Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Man's death ruled suicide by police but the family of DJ Fickey says evidence proves it's HOMICIDE.

Episode Date: July 15, 2019

DJ Fickey's shotgun death was ruled a suicide in October 2016. But his family says there's too many inconsistent facts in this case and they want answers. Nancy Grace and her guests look at those facts including the revelation of an affair between the wife and the man who called 911. Joining our panel today: Amanda Shirley, DJ Fickeys sister, Private Investigator Eric Echols, Director of the Cold Case research Institute Sheryl McCollum, Attorney Darryl Cohen, Host of “Fatal Vows” on Investigation Discovery Dr. Brian Russell, and reporter Dave Mack. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You know, yes, sir. I need a Hamilton. Okay, what's problem? Okay, what do you see himself with? Okay, is he breathing? Yeah, I don't know. I tried to get the gun. And it went off and he had it in his mouth. And I was like, man, you know.

What, is it a 12 gauge? Uh, yeah. Is he still able to talk? Huh? Is he still able to talk? No. I mean, he's studying his mouth. All right. Is he still breathing? Yeah, a little bit.

This young man's death ruled suicide, but his family says no way that all the evidence points to homicide. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. The family insists evidence, all the evidence points to homicide and the man's death. So why was it ruled a suicide? With me, an all-star panel, Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, Dr. Brian Russell, host of the hit series on investigation discovery, Fatal Vows, and author of Stop Moaning, Start Owning on Amazon, renowned defense attorney Daryl Cohen at DarylCohen.TV. Cheryl McCollum, director of the Cold Case Research Institute. Special guest joining me, Eric Eccles, PI hired by the family and DJ's sister, Amanda Shirley. First to you, Dave Mack. Break it down for me. What happened?

What we have is, as you heard on the 911-1-1 call we have dj who is at this home where an apparent uh alleged suicide occurred he was there um with there were multiple people in the home as you heard on that 9-1-1 call you've got a guy already laying up the defense claiming that dj shot himself in the mouth and And yet, as we break this down, there were plenty of other things going on that actually don't make any sense whatsoever. There is a lot that doesn't make sense to me. I've got to agree with you on that, Dave Mack.

Guys, we are talking about a young man in the prime of his life, Don DJ Fickey. Prime of his life. So many inconsistencies in this case. We want the truth. Take a listen to the rest of that 911 call. How old is he? All right.

Thank you. How old is he? How old is he? How old is he? How old is he? 27. 27? Yeah. Okay.

Is he still breathing? Where's the damage done to his head? Inside his mouth. Inside his mouth? Inside his mouth. Okay. Is now can is there an exit? Is there an exit wound?

Yeah, it was a please. Is he breathing? He's breathing. I don't know. He's alive. He got stuck again.

I took a rehab. I also wanted to hide there. Yeah, for some reason, a 27-year-old male had a gun in his mouth. There was a discharge. There was an exit wound. Possibly still breathing. We're still keeping the game further. No, I cannot understand everything they are saying.

And that's the way crime scenes are. They're almost all like that. As a matter of fact, to Daryl Cohen, renowned defense attorney joining me right now out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Daryl, when I get somebody super calm on a 911 call, the hair goes up on the back of my neck because I think something's wrong with them. This is what you expect a 911 call to be like, just like what we're hearing right now. When you hear something else on TV, that's been doctored up to make it so you can hear it better. This is the way 911 calls are, Darrell Cohen. Absolutely.

I have never heard a 911 call that I believed when the people were quiet, calm, and logical. This is exactly what I anticipate what happened to a person who was absolutely in a panic. I don't know what to do. I just don't know what to do. Yeah. Okay. Jackie Howard, I want you to preserve that for the record, because when I have a killer call in about his wife, uh, hello, I'd like to report, um, an accident in our, uh, no, he did it. Okay, right there. And you just heard Daryl Cohen saying that when somebody's calm, cool, and collected, you better take another look. Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, you told me that there are a lot of people in the

home he was visiting. Was there some kind of party or something going on in the background? Well, there was at least, of course, DJ, but then his wife and another man were all in the home, at least. There might have been others in the home as well, but at least we know there's DJ, there's the roommate, and then there's his wife. I'm going to go straight out to the private investigator. We've heard of him before. Excellent reputation. Eric Eccles joining me, hired by DJ's family. And this is no offense to the police, okay, but you're in a sorry state when you got to go and hire a private investigator because you feel that you are not getting justice. Now, does that mean the police didn't look at it? No, it doesn't.

It means this family is so distraught. They want additional help, and I don't blame them. I think they did the right thing because I see a lot of inconsistencies just with the physical evidence alone. Eric Eccles joining me. Eric, just one question to start with. Who all was in that home? Where was DJ Fickey when he was shot? DJ Fickey was sitting on a couch when he was shot.

There was his wife that was there. And then there's the person who we call the person of interest who was in the house. And then there was another witness who was also in the house. Who's the other witness? Who's the other witness? Is it a neighbor, a friend? He was a friend. They all knew each other.

His nickname is Fat Boy. And he was in the house with him now you say there was a person of interest is that your estimation that it was a person of interest or if police said it was a person of interest well it's both because the investigation itself from the police end turned from a suicide to a homicide and this is the same person that i spoke um that i investigated where the two witnesses saw him with the shotgun in his hand and taking it over to dj so he's very much a person of interest well how is he connected is he a a friend a cousin a party goer what is he who is he he's a friend in the party goer? What is he? Who is he? He's a friend and a party goer.

They all hung out together, and he was one of the ones who was in the house with them. Okay, so what I'm understanding from private investigator Eric Echols, hired by the family, they're all in the home. The victim is sitting on the sofa. The wife is there. You've got a friend, a.k., aka fat boy, and you've got the person of interest who is also a friend. To Dr. Brian Russell, psychologist joining me, host of the hit series Fatal Vows and author of Stop Moaning, Start Owning on Amazon. Dr. Brian,

you know the old phrase, familiarity breeds contempt. Yes. What do you make of it? I don't think we know. And I think this is why I'm with you. I'm glad that they hired a PI to look into it because there just doesn't seem to be the classic setup that we expect in a suicide case. We don't usually expect in a suicide case to have the questions raised, the number of questions raised that have been raised here. Well, you're absolutely right. I'm fixing to drop a bombshell in the whole thing. Listen. My brother was right-handed and he was shot in the left cheek. A private investigator hired by the family agreed. He would have to be sitting down and hold the shotgun like this. DJ's mother adamantly rejected the idea that her son had taken his own life. He did not have suicide on his mind. He was texting her up until the time he got shot.

Mom, come get me. I don't feel safe. It wasn't my, I'm gonna take my life. And when he was questioned, the roommate gave police conflicting accounts of what actually happened. He changed his story three to four times. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Besides the roommate, there were two other people in the trailer when the gun went off. DJ's wife, Brandi, and also a man who was a friend of the roommate. The man told police he heard a tense exchange between DJ and the roommate before the gun went off. Brandy couldn't confirm that. She said she was too distraught to even give a statement.

But there were suspicious hints of a cover-up. You don't have to be a genius to look at crime scene photos and see a brand new bottle of bleach sitting where someone supposedly just took their life. A bottle of bleach. You are hearing from our friends at Investigation Discovery, and we are talking about a young man, just 27 years old, in the prime of his life. Donald, nicknamed DJ Ficky, shot dead at a party there in the home. There's too much conflicting evidence, but I'll tell you one thing, when I don't know anything

else about the chaos of a crime scene, everybody's talking at once, nothing makes sense. I go to this ballistics, hard evidence, physical evidence that nobody, no matter what they say, can refute. I know that DJ was right-handed. I know for a fact that he was shot with a long gun, a shotgun. I know that the entry wound was to his left cheek. Think about it. A long gun, you're right-handed. How are you going to hold a long gun up to your cheek? And there was no crazy rigging like you see on movies where somebody pulls a string with their toe and shoots themselves. No. According to what cops say happened, a suicide, he was holding it.

But that doesn't make sense. How can you hold a long gun to, and you're right-handed to your left cheek and pull, you cannot do it and pull the trigger on a shotgun. It just doesn't make sense to me. Now, before I get deep, deep, deep into the forensics, I want to talk to someone who I have really wanted to speak with. Amanda Shirley. This is DJ's sister. I've got a brother and I've got a sister, and they are two of the closest people in the world to me. Amanda has never given up on this.

Amanda, tell me what happened the night that DJ was shot. Well, Nancy, like you heard in the investigation discovery show, DJ was actually texting our mom, begging her for a ride out of the situation. He made statements that he was going to end up dead there if he didn't get out of there, that his life depended on it, that him and the person of interest had been arguing. And I'll give you a bomb dropper. The person of interest was having an affair with DJ's wife. So that's what we believe the motive was. But we knew as soon as we got the call that it wasn't a suicide.

We knew it wasn't a suicide. With me is DJ's sister, Amanda. And from what I know, I agree with her. Listen to our friends at Investigation Discovery. It escalated when Brandy and the roommate began having an affair. She was being unfaithful. DJ still wanted to fix things with his wife, so he continued to visit Brandy. But when he did, the roommate was often violent.

The roommate actually put a knife to his throat and attacked him with a golf club. And my brother grabbed a bat, and they were fighting each other with that. Eventually, DJ got fed up. On October 3, 2016, he went to the trailer home in Flintstone, Georgia, where his wife was staying with the roommate, begging her to leave. But things quickly got heated. DJ texted his mom, telling her that he was fighting with the roommate, and things were out of hand.

He was texting me and telling me, Mom, if you don't come and get me, I'm going to die here. Three minutes later, the roommate called 911. DJ had been shot in the face. You know, I'm still back to those forensics, but what you're hearing right now is that DJ's wife allegedly was having a sex affair with the person of interest. Straight back to Eric Echols, private investigator hired by the family. Eric, what do we know about that? Well, it's true. I tracked her down.

I spoke to her. She admitted to it. They did have a relationship in the past, but she wanted to be with DJ. What do you believe happened that night, Eric? Well, based on the investigation and based on everything that I've gathered, this is what I believe happened. Brandy and DJ got into an argument. The person of interest got tired of them fighting and getting into arguments.

He came out with the shotgun to threaten or to scare DJ. DJ sitting on the couch. He held the shotgun down because he's standing up. And again, he's threatening DJ or trying to make him afraid, and the shotgun goes off, shooting DJ in a downward motion, downward motion in the left side of his face. That's what happened.

Let's take a listen to more of that 911 call. What's your name? Mike. Is he inside the house? Is he inside the house? Where's he at? I don't know. Is he inside the house? Is he in a car? Is he in a room?

No, he's in the chair in the front door. He's in the chair in the front door? Yes. All right. Is he still sitting in the chair? DJ. DJ. He's what? DJ. Is he still sitting in the chair? CJ! CJ! He's what? CJ!

Oh my God, how about the whistle? His name is CJ? Yeah, it's Slow Gage. Okay, I know it's Slow Gage. Is he breathing though? He's not breathing. But, is he moving at all? Yeah, he's breathing. Wow. You're hearing more of the 911 call. Everything is chaotic. It's hard for the 911 dispatcher to get any information. To Dave Mack with me,

CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Who is Mike, the person that is talking? Man says, my name is Mike. Who's Mike? He is the person of interest, the person that's often referred to as the roommate. And as you can hear throughout this conversation, he was allegedly having a sexual relationship with DJ's wife. Man, this is, I don't understand how this thing went from a homicide investigation to a suicide investigation. Eric Echols, how has this been determined to be a suicide? Well, I think it went suicide because the police did a shoddy investigation. They had in their mind when they arrived to the scene that they were believing that it was a suicide based on the call. And when you listen to a future 911 call, it was messed up

from the beginning because the 911 caller told them to tamper with the crime scene. I think I know what you're talking about. Take a listen to this. Mike, can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. This is Walker County 911, okay? 911, yes. Mike, listen to me, okay? I'm smart. Okay, Mike, I need to talk to you. Can you give me your attention?

Yes, ma'am. Okay, the gun, where is it located now? It's in the chair with him. I'm going to get it out of here. Okay, Mike, I need to talk to you. Can you give me your attention? Yes, ma'am. Okay. The gun, where is it located now? It's in the chair with him. Okay. I got the gun up and checked to see what it was. It was a 12-gauge.

Okay. So you moved the gun, is that correct? Yes. Okay. Can you secure that gun? Can you get it unloaded safely and lay it to the side out of the way crime stories with nancy grace the gun that dj fickey was shot with belonged to the man who was having an affair with his wife. But the police never did any tests on the gun. The gun itself wasn't forensically tested. There was no fingerprints tested on it. DJ's family says the police also ignored the fact that it looked like someone had tried to clean things up. The crime scene photos indicated that they cleaned the crime scene prior to the police arriving.

There was a basket, a trash basket, and on top of that trash basket was a white towel full of blood. The family was frustrated. We know this wasn't a suicide. We know it wasn't a suicide. Everything changed when DJ's wife Brandi suddenly announced that she did want to give a statement and she dropped a bombshell. She said the police were wrong. Her husband's death was definitely murder, not suicide. She saw the roommate come out of a bedroom behind my brother with a shotgun. Brandy saw the roommate actually killing my brother. Okay, this is almost more than I can take. You're hearing our friends over at ID.

So the ballistics are consistent with a homicide. You got a witness stating it was a homicide. It is a person of interest gun, and we know he was directed to handle the gun after the shooting by 911, which I've never heard before, but also evidence of a cleanup. Daryl Cohen, we really need your help. When a family strongly disagrees with an investigation, what is their recourse? What can they do? Well, obviously, the GBI was called in. Obviously, the family did exactly what they should have done. They went ahead. They called a private investigator to look at it far more carefully and more clearly than the police did. But this whole scene was chaotic. I'm concerned that it might have been a homicide, might very well have been a suicide. But when you, Nancy, you pointed it out,

the long gun, wrong side of the hand, the face, doesn't make sense. There's no logic to that. So they've got to take this long, long look and make sure they know exactly as best they can. But who, who, when you believe that, I mean, look at Tara Grinstead, for Pete's sake. Look how long it took to put that case together. What do they do? How do you go beyond the local police or beyond the GBI to get justice? Well, I think it's difficult to go beyond the GBI because they're known to be far more professional. And there may be justice, but let's look at it another way, Nancy. This family does not want this to be a suicide. I wouldn't want my family member to commit a suicide. I wouldn't want him or her to have killed themselves. So the family has emotionally decided this was a murder,

and now they're trying to prove it forensically that this was a murder. You keep this private investigator, if you have the money to do it, keep the private investigator looking up, down, and all around, and perhaps they will have some people take a polygraph. Well, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on just a minute. Speaking of polygraph, Daryl, I believe they've already run down that avenue. Listen. Investigators immediately asked the roommate to take a polygraph, Daryl. I believe they've already run down that avenue. Listen. Investigators immediately asked the roommate to take a polygraph test. The results indicated deceptive answers to two critical questions.

Did you point the gun at DJ? And did you shoot DJ? The roommate continued to insist that DJ shot himself. But after talking to him, two detectives told the district attorney that DJ's death was a homicide. So you have two people who are trained to look at all the evidence came forward and said that in their professional opinion, it was a homicide. Even then, the district attorney refused to change the medical examiner's ruling that DJ's death was a suicide. DJ's family believes it's because the DA doesn't want to admit they made a mistake. Let me understand this to DJ's sister, Amanda Shirley. Amanda, are you sure that the roommate

failed a polygraph? And the questions are, did you point the gun at DJ? Did you kill DJ? Yes, he failed them. And it wasn't just asked one time. They asked him about eight different times those same exact questions and he failed it each time. They did it, and according to them, the roommate flunked. You know, I was so used to our mutual district attorney, Daryl, Mr. Slayton, and I've got to sing his praises. He was like a grandfather to me. Some people said he was a cold fish. I didn't think that. You could say a lot about him. He was the longest-serving district attorney in the country at the time over 30 years. And I just don't believe he would have refused to change a ruling in the face of evidence, Daryl Cohen. It makes no sense to me

assuming the polygraph was failed. Of course, you and I both know it's not admissible, not the way it was provided, but administered. Well, wait, just don't throw that out there like that uh daryl cohen because let's explain it about okay a polygraph is allowed in civil court um just say when oj simpson was sued for 30 million dollars okay that's civil court that's about money in criminal court in a criminal case a polygraph is not allowed into evidence unless both parties stipulate it will be prior to the polygraph being taken. Okay, so I don't think that was done. I think you're right, Daryl. Dr. Brian Russell, is that your understanding of the law?

Yes, and it's because of reasonable doubt. You have to prove someone guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to convict them of a crime. And even though polygraphs actually have, when they're done by a well-trained, experienced examiner, they actually have a high accuracy rate. It still is not enough to get past that reasonable doubt. Yeah, it's got to be tested. Polygraphs, while I believe in them for the most part, they're not like a fingerprint or DNA that you can prove inconclusively because there are ways to beat a polygraph. I think it's very difficult, but there are ways to do it. I'm just having a hard time understanding this. To Amanda Shirley, this is DJ's sister. You really believe the DA won't reverse and go back to homicide because

he doesn't want to admit the medical examiner was wrong it's just not the da that doesn't want to admit that their police force messed up the investigation from the beginning the gbi will not they won't they won't change any ruling and i'll actually tell you what happened nancy they did a toxicology report on dj and when the result came back from the toxicology report, the medical examiner stated that she wasn't going to change the cause of death because of what was found in his system was a stimulant, and with that stimulant in his system, he should have been able to defend himself. Okay. I've got to say, that's bad. So let me speak to you, Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. With all of this evidence, it's really difficult for me to believe a district attorney would not change the ruling.

Now, I've been wrong about a district attorney one time before, and I'll just put it out there. It was the Duke-LaCrosse case. Remember that? I did. Because you had the victim saying i was raped you had a rape kit nurse saying looks like the victim's been raped and you had the district attorney coming out with all this evidence indicating a rape at a frat party well of course you know prosecutors across the country believed the woman had been raped why would we think the district attorney was making the whole thing up? Well, as it turned out, he was. So once in a blue moon, you have an incident like that. But I just, I feel

like I'm missing part of the puzzle, Dave Mack. Why would the DA not reverse? Nancy, because what it's going to do, it's going to call into question everything that went on in this case when they do have, the DA has the GBI flat out stating, nope, it's a suicide and we're not going to reverse it. Now, there were two Walker County detectives that said, no, we believe that this is a homicide. But again, now it goes back to challenging professional integrity here. As you heard on the 911 calls and the different things we've discussed on that crime scene, you know, not testing anybody for gunshot residue not even testing dj crime stories with nancy grace amanda shirley says her brother dj fickley was a father to three young children

she said they were his world in oct October 2016, he died. The Walker County Sheriff's Office ruled it a suicide by a shotgun. The GBI agreed. But after the GBI ruled on a cause of death, the Walker County Sheriff's Office changed its investigation to possible homicide. Detectives found there were inconsistencies with the person of interest who called 911. In the 911 call obtained by Channel 2 Action News, the person of interest who called 911. In the 911 call obtained by Channel 2 Action News, the person of interest tells the operator there's a guy that shot himself. A polygraph test would later suggest that person of interest lied about his role. Also, in another 911 call, the operator instructs the person of interest to secure the weapon. Can you get it unloaded safely and lay

it to the side out of the way? A private investigator the family hired to help get the case reopened says that casts major doubt. You are hearing our friend Lauren Posen in Action 2 News, Walker County, Georgia. It's located in the northwestern part of Georgia. How do you go beyond local law enforcement? You go to the Attorney General. You can call. Here's the number, 404-656-3000. Repeat, 404-656-3000. I have a lot of faith in the Georgia Attorney General, and that's because I worked hand-in-hand with them as a prosecutor for 10 years. Whenever I would get a homicide, a murder conviction, they would always, SOP, Standard Operating Procedure, file what is called an amicus curiae brief, a friend of the court. When I would go up to the Georgia Supreme Court to argue the appellate argument to hold the conviction, they would be there too. They would have filed a partner brief

in addition to my brief to hold my case, to hold the conviction. That's my impression of them. Am I wrong? I don't think so. Could I be wrong? Yes. But that's where you go when you are not getting justice with local police, when you are not getting justice with the GBI, you keep going up. Phone number 404-656-3000. Listen to this. Donald Ficke Jr.'s death was ruled a suicide, but family members believe it was a homicide. Ficke's death was called in as a suicide on October 3rd of 2016. In a letter to the detectives in the case, the district

attorney says, quote, while certain statements made by witnesses when viewed in isolation would tend to indicate a homicide, the physical evidence and other witness statements support a conclusion the death was a suicide, end quote. Vicki's sister says he always wanted to make people laugh and help out others. She says she wants justice for her brother. I knew from the time my mom called me it wasn't a suicide. We all knew it wasn't a suicide. He was literally texting my mother when he was shot. Vicki's sister says one of the reasons she will continue to fight for answers

is because of her brother's three children he left behind. GBI performed the autopsy but did not investigate the case. The Walker County Sheriff's Office did. Ficke died from a gunshot wound to the head. You're hearing our friend Robin Astera at News 12. And what I'm hearing from her is while the GBI did conduct the autopsy, they were not the ones to investigate the case. To Eric Echols, a well-known private investigator hired by DJ Ficke's family. Who exactly performed the investigation? The investigation by the police department was performed by Detective Ellenberg.

Is that Walker County Sheriff's or Lafayette Police? Walker County Sheriff's Department. Detective Ellenberg, who he admits he was inexperienced to do these types of investigations. Guys, that is not a badge of shame. It's a place you want to live where the homicide rate is so low, local police don't have to hone their skills on homicide. Homicide investigations are difficult to perform, very difficult. I've done them for many, many years. It involves, for instance, measuring with inches, the feet, where each person was from the door, where the gun was found, where the casing was ejected, where it was found on the floor, were there footprints in the carpet. For Pete's sake,

in this case, to you, Eric Echols, you say as a private investigator, there was evidence of a cleanup. I know there was bleach right beside where DJ was. Bleach. Why is that there? What else do you believe supports the theory of a cleanup? The blood splatter. Let's talk about that. I mean, there was no testing of the blood splatter on the couch. So, I mean, there was a lot of different things that they did not do. The forensics on the gun. You talk about measurement. They didn't measure DJ's arm span to see if it was physically possible for him to hold a shotgun on the left side of his face. There was nothing done. Fingerprints on the trigger, fingerprints on the gun. I can go on and on. They didn't do anything. And for the DA to write a letter to say that there

was physical evidence to justify that it was a suicide what physical evidence is he talking about what physical evidence is he talking about to Amanda Shirley this is DJ's sister what is he talking about I have no idea Nancy there is they did no physical evidence they did not put crime scene a crime scene tape around the the crime scene itself there was no evidence tag marking anything. They showed up on the scene and marked it as suicide from the day they showed up. We begged them to bring GBI in because we knew they wasn't capable of handling a homicide investigation. They told us there was no need to bring GBI in to investigate this case. So while we've been talking about the GBI, let me

clarify, the GBI did not do the investigation. Have you, Amanda, contacted the GBI to reopen Walker County's investigation? Yes, we have contacted them several times. Eric Echols, the private investigator, actually went and had a three-hour appointment with the medical examiner, and that's when she ordered the toxicology and came back and said she was not changing her cause of death. And you also spoke of contacting the state attorney general's office. I've contacted them. I can't get past the secretary, but they told me to contact the justice department that they didn't handle things like that. I called the justice department. They tell me to contact the Justice Department that they didn't handle things like that. I called the Justice Department. They told me to call the Attorney General's office.

You just get ran around in circles. I'm concerned. I'm very concerned. Daryl Cohen, former prosecutor, now defense attorney, sounds to me like they're getting the runaround. They need help. Where do you go when you are hitting a wall where can they go with this investigation i would go back to the da and we need to remember that just because at this point the district attorney's office refuses to call it a homicide and refuses to prosecute they may be waiting to see if our

person of interest makes a slip they may be waiting before until such time as they believe they have a case that they can prosecute and win because it's not worth it to them to prosecute a case and not be able to win it. Okay, hold on. I want to tell you a true story, Daryl Cohen. You remember the murder of Julie Love in Atlanta, a kindergarten teacher that was out jogging, and these guys chased her, got her, raped her, killed her. You know, at the time, I was all over our elected DA to investigate and indict the boyfriend, and he kept saying, nope, nope, I'm gonna wait. Well, he waited. I nearly passed out. He waited a long time until the girlfriend of the real killer was getting beaten up, and she came to police afraid she was going

to be killed, and blurted out that it it was Emmanuel Hammonds that murdered Julie Love. I believe well over a year had passed. And sure enough, the district attorney was right. He was doing exactly what you are saying. Guys, we are talking about the death of a young man in the prime of his life, a father of three, a brother, a son, Donald Ficke. I want justice. Do you? Because if you do, I implore you to call the Attorney General's Office 404-656-3000 and to Amanda Shirley. I'm happy to go with you to the Walker County District Attorney's Office. Guys, if you are hearing the voice of Amanda Shirley, who has never given up on finding the truth of her brother's death, put yourself in her shoes. If you believe in justice, at least let's see this thing through.

We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.