Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #105 - Surprise! We Found More Corruption in Weldon Boyd Case + Why Are Members of the Media Treating Michael Colucci Like a Credible Person?

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Starting point is 00:00:39 By matching with a TD Small Business Account Manager, you can get the proactive business banking advice and support your business needs. Ready to press play? Get up to $2,700 when you open select small business banking products. Yep, that's $2,700 to turn up your business. Visit td.com slash small business match to learn more. Conditions apply. I don't know if there will ever be criminal charges in the Scott Spivey case. But after our team uncovered more baffling misconduct from Horry County Police on the night Scott Spivey was killed, and the more time that passes without a peep from public officials about this case, we are once again begging Attorney General Alan Wilson to do the right thing." My name is Mandi Matney. This is True Sunlight, a podcast exposing crime and corruption previously known as the Murdoch Murders podcast. True Sunlight is a Lunashark production written with journalist Liz Farrell.

Starting point is 00:01:53 Okay, y'all, we have a big episode today, but for starters, I need to ask you to do two things for me. One, mark your calendars for July 12th. This July marks the 10-year anniversary of Stephen Smith's death. Sandy Smith and Lunashark Media want to invite you to attend Walking with Stephen, a memorial walking event in Hampton County, South Carolina, at 8 a.m. July 12th, 2025. Visit walkingwithsteven.com today to register and learn more. I've seen the numbers. Millions of y'all care about Stephen Smith's story. And millions of y'all want justice for Sandy. Seeing that support online is one thing, but Sandy needs to feel

Starting point is 00:02:40 that support in person. Can we get 100 people signed up to walk in person this week? I think we can. We want Sandy to feel all the love and warmth and support as July is going to be a tough month for her. And y'all, it is worth the trip just to get one mama bear hug from Sandy Smith. Her hugs are magic. She is magic, and she deserves this day to be beautiful. Go to WalkingWithSteven.com to sign up today and spread the word on social media. Again, visit WalkingWithSteven.com today to register and learn more about how you can join us in Hampton or walk virtually from wherever you are. We can do this. We can get justice for Stephen." Okay that brings us to the number 2 assignment on the list.

Starting point is 00:03:32 Visit JusticeForSarahLynn.com and sign the petition and confirm your email address demanding that Alan Wilson prioritize Sarah Lynn Colucci's case and announce his intentions to re-indite Michael Colucci in the murder of Sarah Lynn Colucci's case and announce his intentions to re-indite Michael Colucci in the murder of Sarah Lynn Colucci. Because Bishop was brave enough to share her story this week with us on Cup of Justice, I want to show her the love of the Luna Shark community with as many people possible signing this petition. Can we get 1,000 this week?

Starting point is 00:04:02 I hope so. Also Change.org asked for a marketing fee, but it is not required and does not support Sarah Lynn's cause directly." So both of these cases heavily depend on Attorney General Alan Wilson's office. Funny enough, he just announced his official plan to run for governor this week. Meaning, public opinion has never been this important to him. So now is the time to get pesky and remind Alan Wilson that we all care about Stephen Smith, about Sarah Lynn Colucci, and about Scott Spivey.

Starting point is 00:04:39 Alan Wilson needs to know that he cannot be trusted to run the state of South Carolina if he continues to relegate actual murder cases that his office is responsible for. How can he say that he cares about public safety when his office has done nothing to hold anyone accountable in Scott Spivey's case? How can he say that he cares about women and victims of domestic violence when his office failed to get justice for Sarah Lynn Colucci so many times in the past decade? Alan Wilson needs our listeners' support if he wants to win this race. Y'all are pesky, y'all are loud, y'all are brave, and y'all can actually make him care about these cases and make South Carolina a better, safer place in the process."

Starting point is 00:05:30 Personally, my new favorite hobby is reminding Alan every day on social media in his comment sections that he has so much work to do as attorney general if he wants to earn the office of governor, and I urge y'all to join me. It's a good time." This week, we were honored to have Bishop Venters, Sarah Lynn Colucci's only daughter on Cup of Justice episode 135, where she broke her silence for the first time about her mother's death and her stepfather's now-dismissed murder charges. I got choked up listening to Bishop talk about why she is speaking out now, and why she is determined to tell the world about her mother's story.

Starting point is 00:06:12 Bishop suffered the unimaginable as a child, losing both of her parents and being forced to live with her stepfather Michael Colucci before he was charged in her mother's alleged murder and even remain in his custody after he was charged in her mother's alleged murder and even remain in his custody after he was charged. She wants to help other victims and let them know that they aren't alone. Let them know that they can get through it like she did. And she wants to help others fight the good fight for justice. She wants to do something positive with the unimaginable pain she endured, and she's just 21 years old.

Starting point is 00:06:48 This episode was inspiring, breathtaking, and enraging, and I hope y'all give it a listen, and I hope it inspires you to help Bishop fight the good fight in getting justice for her mother. In Cup of Justice 135, Bishop talked about how she's been reading articles about her mother's case for years, and she has noticed on her own how careful the media is when wording accusations about what her stepfather, Michael Colucci, allegedly did, while being simultaneously sloppy when it comes to what Sarah Lynn did leading up to her death in May 2015.

Starting point is 00:07:27 Like stating things as fact that just weren't. I was stunned to hear that from a 21 year old victim's perspective, how she notices bias in reporting that seems to always work against her mother. The mainstream media coverage from the Kaluigi hearing last week and the judge's decision to dismiss Michael's indictment due to prosecutorial misconduct is a perfect example of this. And I want to talk about it because I believe that the media and their tendency to advocate for the defense, even when they aren't trying, is a huge part of

Starting point is 00:08:01 our broken justice system. Like, for example, if people only listen to Dateline True Crime Weekly podcast recapping the Kaluji case, I don't think that many people would be motivated to contact Alan Wilson to prioritize the Kaluji case and get a re-indictment going. And that is purely because of the editorial angles Dateline chose to use to cover this

Starting point is 00:08:26 case that completely misrepresented what actually happened. And look, I say this as someone who watches a lot of Dateline. I think it's important that when we consume true crime shows like Dateline that are aimed at entertaining, we look at it through that lens and form opinions about the case through that lens. Through the lens of this is probably a very small portion of the story that was the most entertaining part to tell. So we should all do our own research before deciding if someone is innocent or guilty.

Starting point is 00:09:03 On the Dateline True Crime Weekly podcast last week, producer Carole Gabel, who is an old school veteran reporter for Dateline based in South Carolina, was interviewed to give her synopsis on the case. Here is David reading exactly what Carole said on the Dateline podcast, Verbatim, when she was asked about what Michael and Sarah were doing

Starting point is 00:09:26 on the day of Sarah's death. They started out at a lawyer's office, and then they ended up at the very famous cemetery here in Charleston called Magnolia Cemetery, where Sarah's first husband who died of suicide was buried. At the grave, Sarah got really upset. His death was very stressful, even after all these years. And then they began to drive home. And Sarah had this quirk that if she needed to go to the bathroom, she did not want to go in a public restroom. So she had Michael pull over according to Michael,

Starting point is 00:10:02 so she could go relieve herself behind the warehouse along very busy Highway 17. So she gets out of her car according to Michael to go do this. And while she's gone, he says he plays some music. You know, he may have fallen asleep. We don't know. Next thing, he looks up and Sarah is hanging from a garden hose that had been draped over a chain link fence.

Starting point is 00:10:29 Okay, wow. So pretty much every sentence of that narrative is not only according to Michael, but helps Michael's narrative. And even though she said according to Michael twice, she gave a whole lot of weight to his story. Notice she said Sarah Lynn got really upset at her husband's grave that day before they went to the warehouse. Michael is the only person who has said this happened, and it fits directly into his narrative

Starting point is 00:10:58 setting the day up for Sarah Lynn to take her own life. But it's not corroborated by anything other than Michael's word. Why mention how upset and distraught Sarah Lynn was before her death, like it's a fact? Why not say something like, Michael's story is that she was unusually upset that day after going to her husband's grave, but truthfully, we don't know what state Sarah Lynn was in,

Starting point is 00:11:23 because she isn't here to tell us. That's called accuracy. And then Carroll said, as if it was a proven fact, that Sarah Lynn had a quirk for not wanting to use public restrooms, which is why, Carroll says, they ended up at the gold standard parking lot that night, meaning the warehouse for their jewelry store. But testimony in the first trial claimed that Sarah Lynn would pop a squat pretty much anywhere when she needed to go. So Michael's story for why they were there makes even less sense considering the gold

Starting point is 00:11:53 standard was out of their way, and it seems like Sarah would have pulled over and peed anywhere if she had to go. The truth is that only two people know why Michael and Sarah Lynn were there that day. One is dead, and the other was charged with murder. If Carol cared about her audience knowing the truth here, I think she would have elaborated. Okay, so then Carol says while Sarah was off relieving herself, Michael was playing some music and quote, may have fallen asleep. Then Carol adds, we don't know, quote, and next thing he looks up and Sarah Lynn is hanging from a garden hose that had

Starting point is 00:12:32 been draped over a chain link fence. She says this without also telling the Dateline podcast listeners that Michael's story on what exactly he was doing while his wife allegedly hanged herself has changed multiple times. And only until recently, in the past month, is it that the defense started using this narrative that Michael may have fallen asleep during this strange amount of time

Starting point is 00:12:54 that Sarah supposedly went to the restroom. Again, can Carol hear herself? Does she actually believe that Michael might have fallen asleep while his wife was hanging herself 20 feet away from him? Something he forgot to mention to the police at the time? Or wouldn't he have said that while on the phone with 911? I really don't understand why Carol would give weight to this narrative which has never

Starting point is 00:13:16 added up and that has changed so many times over the past 10 years. Wouldn't a person remember the specific details of where they were and what they were doing in the immediate aftermath of his wife's tragic death? And again, Carol, what woman wearing Ann Taylor would decide to hang herself with a hose on a dirty chain-link fence with her husband who she is planning on leaving in a few days, just 20 feet away? Because let's say she did do that. Does that seem like the kind of plan of someone who wants to die to somehow wrap an industrial hose around your neck in front of a person who can stop you? Get real. Another big factor in this case that we're not seeing enough of in media reports

Starting point is 00:14:02 is Sarah Lynn's own text messages. They show along with testimony that Sarah had actual plans to leave Michael that week. She was in a statistical danger zone for getting murdered. This is a key component of the case and the alleged motive that the media is frequently leaving out. And that is yet another editorial decision that helps Michael's case by instead focusing on Sarah Lynn's mental health and Michael's narrative. Carroll failed to mention the actual evidence that doesn't match Michael's story in Dateline's podcast.

Starting point is 00:14:37 The fact that first responders testified that Sarah's body indicated she had been dead for much longer than the timeline Michael provided to police, meaning, did she even die there? Or was she brought there? Then there's the fact that ligature marks didn't match the hose that was wrapped around her. Also, the fact that her bladder was full, which could be an indication of being strangled in an angular position, such as being seated. And then there's the fact that both Michael and Sarah Lynn had what seemed to be defensive wounds, including Sarah Lynn's broken nail in the car and the fact that Michael's car appeared as though there had been a tussle of some sort inside of it, according to testimony from the first and only trial. Carol mentioned none of that. When the podcast host asked her what eventually made local investigators suspicious of Michael's

Starting point is 00:15:27 story, Carol had a strange answer. She said, Sarelin's parents, quote, were absolutely insistent that Michael had something to do with it. So they basically just bombarded the local sheriff and eventually the sheriff called the state law enforcement division to come in and do their own investigation. Except that's not quite what happened. And Carroll, like so many mainstream media reporters covering this story, is failing to recognize the corruption angle here.

Starting point is 00:15:57 That it was alleged Michael was friends with several local officers who were satisfied with the suicide theory, including the current temporary sheriff who was still in charge the week Sarah Lynn died. It wasn't until the new sheriff took over a few weeks later that Sarah Lynn's case got a second look, because, yes, they did fight for their daughter, and yes, they did suspect Michael had something to do with it. But the new sheriff agreed with them

Starting point is 00:16:24 that the facts of the case did not make sense, so he sent the case to Sled because of the agency's conflicts of interest with Michael. Side note, the Post and Courier, I have to mention, also published a grossly inaccurate piece this weekend on why Colucci's charge was dismissed. The reporters repeatedly misquoted what Sarah Lynn's mother, Barbara Moore, testified as to what Sarah Lynn said to her in her garage two weeks before her death. They described the conversation in which Sarah Lynn told her mother she was at a low point and would have hanged herself in her garage today,

Starting point is 00:17:02 meaning that day, if not for her daughter and stepdaughter. And then Sarah Lynn walked that back by saying she would never do that to her mother or her children. Anyway, the Post-Inquiry described that as a suicide attempt at one point in the story and a suicide plan at another point. I think any licensed therapist could easily argue that the conversation was neither of those things. Details matter. Word choices matter. I mean, come on guys, how is venting to your mother about how bad you feel the same thing as a suicide attempt?

Starting point is 00:17:36 It's a cry for help. So shame on you and your editors. Now, Carol at Dateline, along with the state and the Post and Courier newspapers, really focused on former SLED agent David Owen and the fact that he was also an investigator in the Murdoch trial. And like the rest of mainstream media blamed him for the prosecutorial misconduct without mentioning Megan Birchstedt, the prosecutor, and her downright bizarre testimony in this case last week. But the weirdest part of Carol's reporting was what she said about Michael's reaction to the judge's ruling.

Starting point is 00:18:11 He cried there for the rest of the time in the courtroom. And it was very poignant too because his daughter, who thought she was going to come for opening arguments, was headed up the stairs to the courtroom. And Michael Colucci was running down the aisle and they sort of, you know, met in the middle in, you know, one of those embraces. Poignant, crying, one of those embraces. See how Carol's language choices

Starting point is 00:18:40 paint a different picture of Colucci? Personally, I didn't see real tears. I think I saw fake tears, tears that he turned on and off like a faucet. And after hearing about how Kaluci treated his adopted daughter Bishop in the aftermath of her mother's death, and reading all of the reports accusing Michael of vandalism and violence that he was never charged with, I would never use the word poignant to describe a moment of Michael Colucci hugging his teenage daughter.

Starting point is 00:19:11 Now, you might ask yourself the question, why would a reporter skew the facts like this for Michael Colucci? What's in it for her? During the Murdoch investigation, listeners reading mainstream media coverage of the investigation would message me all of the time, with screenshots of defense-leaning articles full of language choices that only benefited Elick Murdoch.

Starting point is 00:19:36 People would ask me, do you think this reporter is getting paid by the defense? And honestly, for the most part, I don't think money is a factor for why journalists make these editorial decisions that lean in favor of the defendant and work against the victims. I believe in this case and so many others, it's simply access journalism that motivates reporters like Carole to skew the story in this way, coupled with that old-school mentality of not wanting to get sued because corporations hate that. Access journalism, when reporters are more driven by getting access or camera time with all the big players involved in a story, more than they are driven by accurately reporting

Starting point is 00:20:22 the truth. That is a huge problem in true crime reporting, especially old school programs like Dateline. When journalists are more incentivized to get the most entertaining, exclusive interview in a story than they are about telling the story in the most accurate and responsible way possible, the truth often gets lost and victim stories often are forgotten. As y'all know, our amazing videographer Ben Huff captured the chaos inside and outside of the courtroom last week and check the link in the description for a full video on the hearing. As I was going through

Starting point is 00:21:01 footage, I recognized Carol from when I met her during the Murdoch days in a video. On that video, Carole was casually chatting with Michael outside the courthouse as he was getting ready to leave. When he got in his car, Carole turned around and smiled big, like she won a prize or something. My first thought was, is Michael Colucci going to do an exclusive interview with Dateline? We know that Dateline reporters have been working on this story for years, and I would not be surprised if there was a Dateline special telling Colucci's side of the story sometime in the near future. Maybe the podcast was a test for the defense to see what kind of story Dateline would present.

Starting point is 00:21:46 Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Carol's big smile after talking to a man who just got his murder charge dismissed meant nothing. And by the way, you can see that video. Check the link in the description. At the end of the Kaluci segment on the Dateline podcast, Carol told the host that this story isn't over because after all, the judge dismissed the case without prejudice and the prosecution

Starting point is 00:22:12 can still indict Michael. So Carol is right about one thing. This story is not over. While mainstream media continues to focus on access journalism while covering Kaluci, we're going to focus on access journalism while covering Carlucci, we're going to focus on what we are calling active journalism. Reporting the truth and actively working toward justice for victims based on the facts that we know about the cases.

Starting point is 00:22:39 I believe that privilege and power played a big role in the Colucci case. And I think if Michael Colucci was a man with less influence, Sarah Lynn's family would have gotten justice in this case a long time ago. That said, again, please go sign the petition at JusticeForSarahLynn.com if you feel the same way that I do about this case, Alan Wilson has not cared about the Kaluji case for a decade. It is time to make him care. We'll be right back.

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Starting point is 00:24:31 And now it's time to talk about Orea County Police Department's number one favorite North Myrtle Beach business owner, Weldon Boyd. Again, if you're just joining us for the Scott's Bybee shooting case slash Orea County Police Department corruption story, we recommend starting at the beginning. You can find all of our episodes about the case by clicking on the link in our episode description. There's still so much more to tell you. So let's start with the latest find in the body cameras. We were looking through Officer Kerry Higgs footage from the scene of Scotch shooting

Starting point is 00:24:59 on September 9th, 2023. He got to the scene at 6.10 PM, about eight minutes after Weldon had gotten off the phone with 911. Few episodes ago, we told you how Officer Higgs, about 40 minutes or so after arriving at the scene, went up to Weldon and Weldon's best friend and co-shooter, Bradley Williams, and gave them this helpful advice. I just told them the helpful advice. Alright? The more and more you talk to somebody else, the more and more that can get misconstrued. Alright? You're fine. You know what I mean? But you don't want to sit back and start

Starting point is 00:25:51 stutter stepping and going back and forth because this person said something and you're like, oh yeah, well this person, you don't want to do any of that. Alright? See Weldon couldn't stop talking about his side of what happened, no matter how many times he was told not to by police, most of whom were wearing body cameras. Weldon had already spoken to his lawyer a few times at that point, and what do lawyers usually tell their clients at a crime scene? Shut up. So it's a safe bet that Weldon's lawyer Ken Moss gave him that very same advice. Anyway, like we've told you so many times, we're constantly reviewing and re-reviewing

Starting point is 00:26:30 documents and video and audio in the cases we cover and it is always fruitful. There really isn't a time when we don't come away with new information or a new perspective. This is especially the case when we're talking about Horry County Police Department because my god are these guys sloppy and devious. So Officer Kerry Higgs, the first on the scene, who is also the officer who told Weldon and Bradley to wait until the detectives gave them the timeline before giving their version of events, which too late because that's pretty much all Weldon did before police arrived and even after when he and Bradley were

Starting point is 00:27:09 routinely left alone with some of the witnesses until a member of command staff suddenly decided that wasn't okay. What we found out this time in watching the body cam footage is that the pseudo legal advice given to Weldon wasn't the first time Also legal advice given to Weldon wasn't the first time police officer Higgs had warned him about talking to police that evening. But before I tell you about that, real quick, let's have a listen to what an EMT told officer Higgs at the scene that evening right after they looked at Scott's body, which you'll remember was something that Weldon did too, possibly three or more times before police arrived. He went to Scott's truck and beyond the reason for the first time of going to Scott's truck to verify that Scott wasn't alive to defend himself anymore, it's really hard to guess

Starting point is 00:27:56 at what Weldon was doing those other times. Anyway, this is going to sound familiar, so close your eyes and picture a dark night in February 2019 and a young man named Anthony Cook, whose girlfriend Mallory Beach was lost in Archer's Creek just outside Beaufort, South Carolina. Mallory still had not resurfaced after a drunk and nearly naked Paul Murdoch crashed his father's boat into a bridge. Paul was lumbering around the crime scene like he owned it, and Anthony took that opportunity to warn a Beaufort County Sheriff's Deputy

Starting point is 00:28:34 about the reality of the situation they were in. He said, Y'all know Alec Murdoch? That's his son. Good luck. Here's the MT and Officer Higgs. I mean, okay, that was slightly different. The EMT said Weldon was a good guy, but interesting that he mentioned Bowies on the Boulevard, where first responders eat for free, or at least they used to, according to sources.

Starting point is 00:29:35 Maybe things have changed since this Weldon debacle has led to at least two Horry County officers losing their jobs, including the number two guy, Deputy Chief Brandon Strickland, and supposedly three others are supposed to be disciplined, according to the current chief, Chris Lionheart. Another thing that's interesting is that old Kerry Higgs said he didn't know who Weldon was.

Starting point is 00:30:02 If that's true, then this next part sure is strange. Less than 10 minutes before Higgs gave Weldon the advice about not speaking, he went up to Weldon and Bradley, who were sitting on the trailer behind Weldon's truck. Witnesses number four and five were standing next to them with Officer Damon Vescovi, who had already warned

Starting point is 00:30:26 Weldon via a note he wrote and held up for him to act like a victim. Stick a pen and a nap because there's more to say there. Here's what Higgs said to Weldon and Bradley, but mostly to Weldon. Y'all are good? Y'all hit with anything? Glass, anything like that? We're good. We, once it was over, we were going to start backing up and then I'm like, no, we don't want to move anything.

Starting point is 00:30:47 We didn't even get out of the car for a little bit. Wow. Oh, Weldon stopped speaking? That's unusual. I mean, we all know by now this guy is a talker. Oh, Weldon stopped speaking? That's unusual. I mean, we all know by now this guy is a talker. Also, if you're listening to this, you're not going to be able to see it. But when Weldon abruptly stopped speaking, he gets this quick but strange look on his

Starting point is 00:31:18 face and then looks away. So of course that led us to wonder why. So we replayed it. And oh looky there, Officer Kerry Higgs did something with his right hand. But since it was his body cam it was impossible to see exactly what he did. So thank God for those mislabeled videos that Horry County Police somehow forgot to give to Sled and to Scott's sister Jennifer Spivey Foley, when she foiled for the case file.

Starting point is 00:31:48 Thank goodness the Orey County police found these videos after we found the footage of Viscovy writing that note to Weldon and immediately told Jennifer's attorney Mark Tinsley, who then told Sled, who then asked us to wait to publish that information until after they could question Viscovy themselves. Which they did. And then, Horry County Police decided to hold a press conference where they took credit for finding the Vescovy footage of the note at the very same time that Sled did. Which is weird, because Sled didn't find that footage.

Starting point is 00:32:19 We did. But I digress. Among the mislabeled videos was Damon Viscoe's dashcam footage. His vehicle was aimed at Weldon and Bradley, who were sitting on the trailer, and witness number five, who was standing near them. So surely it caught what officer Kerry Higgs' right hand was doing, yes? Sort of. But it did confirm to us that something deliberate happened.

Starting point is 00:32:44 Which brings me to my next moment of gratitude to God. This time for sweaty pants chatterbox Damon Viscovie who was literally facing Higgs with his body camera. As Weldon talked, Higgs nodded, then touched his baseball cap, and then did the universal sign for zip it at his lips and gave Weldon the universal papaw look for, do what I say, son, I'm not going to tell you again. Except in this case, Higgs did tell Weldon again about eight minutes later when he offered that stellar, quasi legal advice about waiting for the timeline before talking.

Starting point is 00:33:20 So there you have it. Yet another thing that an Horry County police officer did at the scene to help Weldon Boyd not get charged in the homicide of Scott Spivey. We don't know if Kerry Higgs has been held accountable for this, and we don't know why the Attorney General's office, which insists that it did a thorough and careful review of the evidence, didn't catch this either. But that brings us to why. Why would Cary Higgs do that at all? Never mind for someone he supposedly didn't know. And why did he feel comfortable giving that look to Weldon? It felt intimate in the way silent communication with someone who gets your vibe does. It's really confusing, just like a lot of things about the way the police acted that

Starting point is 00:34:04 night. Which brings me to a theory. You know when you're told to do something by a higher up, and you want to do it in a way that impresses them. So it causes a bit of a spike in your blood pressure, and maybe you start snapping a little and acting the fool at first because you're feeling frazzled and overwhelmed because this is your chance. You want to get the thing done, and you want to look like a real champ to your boss.

Starting point is 00:34:29 I'm not saying that's what happened here, but let's check in with what Viscovi's demeanor was when he arrived at the scene almost five minutes after Higgs, who had already secured the weapons and already radioed to dispatch, which Vescovich, according to his camera, heard and responded to that the man in the black truck, the purported shooter was dead. Meaning Vescovich wasn't rolling up on an active shooting or an imminent threat with weapons willy nilly. He was rolling up on a scene where the first officer there told his other officers on the radio, the thing I need help with is traffic control. Here's Vescovi right as

Starting point is 00:35:10 he gets to Camp Swamp Road. Get your car out of the way now! Are y'all part of this? Are you part of this? Sir, sir, are you part of this? Are y'all involved? They're witnesses. They're witnesses. Me and him are the people who are involved. Are y'all involved? We're witnesses. They're witnesses.

Starting point is 00:35:45 They're witnesses. Me and him are the people who are involved. He used the loudspeaker on his vehicle to tell that car to get out of the way. You can hear it on Carey Riggs' body cam. What am I doing? No, no, no. I want y'all to sit. Get the car out of the way now!

Starting point is 00:36:08 What a clown. Okay, it didn't stop there. Here's Vescovy less than one minute later. I was almost in the ditch about to wreck. All this I thought fell out. When I went to turn... Go! Go! Jesus Christ, people! You can't come down here! That's why the roads blocked! You gotta go! You're holding

Starting point is 00:36:33 up traffic here! Go! You have to find a way around! I can't help it! Go that way! Go that way! When we turned in, he stopped in the road, got out, had a glock, started pointing at me like that. Okay, so this is what I would call triple-diculous because one, Vescovy peeled off in the middle of Weldon talking to go yell at people who had stopped their cars out of confusion about what to do because, contrary to what he was saying to them, the road wasn't actually blocked. People were still coming through Camp Swamp onto Highway 9. 2. The way he lost his cool and yelled, I can't help it. This is not a guy you would want on a bomb dismantling team. Literally. A guy in a truck was like, I live on this road. And Vescovian was like, what?

Starting point is 00:37:28 Oh, too much pressure. And three, the way Wildin kept talking as if nothing had happened when Vescovian returned to him, Shakespeare himself could not have written a script this true to the characters personalities. Anyway, all of this is particularly hilarious when you know that there's at least one hour-long body camera video of road officers blocking the road about a mile up Highway 9, calmly and politely addressing every annoying question that was being asked of them. People were literally holding up traffic to ask what happened and to ask for directions to an alternate route. And those officers were like, here's the info. Have a good evening. I've actually never seen

Starting point is 00:38:10 anything like it. Of all the officers on the scene, they had the most reason to yell because legitimately these looky-loos and people without GPS or cell phones for some reason were holding up traffic and in my opinion creating a potentially dangerous situation. And yet, those officers didn't go off like this guy. That was Vescovy again, about two minutes after his last blow-up. Literally everyone else, including Weldon, if you can believe it, was more calm than this guy.

Starting point is 00:38:53 But I guess when you haven't seen the full evidence or spoken to all the witnesses, and you're about to write a note instructing a man who just shot and killed someone in a scenario that you would later question that evening. You too would act like every person trying to maneuver their way through a poorly managed crime scene that they accidentally found themselves in was personally offending you and all of society. Anyway, when Higgs gave Weldon the universal sign for Zip It and the universal sign for Angry Dad Warning, Vescovy witnessed it. He was right there, talking to witness number 5.

Starting point is 00:39:35 Okay, that wasn't even the thing about Vescovy we wanted to share with you. Remember he told Weldon to act like a victim? So Weldon did just that. And after reviewing some of the body camera footage yet again with that in mind, it all starts to come together. How Weldon's apparently natural tendency to exaggerate and lie and plant seeds with people so that his narrative becomes the one that gets put in the history books, plus the instructions to act like a victim manifested. Remember a few episodes ago, when we told you that Weldon went and looked at Scott's body and how he told Witnesses Number 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 that Scott was dead and how witness number 2 repeated that to the

Starting point is 00:40:27 911 dispatcher, which you can hear? This is Weldon. When Officer Kerry Higgs came back from checking on Scott, Weldon is yelling on the phone, talking to either his mother or his attorney, overstating what the witnesses said they saw. Okay, we've got a bunch of witnesses who saw him point the gun at us, run us off the road. There's a lot of people that saw him, all of them. Just have a seat. That way you're calm.

Starting point is 00:40:55 Is he allowed? Okay, please hurry. So, Weldon made a statement to the police about the incident. He said, he's not allowed to go to the hospital. He's not allowed to go to the hospital. He's not allowed to go to the hospital. He's not allowed to go to the hospital. He's not allowed to go to the hospital.

Starting point is 00:41:03 He's not allowed to go to the hospital. He's not allowed to go to the hospital. He's not allowed to go to the hospital. He's not allowed to go to the hospital. He's not allowed to go to the hospital. He's not allowed to go to the hospital. So, Weldon knew Scott was dead for sure. But, and this is before all the helpful tips from Higgs and Vescovy and Strickland came in, Weldon is pretending he's just finding out. Why? Maybe he didn't want Higgs knowing that he went to Scott's truck before he got there. I don't know, but it's weird. I mean, I'm sure Weldon could have been asking for absolute confirmation of the thing he

Starting point is 00:41:35 thought that he knew, but he'd already told everyone, including his mother, that he had killed a man, and that the man in the black truck was for sure dead. After a quick break, we will hear more from Weldon following Vescovy's advice of playing the victim. We'll be right back. So here's a little audio collage of Weldon doing his best to be the victim, per Vescovy's helpful suggestion. Now that I think about it, it's really funny that Vescovy's advice and Higgs' advice are kind of at odds with each other.

Starting point is 00:42:18 Act like a victim and then also, shh, zip it. This was caught on V Biscovy's camera. Here, Lieutenant Doug Deshong is speaking to Weldon. Yeah, the biggest thing is, dude, you can relax. We just don't want people walking around because we got a crime standing in front of us. Hey, partner, you're good. You're good. Don't worry about it.

Starting point is 00:42:41 Things happen, you know. I don't understand this one. The detective come up here. We'll let your attorney come down here once he gets there. There's probably skid marks from where he ran in that ditch down there. We'll take it. Calm down. Ain't nobody said you did anything wrong. Okay. I know. Just feel like you did, don't you, baby? Yeah, well, I mean, nobody, nobody wants to go through that. That's right. But you gotta understand, you're here, we'll get through all this, okay? I don't know why you have to shoot her.

Starting point is 00:43:16 Now, if y'all want to sit in your car or whatever, that's fine. Just don't want everybody walking in and out and around. So Alan is on the way, CSI is on the way. I think it's pretty cut and dry. That's a phrase that the officers at the scene kept using in front of Weldon, by the way, along with, it's self-defense, all day long. Which, we need to pause and think about that, because here's the thing. Recordings we are sharing with you today all happened, more or less, within the hour after Weldon and Bradley killed Scott Spivey, which means that within minutes of police arriving on the scene, they were already heaving and hoeing around, declaring Weldon's innocence in front of him. We'll talk more about that in a second.

Starting point is 00:44:15 Let's keep going with Weldon's performance as a victim. "...ran me into the ditch. How I didn't flip, I don't know. And that's why we, I'm like like we got all this in the trunk. So they sped off down this road, but we pulled in and we're gonna pull right here and strap this stuff back or make sure nothing fell out. He's parked there. Door swings open. Why would someone do that? There's a lot of dumb people in this room, man.

Starting point is 00:44:44 Do you know? I don't know. I think you do. I didn't know. I didn't know who it There's a lot of dumb people in this room, man. Do you know them? I don't know. I think you do. I didn't know who it was either. What's his name? Scott Spivey. Scott Spivey.

Starting point is 00:44:52 At the mention of Scott Spivey's name, Weldon, who according to the case file was in the middle of texting photos of Scott's dead body to his, and to a 19-member group chat on Facebook, looked up suddenly at Vescovy like, whoa, because obviously, Spivey was a name that was familiar to Weldon, due to whatever was going on between Weldon and the estranged wife of Benji Spivey. Remember? Her snuggle text to Weldon post the shooting, and because Benji Spivey was alleged to be romantically tied to the mother of Weldon's unborn son at one point. Then Weldon went back into victim mode as Lieutenant Deshawn walked up. He shot. Hey man, now breathe, now breathe. You gotta yeah, we're right here on 9.

Starting point is 00:45:52 You can't miss us. We're right here. Scott's body. I don't know who that is. He's a younger boy. He coats bone. I don't know him, no. I just know of him because of him coaching. That was witness number five instructing Weldon to breathe after he asked if he was going to jail.

Starting point is 00:46:17 But also Weldon clearly heard Scott Spivey's name when Vescovy said it the first time, according to his reaction on video. So either he was checking to make sure he heard or he was creating a record of him not knowing Spivey for the camera because he knew how weird this was gonna be for him. Here, Vescovy asked Weldon and Bradley to tell him at what point they first encountered Scott. I'll tell you why he was asking this in a bit. Where did you first see him at? I don't even know where we were because I was just driving. He said, I don't remember the word, but I looked over and the guy just got a Glock hanging out the window at us.

Starting point is 00:47:06 Yeah, he passed by, he was pointing a gun at us. I was like, well, do we know him? And then he kept hanging it out the window, hanging it out the window, and then he would get over into the right lane and slow down. He break checked me. It was almost 7 p.m. at this point,

Starting point is 00:47:22 and they were all waiting around for the detective to show up, the one handpicked by Deputy Chief Brandon Strickland to take care of Weldon. Now, let's listen to some of the phone calls Weldon made shortly after this. This one to his mama, after hearing Lieutenant Deschamps and Officer Vescovi talk to each other about the case and after

Starting point is 00:47:46 his victim performance. Hello? Hey. Hey. Are you still with Ken? Yeah. Okay, look, tell Ken this, but tell it where nobody can hear it. All these officers are saying we're fine.

Starting point is 00:48:01 They keep telling each other, this is cut and dry, this is cut and dry. He shot at me first I shot back. I killed him. It's it's we're fine We he's in his truck I'm Ken has the pictures if you want to see the crime scene ask him to look at the pictures Just they're gonna let y'all through at some point. We're just waiting on the crime scene guy. But you haven't talked to them? No, just normal stuff.

Starting point is 00:48:31 I haven't. No, I've done what Ken's told me to do. Now before Ken called me, yes, I talked to him, but the story's the same story that the witnesses have told him and the same story Bradley. I haven't messed anything up with that. So the police are the ones that are saying it's cut and dry? It's cut and dry.

Starting point is 00:48:49 They keep saying it's cut and dry. Notice the effect of hearing Vescovi and Deshong talking about cut and dried in front of him. And an hour and 20 minutes later, Weldon called his mother again. I mean, mama, it was just, I mean, I don't understand it. I mean, the guy, it was all out shootout. I mean, I'm good.

Starting point is 00:49:19 I don't think Bradley's okay. I mean, I've been through this shit before, but I don't think Bradley's okay. Well, I know. Remember, no, he hadn't. I don't think Bradley's okay. I mean, I've been through this shit before, but I don't think Bradley's okay. I know. Remember, no, he hadn't. According to Weldon himself, Weldon was in the Army National Guard, but has never seen combat and had never pointed a gun at another human, nevermind killing someone before this.

Starting point is 00:49:43 I don't know if he just, I don't know. I kept asking, I asked Bradley, I said, telling someone before this. I wasn't even paying attention. He was like, do you know him or something like that? And I look over and dude's just got a gun going down the road aiming it. Did I swerve over and not know it and almost hit him? Seems like something you would know given the 16 foot trailer you were towing Weldon. I have to ask, is that some kind of admission? But also it's sort of an unbelievable thing to think that a passenger in a pickup truck in the South to ask is that some kind of admission? But also it's sort of an unbelievable thing to

Starting point is 00:50:25 think that a passenger in a pickup truck in the south with a gun happy driver would look over, see a man with a gun allegedly, and according to Weldon who here admits he wasn't paying attention, a man with a gun allegedly being held to his head. And instead of ducking or yelling gun, as witness number two did when passing by the shooting, the passenger, Bradley, simply says, do you know him? Okay, why was Vescovich asking Weldon about when he began to engage with Scott on Highway 9? Because Vescovich is a weird, weird person.

Starting point is 00:51:03 On the one hand, he was helping Weldon. He even admitted to doing that, which you'll hear in a second. But on the other hand, he would sort of come to and realize he was a police officer who needed to consider whether a person's story about the potential crime that just happened actually adds up. I tell you, buddy, to come back. He's got to put him in the car otherwise. Hey. Hey. What's his name? Weldon. Weldon.

Starting point is 00:51:32 Hey, you got to sit right here. I might have to put you in the car. Oh, I'll see it if he hit the truck. Let us see it. I'm sorry. Let us do that, okay? I'm sorry. I'm trying to help you here, okay? I'm sorry. We're about to. Okay.

Starting point is 00:51:51 It's kind of weird to hear Vescovy, who minutes earlier was screaming at people in a truck who were just trying to get home and confused about what was happening, is apologizing to Weldon, who just killed a man and was continuing to do whatever he wanted on the scene despite being told so many times to just stay put and shut up. Weldon, by the way, was at the front of his truck looking for bullet holes from Scott of which there were none. from Scott, of which there were none. Like I said, Vescovy sort of went in and out

Starting point is 00:52:27 of policing that evening. And as a man with 23 and a half years of being in law enforcement at that point, and yet still assigned to street patrol, he seemed like the kind of coworker who, in an effort to be impressive, had a habit of accidentally saying the right thing at a time when no one wanted to hear it.

Starting point is 00:52:50 For instance, this. Vescovy could not understand how Weldon ended up behind Scott if Scott was supposedly the aggressor in pursuing Weldon, and he correctly expressed this to Lieutenant Deshiong, who, without evidence to support his claim, came up with an answer for it. These witnesses here don't know because they were coming this way. Well, let me ask you this, though. By the road claim and stuff, if that guy cut him off turning in here, he would end up behind him.

Starting point is 00:53:22 Yeah, but he wasn't coming this way, is what I'm saying. No, no, no, actually. No. But the black truck, if the black truck turned in here running him off of the road, yeah, then he would end up in front of him. I understand that, but as what I'm saying is, with the marks that shows he got run out the road too, if that other guy was turning in here, that could have been what run him off the road and he would end up behind him. I'm just as a plausible scenario. But I mean, regardless, the guy stops, gets out, approaches you with a gun. What are you going to do? Hmm. Well, I agree. I think it's set the fence all day long. Everything occurred the way the witnesses said it.

Starting point is 00:54:04 I was trying to preliminarily get everything kind of out of here. I think I said it since all day long. Everything occurred the way the witness said it. I was trying to preliminarily get everything kind of out of here. Are you serious? Yeah. Lieutenant Deshiong wanted the explanation for this to be that Scott had cut off Weldon right before turning on Highway 9. But the truth of that situation was that Weldon had been pursuing Scott for a while at that point. If there were tire marks on the road, they were either put there by Scott, who was trying to get away from Weldon, or as

Starting point is 00:54:32 he turned onto the road he took home, or by Weldon, who was taking a likely fast and possibly dangerous turn in his pursuit of Scott, or from someone else altogether. Again, the police had concluded their investigation within minutes of arriving on the scene and based on little to no evidence. OK, one last thing before we go, and we are going to talk about witness number one next week, as long as there isn't breaking news. You know how that goes. Let's talk about Weldon's lawyer.

Starting point is 00:55:15 You heard Weldon tell his mother on the phone to tell Ken, the lawyer, that the police were saying Weldon was golden, cut and dried, self-defense all day. Weldon's mother was standing with Ken outside the perimeter set up by police. You couldn't see them on any cameras during that first hour, but oddly, all the body cameras of the officers at the scene seemed to shut off around the same time. Ken Moss got to the scene rather quickly.

Starting point is 00:55:42 When he got there, one of the road officers radioed Viscovi, who had already spoken to him before writing that note, act like a victim. He said he talked to someone down there saying that they were allowing him to drive down towards where you're at to get to the client. For the electric or an attorney? I bet he is an attorney. Yeah, he can't come right now. I told him we'd give him a call. Yeah, far left, no. A gentleman from Ori Electric who needs to get to a client at the crime scene. Now obviously I think Vescovy is a dirty cop because of that note that he wrote to Weldon. But I really have to hand it to him here

Starting point is 00:56:45 because again, and I know I'm repeating myself here, he is the dirty cop who accidentally says the right thing at the wrong time. He totally blew the ruse here because of course it was Weldon's attorney trying to get to the crime scene by pretending to be an electric guy. pretending to be an electric guy. Okay, so while I appreciate Officer Kerry Higgs' comment, that's shysty as hell, I apologize for the offensiveness of that statement. So this is what Officer Kerry Higgs said after hearing Viscovich's side of the conversation about Ken Moss apparently pretending to work for the electric company so that he could get on the other side of the crime tape to

Starting point is 00:57:49 see Weldon. I mean, can y'all believe this? It's truly jaw dropping to see what good old boyism looks like from the inside and time after time finding out it is exactly what we all suspected it looked like. It's exactly what we thought it was, despite constantly being told through generations that we're crazy, we're wrong, we're imagining things. Anyway, I want to give you one more example of Officer Viscovey accidentally doing his job.

Starting point is 00:58:23 So he got a through and through on the right side. doing his job. Great question! Damon Vescovy! That is a great, great, great question. How did Scott end up fatally shot in the right side of his back shoulder when he was supposedly shooting at Weldon and Brandon, facing them from of his back shoulder when he was supposedly shooting at Weldon and Brandon facing them from outside his truck where there was no blood on the ground and only one shell casing outside of the truck, which could have easily flown out

Starting point is 00:58:54 of Scott's open door. But bravo, Damon Vescovy, because you seem to pick up on something there. That Weldon's version of events just doesn't make sense once you do the thing you're being paid to do by taxpayers and that's actually look at and consider the evidence. And honestly, when you take a step back, there is a mountain of evidence to look at. In the past 10 episodes, our team, with Liz Farrell and Beth Braden working harder than the FBI, has exposed a whole lot of corruption and incompetence in the Spivey case. We told you how Weldon's BFF, Horry County's No. 2 guy Brandon Strickland, resigned in

Starting point is 00:59:41 March soon after Jennifer Spivey was finally given the investigation file with all of the contents on Weldon's phone. You heard Weldon himself on the 911 call September 9, 2023, describing the situation as it unfolded, chasing Scott for miles before they both pulled over on Camp Swamp Road, where Weldon and Bradley shot Spivey to death. You heard Bradley on that same phone call, saying, God damn it, Weldon, why couldn't you effing leave him alone? You heard call after call between Chief Deputy Brandon Strickland and Weldon,

Starting point is 01:00:22 where Strickland admitted to, quote, working in the shadows on Weldon's behalf in the investigation, and sending a good ol' boy to the scene and getting Scott's toxicology just to help Weldon. You saw, with your own eyes, how Officer Damon Vescovy wrote Act Like a Victim camera to Coach Weldon in the fix on scene. You heard from the only other witness who actually saw the shooting. Give a different story from Weldon's version about what happened before Scott was shot to death. And you heard Weldon working his good ol' boy magic on scene and spreading his narrative among the people who claimed to be witnesses but did not see the shooting.

Starting point is 01:01:10 You heard Horry County Police Chief Chris Lionheart lie to the public, claiming that his office, not Beth Brayden, found the Viscovi video in their alleged investigation into this case. The investigation that we still are not convinced exists, because why haven't they done anything else? You heard Officer Higgs offer unofficial legal advice to Weldon, the suspect, when his lawyer wasn't on scene. You heard a number of straight-up shady and disgraceful things Horry County officials did and said at the crime scene, including towing Scott's

Starting point is 01:01:52 body while it was still in his truck to make it look better for Weldon, according to the deputy police chief. You heard Officer Higgs claim that Weldon's attorney wasn't Weldon's attorney, but a gentleman from Orey Electric, again, to help Weldon. That is a lot exposed in one case. And again, props to Liz Farrell for spearheading this investigation that puts Orey County to absolute shame. But even after all of that, not one person has been held criminally accountable for this alleged murder and cover-up. Two cops have lost their jobs,

Starting point is 01:02:36 Brandon Strickland and Damon Vescovy, only after Horry County was forced to face the music because Jennifer Spivey was exposing their bad deeds and sharing what she found with the media. But still, no murder charges, no obstruction of justice charges, no conspiracy charges, no lying to the police charges, no misconduct and office charges. So far, there is nothing. And after all that, three months later, the only accountability is just two cops losing their jobs. And let's be real here, I wouldn't be surprised if they both stay in law enforcement in South Carolina and become someone else's problem. Because this is South Carolina, the land of no consequences. And again, who is the man who could actually

Starting point is 01:03:31 right many of the wrongs in the Spivey case? Alan Wilson. The man who wants to be our next governor. Alan Wilson could and should call a press conference to advocate for the appointment of a special prosecutor and say something simple like, I don't know, too many public officials failed Scott Spivey and we owe it to him and his family to have a special prosecutor who is not biased in charge of this investigation, and we hope to see those who obstructed justice in this case held to account."

Starting point is 01:04:09 See? Something like that. It's not that hard. Oh, and the biggest threat to Alan Wilson right now is Nancy Mace. If y'all have been listening for a while, you know my thoughts on Nancy Mace, and I am not going to get into all the things I disagree with her on. But in this case, Nancy Mace has done the right thing, and she deserves credit for that. She met with the Spivey family earlier this month to learn about Scott's case, and she

Starting point is 01:04:38 posted about it twice. Of course, she pointed out her favorite fact that works in her favor, that Alan Wilson failed to prosecute this case. But you know what? I appreciate Nancy Mace using her platform so that more people know about the Spivey case. I realize that she's running for governor and facing Alan Wilson in the primaries, and yes, exposing his failures in this case could absolutely help her in the polls. But look y'all, in South Carolina, where so few politicians take a stand against corruption, we need to take any little win that we can get. Spivey's case needs political pressure, and frankly, right now, I appreciate any public official

Starting point is 01:05:27 willing to stand up and fight for justice." So here is your final assignment from today's podcast. Please keep the pressure up. Keep writing Allen's office and keep commenting on his Facebook and Instagram. Every single voice matters. Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. True Sunlight is a Lunashark production created by me, Mandy Matney. Co-hosted and reported by journalist Liz Farrell.

Starting point is 01:06:11 Research support provided by Beth Braden. Audio production support provided by Jamie Hoffman. Case file management provided by Kate Thomas. Learn more about our mission and membership at lunasharkmedia.com. Interruptions provided by Luna and Joe Pesky. I love being a lawyer, being a speaker. I absolutely am looking forward to being an author of my book, Anything But Bland, but I'm excited to tell you that I'm launching my very own podcast called Good Skill, betting on yourself. I delve into the idea that success isn't merely about luck, but is instead achieved through honing skills and strategic efforts and planning. Each episode of Good Skill offers listeners an insightful journey into the minds of individuals

Starting point is 01:07:08 who are reshaping their respective industries and their careers. Good Skill serves as a beacon of inspiration with a roster of interesting guests like independent journalist, media disruptor, and Cup of Justice co-host Mandy Matney. These conversations empower listeners seeking to make their mark in the world. Visit the EricBland.com website to

Starting point is 01:07:29 learn more or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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