# Disturbing Cases Too Twisted For Netflix | 210

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 22 Apr 2026, 58 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO2112670973.mp3

Don't forget to hit follower and turn on the notification bell. Episode 210 of the true crime podcast btw. 👇 Youtube links: Lazy Chill History Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillHistory Lazy Chill Zone Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillZone 👇 Support My Work: 🛍️ Merch: https://lazy-chill-zone-shop.fourthwall.com ❤️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lazychillzone 👇Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lazychillzone/ 👇 Podcast links: ⚡History Video Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/7km5pLWpYWEj1mrPpEfRUr?si=0FHYnZf-Qs2FY1GyLevfig ⚡True Crime Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/0klIz08pAr7wR4we0Ia4sk?si=68qZxCeAQkysXzMZrHE0Iw 🍏 True Crime Podcast on Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lazy-chill-true-crime/id1815534472 unsolved mysteries, true crime, cold cases, unsolved mysteries, missing persons, murder investigation, forensic evidence, serial killers, crime scene analysis, dark history, criminal psychology, real life horror, police investigations, DNA breakthroughs, forensic genealogy, crime documentaries, criminal profiling, mysterious disappearances, solved cases, justice system, law enforcement stories, cold case files, creepy mysteries, true crime storytelling, crime reconstruction, chilling cases, investigative reporting, modern forensics, victim advocacy, unidentified remains, crime scene forensics, disturbing cases, true crime analysis, hidden clues, infamous crimes, real crime stories, forensic evidence, heists, art theft

## Transcript

[0:00] In the 1970s, Schenectady, NY was a working class town, home
[0:06] to families who built their lives around the massive General
[0:09] Electric plant. Among them were Mary Beth and
[0:12] Joseph Tinning, a young couple who on the surface, seemed to be
[0:17] living an ordinary life. They married in 1965 and soon
[0:21] began to build a family. But their home would become the
[0:24] epicenter of a tragedy so relentless and so profound that
[0:28] it defied all explanation, earning the sympathy of an
[0:32] entire community. Over 14 years.
[0:36] A dark shadow fell over the tinning household, and one by
[0:39] one, their nine children perished.
[0:43] The cascade of loss was staggering.
[0:46] It began in 1972, a year of almost unimaginable grief.
[0:52] On January 3rd, their third child, Jennifer, died at just
[0:56] eight days old from what doctors called hemorrhagic meningitis.
[1:01] Only 17 days later, 2 year old Joseph Junior was rushed to the
[1:05] hospital and pronounced dead on arrival, with the cause listed
[1:10] as cardiac arrest. Then less than two months after
[1:14] that, on March 2nd, their first born child, 4 year old Barbara,
[1:19] died after falling into a coma. Doctors attributed her death to
[1:24] an extremely rare condition known as Ray's Syndrome.
[1:28] In the span of just 87 days, three of their children were
[1:32] gone. But the pattern didn't stop.
[1:36] The following year, their son Timothy was born, only to die 19
[1:40] days later. His death was attributed to
[1:43] SIDS. In 1975, five month old Nathan
[1:48] died from what an autopsy called acute pulmonary edema.
[1:52] In 1979, three month old Mary Francis also died, another
[1:57] victim of supposed SIDS. A year later, 3 month old
[2:01] Jonathan passed away, his cause of death undetermined.
[2:06] The community rallied around the tinnings, viewing them as the
[2:10] victims of a cruel genetic lottery, a family cursed by a
[2:14] one in a billion medical anomaly.
[2:17] Mary Beth in particular became a figure of immense public
[2:20] sympathy, the grieving mother forced to endure the
[2:24] unendurable, burying one small casket after another.
[2:29] This narrative of tragedy was far more palatable than the
[2:32] alternative, an idea so monstrous it was almost
[2:35] impossible to contemplate that the grieving mother was the
[2:39] curse herself. The shared belief in a medical
[2:43] tragedy created a powerful shield of denial, A collective
[2:47] psychological defense that allowed a predator to hide in
[2:51] plain sight and beware. This may be one of the most
[2:55] disturbing stories you've ever heard, not just for the crime
[2:59] itself, but for the final outcome and where things stand
[3:02] today. Behind the public mask of the
[3:06] tragic victim was a woman whose life was built on a foundation
[3:10] of profound insecurity. Born in Duanesburg, NY, Mary
[3:15] Beth grew up feeling like an unwanted child, a sentiment she
[3:19] claimed A relative once told her directly.
[3:22] She would later claim that her parents hit her with a family
[3:25] swatter and would lock her in a closet, though these allegations
[3:29] only came out much later. Of course, that's not to say
[3:33] they aren't true, but she only started making these claims when
[3:37] she was incentivized to do so. According to her, this
[3:41] upbringing instilled in her a deep seated sense of
[3:44] worthlessness and a desperate, lifelong craving for attention
[3:48] and validation. Her marriage did little to fill
[3:52] this emotional void. She met Joseph Tinning on a
[3:55] blind date and they married in 1965.
[4:00] And trust me when I say it, this guy is going to be a real unsung
[4:04] villain of this deeply disturbed story.
[4:08] Joseph was consistently described as a shy, passive and
[4:12] emotionally inarticulate man who was unable to provide the
[4:16] support and intimacy Mary Beth craved.
[4:19] In 1974, during a period of intense marital turmoil, Mary
[4:25] Beth crushed prescription pills and put them in Joseph's grape
[4:29] juice. He was hospitalized with a near
[4:32] fatal case of poisoning, yet he declined to press charges
[4:36] against his wife. Notably, for reasons which
[4:39] aren't clear to me, this incident didn't tip off the
[4:42] authorities to keep a closer eye on her as her children perished
[4:46] 1 by 1. For nearly a decade, The genetic
[4:51] flaw theory provided a convenient, if tragic,
[4:54] explanation for the string of deaths in the Tinning family.
[4:58] It was a narrative that doctors, neighbors, and even law
[5:02] enforcement could accept. But in 1981, an event occurred
[5:08] that should have shattered that theory beyond repair.
[5:12] In 1978, the Tinnings had adopted a newborn son named
[5:17] Michael. As he wasn't their biological
[5:20] child, he couldn't have inherited any genetic disorder
[5:24] from them, which goes without saying.
[5:27] What's more important is that the odds of him being born with
[5:31] the exact same sort of issue that struck all their biological
[5:35] children ought to have been vanishingly low.
[5:40] Simply stated, his life should have been the definitive counter
[5:43] evidence to the family curse and an affirmation that this
[5:47] troubled couple didn't harm anyone.
[5:50] Instead, in March 1981, three-year old Michael died.
[5:56] Mary Beth brought his lifeless body to a doctor claiming he
[6:00] simply wouldn't wake up. The official cause of death was
[6:04] listed as bronchial pneumonia. The death of a non blood
[6:08] relative should have immediately triggered a full scale
[6:10] investigation and a re examination of all the previous
[6:14] deaths. It was a logical impossibility
[6:17] for an adopted child to die from his adoptive parents genetic
[6:21] defect, yet inexplicably, no major investigation was
[6:26] launched. I'll just let that one sink in
[6:29] for a second. This catastrophic failure of
[6:34] oversight revealed the system was more invested in protecting
[6:37] its own prior conclusions than in responding to new,
[6:40] contradictory evidence. Notably, a number of physicians
[6:45] had raised suspicions and concerns and called for full
[6:48] inquiries, but were silenced. The system, in effect, chose to
[6:53] protect itself from the implications of its own past
[6:56] failures, and in doing so, it left Mary Beth Tinning free to
[7:00] strike again. The final act began on August
[7:05] 22nd, 1985, with the birth of Tammy Lynn, the Tinning's ninth
[7:10] child. Four months later, on December
[7:13] 20th, she was dead. This time, however, things were
[7:18] different. A formal investigation was
[7:20] finally launched. A laboratory test confirmed what
[7:24] should have been suspected all along.
[7:26] Tammy Lynn had died from asphyxia by suffocation on
[7:31] February 4th, 1986. Mary Beth Tinning was brought in
[7:35] for questioning. She confessed to smothering
[7:38] Tammy Lynn with a pillow. She also admitted to eliminating
[7:42] 2 of her sons, Timothy and Nathan.
[7:46] Her reason was chillingly simple.
[7:48] They were crying, and their crying made her feel like an
[7:52] inadequate mother, so she shut them up permanently.
[7:58] This confession opened a window into a deeply disturbed mind,
[8:02] one that many experts now believe was afflicted with a
[8:05] rare disorder known as Munchausen Syndrome by proxy.
[8:09] This is a condition where a caregiver secretly fabricates or
[8:13] induces illness in a person under their care to garner
[8:16] attention and sympathy for themselves.
[8:19] Tinning's life was a textbook profile.
[8:23] Her background as a nursing assistant and ambulance worker
[8:26] gave her a familiarity with medical settings.
[8:29] She reveled in the role of the tragic figure, becoming the
[8:32] center of attention for doctors, friends, and a sympathetic
[8:36] community. A pastor who had counselled her
[8:40] previously noted her profound lack of self esteem and her
[8:44] constant desperate attempts to gain acceptance.
[8:48] Mary Beth Tinning wasn't motivated by a simple desire to
[8:51] be free of her children. She was driven by a pathological
[8:55] addiction to the role of the grieving mother.
[8:58] The children themselves weren't necessarily even the targets of
[9:01] her rage, but the instruments she used to satisfy her
[9:05] desperate need for unlimited attention and sympathy.
[9:10] The legal system, faced with a case spanning over a decade with
[9:14] little remaining physical evidence, made a strategic
[9:17] decision. Prosecutors focused the case
[9:20] solely on the slaying of Tammy Lynn, for which they had a
[9:24] confession and forensic proof. While her admissions about the
[9:29] two other children were used to show intent, she was only tried
[9:32] for this one case. Her defense argued the
[9:36] confession was coerced, but in July 1987, a jury found her
[9:41] guilty and she was sentenced to 20 years to life.
[9:46] For years, Tinning maintained her innocence.
[9:49] She was denied parole 6 times between 2007 and 2017.
[9:54] Finally, in July 2018, on her seventh attempt, a 75 year old
[10:00] Mary Beth Tinning was granted parole.
[10:03] She was released in August after serving over 30 years, a
[10:07] decision that was met with fury from politicians and the public,
[10:11] and basically anyone with a heart.
[10:14] The conclusion to her story is yet another extremely unsettling
[10:18] part of this twisted case, and it brings us back to her
[10:21] husband. Upon her release, Mary Beth
[10:25] Tinning went home to live with her husband Joseph in their
[10:28] house in Duanesburg. This is the same man she once
[10:32] tried to eliminate and a man who had his nine children taken by
[10:36] this monster. Some have questioned if the
[10:40] authorities appropriately investigated the husband's
[10:42] potential involvement in the crimes of his wife.
[10:45] Though there are no formal allegations against him at
[10:49] present, Mary Beth Tinning is still alive in that house with
[10:53] that same spouse in that house where all her children were
[10:57] slain. It was a performance that
[11:03] captivated and horrified a nation and later the world.
[11:08] On October 25th, 1994, a frantic 23 year old mother from Union,
[11:14] SC told police a story that tapped into every parent's
[11:18] deepest fears. Susan Smith claimed that while
[11:22] stopped at a quiet intersection, a mysterious black male had
[11:26] forced her from her Mazda Protege and speed away, taking
[11:30] her two small sons with him. For 9 agonizing days, America
[11:36] watched as Susan made tearful televised pleas for the safe
[11:40] return of three-year old Michael and 14 month old Alex.
[11:44] Her face, etched with what looked like unbearable grief,
[11:49] became a fixture on the Evening News.
[11:53] The images of her two smiling boys were flashed across every
[11:56] screen and a wave of national sympathy poured into the small
[12:00] southern town as a massive manhunt got underway.
[12:05] The story was a perfect storm of tragedy.
[12:08] Innocent children, a distraught mother and a dangerous shadowy
[12:12] figure. It was a narrative the public
[12:15] readily consumed, a heartbreaking drama playing out
[12:19] in real time. But the twist was that it was
[12:22] all a lie. The supposed perpetrator that
[12:25] Susan Smith created was both specific and chillingly generic,
[12:30] a black man in a knit cap. Little did the public know, the
[12:35] true perpetrator was the one standing before them live on TV.
[12:42] While the nation was swept up in the emotional tide of the case,
[12:46] investigators were quietly applying cold logic to Susan
[12:49] Smith's story. From almost the very beginning,
[12:53] her account raised red flags for law enforcement.
[12:56] Detectives were skeptical within the first two days, finding it
[13:00] peculiar that a car jacker, whose primary goal is stealing a
[13:04] vehicle, would complicate the crime by taking two small
[13:08] children. Their suspicions were strong
[13:11] enough that they began searching nearby lakes and ponds,
[13:14] including John D Long Lake, long before Smith confessed.
[13:20] She was subjected to a polygraph test just two days into the
[13:23] investigation, which she failed, further cementing their doubts.
[13:28] The critical flaw in her story, the detail that would ultimately
[13:32] shatter her entire fabrication, was mundane and technical.
[13:37] Smith claimed she was stopped at a red light at an otherwise
[13:41] empty intersection behind a local textile mill.
[13:45] Investigators, however, discovered that the traffic
[13:48] light at that specific location was operated by a pressure plate
[13:51] on the intersecting Rd. It wouldn't have turned red for
[13:55] Smith unless another vehicle was present to trigger it.
[13:59] Her insistence that no other cars were around made her story
[14:03] of physical impossibility. The single unassailable fact
[14:08] exposed the foundation of her lie.
[14:11] While the country was focused on the high drama of a kidnapping,
[14:15] the case was being cracked by the simple mechanics of a
[14:18] traffic signal. After 9 days of mounting
[14:23] pressure and intensifying scrutiny, the deception
[14:26] collapsed. On November 3rd, 1994,
[14:30] investigators confronted Smith with the inconsistencies in her
[14:33] story. Union County Sheriff Howard
[14:36] Wells employed A strategic bluff, telling her they had
[14:40] surveillance footage of the intersection that proved she was
[14:43] lying. The weight of her secret,
[14:46] combined with this final push, was too much to bear.
[14:50] Smith broke down, dropping to her knees in a fit of hysterical
[14:54] crying, and finally confessed to the unthinkable.
[14:58] There was no car jacker. There was no kidnapping.
[15:02] She had eliminated her own children.
[15:05] She admitted that she had driven her Mazda to a boat ramp at John
[15:09] D Long Lake, a quiet, wooded spot just outside of town, with
[15:14] Michael and Alex still strapped into their car seats in the
[15:16] back. She got out, released the
[15:19] emergency brake and let the car roll down the incline and into
[15:23] the dark water. Divers were dispatched to the
[15:27] lake and, after a search, located the vehicle submerged in
[15:31] 18 feet of water, much farther from the shore than they had
[15:35] initially expected. The scene inside the car was
[15:39] heartbreaking. The bodies of the two little
[15:42] boys were found dangling upside down in their car seats, one of
[15:46] their tiny hands forever pressed against a window.
[15:50] The confession transformed Smith from a figure of national
[15:53] sympathy into one of profound public contempt, a woman who
[15:58] would become one of America's most hated mothers.
[16:03] The subsequent trial in 1995 presented 2 starkly different
[16:07] portraits of Susan Smith, forcing the jury and the public
[16:11] to grapple with the complex question of her motive.
[16:15] The prosecution painted her as a selfish and manipulative woman
[16:19] who committed this act for a man.
[16:21] They argued that Smith was desperate to continue a
[16:24] relationship with Tom Findley, the wealthy son of her boss, who
[16:29] had recently sent her a letter ending their affair.
[16:32] In that letter, Findley had made it clear that he wasn't ready
[16:36] for a family and didn't want children.
[16:39] The prosecution contended that Smith saw her sons as the
[16:42] primary obstacle to the life and relationship she craved, and she
[16:46] made a horrific choice to eliminate them.
[16:49] In stark contrast, her defense team argued that this was not a
[16:54] case about evil, but one of despair and sadness.
[16:59] They presented A devastating portrait of a life marked by
[17:02] profound trauma and untreated mental illness.
[17:06] The jury heard about her dark history of trauma as a child,
[17:11] and psychiatrist testified that she suffered from major
[17:14] depression and a dependent personality disorder.
[17:19] The defense's theory was that Smith had driven to the lake
[17:21] that night, intending to end the entire family.
[17:25] However, in a final panicked moment, her body had literally
[17:30] willed itself out of the car as it rolled toward the water.
[17:35] When that's your defense, I think it's pretty safe to say
[17:38] you're beyond cooked. In July 1995, after deliberating
[17:44] for only 2 1/2 hours, the jury found Susan Smith guilty.
[17:49] To the surprise of no one, the prosecution passionately argued
[17:53] that she should be condemned, suggesting it would have been
[17:56] the expected verdict against the fictional black car jacker she
[18:00] created if he did it. They also noted that she had
[18:03] used the car jackers supposed race to appeal to the prejudice
[18:07] of the public and the authorities, marking that as an
[18:10] aggravating factor. However, the defense's portrayal
[18:15] of her traumatic life was compelling enough to spare her.
[18:19] The jury sentenced her to life in prison, with the possibility
[18:23] of parole after 30 years. Her time in prison has been
[18:28] troubled, marked by disciplinary issues, including drug use and
[18:32] illicit relationships with prison guards.
[18:35] On November 20th, 2024, thirty years after her crimes, Smith
[18:41] appeared via video for her first parole hearing.
[18:45] In a tearful plea she said she was sorry and that God had
[18:49] forgiven her. I suppose I'm reminded of that
[18:52] famous executioner's sword from medieval Germany that's engraved
[18:57] with a line that says when he lifts the sword he wishes for
[19:02] eternal life for the Sinner. What I'm saying is that I hate
[19:06] when I hear this sort of language.
[19:08] It's just a pure attempt by a sick individual to try to
[19:11] manipulate emotions. Unsurprisingly, her so-called
[19:16] remorse wasn't enough. Her ex-husband David was there
[19:20] to speak for the sons he lost, and the parole board unanimously
[19:24] denied her release. On the morning of June 20th,
[19:31] 2001, a 911 dispatcher in Houston, TX received a call from
[19:37] a woman named Andrea Yates. Her voice was eerily calm as she
[19:42] repeatedly requested a police officer but refused to explain
[19:46] why. When officers arrived at her
[19:49] suburban home, they found a scene of unimaginable horror
[19:54] inside. Andrea confessed immediately,
[19:57] telling them four of her children, John, age 5, Paul, 3,
[20:02] Luke, 2, and Mary, six months, were laid out on a bed in the
[20:08] master bedroom. Her eldest son, 7 year old Noah,
[20:12] was still in the bathtub, floating face down.
[20:17] In the span of a single hour between her husband leaving for
[20:20] work and her mother in However, the true story of what
[20:40] happened is even more disturbing than you can possibly imagine.
[20:44] Despite the unimaginable horror that occurred, this wasn't an
[20:48] unexpected event by any means. It's a tale of an all gas, no
[20:53] breaks descent into madness where all the guardrails seem to
[20:56] completely fail for both Andrea and her kids.
[21:01] Before she became a household name for the most tragic of
[21:04] reasons, Andrea had once been the picture of success.
[21:09] Born in Houston on July 2nd, 1964, she excelled in her youth,
[21:15] graduating as the valedictorian of her high school class and
[21:19] serving as captain of the swim team.
[21:21] She went on to earn a degree in nursing and worked as a highly
[21:24] regarded registered nurse at a Houston Cancer Center.
[21:28] In 1993 she married Rusty Yates, a NASA engineer, and soon after
[21:35] the birth of their first child in 1994, she left her career to
[21:39] become a full time homeschooling mother.
[21:43] The family's life was shaped by a deep commitment to a Christian
[21:46] ideology that emphasized having as many children as nature
[21:50] allowed. They lived for a time in
[21:52] unconventional settings, including a travel trailer and a
[21:56] converted bus, which contributed to a growing sense of isolation.
[22:01] Their beliefs were heavily influenced by the teachings of
[22:04] an itinerant preacher named Michael Warreniecki, who
[22:07] corresponded with the family. His sermons, which they consumed
[22:12] through letters and videos, preach that sinful mothers were
[22:16] doomed to raise sinful children who would go to hell.
[22:21] This doctrine appears to have intersected catastrophically
[22:25] with Andrea's developing mental illness, feeding a growing
[22:28] belief that she was a bad mother.
[22:31] This in turn meant that her children were consequently going
[22:34] to go to hell because of her personal failures.
[22:38] Andrea's descent into psychosis wasn't sudden, but a slow,
[22:42] agonizing unraveling that began years before the tragedy.
[22:46] She later reported having her first psychotic episode after
[22:49] the birth of her first son Noah in 1994, seeing visions of Satan
[22:55] but telling no one for fear the devil would harm her children.
[22:59] Her illness escalated dramatically after the birth of
[23:02] her fourth son, Luke, in 1999. That year, she attempted to end
[23:08] it all twice. These attempts led to her first
[23:11] psychiatric hospitalizations. During her time there, she was
[23:16] diagnosed with major depressive disorder with psychotic features
[23:20] as well as postpartum psychosis. A devastating cycle began.
[23:25] She would be hospitalized, show rapid improvement on
[23:29] antipsychotic medication, and then be discharged only to go
[23:33] off her medications. Doctors explicitly warned the
[23:37] couple that having more children would almost certainly trigger
[23:41] another, more severe psychotic episode.
[23:45] Despite these warnings, the couple conceived their fifth
[23:48] child just weeks after one of her hospital discharges.
[23:52] The birth of their daughter Mary in November 2000, followed by
[23:56] the sudden death of Andrea's father in March 2001, sent her
[24:01] into her final catastrophic breakdown.
[24:05] She became nearly catatonic, stopped eating, and read the
[24:08] Bible feverishly. Her delusions became all
[24:11] consuming. She believed television cameras
[24:14] were monitoring her mothering and believed Satan had entered
[24:18] her body. Most critically, she became
[24:21] convinced that her children were not developing righteously and
[24:26] were doomed to burn in hell because she had ruined them.
[24:30] Just weeks before the events, her psychiatrist discontinued
[24:34] her antipsychotic medication due to side effects, a decision that
[24:39] proved to be a fatal turning point.
[24:43] Andrea Yates's case resulted in two separate trials with two
[24:47] starkly different outcomes that revealed just how subjective the
[24:50] legal definition of insanity can be.
[24:53] In the first trial, in 2002, prosecutors sought to give this
[24:57] mother an appointment with the chair.
[25:00] The case hinged on Texas's strict insanity law, which
[25:04] requires A defendant to prove they did not know their conduct
[25:07] was wrong. The prosecution argued that
[25:11] Andrea's methodical planning, waiting for her husband to
[25:14] leave, drowning the children 1 by 1, proved she knew it was
[25:19] wrong. The defense countered that her
[25:21] severe psychosis made her believe her actions were not
[25:25] only right, but morally necessary to save her children
[25:29] from eternal damnation. They acknowledged that this was
[25:33] an extremely disturbing situation, but they claimed that
[25:36] in her mental framework, this was all very real.
[25:41] The trial took a decisive turn with the testimony of the
[25:44] prosecution's star expert witness, forensic psychiatrist
[25:49] Doctor Park Dietz. He told the jury that an episode
[25:52] of the show Law and Order, featuring a woman who drowned
[25:55] her children and was acquitted by reason of insanity, had aired
[25:59] shortly before the crime. The prosecution seized on this,
[26:04] suggesting in closing arguments that Andrea had mimicked the
[26:07] show to create a legal defense. The jury deliberated for less
[26:12] than 4 hours before finding her guilty on all offenses.
[26:15] However, the story wasn't over. It was later discovered that
[26:20] this doctor's testimony was false and no such Law and Order
[26:24] episode had ever aired. It's not even that a similar
[26:28] episode had aired at some point, It was that no such episode ever
[26:31] existed at all. In an age where you couldn't
[26:34] Fact Check testimony in real time.
[26:37] Her defense team apparently didn't realize this was false.
[26:41] That said, I'm going to criticize the defense harshly
[26:44] here regardless because they didn't challenge the fact that
[26:47] the episode of the show wasn't entered into evidence.
[26:50] The prosecution, of course, ought to have disclosed this
[26:53] episode to the defense prior to the trial as well, if their
[26:57] expert intended to rely upon this evidence.
[27:01] I can't quite imagine that something so important to a case
[27:04] wasn't fully investigated by the prosecutors.
[27:09] In 2005, a Texas appeals court overturned the conviction,
[27:15] ruling that the false testimony was material and could have
[27:18] improperly influenced the jury. This paved the way for a retrial
[27:23] in 2006. The second trial was different
[27:26] in crucial ways. In the intervening years,
[27:30] extensive media coverage had also led to a national
[27:33] conversation about postpartum psychosis, creating a more
[27:37] informed public with largely the same psychiatric evidence
[27:41] presented. The second jury deliberated for
[27:44] 13 hours and reached the opposite conclusion.
[27:48] Andrea Yates was not guilty by reason of insanity.
[27:52] Now, importantly, this doesn't mean what many people think it
[27:55] means. In fact, in many cases, insanity
[27:59] can lead to a much longer time. Essentially locked up.
[28:05] Following the 2006 verdict, Andrea Yates was committed to a
[28:09] state mental health facility. She was first sent to a high
[28:13] security forensic psychiatric ward and later in 2007 to the
[28:18] lower security Kerrville State Hospital.
[28:22] According to reports, she is now consistently medicated and her
[28:26] attorney describes her as a woman who deeply grieves for her
[28:29] children. She has consistently waived her
[28:32] right to the annual hearings that could lead to her release.
[28:36] In the quiet, rolling hills of upstate New York, a young couple
[28:40] named Juanetta and Tim Hoyt were living through an unimaginable
[28:43] nightmare. Between 1965 and 1971, they
[28:48] buried five of their children. First came Eric, then James and
[28:53] Julie, followed by Molly and Noah.
[28:57] One by one, they were laid to rest, each death a fresh wave of
[29:01] grief that left their small community heartbroken.
[29:05] For more than 20 years, their story was a medical tragedy, a
[29:10] case study in the cruel randomness of a newly understood
[29:13] condition. But a single decades old medical
[29:17] paper held a clue to a different, more horrifying
[29:20] truth. This truth that would eventually
[29:23] reveal their story wasn't one of a tragic medical mystery at all.
[29:30] The pattern of death in the Hoyt household was as relentless as
[29:33] it was heartbreaking. It began in January 1965 when
[29:38] they're first born. Eric died at just three months
[29:41] old. Two more children followed,
[29:44] James born in 1966 and Julie, born in 1968.
[29:51] In September 1968, tragedy struck twice in three weeks.
[29:56] First 48 day old Julie died, and then 28 month old James
[30:01] followed. Two more children, Molly and
[30:04] Noah, were born in 1970 and 1971 respectively.
[30:10] Both also died within a few months of their birth.
[30:14] In each case, the cause of death was listed as SIDS, a diagnosis
[30:18] that at the time was shrouded in mystery and fear.
[30:24] Hoyt's crimes unfolded during a unique moment in medical
[30:27] history. The term was only formally
[30:30] introduced in 1969, following years of varied and often
[30:34] incorrect theories about why seemingly healthy infants
[30:37] perished in their sleep. It was a diagnosis of exclusion,
[30:42] applied when a thorough investigation and autopsy could
[30:46] find no other explanation. This lack of definitive
[30:50] knowledge created a diagnostic fog for grieving parents.
[30:55] It offered a non blaming explanation for an unbearable
[30:58] loss. For a predator like Wanetta
[31:01] Hoyt, however, it provided the perfect cover.
[31:05] Her crimes coincided precisely with the period when the medical
[31:08] community had just enough knowledge to name the
[31:11] phenomenon, but not enough to distinguish it from a covert
[31:14] slaying. The Hoyt family's tragedy was so
[31:19] profound that it attracted the attention of Doctor Alfred
[31:22] Steinschneider, A pediatrician at Upstate Medical Center in
[31:26] Syracuse. The last two Hoyt babies, Molly
[31:29] and Noah, became subjects in his study.
[31:32] Juanita reported that the infant suffered from breathing
[31:35] difficulties, and they were admitted to the hospital for
[31:38] monitoring. Molly even became the first baby
[31:41] in the United States to be sent home with an apnea monitor.
[31:45] Despite this, both children perished shortly after being
[31:49] discharged. In October 1972, Doctor
[31:54] Steinschneider published his findings in the journal
[31:56] Pediatrics. The paper, which referred to the
[32:00] Hoyts only as Family H, proposed that SIDS could be caused by
[32:05] prolonged apnea and that this condition might run in families.
[32:10] The five Hoyt deaths served as the tragic proof of his
[32:13] hypothesis. The truth remained buried until
[32:18] 1985, when a prosecutor from a neighboring county, William
[32:22] Fitzpatrick, was working on an unrelated case with similar
[32:26] facts. He consulted with Doctor Linda
[32:29] Norton, a forensic pathologist from Dallas who reviewed
[32:33] Steinschneider's 1972 paper. She saw something different in
[32:37] the data, not a medical anomaly, but a pattern of a predator.
[32:42] She gave Fitzpatrick a chilling warning.
[32:45] He might have a serial perpetrator in his area.
[32:49] The warning stayed with Fitzpatrick when he was elected
[32:53] District Attorney in 1992. He used his new authority to
[32:57] track down the anonymous family H He sent the case files to
[33:03] Doctor Michael Baden, a renowned forensic pathologist with the
[33:06] New York State Police. After reviewing the medical
[33:10] records and the autopsies of the exhumed remains, the physician's
[33:14] conclusion was unequivocal. When Etta Hoyt was a monster in
[33:21] March 1994, investigators made their move.
[33:26] A state trooper who knew Juanita approached her at a post office
[33:29] and using a clever ruse, he invited her to participate in a
[33:33] quote UN quote new research project on mothers who had been
[33:37] affected by SIDS. She agreed.
[33:41] During the subsequent interrogation, the friendly
[33:44] facade dropped and under questioning when Etta Hoyt
[33:48] confessed, she admitted to everything and her motive was
[33:52] both shockingly simple and profoundly evil.
[33:56] The babies wouldn't stop crying and she wanted to silence them.
[34:01] She described her methods in chilling detail, admitting she
[34:04] had used pillows, a bath towel, and the pressure of her own
[34:08] shoulder to smother them. Almost immediately, however, she
[34:12] recanted, claiming her confession was coerced.
[34:16] The validity of that confession became the central issue of her
[34:19] trial. The defense hired A forensic
[34:22] psychologist who concluded that Hoyt's dependent and avoidant
[34:26] personality disorders made her uniquely vulnerable to
[34:30] manipulative police tactics. Then, in a stunning development,
[34:35] even the prosecution's own psychiatric expert agreed that
[34:38] she was vulnerable and the police had manipulated her.
[34:44] The 1995 trial pitted 2 eras of science against each other.
[34:49] The prosecution, led by Fitzpatrick, built its case on
[34:52] Baden's modern forensic analysis and Hoyt's detailed confession.
[34:57] The defense countered with Doctor Steinschneider, who stood
[35:01] by his original SIDS diagnosis and argued that the confession
[35:05] was worthless. Prosecutors also speculated that
[35:08] Hoyt may have been suffering from Munchausen syndrome by
[35:11] proxy. This was a then emerging
[35:14] psychological disorder in which a parent gains attention and
[35:18] sympathy through fabricated medical issues with a child.
[35:23] In April 1995, a jury found Wanetta Hoyt guilty, and she was
[35:28] sentenced to 75 years to life in prison.
[35:32] But the story had one final bizarre twist.
[35:36] In August 1998, Hoyt died of pancreatic cancer before her
[35:42] appeal could be heard under New York law.
[35:46] Because she died, with her appeal still pending, her
[35:49] conviction was formally vacated. While a jury had declared her
[35:54] guilty, her legal record was officially wiped clean.
[35:59] Just dropping in once more, reminding you to share this
[36:02] video, subscribe and check out my other content.
[36:05] Until next time, peace out. Late on February 20th, 2010, a
[36:11] frigid winter night in North Carolina, 16 year old Michael
[36:15] Scott Rogers made a frantic phone call to his mother.
[36:18] He was lost, hurt and terrified, sobbing that he'd been beaten
[36:23] and didn't know where he was. He pleaded for help, crying that
[36:28] they might end his life if he wasn't found soon.
[36:32] Unlike many cases with calls like this, this wasn't a mental
[36:36] breakdown or the result of substance abuse.
[36:40] Michael's words reflected reality completely.
[36:44] His panicked mother, Barbara Leonard, called 911 and raced
[36:48] through the dark, winding rural roads to find him.
[36:51] For Barbara, it was a living nightmare.
[36:55] By the next day, Michael's body would be discovered in a muddy
[36:58] field, shirtless and lifeless, after a night of teenage
[37:02] partying ended in tragedy. This is the story of that tragic
[37:07] February 2010 night and how a supposedly fun gathering went
[37:12] deadly and how investigators uncovered the truth to bring
[37:16] justice for Michael. On February 20th, 2010, Michael,
[37:22] a high school sophomore who had turned 16 just three months
[37:25] earlier, left his home in Brevard, NC.
[37:29] He was going to attend a house party in the nearby community of
[37:32] Horseshoe, as teenagers often do.
[37:35] The host was 19 year old Scott Fischer, who invited friends
[37:39] over while his parents were out of town.
[37:42] According to court records, Alcohol flowed freely and some
[37:46] guests used a variety of drugs, creating a wild atmosphere.
[37:51] Michael, just 16 and not used to such chaos, reportedly became
[37:56] belligerent after drinking. Tensions quickly escalated.
[38:01] Importantly, the source on Michael acting belligerently
[38:05] comes from people who were involved in this horrific
[38:08] incident to 1 extent or another, so take that with a grain of
[38:12] salt. He got into a scuffle with 20
[38:15] year old Richard Thomas, leaving Michael injured on the floor.
[38:19] Michael got up, dusted himself off, and prepared to leave.
[38:25] This isn't exactly an uncommon occurrence for a teenager who is
[38:28] unfamiliar with drinking, and of course, that should have been
[38:31] the end of it. But then Scott Fischer, worried
[38:35] that Michael would have called the cops after he left, decided
[38:39] to do something that would fully change the course of the night.
[38:43] Scott, who was on probation and panicking at the thought of
[38:46] police, punched the already injured Michael to the floor and
[38:49] hit him several more times while he was down.
[38:53] Personally, I don't see how this was supposed to reduce the risk
[38:56] of police involvement in any way whatsoever, which leads me to
[39:00] question the entire narrative. What started as a night of fun
[39:04] had exploded into violence, leaving Michael badly injured
[39:08] and bleeding. Many partygoers fled as soon as
[39:11] they realized the police might be coming, leaving only a few
[39:14] people with Michael. Despite his injuries, Michael
[39:19] managed to pull out his cell phone around 11 and call home
[39:22] for help. When his mother answered, she
[39:24] heard her son slurring and begging to be picked up.
[39:28] Minutes later, he called back in tears, saying he was hurt,
[39:33] bleeding and lost, and that he feared the people who beat him
[39:37] might return to finish the job. An arrangement was made for
[39:41] Michael to be picked up at a nearby church on King Rd.
[39:45] Michael's family rushed toward that location, calling 911 on
[39:49] the way. Meanwhile, a concerned neighbor,
[39:53] who happened to be Scott's great uncle Keith, arrived around
[39:57] 11:30 PM to break up the remainder of the party.
[40:01] After hearing the commotion, he found Michael injured and semi
[40:05] conscious on the floor and insisted the others not leave
[40:08] him behind. So Scott and a few others
[40:11] carried Michael outside and loaded him into a silver
[40:14] Volkswagen Passat to drive him to the church meeting point.
[40:19] However, as they drove, Michael suddenly panicked and started
[40:23] swinging at the driver and passengers in a confused rage.
[40:27] Again, I'll emphasize that this is according to court records,
[40:31] and again I'll say that this is based upon the testimony of the
[40:35] people in the vehicle. Instead of calming him, Scott
[40:39] decided to change plans. He directed the driver to a
[40:43] secluded boat ramp by the French Broad River, hoping to avoid the
[40:46] cops on the main road There, they dragged Michael out of the
[40:51] car and left him on the ground without aid.
[40:54] Michael had somehow lost his shirt during the chaos, so he
[40:57] was now out in the 20° cold without any proper protection.
[41:02] And keep this in mind because it's going to matter.
[41:07] Scott and his companions then speed off, abandoning the 16
[41:11] year old alone in the dark. Michael managed one final call
[41:15] to his mother from that remote spot, but he couldn't say
[41:19] exactly where he was. It was too late, and by the time
[41:23] Barbara and the deputies reached the church, Michael was nowhere
[41:27] to be found. They searched the area in vain
[41:30] as Michael disappeared into the freezing night.
[41:35] Authorities soon learned about the party and suspected foul
[41:38] play. At the Fisher House, officers
[41:41] found blood droplets in a bloody towel, confirming Michael had
[41:45] been injured there. Scott's father, Sean Fisher, was
[41:48] contacted by phone and promised to find out from his son what
[41:52] happened. When Sean reached Scott, the
[41:55] young man first claimed he had left Michael at the end of the
[41:58] driveway on King Rd. Police found nothing there and
[42:01] pressed him for more. Scott then suggested Michael
[42:05] might be with a girl named Ashley at an apartment in
[42:08] Brevard. It sounded unlikely, but it was
[42:11] the only lead and what happened next is very bizarre, but it's
[42:15] confirmed by court records. Around 3 that morning, officers
[42:21] went to Ashley's apartment and found Scott, Richard Thomas and
[42:25] others hiding out there. It's unclear why Scott suggested
[42:29] that Michael may be with Ashley, given that's where he was
[42:33] hanging out. Outside was Ashley's silver
[42:36] Passat, stained with blood and missing a taillight.
[42:41] Confronted with this evidence, Scott and Richard admitted they
[42:44] had driven Michael from the party and left him near a bridge
[42:48] by the river after he became aggressive.
[42:52] They claimed Michael walked off into the darkness and they
[42:54] hadn't seen him since. With this information, police
[42:59] focused their search on the remote area by the French Broad
[43:02] River. They discovered shards of a
[43:05] broken tail light and drops of blood at a gravel pull off by a
[43:09] boat ramp, confirming they were in the right spot.
[43:13] Investigators even noticed an oil slick on the ground that
[43:16] matched an oil leak from Ashley's Volkswagen, further
[43:19] tying the vehicle to the scene. Finally, just before 11 on the
[43:24] morning of February 21st, an officer scanning the
[43:27] surroundings spotted Michael's body about 100 yards from the
[43:31] boat access in a muddy field. It appeared Michael had wandered
[43:36] roughly that far from where he'd been left before collapsing in
[43:39] the pasture. He was lying on his back,
[43:43] barefoot and shirtless, and was already deceased.
[43:47] The field was used to pasture pigs, but a guard dog had
[43:50] thankfully kept the animals away from Michael's body.
[43:54] If the pigs had gotten access to his body, it's likely that most
[43:58] of the evidence of the crime would have been destroyed.
[44:01] Given how the only conviction in this case would occur, this
[44:05] guard dog was a confirmed good boy.
[44:08] Since without the dog there would be no conviction.
[44:13] I'm also going to take a moment to point out here how unusual it
[44:16] was that Michael's body ended up where it did, given what pigs
[44:20] are known to do to bodies. An autopsy later confirmed that
[44:25] Michael died of hypothermia. Essentially, he froze to death
[44:29] after spending hours injured in the bitter cold.
[44:32] His body bore numerous bruises and scrapes from the beatings,
[44:36] but none of those injuries were fatal on their own.
[44:39] In other words, had he received timely help, he almost certainly
[44:44] would have survived. Toxicology tests also showed
[44:48] Michael had been drinking, though this wasn't directly a
[44:51] factor in his demise. Notably, these tests also proved
[44:56] that he hadn't consumed any other substances that night.
[45:00] Disturbingly, the immediate cause of death was being left
[45:03] exposed to the elements while incapacitated.
[45:07] Faced with the evidence, Scott Fischer eventually confessed to
[45:10] his role. He admitted that after the
[45:13] fight, he and his friends drove Michael out to the country and
[45:16] abandoned him there when he wouldn't calm down.
[45:19] Court documents indicate that he even bragged later to a friend
[45:23] that he had beaten up Michael, though this was before he
[45:26] learned that Michael had perished.
[45:29] Despite this, nearly a year passed with no arrests, but
[45:33] Michael's family never stopped pushing for accountability.
[45:37] In January 2011, a Henderson County grand jury finally
[45:42] indicted Scott Fischer on an involuntary manslaughter charge
[45:46] for Michael's death. The case went to trial in May
[45:50] 2012. Michael's mother testified
[45:54] through tears about his final phone calls, and investigators
[45:58] laid out the grim sequence of events.
[46:00] Somewhat unsurprisingly, the jury convicted Scott of
[46:04] involuntary manslaughter after only a few hours of
[46:08] deliberation. Scott Fischer, then 21, was
[46:12] sentenced to 19 to 23 months in prison for causing Michael's
[46:16] death to the family. It felt like a paltry punishment
[46:20] for the loss of a child, but it was the maximum allowed under
[46:24] the charge. Scott appealed the conviction,
[46:28] but in 2013, the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the
[46:33] verdict, finding no error in his trial.
[46:37] Notably, no one else has ever faced justice for their alleged
[46:41] roles in this crime. On April 26th, 1993, a janitor
[46:51] at the University of Alaska Fairbanks opened a dormitory
[46:54] bathroom door and stumbled upon a horrifying scene.
[46:59] Inside that washroom lay the body of 20 year old Sophie
[47:02] Sergey, a former student who had been visiting campus.
[47:07] Sophie Sergey was a bright young woman from the small Yukon River
[47:11] village of Pitcas Point in western Alaska.
[47:14] She had been studying marine biology on a scholarship, but
[47:18] took a semester off to work back home and save money for
[47:20] orthodontic treatment. In late April 1993, Sophie
[47:25] returned to Fairbanks for an orthodontist appointment and
[47:28] stayed overnight with a friend in Bartlett Hall, a dorm on
[47:32] campus. Just past midnight, Sophie
[47:36] stepped out for a smoke, telling her friend she'd be right back.
[47:40] Tragically, she never returned. The next day, Sophie's body was
[47:45] found in a second floor bathroom of Bartlett Hall, brutally
[47:49] attacked and shot at close range.
[47:52] The brazen slaying had occurred just feet away from where other
[47:56] students slept and showered, a shock that left the campus
[48:00] community terrified and on edge. Investigators interviewed dozens
[48:06] of students, including 18 year old freshman Stephen Downs, who
[48:10] lived upstairs in the dorm. Downs and others denied knowing
[48:13] anything and no solid leads emerged.
[48:17] Detectives collected DNA evidence from Sophie's body and
[48:22] by 2000 they had a profile of the unknown perpetrator.
[48:26] But it got no hits in CODIS. For years, Alaska State Troopers
[48:31] continued chasing the case. They followed dozens of tips and
[48:35] even collected DNA samples from numerous potential suspects, but
[48:40] none match the crime scene evidence.
[48:43] In 2010, a cold case detective took a fresh look and re
[48:47] interviewed Downs old roommate. That's when a telling detail
[48:51] emerged. The roommate revealed that back
[48:54] in 1993, Downs kept a gun in their dorm room.
[48:59] Notably, this was the same caliber weapon that had fired
[49:02] the bullet recovered next to Sophie's body.
[49:06] It was a tantalizing clue, but without adna link or confession,
[49:10] it wasn't enough to crack the case.
[49:14] In mid 2018, cold case detectives partnered with a
[49:18] private lab to run Sophie's crime scene DNA through a public
[49:23] genealogy database. Before long, there was a hit.
[49:27] Not an exact match, but a partial match to a woman who
[49:31] turned out to be a second degree relative of the suspect.
[49:34] Further forensic research LED right back to Steve Downs, the
[49:39] same man who had briefly been considered by the initial
[49:41] investigators. Armed with their new lead,
[49:46] Alaska State Troopers and Maine police, where Downs now lived,
[49:50] began surveilling their new prime suspect.
[49:53] He was now 44 years old and in an extremely disturbing twist,
[49:58] he was working as a nurse in Maine by this time.
[50:01] Investigators approached him and obtained ADNA sample from him
[50:04] via a search warrant in early 2019.
[50:08] The sample was rushed to the lab and the result came back
[50:11] conclusive. Stephen Downs's DNA profile
[50:14] exactly matched the biological material on Sophie's body.
[50:19] On February 15th, 2019, nearly 26 years after Sophie's death,
[50:25] authorities finally moved to make an arrest.
[50:29] With the help of local officers, they took Downs into custody at
[50:33] his workplace in Auburn, ME, catching him completely off
[50:37] guard. Downs, for his part, insisted he
[50:41] had nothing to do with the crime.
[50:43] When questioned by police, he admitted he remembered the case,
[50:47] but claimed he didn't know Sophie.
[50:49] Interestingly, this admission that he didn't know Sophie would
[50:53] hamper his future potential defense as to why his biological
[50:58] material was on her body. He then went on to speculate
[51:01] that it was soldiers from a nearby base who likely committed
[51:04] the act in a failed attempt to deflect responsibility.
[51:08] Unsurprisingly, the authorities didn't take his theory too
[51:12] seriously and within days, Downs was extradited over 4000 miles
[51:17] from Maine back to Alaska to face justice.
[51:22] The case finally went to trial in early 2022 in Fairbanks after
[51:27] nearly 3 decades of uncertainty. Nearly 29 years after Sophie's
[51:32] death, a jury found Stephen Downs guilty as charged.
[51:37] In September 2022, Downs was sentenced to 75 years in prison,
[51:43] effectively a life term for the now 47 year old man.
[51:48] The judge noted that Downs had shown a callous disregard for
[51:51] Sophie's life, robbing her of her future and her family of
[51:56] their beloved daughter. For Sophie's family and the
[51:59] Fairbanks community, the verdict brought a very long-awaited
[52:03] sense of relief and closure. Notably, it was also the first
[52:08] case in Alaska where this new forensic technology was used in
[52:12] court, marking A historic milestone.
[52:17] Unfortunately, Alaska also has a much broader problem with
[52:20] violence against indigenous women, and hopefully genetic
[52:25] genealogy can be used to crack more of these cases.
[52:31] In February 1984, the lifeless body of 21 year old Mary Jane
[52:37] Thompson was discovered behind a warehouse along Dallas's Irving
[52:41] Blvd. Yet as years turned into
[52:44] decades, Thompson's attacker remained unidentified and free,
[52:48] and her case went cold. Nearly 38 years later, however,
[52:53] a breakthrough in DNA technology finally put a name and face to
[52:59] the man who had escaped justice for so long.
[53:03] Mary Jane Thompson had moved to Dallas about six months before
[53:07] her death, hoping to launch a modeling career in the big city.
[53:11] She worked 2 jobs, one at a florist shop and another at a
[53:15] local restaurant to make ends meet while chasing her dreams.
[53:20] Before relocating to Dallas, Thompson had lived in Houston
[53:23] and Los Angeles where she had also tried to breakthrough in
[53:27] modeling. Friends and family knew her as
[53:30] an ambitious young woman with a bright future.
[53:33] But in the winter of 1984, Mary Jane's ambitions were tragically
[53:38] cut short. On the evening of February 11th,
[53:43] 1984, Thompson was last seen taking a bus to the Trinity
[53:47] Medical Clinic on Industrial Blvd. in Dallas.
[53:51] She had planned to visit the clinic, but when she arrived,
[53:54] she found it closed for the day. What happened next remains a
[53:58] nightmare scenario and Mary Jane never made it back home.
[54:04] Two days later, on February 13th, her body was discovered
[54:09] near out of use railroad tracks behind a warehouse in the city's
[54:12] Stemmons Corridor Industrial Area.
[54:15] She had been brutally attacked, subjected to the most indecent
[54:19] assault, and strangled with her own leg warmers.
[54:23] Dallas police launched an investigation into the young
[54:26] woman's slaying, interviewing witnesses and examining
[54:29] evidence. However, in 1984, forensic
[54:33] science was limited. DNA profiling wasn't yet a
[54:37] standard tool, so detectives had few leads to work with.
[54:42] That said, the authorities had enough forethought to make sure
[54:45] they fully secured the biological evidence they were
[54:48] able to recover for later testing.
[54:51] Despite their efforts, no suspect was identified at the
[54:54] time, and Mary Jane Thompson's case began to go cold.
[54:59] For years, Thompson's family lived with the painful knowledge
[55:03] that this predator was still out there.
[55:06] Investigators never forgot Mary Jane's case, even as it
[55:09] languished without answers. Cold case detectives
[55:13] periodically reviewed the evidence, hoping new information
[55:16] or techniques might crack the mystery.
[55:19] But through the late 1980s and 1990's, the file remained
[55:23] unsolved. In 2009, a quarter century after
[55:28] the slaying, the Dallas Police Department decided to fully
[55:31] reopen the Thompson case and re examine the evidence.
[55:35] By then, DNA analysis had become a powerful investigative tool.
[55:41] Detectives submitted swabs from Mary Jane's 1984 autopsy for
[55:46] modern DNA testing. The lab results revealed A
[55:49] genetic profile belonging to an unknown male suspect, presumably
[55:54] the man who had assaulted and slain her.
[55:57] However, when investigators ran that male profile through law
[56:01] enforcement databases, no match was found.
[56:05] The profile didn't correspond to any convicted offender or known
[56:08] person in the national DNA index, leaving the suspect's
[56:12] identity a mystery. With no name to go with the DNA
[56:16] and no other strong leads, the case went cold once again.
[56:22] By 2018, advances in DNA technology and investigative
[56:26] techniques LED Dallas authorities to take yet another
[56:30] look at Mary Jane's cold case. They looked into the possibility
[56:34] of using forensic genetic genealogy to crack the case.
[56:38] However, at the time the technology was extremely new.
[56:43] Unfortunately, without the proper resources allocated, no
[56:47] new breakthroughs came at this time.
[56:49] But that would all change shortly.
[56:51] In 2020, the FBI joined the effort, bringing those much
[56:55] needed additional resources to the case and a full genealogical
[57:00] manhunt began. Using this cutting edge
[57:03] approach, investigators in Mary Jane's case finally got the lead
[57:08] they desperately needed. The DNA trail led to a man named
[57:12] Edward Morgan, a Dallas resident who would have been in his early
[57:16] 20s at the time of the 1984 slaying.
[57:20] Once Edward Morgan was identified through genealogical
[57:23] sleuthing, detectives moved quickly to confirm their
[57:26] suspicions. In early 2022, they obtained a
[57:30] direct DNA sample from Morgan, reportedly by collecting an item
[57:34] he had discarded and sent it for comparison against the crime
[57:38] scene profile. The results came back as a
[57:41] definitive match, tying 60 year old Edward Morgan's DNA to the
[57:46] DNA found on Mary Jane Thompson's autopsy swabs.
[57:50] It was the evidence investigators needed to finally
[57:53] close the net around a suspect. In February 2022, nearly 38
[58:00] years to the day after Mary Jane's body was found, police
[58:04] arrested Edward Morgan and charged him in Thompson's case.
[58:08] Morgan, who had lived in Dallas for years, had never even been
[58:12] on the radar of the original investigation.
[58:16] Importantly, Morgan's DNA hadn't ever been in any criminal
[58:20] database, which explains why earlier searches never
[58:23] identified him.

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