Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - FINALLY, JUSTICE for Girl, 9, Raped & Murdered Just Yards from Home

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

Nine-year-old Debbie Randall is abducted while walking home from the laundromat, just yards from her family's apartment. Sixteen days later, her brutalized body is found dumped eight miles away. Despite law enforcement's best efforts, the seemingly random killer has been unidentified for nearly 50 years. Investigators discover a small rag inside Randall's vaginal cavity and initial testing reveals a partial DNA sample. The sample is sent through CODIS, but no one in the prison system, not even executed prisoners, is a match.  As DNA testing improves, investigators use genetic genealogy to find the killer. William Rose, 24 at the time of the murders, committed suicide just two years after Randall's murder. Randall's brother says he believes the weight of what Rose did to Debbie led Rose to take his own life. Joining Nancy Grace Today:  Melvin Randall - Brother of Debbie Lynn Randall  Flynn D. Broady Jr. - Cobb County District Attorney Dr. Angela Arnold – Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA. Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics, and Gynecology: at Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital Morris Nix – Former Detective, Cobb County Cold Case Unit  Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet," and Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;" Twitter: @JoScottForensic  Toby Wolson - Forensic Consultant Specializing in DNA, Serology, and Bloodstain Pattern Analysis Jessica Noll - Investigative Journalist, Co-Host, and Producer of the “The Investigators” Podcast  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. An absolutely precious little nine-year-old girl goes missing. Literally yards away from her home. From the laundromat. A frantic search ensues. Volunteers find Debbie's body. She has been horribly, horribly sex assaulted. She's dead. Years pass, the case goes cold. In the last days, an amazing twist in the case of a beautiful little girl, Debbie Lynn Randall.

I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. First of all, take a listen to the elected district attorney in Cobb County, Flynn D. Brody Jr. Today we are here to provide an answer and perhaps some semblance of closure to the family of Debbie Lynn Randall, whose young life and bright smile ended 51 years ago, gone too soon at the age of nine years old. On January 13th 1972 Debbie Lynn Randall a third grade student at Pine Forest Elementary School was walking home from the laundromat when she was abducted raped and killed. The laundromat was only a half block away from her home. She was found 16 days later after an extensive search

from the community which over 4,000 members participated. She was assaulted and strangled to death. Yes she was assaulted. Yes this little girl was strangled to death. With me an all-star panel including the elected district attorney, DA Brody Jr., and the detective who stuck by this case and never gave up, a man I consider now to be a friend, Morris Nix. I remember when he first approached me about this case and begged, begged, begged to bring awareness to Debbie's case. He stuck with it from the get-go, and he is here with us today. First, I want to go to Joseph Scott Morgan, renowned professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University,

author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and star of Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan. Joe Scott, as always, thank you for being with us to state that this little girl, nine years old. Now, Joe Scott, you remember when your baby was in the third grade? You remember? Oh, yeah, sure do, Nancy. What happened to Debbie Lynn Randall? Her assault is something that nightmares are made of.

She was all by herself and was snatched. I think that it was, at least in these circumstances, it appears to be a crime of opportunity. And she was taken away and taken to an area where she could be assaulted in private, essentially, and she wound up dying. You know, when you say assaulted, when you say assaulted, that is a legal term for rape and sodomy. That means vaginal or anal forced penetration, forced intercourse, or oral. Vaginal, anal, oral. Those are sex assaults. Please, Joe Scott, I understand you're coming from a place of professionalism, but we're not in court. I want the truth, and I don't care how bad it is. What happened to Debbie Randall, nine years old, third grade? What happened to her? She was beaten and strangled to death, Nancy, on top of being sexually assaulted and left out in essentially an isolated area.

Now, this is a young girl that had been part of a family, and she was out there alone. And I think probably one of the most poignant comments about this along the way that I have seen is that the last vision that she had was probably staring into the eyes of her killer who had been assaulting her all along and had just completely and totally brutalized her. With me, in addition to the elected district attorney, Flynn D. Brody Jr. in Cobb County, Morris Nix is with us, former detective with the Cobb County Cold Case Unit. Morris. Yes. Could you explain the facts surrounding Debbie's disappearance and murder,

as well as this nine-year-old little girl's rape? Nancy, first of all, I want the listener to understand, she wasn't just raped. She was ripped open. This was a vicious, sadist attack. This man was not just a pedophile. He was a sadist. And if you ever saw the photograph,

they would haunt you forever. Why? Because it was so brutal. And, you know, you just hard to wrap your head around what she may have seen and felt before she died. Do you remember the rag that was found at the scene? I do. Where was the rag? The rag was placed in her vaginal area. and the reason we believe that happened was she was abducted at a laundromat. She was taken to another location and assaulted. The ME's office said that had he not strangled her, she would have bled to death.

That's how bad it was. Vaginal bleeding. Correct. From the rape. Correct. And from ripping her open. I think some kind of foreign object was used. Guys, I know that it is so hard to hear, but this is what happened to this nine-year-old little girl.

I want to go to Flynn D. Brody Jr., the elected DA in Cobb County. You know, if I may call you Flynn. Yes. We are used to, I mean, there's no telling how many cases you have tried and investigated before you became the district attorney in Cobb. We are used to, Flynn, I remember the first time I had to say a curse word in front of a jury in Fulton County. The words I had never said before. I don't mean damn or hell or the F word. I mean a lot worse than that.

And I had to actually say it out loud in my car on the way to work that morning so I could say it with a straight face. This to regular people, not people like us who are in this business, who seek justice every day, no matter how awful the facts are. It's very, very difficult to enunciate, to tell people what happened to Debbie Randall. And I just want to thank you, the elected district attorney, Morris Nix, and the incredible scientists who have finally brought a resolution. Do you know how many nights I've gone to sleep and thought about Debbie Randall and thought about Morris Nix still working the case. I mean, Flynn, could you explain what it takes to do a job like yours and stand in front of a jury on a case this horrific? Or never get answers on a case this horrific? Nancy, I think you said it.

You know, many times we see the facts, we see the pictures, and we get so attached to our victims. We get attached to wanting to find justice for them, to bring people to be accountable for the things or their actions that they've taken. You know, I applaud Detective Nix for the work that he's done on this case. I said earlier that the emotion that he showed at the press conference showed that he was vested in this case, just as all prosecutors are. You know, as a prosecutor, you don't do this for the money. You don't do this for fame or any accolades or anything. You do it for the victims. You do it for the individuals who have no voice you have to speak for them so you you can bring justice for them for those families and in

this case 51 years for the randall family 51 years it took for us to solve this case But in the end, it was solved. Some closure was brought. And Mr. Randall Melvin was so forgiving of Mr. Rose, of the Rose family. I just really, my heart goes out to him for all the things that this family must have gone through. And for many of us, you know, we have children of our own. And each and every time we see a victim, we see our own kids. Can I tell you what happened just this past week, Flynn? Guys, you're hearing not only Joe Scott Morgan, but Morris Nix, the former detective who stayed on this case until the bitter end. And Flynn Brody, I'm shortly going to be joined by Debbie's brother, Melvin Randall, Flynn Morris, just this past week. And my son, who is 15, is now six, five.

All right. I was watching my daughter. She's a football manager for the JV football team. And I was just watching her. It was pouring rain. It was starting to get dark. We were at an away game. And I was sitting there and seeing that the game finally ended. And I let my son run off with his little friend. Okay. I couldn't find him. Flynn, I called him and called him, and he's usually got his phone glued to his ear. No answer, no answer, no answer. I finally did Live 360. Flynn, his phone was in a field behind, I think it was a Quality Inn, out on a strip. All I could think about were cases just like Debbie Randall,

where at first the parents, they're like, oh, they'll be back. They've wandered off. They're here. They're there. They're with their friend.

And the more I called and the more I called and couldn't get him, I could just feel it rising up in my chest. Well, the end of the story, guess where he was,

Flynn. Guess what was behind that quality end? The soccer field. The soccer field was in a different place than the school. And they had walked, I guess, a quarter or a third of a mile to get to the soccer field. In the rain. To go kick a ball. I mean, what these parents have lived through is hell, pure hell. Guys, take a listen

to our cuts 26 and 27. The field of forensic technology continued to improve, and in May of 2015, a piece of cloth recovered from the victim was sent to Sorensen Forensics for an updated DNA analysis. It resulted in a partial profile attributed to an unknown male. Using public records and police resources, the sentence of the suspect were identified. The family assisted in the investigation and sample DNA was provided for comparison. DNA evidence left on the victim and the familial DNA was a match. We exhumed the suspect's body for DNA testing to rule out any doubts. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Joining me right now, a special guest, Melvin Randall. This is Debbie's brother. Mr. Randall, thank you so much for being with us. You're welcome. When you look back on all the years that you have lived without Debbie, what memory is the most vivid? Just the pain of just not knowing what's going on, seeing my mother, wanting to find out what happened. Having to deal with that was tough for a long time. It's just not knowing what happened.

Melvin, when you say the toughest part for you was watching your mother wanting, waiting, yearning, praying for justice, what do you mean? What did you see your mother do?

Well, she just suffered a lot. She had leukemia, but her wish was, you know, that they would find before she passed away, that they'd find out. And it was just tough to see how much it did hurt her, how much she really wanted it. And I'm just glad that they finally did,

but I still wish my mother would have been around to see it. Melvin, how old were you when Debbie was murdered? I was 10 years old. Do you remember when it happened? Can you still remember it? Yes, ma'am. Very vividly. What do you recall? I was 10. I was sick. They wouldn't let me go outside. I remember standing at the door looking outside. And, you know, I blamed myself for a long time.

You blamed yourself? Why? Well, because I was her older brother. We always played together and always was around each other. And then that one day I was sick and I wasn't allowed to go outside. So I blamed myself for a while, but then I realized there was nothing I could do. You know, just hearing what you're saying, Dr. Angela Arnold is with me, a truly renowned psychiatrist that I consider a friend. Dr. Angie, I know that brother Melvin says, I blame myself, but then I realized there was nothing else I could do. Even when I look back now on my fiance's murder, I think, well, what if I had said, don't go to work today?

Just stay one more day with me and make it. Just stay here at my parents' house. What if I did this? What if I did that? I mean, it never goes away, Dr. Angie. No, and you know, Nancy, the last thing anybody ever wants to do is blame the victim. Okay? is blame the victim, okay? And so the only other thing we can do is blame ourselves because it's such a feeling of a lack of control

that if we think that we could have done something to prevent this heinous act to the victim, that's our attempt at finding some sort of control in this, of which there's absolutely no control because this was just a horrible act that happened to this little girl when she was out alone. She could have been walking out alone any number of times and nothing could have happened to her, right? But on this particular day, this is what happened.

And none of us have any control over that. And it's none of our fault. You're so right, Dr. Angie. Joining me now, Jessica Knoll, investigative journalist, co-host, producer of The Investigator's Podcast. Jessica, thank you for being with us. And I don't want any victim blaming her mom, Debbie Lynn's mom. Both parents died before they ever knew who took little Debbie.

But I don't want them blamed. I mean, she was basically across the street, right, when she was abducted from the laundromat. Yeah, she was across the street at the laundromat. She had been with her stepfather and they put the load in and he gave her some change to finish up the laundry. He headed across the street, literally yards across the street back to their apartment.

And she stuck around for a little bit, played with the soap boxes, played with her dolls. And then, you know, just a few minutes later, she walked out the door and that was, you know, she was taken. Melvin Randall, I think I heard you jumping in. What were you saying? I was just saying that it was not very far at all. We could see the laundromat from the door. And Morris Nix with me, the detective who stayed on the case from the beginning till now. Morris, didn't she, didn't Debbie like to go collect all the soap that was left behind that people had bought, but then they didn't need it and she would gather it all together and her family would use

the leftover soap? soap yeah that was what Debbie liked to do and I think looking back on it I think that was her way of helping her family and it gave her time to kind of linger around a little bit longer and the friends had the dolls I mean I'm looking at her right now I'm looking particularly at the picture of her she still has her baby teeth and some of her baby teeth. She looks like she's just gotten her adult front two teeth and her little nose covered in freckles and that gold, that yellow ribbon on her hair that looks like a school picture. She just looks like the all-American little girl, nine years old. Joe Scott Morgan, when Morris Nix says she was cut open,

what does he mean by that? The belief is that there was an instrument of some type that was inserted within her. And, you know, we can go on and on about this, but it seems to me that this is the act of somebody that, when it comes down to it, is a sadist. Somebody that enjoyed inflicting pain on somebody that was obviously much smaller and weaker than them. And probably trapped in a vehicle. She was raped with a foreign object.

Trapped and then taken to an isolated area. And the thing about it is with cases like these, these individuals that have this predatory mindset, I've already got a, they've got a type of person that they're looking for. And then they have a fantasy in their mind about where they're going to go and where they're going to do it. Because something like this would have required a certain amount of isolation. Because this is, Nancy, I can't even begin to describe to you in any terms how painful this would have been and how horrific it would have been, what this poor little angel was subjected to at that point in time.

Guys, take a listen to our cut 28. I think you will recognize the voice. Debbie Lynn's parents died without knowing who killed their little girl. Her mother Juanita died of leukemia in 2018, and her father John passed away in January of last year. The answer we are providing today will not bring her back. We can't extract justice from the perpetrator. But I know he must answer to a higher power, and I hope it will provide some relief

and answer the question that has lingered for more than 50 years. We have confirmed that William B. Rose of Mapleton was responsible for the death of Debbie Lynn Randall. William B. Rose of Mapleton, then 24 years old, responsible for the death of Debbie Lynn Randall. William B. Rose of Mapleton, then 24 years old, responsible for the death of Debbie Lynn Randall. To Morris Nix, who is this guy? Who is William B. Rose? You know, Nancy, the amazing thing about it was the hundreds of people, literally, that we looked at and the people we tried to eliminate. He was never on our radar

uh there was nothing that led us to him there's no past behavior and i'm looking at this now and i'm thinking about what is it about people such as btk dennis raider who have who are great parents good you know sibling but there's this monster that's just deep within them. And I've thought about this constantly. I've wondered why her coat was put back on her and zipped up to her chin. We didn't know William Rose. And that's a great question. And who was William Rose?

We still need to find that out take a listen our cut 32 this is Ron Alter speaking they didn't know each other as best I can tell obviously he was 24 years and she was nine he had um family members that lived in the complex so he was probably in the complex quite a bit in um talking with Mr. Randall that's children they played outside a lot there was a playground right near the laundromat where Debbie was last seen. So they were outside a lot. If he drove by, I'm sure he saw her.

And I believe that as a crime of opportunity, he saw her by herself in the abductor. Joining me right now, the elected district attorney who also, along with Amaris Nix, saw this case through. If it weren't for the elected DA saying, yes, go, go, use the money, spend the money, get the DNA analysis. This would not have happened. Just know that

and know that this elected district attorney is faced with thousands, thousands of cases every day. All the families want answers. All the families want justice. But we would not be here today without the unfaltering dedication of Morris Nix and this elected district attorney. I hope you're listening, Cobb County. Mr. Brody, how hard is it to solve a case when the killer or the rapist is random? It's like a needle in a haystack. It is definitely a needle in a haystack. And that's why detectives like Morris Nix are so important for the criminal justice system. They have that dedication to do the work that it is going to take to solve these cases. And we have to do everything we can to support them because it is hard work.

And as Detective Nix will tell you, they get attached to their victims. They want to find that justice. They want to do the work to make sure we bring an answer to these families because they deserve one. You know, another thing I like about you, Flynn D. Brody Jr., is that you are big enough to share the praise. Guys, I want you to listen to Brody speaking in Hour 29. Many thanks to investigator Ron Alter and retired CCPD Detective Morris Nix. Their persistence and commitment to seeking justice for Debbie Lynn's family was vital in bringing this case to a close see Mr. Brody that's another thing about you

that a lot of people may not know like every day I'm sitting here in this chair but it's not me I'm just the mouthpiece Jackie's working Sidney is working. Kelly is working. Dave is working. John is working. Ely's working. Everybody's working together to present a criminal case, to spotlight a criminal case, to look for answers, to push justice forward one inch. It's not me. It's them lifting me up. And for you to call out to other people that have stuck by this case is amazing because you know how many people wouldn't do that? A lot.

A lot of people wouldn't do that. Flynn. Well, Nancy, the key is I may be the mouthpiece, but I'm definitely not the one doing the work. And my total job is to get them the resources that they need to bring justice to this community, to make sure that we're doing the things that we need to do so our victims have a voice. Joining me right now to kind of explain what has really happened here is Toby Wilson, forensic consultant specializing in DNA, serology, bloodstain pattern analysis at noslowforensics.com. Toby, thank you. Toby is joining us out of Miami. Thank you for taking time. Okay, what happened? A, it cost money. Now, the DA made sure that some of the funds, and trust me, he said earlier, you're not in this business for the money.

I remember working two night jobs while I was a DA, but that said, you allocate the money to get the test, but you've got a rag taken from Debbie's vaginal area from her vagina there. That's where it was. A rag stuffed in her vagina to stop all the incredible bleeding, the profuse bleeding. So how did that rag equal finding the killer? How did that happen? William B. Rose, rot in hell, Rose. But how did it happen, Toby? Well, good morning, Nancy. This is a good illustration of how much improvement DNA technology

has done in the 30 years we've been using it, where we went from needing large samples and getting very little information to now using imperceptible samples. We have technologies now that are extremely sensitive that require very small amounts of DNA in order to get profiles. Now, the RAG, I know that DNA Labs International did the work on the RAG reading the news articles they use a piece of equipment i forget its name offhand but it's actually a vacuum uh and concentrator for items in which they failed to get dna or the dna obtained from it was so small they couldn't analyze it so this piece of equipment that a lot of laboratories are using now that allows

them to vacuum up samples from these rags and from this degree and then concentrate it and do analysis is just another example of how much things have changed. We went from taking something, doing a traditional extraction on it and saying there's insufficient DNA to now hyper pulling away the DNA on that item, concentrating it and saying, oh, now I've got a sufficient sample in order to do the DNA analysis. So all of this is an example of how far we've come in such a short period of time with the ability to take genetic material and use it to identify perpetrators and victims and lost souls, you name it, they're now capable of doing it. And it's only going to go much further. The next step is

genetic sequencing. Some laboratories are starting to look at it now, and genetic sequencing, when the traditional DNA analysis fails to give you an answer, may be the next step in fixing those samples. The other advantage of genetic sequencing is that apparently it will give the ability to tell the difference between twins. Identical twins now, when you do them traditional DNA-wise, have the same profiles. But apparently, their genetic sequence is the... Yeah, we don't like twins in our business. I actually have.

Well, you do now. And I've got twins because I actually am one of those prosecutors, those rare prosecutors, that actually had a murder, an agassau. One guy was murdered. One guy was left in a wheelchair forever over a handful of dope ropes, gold chains. And the perp had an identical twin. You know, those stories that start with I never thought it would happen to me. It happened to me.

OK, but got the conviction. That said, he's talking about an M, M as in mother vac, which is a sterile, wet vac, wet vacuum, and a so-called collection solution is sprayed onto the surface. The M vac, it looks like a hand vac, a mini vac, is then put over the surface and it creates a kind of a mini hurricane effect and it loosens the DNA and sucks it up if there is any to be loosened. And in this case, I'm just guessing, Joe Scott Morgan, that you had her blood and his epithelial or skin cells, possibly his sperm, but likely his epithelial cells. Yeah, you would have. And this is what we refer to as commingling of evidence. And when you can fine tune the technology now so that you can separate it out at this

very minute level, it's quite amazing to see. There's also a big part, and I think that maybe Morris can address this, but there was also a big part of this was a stray hair that was also found, which of course, you know, we can either, if you have the root bulb, we can do, you know, nuclear DNA testing on it or mitochondrial DNA testing on it. Exactly. Without the nucleus, the root of the hair, you can still conduct a mitochondrial DNA analysis. Guys, take a listen to our cut 35. A family member, a distant family member contributed DNA, or actually multiple, contributed DNA to Family Treating DNA or GenMatch Pro, which are the two open source sites for Ancestry

that law enforcement has access to. And genealogists with DNA Labs International were able to work through that till they got a narrower list of suspects. And from there, we interviewed people and worked our way to Mr. Rose. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Let's break down how that happens.

Jessica Knoll with me, investigative journalist, producer of The Investigators. So if you get the DNA from the MVAC that Joe Scott Morgan's talking about and Toby Wilson is talking about, you get some DNA. But you got to have somebody to match it to. I mean, how many times Flynn Brody Jr., the elected DA, do you hear, well, did you get a fingerprint? Yeah, we got a fingerprint off the windowsill, but you have to match it to somebody or you don't know whose it is. Same thing with DNA, right? Jury's expected on every case. Oh boy, do they ever. So you get DNA from this elaborate and new technique of the M as in mother, MVAC, but whose is it? Well, first place you look, Morris Nix,

the first place I look is at the jail. You run it through the GCIC Georgia, NCIC National, and see has any other defendant in the country, do any of them have the same DNA? That's where you start, right? That's where we start. And we could not figure out why we were not getting a CODIS hit on this individual, thinking that whoever did this certainly would do it again. And I even at one point started looking at people who had already been executed for similar offenses.

We got nothing. He was totally not on the way up. You know, you are amazing. I didn't realize you even went back to people that had been executed or dead to find a match. Nothing in GCIC or NCIC, which all goes to CODIS. That means in some cases when you are arrested for, let's just say, a rape or a murder, your DNA is found at the scene. That DNA goes into the CODIS database. You run people's rap sheets. You try to find people with similar cases in the past.

And believe me, isn't it true, Dr. Angie Arnold? It's very hard to believe this guy went from zero to 120 MPH in one moment that he didn't have anything before this, but he didn't. Well, are we sure about that? No, we're not sure. I am sure he wasn't prosecuted for anything. That doesn't mean he didn't do anything. That doesn't mean that he wasn't killing somebody's animals in the backyard, does it? No, it doesn't.

Like you said, Nancy, like you said, there is no way that somebody's just walking down the street and all of a sudden some impulse hits them to do such a heinous act to another human being because they need more. But what finally happened here. They go ahead. More and more to get the same gratification out of their act. And they have practiced other things before they do something like this oh gosh yes yes like torturing animals absolutely so to you morris nicks um former detective in cobb county cold case unit so you get the dna off the m MVAC and then the current district attorney's office had geneticists then compare it to open public family trees like GED match and others, the family tree.com.

Those and bam, you get a match. Were you surprised, Morris Nix, that the perp is, without a doubt, then 24-year-old William B. Rose? I can't even describe it, Nancy. When Ron Alter called me, he had called me once before and said, we've got it down to two states. He called me back again and said, we have found his daughter. I did not sleep for 72 hours.

Then they exhumed the body. He called me back and said, that's it. It's done. You exhumed the perp's body? They did. Yes. I am so amazed. Flynn Brody Jr., could you tell everybody how difficult it is to get an exhumation order. It's not easy. No, it's definitely not easy. Not even easy, but it's kind of expensive. But we wanted to make sure that we had the right person. We wanted to bring true closure to make sure that this was a complete DNA match. And that was the only way we could do it. Joining me is Debbie's sister, Melvin Randall, who has gone. He was 10. Debbie was nine when she was kidnapped and murdered. Melvin Randall, how did you find out her killer had been found? Mr. Nix notified me a while back, letting me know that the possibility was great that they had found him,

and said that there was a little more testing to do to make sure, absolutely sure, before they announced it. And that's how I found out it was Mr. Nix. Mr. Nix has been a great help to my family in many ways, and I would like to thank him again. But Mr. Nix is the one that let me know for sure. And the district attorney's office both were calling me and letting me know the information. Melvin, what are your feelings and your thoughts on the fact that this rapist, this child rapist, this killer, William

B. Rose, committed suicide two years after he murdered Debbie? Well, I think that probably his conscience might have gotten to him, is what I'm thinking I mean I'm not I wasn't there I don't know but uh that's what I feel I feel that maybe his

conscience did get to him and uh that's why he committed suicide how do you feel emotionally not logically but how do you feel about the fact that he's dead, he will never have to face you or any of Debbie's family in a court of law? I don't think I would like to have faced him in the first place because I don't know what I would have done. I probably would have been one of these people that would have done something stupid. So I'm sort of grateful that, you know, that it's this way because it makes it a little easier. Melvin, can I tell you something? Yes, ma'am.

From somebody that knows, every day I wonder, did I do the wrong thing by not just shooting Keith's killer right there in the courtroom. Should I have done that? Of course, if I had, I wouldn't have John David and Lucy. I wouldn't have David. So I guess the Lord protected me. Yeah, because that's what I thought for a lot of years. I wish they would find out and I would go retaliate, but that's not what we should do. What we should do is just... No, it's not.

You know what we should do? We should do what Flynn D. Brody Jr. and Morris Nix do every day of their lives, and they are fine examples for me to follow. They don't quit. They keep going. They work within the law law and they seek justice. And I am happy to say congratulations, District Attorney Brody, and congratulations, Morris Nix. And God bless you, Melvin Randall, and may your parents and Debbie's parents rest in peace with her now. Goodbye,

friends. This is an I Heart Podcast.