragged about it. Really, their testimony was crucial in sealing David Wood's fate. Incidentally, these informants surfaced not long after a prosecutor grumbled about not having enough evidence against David Wood. He mentioned in a memo how great it would be to find some jailhouse informants. One of the informants is dead now, so the lawyers can't ask him if he was lying at the trial. But Randy Wells is still alive. When Randy Wells first met David Wood, he had a long record and was in prison for theft, served his time, got released, and then pretty quickly got arrested on a capital murder charge. That's when he told police, oh yeah, David Wood told me he's the desert serial killer. Then, after he testified against David Wood, his murder charge was dropped. A prosecutor who dealt with Randy Wells in a different case once wrote, quote, if this inmate spent just one tenth of his time in a positive manner, rather than trying to figure out how to steal or beat someone out of something, he could sell iceboxes to Eskimos. This seems to be the consensus among the defense team that Randy Wells is a slippery character, mostly in it for himself. But the lawyers are hoping an impending execution changes things, that he'll feel guilty and finally confess to lying at David woods trial. But for the past few months, the lawyers have been struggling to get in the same room with him. Randy Wells is in his 60s now, living in a tiny Texas town called Rising Star and married to a woman named Tracy. The lawyers made a trip out there, and Tracy answered the door. She revealed that her husband was just diagnosed with lung cancer. So not a good time. She said, you can come back tomorrow. Which they did, but she turned them away again. Naomi gets assigned to keep on top of this. Over the course of the lawyers weekly zoom meetings, she updates everyone on her efforts with Tracy.

[Naomi Fenwick]

So I just texted her and I said I hoped that the past couple of weeks had been kinder to her and Randy and that he was feeling better. She has her read receipts on, so I know that she read it, but she hasn't responded.

[Greg Werchuck]

Gotta turn those off, people, if you haven't done that.

[Naomi Fenwick]

So I got a little bit worried and I googled his name. I don't think he has passed away, but she's been super responsive before, so I'm a little bit worried. So I think I might just text her on Thursday.

[Maurice Shama]

Naomi sends the text. The weekend comes and goes. No response. She tries calling. It goes to voicemail.

[Naomi Fenwick]

Hi, Tracy, this is Naomi Fenwick with the Federal Public Defender's office. We met about three weeks ago in Rising Star. We're just getting closer and closer to his execution date.

[Maurice Shama]

It goes on like this for weeks until Tracy finally responds and explains why she ghosted Naomi. Randy Wells is in the hospital, and it's not looking good. He's gone through multiple rounds of chemo, but the cancer has spread. He's mostly bedridden, breathing with an oxygen tank. The lawyers and the rest of the team now have a choice to make. Do they wait until Wells is back home? What if he never comes home? Or do they ambush him at the hospital? It's a question of human decency. But what I hear mostly is about strategy.

[Jeremy]

Now, Naomi, I've run this idea by you before and you were, I think mortified is the word I'm looking for. Going to the hospital, seeing when visitation hours are and, and talking to him without Tracy being the guard dog.

[Greg Werchuck]

You know, that does facilitate. Styling it as a dying declaration if it's being taken from him while he's in the hospital.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, that's right. So the downside is if we do that and Tracy finds out, she may never give us permission. If Randy gets out and is in a state where he might be willing to talk to us. Yes.

[Naomi Fenwick]

So do I ask her what hospital he's in? Because we have. We don't know.

[Alvin Melith]

Just tell her we want to send flowers.

[Jeremy]

That's a great idea. Chocolates and flowers and candy.

[Maurice Shama]

They're joking mostly.

[Greg Werchuck]

I mean, I think in the short term I would not be banging down the hospital door. But I do think we do get to a point where, like that's where he is. It's just where he is. It could be such a game changer for the case. Like if Randy. If we get a statement from Randy Wells, backtracking on his trial testimony, our chances of stay and success go up monumentally higher than they currently are. And so if at the end of the day he's in the hospital, he's in the, you know, the hospital. So obviously that's not ideal. It's not how we want to do it. But you know, like I said, if we're still here in like two weeks and the option is don't talk to him, or awkwardly and offensively, you know, knock on his hospital door, you know, to me it's door two at that point.

[Maurice Shama]

I think it's worth mentioning here that all of the lawyers on this call have had clients who are executed clients who they couldn't save. Greg, Jeremy, Naomi, they've all had to sit in front of someone and tell them we're out of options. They've all had to watch what that does to a human being, taking in the news that soon they'll be killed. I know from stories I've done in the past that the execution of a client is a shattering event for habeas lawyers. One lawyer said that the finality of it is enough to give you vertigo to watch a person who you've built a relationship with, sometimes over years, be reduced to a few file boxes you put into storage at the office. The days after an execution are the most acute. Sleep comes in 18 hour chunks. But even after you get back to work and try to keep up with your other cases, a dark cloud lingers. Burnout is pretty common. Alcoholism and divorce too. All this to say these lawyers are operating under tremendous pressure. It's not just their clients lives that are at stake. It's their own emotional states too. But actually this kind of thing doesn't come up much when we're following the lawyers around. When I asked Greg about it, he said that when he's on a case, he tries to push all of that away. He can't think about it without succumbing to paralysis. But obviously it's there. It's gotta be. So as the lawyers talk about the propriety of barging into Randy Wells hospital room to get him to say that he lied on the stand while he lies there on his own deathbed with his wife and his family around him as he dies from lung cancer, well, this might be the closest I've come to actually seeing the pressure in action. The things the lawyers are willing to do to avoid an execution and everything that follows. These lawyers feel that every option must be on the table, even if it means a sort of gross and distasteful scene at a Texas hospital. But it doesn't come to that. Naomi hears from Tracy. Randy Wells has been released. He's back at home, but now he's on hospice. Doctors give him less than six months. The lawyers agree they're past the point of text and appointments. Naomi drives out to Rising Star. Tracy lets Naomi in and is surprisingly kind about it all. She introduces Naomi to Randy, but he's gaunt and barely conscious. He can't make eye contact, much less answer questions about testimony he gave decades ago. Naomi instead talks with Tracy about her grief over her husband's illness. About her belief that despite all the wrong Randy Wells did in his life, he was still a man who she loved. Naomi sits with her for a while and then leaves empty handed. The lawyers don't dwell on whether they should have acted sooner. Whether they should have just burst into Randy Wells hospital room and lived with the consequences. And they'll never know what they might have gotten if they did. Because the day after Naomi's visit, Randy Wells dies. We'll be back after the break.

[Alvin Melith]

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[Greg Werchuck]

for anyone in your life.

[Alvin Melith]

Find out [e-mail] family.

[Maurice Shama]

You could argue that the number one public advocate for David Wood's execution is a woman named Marcia Fulton. In 1987, Marsha's younger daughter Desiree, who she called Desi, was an energetic 15 year old who on the last day of 8th grade never came home. Her body was the fourth one found in the desert. Since then, Marsha has consistently organized and pressed for David Wood's execution. She's all over news reports questioning why he's still alive. So I found it kind of shocking when the defense team told me they wanted to reach out to Marsha and see if they could get her to switch sides. That sounded like the biggest long shot yet. I wanted to get to Marsha first before the lawyers. Yes, to hear about the case against David Wood from her perspective, but also I wanted to know what this was all like for her. Following the lawyers around, it was easy to get a sense of how much they wanted to save their client to stop the execution. I found myself wanting to know what's it like to be on the other side of that mission through all these years of delay. Marsha is used to hearing from reporters. So when Alvin and I call, she immediately gives us her address. We drive up to her house in a gated mobile home park on the outskirts of El Paso. Easy to find because she really likes lawn gnomes. There are dozens of these little guys lined up guarding her house for an interview with a woman who lives alone. The proceedings were actually pretty crowded. Marsha volunteers to rehabilitate wildlife in her home with a local animal rescue. She has one of those dry erase boards in her living room laying out which animals are in which parts of her home. As of right now, you have a pigeon?

[Marsha Fulton]

Right now I have the pigeon. The squirrel. Well, I have a hamster, but I just found out he's running around the house somewhere. She is. She got out of the cage. I have no idea how she did that.

[Maurice Shama]

All of these animals are in addition to Marsha's dog, a six year old cockapoo mix named Muppet, who Marcia tells us is more of a hugger than a humper. Although when Muppet takes a liking to Alvin's leg at one point, that seems to be a distinction without a difference.

[Alvin Melith]

So well behaved.

[Maurice Shama]

All this to say Marcia's home is warm, inviting, casual. As is Marcia. Initially, Alvin and I were a little hesitant about how to approach her. Our first instinct was to do it delicately. That seemed appropriate for an interview with a grieving mother. But pretty soon I realized that Marcia chased at that kind of thing.

[Marsha Fulton]

I was sitting in the bank the other day, and a woman sat across from me, and she goes, you're Mrs. Wheatley, aren't you? Yeah. I said, we're so sorry for your loss. Thank you. You know, but I have, to this day, I have people still coming up and telling me that this has been 37 years.

[Maurice Shama]

It's not that Marsha doesn't feel the loss. Of course she does. Acutely. Desi's murder defines her, even if that's sometimes hard to put into words.

[Marsha Fulton]

When it's your spouse, you're either a widow or widower. If you don't have parents, you're an orphan. But when the parent lose the child, there's no name for that. No name for that. And it's like you are lost.

[Maurice Shama]

Marsha's grief is enormous, but it's not sentimental. She doesn't shy away from the hard stuff. She's too much of a brass tacks type of person for that. So here we are to talk about the murder of her daughter and the execution of David Wood. We get down to brass tacks. Back in 1987, Marcia Fulton, who was Marsha Wheatley at the time, was divorced and raising her two teenage daughters in El Paso. Desi was the younger one, a real spitfire, according to Marsha. Her middle school friends would later describe her as the life of the party and a bit of a risk taker. Chatting up strangers, occasionally even hitchhiking. On the last day of 8th grade, Desi stayed out to celebrate. When Marsha got home from her work shift, it was after midnight and Desi hadn't come home. So she drove around looking for her, and when she couldn't find her, she called the police.

[Marsha Fulton]

And they were going like, look, we're up to here now with teenagers. It's last day of school, we're getting all these calls. So they sent somebody over, but then he called it in as a runaway. And he says, well, we're just gonna wait and see what happens. And I says, well, what if she doesn't come home? And he says, well, we'll figure that out. When the Time comes and I says, one, when you find her body. I don't know why I said that. Cause I had. You know, that was just my first thought out of my head. And he goes, no, no, Mrs. Wheatley, it's not gonna come to that. Famous last words. Anyway, it took him months to find the body.

[Maurice Shama]

Desi's remains were found in a shallow grave in a patch of desert, covered in brush and trash. Marsha knew it was her daughter, in part because police found her T shirt where other 8th graders had signed their names. On the last day of school. Two weeks after Desi's remains were found, Marsha held a funeral.

[Marsha Fulton]

At the funeral, I was sat there and, you know, got up after it was over and patted the casket that Desi was in. And I said, don't worry, sweetie. I'll find out who did this, and he's gonna pay. And that was my promise to her.

[Maurice Shama]

Marsha has been determined to keep her promise to Desi. She hounded El Paso PD to solve the desert murders. At first, police treated the victims as runaways, unconnected to each other. But Detective Johnny Guerrero told us that it was Marsha who pushed them to see the connections. It was Marsha who told them to interview kids at Desi's middle school, which eventually led them to David Wood. I tell Marsha that it's possible that if not for her, this case would never have been solved. Marsha bats this idea away. She says she was just persistent. In any case, she did turn out to be crucial in key decisions about David Wood's punishment. Marsha wanted the death penalty, but The El Paso DA's office was struggling to get him on all six murders. One day, Marsha says, she got a call from the District Attorney of El Paso himself, a guy named Steve Simmons. He asked Marsha to come to his office.

[Marsha Fulton]

I said, okay. So I went in.

[SoFi Spokesperson]

Maybe.

[Marsha Fulton]

I'm thinking he's got some information, some news, something. And Steve Simmons kept saying, look, why don't we go after him just for Desi? Cause we've got evidence on him for that.

[Maurice Shama]

Remember the orange fibers police found at David Wood's apartment? They'd found similar looking fibers near Desi's body, too. It was the only physical evidence that tied David Wood to any of the crime scenes. And it linked him directly to Marsha's daughter.

[Marsha Fulton]

He says, we've got something to get him for her murder. So he says, well, look, think about it, and we'll go after him and we'll get him for Desi. So I get back in my car, and I'm driving home, and I get halfway home, and, man, I start getting mad Because I knew that we would not get death penalty for one murder, but six. And I called him back when I got home, and I said, no. And I said, you know, and I know whoever killed desi killed those other five girls. I said, do your job, Period. I could be a real bitch when I want to be, But I had rights. That's what I figured. I had a right to do what I wanted to do.

[Maurice Shama]

Meanwhile, marsha kept advocating, not just for her rights, but for the rights of all crime victims and their families. For a time, she ran the el paso chapter Of a national group called parents of murdered children. This was the heyday of the victims rights movement, which fought for family members to get on the stand at trials and give victim impact statements and even to witness executions. That last part is important to marsha because ever since David wood was convicted, Marsha has planned to be there when he's put to death. Marsha admits she was naive back then. She thought the execution would happen a year after David wood got his death sentence, Maybe a year and a half. Instead, she waited. She waited as david wood lost appeal after appeal. Five years go by. Ten years. After 17 years, an execution is finally scheduled. It's 2009. Marsha flies out to witness it, Only to get a call the night before saying it was called off. Apparently, there's this new lawyer, Greg werchuck, Arguing david wood has an intellectual disability. Marsha finds this absurd, and the courts ultimately reject this appeal. But it takes them five years to rule on it. Just enough time for a whole new round of litigation about DNA testing that takes another decade. All the while, Marsha waits. There's something almost methodical about her patients.

[Marsha Fulton]

Every once in a while, I get a little frustrated, and I go, nope, nope. Cause my thought is, you know, he took my daughter, okay, but he's not gonna take me. I refuse. I mean, I know some people would curl up in a corner and not wanna get up. I went no corner.

[Maurice Shama]

In the course of her long wait, Marsha lost others. Her husband died, and then her older daughter died, too. Even for someone like marsha, someone who does not wear her grief loudly, there are limits.

[Marsha Fulton]

I mean, I don't carry it with me, but it's there. I know it's there. I'm not trying to kid myself, but, yeah, I promised her I would find out who did it. He will pay for it, and I'm going to make sure he does.

[Naomi Fenwick]

Are you Taking the lead or am I taking the lead?

[Jeremy]

It might be better if you take the lead and I can pipe in as needed.

[Alvin Melith]

The day after Maurice and I interviewed Marsha, we watch as Greg and Naomi prep their own approach with her. Habeas lawyers don't always approach victims, family members. Naomi, for example, seven years on the job, had never done it before. But the lawyers were uniquely aware of Marsha's power in this case. The way she became the public face of the prosecution. It would be a big coup for them to recruit her to their side. But it seems like Naomi and Greg are starting with some of the same off target assumptions that we had.

[Maurice Shama]

Is there a particular reason why you'd rather her take the lead?

[Jeremy]

From what I've seen of Naomi, she's very empathetic. I'm not saying I'm not, but I think Naomi is.

[Alvin Melith]

Naomi's covering her face with a notebook. Over lunch, there was more talk about empathy and trauma, A lot of direction about using soft tones and centering Marsha's loss, even as they tried to gently redirect who she blamed for it all. To say, I think the lawyers were outlining an entirely reasonable approach for a woman not named Marsha Fulton. Not that Maurice and I would tell them that ethically, we wouldn't share any meaningful information about Marsha with the defense team. Marsha suspected that the lawyers might try and talk to her at some point. And if that did happen, she said it'd be okay for us to tag along and record with the defense team. We shared some little details about Marsha's many lawn gnomes and the baby squirrel she was nursing back to health. But telling the lawyers what we learned about Marsha and what we made of her, anything that might help them with their pitch, that was all clearly outside of our job description. So I kept out my poker face while the lawyers detailed their plan, which, like all of their interviews, involved no warning or calling ahead. And I know they probably don't give out Pulitzers for stuff like this, but I gotta say, I was a picture of neutrality when I got into Naomi's rental car and realized they had absolutely no idea where Marcia lived.

[Naomi Fenwick]

So the address we have that's coming up, it's leading kind of to nowhere.

[Alvin Melith]

I wasn't going to help them with that either.

[Naomi Fenwick]

What do you want to do?

[Jeremy]

We could ask generally the address. And if Elvin blinks once, that's the correct address. If he blinks twice, it's not the correct address.

[Alvin Melith]

They drive across town 20 minutes to one. Wrong address and then turn around and drive 30 minutes to another.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, you can just tell us. Are we getting warmer or colder? Okay.

[Alvin Melith]

I think it was about an hour into this car ride when I started to wonder if maybe I'd taken this all a little too far. If maybe my journalistic ethics were about to get me forcibly ejected from the backseat of a moving vehicle.

[Jeremy]

It was a gnome back there. Did you see that? Yeah. I don't know if there were excessive numbers. I did see one.

[Alvin Melith]

About an hour and a half after embarking on the 20 minute drive from the hotel to Marsha's house, the lawyers finally found her. And in general, Marsha is totally unfazed. Like she's been waiting for them to arrive. She ushers us into the same seats in the living room that Maurice and I sat at less than 24 hours ago and starts the proceedings.

[Marsha Fulton]

What can I help you with today? Or what do you need to.

[Eddie Barton]

Well,

[Jeremy]

what we were wanting to do is just kind of tell you what we've discovered over the last year or so.

[Marsha Fulton]

37 years.

[Jeremy]

37 years. Haven't been involved in the case that long.

[Marsha Fulton]

I have, but. Yeah, go ahead.

[Jeremy]

Go ahead.

[Naomi Fenwick]

No, so my office, the Federal Public Defender's Office, was appointed just a few months ago. In the case.

[Alvin Melith]

The lawyers start making their pitch to her. All the things they think might be most likely to get Marcia to rethink her certainty about David Wood's guilt. They talk about the unknown DNA found on a piece of victim's clothing and how the state wouldn't agree to more testing. They lay out the information they've gathered on Randy Wells. They even personalize a little bit, go deep on the orange fibers found at Desi's crime scene and at David woods apartment.

[Jeremy]

We think there's a strong possibility that the police took fibers and spread them out where Desi's body was found. And

[Alvin Melith]

Marsha isn't offended by the lawyer's theories. Or at least she doesn't show that on her face. What I see more is genuine skepticism. She brings up the things she's heard or seen over the years that painted David Wood as guilty in her mind. Didn't the girls in El Paso start disappearing right after he got out of prison? Hadn't they already tested hundreds of pieces of evidence? And what about one of Desi's girlfriends who testified that the last time she saw Desi, she was getting into a truck that looked just like the one David Wood drove around?

[Marsha Fulton]

So, you know, these things I hear from different people is what makes my radar Just go, beep, beep, beep, beep. You know, and the fact that the last time her girlfriend saw her, she was getting in his truck and no one seen her after. So those are things in my mind that just. I just can't let go and say, I don't think so.

[Naomi Fenwick]

You know, I'm not trying to. You know.

[Marsha Fulton]

I know. Go ahead, dear.

[Naomi Fenwick]

Someone did take your daughter.

[Marsha Fulton]

Yes.

[Naomi Fenwick]

And, you know, her friend saw her get in a pickup truck. What we do know now is that, you know, they had the name of at least one other person who had a truck who matched the same description and who came up in the El Paso PD's investigation.

[Marsha Fulton]

What was his name?

[Jeremy]

Well, his. We. We could tell you. His name is Michael Plyler. Now, I don't know if he's suspect or not, but the police certainly thought he was because he had the exact same type of truck, a Nissan pickup truck. And he kind of looked like David Wood. Tall, skinny guy, kind of longer hair. So somebody that potentially looked like they

[Marsha Fulton]

would have more than one suspect that they wouldn't just single single out one person. So I'm hoping that when they found, the one person they couldn't dispute would be the one that they would charge. And I know some of it's circumstantial, but how much does circumstantial build up before it becomes real?

[Alvin Melith]

For a defense case built on the idea that the El Paso Police Department had tunnel vision for David Wood, that they singled him out as a suspect, this would have seemed like the perfect opening for the lawyers, but it's not something they pushed back on. In fact, a lot of the things Marsha brought up in this conversation, the lawyers did have rebuttals for them. They were sometimes complicated and hard to boil down, but I'd heard them deploy them before, so it was interesting to watch them take a more passive approach. Here, they mostly just politely listened and only occasionally reached for a correction. And when they did, it was very, very gingerly. I totally got where the lawyers were coming from. I was literally there the day before. But the particulars of Marsha made the whole thing feel kind of jarring. She seemed like she was ready to have it out, and the lawyers seemed too worried about offending her to meet her where she actually was. In the moment. Though, sitting in Marsha's living room, it's hard to say if there was a perfect approach to this. Marcia said more than once that she was 100% sure they'd gotten the right guy. But we were also more than an Hour in and everyone was still talking. So that was something.

[Naomi Fenwick]

Well, we've shared a lot of information, but I wanted to ask if you have any questions for us or anything you would like us to know about.

[Marsha Fulton]

I guess maybe my only question, and it's probably not the proper thing to ask, is, No, I don't think I'm going to ask it. I'm sorry. Well, yeah, I want to ask why you feel compelled to help him or. Or whatever, you know, or to represent him. That always makes me wonder. Not about your intentions, but, you know, what makes you just like it makes me feel that I know he's guilty. What is it in you that makes him feel he might not be?

[Jeremy]

Well, a lot of the things that we've talked about today, I mean, for me, the DNA has always been extremely powerful evidence. And if you've got 150 items and only three have been tested and one of those three excluded him, then let's test the other 147 before we carry out this execution. And that's what's been frustrating for me personally as I've been working on this case and learning more about it. And that's what's motivating me to come and talk to you today. And let me ask you, what's your reaction to that?

[Marsha Fulton]

Well, I understand that from your view. I do. Because, yeah, again, from my view, I. I would be the same way. You want to make sure. You don't want to just put somebody to death just for the heck of it, you know. No, that doesn't help me. I don't want a person. I want the person. So, you know, I got that.

[Alvin Melith]

After the interview, the lawyers parked nearby to debrief. They weren't exactly convinced that Marsha had a change of heart. But they detected what I thought I witnessed, too. A tiny seed of doubt. A little crack in Marsha's certainty that wasn't there before. Though it's a little unclear what that's worth at the end of the day. Back in 2009, when David Wood was first scheduled for an execution, Marsha says the prosecutors reached out that she used money from the victims compensation fund for a flight and a hotel. This time around, nobody from the prosecution even bothered to notify her. She only learned about the new execution date 3 weeks ago from a local reporter. There was even a surreal moment in the interview when Marsha asked Naomi and Greg if they could help her navigate the bureaucracy to witness their client's execution. Regardless of how central a role Marsha played in putting David Wood on death row. It wasn't altogether clear how she fit into the picture now, whether turning her to their side would have made much of a difference. It was entirely possible that the lawyers put in all that time and effort just to leave Marsha with a nagging feeling that maybe she'd be helping to send an innocent man to death, even though she might be powerless to do anything about it. Now, it's hard to feel good about that as an outcome, but I'm struggling to think of what the lawyers should have done differently. Greg and Naomi had to try, because maybe if they didn't, they'd be the ones left with the nagging feeling that they stopped just short of doing everything in their power to save their client's life. It's hard to feel good about that as an outcome either.

[Maurice Shama]

On February 21, just under three weeks from David Wood's execution date, it's pencils down for the defense team. Time for them to show their work. They file what's called a subsequent application for writ of habeas corpus. This application will go to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest court in the state for criminal cases. Nine judges, all Republican, all pretty unfriendly to death row claims. The success rate for these kinds of filings in Texas is pretty daunting, less than 6%. Greg is not embracing the virtues of brevity here. He's delivering a monster. 371 pages with more than 100 exhibits. You've heard all the strongest stuff, and so you know, these pages contain no smoking guns, no confession from another suspect, no direct evidence of police corruption. Just lots and lots of small problems with the case coupled with big claims from people like George hall and Ramona Desmukes, who both say star witnesses at the trial were lying, but also can't prove it. This application is their best and probably last chance to convince the court to stay David Wood's execution. A stay is the best the lawyers can hope for here. For the court to say, hold up, there's something potentially wrong here. Let's send the case to a lower court to dig deeper. It's highly unlikely this court will simply declare David Wood innocent. But a stay is still big. It means David Wood gets to live, and then his team can spend months or even years continuing to make the case for his innocence. The lawyers don't know when they'll get a decision. Could be close to the wire and could set off a bunch more frantic litigation in the final hours. In the meantime, we just have to wait. And Alvin and I finally have time to meet the man this is all about. Next time on the last 12 weeks David Wood. The last 12 weeks is written and reported by me, Maurice Shama and Alvin Melith. Alvin produced the series. Jen Guerra edited the series along with Anita Batijo. Julie Snyder is the executive editor for Serial Productions. Additional editing from Akiba Solomon. Fact checking and research by Ben Phelan. Music supervision by Jen Guerra and Phoebe Wang with mixing by Phoebe Wang. Additional mixing by Katherine Anderson. Tracking direction from Sean Cole. Our associate producer is Mac Miller. Additional production by Anita Badajo. There's a lot about the death penalty that we couldn't fit into this show. Stories from Capitol defense lawyers. A fascinating look at the data behind executions. You can find all of that in our newsletter. Sign up for it at nytimes.com serialnewsletter. Original music for this series by Adam Dorn, aka Motion Worker, Matthias Bassi and John Evans of Stellwagen Symphonet. Additional music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano. Adam Dorn, AKA Motion Worker, composed our theme song. Video production by Sean Devaney. Our Standards editor is Susan Wessling. Legal review from Alamin Sumar and Jackson Bush. The art for our show comes from Pablo Delkhan. Sam Dolnick is Deputy Managing Editor of the New York Times. Special thanks to Michael Ona, Susan C. Beachy, Gillian Campbell and Justina Garbachevska. Scalpone the last 12 weeks is a production of Serial Productions, the Marshall Project and the New York Times.

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