Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Ann Kenda - TPR's In Focus - August 31, 2026

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Ann Kenda - TPR's In Focus - August 31, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from Troy University's Trojan Cafe,
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  offering handcrafted Starbucks beverages and a wide assortment of meal
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  and snack options, located on Troy University's Montgomery campus
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  across from the Rosa Parks Library and Museum.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is In
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  Focus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson. For more
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  than 6 years, Ann Kenda has greeted you with
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  the news of the day as our host of Morning Edition.
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  She has also reported on Alabama issues for
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  NPR, and she is the creator of a true crime
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  podcast called Inside Job: Understanding
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  Vicki White. We caught up with Ann, who has moved back
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  home to Massachusetts to be with family.
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  Ann Kenda, it is an honor
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  to bring you back to Troy Public Radio. Welcome. Hi,
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  Carolyn. Thanks for having me. Ann, where are you right now?
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  I'm in Sudbury, Massachusetts. We miss you.
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  Your fans miss you. I miss you. We are hearing
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  from your fans. Where is Ann? So we're talking about
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  a return to your roots, right? I am. Just tell them Sudbury,
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  Massachusetts. But then most people haven't heard of it, so you might have
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  to explain. It's a suburb of Boston. Ann, you were with Troy
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  Public Radio more than 6 years. Time has flown.
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  And we so have loved depending on your newscasts,
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  your podcast. What are some of your favorite times
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  with Troy Public Radio listeners? I was just thinking about
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  that because over 6 and a half years, there is so much to pick from.
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  There were so many special and important moments.
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  I would say my top favorite is just Morning Edition
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  itself. It is such an important show. It was really a pleasure to be
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  your Morning Edition host for that long and to really get to know Alabama,
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  and Carolyn, your podcast helped me out with that so much because
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  there was a lot I had to catch up on with Alabama history.
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  So every day I heard In Focus, I got to learn
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  a little bit more about my new state. So thank you for that. Well,
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  you started the listeners out every day.
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  They have come to love and depend on your broadcast.
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  Aside from that, Ann, you got involved in
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  podcasting. Inside Job podcast.
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  That was one of the most intriguing stories I have ever heard.
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  Take us behind the scenes of the podcast. Sure,
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  that's very high on my favorites list. So Inside Job:
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  Understanding Vicki White, it explored the story
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  of Vicki White, who is an Alabama prison guard who
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  did a very daring escape with an inmate who she
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  had fallen in love with. They went on a wild escape
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  that ended some 11 days later, and it did end tragically
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  with the suicide of Vicki White. And I remember covering
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  that for NPR as it was unfolding. There were various milestones
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  along the way. There were sightings. The couple changed cars
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  several times. They were pretty good at getting away, but they did eventually
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  get caught in Evansville, Indiana.
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  And the podcast came from the idea that we wanted
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  to learn even more about it. There was so much that we still
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  wanted to talk about, questions that we still had and wanted to just experience
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  the whole story about Vicki White. So that's why we came up with Inside
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  Job: Understanding Vicki White. So she was
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  56 years old. She was a very well-respected and well-regarded
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  prison guard with a successful career, and she was getting
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  ready to retire. But she did fall for an
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  inmate, Casey White. They had the same last name even though they were
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  not related, and that caused some confusion. So they went on
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  their escape and got away with it for quite a while, and then it ended
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  tragically. And when we were thinking about what went into this and
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  what was the last moment when Vicki could have turned away from
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  this fiasco, and we started thinking about
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  prison guards themselves. They're often not talked about or
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  not acknowledged. It's not as respected as a career as it should
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  be. It's a very difficult and demanding and important job. It should pay more,
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  but they do experience a lot of PTSD and stress and depression.
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  And we found out quite a lot about that too. The interesting
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  point about Vicki White, when I was listening
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  to your Inside Job podcast, the fact she
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  was in grief at the time she maneuvered this
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  prison escape with Casey White. Yes, the escape
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  occurred in April of 2022.
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  And the previous January, just 3 or 4 months earlier,
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  her ex-husband had died from Parkinson's disease.
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  People tended to dismiss her grief. They said, well, it was
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  your ex-husband. And if you've experienced grief,
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  which I know you have and I have, you know that it's not that simple.
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  I think she had what could maybe be described as a functional
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  breakdown. She was able to function to the point where
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  it was in disguise from other people. And meanwhile,
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  she was getting together with this inmate, which of course is highly
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  illegal in that setting. Convincing herself that she
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  had no choice but to break him out of jail so that they could go
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  off and have a life together. It was a very unrealistic
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  plan from the beginning, but they did make a strong attempt at it.
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  It did end with Vicki White's suicide. I couldn't
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  stop thinking about the entire story. So it
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  all came together. And if you didn't get a chance to hear it, it's still
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  available now wherever you get your podcasts. It's Inside Job: Understanding Vicki
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  White. So glad that it is still available. And I must
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  mention your uncle, who is? Joe Kenda. So you may be
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  familiar with that name. He's on TV and writes books. He was a homicide
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  detective in Colorado Springs. And many years later,
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  he was asked to share his expertise. So you might have seen him
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  on Homicide Hunter or American Detective.
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  And yes, that's my uncle. Did your uncle influence
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  your interest in true crime stories? He definitely
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  did because Because I started watching Homicide Hunter just
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  to see my uncle, and then I found myself intrigued by all of
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  the stories. Any chance I got to either cover true crime
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  as a reporter, or to be a listener
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  to other podcasts or watch it on TV, something about
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  true crime is really addictive. Back to your memories
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  with Troy Public Radio. Any others you want to share with your listeners?
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  Sure. I remember covering the Carly Russell case
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  for NPR. That was a kidnapping hoax that occurred in Alabama in
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  2023. So I got a chance to delve into
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  that. And I just have a memory of when Carly
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  first claims to have been kidnapped, it was later proven to
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  be a hoax. But when it was first coming out as a possible kidnapping,
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  I remember reading it on the air during the news and just
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  thinking, wait, this doesn't make sense to me. I just had my suspicions.
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  And I was thinking, I will gladly gladly stand corrected if it turns out
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  that this potential kidnapping was taking place.
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  Covered that story for NPR through when she pleaded guilty
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  to false reporting and made some amends. That was a really interesting
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  true crime case in Alabama. Also,
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  in 2024, the library wars were heating
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  up in Alabama, and I had a very important opportunity to
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  cover that for NPR. So that was about books
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  for kids and whether or not they are sexualized books being
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  aimed at kids, or if it's just book banning and censorship.
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  So we talked to everyone we could about that and aired that on
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  NPR. And that was in April of 2024. And that
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  is, it's a powerful memory for me. You have brought a journalist
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  perspective into these issues, such as the true crime genre.
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  So I think you have brought a lot to the table for your
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  listeners. Well, thank you. I really appreciate that. It was
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  quite a learning experience and something I still
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  think about to this day, everything that unfolded with the Vicki White
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  case. And I enjoyed working with Austin Toy at Troy
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  Public Radio. He was really, really good at helping me out with
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  that. So that's a good memory. Well, Ann, in conclusion,
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  do you have any messages for your fans and your listeners?
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  I definitely miss hosting Morning Edition every day.
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  I still listen and stay in touch. You can find me on
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  Facebook, or if if you happen to be in Sudbury, Massachusetts, look me
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  up. Thank you so much for all that you have brought to your listeners,
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  your fans, and the staff and Troy University.
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  Thank you. That was Ann Kenda, Troy Public
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  Radio's host of Morning Edition for 6 and a
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  half years. We wish Ann all the best with our gratitude
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  as she returns home to Massachusetts to be with her family.
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  Thanks for joining us today for In Focus, which is a
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  podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Feel free
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  to get in touch at infocus@troy.edu.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported
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  Troy Public Radio.