True crime podcast based in small town Alabama and hosted by a local team of experts.

One July night in 1995, Deputy Sheriff William G. Hardy was shot behind the Crown Sterling Suites hotel in Birmingham, Alabama. At the same time as the murder, at least ten people saw Toforest Johnson four miles away, at a popular nightclub called Tee's Place. But detectives zeroed in on him as a main suspect in Deputy Hardy's murder anyway, ultimately resulting in Toforest being tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. For over a quarter century, Toforest has been confined to a 5' by 8' cell on Alabama's death row.In 2019, investigative journalist Beth Shelburne began covering the case, going down a disturbing rabbit hole revealing many unsettling facts that cast grave doubts about Toforest's guilt. The facts she found tear at the very foundation of the American criminal justice system: No eyewitnesses or physical evidence tied Toforest to the murder; the state tried to convict a different man for the same crime; and perhaps most disturbing of all, Toforest's conviction relied on an 'earwitness' a woman who claimed to have eavesdropped on an incriminating phone call, a woman whom prosecutors paid for her testimony, in secret. That payment was not disclosed to the jury, Toforest, or his lawyers until after he had been on death row for 17 years.From the team behind the award-winning hit podcast Bone Valley, Lava for Good's Earwitness is an 8-episode docuseries that asks the question, 'How did an innocent man end up on death row — and why is the state still trying to execute him over the objection of the prosecutor who put him there?' Shelburne's unprecedented access to key players—the lead detective, lead prosecutor, witnesses, jurors, and the earwitness herself— illuminate a story filled with disturbing twists, frustrating ambiguities, and shocking admissions. The story of Toforest Johnson and the state's enthusiasm for the death penalty in the face of such troubling evidentiary flaws brings to light the failings of a criminal justice system run amok.Earwitness is available every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. To hear episodes 1 week early and ad free, subscribe to Lava for Good on Apple Podcasts. more

Unforgotten is intended to give voice to the voiceless: Alabama's missing and murdered victims. Tune in each week as Sellers and Stormy of the Alabama Cold Case Advocacy non-profit organization share each victim's story in an effort to ensure their cases remain...unforgotten.To learn how you can further support ACCA and Unforgotten's mission, please visit alcoldcase.com.Content for this podcast is created and recorded by Sellers and StormyArtwork: SellersProducers: Sellers, Stormy and Principles of Uncertainty more

In September 1992, 14-year-old Misty Copsey goes to the Washington State Fair with her best friend. Misty doesn't make it home that night, and she is never seen again. Police initially deem her a runaway. Misty's mom, Diana, insists they are wrong. Five months later, a search party finds a potential clue: a pair of jeans, socks and underwear crumpled along the side of a highway. Diana recognizes the jeans immediately, but the police are skeptical. More than 30 years later, through multiple investigations, no other trace of Misty has ever been found. How does a young girl disappear into thin air?And how could investigators fail to pursue leads that were right under their noses? In this captivating new series from ID, cold case investigator Sarah Cailean works through anonymous tips, interviews with Misty's family and friends, police records, and media reports in an attempt to get to the bottom of whether Misty's disappearance is the work of a serial killer or that of someone who knew Misty. Sarah won't stop until she answers a question that's haunted western Washington for more than three decades: Who Took Misty Copsey? Also, go back and listen to Season 1, 'Why Can't We Talk About Amanda's Mom?' and Season 2, 'Who Killed Jennifer Judd?' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. more

In 2017, Deven Grey, a young mother, shot and killed her abusive partner in a remote trailer in rural Shelby County, Alabama. She claimed self-defense and filed a Stand Your Ground claim.Instead of freedom, she was handed a 'blind plea' an option to take an unknown sentence in exchange for pleading guilty. As a Black woman who shot and killed a white man in Alabama, she did the only thing she could: She took the plea. Deven's sentence became the final link in a chain of deceit, haunted land, generational trauma, false identity, coercive control, and a broken justice system.Hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Liz Flock, Blind Plea asks: Who do we believe, and why? And in America, who has the right to self defense and a fair trial? more

The Central Alabama CrimeStoppers Podcast shares the stories of those in our community who have lost loved ones to violent crime. We also share resources with the community. Tune in to hear from community members, law enforcement, and elected officials to hear their solutions to violent crimes in Alabama. And remember if you see something say something. Your anonymous tips could lead to a cash reward. more

Alabama is known for its southern hospitality family values, small towns and farms, from Montgomery to Millbrook from Pine Level to Prattville. For some of these families, something devastating connects them. Death, a murder, an unsolved mystery, it's these cases that caught our attention and led to the series. Interviewing investigators, meeting with family members, getting updates on cases, some that have turned cold. Join us every week as we do a deep dive. This is Case Files a WSFA 12 News Defenders podcast. more

Join me, Michele Jackson Creator of NorthALColdCases and The Criminal Hunter, on my latest obsession with researching cold cases. I mainly focusing on North Alabama, Morgan County and the tiny town of Hartselle in our local segments and I'll chat with people in the KNOW in all things locally historical, missing persons or unsolved cases. more

The wild, perplexing, and entirely true (crime) tale of Marie Hilley, an average, middle-class Alabama working woman, wife, and mother whose mid-life crisis leads her to murder, mayhem, and multiple identities. more