Let's Go To Court! - 113: Episode 113: The Murder of Peter Porco & the Boorn Brothers

Episode Date: March 18, 2020

Kristin starts us off with our most old timey story ever. It was May of 1812 in Manchester, Vermont, and something was up. Russell Colvin was missing. People were pretty sure he’d come back. He had a wife. He had a child. He had obligations. Plus, he was known to wander off from time to time. But then months passed. Then years. People in town became suspicious. What if Russell hadn’t wandered off? What if he’d been murdered? Then Brandi tells us about a November morning in 2004. Peter Porco, an Appellate Division court clerk, had always been reliable. So when he didn’t show up for work one day, a coworker went to Peter’s house to check on him. The coworker peered through the windows to discover a grizzly scene.  And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: “Then Again: A case of who done… what?” by Mark Bushnell for the Vermont Digger “The Boorn Affair,” Cincinnati Daily Star, May 24, 1875 “First wrongful conviction: Jesse Boorn and Stephen Boorn” Bluhm Legal Clinic Center on Wrongful Convictions  In this episode, Brandi pulled from: “Christopher Porco” by Rachael Bell, The Crime Library “Memory of Murder” episode 48 Hours “Christopher Porco 15 Years Later” by Diego Cagara, Spotlight News “Christopher Porco: The Unthinkable” ForensicFilesNow.com “Christopher Porco 2: The Explainable” ForensicFilesNow.com “Murder of Peter Porco” wikipedia.org

This episode of Let's Go to Court is brought to you by Gabby Insurance, Smithsonian Channels, The Lost Tapes, and Best Fiends. One semester of law school. One semester of criminal justice. Two experts. I'm Kristen Caruso. I'm Brandi Egan. Let's go to court. On this episode, I'll talk about Jesse and Stephen Bourne.

And I'll be talking about the murder of Peter Porco. That's a different spelling for Bourne than I've ever seen before. And I'm not sure I pronounced it correctly. It might be Boorne. I can't do a whole episode of that. So I'm changing their last name right now. It's my mom's last name. Yeah, that's what I changed it to. their last name right now. It's my mom's last name. Yeah, that's what I changed it to. How are you doing today? Well, you know, you know, things have been, you know. We're trucking right along here. I apologize for this throat thing I have. Yeah, and do you want to tell them how you, I've never seen anyone do this before. Well, I'm sorry. We were getting the

show on the road. I was fine to keep on sucking. Kristen gave me a cough drop and then we're like realized that it was time to record. And so I took half of the cough drop that was left out of my mouth and rewrapped it in the wrapper. Are you a grandma who was raised in the Depression? I don't know. What? You guys, I just finished mine, you know, so. Excuse me.

And then you offered the rest of your cough trap to Norm. I told him it had never been used. No, he wasn't. He wasn't believing it for a second. No. Little Normie. Oh, Norm doesn't have a mic today, so he can't even join in. Okay.

Sorry, Norm. Just the eye candy. Okay. Keep it in your pants, Kristen. Yeah, Norm. Sorry, Norm. Just the eye candy. Okay. Keep it in your pants, Kristen. Yeah, Norm. Oh, boy. Norm's got new jeans and he's just really feeling himself over there. You guys, for real, Norm has new jeans. They're really nice new jeans. I wish you had a mic right now. Before this moment, the nicest pair of jeans this man owned came from the old navy and i mean i hate to tell you how fancy he is but we went to nordstrom i know i know i know someone really nice must have sent you guys there do you want to tell them what happened okay so norm was talking about how he

has trouble you know fitting in jeans because he's got those getting all that in them jeans that's right we've talked about his thighs before on this program folks and um so i instructed him to go to nordstrom because they have like a special they carry lots of different kinds there they have like a whole personal dresser by the way nordstrom not a sponsor we're no fans no but like here's what norm and I have in common. We have bodies that are difficult to dress. You both have beautiful bodies. Thank you, Kristen.

Thank you for appreciating our unique bodies. And so I have experienced the amazingness that is the jeans department at Nordstrom. So they finally took me up on their offer. Yeah, so you told us to do it. Yeah. Did we do it? No. No, we went to like Target, which I mean, we went to a bunch of places and it just did

not work out. And finally we took Brandy's advice. And you know what? Norm looks amazing. Amazing. He's like a model fresh off the runway. Okay, let me do some shout outs okay and jazz hands i was gonna say people are really missing out on these jazz hands first of all

to christy on facebook for sending this suggestion in uh amazing thank you and then to the fine people over at forensic files nowFilesNow.com. Never heard of that website. I was researching this case. Christy, when she sent the recommendation, sent the link to a 48 Hours episode, which was great. But it had some holes in it that I was having trouble filling in. Found this ForensicFilesNow.com website, which then linked me to a Crime Library article about the case. Was meant to be.

Yep. Your favorite website. My favorite website. And thank you to Rachel Bell at the Crime Library. Most of this information comes from her article and from the 48 Hours episode. Okay. Here we go. After I take a drink of water and try and lube up my throat.

Your poor throat. It doesn't hurt. It just sounds terrible. Oh, great. It was November 14th, 2004. And Peter Porco had failed to show up for his job at the state Supreme Court in upstate New York. Really? Yes.

He worked as a law clerk for Judge Cardona. I thought I had a first name, but I don't. Okay. Sorry. Sorry for the awkward pass there, folks. Ooh, somebody in Hawaii is calling me. Do you think they are calling to tell me that I've won a free vacation? I would bet money, yes.

It's 100% not spam at all. Not at all. So Peter was super reliable, as these cases always are you know nobody expected him to not show up for work so they were very alarmed when he didn't and so his boss this judge cardona had one of the other men in the office this guy michael go to peter's house to check on him so he he went to 36 Broccoli Drive. Broccoli? Broccoli. Not like the vegetable. B-R-O-C-K-L-E-Y. I was so excited. Del Mar, New York. Okay. Del Mar, New York. All right. All right. Where Peter and his wife Joan lived, cute. Cute house. Very cute house. So this guy, Michael, shows up at the house,

and he walks up, and he kind of like looks in the windows, and he is shocked immediately because there was blood everywhere. Blood all over the floor of this house. So he notices that the key is in the front door of the house. And there's also like a trail of blood like on the walkway. He enters the house through the unlocked front door and he finds Peter Porco dead. Oh. Badly mangled. Mangled? mangled and laying on the floor it was very clear that peter porco

was dead he had obviously been the victim of some kind of very violent attack okay but what do you mean by mangled um i think like shredded when uh we will come to find out that he has been attacked with an axe oh yes okay like hit 13 times in the face and head and torso with an axe oh my god how would you describe that kristin i you know what i wouldn't i would never have picked this case which is why we work so well together right so this guy michael from the office calls the police and then he calls judge cardona and he's like hey this is what's up and the police show up lock down the scene figure out what's going on upstairs in the porco's master bedroom joan is still in bed their bed is drenched in blood and joan has also been attacked with an axe they get emergency crews to the scene immediately her face she's missing an eye. Oh, my God. She's been hit three times in the face with an ax.

Part of her brain is exposed. Oh. It's horrible. They get her loaded into an ambulance. And about that time, this detective, Detective Chris Bodish, B-O-W-D-I-S-H, Bodish. Sure. Mm-hmm. Who works for the Bethlehem, New York Police Department.

He shows up on the scene. He's a seasoned detective, and he's actually familiar with the Porcos' home. A couple years prior, they had had some kind of burglary at the home. A minor break-in. Not much was taken. Two laptops, but nothing else. Okay. And they'd gotten in through like a garage window

and by cutting the screen and breaking the window or whatever. And so he's familiar with the home. He remembers being there before. And he remembers that they have two adult sons. By his account, as Joan is being loaded into the ambulance on a gurney, she motions to the detective to come over this is a woman whose brain is exposed and her eyeball is missing and he says to her do you know who did this to you and according to him she nods yes and she says and i believe at point, he's done like a cursory glance through the crime scene.

And to him, it looks like a staged robbery. Nothing from the home is missing. No drawers have been tossed, as he would say. But a screen on a window has been cut. The security alarm pad has been smashed, like destroyed. So to him, this looks like somebody made it look like someone broke in. And with his knowledge of the previous burglary that they had, he's like, this is staged and it looks like an inside job.

What? Yes. And so he asked Joan, do you know who did this to you? And she nods yes, according to him. Like one nod, like a very affirmative nod. And he says, they have two sons. One's older. I believe his name's Joshua.

Was it Joshua? And she shakes her head no. Why does he immediately assume? And so then he asks, was it Christopher? And she repeatedly, according to this detective, nods her head yes. Okay. And says, yes, it was my son Christopher with a nod. From there, they take her off in an ambulance. She goes through like 12 hours of surgery. She's in a coma for days. And when she awakes from her coma, she has no recollection of the attack, no recollection of the weeks that have gone by since the attack, and no recollection of implicating her son in her husband's murder and her attack.

There's a reason that this detective thought that it might be. I'm sorry. I think I said one of the son's name was Joshua. It's Jonathan. I was very close. Jonathan and Christopher. That's my game, lady. Don't you come over here.

So there's a reason that he thinks it might have been the boys. Okay. Because two years earlier, when he had worked the case of this burglary at their house where the two laptops had gone missing, they had determined that in that case, it was their son, Christopher,

who had stolen the laptops. Whoa. Yes. He had stolen the laptops, staged this burglary scene. The laptops were then listed for sale on eBay and they were able to trace those sales back to Christopher. So a real bright kid. Yeah. What an elaborate thing to do.

I mean, why not just take a laptop and be like i don't know where it is and then yeah you sell it on ebay right yeah and nothing ever came of that he was never charged with a crime i mean nothing well yeah your parents probably aren't gonna charge but it's stuck in this detective's mind sure that there was something up within this home christopher didn't live at home he He was away at college in Rochester. But we're talking very quickly after this attack. His name is the prime suspect. Okay.

And his mother has implicated him. The scene inside the Porco home was crazy. When I say there was blood everywhere, as I always do, there was literally blood everywhere in this house because something crazy went on with Peter Porco after he was attacked. So Peter and Joan were attacked while they were sleeping in the early morning hours. At some point, Peter's like alarm went off for work after he had been attacked after he had been bludgeoned 13 times with an axe his alarm went off for work and he got up and got ready for work

was he just so out of it the part of your brain that is like your root that like habits takes you through your routine oh my god had. Had not been injured. And so he literally got up. He went into the bathroom. He shaved. There's a trail of blood to the bathroom. There's blood all over the sink. There's blood everywhere where he shaved. He then got dressed. He went downstairs. He went outside and got the newspaper. He then locked himself out of the house. He got the hidden key out of like the hidden toad, like key holder thing, got back in the house, went and made his lunch. And then at some point he finally lost enough blood that he collapsed onto the floor and died. Oh my God. floor and died oh my god yeah all after being attacked and being hit 13 times with an axe that's incredible isn't that insane well i guess i mean i'm sorry this might be a weird thing to say

right now but those self-help gurus always go off about the power of your habits i mean they talk about how you just. It's like locked into a part of your brain. Yes. That is nuts. I know. So. And I assume none of his neighbors saw him out bloodied.

And yeah. I don't believe so. I would think someone would have intervened had they seen that. would have intervened had they seen that. So word of this attack in this, you know, nice neighborhood to this nice family that everybody knew spread very quickly. And Chris, who was 200 miles away at the University of Rochester, got a call later that morning from a reporter asking if he had a statement on what had happened to his parents and he says that this is how he found out that his dad had died and his mother had been attacked oh yuck oh my god if you believe the prosecution though chris already knew that his parents had

been attacked you know what here's the thing, though. Even if you're pretending like you're finding out for the first time, it should always be from the police that you find out that people are dead. Yeah. So as soon as Chris gets this call from this reporter, he calls the police department back in his hometown and he's like, what's going on? And then he finds out that, that yes not only has his father been murdered his mother is like in this crazy surgery this fight for her life but he is the prime suspect and they have a all points bulletin out on him to bring him in for questioning wow yeah he's like well shit i guess i better get myself back to town so I can sit down and be questioned. And so he does. It's a couple hours later and he comes back.

He went to the Albany Medical Center where his mother was being treated. By his account, he saw her all swollen and unrecognizable and missing an eye and hooked up to all these tubes. And he just collapsed onto the ground and burst into tears. However, there's a differing account by this reporter that happened to actually, just like by happenstance, be at the hospital. His wife was in the hospital. Oh. And he was there with her.

Uh-huh. And so he got to see Chris at the hospital that day and got like an exclusive report on this crazy case. Uh-huh. And said that he was extremely unemotional the entire time he witnessed him. Huh. Yeah. He never saw him cry or collapseotional the entire time he witnessed him. Huh. Yeah. He never saw him cry or collapse onto the ground or any of that. So after he gets to go see his mom, he's then taken down to the police station where he agreed to be interrogated.

He sat down for six hours with investigators and talked about where he was the night of the attacks, whatever. He maintained his innocence throughout this entire interrogation, said he had nothing to do with any of it. There was no way he could have had anything to do with it because he was at home the whole night at his dorm, sleeping on a couch in the rec room on his floor. Any witnesses? Well, what's weird about that is that when they followed up by that there'd been a movie night in the dorm rec room that night and no one said chris was there yikes yeah and they

were like this was a square room with like three couches and some chairs yeah no one's not like he was overlooked yeah yeah yeah his dorm mates were like i don't know where he was but he wasn't sleeping in that rec room yeah so the investigation is continuing but they are very focused on chris porco as being the perpetrator of this horrible attack and he is being like constantly berated by the press he's being called at all times of the day and night for statements, like they're hounding him whenever he's going to and from the hospital to visit his mom. And so five days after the attack, he retains the services of a defense attorney. He claims that he did this because he was going to take legal action against the press that was harassing him.

Not because he was a suspect. But, you know, I don't know if a defense attorney is probably who you contact if you're. Well, and. What? What do you got? What do you got, Kristen? I personally like I think if you're the prime suspect in a crime like this, I don't think it's so so bad that you would get a defense attorney, even if you're innocent.

Yeah. Yeah. If you're guilty, you for sure need one. Well, yes, if you're guilty, you for sure need one. And yeah, I don't know. Maybe you would just get one. I don't know. It didn't look good to the press, I'll tell you that.

Okay. Yeah, sure. Weeks go by. They hold a funeral for Peter Porco. Joan comes out of her coma and remembers nothing. She sits down with police after she's recovered. She looks nothing like herself anymore. Of course.

Her attack is completely to her face. She, as I mentioned, lost an eye. She has scars and she just looks nothing like herself anymore. And she is very upset that something she did or didn't do, has no recollection of, has resulted in her son being the prime suspect in the murder of her husband and this attack on herself. So she at no point thought that he could have done this? No. She says absolutely not. But the police are convinced that this is the right direction. And so they start looking further into Chris Porco. And this kid has all kinds of fucking problems. He's failing out of school and lying to his parents about it. They track the sale of those computers. That was not the first

instance. There was another robbery at the Porco home where they're able to track the sale of the items that were missing from there. There was a robbery at the veterinary clinic that he worked at where a digital camera and stuff was stolen. Again, they're able to check the eBay records that he sold those items on eBay. At one point, his grades were so bad that he got kicked out of school. His parents found out about it. He lied to them and told them it was an error that one of his teachers had lost his final exam and had erroneously said that he failed. And he got suspended from the school for a year because of his because of a teacher's academic probation but when they figured out it was the teacher's mistake now he's gonna get a free year of college out of it that's not how how that works that's absolutely how it works yeah our mistake now you can go to

college for free for a year only of course he wasn't going to college for free for a year did his parents buy that? It seems that they did. There's no way. It seems that they bought it, but it also seems that he was really good at forging stuff to make it look real. So in the meantime, when he had to take a year off from Rochester University, he enrolled at a local community college,

did okay at the beginning, and then stopped going to his classes. And so he forged transcripts from that community college, did okay at the beginning, and then stopped going to his classes. And so he forged transcripts from that community college, sent them to Rochester to get himself off of academic probation and re-enrolled. Wow. With a forged transcript. He told his dad that he needed $2,000 to cover some supplies to get started back up you know the semester was free but he needed books and stuff like that right right and so his dad co-signed on a student loan for him for two thousand dollars only chris then forged the documents and took out a thirty two thousand dollar loan instead of a two thousand dollar loan co-signed by his father. And he bought a nice, shiny, yellow Jeep Wrangler and paid for the semester of school that he wasn't supposed to have to pay for.

All of this is uncovered in this investigation into Chris Porco. And so what they also find during this investigation is that Peter and Joan had figured all of this out. They had put all of the pieces together, and there was this email chain back and forth between them about how they were going to have to sit down and have a really hard conversation about all of this

when he was home for Thanksgiving. Yeah. And this attack happened on November 15th. Yeah. So to the prosecution, this is a clear... Yeah. He can't match up his alibi.

Like, nobody can verify his alibi. And then we have clear motive here. There's also record that he's been checking into their life insurance policies. Oh, God. And that he stood to get a $100,000 payout or something if his parents died. Maybe even more than that. Mm-hmm. So all of this information by December of 2004 is presented to a grand jury. At that time,

Joan makes like her first public statement. And she says, I want to say unequivocally that although I have no memory whatsoever of the attack, either because I was asleep or because of my injuries, I am absolutely positive that my son was in no way involved in this heinous crime. I don't know if the presentation of materials to the grand jury took this long or if the grand jury took this long to deliberate if they wanted to bring down an indictment so they originally met in december of 2004 and started presenting evidence to this grand jury the indictment against christopher porco didn't come down until november of 2005 so like almost a year later yeah yeah but they did the grand jury decided that there was enough evidence to say that Chris had probable involvement in the attacks. And based on that evidence, Chris was

indicted for the second degree murder of his father and the attempted murder of his mother. So he was arrested. And then there was a bail hearing to determine if he should get bail. Oh, my God, no. So at the original bail hearing, which happened like a year and a day after the attacks. Okay. So like November 16th, 2005 is when his bail hearing was held. And a judge couldn't determine at that time. He said he needed longer time to think of it. So like a week later, he comes back and he's like, yes, I will grant him bail. It's $250,000 cash or $1 million bond. And the family raised it, family and friends. They all thought this was a travesty. They could not believe that this was going on. Christopher never could have done this to his parents. And so they did

all these fundraisers and they raised $250,000 cash and they bailed him out of jail. That's incredible. Yeah. So when he was bailed out of jail, it was the beginning of December and he made kind of his first public statement. And he said that it felt pretty good to be out of jail and that he was absolutely innocent and that he was looking forward to the trial. Looking forward to that's what i said that's a bold thing to say so as they're moving forward toward trial a couple of things come up that the defense wants shame they want to change a venue because this has been front page news yeah and then they want his original interrogation video he was not read his his Miranda rights at that time. So they want his interrogation.

What? Well, because he wasn't, he didn't really believe he was a suspect. They weren't treating him like he was under arrest. I don't know. And so the defense wants his interrogation video kept out of court as well. And they get both of those things granted.

I bet they did. Yes, they absolutely do. The original interrogation is not admissible. However, they also tried to get the statement of that detective who said that Joan positively ID'd Christopher as her attacker, tried to get that out of court, and that did not pass. That is deemed admissible. So it's June 2006 when the trial begins. This was, like I said, a huge thing. They moved it like an hour away from Albany, where the family lived, to Orange County, New York. I don't know where that is, but drew a huge crowd every day.

The galley was full. The prosecution had some like 80 witnesses lined up to testify about this. So during their opening statements, the prosecution tells the jury that they had evidence that would discredit Chris's alibi. So he claimed that he was asleep on that couch. And they said, nope, we're going to show you evidence

that shows that's not true. And we're going to show you exactly how he got to and from his parents' house when he said he was sleeping on that couch. So remember, he's 200 miles away right so he has to leave school drive 200 miles get into his parents house attack them and get back to school the other 200 miles back while he's claimed to be asleep uh-huh because in the morning he was found asleep in the dorm rec room but it was like 8 30

in the morning when he was down there so okay not the entire night yeah not during movie night no not during movie night i think the movie night wound up in like at like 3 30 in the morning so yeah people were in there a long ass time. Yeah. There's a lot of people that could discredit his story that he'd been sleeping on the couch there the whole time. So this was the prosecution's theory. They said that Chris left his dorm somewhere around 10.30 p.m. that night and that he drove off campus in his bright yellow Jeep Wrangler, drove the 232 miles to his house and arrived there somewhere after 2 a.m. There is surveillance footage of him getting in his car and leaving campus. Not of him getting in his car, but of his car leaving campus.

Okay. Around 10. 30 p.m okay but the defense has a reasonable explanation for this chris did not have an on-campus parking pass so every night he had to move his car off campus and move it back the following morning because overnight is when they ticket for not having a parking pass. Not bad. It's not a bad defense. Right. And this is exactly what the footage shows. They shows him driving his car off campus at 1030 and driving it back on somewhere around 830 the following morning. Oh, yep. Okay. But do they have footage from other nights of him doing the same thing? You know, that's a good question.

Thank you. I'm a brilliant person. I didn't find that, but that would be a great question. And that would back up the defense's position. So surely if they should I have gone to all of the all of all of the semesters of law school. So they said he went there. He used that key that was found in the door. You know, the defense's claim is that that was Peter who did that when he was walking around in his

haze and he locked himself out of the house and let himself back in. But the prosecution says that that was actually Chris who did that. Chris went to the house. He got the hidden key out of the frog, let himself in the house, disarmed the alarm. So the alarm on the house, the security alarm, was disarmed with the master code. But then the pad was like smashed because the person, whoever did the attack, thought that that would cover up

that the alarm had been disarmed with the code. But a separate box in the house, in the basement of the house, logs all of that information. And so that didn't cover up anything. They knew exactly what time the alarm had been disarmed and that had been disarmed using the code. Yeah. And that it was by someone who's trying to make it look like a robbery. Absolutely. Again, the defense... Or a break-in, rather.

You know, whatever. Yeah. Again, the defense has an explanation for this. Peter regularly disarmed the alarm in the middle of the night to let the dog out and then never said it again. There was like... He did this commonly. And I guess the records of the alarm system showed this.

Wow. But then why smash the pad? Because, okay, under their theory, then, you know, someone new comes along, the murderer comes along, and then they do that. Uh-huh. Assuming that it works. Yeah. Maybe. Well, no.

For sure, no. But, like, that's their theory, right? Mm-hmm. Well, no, for sure. No. But like, that's their theory, right? Mm hmm. The prosecution to support their theory that, you know, he didn't just move his car off of campus. He actually got on the freeway and drove the 200 miles home, brings forward some witnesses who work at toll booths along the way. who work at toll booths along the way.

Two different toll booth workers say that they remember a bright yellow Jeep with big tires on it coming through their toll booth at times that match the prosecution's theory. One going the direction of the Portco home and one several hours later coming back the direction of the school. I mean, it's a pretty noticeable car. And that's exactly it. It is a noticeable car. It's bright yellow.

It's got big tires on it. Yeah. It is. It's a noticeable car. And one of the toll booth workers specifically testifies that he remembers the car so clearly because he remembered thinking about it and how it would be a great car for his son. Like, he's like, my son would love to have one of those. So it's stuck out specifically in his

memory yeah okay the prosecution also brought forward some dna evidence this is the only part of possible physical evidence against chris porco and it's very questionable so they presented a toll booth ticket that they claimed to be the one that Chris Porco turned in when he got off the toll booth and paid his toll or got off the toll road and paid his toll and said that there was his DNA on it. This thing had obviously been so contaminated, though, because how many people touch like where does that go when you turn it back in like so a prosecution DNA expert says that there was a 99.6% chance that the DNA found on that toll booth tag matched Chris Porco but a defense expert was able to come forward and say yeah there is a 99.6 chance that it could be Chris. But it's such a vague sample.

It could also be 70% of the population. Oh, no. Yes. Oh, wow. It wasn't a complete profile. Like, yeah, what we have of it matches Chris, but it also matches 70% of the population. That first one was really misleading.

Yes. I hate that. I know. Yes. I hate that. I know. Okay. As for physical evidence on Chris or at the scene, there's none. There was no bloody clothing found in Chris's possession. There's no blood evidence found anywhere in his car. And we're talking about a scene. Wow, there's no blood in his car.

No blood in his car. That's kind of amazing. And we're talking about a scene that is covered in blood. Right, right. But the prosecution says it makes sense to them. He might not have hit the bodies that hard with that ax, so there might not have been that much overspray. No. There was a chair that sat in the porco's master bedroom that sat approximately where

chris would have had to stand to attack his father and it had almost no overspray on it so it's possible that chris got no overspray on him. I don't believe that at all. No, I just don't. If you're going in with an ax. Yeah. I'm sorry. We're talking. You go in swinging.

You don't tap people with an ax. I mean. No. In all, there were 16 blows of an ax in this bedroom. Yeah, you're going to get blood all over you. And Chris had not a single drop of blood on any clothing that they found in his possession. So they're like, OK, fine. All right.

All right. The prosecution's like, OK. I mean, clearly what he did was he went to another part of the house with a garbage bag, stripped down completely naked, got a new pair of clothes and went on his way and then dumped it somewhere along the way. Right. I mean, that would have to be it. I mean, probably.

There's no way he got no blood on him and yeah exactly the prosecution says not surprising to us at all that there's no blood evidence in his car chris was a surgical tech part-time at a veterinary office he knows how to clean blood up oh oh he's wellined in how to clean blood off of things. Okay. It's a pretty good point. Okay, yeah. So they spell out this timeline. They bring forward that.

They do the DNA evidence, which is pretty discredited. It sounds really great off the bat. And then when you hear the other expert, he was like, yeah, okay, but it also matches 70% of the population. This is like when you see a great headline and then you read the article. Yes. And then they brought Joan to the stand to testify about that nod. So before Joan testifies, the detective who claims to have seen the nod testifies,

a paramedic who witnessed it testifies, and they all say that Joan absolutely knew what she was being asked and answered to the best of her ability. So Joan takes the stand and says, no, I have no memory at all. I don't think it's possible that my son did this. I have no memory of implicating him. I don't think there's anything to what they're saying. And so the prosecution and the defense bring forward two different neurology experts. I have no memory of implicating him. I don't think there's anything to what they're saying.

And so the prosecution and the defense bring forward two different neurology experts. One who testifies like, absolutely, because of the part of Joan's brain that was injured, she could have been coherent in that moment, able to understand what was being asked of her. The paramedic testified that she was able to follow his commands when he was checking her responses, like move your eyes, you know, that she was able to do those things. And so this neurology expert was like, yes, it is possible that she could have in that moment been coherent and been able to register what was being asked of her and respond. But after the surgeries that she went through and the medically induced coma, all of that has been erased. Yes. Makes sense from a neurology standpoint. Okay.

The defense puts on a separate expert who is a neurologist who treated Joan specifically. And she says, absolutely not. There's no way Joan could have been responding in any way. She couldn't have known what was being asked of her. What she was going through was likely a shock response. Her body was just responding to stimulus. Huh? Yes. Oh, shit. This is so complicated. It is. It's so complicated. When you're bringing on witnesses who are contradicting each other, who do you believe? And the thing is, I think so far every expert witness makes sense. I agree.

You know? Yeah. Yeah. In all, the prosecution brought forward 75 witnesses and spent six weeks presenting their evidence. Okay. And then the defense did their best to break all of those things down. They talked about how, yeah, maybe you have people who saw a yellow Jeep, but they couldn't identify Chris.

They never had a license plate. How do you know it's them? A neighbor actually testified that he saw Chris's car in the driveway at 4 a.m., which I have a couple of problems with. Okay. So the defense brings on an expert who says that this could be a created memory like yeah you've seen it there enough times that then you yeah you know you create a memory that didn't exist yeah if you're really going through all

of this trouble to do this attack are you going to park your bright yellow jeep in the driveway um well okay so here's the thing uh-huh here's what i'm thinking it's a bit of a gamble yeah but looking at the photo of that house okay he could have pulled into the garage possibly but maybe he didn't have a garage door opener and even if he did that's gonna wake your parents. So maybe you don't do that. And yeah, you could possibly park your car elsewhere in the neighborhood. Yeah. But then you're going to be walking further, probably with a bag of evidence. You risk maybe being seen more. I think it's possible that, yeah, he pulled his bright yellow Jeep into the driveway.

I mean, murdering people is risky business brandy that's why i don't do it that's why you don't do one reason so what do you think what do you think i i don't know i think that would have been a very dumb move and you put all of this planning into this but maybe it's not something you think about maybe that's like the thing that you overlook when you're staging a scene and murdering your parents. I don't know. It seems like he was smart enough to pull off all of this other stuff.

Forging these loans in his parents' names. Getting away with these little burglaries. Well, he didn't really get away with those burglaries. He was never charged with anything from them, ever. That's not the same as getting away with it, you know? I get what you're saying, no. Well, he didn't really get away with those burglaries. He was never charged with anything from them, ever. That's not the same as getting away with it, you know? Right, right, right. I get what you're saying, yeah.

I don't know. It seems like a really dumb move to me. And maybe that's what it was. And maybe he did do it. I'm trying to think about my own neighborhood now. Yeah. And, you know, I feel like I kind of know what cars everybody drives. Yeah.

Like, at least in my immediate area. And so if I saw someone's Lexus in the usual spot, I would make no note of it. Yeah. Because that's not extraordinary. Right. But if they parked it somewhere else, I might make a note of it. So maybe it makes more sense to park it in the place that people are used to seeing it. Because it wouldn't necessarily be extraordinary.

Yeah. I mean, here I am defending this guy. I don't know. What is wrong with this day? Brandy, I just can't have you talking bad about him. Okay. So in addition to trying to punch holes in those prosecution witnesses. Right.

The defense also. In the witnesses? Well, in their stories. Not in the witnesses themselves, Kristen. He already punched all the holes in his parents. Oh, God. What the fuck? Was that too far?

Yes. I'm sorry i apologize we'll lose all our sponsors now we finally got them so they put forward a couple of theories about other suspects oh good i always love this didn't do this who did okay let's hear it okay so here's the first peter porco had this cousin frankie the fireman porco okay and he was he was like a known mobster who was serving 24 months in prison okay and um apparently he was pissed at peter porco because he tried to extend that 24 month sentence somehow. He thought he had like some control over it because he worked in the court system, I guess. So apparently he threatened Peter at some point. So bing, bang, boom.

It's Frankie the fireman Porco coming for the Porcos in retaliation. OK, if that's all true. Yeah, that's not bad. No, I don't think it's bad either. OK, all right. Usually when people say there could be this other guy, I mean, it's always so stupid. It's always like evil twin, you know. Next possibility.

Okay. Remember, Peter Porco works in the court system. This guy in 1989 had been, I don't know, something had gone bad during a custodial dispute that had gone on in this Judge Cordona's courtroom. He presided over this case. When it happened, this guy was pissed and he threatened to kill Peter and the judge. No. And he was coming back and making good on that. No. Not that many years later and you don't go after the wife. All right. You don't like that one? You're not buying that one?

You like the fireman better? Yeah. So if, okay, you said that happened in 1989 and this crime occurred in 2004? Mm-hmm. No. No. Okay. Okay. But Peter apparently had, like, run into this guy in 2004 and refreshed his memory, apparently.

Nah. No? Not buying it? Not enough to go kill him with an ax and kill his wife or try to kill his wife? No. Okay. All right. So after presenting these other theories, finally the defense rests and the case goes to the jury.

At this point, this case has gone on for several weeks, and both sides are like, this jury's going to deliberate for a long time. Chris's defense attorney says to Joan, why don't you go home, get some rest. We'll let you know when the jury comes back. It's going to be... This is like the O.J. Simpson thing,

where they're all like, let's all go on vacation. A couple days at least. And then they get a phone call. Hours later, they come back with a verdict. Yeah. And they found Christopher Porco. What do you think? Surely they found him guilty.

They found him guilty. Okay. But I mean, they put up a good defense. I think they put up a very good defense. I think they put up a very good defense. Christopher reacted, not real emotionally, but just kind of hung his head when the verdict was returned. Joan did not make it back in time to hear the verdict. She missed the reading of the verdict. In December of 2006, Chris was sentenced to the maximum, which was 50

years to life in prison. He's currently held at Dannemora and will be eligible for parole in December of 2052. Joan still stands by her son and says he is wrongfully convicted and had nothing to do with this. In 2013, Lifetime made a movie. Oh, hell yes. Called Romeo Killer, the Chris Porco story. Why Romeo? I don't know. I think it's a terrible title. And they portrayed him as some like Lothario, like who had all the ladies, which a bunch of people have come forward and said that that was not the case at all. But what does that even have to do with the story? It has nothing to do with the story.

But when word got out that they were going to be releasing this movie, Chris and his mom were very upset by it. And they actually filed a lawsuit against Lifetime to try and block the release until chris was like wait you're portraying me as a super hot stud okay i guess i'm okay with it yeah okay go ahead no their lawsuit was dismissed and they yeah the movie was able to be released um so didn't christopher have a sibling he did he had brother. His brother testified briefly at the trial and said that they had a strained relationship and he didn't know him that well. Oh, well.

Yeah. That's polite speak for my brother did it. Yep. I've been polite a few times in my life. I'll speak the language. Yeah. Yep. Wow.

He said they had a cold, a cold relationship with each other. That, that story is fascinating. Yeah. I love Wow. He said they had a cold relationship with each other. That story is fascinating. Yeah. I love a good trial. That is the definition of a good trial. Yeah. It was a good one. Thank you to Christy on Facebook who sent in this recommendation.

Yeah. Thank you, Christy. That is the murder of Peter Porco. Do you think he did it? Of course. Yeah, I think he did it, too. Of course I think he did it. But, um. I think they did it? Of course. Yeah, I think he did it too. Of course I think he did it. But, um.

I think they did a good job of. Yeah, the defense, like he had a good defense team. Yeah. He tried to appeal based on ineffective counsel. Oh, what? Like what the fuck?

You had the best counsel you could have possibly had. Nice try, Romeo. Yeah. Ineffective counsel. Yes. My God. Hey, what do you got for us?

You got talking about the Bournes and we're not talking about my family. Brandy, have I got a story for you. Excellent. Hold on to your maternity pants. We're going on a wild ride. Oh, I can't wait. I don't know anything about this at all. Good.

Okay. Do you think I'll know it once we get in it? Hell no. Okay, good. This is so old-timey. It is crusted over. Oh my gosh. I'm sorry. That was gross. That sounds gross. You thought my punch-in-holes joke was bad.

Well, it was more in poor taste. Mine was just gross. It was in poor taste. I apologize. Hey, this is good. Get the apologies out within the episode instead of after. Right. I apologize for that joke that was in poor taste. So big shout out to an article on the Northwestern School of Law website. So frustrating. It's a great article, but they don't have an author listed. So whoever you are, you know, thank you. And I can't read you the title without giving it away. So, you know, the vaguest of thank yous to them. What if you read it, but you were like, bleep.

I'm trying to remember the actual title. Okay. It doesn't matter. Another big shout out to historian and writer Mark Bushnell. He writes a column about this for the Vermont Digger called Then Again. That's the name of his column. A Case of Whodun dot dot dot. What?

Oh. Yeah. Okay. And then, as always, newspapers.com. Excellent. This should go without saying. Feeling it. Old timey disclaimer.

Old timey disclaimer. Old timey disclaimer. It was May of 1812. Oh, so crusty. In Manchester, Vermont. And something was up. Was afoot. It sure was. Russell colvin was missing but you know he'd be back he had to come back he had a wife he had a young son he had obligations plus he had wandered off before and he'd always come back so brady calm down he'd be back, because he had a history of wandering off.

And always coming back. So, he was going to come back. He's like that cat. The cat came back the very next day. But days went by. Days turned to months. Months turned to years. Wow.

People in Manchester started to get kind of uneasy. They had a hunch that Russell wasn't just missing. Was he dead? They thought he'd been murdered. And everyone was pretty sure who'd done it. Russell had obviously been murdered by the two men who hated him most. What? He had two men who hated him? Most? Were there more than that that hated him? I mean, people did not really like this guy.

Probably why it took years for anybody to look into his disappearance. I guess that should be a bit of a giveaway. The two men who hated him most were his brothers-in-law, Jesse and Stephen Bourne. Bourne. Bourne. See, before Russell went missing, Jesse and Stephen talked all kinds of shit about Russell. They said he was lazy. He wasn't good enough for their sister, Sally.

He spent way too much time at the pub he mooched off the family he was dumb he was weird what if these borns are long lost relatives because the born family comes from new england but this isn't how your mom's i know but maybe like you know how spellings get changed over the true it's true okay that would be pretty freaking cool we need to get on ancestry map this shit out that's right plus he got special treatment from their dad their dad saw that russell was a shitty husband to his daughter Sally, so he said, look, let me make life a little easier on you two. You two come live on the family homestead and work the land and life will be good.

Stephen and Jesse were, I mean, you look pissed off for them. Yeah. They were like, damn, I guess we just have to go be big boys and live on our own. Get our own jabs. I don't know how clear I have been, but Stephen and Jesse thought that Russell was a super douche. Oh. And this will shock you, but when Russell went missing, Jesse and Stephen were not exactly crying their eyes out. Like, oh, boo-hoo, I sure do miss him.

I wish he'd come back the very next day like that cat that's exactly right in fact no one in the bourne family including sally was that heartbroken about russell's. Three years passed. And oopsies, Sally got pregnant, which was very scandalous at the time. It's 18, what, 15 by now? Uh-huh. Everyone knew that her husband was not the father. Uh-huh.

Thank you, Maury. I'm so glad you knew what I was putting down there. So Sally was looked down upon by everyone in town. And in addition to that, she had the added burden of not being able to collect any kind of financial support from the child's biological father. Yeah, I know. That's because since she was still married to Russell in the eyes of the law, any child born to a married woman was presumed to have been fathered by her husband, regardless of whether he'd been like alive at the time of conception or whatever. Because of this, Sally couldn't collect financial support from her baby's father.

So she's like, well, shit, I've got to find Russell. Yeah. But Jesse and Stephen were like, come on, Russell's probably dead. Stephen told her that Russell had gone to hell. Straight to hell. Where potatoes would not freeze. What that mean i don't know but that's super weird is that a phrase that people are saying i have never heard that in my life is that like a stick it where the sun don't shut down thing you go where the potatoes won't freeze

i mean are potatoes notorious for freezing like they must have been. I mean, that must have been like their chief problem up in Vermont in the early 1800s. They're like, I want a potato, but it's stone cold. Word got out that Jesse and Steven were saying that Russell was dead. People were really creeped out by that potato comment. Years passed. There was no proof that Jesse and Stephen had murdered Russell.

But, I mean, everybody was pretty sure. I know. But then, one night, their uncle, Amos Bourne, had a dream. Hmm. In that dream.

Is this famous, Amos? Yeah, so he got so sick of those frozen potatoes. He made delicious cookies. And he was celebrated throughout the land. So he had this dream. And in that dream, the ghost of Russell Colvin appeared at his bedside. The ghost spoke. And you know what that ghost said?

Jesse killed me. He said, I didn't disappear. I was murdered. Then, then he said if you go to the old cellar hall in the potato field on the born farm you'll find my body buried there amos woke up and he was like, oh, my God.

Finally, some evidence in this case. So he was like, attention, everyone. Russell was for sure murdered. And I know where we can find his body. Come on, gang. Let's get him. Let's go where the potatoes won't freeze. Come on, gang, let's get him.

Let's go where the potatoes won't freeze. So a bunch of people went to the old cellar hole that Russell's ghosts had so helpfully mentioned. And they started digging. Here's what they found. His body. His body. Perfectly intact. What?

I'm just kidding. No, they found a broken plate. A button. i'm sorry the lack of trust in your eyes a broken plate a button a pen knife and what's a pen knife what the fuck knows and a jack knife i don't know what that is either. What? Two times knives. There was no body. But Sally Colvin, Russell's widow, estranged wife.

What do you ever want to call her? Yeah. Was like, oh, my God. That's his button. Every single one of these items belong to Russell. No. Every last one of them. The broken plate. he carried around a broken plate yes yes yeah she was like she's like oh my god let me see that button oh wow oh how sad well i guess he's for sure dead, huh?

I think we can all agree on that. Am I right? All right. Time for me to get some old timey child support. Then, are you ready? The sheep barn, which belonged to the Bourne family, caught on fire. Right then? Well, you know.

At that moment? A couple days later, you know. At that moment? A couple days later, you know. I felt like while she was holding the broken plate and the beloved button in her hand. In the lifetime movie of this story. That's how it happened, yes. The fire completely destroyed the barn.

Were the sheep okay? Well, I hope. Eh. Same. That was in poor taste, too. Well, I hope. That was in poor taste, too. And the most sponsors we've ever had on this episode. We're just making terrible jokes. This is called self-destruction.

People were like, wow, okay, something fishy is going on here clearly that barn was burned for a reason maybe to conceal evidence what a few days passed five years have passed what evidence is in there well we don't know now because it's been burned to the ground, Brandy. But we have that broken plate, so what do you want? A few days passed. A dog was out doing what dogs do, digging and a sniffing, when all of a sudden that dog uncovered a body remains. Three local doctors rushed to the scene. What's this guy's name? Russell? Was it Russell's remains? Remains. Three local doctors rushed to the scene. What's this guy's name? Russell?

Was it Russell's remains? Russell's. Well, they were just, you know, months away from getting that DNA test figured out. But the three doctors all said the same thing. The bones that the dog had found belonged to a human. Investigators quickly developed a foolproof, not at all stupid theory. Are you ready? I am.

You see, first, Jesse and Steven murdered Russell and buried him in that cellar. But after a few years, they were like, you know what? That wasn't a very good place to bury him. So they dug him back up and they buried him again in the barn but then they were like no we gotta burn the barn and rebury him in a third location but they never

could have guessed that a dog would track down russell's bones after all what do you think of that dogs love bones you sound like that kid i like turtles i'm sorry is that what i was supposed to take away from that well i'm saying that's their theory what do you think of that theory it's fine bring the cane if there's a bone and dogs gonna find it dogs love bones all right naturally they go together like peas and carrots it's just literally for some reason the last thing i expected you to say normally you are so fired up about every little thing you got a theory on everything about why something's stupid and this time your response is bones. They do. I've known many dogs.

Naturally, Jesse Bourne was immediately arrested. His brother, Stephen, had recently moved to New York, so they issued a warrant for his arrest. While they were trying to track down Stephen, police put Jesse in a cell with a guy named Silas Merrill. Silas had gotten into a little trouble for forgery, but police were like, hey, Silas, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. See if we can get out of this boring fella. That's right. If Jesse happens to tell you anything about the murder, you just let us know, all right? thing about the murder you just let us know all right turns out silas was an excellent listener with very good luck silas told the police good news guys jesse told me the whole story okay

it happened here's how it went down you ready you ready i'm ready step Bourne was the one who really took the lead. That's this guy's name? Stephen Bourne? Why didn't I put that together until now? Oh, yeah. That's my stepdad's name. Because it's not spelled the same. First or last name. The PH really threw you, didn't it?

It really threw me off. Got to keep that PH in balance, Brandi. That's what I've always heard. Oh, my gosh. Stephen Bourne. Sorry sorry so excited now i know you you were almost asleep before but now you are riled up and ready my stepdad's involved he murdered someone in the 1800s stephen born brandy's stepdad was the one who really took the lead in this murder. He and Russell got into a big fight and Stephen started beating Russell with a club. And then their dad, Barney, showed up and Barney was like, oh, man, you've beaten Russell half to death.

Here, let me finish the job. And he slit Russell's throat. Then Stephen, Barney, and Jesse all buried Russell in that cellar. Then after a couple years later... A few extra words in there. After a couple years later... Soon thereafter and... Wait a while.

We can all take our pick of which ones we want to use there. Mix and match, guys. Like you do. They dug him back up and buried him in the barn. Oh, so the ghost of Russell What's-His-Butt wasn't lying. Right. He did used to be in the cellar. Go get my button.

go get my button and then after the barn was destroyed by the fire they dug russell back up and moved him to a new location and damn it it hadn't taken long for the dog to find him because dogs love bones they should have known if only you'd been around, Brandi. Investigators were like, wow, hmm, that is super helpful. Not at all fishy. And at that point, Prosecutor Calvin Sheldon was like, yo, Silas, if you agree to testify against Jesse and Steven, we'll drop your charges and you'll be free to go.

And Silas was like, yeah, I think I'll take that. Yeah, absolutely. Where do I sign? So there Jesse was, locked up, nowhere to go. Investigators were like, look, dude, we know you did it. We know your brother did it. We know your father did it. And you're all going to die for it. We know your brother did it. We know your father did it. And you're all gonna die for it.

Jesse freaked out. Yeah, because they don't fuck around in 18- No. Whatever. No. They have your trial in two minutes. Yes. They find you guilty, and then they kill you two minutes after that.

That's exactly right. Jesse freaked out. By that point, police hadn't tracked down Steven. So Jesse did the only thing he could think to do. He said, OK, yeah, Russell is dead. Fine. But my father didn't kill Russell and neither did I. Steven is the one who killed Russell.

OK, so some time passed. A while later, after that, and Stephen somehow got word that there was a warrant out for his arrest. Poor Stephen Bourne. For the murder of his brother-in-law. And Stephen was like, that's ridiculous. I didn't kill anybody.

How dare they say that about me? I'm going right back to Vermont and I'm going to clear my name. No, he didn't. He went to Vermont? Mm-hmm. What? Okay, they're looking for him for murder.

Mm-hmm. He's just going to be like, oh, hey, hey, it's me, the murderer. I just wanted to clear things up here. They're not going to listen to him. So why would someone do that? I don't know. Because he's going to pin it on someone else okay okay so steven showed up and of course they arrested him yeah and jesse was like well holy

shit i take back everything i said steven didn't really kill russell i just said that because i didn't know what to do and the prosecution was like nice try liar both brothers were now facing the death penalty they were scared out of their minds which is what in 18 whatever hanging oh i'm sure yeah what am i saying i'm sure yes it was i mean what are they gonna to invent? Electricity? I mean, did they have it yet? Yes, I think they had electricity. No, for sure, hanging. They were scared out of their minds, and they had good reason to be. Because all of a sudden, there were all these witnesses. People suddenly had very clear memories about stuff that happened seven years ago.

They'd heard Jesse and Stephen talking about how Russell was dead, and before that, they'd heard the brothers talk about how they wanted to kill him. All of a sudden, people remember this? Yeah. Mm. Mm-hmm. Mm. Mm.

Seems suspect. Okay. Stephen and Jesse were gonersers and they knew it by this point they had attorneys and their attorneys had attorneys probably probably thought they were guilty steven ended up confessing he said i killed russell but i did it in self-defense in all likelihood steven's confession was drafted by his attorneys because steven had no formal education i mean hate to say it didn't seem like a terribly bright fella but this confession was beautifully written and just like hits all the boxes for self-defense

they were headed for trial and things were looking pretty good for the prosecution. Yeah. Except, uh, oh shit, oopsies. The three doctors, who had all been so certain that the bones the dog dug up were human, decided that they should double check their work. And luckily, a doctor in another county had just amputated a human leg and he'd preserved the bones and he was like hey if you guys want to take a look and compare this to the bones that the dog found you're more than welcome and the doctors were like absolutely thank you so they took the

bones that the dog dug up and they compared them to the amputated leg bones and they were like, oh, shit. These aren't the same at all. No. Oh, my gosh. They're not human remains? No. So we don't even know if Russell is dead. Right.

Yet we've already got people confessing to his murder. Right. This is bad, bad, real bad. This put the prosecution in a bit of a pickle. Because with this realization that the body they discovered had belonged to an animal, they were screwed in two ways. Number one, they didn't have a body. But number two, they no longer had their jailhouse snitch.

Because now that everyone knew that the body belonged to an animal, the confession that Silas Merrill knew that the body belonged to an animal the confession that silas merrill claimed that jesse had given to him no longer matched the evidence it matched the police's theory yeah which doesn't that tell you that's very handy yeah but don't worry as they say in the justice system the show must go on i don't think they say they don't well and so the trial began really oh yeah why not why would you stop yeah i mean they're just gonna hang them no matter what i mean yeah yeah yeah oh okay the trial began and it was the talk of the town at that time when you had a capital case you couldn't have just one. You had three judges presiding over the case.

The prosecution brought forth eyewitnesses who claimed that they'd seen Russell and Jesse and Steven arguing on the day that Russell went missing. I don't think that's a bad policy. No. Three judges. Could be too many cooks in the kitchen, but you know. You're right. Could be too many cooks in the kitchen, but you know. Could be, you're right. All right. All right. All right. They talked about Jesse's confession, which he later recanted.

They talked about Stephen's confession. Clearly, Stephen had murdered Russell and Jesse had been there all along. The jury was disgusted by what they heard. They found Jesse and Stephen guilty. Of course they did. And both men were sentenced to death. Yeah, like tomorrow. But even for old timey times, that seemed a little harsh.

Yeah. So the Vermont General Assembly had a special session, and they decided that Stephen definitely deserved the death penalty, no question. But Jesse had clearly played a smaller role, so he should get life in prison. Stephen was scheduled to be hanged in about a month and a half. Yeah. A minister came to visit him in prison and was like, hey, hey, you obviously committed the murder. You've been convicted. You're gonna die for it. Why don't you go ahead and confess and steven said i am as innocent as jesus christ whoa whoa buddy oh easy with the jesus comparison so so he did walk that back because i mean that

sounds nuts to anybody he said i don't mean i'm as guiltless as he was. I know I am a great sinner, but I am as innocent of killing Colvin as he was. Okay. Someone must have eventually believed Stephen and Jesse, because about a month before Stephen was scheduled to die, someone, maybe from their legal team, reached out to newspapers all over the United States. Wow. And asked them to print a notice. Here's what it said.

Murder! Exclamation point. That's just to get your attention. And they've got it. Printers of newspapers throughout the United States are just... Wait, should I do it in an old-timey voice? Yeah, see? Yeah, see?

Printers of newspapers throughout the United States are just... Wait, should I do it in an old-timey voice? Yeah, see? Yeah, see? Printers of newspapers throughout the United States are desired to publish that Stephen Bourne of Manchester and Vermont is sentenced to be executed for the murder of Russell Colvin, see? Who has been absent about seven years, see? Any person who can give information of said Colvin may save the life of an innocent by making immediate communication. Colvin is about five feet five inches high, light complexion, light hair, blue eyes, and about 40 years old. See?

Why don't we say people are five foot five high anymore? I don't know. I mean, it makes sense. It does. It's not wide, it's high. It's high. I mean, it makes sense. It does. It's not wide, it's high. It's high. On November 26th, 1819, the New York Evening Post ran that very notice. And one reader, who was staying in a hotel in New York, read the notice.

And was like, by God, I've seen this Russell. You're getting close. He was so blown away that he sat there in the hotel lobby and he read it out loud to some of his friends. And a man named Tabber Chadwick overheard them. Tabber Chadwick? I'm sorry, I don't make up the names. Is that Cassie's brother? I was hoping it's not.

You know, I guess I don't know that it's not. But it's probably not. Timing doesn't quite match up, I don't think. No, it doesn't but it's probably not timing doesn't quite match up i don't think no it doesn't matter no it doesn't quite match up so good old tabbers over there tabby tabby tabbers so tabber was like hold the phone because it hasn't been invented yet russell colvin did you just say russell colvin that guy isn't dead i know that guy he works on a farm in new jersey and he has talked to me about having lived in vermont what he just took off and started up a new life where the potatoes won't freeze oh my gosh tabbert freaked out. He was like, I cannot let one man die and another man rot in prison when I know that the person they murdered isn't even dead.

So he sent two letters. The first one he sent to the Manchester postmaster, who I guess was great at multitasking, because the postmaster had also been on Jesse and Stephen's defense team. What? But here's the thing. He read the letter, didn't do anything with it. He's like, oh, cool. Sweet news. Yeah. So maybe he wasn't great at multitasking. But Tabber's second letter went to the New York Post. And on December 6th, 1819, they printed it. So a man named James Whipley read that letter. He was actually from Manchester, Vermont, where this whole story went down. And he knew all the people involved. In fact,

he'd known Russell Colvin. James was currently living in New York. But when he heard this story, he was like, oh, I've got to do something. So he hauled ass to Dover, New Jersey. And sure enough, he found Russell Colvin in the flesh. Shut the fuck up. And James was like, dude, people in Vermont are looking for you. We got to go to Vermont. We got to get this straightened out. And Russell was like, baby, I don't want to. You can't make me.

Also, he abandoned his wife. Well, hold on. Um, my name used to be Russell Colvin, but it's not anymore. It's Tito now. So, I go by T-bo now. And, um, Manchester? Manchester, Vermont? Never been there.

What? But then later, he let slip several details about Manchester that indicated that he had definitely been in Manchester or at least knew quite about it. Quite a bit about it. He knew quite about it. I'm so excited about this story. I'm skipping the words. Skipping words. Let's court.

Go to. James didn't take no for an answer steven was scheduled to die in about a month and he had to get russell to vermont before the state put him to death so he hatched a plan he went up to this super hot woman whose name i do not have and he told her how do you know she was hot um listen to the rest of this and you tell me if she's hot okay okay just listen so he told her how you know she was hot um listen to the rest of this and you tell me if she's hot okay okay just listen so he told her the whole story and he's like look i desperately need your help i need you to pretend to be super into russell and i need you to lure him to new york if you can do that i'll take it from there. Yeah, she's probably super happy. Yeah, all right, all right.

And she agreed. She was like, ooh, Russell, I'm so into you. This is my sexy voice. Ooh, with your round forehead and your facial scars. What? That's a round forehead. Exactly. He was described that way.

That he's balding, maybe. I like to think of just like a real circular forehead. Why don't you accompany me to New York? And he did. And as soon as they got there, she ditched him. The nerve. Another source says that James lured Russell to New York by telling him he'd get to meet a woman. And then he got to New York and the woman was like, bye. At any rate, a hot woman was involved.

Okay. Okay. So that's when, you know, once Russell's in New York, that's when James really swoops in. He's like, hey, pal, uh, terrible news, bad news. The British are all up in our business. They've got ships everywhere. So I can get you back to New Jersey, no problem. But we're going to have to take a really weird route to get there.

What? Maybe you should just take a nap, you know. Russell agreed. He fell for that? Russell's, I mean, listen, Russell sounds like a dipshit. I'm sorry to say. So like a total badass, just before Christmas, James shows up at Black's Tavern in Manchester, Vermont,

with Russell by his side. And all the townspeople are gathered around, because he'd sent like an old-timey telegram or whatever. Yeah. Carrier pigeon. Thank you. You're welcome. They got that dogy telegram or whatever. Yeah. Carrier pigeon. Thank you. You're welcome. They got that dog.

They got that dog. Yeah. It tied a note to a bone. So they brought Stephen to come see Russell. Stephen was still in his leg irons, which I mean, I don't know for sure what that is, but they sound terrifying. Yeah, it's like leg handcuffs.

Yeah, but like straight, right? So you have to walk like a penguin? Oh, yeah, probably. That's what I'm assuming. So in front of everyone, Russell goes, leg handcuffs yeah but like straight right so you have to walk like a penguin oh yeah probably that's what i'm assuming so in front of everyone russell goes why are you in chains and steven said because they think i murdered you and look at you right there standing alive with your round forehead and your facial scars with that jesse and stephen bourne were exonerated and that is the story of the first exoneration in united states oh my gosh so people say that this is the first wrongful conviction in the united states history bullshit we have no way of knowing that

yeah this is the first exoneration though yeah i so i want to say a couple things sam one guy who wrote a book about this whose name escapes me has said that there's a chance that this wasn't the real russell and that maybe russell had died what i don't buy it and it seems like a lot of other people don't buy it but you know we just have no way of knowing for sure that this was the real Russell. But just saying. He was convincing enough. Yeah. Yeah.

Another thing that was mentioned in this article on Northwestern's website that I thought was really interesting was that, like, no lessons were learned from this case. were learned from this case because once this story kind of got out into the world people erroneously reported that one of the main pieces at trial was this uncle amos guy testifying about his dream famous amos famous amos testifying about his cookie recipe and this dream he'd had but even in the old timey times they were like no dreams are not admissible in a court of law so that never happened i mean what it was was police framing yeah and not listening to the evidence wow whoo that was so good thank you and so like you were surprised when steven like went back to try to clear his name I think part of it was naivete yeah and again it's that thing of he's innocent so of course could he how could he possibly be

in trouble for something that he would have never done so he's just gonna go and clear it right up yeah and Jesse thought that they would probably never find him. Yeah. So when it came down to all three of you are going to die, he was like, well, my brother did it. Thinking they would never get him. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Okay, Miss Brandy. Oh.

You know what time it is. Question time. That's right. So this is. Should we have like a song that we sing when it's time for questions? Should it be that? Question time. That's right. So this is a song that we sing when it's time for questions. Should it be that? Definitely not. You guys, if you want to learn more about this song or about these questions, join us on Patreon at the five dollar level.

You get monthly bonus episodes. I think we've got eight out there right now. We've got Mary Kay Letourneau. We've got the wrongful right now we've got mary k letourneau we've got the wrongful death suit with jim carrey you know it's a death suit wrongful death suit that sounds terrible it is wrongful death lawsuit a death suit sounds like i they know what i'm saying they know anyway you've got all that plus you get access to the discord where we all hang out people send pictures of their animals i love it and that's where we're getting questions today at the seven dollar level

that's where you get bonus episodes plus a monthly bonus video you learn how to make sausage brunch need i say more and you get a sticker with our lovely autographs and um i think that's it that's all of it okay let's have some questions oh uh andronicus would like to know if you need a beta reader for your book um they volunteer that's so awesome um maybe for the next one yeah so the update with my book. This is the ghost of Kristen's dreams. No, so I don't remember where we last left off, but I wrote a book. Yeah. I have an agent.

He's sending it out to publishers. They are sending the nicest rejections. Just glowing rejections. It's like the, it's not you, it's it's me you're great but not that great stuff but anyway i'm doing fine i haven't cried about it in days literally hours but no i'm working on the next one so at some point i will need beta readers so thank you uh k burns wants to know what is your starbucks order to the standard kristin i do i'm a snob oh yeah you know i'm a snob okay i am very much about the local coffee shop that's right

whichever local coffee shop even one that sucks but i mean and then she complained about her americano from a crappy donut oh god oh yeah well that was a mistake i i blame myself no um but when i go to starbucks it's you know americano yeah yeah venti non-fat ice chai latte for me oh my god i get sweat i get you always say it that fast no i slow it down so that they can get it all or they might miss the non-fat part and then I won't like it as much because it's too milky. We've already discussed this. Fiery One, the Dairy Boy, wants to know if we could guest or crossover with another podcast, who or which show would we pick?

Oh, my God. My Favorite Murder would be amazing. Oh, yeah. That's what inspired us to do a podcast um true crime obsessed yes i feel like you and patrick laughing i mean would just angels would get their wings is all i'm saying no there'd be so many podcasts yeah armchair expert obviously obviously obviously i think we'd have to be actually famous to get on that all right fine or actual experts it's something they do have experts come on

wow thanks for crushing sorry i know i realize i mean we're not getting on my favorite burger i don't know why i had to crush your dreams thank Thank you. Old timey disclaimer says, would you rather be quarantined with Pac-Man or disco fever? I'm not sure what disco fever is, but Pac-Man gives me serious anxieties. Yeah, I guess I'd go with Pac-Man. You would? I have serious anxiety about Pac-Man. Do you really? Yes. Why? It is not fun for me at all it's just like the ghosts are gonna get you or some other pac-man's gonna get you it is not fun at all no games go anxiety okay i'm sorry so we went this weekend to up down with david's sisters so fun they've got that they got the four person one i love it intentionally die in the first three seconds

are you serious anymore because i'm too anxious as competitive as you are you purposely die i can't handle it this is shocking they just thought i was really shitty at pac-man well you are carls 147 says what is a case so horrible or infuriating that you will not do i actually have a local case that i tried to do a couple times and it's so upsetting to me that even you can't i can't do it yeah i would love to know more um it is the story of the little boy and kck who kind of fell through the cracks of the social work system like dcf got called out a bunch of times his parents ended up killing him and feeding him to the pigs oh yeah and there's like all of this record but the parents kept moving back and forth across state lines uh-huh

the case just kind of kept falling through the cracks it's terrible are you watching the trials of i can't watch it because i know the case i know the case it's way too upsetting i cannot watch it yeah people have been asking in our discord if we're watching it and so i am trying like i put it on because you know it seems right up my alley but man stuff with kids that's hard for me so i i will probably watch it but i'm i'm picking through it pretty slowly yeah kristin uh this message is not specifically for you, but I'm making it for you. Okay. Agent Carter's Fury wants to know what your go-to dance move is. Oh, it's the sprinkler for sure.

No, I'm a terrible dancer. Really? You know that I'm a terrible dancer. Would you like a lane out there? No, I'm not like a lane, but a terrible dancer. Would you like a lane out there? No, I'm not like a lane, but you know. You just do like a sway dance move? Hopefully. Hopefully I do a sway. If I have like two drinks, then I'm like, I'm not a bad dancer at all. Look at me go. And then I would hate to see any kind of footage of that. Hmm. What's your go-to dance move? I don't, I don't,

I don't have a dance move. Wow. You sounded like a murderer who just got caught. You're like, hum-na, hum-na, hum-na. DP would like to know.

Hi, Dad. Who won Super Bowl 54? The Chiefs. It was amazing. Oh, First Outlaws wants to know, since Norm hasn't been asking the questions the last two weeks, I have to ask, is he buried in the backyard? No, he's buried in the cellar. With his favorite button. And I'm pregnant again.

button and i'm pregnant again you know that original burial place was working out so well we decided to move him to a new location good luck finding him no norm's just fine we promise yeah so what's happened is that norm has relaunched his patreon inspired by us i think and he has had to fulfill a ton of orders because turns out he is actually popular so he's just been more busy than usual and he's dead hmm a couple of people asking this would you consider doing a live show and would you come do it in canada no oh my god we would love to do a live show but but I mean, we got to have more than 12 people there. So, yeah, I would be nervous. The idea of doing a live show makes Kristen want to poop her pants. I think I would poop my pants.

Strappers depends on first. Strap that bed bath and be on. Strap your space diapers on. No, I would do it. But I agree. Like, we'd have to have more than 12 people. And I've never been to Canada. I would love to go.

Oh, me too. Probably in January, right? No. Just kidding. Your breath freezes. That's where the potatoes don't freeze. That's where the potatoes don't freeze. Mandy M. said, the potatoes don't freeze um mandy m said what are both your opinions on the john benet ramsey case

oh brother did it brother 100 burke did it parents freaked out didn't think about the fact that he was only nine couldn't be charged with murder and so they covered it up real quick and it just snowballed out of control. This is why we're friends. We agree on all the major things in life. And I even think that the brother did it by accident. Well, sure. Yeah.

He got pissed because she ate his snack, hit her with the flashlight. She died and the parents lost their fucking minds. As you would. Yeah. Yeah. DP's got another question for us good lord good lord does harvey weinstein get to take his walker to prison oh you guys you know we record a week early and it was just announced today that Harvey Weinstein is spending 23 years in prison. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

I tell you what, I'm really pleased with the sentence. I think he was facing 5 to 30, right? And yeah, 23, not half bad. Not bad at all. I was surprised. Ooh. 112 Ocean Avenue would like to know, which is that the Amityville address? That sounds right.

That's someone after your heart there. I know. I just got real excited. It sure is. Yes! Would like to know what the maternity leave plan is. Oh, I would like to know, too. I know. If you've got suggestions, let us know. You know what? Maybenity leave plan is. Oh, I would like to know, too. I know.

If you've got suggestions, let us know. You know what? Maybe we could mention a few things. I mean, or we could talk about it right now and edit it out. Yeah. I have no idea what the maternity leave plan is. So one option is we could just re-release some episodes. Yeah.

And I've thought about, like, maybe we could release one or two that have been patreon exclusive just to like tide people over a little app teaser yeah um we've thought about like my dad could come on yeah and we might do like a combination of these things yeah um yeah go go a week without putting out an episode which is our least favorite idea but we've never done that we've recorded we've released an episode every week since we started this thing. Yeah, which is crazy. Yeah. So maybe a short hiatus. We'll see.

Maybe we could have the baby on. Just let the baby do it. Yeah. Just scream. Just scream for two hours into the microphone. Which is what some people say this podcast is. Yeah, it's not that far off from our regular. If you have specific opinions about what should happen, like.

Yeah, let us know. Let us know. Give us some ideas. And get them to us quick because Brandy's going to have this baby this summer. Yeah, let's go. You know, at work the other day, I started to have a real freak out moment because I was doing the hair of a woman who works like in the office of an elementary school. And she was talking to another one of my clients and friends who is a teacher.

And they were like, oh, summer's just around the corner. You know, we've only got this much time left. I was like, you guys, shut up. Shut up. I was like, oh, my gosh. It's going to be here so soon. So soon. I mean.

Real, real soon. I mean, yeah. Real soon. Sorry, that was me doing scary math rudely right in front of you real soon yeah i'm like what i mean i'm is it like your life is just all pac-man all the time all the time the ghost chasing you baby chasing me no i'm unbelievably excited but also overwhelmed because i'm such a planner. And like, there's so much stuff you can't plan for.

I feel like the majority of it. You can't plan for it. Yes. Yeah. Like down to like when she'll actually come. Like, well, just let her know when you have scheduled it in your planner. Yeah. So might be freaking out a little bit, but very very excited for for low london me too

great questions guys yeah thank you so much and now i propose we move on to supreme court induction sounds like a great idea and you're not at all prepared for it are you least let me stretch it out. Should I remind people how to get there? We just talked about the Discord. Well, I know, but I mean. Two plugs back to back. This episode would have three ads and endless Patreon plugs.

People shut it off by now, Kristen. Okay, okay. Megan Allen. Definitely maybe. Dana. Guardians of the Galaxy. Ashanti. Ashanti. Get maybe. Dana. Guardians of the Galaxy. Ashanti. Get out.

Liam. The Emperor Strikes Back. The Empire Strikes Back. The Empire Strikes Back. The Emperor's New Clothing. What was that story about the... Yeah, The Emperor's New Clothing. Is that what it is?

Okay. And that's Liam's favorite book. That's Liam's favorite book. EJ. The Witch's New Clothes. Is that what it is? Okay. And that's Liam's favorite book. That's Liam's favorite book. EJ. The Witches of Eastwick. Cammie McNutt. The Prestige. I think we should call Peanut McNutt from now on.

I know, that's good. That's a great nickname. I mean, this is her actual name. Sorry, Cammie. Jenny. Steel Magnolias. Kayla Rinnish. The Princess Bride. Catherine Howard. Love Actually. Hannah. Perks of Being a Wallflower. Ashley. Remember the Titans. Brandy. Dawn of the Dead. Liz Hover.

The greatest showman. Welcome to the Supreme Court. Thank you guys for all of your support. We appreciate it so much. If you're looking for other ways to support us, please find us on social media. We're on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Patreon. All those places. All those places you can find us.

I also want to say, I know I said this a couple weeks ago, but like, again, just super grateful for everybody who's been listening to us. And I mean, if you're new, you are welcome to. We love you, too. But like for the people who have been with us and telling friends about us and everything like we know that we wouldn't have had three ads in this episode if it weren't for you guys one really really appreciate it a thousand percent and thank you to our sponsors who are you know making this easier for us to do yeah that's right what are they again uh we've got gabby insurance this week we got the lost Lost Tapes on the Smithsonian channel. And we got, I mean, I'm not, am I allowed to have a favorite? It's like having a favorite

child. Best Fiends. Guys, please subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen and head on over to Apple Podcasts. Leave us a rating, leave us a review, and then be sure to join us next week when we'll be experts on two whole new topics. Podcast adjourned. And now for a note about our process. I read a bunch of stuff, then regurgitate it all back up in my very limited vocabulary. And I copy and paste from the best sources on the web and sometimes Wikipedia. So we owe a huge thank you to the real experts.

For this episode, I got my info from a column by Mark Bushnell for the Vermont Digger, newspapers.com, and the article, The First Wrongful Conviction from Northwestern School of Law's website. I see why you couldn't give us that title. I got my info from an article by Rachel Bell for the Crime Library, an episode of 48 Hours, Spotlight News, ForensicFilesNow.com, and Wikipedia. For a full list of our sources, visit LGTCPodcast.com. Any errors are, of course, ours. But please don't take our word for it. Go read their stuff.