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[Music]
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next on Unsolved
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Mysteries a young man is convicted of a
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brutal murder and sent to prison for
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life why is he still behind bars then
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this man has confessed to the
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crime when a 15-year-old school girl
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falls in love with a dangerous criminal
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she becomes an accessory to
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murder a Young Man shows up at a small
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airport and tries to catch a ride on a
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private plane it's the last time that
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he's seen
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aive strange noises and unexplained
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apparitions frighten a couple in their
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new
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home join us for five cases with twists
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and turns that you can hardly believe
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I'm Dennis finina and this is Unsolved
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Mysteries
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[Music]
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[Music]
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Aurora
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Missouri with a population of just 7,000
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Aurora is a small town where everyone
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knows everyone else and everyone in town
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knew Johnny Lee Wilson an easygoing
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mentally challenged 20-year-old with the
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emotional development of a third grader
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Johnny had been lovingly raised by his
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mother and Grand
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mother I'm Mrs Mar on school days Johnny
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would often leave his bicycle with Mrs
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Pauline Mars afraid that his classmates
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might vandalize it Pauline was a close
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friend of Johnny's grandmother after
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school at 79 Pauline was the last
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surviving member of the wealthiest
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family in Aurora and owned the town's
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largest
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[Music]
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business one evening at about 8:00 p.m.
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the local fire department rushed to
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Pauline's home by the time they arrived
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the house was totally engulfed in
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flames when they were finally able to
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search the wreckage they found Pauline's
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charred body the official cause of death
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was smoke inhalation but the fire was
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not an
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[Music]
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accident Pauline had been bound and
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gagged with rope and duct tape in
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investigators concluded that the fire
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was arson it had been deliberately set
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with
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gasoline the town was stunned by the
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ghastly crime Pauline had been one of
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Aurora's most beloved
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citizens 5 days later anger turned to
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shock when police picked up Johnny Lee
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Wilson for questioning they grilled him
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for nearly 4 hours until he finally
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confessed to the crime a confession he
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would later we
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can't the case of Johnny Lee Wilson
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divided the town of Aurora some strongly
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believe that Johnny was innocent but
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police insisted that the right man was
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behind bars did Johnny murder Pauline
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Marts or was he convicted of a crime
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that someone else
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committed on the day of the fire John
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spent the afternoon at home with a
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friend later he mowed a neighbor's lawn
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when he was finished his mother drove
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him back home she and his grandmother
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claimed that Johnny could not possibly
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have been anywhere near the Mark's house
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when the fire was set they didn't get
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home until about
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5:00 and as soon as they got home the
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neighbor boy came back over again and
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then when they left at 700 John and I
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put up nine posters in his bedroom and
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then when uh that was done then we about
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258 we left and went mailed two letters
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when went up to Ry got some
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things and then when we came out that's
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when we heard the
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[Music]
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sirens Johnny got out of the car to
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watch the fire hey Johnny how's it going
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not bad how about you he was approached
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by 18-year-old Gary Wall a classmate in
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the special education program at the
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local high school see you later bye
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basically I just said Hi how are you and
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you know bye you know and then I went
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back to the car and and uh sat in the
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back seat and that was
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it hey Johnny hey the next morning Gary
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gave police a completely different
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version of his conversation with
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Johnny this is
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mar well how do you know tied
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up well you sound like you know
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something about this you tell anybody
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and I'm going to beat you up okay Jerry
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Gary Wall took a total of six polygraphs
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he failed all but
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one the morning after Johnny's arrest
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sheriff's deputies went to the Wilson
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home to search for
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evidence they came to search the house
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and said they had a warrant and I gave
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them permission to search because I
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didn't think they'd find any anything
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see but they did I mean they thought
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they did they went to his room and just
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started taking things out of drawers and
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cabinets and things that was in
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there authorities suspected that Pauline
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Marts had been sexually assaulted before
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the fire when they found a drawer full
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of women's underwear in Johnny's bedroom
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it fit their Theory however the family
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said the bureau and clothing belong to
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Johnny's
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mother deputy also found costume jewelry
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which Johnny's grandmother said that she
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used for sewing but during his
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confession Johnny told detectives that
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he had stolen jewelry from the Marts
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home when they found an empty gas can in
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the garage deputies were convinced that
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Johnny was the
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killer Johnny was charged with
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first-degree murder but because of his
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diminished mental faculties the court
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needed to determine if he was fit to
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stand trial what' you like about high
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school I was a manager for the football
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team they gave me a jacket and
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everything right do you have any friends
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in school when you're asked to evaluate
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someone's Fitness to stand trial you
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look at first whether they understand
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what the charges are against them and
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then second are they able to reason and
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make their own decisions about whether
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din or a plea uh are they able to decide
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whether uh they want to testify in their
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own behalf at a trial are they able to
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help their attorney by giving him a
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consistent account of what happened and
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in those particular range of skills I
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did not think Johnny was poing his D
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trial
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Johnny when the police arrested you did
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they ask you anything about Miranda
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rights yeah I think so do you know what
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Miranda rights
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are yeah what are
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they that's the difference between right
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and
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wrong Johnny was examined by two
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psychiatrist and a
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psychologist two of them found that
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Johnny was not capable of understanding
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the court proceedings however the third
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a courta apppp appointed psychiatrist
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determined that Johnny was fit to stand
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trial Johnny told his attorneys that he
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was innocent but based upon on his
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confession and the testimony of Gary
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Wall he was advised to plead guilty this
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meant that Johnny would lose his right
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to a trial by jury because he had given
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a confession his attorneys told him that
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it would be very likely that he would
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get convicted if this went to trial and
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they also told him that this judge was
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very likely to give him the death
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penalty based on prior cases that had
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gone before this judge and so what he
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understood was if he went to trial and
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he was found guilty that he would
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die what is your understanding of why
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you're here this afternoon plead guilty
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why are you pleading guilty Johnny I
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don't know pardon this Recreation of
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Johnny's hearing is taken directly from
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Court
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transcripts just a first deegree
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murder that's what you're pleading
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guilty too why are you wanting to enter
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such a plea I I don't
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know the so-called plea of guilty should
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have been stopped about 60 seconds after
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it started the judge asked Johnny if he
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knew what he was doing and Johnny Wilson
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said no I don't understand why I'm here
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I don't understand what's going on and
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the judge said do you want to plead guil
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to this charge and Johnny said no I
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don't want to plead guilty to it at that
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point the Circuit Judge should have said
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gentlemen courts adjourned this case
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will be set for trial in two weeks I
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expect everyone to be here and be ready
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for trial I'm not going to take this
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plea of guilty but he didn't the judge
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went further continued to cross-examine
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Johnny and finally accepted the plea of
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guilty upon your plea of guilty in this
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cause the court sentences you to life
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imprisonment in the custody of the
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Missouri Department of
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Corrections stands a Jer Johnny Wilson
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was sent to the Missouri State Prison to
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begin serving his life sentence 10
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months later at a prison in Kansas this
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man claimed that that he knew who killed
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Pauline Marts and that it wasn't Johnny
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Wilson up next can Johnny Lee Wilson get
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a new trial and prove his
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innocence Johnny Lee Wilson a mentally
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challenged 20-year-old confessed to the
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murder of Pauline Mars and was sentenced
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to life in
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prison 2 years later a convicted felon
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named Chris Brownfield confessed to
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participating in the attack on Marx
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Brownfield was serving a life sentence
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for accessory to murder in a separate
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case according to Brownfield the crime
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began when he was tipped off that
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Pauline Marts kept a lot of cash in her
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home Brownfield said he made plans to
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Rob Pauline Marts after learning about
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the cash in her home Brownfield and a
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partner not Johnny Lee Wilson broke into
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the March
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home according to Brownfield they
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ransacked the house where's your money
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at lady
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huh Pauline was bound and
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gaged Brownfield and his accomplice
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decided to burn down the house so that
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no evidence would be left at the scene
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in his confession Brownfield stated that
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he was outside when his partner started
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the
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fight the two men then fled the
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sea when brownfields confession went
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public it caused an up one group of
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citizens banned it together and erected
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this billboard a short time later it was
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firebomb attorney D1 Wampler was hired
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to represent Johnny and to reopen the
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case Wampler was convinced that he could
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prove that Johnny's confession had been
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coerced the first time the state of
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Missouri has ever put a third grader on
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trial for murder okay thank you very
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much Johnny Lee Wilson was at a movie
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theater on the night that he supposedly
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confessed and they tricked him into
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going with them to the police
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headquarters he had lost a billfall
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several days earlier and they came and
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asked him to go to the police station
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and he thought that he was going because
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they had found his billfold Johnny did
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you lose a wallet yeah we found it we
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got it down at the police station if you
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come down and identify it you pick it up
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take it on home okay come on with me his
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mother and grandmother were not told
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that they were going to question him
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that evening John is there any
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possibility that you are involved in
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this no what if I told you I thought you
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was the police interrogation began at
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8:30 p.m. and ended it just after
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midnight what if I told you you was seen
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at that fire before it started I'd say I
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wasn't the word spoken in these scenes
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are taken directly from a transcript of
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police tape recordings what would you do
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if we brought in a witness in here in
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this chair and he sat here and looked
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you right in the eye and said John you
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was there before that fire started they
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kept on saying uh well we know you did
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it we know we got we got a witness
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saying that that you told him you told
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him you did it and
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uh after that you know I I just I I I
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REM maintained my innocence I I said I
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didn't I I didn't I didn't do it I I
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don't know who did I Didn't Do It murder
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what you're in here for they started you
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know started yelling saying well we know
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you did it you're going to tell us that
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you did it so we just get this all
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wrapped up so we can all go home didn't
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know she was tied up how'd that
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information get out there's a whole
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bunch of people out there that night
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that came up with information that she
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was tied up the language used was so
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aggressive what an ordinary individual
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might have done at that point was to end
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the interview or ask for their attorney
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but being a fairly uh young uh young man
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who was limited intellectually and no
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prior uh experience with the criminal
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justice system and the emotional
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stability of an eight or nine-year-old
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uh they're not going to know to say say
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get out of my face stop talking to me
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and I want to end this he didn't think
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he had the permission to end this you
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know too much why' Gary make up
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something like that on you he mad at you
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at the end of the interrogation he he
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forced my head back and that's that's
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when I said okay okay I did it but when
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I really didn't that's that's when I
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lied what besides her rope was around
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her ankles as the interrogation
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continued deputies pressed for more
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details you know and I know just think
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come on John I'm thinking what are some
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of the things that could be
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used handcuffs I think no no wrong guess
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they just simply said if you'll tell us
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what we want to know we can all go home
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and he was just acting like a a child
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that has a that has brain damage and he
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thought okay I'll tell them what they
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want to know and then we'll all go
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home but Johnny did not go home
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at the end of the confession they uh
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they SLA the handcuffs on me and walked
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me out the door and drove me to Mount
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Vern and locked me
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up that's when I thought say no I ain't
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going home over over something that I
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think just run my life I'd set in my
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jail cell you know just thinking you
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know I didn't do this you know the
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bottom line you know I just I just want
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to go home a former deputy sheriff named
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Dustin Toller began looking Clos clely
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at the evidence in the case soon he came
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to Johnny's
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defense as I got into the reports I
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observed that what was being said about
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Johnny Wilson by the sheriff's
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department and other investigative
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agencies and what was substantiated by
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evidence were not the same
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thing toer discovered that the costume
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jewelry in the Wilson home did belong to
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Johnny's grandmother not to Pauline Mars
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the underwear did belong to johny's
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Mother not
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Pauline and finally the gas can found
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that the crime scene did not belong to
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Johnny
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Wilson but the key finding had never
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been entered into evidence the more I
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observed the less evidence I could find
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I never did find anything that could tie
00:17:19
Johnny Wilson to the
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case there was one very important piece
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of evidence that was discovered at the
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crime scene but then ignored a battery
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operated stun
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gun in his confession Brownfield stated
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that he lost the stun gun during the
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robbery it had never been publicized
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that a stun gun had been used in this
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crime Chris Brownfield and his
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confession was the first one who ever
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mentioned the stun gun he described the
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stun gun and drew a picture of it that
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was identical to the stun gun that was
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eventually found at the crime scene
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Johnny Lee Wilson didn't even know what
00:18:04
a stun gun was he was asked about it he
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thought a stun gun was an electric
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razor with his case well prepared D wler
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presented a motion to the court
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requesting a jury trial for Johnny the
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motion was
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denied the Court ruled that when Johnny
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plad guilty he understood the charges
00:18:29
against him and was mentally competent
00:18:31
to stand trial the judge also found that
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Chris Brownfield was not
00:18:39
credible justice has been very difficult
00:18:42
to find in the Johnny Wilson case it's
00:18:45
one of those cases perhaps there's only
00:18:47
one in a thousand where an innocent man
00:18:51
is doing time in the penitentiary and
00:18:53
Johnny Lee Wilson is innocent and it's a
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shame that he never got a chance to
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prove his
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[Music]
00:19:00
inocence all I all I want somebody to
00:19:02
believe in me you know you know just
00:19:06
that I didn't do
00:19:11
this
00:19:13
update after a lengthy review the
00:19:15
governor of Missouri pardoned Johnny Lee
00:19:18
Wilson the governor concluded that
00:19:20
police had coed Johnny's confession
00:19:23
Johnny served 8 years in prison before
00:19:26
being released today
00:19:29
he is a free
00:19:30
[Music]
00:19:34
man next a family's life has turned
00:19:37
upside down when a powerful force
00:19:40
refuses to leave their
00:19:52
home this is a quiet suburb near Atlanta
00:19:55
Georgia where Jim and K Tatum built a
00:19:58
new home and plan to retire but 5 months
00:20:01
after they moved in the tatums began to
00:20:04
experience unusual events a series of
00:20:08
incidents that forced them to put their
00:20:10
house up for sale and for this reason
00:20:13
they requested we not show it but they
00:20:16
did allow us to film
00:20:20
inside one night K Tatum couldn't sleep
00:20:24
she sensed the strange presence in the
00:20:26
hall outside of her bedroom
00:20:29
[Music]
00:20:32
Kay caught a glimpse of a man walking
00:20:35
past her
00:20:36
[Applause]
00:20:38
door it was definitely a man and he was
00:20:41
swinging his arm slightly and his head
00:20:43
was slightly bent and he walked briskly
00:20:46
past me
00:20:48
Jim at first I thought it was my
00:20:51
husband and I went into the bedroom and
00:20:54
there and my husband was in the bed so I
00:20:56
thought we had a burglar
00:20:59
Jim searched the
00:21:02
house there's no evidence of any entry
00:21:05
there's no evidence of anyone having
00:21:06
been in the house and I thought perhaps
00:21:09
Kay had been using an overactive
00:21:16
imagination I had fear and I was
00:21:19
perplexed about what happened while I
00:21:21
was tosing and Turney I suddenly
00:21:23
remembered that I didn't hear any sound
00:21:25
as he passed me and I still I'm unable
00:21:29
to figure out why it
00:21:33
happened 2 months passed without further
00:21:36
incident then one night Jim was working
00:21:39
upstairs on the house he stopped when
00:21:41
Kay called him down to
00:21:44
dinner Jim dinner's ready in a minute I
00:21:48
specifically unplugged the drill because
00:21:50
it's a very old drill I thought it might
00:21:52
be dangerous to leave it
00:21:54
plugged as the evening wore on he wanted
00:21:57
to watch a movie and I decided to go
00:21:59
upstairs and read 1 hour later kay heard
00:22:03
the sound of the drill outside of her
00:22:06
room Kay says that she just assumed that
00:22:09
Jim was teasing her about having seen a
00:22:11
ghost it wasn't long before she felt the
00:22:14
joke had gone on long enough when she
00:22:18
got to the hallway it was empty and the
00:22:21
drill was unplugged I was really
00:22:24
frightened and I reached down it felt
00:22:26
out and it was ice cold it had not been
00:22:29
turned on I was very
00:22:32
confused I I knew very well that
00:22:35
something was happening because K is
00:22:37
very
00:22:38
level-headed and uh she was truly
00:22:42
frightened the strange events continued
00:22:45
one night Kay heard the sound of coins
00:22:48
falling in a bowl but she was alone in
00:22:52
the room another time while cooking Kay
00:22:55
felt two sharp tugs on her blood
00:22:59
after that incident I decided we have a
00:23:02
problem in this
00:23:04
house something going on it's not
00:23:07
something that we can understand or
00:23:09
explain but there's something definitely
00:23:11
going
00:23:11
[Music]
00:23:13
on these strange occurrences all seem to
00:23:16
be centered on Kay she and Jim were
00:23:20
terrified by what was happening in their
00:23:22
home so they turned to an expert for
00:23:25
help this is where most of uh things
00:23:28
have been
00:23:29
happening you know the question comes up
00:23:32
why is this family having these
00:23:33
experiences is there sort of ghost that
00:23:36
has come back to haunt them for some
00:23:39
unknown reason or what's taking place a
00:23:41
lot of people have these experiences
00:23:43
it's part of who we are as humans to
00:23:46
have uh so-called psychic experiences Dr
00:23:50
Ro believes that memories can actually
00:23:52
be transferred to physical objects and
00:23:55
these residual memories can be triggered
00:23:58
by Ordinary People the nature of his
00:24:01
presence seems to be a teasing type of
00:24:05
thing uh as though it's teasing us it
00:24:10
wasn't long before Jim finally had his
00:24:12
first strange experience come on it
00:24:15
started with this small
00:24:18
bell Jim always got up hours before K
00:24:22
when Kay woke up she would ring the bell
00:24:24
if she needed anything upstairs
00:24:28
I'd grown used to climbing the stairs
00:24:30
after hearing the bell and so I did so
00:24:33
and it wasn't K she was
00:24:36
asleep so I went in and looked at the
00:24:38
bell and it was
00:24:40
there and I thought obviously I heard
00:24:42
something else other than the
00:24:44
Bell after the third time this happened
00:24:48
the tatums decided to make up a code in
00:24:51
order to outwit The Entity if it ranks
00:24:55
three times I'll come on up the stairs
00:24:59
all right we'll do
00:25:02
that so the next time it rang three
00:25:05
times I knew this was K because this was
00:25:08
our signal but K was sound asleep and
00:25:11
the bell was in the other bedroom where
00:25:14
it
00:25:15
stays I went in and looked at it I
00:25:18
turned around and walked out the door
00:25:19
and the thing rang
00:25:22
[Music]
00:25:24
again are you getting up then I begin to
00:25:27
see how K felt I mean I was frightened
00:25:30
the hair stood up on my
00:25:33
neck I told k then I says no more Bell
00:25:37
I'm not going to answer that Bell
00:25:39
anymore and that Bell has not rung
00:25:42
[Music]
00:25:44
since I've never seen him like that
00:25:48
before there a number of haunted cases
00:25:51
that are not very striking not very
00:25:53
strong but where the phenomena
00:25:55
nevertheless are disturbing to the
00:25:57
family it might be a bell ringing a
00:26:00
fleeting glimpse of an operation the
00:26:02
events are trivial but they're deeply
00:26:04
upsetting to the family because they
00:26:07
don't fit into the picture that most of
00:26:09
us have of the world and that image of
00:26:13
the physical world particularly of our
00:26:15
home is intricately related to who we
00:26:19
picture ourselves as
00:26:21
being in the end things got so bad that
00:26:25
the tatums moved out of their home and
00:26:27
put it up for sale
00:26:29
they left behind the spirit or whatever
00:26:31
it was to live in the house all
00:26:38
alone next a courier carrying more than
00:26:41
$10,000 is robbed and killed by an
00:26:45
Exon and a 15-year-old girl
00:26:53
[Music]
00:26:59
Hancock
00:27:00
Maryland Melissa Monday was known as
00:27:03
Missy to her friends she was an honor
00:27:06
student at the local high school and a
00:27:08
member of the future Homemakers of
00:27:11
America she was in probably the top 10%
00:27:15
of her class she enjoyed what she was
00:27:17
doing she got a long wealth and if I
00:27:20
could have gazed it I would have gazed
00:27:21
it everything was satisfactory because
00:27:24
that's the way she seemed to be here at
00:27:26
school Missy was very sh person she'd
00:27:29
only go to her basketball games her
00:27:30
choir practice or maybe a couple ball
00:27:32
games we always know where she was at
00:27:35
when she got done she'd call us we go
00:27:37
pick her up and bring her back
00:27:41
home one day a stranger showed up on
00:27:44
Missy's doorstep his name was Jerry
00:27:47
Strickland and he said that he was
00:27:49
looking for a property to convert into a
00:27:52
small orphanage he stopped by Missy's
00:27:54
home to find out who owned the farm next
00:27:57
door
00:27:59
Hi how are you today when I first met
00:28:01
Jerry I thought well you know he's was a
00:28:04
smooth talker I mean it was his actions
00:28:07
the way he talked he was so
00:28:11
demanding I didn't care for his
00:28:15
attitude but Missy was intrigued by
00:28:18
Jerry her first Glimpse was the
00:28:20
beginning of a relationship that would
00:28:22
change her life forever she really liked
00:28:25
him a lot every time it came out he
00:28:27
brought her a gift and he gave her a lot
00:28:28
of attention that she didn't get it home
00:28:31
she went out with him in the evening
00:28:33
after her mom got home and she said that
00:28:35
she got home late but her mom didn't
00:28:36
know who she was with and she lied to
00:28:38
her told her she was with a
00:28:41
friend over the next few weeks Missy
00:28:44
snuck out of the house to see Strickland
00:28:47
he told her that he had a tragic past
00:28:50
including the death of his first wife
00:28:52
and child in a terrible car accident
00:28:55
Missy was swept off her feet
00:28:58
she had boy crushes at school you know
00:29:00
like childhood sweethearts stuff like
00:29:02
that but as far as going out boy she
00:29:04
never paid that much of an interest in
00:29:05
them that's what I don't understand
00:29:07
about this and Jerry got something for
00:29:11
you oh it's beautiful you like it yeah
00:29:14
it she had bought a ring she said for a
00:29:17
souvenir I come find out later Jerry had
00:29:20
gave her the ring and I took her at a
00:29:23
word cuz Missy never did lie to me
00:29:26
that's why I never dreamt it's was going
00:29:27
to happen up
00:29:31
next Bye Mom the bus is here it was an
00:29:34
ordinary school day and Missy left to
00:29:37
catch the
00:29:39
bus I'll never forget that day she said
00:29:42
I'm going to school now I'll see you to
00:29:44
City and I said all right that was it
00:29:47
those the last words you spoke to
00:29:50
me Missy hadn't gone to school she got
00:29:54
in Jerry's car and left the state
00:29:58
I didn't believe it Missy would that
00:30:00
kind of a person cuz I know Missy I
00:30:03
raised her it was just a big change in
00:30:06
that one day when she just
00:30:08
[Music]
00:30:10
left even as she drove away with Jerry
00:30:13
strickman Missy had no idea who he
00:30:19
was Jerry Strickland's wife and child
00:30:22
had not died he just left them behind
00:30:26
Strickland had also been arrested for
00:30:28
ing bad checks and convicted of assault
00:30:31
he had also raped his sister-in-law then
00:30:34
cut her throat and left her for dead
00:30:37
this was not a nice
00:30:42
guy Jerry what I think the baby's sick
00:30:47
when Missy gave birth to a son Jamie she
00:30:50
never told her family did she get some
00:30:53
medicine or something she told me that
00:30:55
she was very unhappy at home and that's
00:30:58
why she was with Jerry was cuzz he took
00:31:00
her away from
00:31:01
home look I'm working all right I never
00:31:05
seen him kiss never held hands I thought
00:31:08
that was a so strange I remember asking
00:31:10
her about it once and she said that he
00:31:12
wasn't very
00:31:14
affectionate to help make 's meet Missy
00:31:17
took a job at a gas station there she
00:31:20
met Elmer dor a courier for the oil
00:31:23
company who picked up cash deposits for
00:31:26
the local gas stations over over time
00:31:28
Missy and Elmer became friends how's CH
00:31:33
oh it's kind of distant lately he
00:31:35
understood that she was going through a
00:31:37
really rough time being married to this
00:31:39
guy and they didn't have anything for
00:31:41
the baby and stuff like that he very
00:31:44
understanding man very
00:31:48
loving on a Monday morning Elmer came by
00:31:51
as usual to pick up cash from the
00:31:55
station when customers sto by an hour
00:31:58
later the station was
00:32:03
deserted the police arrived and found
00:32:06
Elmer's car in the parking lot the
00:32:08
office was
00:32:12
locked we checked the interior of the
00:32:14
station and found that there was nobody
00:32:16
inside but the safe had been opened and
00:32:20
there was an excess of $10,000 stolen
00:32:23
just nothing but change in here David
00:32:25
Melissa knew Elmer's r
00:32:29
because of her position as assistant
00:32:31
manager to that particular station she
00:32:34
knew when he was going to pick up and
00:32:38
work police believe that strickman
00:32:41
planned the crime and was waiting with
00:32:43
Missy for Elmer when Elmer opened the
00:32:46
safe Strickland made his
00:32:49
move don't move Elmer don't move all
00:32:52
right all right all right stand stand
00:32:54
put your arms up put them up Missy put
00:32:56
the cups on him move
00:32:58
move hurry up on yourself too now on
00:33:02
yourself too Missy let's go police
00:33:04
guessed that Strickland wanted to
00:33:05
convince Elmer that Missy was also a
00:33:10
victim we feel that Elmer was handcuffed
00:33:13
to missing on the pretext that she was
00:33:17
going to be hurt and uh Elmer went along
00:33:20
with
00:33:21
it reluctantly but to protect Melissa
00:33:26
happened I'm Missy with me you're just
00:33:29
going to wait here all right then he
00:33:30
unlocked the handcuffs to show Elmer
00:33:33
that he wasn't really going to hurt
00:33:34
Melissa but he just wanted the
00:33:39
money and then he shot Elmer twice in
00:33:42
the back of the
00:33:48
head at first I couldn't believe that it
00:33:50
could have happened that way it was
00:33:52
unbelievable it was something that you'd
00:33:54
never expect out of
00:33:56
Melissa well what do you think you want
00:33:58
to take her home the morning after the
00:34:01
murder Strickland and Missy were seen in
00:34:03
Pontiac Michigan buying a truck and
00:34:06
paying for it with cash thanks a lot
00:34:09
yeah I appreciate it while Strickland
00:34:12
went to get insurance Missy chatted with
00:34:14
a
00:34:16
Salesman now you got this 2 and 1/2
00:34:19
hours that she was alone she could have
00:34:22
told the salesman of Lucky Auto Sales
00:34:25
she could have picked the phone up and
00:34:26
called the police herself to say let me
00:34:29
out of this I'm in trouble I need help
00:34:31
she's as guilty as Jerry Strickland is
00:34:34
even though she did not pull the trigger
00:34:35
she's just guilty of first deegree
00:34:37
murder they are obviously aren't the
00:34:40
people that they made everybody
00:34:42
believe they're
00:34:45
Liars they're
00:34:47
phonies there wasn't any reason for him
00:34:50
to
00:34:50
die and they could do that to somebody
00:34:53
like that who knows what they've done or
00:34:56
what they could do now
00:35:00
I never noticed a change
00:35:02
in I didn't notice a split in her
00:35:04
personality unless I didn't want
00:35:08
to but mess he's gone I don't know if I
00:35:12
see her again or
00:35:13
[Music]
00:35:14
[Applause]
00:35:20
not
00:35:22
update when this story aired more than a
00:35:25
dozen viewers recognized the two
00:35:28
fugitives and called police Jerry
00:35:31
Strickland and Missy Mundy were
00:35:34
arrested murder and kidnapping charges
00:35:37
against Missy were dropped in exchange
00:35:39
for her testimony against Strickland in
00:35:42
the murder of Almer deor Missy pleaded
00:35:45
guilty to one count of armed robbery she
00:35:49
served 7 months in a juvenile facility
00:35:51
and was released when she turned
00:35:54
19 Jerry strickman was found guilty on
00:35:58
several charges including kidnapping and
00:36:00
the murder of Elmer D'Or he was
00:36:03
sentenced to serve two life terms
00:36:05
without the possibility of
00:36:11
Corona next a young man disappears after
00:36:14
trying to hit a flight from a remote
00:36:17
Airfield
00:36:30
Paduka
00:36:31
Kentucky a small
00:36:34
Airfield yes are you a pilot um no I'm
00:36:36
sure not do you know a pilot I can talk
00:36:38
to U no I sure don't a young man
00:36:41
approaches airport worker West Weaver
00:36:44
out west is there anybody here I can
00:36:46
talk to Sure listen I'm really in a bind
00:36:49
I really need to get out west I kind of
00:36:52
thought that maybe he was running from
00:36:53
something cuz he honestly he didn't act
00:36:56
drugged up and he didn't act like he was
00:36:57
drunk and he really didn't act crazy was
00:36:59
kind of desperate come on man I mean
00:37:02
look I've got this jacket isn't there
00:37:04
some way I could trade this jacket for
00:37:06
for a lift you know what began as an odd
00:37:08
encounter would soon become a tragic and
00:37:11
puzzling mystery maybe I finally just
00:37:14
kind of told him no and and made it to
00:37:16
the point to where you know he should
00:37:17
leave and he stood around for a little
00:37:19
while and finally he he went back
00:37:20
through the
00:37:23
hanger 30 minutes later West Weaver saw
00:37:26
the stranger again
00:37:28
again and he had the jacket on and I
00:37:31
thought it was kind of strange so I kind
00:37:33
of slowed down and watched and I saw him
00:37:35
run across the ditch and and jump up on
00:37:37
the fence and jump over and run towards
00:37:39
a plane and that's when I radioed for
00:37:41
someone to call security we got a guy
00:37:42
jumping over the fence at
00:37:45
22 there were other Witnesses who saw
00:37:47
the young man running across the airst
00:37:50
strip me and my husband was out in the
00:37:52
yard and we saw this guy running in the
00:37:55
field and he run over to on the other
00:37:58
side of the
00:37:59
plane well we never did see him no more
00:38:02
the way he was running to it so fast you
00:38:05
know he was up to
00:38:08
something at the time the only aircraft
00:38:11
on the runway was a commuter flight
00:38:13
Bound for Memphis Tennessee Just Before
00:38:16
Sunset the plane was cleared for
00:38:23
takeoff everything seemed normal
00:38:27
the plane got way up in air and I stood
00:38:30
there you know was watching in a few
00:38:32
minutes I seen something
00:38:35
fall and I told my husband I said
00:38:38
something fell out of that
00:38:40
plane shortly after dark airport
00:38:43
authorities mobilized the search looking
00:38:45
for any sign of the man the witnesses
00:38:48
had
00:38:49
seen at the North End of the runway Ron
00:38:53
Jones noticed that the fence had been
00:38:55
damaged lying on the ground was the
00:38:58
crumpled body of the young
00:39:01
stranger it really hit me then that this
00:39:05
actually happened that someone actually
00:39:08
got onto an aircraft some kind of way
00:39:11
and that someone had fallen to their
00:39:14
death no identification of any kind was
00:39:17
found on or near the
00:39:20
body as we examine the hand we knowe
00:39:23
that the nails appear to be manicured
00:39:25
and well groomed blood test revealed no
00:39:28
traces of drugs or alcohol in the
00:39:30
victim's
00:39:32
system this is the jacket worn by the
00:39:34
young man sewn into the collar was an ID
00:39:38
tag inscribed Lieutenant LF price United
00:39:43
States Air Force a check of military
00:39:46
records could find no such person when
00:39:49
we go back and look at the series of
00:39:53
events that led up to this
00:39:55
incident the individual had a
00:39:57
approximately 90 seconds to 2 minutes to
00:40:00
climb over a 7 1/2 ft high fence
00:40:02
Traverse approximately 800t of terrain
00:40:05
including one digit system run around
00:40:08
the aircraft's tail section and then
00:40:10
climb on the aircraft although we have
00:40:12
no actual eyewitnesses to his climbing
00:40:14
on the
00:40:15
aircraft and again the time interval is
00:40:18
between 90 seconds and 120 seconds it's
00:40:21
quite an
00:40:24
accomplishment within seconds the plane
00:40:27
was barreling down the runway at 125
00:40:31
mph once Airborne its speed increased to
00:40:34
more than
00:40:36
190
00:40:38
mph and that obviously is a substantial
00:40:40
wind Force upon anyone trying to
00:40:43
stay on the wing of an aircraft with
00:40:46
really no
00:40:48
handholds we judge at this point that he
00:40:51
managed to stay on for approximately
00:40:53
3,000 to 3500 ft after the aircraft
00:40:56
Departed the
00:41:01
I wonder what was so important to make
00:41:04
him take a chance on trying to catch a
00:41:06
ride on the outside of an
00:41:09
aircraft I think that there's an answer
00:41:12
with his family his his family may not
00:41:14
have even known that he was coming
00:41:17
home and I think that that's probably if
00:41:20
we could just get over that hurdle there
00:41:22
I think we can find out why
00:41:28
update the identity of the young man who
00:41:31
fell to his death remained the mystery
00:41:33
for nearly 8 years and though the locals
00:41:36
didn't know who he was they often
00:41:38
brought flowers to his
00:41:41
grave the story was kept Alive by a
00:41:43
reporter from Paduka who included an
00:41:46
account on his website and that's where
00:41:49
the young man's stepmother found it
00:41:52
fingerprints confirmed that he was Brian
00:41:55
deaker a 28-year-old old schizophrenic
00:41:58
Ryan was known to disappear for long
00:42:01
periods of time his reasons for climbing
00:42:04
onto the
00:42:05
airplane remain a mystery
00:42:08
[Music]
00:42:24
[Music]
00:42:39
[Music]
