Crime Junkie
Crime Junkie
"The story doesn't really account for her going over the guardrail down that embankment. But the story does offer up a new suspect, this Kevin Williams guy." — Britt (Highlighting inconsistencies in a witness's evolving narrative)
"The DNA under her fingernails belong to her boyfriend Leon. Yes. And when they confront Leon with this, he says basically that that is not because he had anything to do with her murder, he says that it was because they had sex that night and he said they were very passionate and sometimes she would scratch him." — Ashley Flowers (Revealing a significant piece of potentially exculpatory evidence and its questionable explanation)
"The fact that they're going to mark it all when he's changed his story so much to me is crazy, but when they put this photo lineup together, they basically do one sheet and they tell Mark that the person they think did it is in this lineup and Mark then picks out Josh and says that he looks like it could be the guy that he saw in the car that night." — Ashley Flowers (Illustrating flaws in the identification process and witness reliability)
This episode recounts the unsolved murder of Angela Michelle Lawless, a 19-year-old college student found deceased in her car in Benton, Missouri, on November 8th, 1992. The initial investigation was hampered by conflicting witness statements, particularly from a man named Mark Abbott, whose accounts of discovering the scene and the victim evolved significantly, raising suspicion among law enforcement. Despite these inconsistencies, and the lack of direct evidence, suspicion eventually fell upon Joshua Kieser, a 17-year-old from Illinois. Kieser was identified through jailhouse informants and a questionable photo lineup conducted by Mark Abbott.
The prosecution's case against Kieser was weak, lacking forensic evidence, a clear motive, or any proof of his presence in Missouri at the time of the murder. Notably, blood found under Lawless's fingernails did not match Kieser's DNA. Nevertheless, a fabricated motive from a witness, Shantel, who claimed Kieser was aggressive at a party, was presented, and Kieser was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 60 years. The narrative strongly suggests a wrongful conviction due to flawed investigation and prosecutorial bias.
A significant reinvestigation began years later, spearheaded by Sheriff Rick Walter, who had been the first officer on the scene. This reinvestigation uncovered further inconsistencies in Mark Abbott's statements, new potential suspects like Kevin Williams, and re-examined evidence, including DNA from a bloody paper towel that did not match Kieser or other identified suspects. Ultimately, the evidence pointed away from Kieser, and in 2009, a judge declared him innocent, leading to his release after 16 years of incarceration. The case remains officially unsolved, but the investigation has strongly indicated the involvement of other parties.