Latest / Hell and Gone: Murder Line / S1 UPDATE: Waiting for the Case File

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S1 UPDATE: Waiting for the Case File · Hell and Gone: Murder Line

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hi, Hell and Gone listeners. I was hoping we'd have
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: a longer update for you today, But like with so
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: many cases, investigations that happen in real time aren't like
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: episodic TV where we can always end on a cliffhanger
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: and give the audience closure in the end. Don't get
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: me wrong, Billy Miller's conviction is a huge step in
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the right direction for getting justice for Rebecca Gold. And
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: if this was a fictional TV show, we would be
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: able to cut to the triumphant scene where the investigator
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: puts the cold case file in a box, stamps it
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  Speaker 1: case closed, and slides it onto a shelf. I wish
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: that that's what we were doing, but there's still way
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: too many unanswered questions in this case to give me
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the feeling that I can move forward. As we said
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: in our last episode, Rebecca's father, Dr. Larry Gould, was
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: supposed to meet with the prosecutor Eric Hantz on no
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: We were hoping that some of the questions that we've
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: had about Rebecca his case for so long, questions about
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: timelines and what interviews were initially done and what people
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: said back then in two thousand four versus now, would
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: be answered. Larry's plan was to have that meeting once
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: he had Rebecca's entire case file in his hands. He
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: had asked Eric Hants to get him that case file
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: in ten to thirty days after the plea agreement with
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Billy Miller, which would have been by mid November, but
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: after Larry emailed him to ask about the file, Eric
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: let Larry know that the Prosecutor's office was going to
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: need additional time. The Prosecutor's office claimed that this happened
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: because the Arkansas State Police requested that they get the
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: case file back so they could do the redactions themselves.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: The Prosecutor's office agreed to the ASPS request. Eric emailed
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Larry and said that he had not been aware that
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Larry needed the entire case file prior to their meeting.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: He offered Larry the option to reschedule the meeting, so
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Larry said that he would do that. He said he
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: would prefer to wait and reschedule the meeting once he'd
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: had time to go over all of the A, s
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: P S documentation of Rebecca's case. We will of course
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: keep you posted as to when that meeting takes place,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: but honestly, I'm not even sure that meeting will happen now,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: because Eric Hants is out of office on December thirty one,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: and then Deputy p A. Drew Smith will begin his
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: term as the elected prosecutor on January one. So far,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Larry says he has not heard anything about whether Drew
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: would be willing to meet with him, so we'll just
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: have to wait and see. In the meantime, I've made
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: a freedom of information request for Rebecca's case file. Technically,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the entire case file should be made public after the
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: redactions are done by the Arkansas State Police. The a
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: SP told the Prosecutor's office that this process should take
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: around another two weeks, which, according to my math, means
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: that the case file would be ready around December nine, eighteenth,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: right before the holidays. As we've mentioned before, there's so
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: many questions that we have about Billy's confession. I believe
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the case file could help answer a lot of those.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: The best way to confirm what happened to Rebecca is
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: to go back to the original interviews with everyone, the
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: ones that were done in two thousand four. We know
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: this because when we did that, with the police statements
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: from Casey's friends, we were able to find out there
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: were major discrepancies and holes in Casey's alibi. There's also
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: a new public information officer at the Arkansas State Police.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: The current spokesperson for the sp Bill Sadler, is set
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: to retire at the end of the year and Latricia
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Woodruff is taking over. George Jared, who reported on Rebecca's
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: case from the beginning, and others, have been pretty critical
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: of Bill Saidler at times. They say that this was
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: because he did not immediately inform the public of Rebecca
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: being missing. I read an article on Camden News about
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Bill's life and career, and reading through this profile of
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Bill Sadler is actually really enlightening. In that article, Bill
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: directly addresses that controversy. Bill told cam To News that
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: in two thousand and six, after ten years with the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: sp AN incident happened that became a critical moment in
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: his career and his life. Police were looking for a
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: fugitive an eighteen year old named Adam Lee Ledford, whould
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: escaped from a Michigan prison. Police got a tip about
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Adam's location. Troopers surrounded the suspect and when this man
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: reached down with his hand, one of the officers thought
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: he might be reaching for a weapon, and they fatally
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: shot and killed him. It was several hours before the
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  Speaker 1: troopers realized the man who had been fatally shot was
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: not the escaped fugitive at all. He was a twenty
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: one year old named Joseph Aaron Hamley. He had cerebral
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: palsy and was unarmed. This was a usually controversial incident
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: in the Arkansas State Police, and they took a lot
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: of criticism. Bill said that this fatal shooting really crystallized
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: in his mind the importance of getting things right before
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: releasing information to the public. And as for what he
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: plans to do next. Interestingly, Bill said during his retirement
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: he plans to take a look at unsolved murders in
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Little Rock during the nineteen seventies. He says he's not
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: sure what form his investigations will take yet. I actually
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: have met Latricia Woodruff. I met her when I was
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: called into that weird meeting back in two thousand and
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: eighteen with Mark Hollingsworth and Little Rock at the Arkansas
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: State Police headquarters at the time. When she asked me
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: why I wanted to follow a complaint against Dennis Simons,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I told her point blank, I thought Dennis was hurting
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: the investigation into Rebecca Gould's murder. I also told her
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: I believed he was actively ignoring evidence. I have no
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: idea what went on behind closed doors after I left
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: that building, But after the podcast aired, pretty soon Dennis
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Simons was no longer the lead investigator on Rebecca's case.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: I still haven't heard from Billy Miller since I sent
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: my letter, but I have heard that his wife has
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: been contacting people from the Philippines. Apparently the story she
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: is telling them about what Billy told her really happened
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: in that trailer when Rebecca was murdered does not match
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Billy's story to the police. This is the reality of investigations.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: As we've said so many times before, it becomes a
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: waiting game. I do have one more update, and it
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: concerns Bill Sadler, a producer from forty eight Hours who
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I've been talking to for a long time about Rebecca's case,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: let me know that she wanted to cover the story.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: But she said when she contacted Bill Sadler, the first
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: thing that he asked her was are you talking to
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Katherine Townsend. He then went on to tell her that
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: she was talking to me or to Jennifer Buckles or
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: George Jared, those three specific names, that the ASP would
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: not participate in any story about Rebecca's case. The producer
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: told me that for her this was a huge red
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: flag as a journalist, which it should be, and I
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: challenged the Arkansas State Police to change course with this policy,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: because if Bill Sadler means what he says in that
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: article about his retirement, and he's all about honesty, then
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: the Arkansas State Police should not be afraid to face
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: some tough questions. The producer also let me know she
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: had spoken to Mike McNeil, the new lead investigator on
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Rebecca's case. She said he indicated that he was willing
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: to participate as long as she asked me what he
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: called the hard questions. I'm really hoping that the new
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: public Information officer has a similar attitude to Mike McNeill,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: because I am absolutely ready to answer any question that
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: the Arkansas State Police has for me. I want and
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: would expect to be asked hard questions. As I said before,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: my only motivation is getting to the truth about what
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: really happened to Rebecca Gold. I'll see what happens there,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: and I will of course keep you posted. I did
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: hear back about my freedom of information request. They got
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: back to me and let me know they're gonna go
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: ahead and process my request. So I am eagerly waiting
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: for that case file to come back. I would consider
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: that the best Christmas and Holiday present ever, and as
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: soon as I have a chance to dive into it,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I will report back to you all. Like I said
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: in the first season, We're not stopping until we do
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: our best to answer every question we can, to make
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  Speaker 1: the gray area clear, and to find out what really
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: happened to Rebecca Gold. I'm Katherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Helen Gone is a production of School of Humans and
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: I Heart Media. Our producer is Gabby Watts. Executive producers
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: of Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr and L. C. Crowe. Music
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: is by Ben Sully. Special thanks to season one producers
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Taylor Church and James Morrison. School of Humans