Ep 285: The Wrong Man: The Ray McCann Story (Part 1)
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A few days after Halloween on a chilly afternoon in 2007, 11-year-old Jodi Parrick got on a silver bike in southwest Michigan and rode to a friend's house less than half a mile away. She never returned home for dinner. According to reports, her mom thought Jodi might have joined a friend at an evening Girl Scouts meeting without telling her.

But when it became clear that she hadn't gone to Girl Scouts, Jodi's mom reported her missing. The search began in Constantine, Michigan, a quiet, blue-collar working farm town. The following audio is from an interview the police conducted with Jodi's mom, and you'll hear this throughout the episode. I went back home and I told my husband that I didn't know where she was and I was going to go look for her. So then I started...

driving around looking for her because I'm thinking she's not going for a bike ride. So I'm like driving around the blocks, seeing if I can see her riding her bike somewhere. And I end up driving where I know she wouldn't even go. And I'm like, she's not nowhere. And I'm driving by houses looking for her bike, like in the yard or something. And then I went to the police station because I couldn't find her.

The officers asked her about a man named Ray McCann. Ray McCann, a married father, was a volunteer reserve police officer in the Constantine Police Department. As a reserve police officer, Ray patrolled around town and provided security for local parades and festivals. He would later say that being a reserve was the same as being a full-time regular officer. You just followed the chain of command, which meant that full-time officers were his superiors.

Ray wore a uniform and carried a gun, just like any other officer on the force, in a town where violent crime was rare. Lately, though, he had been on leave because he had been dealing with vertigo that was so dizzying it landed him in the hospital. For his day job, Ray worked at a company building mobile homes, but he had always wanted to be in law enforcement. Most people in the town of only 2,000 knew who Ray McCann was. He had lived there all of his life.

His dad was a longtime coach who built the original baseball diamond in town and was the first sanctioned Little League president in Constantine. Sports ran deep in the McCann family. The town of Constantine had rooted for Ray, who was a sports star in high school. Ray was an all-conference high school football player and went to state for wrestling.

Now in his 40s, Ray coached kids in baseball, football, and wrestling, earning the reputation of coach. At home, Ray lived with his wife, stepson, and son. Ray and Jody's mom knew each other. She had once dated Ray's brother and was friends with Ray's sister, according to the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Jodi was good pals with Ray's niece, and Jodi also reportedly had an elementary school crush on Ray's son. On November 8, 2007, Jodi's mom was growing more worried. She stopped by Ray's house to see if Jodi was there around 7.45 p.m. When she got there, Ray was in his pajamas.

Ray promised to help her look for Jodi. First, though, he got permission from Constantine police officer Marcus Donker, since Ray had been on medical leave. Ray then got dressed. Wearing his police hat and police jacket with his personal gun strapped to his side, he went out to search. But there was no sign of Jodi or her bike anywhere. She wasn't at the park, at any friends' houses, at the river, playgrounds, schools.

Ray was checking the grocery store when he noticed an abandoned bike there. He talked to a store employee about checking behind the store for Jody. He kept driving around. At one point, he ran into Officer Donker, who asked if he had his gun on him. Ray lied and said it was in his car, but the question surprised him. Why wouldn't a reserve police officer have a gun on him?

But since Ray was getting involved in police work again while he was technically out on leave, he felt like the situation was delicate. And so he decided to leave his gun underneath his seat in his car going forward. The search efforts got bigger the darker it got outside. More people joined, driving around town and using flashlights in the dark. Ray encountered Jody's mom again. He noticed there was a blonde girl in the back of the car.

Oh good, you found her, he said. But it was just a neighbor girl. Jodi was still missing. Ray kept looking. During the search, Ray and Officer Donker talked on the phone and agreed to meet up at the Tumble Dam. The Tumble Dam, an area of significance in this story, was a ruined dam on the Kalamazoo River that was a popular hangout for kids to swim and ride their bikes around on the nearby path.

Ray drove out to the tumble dam around 9 p.m., but Officer Donker wasn't there yet. He decided to just wait out in his car. The mood in the air was chaotic. Jody had been gone for hours now. So after waiting there a few minutes, Ray left the tumble dam and went back to the Constantine Police Department. Officer Donker was there, and they reconnected.

It was Ray's idea to search the sprawling cemetery in town, even though Jodi was scared of the dark. She avoided the graveyard when the other kids cut through as a shortcut, Jodi's mom later told police. Would it be a normal path for Jodi or any of your children to come through the cemetery? No, she don't. She's scared of cemeteries. She didn't like living by it. This is from Ray's initial interview with police. I said, okay, let's go check the cemetery.

Why did you say that? Because we checked everywhere else. It's hard to search a cemetery by yourself. It's not like an open field where you can see all around you. Even with a flashlight or under the moonlight, the tombstones create shadows. And so the search group ventured out to the cemetery, Jodi's mom and Ray among them. It was around 10.30 p.m. at this point.

Jody's mom saw the reflection from the lights from Jody's bike first. The bike was propped up against a headstone. Then there was Jody's black sweater, illuminated by the flashlights in the dark. She then saw her daughter's body under an oak tree. Ray heard the screams as he reached her, arriving in time to see Jody's mom holding Jody's body.

Jodi's mom later described the worst night of her life. She said she thought maybe Jodi was just hurt at first and couldn't get up, but she didn't move. And that's when she knew her daughter was dead. I'm sorry about some questions that I may have to ask you, okay? You gotta ask me. I don't even like to sometimes, but you gotta ask me anyway, okay? What do you think should happen to somebody that did this to Jodi? What would you want to happen to them?

You can be painfully honest with me. I honestly can't answer that question because I don't know the circumstances. I mean, if it was an accident, then that's fine. If somebody did it on purpose, then that's different. Do you think it was an accident? I want to believe it was. Ray led Jodi's mom away from the scene and gave her a hug.

Jodi's mom later said she didn't remember Ray hugging her. He helped tape off the cemetery. He later said he was in shock by what had just happened. The mystery of who murdered Jodi Parrick lasted a decade in the small town of Constantine, Michigan. And the story ends in a courtroom with a trial. But it's not the kind of trial you might expect.

This story has so many twists and turns that today's episode is part one of three. This is Jillian in partnership with Law & Crime. You are listening to Court Junkie, episode 285, part one. You know that old saying that money doesn't grow on trees?

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The last day of Jodi Perrick's life wasn't just another Thursday. For a fifth grader who was starting to grow up, there were pivotal moments happening in her world. After school, Jodi asked Ray's son, whom she had a crush on, if he would be her boyfriend. He turned her down. And then there was a friend who Jodi had a falling out with. She stopped on her bicycle to apologize, and the two friends made up.

But no one had anything bad to say about Jodi in police interviews. She was just lovable, outgoing, smart, and cheerful. Blonde-haired, grinning Jodi was a good student and a leader in class. She was popular. She was nice to everyone and everyone was nice to her, one kid recounted.

With her friends, she liked to sing and dance. She was giggly. She went to youth group. She was known for riding her bike around town. She was into art. Her mother, Jo Carver, told police, She was always happy. Everybody liked her. She did good in school. She loved animals.

By all accounts, Jodi was loved by her mother and brothers who protected her, even if they sometimes picked on her like siblings do.

The men in her life, her father and her stepfather, appeared to be less positive influences, according to details gleaned in nearly 3,000 heavily redacted pages of police reports. In media interviews, Jodi's mom, Jo Carver, often described her daughter as both a princess and a tomboy, the girl who wanted to be a cheerleader but was dominant at basketball.

Jodi liked to dress up and look pretty, but she was just as likely to play football with her two older brothers. Jodi was still a kid, but she was growing up, too. She straightened her curly hair and became interested in boys. She even wrote one boy a love song. She told people she wanted to be a cosmetologist when she grew up. Jo was convinced her daughter knew her killer.

She was tough and I know if she had a chance she fought back. She was tough. Tell me about that. Tell me about her being tough. Well, she's got two older brothers and I never let her go anywhere. So she always said, you never let me go anywhere. They get to go places. And like they're older than you. So their friends would always be at our house. So she was like, always had boys to fight with.

And they'd be wrestling and playing football and she wanted to play football. She's like, "No, I want to get on the football team." I'm like, "No." So I've seen her get mad at her brothers. She likes to scratch and pinch with her fingernails and pull hair. She'll kick you, whatever, when she's mad.

I mean, she didn't do it very often, but I know if she had a chance to fight back, I know she did. Joe described how everything around her got lost after she found Jodi dead in the cemetery. The police report said, when the paramedics instructed her to put Jodi down because they were trying to shock her, she was still touching her leg. She did not want to stop touching her. She was instructed to get behind the police tape.

It wasn't until this instruction that she even knew that the police tape existed. It wasn't until this point that she even noticed that an ambulance was there. She didn't know at that time who had called 911.

Investigators looked for clues in the physical evidence. You are aware that there's numerous and numerous amounts of investigators out there right now, right? You know that the FBI is out there, the state police, us, the county, the detectives, we want to find whoever did this or find out what actually happened. You know that, don't you? Okay.

Perhaps the most important clue was male DNA found on Jodi's body and clothes. The crime was sexual in nature. Her shirt and bra were found lifted up, and there was unknown male DNA on her breast and from blood on her sweater collar. Constantine was far from the beach, and it was fall in Michigan. You wouldn't want to go barefoot this time of year.

But strangely, Jodi, who was found fully clothed and wearing her shoes and socks, had sand between all ten of her toes and in both of her shoes. What appeared to be a tire impression and a shoe impression were left in the dirt near Jodi's body. But in all the chaos, a police officer stepped on the tire mark. What was left of it was photographed for evidence.

Investigators had several theories guiding them during their investigation. Jodi must have known her killer. She hadn't died in the cemetery, but had been dumped there to be found, and she had been restrained by handcuffs during her abduction. 1,400 tips poured in from the community as residents were on edge. 150 men and boys' DNA was taken in order to look for a match.

Kids stopped cutting through the cemetery as a shortcut. There were young people too emotionally devastated to go to school. One kid reportedly broke down and cried in the school bus. And in a small town, everyone seemed to be talking. Some blame Jodi's death on a game that kids play, where they tie each other up or handcuff each other and then choke each other out until they pass out.

The person who reported this tip had never actually seen any kids play this. It appeared to just be a rumor. Some people thought one of Jodi's family members had something to do with it. In heavily redacted police records, some raised suspicion about Jodi's stepfather, who was called a hothead, and her biological father, who had been in prison most of Jodi's life.

Rumors spread that she had been killed over drug money owed by one of the adults in her life. If somebody did accidentally do this and you knew something about this, would you come forth and tell us if it was an accident? Yeah. Even if it's someone that you know? If I knew and it was an accident and I knew before any of you guys even knew or whatever, I'd be in jail right now. If somebody told me they did it,

No. Do you suspect anything from anybody? No. You don't have any inklings at all? No. You know what I mean by that, right? Yeah. Slateous twinge didn't make you think somebody did it. Not even a slateous twinge. You ever had a problem with anybody that's in your argument? No. Does anybody... Does you owe anybody money?

From whether it's a living debt, whether, I don't even care if it's a drug debt of, who knows. If he has any drug debts, I don't know about it. Has he had drug debts in the past? When he was doing Crank, he probably did. Do you know about him?

I know one time we were at the gas station and this lady said something to him that he owed her 30 bucks or something. And I'm like, who's that? And he said it was from when he was doing crank. So I don't think if he owes anybody any money, I don't think that would be enough to kill somebody for. I mean, I know I don't.

The police reports hinted at family drama, since Jodi, who by all accounts was a happy kid, came from a broken home and had moved around a lot growing up. Her family had sometimes struggled to make ends meet. Joe said they were behind on their rent. Some pointed to a friend's home, where earlier that day Jodi had been playing. The friend's dad eventually went to jail four years after Jodi's death for a sexual crime against another child.

Could he have done something to Jody back in 2007 too? A jailhouse informant claimed he had heard his cellmate admit to killing Jody. Police later said they had to sift through the false confessions. Others blamed the Mexican mafia. Something frightening had happened to Jody right before she died. Somebody wrote the word bitch in pink highlighter on her bedroom wall. More on that later.

A kid in her school was a bully and also reportedly killed small animals. Could it have been another child who hurt Jodi? A white van driving by the cemetery could hold clues, others believed. And so could a burgundy pickup truck seen driving in the graveyard. Some people in town paid attention to who was crying and who had dry eyes at Jodi's funeral.

Gossip and rumors and fear circulated around Constantine and beyond. Jody's murder was making national news. Investigators asked Jo questions to see if anyone in Jody's life had raised any red flags for her.

How about Jodi? Did she ever use the internet much? I know you don't have one here. Not that I know of. I don't think she's ever been on the internet. She never talked to you about it? Maybe at school? Or at school? They have computers at school, but I don't know.

Do you guys have any handcuffs by any chance? No. Do you know of anybody that may? Obviously you know police have handcuffs, but there's a lot of other people that have them for various reasons. Whether they're toys, whether they're involved in their personal issues, I don't know. But it's a question that we ask. I don't know anybody that has them. If they do, I don't know that they do.

Jody's dad reportedly became extremely emotional and couldn't speak when he met with police. Soon, everyone in Jody's family was cleared as suspects. As the investigation continued, police slowly released information to the public. Jody's official cause of death, suffocation.

There was one person who seemed to catch the suspicion of the Constantine police pretty early on. Ray McCann, the reserve police officer who had encouraged Jody's mom and others to search the cemetery. There just seems to be something that you're holding back. And whether you did it or not, I really have a feeling you know more than what you're telling us. If you're protecting somebody. No, I wouldn't protect my own family. I would not do it.

Ray was cooperative. He had nothing to hide and hadn't done anything wrong, he said. He let police take the handcuffs he owned and the clothes he wore to be tested. He spoke with them without an attorney present. Did they take your DNA that night? No, they took it shortly after that, I guess. Mine and my son's up at the state police.

Authorities collected DNA from adults and kids who were Jodi's age. They checked sex offenders, like the father of Jodi's friend she had visited the day she disappeared. There were no hits. No one they checked matched the DNA that had been found on Jodi. Everyone they investigated was cleared, including Ray McCann. The case went cold. Time passed.

On the one-year anniversary of Jody's death, people lit candles at a vigil, something they continued to do as each year passed. The officers in town didn't forget Jody. They attended the vigils too, and the police chief reportedly kept a photo of her on his desk. But still, no one was arrested for Jody's murder.

On January 3rd, 2011, Jodi's case, now a cold case, was turned over to a team from the Michigan State Police to the agency's 5th District Headquarters in Pawpaw, Michigan. To the outside world, it seemed inevitable that her murder would eventually be solved. The Constantine Police Chief spoke with confidence that they would find the killer when the chief was interviewed by local media.

The cold case team's sole purpose was to solve this particular murder, and the lead detective was a man named Brian Fuller. Detective Fuller and the Michigan State Police started working the case full-time. The team pored over the case files. There were binders containing tens of thousands of pages full of leads that hadn't turned out, and hundreds of tips and physical evidence.

The investigators also had multiple DVDs of witnesses and suspects to review and a recreated cemetery. They interviewed the original police officers from 2007 and met with Jody's mom. They sent copies to then St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough. New flyers asking for tips were printed out and put up around town by businesses and schools.

With fresh eyes and an intense focus, the Michigan State Police found some things that had been overlooked, like cross-referencing a fingerprint that had been found on Jodi's bike or trying to obtain another DNA profile that may have been on Jodi's shoes. According to the Michigan State Police report,

It was determined that the shoelaces on the shoes were tied, but crooked, as if they were tied from the side and not over the top, like usual. This, in addition to sand-like substance located on the victim's feet, required us to attempt to obtain any DNA evidence from the victim's shoes or socks. The cold case team also found experts which gave them new insight. One old theory was debunked.

Jodi's wrists hadn't been bound by handcuffs, a pathologist from out of state told them. Her injuries from the autopsy pictures looked like they were from zip ties. The cold case team re-interviewed witnesses and talked to others for the first time. In almost all cases, their names were redacted in the reports. The investigators were careful about who they talked to and when. They didn't want to tip off their main suspect.

We wanted to make it a priority to get the cold case team down from the state police so we could try and figure it out because it was a big deal in our community. That's former St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough, who spoke with court junkie writer Gabrielle Rusin in an interview about the cold case team. Certainly right off the bat, there were persons of interest, but they collected hundreds of DNA samples and

talked to so many different people. And this is, I'm speaking from 2009 and on when the cold case team took her over because that's when I really started getting extremely involved in the case. I talked to them, if not daily, you know, two or three times a week. I talked to them a lot and we were running things past one another. And, you know, honestly, we were

trying to get things figured out. What was the hardest part in the police investigation? The toughest thing was forever we didn't have a DNA. We had DNA from her body, but we couldn't match it to anyone. And there were some suspects that just wouldn't go away. Tell me more about that. Was Ray a suspect early on? And who were some other possible suspects that

I know the investigators were talking to people that were incarcerated or looking at Jodi's stepfather and father. I mean, who were some of the suspects that didn't keep going away? I don't know if you could talk about that. Any family members? Any, you know, I hate to say it, like young kids who had involvement with her. We did look at her dad and stepdad.

We even looked at our mom. Then, you know, there was Ray. And, you know, Ray just kept doing things that were very out of the ordinary. And that's what kind of kept our attention with him. The team created a timeline of November 8th, 2007, the day Jodi was killed. She had gotten home from school at 3.15 and then went to visit a friend.

One woman whose niece knew Jodi and whose husband was friends with Ray McCann remembered seeing a platinum blonde-haired girl riding her bike sometime between 4.45 and 5.30 p.m. The girl was going east and was alone. She rode fast. The woman recalled sitting on her couch and watching the girl riding outside from her front window.

The girl seemed like she was late and was going to be in trouble. She looked like she was riding a boy's bike. The woman forgot all about the girl until she saw Jodi's picture on the news. Without a doubt, she knew it was Jodi she had seen. By 6 p.m., the temperatures dropped to the 40s. Jodi's death was estimated to have occurred around 6.30. By 7.30, Jodi's mom reported her missing.

At 8.08, Jodi's mom stopped at Ray's house looking for her. The cold case team interviewed a woman who lived on the west side of the cemetery. She said she once heard a fight there and that if somebody had screamed on the night of November 8, 2007, she would have heard it. But on the night Jodi was killed, the woman heard nothing suspicious. It was quiet.

She remembered seeing kids riding their bikes through the cemetery and cars driving by earlier in the day, but she couldn't pinpoint any specific details that amounted to much. But the fact that the woman didn't hear Jodi struggle or scream strengthened the investigator's suspicions that Jodi hadn't been killed at the cemetery. They believed she had been deliberately put there to be found.

Her body had been there for several hours and was showing signs of slight rigor. Police also believed the killer, who they suspected knew Jodi, was still living in Constantine. Because there was no DNA match, some of the officers suspected that the killer was a juvenile without a prior criminal record. Investigators also explored other incidents for any possible connection.

Like when a white man in his 20s pulled over next to a girl walking in her neighborhood and told her to get into the car. A neighbor yelled at him to go away and the driver fled. That happened in nearby Portage, Michigan, 30 miles north of Constantine.

In another incident, five months after Jody died, two people driving a gold minivan approached children in South Bend, Indiana. Again, not far from Constantine, almost 40 miles west. Could that be a connection to Jody? Years after Jody's death, the cold case team made a discovery that didn't find the killer, but it at least scratched one person off of their list of suspects.

The person who had scrawled bitch and pink letters in Jodi's room just before her death was not the killer. According to court and police records, it was a classmate who admitted to police that he had written that on her bedroom wall with hair coloring paste after he and Jodi had gotten into an argument over Halloween candy.

The classmate in question harbored that secret for years and didn't tell anyone what he did, reportedly feeling guilty and ashamed since Jody died days later. As for the people who were seen in a white van in the cemetery, it turned out it was a group of young people smoking cigarettes and trying to escape from their parents. One man interviewed by police insisted they had been there during the day, not at night.

The Michigan State Police cold case team soon completely narrowed in on a name that was not new to them, Ray McCann. You know, I believe that Ray brought everything on that happened. Former St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough explained why Ray's name kept coming up. The night it happened, you know, I was too unassuming at that point.

to really notice it, but he was acting strange that night. He acted overly emotional at the funeral. But then during the cold case investigation, he brought these toy guns up to the police and said that he remembered being at, I think, Dollar General and maybe seeing her there. This was after he'd been questioned and

You know, there was just weird stuff he did on some walkie talkies. And, you know, his DNA was not there. We knew that, but he just kept being some weird person of interest. And then, you know, the stuff when they were searching for Jody, he was the one that kept pointing them to the cemetery, them being the police. And that was very odd to everybody, too.

And these things, they were hard to shake. It just kept lingering with you, it sounds like, or lingering with the police investigators. Yeah, lingering with all of us. Leading up to this point, Ray had been polygraphed several times. According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, he either failed the polygraph or the results were inconclusive.

Investigators told Ray he was the only one who had failed. You need to be eliminated. I want to be eliminated. Because, you know, as you said, you're the only one that's like Pac. Yeah, what happens if I do again, you know? Like I told Lyle, I need to get a damn lawyer because I'm not going to jail. Well, do it then. Beat me up now. You know, I told him, I said, damn, I'm not going to jail for someone else's bullshit. Well,

Polygraph doesn't mean we take it to jail. Well, they beat me up or something. That's a nice thing to me. No, but seriously, you know, we have to... I know. We've got so many tips and so many people to, you know, it's a process of elimination. I know. My wife, I remember when I took the polygraph, my wife, she's in the other room talking to other officers, and they asked her, what's bothering him, you know? Yeah, it was...

There's two strange things going on with you in our eyes, and we have to get it straightened out. One person who knew Ray wasn't surprised that he did poorly on the polygraph test. They told police that Ray freaks out about everything. The unidentified person didn't think, not for a minute, that Ray was involved in Jody's death.

One of Ray's longtime school friends told police Ray was always a community guy. He had stepped up and was active with kids and with sports. He worked hard. Maybe he said off-the-wall comments sometimes, but he had a good sense of humor and was entertaining, the friend said. But other police officers, Jody's family, and even some of Ray's own relatives questioned his behavior and

from why he was in bed so early on the night of Jody's death to how he acted during the search and at Jody's funeral. There was speculation and gossip going around the small town. The cold case team obtained a search warrant to look at Ray's cell phone records, and they pulled his marriage and divorce records to learn more about his personal life.

They learned that when he joined a nearby town's police department reserves in 1998, he hadn't been issued handcuffs. The pair of handcuffs police confiscated from him after Jody's death had been a present from another officer and hung in Ray's front closet on his duty belt. On May 11, 2011, Michigan State Police interviewed Ordinance Officer Roger Stanfill at the Three Rivers Police Department.

Roger told them he was growing suspicious of Ray. The two men had met in Constantine, connecting over music. Ray worked for Roger's DJ business. When Roger described Ray, he didn't mince words. He said Ray was the jealous type and cited one incident where Ray's ex-girlfriend, whose name he could not recall, accused him of putting marijuana in her car, and then she got pulled over and caught with it.

According to the police report, Roger stated that he believed this happened while Ray was a reserve at White Pigeon PD and believes that the girlfriend was stopped by White Pigeon PD. Roger also said that a few months earlier, the normally upbeat Ray got drunk at an American Legion afterparty. He got sloshed, Roger said, and then started crying out of the blue. Again, from the police report,

Roger then said he thinks Ray knows more than what he's saying about the incident, and that is what has been bothering him. One thing that was disturbing to Roger was he had heard through hearsay information that Ray suggested two to three times that they should look in the cemetery. Roger said why would they go look in the cemetery if they knew Jody was afraid of graveyards? Roger stated that if he were there looking, he would probably look in the more obvious spots first.

So what had happened to Jody? Investigators encouraged Roger to speculate. Roger said he believed Jody's death was accidental. He brought up the rumor again of kids playing some kind of sex game or choking game.

but he also described how Ray changed after November 8, 2007. He used to be giddy and happy, but Ray was different after Jody died, according to Roger. Ray grew strange and distant. Roger said prior to this incident, if he were to see Ray somewhere, Ray would come up and talk with him. Roger said after this incident, he saw Ray at either Meijer or Walmart in Three Rivers,

Ray saw him but turned away and would not talk with him on purpose, which Roger thought was odd. Roger said Ray had also appeared to have aged a lot in his eyes as well as his face. Roger said Ray looks a lot older since this incident occurred.

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Jodi Parrick's mom, Jo Carver, fell on hard times, she told police in 2011. Her car broke down and she couldn't afford repairs, so she sold it. Without a car, it was hard to find work. She considered going back to school. Her marriage to Jodi's stepfather ended. What compounded her grief was that she could not hide from Ray McCann. Michigan State Police had told her that Ray was the one who was responsible for Jodi's death.

She ran into Ray by chance in the rural community, which wasn't hard to do. Here's journalist Ken Kolker of Wood TV 8, the NBC affiliate in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ray was living in another town in Walmarts outside of Constantine. I can't remember exactly. It's...

It's there's no Walmart right in Constantine, but it's outside of town. But it's one of it's one of those places that, you know, attracts people from all those little towns. So, you know, Joe Gilson happened to be there with her sister. And there's all of a sudden there's Ray McCann walking across right in front of him. Joe expressed her frustration over the years to the lead detective in the case, Detective Brian Fuller.

In his report, Detective Fuller wrote, she was tired of sitting around waiting for Ray McCann to be dealt with. She advised that his story had changed so many times since this investigation began. She states that she believes Ray McCann is the person who put Jody in the cemetery. She also would not doubt that she was killed at his house. Joe also described multiple incidents of Ray's suspicious behavior.

When Ray helped search for Jody, for example, she said she never saw him leave his truck. The cold case investigators didn't think that was true, since Ray had been reported by somebody else walking around a construction site with a flashlight. Also at the cemetery, she said Ray held a notepad and she noticed that his hands shook. Then at Jody's funeral, he cried like it was his own child who had died.

Another woman remembered seeing Ray break down in the cemetery when Jody's body was found. She told police she found his behavior suspicious. The only thing she perceived as odd was that Ray McCann was crying uncontrollably at the cemetery, Detective Fuller wrote. She knew that police were not heartless, but for him to be so emotional seemed out of the ordinary given his lack of connection to the situation.

She did learn that Ray McCann had informed somebody that the reason he was so upset was because he failed his mission. The day of the funeral, Ray McCann was so distraught, people had to hold him up. Ray said the same thing when he was interviewed by Michigan State Police. He said on the night Jody was murdered, he felt like he had failed as a reserve police officer protecting his hometown.

I watched the video from the cemetery when she was buried yesterday. You took that pretty hard. Yeah, I did. You took it harder than some of the members of the family. I find that weird. No, I just, it bothers me because basically we failed our mission, you know, we didn't find her. Then we didn't realize it was going to end up like it did, you know, and then this thing, that still haunts me.

I didn't see a doctor breaking down. I'm from this town. You're from the south? Town is town. So you think everybody there just bought us from this town and didn't see anybody breaking down like you did? We just bought that camp. It bothered me to the max. It still bothers you? Oh yeah, it does. I always think, you know, what if it was more of my kids, you know?

Over six and a half years, Ray was interviewed for 22 hours by Detective Fuller and others in law enforcement. Sometimes the interview was done at the police station, other times at Ray's home. Once, Detective Fuller brought a six-pack to Ray's apartment. Ray never had an attorney with him. I want this thing solved. It's been hell, Ray said during one March 11, 2011 interview.

Meanwhile, the suspicion was having quite a toll on his life. He and his wife were fighting. His friends stopped hanging out with him. His career in law enforcement was over. He also lost his coaching privileges. The town had turned on him.

It was terrible. You know, at the time, there was articles in the paper. It was like the whole town turned against me. I ended up losing all my coaching jobs. I worked from the school. You know, I wasn't allowed to do that no more. Worked with kids my whole life, you know, and it just came to a stop. And that was another thing that was hard to comprehend. My whole life was sports with kids.

And after all that happened, when they took it away from me, I didn't know what to do with myself anymore. You know, like I told everybody, I says, you know, I wasn't a prisoner. I was a hostage, you know, and what they did was completely wrong. Detective Fuller and Ray's conversation was documented in the police report. Detective Fuller asked him how he was dealing with everything, including losing his reserve police officer job.

Ray said he thought about it a lot. He said it hurt him more because he always wanted to be a police officer, and now he would probably never get the chance again. He said he thinks that's what hurts him the most. He said nobody from the police department apologized to him and that he wished he could return to work for the White Pigeon Police Department nearby. Quote, but with all this going on, he knows nobody is going to take him. Ray said it sucks.

Detective Fuller may have seemed like a sympathetic ear in the recordings, but he was not a friend offering support. He was investigating a murder. Detective Fuller wrote, I informed Ray McCann that when all of this shakes out, I was confident that maybe he would have a chance to pursue his aspirations of being an officer. It should be noted that this statement was made only to see what kind of response it would get from him.

McCann replied, After all of this, you really think so? I responded by saying, Well, when the real killer is arrested. And McCann replied, Yeah, but because of all the crap I went through and all the rumors, you think someone is going to hire me? McCann said he hoped so. It's his passion. About a month later, on April 19, 2011, Ray was interviewed again. Again, he was asked to describe what he did the day Jodi died.

Ray said he had been home all day. His kids came home from school around 3, and he took them to the dollar store to buy laser guns. The cold case investigators noted that Ray's son, when he was interviewed three years after the murder, hadn't mentioned going to the dollar store that day. But Ray's wife remembered them going. Ray went on. The kids came back and Ray chopped wood and made a fire in the fireplace and watched TV. His wife made dinner around 6.

Ray helped his son with homework after dinner. It was a normal evening until Jody's mom showed up, asking to speak with Ray's son, who went to the same school as Jody. Ray drove around searching for Jody that night. A bike caught his eye outside a food mart. He thought he might have alerted Officer Donker about it, but he wasn't sure.

Ray checked the dollar store, the baseball fields, the football fields. And then Officer Donker either called Ray or Ray called Officer Donker. Ray couldn't recall three years after the fact. But either way, Ray was supposed to meet him at the Tumble Dam Path to search for Jody. Ray said he went there, but Officer Donker didn't show up. He waited there for a few minutes and then called him and they decided to meet up at the police department instead.

Detective Fuller asked Ray, had he been in the cemetery before the time when Jody was found? Ray stated that he knows he and Donker drove by there to get gas. This did not happen, according to Donker, and will attempt to be confirmed through credit card transactions from the village of Constantine, Detective Fuller wrote in the police report.

Then, quote, McCann stopped his sentence and was silent for a considerable amount of time. I explained to McCann that it would be explainable for him to have been there earlier and could have just not located Jody. I explained to McCann that other people have admitted that same possibility. I told him if he did and feels bad about saying so, it would be okay. He said, I don't remember going through there. I don't think I went through there. I don't remember going through there. I really don't.

He was silent again. I asked him if he could be certain one way or another, and he responded by saying, I don't think I did. He then asked me if somebody thinks he dumped Jody there. I told him that had not been suggested. He said he does not remember if he went through there, referring to the cemetery, but does remember he and Donker driving over there by the gas station. Ray asked Detective Fuller in this interview if he was a suspect. Everyone is a suspect, Detective Fuller answered.

Ray's sister may have wondered if Ray may have been involved when she spoke to police. On a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being absolutely certain Ray was guilty, she rated her brother a 5 in her Michigan State Police interview. What stood out to her was how Ray insisted the search party visit the cemetery that night. Detective Fuller wrote in the police report,

She said, why do you keep on wanting to go to the graveyard? Finally, everyone was like, screw it. And we finally ended up going there. And hello, there's Jodi's body. Ray's sister thinks this is a little weird. She said it troubles her. With these things, it makes her wonder about her brother's involvement. She said it has wrecked her relationship with her brother. She has some thought that maybe he knows something and is afraid of someone, which is why he won't tell the truth.

Later, though, Ray's sister changed her mind. He didn't do it, she said. She said Ray thought he was being framed. Detective Fuller asked her who could be framing Ray. She said that she thinks the town because they can't find the real fucking killer. Ray's wife also faced this question from the cold case investigators. Had she ever questioned or doubted Ray?

She admitted that the police report she reviewed raised some concerns, according to the police report containing her interview. But she also believed he was innocent. According to the report, she told police, In all honesty, that is the only time I questioned him. He is not capable of this. There is no way. Another incident also drew the attention of Detective Fuller. It happened in October 2007, about a month before Jody's death.

A female lived with her parents. Her name and age are redacted in the police report. The daughter and the mother were playing around with the two-way radio about a month before Jodi's death. They picked up a man's signal, and the stranger started chatting. The man identified himself as Ray and said he liked blondes and wanted to meet the daughter. She said this man was very adamant about getting together. He was like, let's hook up right now, Detective Fuller wrote in his report.

The mother and daughter looked out the window and thought they saw the man circle around in his truck. Ray McCann happened to live in the neighborhood, Detective Fuller wrote. It terrified the mother so much she never used the walkie-talkies again. Police confronted Ray about this incident. So the day before, did you talk to any women on that? Well, I did talk to actually two people. I think one was somebody passing through town.

And the other one was some woman kind of flirting with me. You know, to me, you know, I thought, okay, I got to know who this is. And I told the person. Why did you have to know who it was? Because they asked who I was. I said, you probably know me, you know. I've coached in this town for over the years. And, you know, I thought it was someone playing with me. Did you try to find him? Did I try to find him?

I don't remember. You don't remember? I tried to find them. I mean how often do you talk to some woman on a walkie-talkie? Do you try to get set up with her or what? Did I try to get set up with her? No, but I remember trying to wonder who it was. I mean that's the best way. So you wondered who it was. What did you do to try to find out who it was? Did you ask her where she lived? I might have.

I remember at the time, I just felt like someone was messing with me, someone that knew me. So you don't remember if you drove around trying to fight her? Seems like I remember something. I might have. Unless I did. Yeah, you do it all the time? Do you do it all the time? No, I don't. You know, I remember going to the store. If I went and drove by...

I could have, I mean, you know, you know, God. So you meant that you might have tried to find this person? To see who it was, yeah, I might have. I mean, I might have drove by. Did you ask that person how old she was? Did I ask? According to what was taught to me, it was an older lady. Mm-hmm. You know, which I thought was one of my friends or somebody who knows me, and that's who it was. Has anybody ever asked you this before? No.

Other women whose names were redacted talked about Ray to Detective Fuller. Ray thinks he's God's gift to women. She stated he makes her sick. She knows he would cheat on any wife he had, Detective Fuller wrote. Three and a half years after Jodi's death, Ray McCann gave Detective Fuller something he felt cleared his name. It was June 1, 2011.

At lunchtime, Detective Fuller met Ray in his driveway, and Ray pulled out some packaging for the laser guns he said he had bought his kids on the day Jody went missing. I obtained the property and immediately noticed how great of shape they appeared to be, given they were three years old, Detective Fuller wrote in his report. He asked Ray why he had saved the packaging.

He said that after shit started to go down, he thought that they were pointing the finger at him, Detective Fuller wrote in his report. He said he wished he had the receipt. He then made the statement that he wished we could get all of the phone conversations of everything that was said. I then advised McCann that cellular phones will show us exactly where everyone was located and at any specific time. This is not an accurate statement, but was used as an investigative tactic.

Detective Fuller believed Ray had kept the laser gun packaging as an alibi to prove he had been to the dollar store, but there was no receipt which would have pinpointed exactly what day and what time Ray had made the purchase.

It should be noted that Ray McCann knew that he had become a focus of this investigation as early as November 8, 2007, or early morning hours of November 9, 2007, when his vehicle, clothing, and handcuffs were seized as evidence, Detective Fuller wrote. As it would turn out, Michigan State Police already had strong evidence that showed Ray had indeed bought the laser guns like he said he did in Constantine that day.

The corporate Dollar General looked at the UPC codes of every item sold in Constantine, and sure enough, two laser guns were purchased. When Detective Fuller and Ray spoke this time, Ray's life had gotten worse. He was living in his garage. His marriage was on the rocks. Eight days later, Ray rode in Detective Fuller's police car to recreate the route he had taken while searching for Jody.

During that drive, Ray confided in him that he was a mess and that he had lost everything. Detective Fuller asked him if he was a religious man, and Ray said that he did believe in God. Ray said he and his son prayed regularly. Ray told Detective Fuller that he believed police would come back on him because they couldn't find Jody's murderer. Detective Fuller wrote in the police report, I asked him what was the worst thing that has happened to him regarding this case.

Ray said getting the finger pointed at him. I asked why the finger was pointed at him in the first place, and he said he was only guessing, but because he had guessed the cemetery, that's why. He believes that must have come from Donker. He said Donker ruined his life. He thinks he would still be at the police department. He thought that maybe once this is over, he and Donker could sit down and work it out.

I asked him at what point did he feel that he was the focus of this investigation. He said another point was once he was back at the police department and they wanted to ask him some questions. McCann figured it was just routine. When the detective read him his Miranda rights, started asking him questions, and was told that a guy was coming to take a picture of his hands, it clicked. He believed he was a suspect then.

Detective Fuller asked Ray if anybody ever directly accused him. Ray said not to his face. I asked him if he took a polygraph because he was a suspect, and he said, I think so, Detective Fuller wrote. He then told Ray the person who killed Jody hadn't been a stranger. Then Detective Fuller watched Ray's face.

Ray McCann was as nervous as I have ever seen him, he wrote. His breathing changed. His whole demeanor changed. And it was incredibly obvious to me that he was very uncomfortable being there. By July 2011, the tension was building between Ray and Detective Fuller. Michigan State Police learned Ray had two cell phones. Ray was worried police were listening to his calls. Meanwhile, Ray and his wife were divorcing.

His soon-to-be ex-wife told police that Ray had always seemed nervous before he went in for his police interviews. She shared where he stored special belongings and his police equipment. Investigators had always wanted to know, did Ray own more handcuffs than the one his friend had given him as a present?

She did indicate her strong feelings for things essentially falling into place in regards to her husband, Ray McCann's involvement. She made it clear that a lot of things that did not make sense to her at the time of the homicide are now making sense to her, implicating Ray McCann and his possible involvement, the police report said. She did indicate that Ray does manifest ideas in his head, but she appears to live out, which are the opposite of what actually is transpiring in their lives.

She did indicate that Ray would constantly believe that she was cheating on him, when in fact, he was the one who was possibly cheating. Investigators tried other tactics to get Ray to say more. Detective Fuller lied about key facts of the case. He told Ray police had scientific proof that he had touched Jodi's body, that he was seven meters away from her.

Then the detective dismissed Ray's speculation that maybe he had briefly witnessed Jody dead in her mother's car when he passed by during the search and saw a blonde-haired girl in the back seat. Like I said before, that doesn't make you... I understand that. I know where you're going with that. But you know what? I did not put it in there.

And your people or whatever can think that. It's not a thinking matter. It's proven. Okay. There's nothing I can say against it then because I didn't put her there. You can say that, say that, but you know what? I did not put her there. Take your hat off and look at it. Yes. I believe in Jesus. Yes, I do. What does Jesus say about things that go wrong? What do you have to do? You know what? I don't know if you believe in God. I hope you do. But you know what?

Ray's DNA had been excluded as a match from the unknown male DNA found on Jodi's clothes and body.

And none of Jody's DNA had been found in Ray's car either. Detective Fuller knew that. He said later in court, the DNA is valuable information, but also he believed it didn't tell the whole story.

Clearly, there was somebody involved that left that DNA on her, but it doesn't tell us, did that person act alone? Was that person in concert with somebody else? Was there somebody else that the homicide may have occurred here and the body was later dumped there? Was there more than one person involved in that? He said, there are lots of different ideas on how this could have happened or how many people were involved.

Gabrielle Ruson, our court junkie writer, asked the former prosecutor John McDonough about this. I've read much of the police report that's not redacted. Like, I understand that. I understand how you could develop that profile of him, that he's kind of a weird guy and just the circumstance about the cemetery. That seems pretty odd.

But it's also hard for me to understand because, I mean, he wasn't a DNA match. You tested him and it didn't match to the DNA found by an unknown male on her body. It seems like that's obvious he's not involved. Right? Like, how could you... I'm trying to understand. I guess our thoughts were you never know. I mean, by the time the cold case got it, there weren't many leads to go on. And

Detective Fuller also lied when he interviewed other people close to Ray, including Ray's son.

By now, Ray's son had grown into a teenager. Here's an exchange where Detective Fuller tells him that Ray was said to have been lazy. There hasn't been a person that I have talked to that hasn't told me that, as a rule, your dad is lazy. He would never, in a million years, go help a stranger do anything. Yet he decided that night that he was going to go help look for Jody.

Are they accurate in their depiction of your dad's normal behavior and this would be out of character? Ray's son said he remembered several times his dad going to help neighbors fix things and that he never really looked at his dad as a lazy person. So it didn't surprise you that he would go help look for Jody, the detective asked him.

Especially since he's a police officer at the time, of course it's his job. He would have to. If he didn't, that would be screwed up, Ray's son responded. Ray McCann was back at the Constantine Police Department on July 28, 2011, seven months after Michigan State Police had begun reinvestigating the case. The police said their investigation was nearly over. That was another lie.

I am not going to be the guy to be here to be your advocate anymore. They are going to take this case where it goes from here. So now they're on harassment, huh? Well, I don't know if we'd call it harassment or not. Wouldn't you want to get to the bottom? I want to get to the bottom of this more than anybody. Right. And I believe you do too. Yeah.

And where it goes from here is where you take it, you know, as it relates to you. Ray was again asked to go through exactly what happened on November 8th, 2007. What he did, where he searched. He said he woke up in the morning between six and seven. The kids went to school and he made a fire as his wife was getting ready for work. He was having trouble recalling exactly what else he did.

Let me ask you a question. Do you remember the day in question here? Remember what the date was? I'm not particular exact day. You don't? No. Well, in November. November what?

I'm thinking it was something, eight, nine, somewhere in there. Okay. Well, in two of your interviews, you specifically identified... The date. The date. Okay. And the last polygraph you took, you specifically identified the date. So, you know, usually when somebody cognitively begins to recall and experience something, they should pretty much be able to do that. Okay. So psychologically...

You know, you're very intelligent. Listen, so I know that if we just start talking about it, you'll start remembering. I mean, that's human behavior, does that. So I don't see that to be a problem for you. That's why we're discussing it when we start out. So initially you might, but it was November 8th. Okay. Okay. You got up, you made a fire. That's what you apparently were saying. The kids were getting ready for school. Your wife was getting ready for work.

He said after the kids went to school, he probably got on the computer and then played on the PlayStation. He gave the same account as he had in prior interviews, including the dollar store run. The moment Jody's mom showed up around 8 o'clock, the McCann household was winding down for the evening. Ray said he had been watching TV and then put on his pajamas. She came in, talked to me for a little bit, asked me questions.

If we've seen her daughter or did her daughter stop here? My wife came out and she talked to her too. And then... When you were right there when she talked to your wife? Yeah. What did she say to your wife? Well, pretty much the same thing. Asked if we've seen her or if she came here. She told us that her daughter was missing. Okay. Hasn't... It's supposed to be at a certain time somewhere, I guess. Okay. Yeah.

So I grabbed my son and we had brought him down so she could ask him and she asked him if he knew of any place she might go, you know, a friend's house. And he said he had no idea. I guess he walked partway home with her and he was up to the stoplight and then we all went our separate ways.

Remember, Ray was off work from the police department because he had been sidelined with Vertigo, so he got permission to get involved with Jody's search. He described the search and connecting with Officer Donker. Can we just talk for a second about the Dollar General? At what moment? You went to the Dollar General with your boys, right? Right. And you went with them right after school, right? Right. Okay.

Right after they got home. When so? And you were there for how long? Not to look around, buy them guns. What'd you buy? I don't know if I bought anything. What did you go there for? Something to do, I guess. Just something to do? Yeah. I mean, I don't think I went there to get anything in particular, I don't think. I don't have my receipt, so I don't know if I bought anything or not. You don't have the receipt. Just know that. Okay. What did you go there for?

The detectives asked what happened when they got home. Ray said he thinks the kids played with the guns for a little bit and watched TV before his wife came home. They questioned why he saved the packaging for the laser guns.

So you never gave them to the boys then that day? Yeah, the cardboard. The cardboard that I gave you, yeah. Why did you do that? Because I threw them into my closet. Threw them in a box, and that's where they've been for years. And I finally gave them to you. Do you think that's odd? I don't think so. I'm a rat pack. I collect everything. Pack around you? Pack around whatever you want to call it.

The detectives told him that people in the community believe he had something to do with Jody's murder. Maybe they do.

But whoever wants to paint your damn picture and make it look like I'm a monster, there's nothing I can do about it. I know you're not a monster. I know you're not that guy. I had nothing to do with it, Brian. I don't want to do this all night. My son's out there. He's been waiting a long time. I'd like to go home with him. I don't want to do this. I had nothing to do with this. I did not find him. Detective Fuller continued to press him.

I'm taking time out of my life right now to be here for you. It's your turn to be here for the rest of this town. Okay? Because I'm giving you every, every opportunity. Listen, let me finish. To say...

that that's what happened and that explains it all and then that and that's then we're done okay but at the same time what you're doing right by if that is not true and you're adamant that it's not true you're sending us right down that other road but i don't want to you guys make a little last easy well so what i lie okay i found her no no and that's there too you know so since

I'm not saying that. They're going to paint a picture of the bad route. Is that what you guys are trying to tell me? Detective Fuller told him that their investigation shows that he was involved in her death. Listen, it was either intentional or it was accidental. We know it was accidental, but we can't tell you that, okay? We're hoping that you're strong enough and a man enough like you are, we see it in you, to say that. But you know what, dude? We can't spoon feed it. But trust me when I tell you,

Listen to me when I tell you, I know it was an accident. I know you didn't mean to kill that little girl. I didn't. Okay? Damn. Listen, dude, I'm telling you, I know that. But in the process, I can know it all day long. And I'm not asking you like you keep saying a lie. I'm telling you our investigation shows you're involved in her death. Now, it was either on purpose or...

It was accidental. And this is what I'm saying to you. Listen, dude, we can go with it. We can fill in the blanks. We know the details. All right? If, in fact, she flips out...

Okay, and you're trying to calm her down, being a good policeman and saying, take it easy here. Listen, take it easy. And she just goes crazy, and she accidentally dies in the process. What do you do? You're a policeman. Oh, my gosh, how do I explain this? You panic, and you do stuff, listen, that you normally would not do because you're afraid.

And that's normal. You've got 30 years of good reputation even in your father's life, okay? Then you look at your life and the police, what do you do? You panic. And that's true. Brian and I can say, listen, we can defend that all day long because you know what? This guy's life shows that. There's no doubt about it. And that's what we're trying to tell you. We know that.

And that's a very feasible, understandable process, dude. You bring closure to the kid's family. You know, you look at the process and you say, listen. No, I thought this would have been done a long time ago. But listen, dude, not everybody in this case was ready to hear that. Now you've got two guys. Listen, I'm going to tell you something. I would have did the same thing. I would have did the same thing you would have because if that would have happened to me, I would have panicked.

Ray continued to insist over and over that he didn't have anything to do with it. I'm not going to admit to something I didn't have part of, okay?

Our investigation shows that you were involved in her death, but it wasn't an accident. It wasn't an accident. And your behavior, post-behavior, and the process is totally explainable because, you know what? There's too much incompetence in this process. But we're telling you now, don't be afraid. Tell the truth. I didn't fire you guys. We can sit here all night. I don't want to sit here all night. Just like I told Brian. I want to get back to my son. You know, I did not... Your boy's fine. I know he is, but you know what?

We got a lot on pack and do. We got shit scattered all in our apartment. And I didn't have nothing to do with it, guys. I did my job that night. I did not have part of whatever the fuck happened to her. I wish I knew what happened to her because then I guess we wouldn't be having this conversation. This son of a bitch would have been done a long time ago. I just... Guys, I don't... I don't know what you want from me. You want a confession that I can't give you? Yeah.

After more pressing, Ray finally asked, are we done? Yeah.

Yeah, we were here to say, look, this will be the end of it. Right here today. Didn't we say that to you? I did, you guys. It's something I didn't do. You're free to leave. You know these doors aren't locked.

You know. You're free to leave, dude. We've been talking to you for your explanation. This was your opportunity. I'm telling you. Yeah, but I'm not admitting to something I didn't have part of, okay? You guys, I've been treated like hell ever since this fucking case started. My family's been treated like shit. I lost my job here at the police department. You know what? And it's continued. For something that I have no control over.

You know, I love being a police officer. We didn't make the lies up, Ray. No, I had nothing to do with this. We didn't make the inconsistencies. We didn't make them up. This is bullshit. Nothing against you guys. I respect you totally, okay? I respect you. But I had nothing to do with this son of a bitch.

We're just trying to help you. I know. But I can only take so much. You know what? I can only take so much. I know. My family's been fucking through hell. Didn't we start with that part of the conversation, buddy? Didn't we tell you that? Didn't we say we knew that? Were we here to tell you that? No, you guys want me to confess to something I had nothing part of. I'm not doing that. That's what you guys seem like you're doing to me. Everybody's treating me like shit ever since I've fucking been here. Bullshit.

And so Ray walked out of the interview with Michigan State Police. Even though he was angry at being accused of murder, he apologized on his way out. Sorry, guys. This is all so all right. What happened after that? I'll tell you in the next Court Junkie episode.

I don't normally do three-parters, and because I think waiting two weeks for the next part can be probably a little frustrating, I'll be releasing part two next week and then part three the following week. These episodes were researched and written by Gabrielle Roussan. Editing and narration done by me, Jillian Jalali.

Our three-part series was written based on hundreds of pages of police reports and court records, as well as interviews with the people involved. Thanks again for listening. Until next time.