Small Town Murder - #396 - Sifting Through Suspects - Rock Hill, South Carolina

Episode Date: June 16, 2023

This week, in Rock Hill, South Carolina, what appears to be a person, taking their own life, turns out to be anything but that. It's actually a cold blooded, terrifying murder that occurred when someone slipped into a home, in the middle of the night, without forcing entry. There are several guilty looking people, but when they finally figure out the true killer, it's more disturbing than anyone could've thought!!Along the way, we find out that some people didn't want the railroad, that DNA has come a long way in 30 years, and that you some people are ALWAYS in sales mode!!Hosted by James Pietragallo and Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: [e-mail] to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports!Follow us on...twitter.com/@murdersmallfacebook.com/smalltownpodinstagram.com/smalltownmurderAlso, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Wondery, Wondery+, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening early and ad-free on Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay! Choo-choo! Ha-ha! Yay, indeed, Jimmy welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay! Choo-choo! Ha-ha. Yay, indeed, Jimmy. Yay, indeed. My name is James Petrogallo.

I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you, folks, so much for joining us on another crazy edition of Small Town Murder Express, all aboard the murder train, everyone. Leaving the station for a real, real twisty, weird episode today. Good stuff. Wild things. Before we get into that very quickly just want to say shut up and give me murder.com get your get your tickets august the 12th in chicago things are sold out up until chicago but august the 12th in chicago come there

it'll be a one time we're gonna do a one-off show for them a the only time we're gonna do perform this particular live show this year on our tour will be in chicago so if you want to see it that's the only place you can get your tickets august 12th and then after that too a few dates still have tickets a couple left in dc and then also atlanta dallas and philly and charlotte there you go so shut up and give me murder.com patreon.com slash crime andports is where you get the bonus material. Anybody $5 or above, you get it all. You get the whole back catalog of bonus stuff, hundreds of episodes in there. And then every other week you get two new episodes. This week is no different.

For crime and sports, you're going to get in-ring boxing deaths. Oh, boy. Oh, there's been so many. What's the worst way to die? Maybe beaten to death while thousands of people cheer. That might be the worst way to die. Worst way to die, maybe beaten to death while thousands of people cheer. That might be the worst way to die.

And then for Small Town Murder, we're going to talk about a documentary about a family that makes the wild and wonderful whites of West Virginia look like the British royal family. That's what they look like compared to. What a hollow. Wow. It's from Mudlick, Kentucky, they are. And it is just wild stuff. And then a murder springs from it also. And you see it developing in the documentary and you're like, oh no.

And then it happens. You're like, I knew that was going to happen. So we'll check all of that out. That's patreon.com slash crime in sports. That said, I think it's time to clear the lungs, everybody. Let's do this. What do you say, Jimmy? You feeling?

Let's do it. Let's deep breaths. Extra antsy. Let's do this. Arms toward the sky, everyone. And let's shout, shut up and give me murder. Let's do this, Jimmy. What do you say?

Let's go on a trip. Yeah, let's do it. Let's head on down to South Carolina. Yes, Rock Hill, South Carolina. Oh, there's a college there or some shit, isn't there? Yes, there is. Yes, there is. And you've heard this name before.

A lot of football players tend to congregate and be from here. And one killed a person here. That's not this episode, but that'll be for crime and sports. But definitely here. Rock Hill, South Carolina. It's been a while since we've been to South Carolina here. Population right now is above what we would normally do. Right now it's almost 73,000 people. But when this murder happened in

1990, there was only 41,000 people in it. It definitely had all the trappings of a small town here. Median household income in this place is $40,718, which is below the national average, but it's college that always skews that. Median home price here, which is below the national average, but it's college. It always skews that. Median home price here, also lower than the national average, $279,500. Wow. South Carolina generally you can get houses cheap. My dad lived there. Rock Hill, very affordable.

My dad moved there for that reason, because you could get a house there cheap when you lived there. So a little bit of history about this town here. Settlers started coming in 1830s 1840s but uh the railroad decided to send a rail line through here and that of course made it a town here sure there was they were trying to build build a station in the nearby village of ebenezerville oh which is a terrible name for a town well the mayor's a little crotchety. Yeah, that's what I mean. Christmas is terrible there. The locals in Ebeneezerville

refused to have the railroad run through their village, though. Oh, yeah, because they're real Scrooges about it. Well, yeah, they want to keep everything there for themselves. Well, back then, that was what they wanted. Remember the whole plot of Blazing Saddles is the real estate will go up if a rail line comes through there. So let's buy up all the land. That was the whole thing.

Here, they said, nope, it's dirty and noisy. We'd rather be broke. We don't give a shit about commerce. So they just ran the line two miles away. So there you go. And they marked the spot on the map and named it Rocky Hill. And there you go. The first families of rocky hill which

are funny are named white and black those are the families that come here first the white family and the black family fascinating and i think they were both black family were white people all black people so the three largest uh there was the large landowners in the area george pendleton white one of them here contracted with the railroad to build a section of the line that started in 1848. After the Civil War, obviously, things changed a lot down here. The former landowning elite people that were very wealthy ended up having to sell their land off to stay financially afloat and that sort of thing. It was only, by 1870, they only had buildings that were one story tall. There was no sidewalks on the road, anything like that.

It was finally a bordello came in. Oh, yeah. In 1881. You got more two stories up there. And they paved the first sidewalk. They were like, you're going to walk comfortably up here to choose from these line of women that we have for you. They were like, you're going to walk comfortably up here to choose from these line of women that we have for you. And in 2021, former NFL player Phillip Adams shot and killed six people, including two children.

Jesus, Phillip. At a house in Rock Hill. And he committed suicide. Phil, what's with all this gun, man? What are you doing with all that gun, Phil? That's a Beverly Hills cop. You changed, Phil. What are you doing with all this gun, man? What are you doing with all this gun, man? That's my favorite line. That's a Beverly Hills cop. You changed, Phil. You're doing all this gun, man.

What you doing with all this gun, man? That's my favorite line. That's pretty funny. We will do that on Crime and Sports, which you should be listening to Crime and Sports if you're not. It's been very murderous lately. They're really good. So if you want some murder, they're good. Reviews of this town. Five stars.

Here's the first one. Loves it. Nicknamed Football City USA. Oh. First one loves it. Nicknamed Football City USA. Oh, Rock Hill, South Carolina, the fifth largest city in the state, is considered to be the prime spot for football players to make it to the NFL. Wow. Interesting. Rock Hill has a multitude of things to do, whether it's bowling with your friends, going to beautiful Winthrop University and enjoying the lakes, eating some good home cooking, of course, with the apostrophe, or rather simply enjoying the beauty the town has to offer.

If this sounds like a good time to you, join me and let's rock the hill together. Wow. Does that make you a football player? Yeah, that's just the script that the mayor would say on the commercial to visit Rock Hill. Join me. would say on the commercial to visit rock hill join me uh four stars common suburban town fairly safe not a whole lot to do but just enough many areas are very safe you just need to avoid places and streets that are not well that's like saying comedy is very easy you just tell the jokes that are funny you just just tell the jokes that get the laughs just don't just skip the ones that don't work well yeah that's the point how the fuck do you know that not being a drug addict is really easy

if you don't do drugs it's pretty wild you just don't do drugs it's easy wow three stars it is a nice area there is a lot of violence well those two statements don't go together for one sentence it's a weird sentence it's not a place you should think of staying all your life. If you can move away, done, come back, never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever return it. Five evers is a nice area. There is lots of violence. You've said that already. Interesting.

That's it. That's a fascinating verse. Then they repeat that again. Again? Again. They just repeat that again. Again? Again. They just repeated that again. Two stars. We need more good choices.

Yes. You know what? That can describe a lot of lives and people and places. That starts with you, my friend. That starts. Try it at home first. One star. Small southern city.

No major attractions or events. we indulge in a lot of sports such as football a lot of nfl players have come out of this area it's all football in all kinds of sports like this such as that one one star the police are responsive the outside of the area is not kept up well the pets us bathroom all over the place i don't know what that means the pets us the bathroom all over the place the pets use the bathroom all over the place dog shit everywhere just say piles of dog shit line the streets and we'll know what you're talking about inconsiderate people walk their dogs that's what happens and then people sit trash outside and it has caused bug issues just put a

throw a bunch of garbage in the yard i guess just dump it right on the curve you're saying the outskirts are trash is what you're saying just say that you're saying out in the county it's gross it's gross in town pretty nice rural get shittier. Things to do, the Come See Me Festival. Oh. It's the annual salute to spring. That's what it is. The salute to spring. Come see me.

And it debuted in 1962 as a community project to encourage tourists, relatives, and friends to visit Rock Hill during its most beautiful season. That's it. Yeah, there's also a Rock Hill during its most beautiful season. That's it. Yeah, there's also a mascot, Glenn the Frog. Oh. Yes, there's 30 different styles of Glenn the Frog, by the way. Oh. He's wearing different shit. Leisure suit Glenn.

Glenn, golfing Glenn with a little Kangol hat on and shit. Yeah. Each year, the festival chair selects a new logo and updates its design and colors. So you want to keep no consistency with your branding. Very smart. Change it all every year. Each year, the festival chair selects a new logo and updates its design and colors. So you want to keep no consistency with your branding. Very smart. Change it every year. Be sure to visit the historic, award-winning Glencairn Garden created by David A. Bigger.

I'm bigger. To experience the beauty and spirit. Okay. That said, what do you say? Let's talk about some murder here. It's a very this is a weird little town the college is really kind of i feel like there's old people and college that's kind of what goes on here right right what is this i think this is um charleston i want to say yeah so this would be i'm trying to think of what county what county of on patrol this is.

Is it Richland or Berkeley? Because they're both a disaster. Both those counties are just constant. Nobody pulls over, first of all. Which live PD am I watching? As soon as the lights come on, the person immediately turns. No, no, no.

Not only on the road, they just turn into the woods and start driving. There's one where we watched a guy in a little mitsubishi drive through like three miles of woods it was the most awesome thing finally yeah and finally the cop got like stuck in some trees and had to like stop and they had the car cam on it was so fucking funny i was dying this guy got away and they kept he ran for 20 minutes it was the greatest thing hauled ass through the woods in a fucking Mirage.

Another one went through a golf course down there, which was awesome. Busted through the barrier thing and just was driving on a green. There's people with their putters standing there like, what the fuck? As a car shoots over the sand trap. It was awesome. So wild shit down here. Six guys in a sand trap singing Constance Fry. Yeah, Constance Fry. Oh, fuck, run.

So for this murder, we have to go back in time a bit here, quite a bit actually, to January 23rd, 1990. All right. 1990, interesting time because it's not the 70s with the whole serial killer stuff. It's not that. It's not later. It's before social media and cell phones. It's this weird little bubble. DNA is just coming out.

So murder investigations are changing. It's a decade change, but fashion hung on for three, four years in the 90s. Every decade does that. Look at people from 1982. They're wearing bell bottoms. It's the same shit. You got a great point. And then 85, it's a different thing.

1982 they're wearing bell bottoms it's the same you got a great point and then 85 it's a different thing yeah you look at you look at uh 9-11 footage you're like oh my god they're dressed like shit yeah it's the same shit that's the second thing that strikes you obviously yeah wow look at that guy's shirt isn't the first thing you think of so january 23rd 1990 okay there's a young lady here named felicia shepherd kirk okay uh early 20s she is in a rental house that she lives in and with a roommate another young lady here she's awoken by a noise on her wall it's the wall that connects with her roommate's bedroom it's kind of a rubbing noise it's an an interior wall. She has like a rubbing noise. It wakes her up at 4 o'clock in the morning, this noise. She's like, what the hell is she doing in there?

Her roommate in the next room is Melinda Renee Snyder. She's 22 at this time. She was born September 15, 1967. She is a recent graduate of Winthrop University, which is the hometown university. She grew up here in Rock Hill. She's a hometown girl, went to college, just graduated. She's now a teacher's aide at Northside Elementary School.

That's where she works. She's a former beauty queen. She's a devout Christian. She's got a lot going on for her. She's got friends and things and church and school and a lot. She's social. She's all working. Yeah, she's smart, social, well-liked.

Early 20s on her own doing it. Absolutely. She's been having some issues, though, financially because she's a teacher's aide. That doesn't pay a lot of money. She's 20. And she's 22, obviously, too. But, I mean, teacher's aide, entry-level teacher's aide isn't making a lot to support yourself. $18,000 a year of money. She's 20. And she's 22, obviously, too. But I mean, teacher's aid, entry level teacher's aid isn't making a lot to support yourself. 18 grand a year. Yeah. So she was making plans at the end of the month, next to the middle of February,

she was going to move to Ohio where her parents had moved to be with them. And so she could live there and get a job and kind of have a better base. So she planned to do that. Yeah, financially having a hard time. She has her bachelor's degree in elementary education. And January 2nd, she started at Northside Elementary School. So she was saying if she didn't move, she was going to have to get a second job to make ends meet. And she didn't want to just work 24-7. She thought it would be better just to, you know, go to Ohio. Yeah, it's tough.

Go to Ohio and find a job there and have a base of operations. You don't want to be the teacher that outside of school your students see you on your second job. That's not fun. No, no. If they see you at the Sonic, that's not good. If you come over and bring their tater tots, they're like, Miss Snyder, what the fuck are you bringing me my tater tots for? You can't get respect back after that.

They don't even have to be doing something embarrassing or not that's embarrassing but they don't even have to be doing something below it's just a second job for christ's sake that's i saw a teacher shopping at the grocery store when i was a kid i was like oh they're just a loser vice teacher spending their salary that's not good he's buying mama celeste frozen pizzas this guy's a loser. I would be fucking done with that guy at that point. Teachers need to be put in a box. Our science teacher was a bartender at Ruby Tuesdays at the mall. Not good. Not good.

Oh, at the PV mall? Yeah. Yeah, that Ruby Tuesdays, that's not good at all. That's not good at all. You're going to get made fun of a lot for that. So, his company was transferred. He was transferred by his company. Her father was in 1984. They had moved to Connecticut, then to Cincinnati. Then she came back to Rock Hill to go to college.

And now she's going to go back with her parents here. So she said anyway, back to Felicia Kirk, who heard the noise, she said it was a sound of a rubbing on the wall. And she said that, quote, I heard that sound for a little while. And she said that, quote, I heard that sound for a little while. And after that, she said someone she heard someone came from Melinda's room and she heard footsteps down the hall because that's in front of her door. And she heard that person go into the bathroom. Then she heard a couple of minutes later, she heard footsteps going back to the bedroom, Melinda's bedroom. And then she heard a loud bang.

So she hears a loud bang. She said, a lot of different things were going through my head at the time, Felicia says. She said, I didn't know anything was wrong. She thought that her roommate Melinda was working on her bed frame because she's had problems with it a bunch before. One of the screws keeps coming out. When you get a bad bed frame, it is a fucking nightmare because I had one of those. It was a

nightmare. Stripped screws. I'm going to guess that's right now. No one sleep on that. It's for show. It looks like we're ready for guests but we're not. Someone comes in, you throw them a sleeping bag, they're like, but the bed, no, you don't want to go on there. You don't want

to go on there. You're taking your life in your own hands if you lay on that you're never gonna you're not gonna make it through the night in that thing just it's on you my friend don't you sue me here's your sleeping bag i don't have homeowner's insurance yeah so felicia here's melinda she goes she must be working on her bed frame and she's probably jostling it around that would make sense it's kind of noise i heard i don't know what that bang was, but she was like kind of half asleep because she heard the rubbing, woke up, heard the person go to the door,

go to the bathroom while they're in the bathroom. She's nodding back off again. Yeah. And then she hears kind of footsteps that are, she's half asleep, groggy. And then she hears a bang. And when you hear something,

when you're asleep, you don't know if it actually happened or not. You know what I mean? Not just that, it's like you hear that noise and then you start thinking about like what could that have been yeah i have no fucking idea and was it louder than i thought it was is it quieter than i thought i was yeah i have no confidence when i'm asleep like i have no confidence in any of my you know senses at all at that point it's a mess so she got back in bed thinking that maybe it was maybe it was melinda

leaving and maybe that was the door slamming. Maybe that's what woke her up. Maybe she just slammed it by accident or something. Sure. But then she's in bed again and she hears some moaning from Melinda's room now. Now she hears moaning. So she gets out of bed, opens her door to the hallway, and smells gunpowder. Oh.

She's like, that's not a normal smell in my house. Neither of them are smokers. Nobody's smoking in the house. You know, if it's a house where nobody does anything, you smell everything in the house. Gunpowder burn is very obvious. Totally. And they keep it clean, too.

This is the type of place, if you brought a dog in there, they'd smell it for two days. You know what I mean? I still smell that dog that came in here two days ago. So she walks out, smells the gunpowder and looks in and Melinda's door is open. And she sees that she's like lying on her bed in a weird way. And her nightgown is pulled up above her breasts. And it's a very odd, very odd thing to see.

So she kind of freaks out um she saw she looks out the window and sees a white car with black molding and a brake light in its back window driving away so she's like okay she immediately sees that and she thinks something's wrong and she thinks she smells the gunpowder and obviously that's a signal that something's wrong she calls out to melinda she doesn't answer she's right fucking five feet away so she calls 9-1-1 yeah and she says quote my roommate just shot herself oh yeah my roommate just shot herself um so the dispatcher though is saying go in to the room if you call 9-1-1 and say someone's got a medical emergency they start walking you through how to help right like they don't just go we'll stand off to the

side and we'll be there soon like they're like we'll run in there do this you know trying to do everything touch anything especially not the body they don't say that they don't say that so no she said felicia wouldn't go in there she said i'm not going in there so they said quote can you go in there and do that for me? Go check on her, see if she's breathing, look for vital signs. And she said, no, I'm not doing it. Felicia said, no. Dispatcher's like, what the fuck are you talking about?

The dispatcher asked like five times, please go in there and do you have to go do this? And she said, no, I'm not going to do it. It's not happening. You can't make me to laugh but that is funny it's fucking crazy right she that she's then this is from the 911 tape she's crying uh felicia kirk and she says i'm passing out i can't see hold on a second melinda and she calls out melinda again she calls out and then she says no no i can't go in there you don't understand i've never seen trauma in my life i don't want to start now yeah i'm not into this i'm not going with the most

trauma first step not happening no let's go see my roommates possibly your brain brain's blown out that seems maybe my dad can call me a bitch first how about that maybe that and a whore maybe a whore maybe i gotta my dad call me a whore that would be good let's start with low-rung trauma before we go with murder in my face it's right in my face so detectives arrive at the scene and when they get there no one has checked on melinda yet she's still wow felicia never went in there so when they get there she's still alive what detectives paramedics go onto the scene and she's still alive barely she's got a gunshot wound to the left side of her head right behind her temple very very close range right where you would put the gun if you shoot yourself in the head

yeah basically so um they said a former a special agent here said she was wearing only a nightgown, which was pulled up over her chest, and her underwear were off and over on the floor in a very neat room otherwise. Not the type of room that just has underwear littered about it. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah, yeah. So she now, after this, between the time that Felicia called 911 and people arrived, she called her brother and Melinda's boyfriend. Really? Yes, in that time to freak out and tell them about it and have them come over.

These are men. I mean, that's natural progression. Yeah, I guess come out. It's 4 o'clock in the morning. Come over and maybe try to protect before the cops get here. Now, the boyfriend, though, had broken up with melinda six days earlier really yeah that's the first thing the cops want to know about she got anybody she's seeing well her boyfriend just broke up with her six days ago love to talk to him love to talk to him got his

phone number yeah but i mean this looks like a suicide and the fact that the boyfriend broke up with her six days before she's struggling financially and all that kind of thing. They go, maybe she fucking shot herself. And she's 22. Who knows? She had some depression. It's undiagnosed. And who knows?

So they look around and they find a spent 22 cartridge. Okay. So they find that. But they can't find a gun anywhere. Really? Yeah. So Melinda certainly didn't shoot herself and then go throw her gun in a creek and then go get back in bed. You know what I mean? She didn't hold the shell and tap it with a pen or some shit.

Exactly. I'm just holding a rock up to it in a mallet. Hits it with a ball peen. Yeah. So the captain of the Rock Hill Police Department said it was originally reported as a suicide. It was very obviously not a suicide. So, yeah, she's there's no you know point of that so they rush her to the hospital still alive but she dies two hours later melinda oh what a fucking nightmare she doesn't make it and the scene is a disaster it's a mess a disaster they do not process this scene well at all well too many cops probably have the information of suicide

so they're just running around it willy-nilly like we don't need to collect everything well that's the thing when they walked in it was well it's still a crime scene if it's a suicide but you because you they handle any death they handle the same way it's a death investigation so anybody dies they send a homicide detective out to look at it and make sure unless it's like an 88 year old woman who obviously had a heart attack in her sleep and lives alone and no one's there or something. But for the most part, they send a homicide detective over

to look it over and go, yeah, this is a suicide or this is a homicide or whatever. Because a lot of people, very common to kill people in stages of suicide. That's super common. But it's mass confusion here. I mean, it's 5 o'clock in the morning, 430. Absolute disaster.

They said they found no gun. They said that they were looking at everything. Her bed. She's disheveled with her bedclothes. Also, no use of force to get into the house either. No, no forced entry here. So that's an interesting thing. The detective here said, I looked around and didn't see a weapon noting that that would be close by in a suicide it's not going to go too far he said someone who is going to take their own life doesn't pull their clothes off first also excellent point yeah like i'm just gonna shirt up underwear off blow your head off that's not a normal thing nobody does that i'm not gonna expose this whole thing and then do this if anything they put clothes on that's a you know what i mean to whatever so she was still breathing um when they

got there like they said but they couldn't get anything she wasn't responsive or anything like that they couldn't say what happened to you so a paramedic named steve newland said he wanted to preserve the scene but he said he hesitantly turned over a bullet casing to a police officer god damn it steve steve come on man what are you doing don't touch it but they have to because it's right by the body a paramedic named jim thompson said crews necessarily created the mess they covered her with bandages monitors iv2 they're trying to save her life on the spot so they're patching her i mean at the point of that it's not let's find out who did this it's let's save this person's life that's the first thing so whenever you see that when they show up that really fucks up a murder investigation when the

person's not dead when they get there really fucks it up if you if you save this person's life get them breathing and then they can say who did it you don't need to preserve all that that's another thing yeah but in the event that she doesn't survive, now you've ruined everything. And you'd rather have no evidence in an attempted murder than a murder. You know what I mean? So you'd rather save their life. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts.

I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing.

This mother****er lied. Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal, or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes, you should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part

spooky, and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother f***er lied.

Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal. Or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes. You should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. So she, they said she was trying to breathe, but it was not enough to sustain life for

very long. Now, her autopsy, she arrives at the morgue at 9 a.m. And I have a copy of her autopsy here. The autopsy began. They said during it, they did a rape examination. They advised that there was no signs of sexual assault, no tears, no trauma, no hemorrhaging, no bruises, no visible signs of semen, but cotton swabs were, they swabbed the mouth and they swabbed all the entrances here. So they ended up later on, they end up finding the presence of

semen, even though, because the way it went, they said, they said okay what are they looked at it and they said okay they say she's not sexually assaulted but this looks like an awful lot like a sexual assault like nobody nobody would do this and not try to do anything so that's why they're saying no so they did further examination and it turns out they're not sure it happened to completion but even if it's not to completion you're're going to get some shit coming out early. Yeah, residual. Yep, they recovered the slug there. The bullet entered at the left temple at a path was toward the rear and upward, stopping a half inch in, or stopping before reaching the right side of the head with no exit.

The left eye was swollen shut and black from the gunshot wound small portion of the right eye was blackened skull was fractured from force of the gunshot they said she was wearing an upper teeth retainer that was removed from that blood samples recovered and delivered to the investigation people here hair samples and all that sort of

thing they also said a barrel impression was on the victim's temple and powder burns were present. At first, because of the hole size, they thought it was a larger caliber, but it realized it was just a.22 that was right up against her head, like touching her head.

So it's pretty wild here. That's a woman that climbed into bed. She had her upper retainer in, climbed into bed ready for sleep, and there's no forced entry this is frightening this is crazy yeah she was she was sleeping at 4 a.m so people they want to look at while the investigation is going on they have felicia's there also her ex-boyfriend who we'll talk about but felicia's brother also shows up who felicia called michael shepherd they he they said one of the police officers james leroy officer leroy said that michael shepherd stood quietly

at the end of the kitchen counter leroy said the brother seemed to me to be scared about something he wrote in his notes so he didn't like that so they talked to the ex-boyfriend though sit down jim jim's a lawyer in town. He's a local lawyer. Jim Reno is his name. Jim Reno, who sounds like he runs, he sounds like a lawyer that would be on a big billboard that's like, I can get you the most money for your personal injury. Call Jimmy Reno. That's a laughable daytime commercial attorney.

Where you're like, Jesus, if I get a DUI, I'm not calling that guy. So he said that he was shocked by the news. get a DUI, I'm not calling that guy. So, he said that he was shocked by the news. He said, quote, I'm devastated over this. I cared for her so much. He said he met her in college. They began dating in March of 89. She would often come to his house on Farm Pond Lane and spend

the weekend. And he began to have reservations about the relationship last month and decided to call it off. He broke up with her. He broke up with her. He said that they had a good relationship as friends the last couple days, though, because when they broke up,

they sat down and talked it all out, and it wasn't like a... He said, I didn't do it shitty, and she wasn't mad at me for it. She's just not really like that, too. She seems like a nice girl. It feels like they agreed that they're not good for each other yeah he said we talked things out got it out in the open and he also provides he says he provided investigators with everything they

asked for he said i cooperated from day one 100 100 here so yeah he they said as soon as he got the phone call he said he threw on a bright yellow University of Tennessee or bright orange University of Tennessee. You know that Tennessee orange. Volunteers. Tangerine looking shit. Put on that sweatshirt and ran over to the house because he heard she'd been shot. He said, I didn't know what state she'd be in. I wanted her to recognize me and I thought the Tennessee sweatshirt with the orange color might be something she could recognize and she would know me.

What a successful man. He's a successful man. He thinks ahead about that. I would have like the raw, I'd have like jeans on as a shirt. I wouldn't even know what, what, what happened? I got a fuck. No wonder why this doesn't fit right. It's so in a hoodie. I'll be there. If you wake me up and he goes, so many knows been shot. Come here right now. I'm like, what the fuck? I'm showing up with a shoe on my head. I have no idea what's happening. A hat on my dress like Tony Soprano and a robe and boxers. Tony Soprano going out to get the morning paper.

So a neighbor said that we looked out our window and saw the police lines and police cars in front of the house. And he said it was a good neighborhood, though, and he's not frightened. So it's all good, the neighbor said. He said, you're never 100% sure there's no danger out there. I don't think there is. But some of the women in the neighborhood may be frightened. Me and my penis feel pretty good. I don't have one of those vaginas.

I'll be all right. Yeah, you know. I don't know. No one's going to want me. You know what I'm saying? It's either an ugly guy or just a guy. Yeah. The next door neighbor, another guy, Charles Buffkin is his name.

He said, I've been here three years and nothing like this has ever happened. It's pretty quiet and I'm not afraid. Great. Her friends are a little more sad. One of her friends said, it's like a bad dream. She was a happy-go-lucky, vivacious, always smiling, very friendly, a super person who you'd always like to have around.

That's what she said. That's from the leader of the church's singles group of which she was a member. They said she was an outstanding individual and the driving force behind the group, and she blended in well with folks. The principal of the school she works at said she was a very beautiful very responsible young lady everyone here fell in

love with her were also upset they said that they the teachers had she taught kindergarten through third grade oh shit so they had to tell the the kids what happened why they won't they'd find out i think yeah so yeah they told her that that she had gone to heaven and that she's happy and uh she wants you to be happy too so don't be sad okay all right abc's let's break out your tablets and we're gonna do some spelling okay a is for apple wow that's wild they all said they're horrified, though, all the teachers that know her. They said she was very excited about her career and teaching. She had so much potential to have a happy and productive life.

It's a real tragedy. It's been cut so short. They said she was the sweetest person you'd ever know. They said, I'd like her to be remembered as someone who always had a smile for somebody else. She was always concerned about how other people were doing, and if you look down, she'd help you. Yeah. They said that's how it goes. So they want concerned about how other people were doing. And if you look down, she'd help you. Yeah.

I said, that's how it goes. So they want to talk to Felicia more here. Yeah. They said that, she said, I told 911 she had, I thought she had committed suicide. Because she said she smelled the gunpowder. And she said, you don't think that someone's going to be going into your house and shooting somebody. Right. Which is a weird thing to say i think so they're talking to felicia and after a while

she stops talking to the cops and gets a lawyer felicia what the fuck yeah they try to contact her and a lawyer calls them back and says you're not talking to my client anymore unless you want to talk to me you want to talk to my client you talk to me which is very weird so the focus now goes on her brother michael they're like he came over the cops said he's acting weird hurt now felicia's lawyering up i don't like this shepherd clan here so they said that raised a red flag and the fact that she wouldn't go in there was weird too but she said she she sticks with her story and that's all she's gonna give i saw white sedan i heard what I heard. And they got a psychotherapist that said between being groggy and frightened, she could have mistakenly believed Melinda had actually shot herself.

So that might not be a lie. You know what I mean? She might have thought that. Yeah. But they've only known each other for six months. Is that right? Yeah. They've only known each other for six months.

They moved in together and her brother also has been known to be attracted to melinda so they were like hmm uh so one of the uh detectives said we looked at the possibility that one of those three individuals shot melinda and got rid of the weapon so first up they're kind of clearing jim at this point reno they don't think he did it her brother michael though fel, Felicia's brother Michael Shepard, they turned their attention to him. They learned he was currently separated from his wife and attracted to Melinda. So that's not great. He helped Melinda move some furniture in the home a couple days before the murder also and had talked to her.

and had talked to her. He told cops that he had no romantic feelings for Melinda and willingly handed over his shoes so the prints could be compared to ones collected as evidence from the house. But he refused a polygraph test and then he got an attorney too. Once they said, are you willing to take a polygraph? He said, I'd like an attorney.

Thank you. Have a good one. Peace out. Not good. Not good at all. So they're like like this is bad um anybody else want to throw their hat in the ring as a suspect sure fuck it let's let's get another one in here yeah so they speak with melinda's ex-boyfriend jim again and they broke up and

they said that after the interview they believed jim and they they put him down at the bottom of the list of suspects right now it's michael with the help of Felicia is something they're considering. Sure. And then another one, they focus on the fact that the house is for sale that they live in. It's a rental house that's for sale. And there's a real estate lockbox on the outside. Now, I don't know how it works in all the other countries, but here you have a box that hangs on your doorknob that has the key to the house inside. It's the way they used to do it.

And the real estate agent, now it's all computerized. They all have their own code, so you know exactly who's taking keys out, when, what times. But back then, it was just a box, and if you had a key to the box, you opened it, took the key out, went in the house. There was no record of it. Or it had that roller combo code that anybody fucking that knows that roller combo code can get in there. Yeah, yeah. This one had the key box, though. This particular house had the key box. But that roller combo code that anybody fucking that knows that roller combo code can get in there. Yeah. Yeah. This one had the key box, though.

This particular house had the key box. And anyone with the code, it was a code thing to the key box. That's how it worked. You had a code to the key box and anyone with the code could retrieve the key. So they assembled a list of all the real estate agents who had access to the lockbox as well. Jesus. During his interview with police, Jim Reno had said something about a real estate agent who was in the house a couple of weeks ago when he was still together with Melinda and his name was Ed.

That's all I could remember. And he said that he acted flirty with Melinda. Don't like that. So they find Ed. Ed is Edward G. Cronell, C-R-O-N-E-L-L. He's 28 years old. He's a real estate agent. He worked for the Palmetto Realty at the time. That's when he worked. And he later ends up working for a

couple others. I found ads for him in the paper everywhere. You can feel right about Benjamin's Ridge, some neighborhood. And it says, call today. Edward Cronel. There's ones with this picture all smiley. Call Edward. So at Klutz Homes. I sell Richard's Ridge. What was it? Benjamin's Ridge. Yeah.

Prices in Benjamin's Ridge begin at $65,570 in 1991. So pretty cheap. Either way. So they complete the investigation. They have no charges. They're going to look at him. He right now is a guy they're thinking about as a suspect. It's either Michael or this guy right now,

but they don't name him as a suspect. They keep this all under wraps. Yeah. And all of their internal paperwork, he's John Doe. He's known as, and Michael Shepard's known as Jim Doe. So that's how they do it.

Yeah, because they don't know what's going on. So they're talking to him, and he's named a suspect internally, obviously, here. And they said that on January 15th, eight days before the shooting, Ed Cronel had been inside the house. Investigators found out he also drove a white sedan with black molding and a brake light in the back. But a lot of cars in 1990 look like that. But still, I had a car later on. I didn't drive in 1990, actually.

But later on, I had a car that was an 88, and you could describe it just like that. White car, black molding, brake light in the back. They didn't start painting all the molding on them until they wanted the sport package or wanted like a streamlined car but every car had whatever color was and then all the molding on all of it was black that was it so the detectives questioned cronell he said he'd been in the house when no one was home he said i was there when no one was home which contradicts what jim reno said that he was there acting flirty he said also that

the night of the murder he couldn't have done it because he was at a bachelor party and didn't leave till around 4 30 in the morning oh those are strippers that happened at four there is strippers involved don't you worry oh he said that he got into a fight at the house at the bachelor party because it was at a strip club because that's what they do that's what you do because that's fun. He said he got in a fight and went to the hospital to get stitches. Oh, my God. It required a hospital visit. That's where he was that morning.

So he left that 430s in the hospital after that. Couldn't have done it. Now, they check, investigators check all area hospitals and find no report that he ever went there. That's not good. That's not good. That's not good. At that point, he gets an attorney and stops talking to the police. What is happening? No one will talk to these people whatsoever.

This is like something about Mary. It's fucking insane. So they said that later on, he tells police, first he tells police no one were home, no one was home, and then the person that he was showing the house to said, oh, no, he was there. And they said he spent approximately two hours there and spoke with the girls in the house while he was there the whole time. Why is he lying so much? Well, that's a good question. The owner of the real estate company here said that, you know, he, Cornell, had a lockbox key and he previewed the home for sale. He said that Cornell told him that Cornell didn't even know it was inhabited. That's what Cornell told his boss.

I didn't even know anybody lived there. Meanwhile, he was there. And also, Rock Hill school records show Snyder was out of school that day for a holiday, so he would have definitely been there. Later on, Cornell admits talking to the women at the home. He says, okay, fine, I talked to them. I just didn't want to look bad. Now you look real bad. Now you look real bad.

So then they get the shoe prints collected at the scene, and they match the roommate's brother's shoes. They match Michael's shoes. What the fuck? That's not good. And then he wouldn't talk anymore after shoes. They match Michael's shoes. What the fuck? That's not good. And then he wouldn't talk anymore after that. This was after he stopped talking. So they're like, fuck. So they go back to the autopsy again. On second analysis, like I said, they found semen traces.

Now they're like, okay. So they request a blood sample from Michael and from Jim Reno and from Ed Cronel. So Jim Reno immediately consents, no match. Not him. The other two refuse. Of course. Now months go by and Michael finally says, okay, fine. I think his attorney probably said, they're not going to leave you alone unless you do.

If you didn't do it, just give them a fucking blood sample and they'll stop talking to you. They'll leave you the hell alone. So he finally said, okay, fine, and he wasn't a match. They said the shoe impressions must have been there from when he helped them move furniture a couple days before. That had to be what it was. So it's shit. Now, they have other witnesses here. A real estate, those real estate people that we'll talk about here that know a little bit about Cornell.

They also have another, a 17-year-old neighbor of Melinda who said he saw the same white car in the driveway on the afternoon of January 15th and in the afternoon and evening of January 22nd, the night before. Oh, my God. So this guy, he said, I saw him stop by twice that day, the night before the shooting. He said the car was similar. It's a Corsica, a Chevy Corsica. So they said, what do you think the motive is here? What could the motive be? Maybe that'll help figure out who did this.

So the prosecutor working with the police said that Cornell was mad, actually. They said he went to the friend's bachelor party. He got basically tossed around by another guy. He got in a fight with somebody, and the guy just threw him into some garbage cans. Oh, shit. Get away from me, you little turd. You know what I mean?

Like, no. Like, Nick Sabaka with Ziggy outside the bar. Like, stop punching me. What's wrong with you? Did one of those. They said Cornell had been drinking during the bachelor party while a stripper was entertaining. Then his ex-girlfriend showed up at the back.

Oh, no. And he was drunk and pissed off and angry. And the prosecutor says, I think that when Cornell left the party, he was intoxicated. He was aroused sexually because it was a stripper around all night and he was angry and humiliated. They said he probably thought somebody's got to pay and he was like i know where there's a pretty young girl who's sitting in there and there's a key to the house that i could get oh my god they think that's what it is they said that's that that's their only thing uh that they can think of he thinks that the walking to the bathroom was he was raping her and

she probably scratched him and so they think he went to the bathroom to check it out in the mirror and to look in the mirror to see how bad it was. And then he went in and shot her after that. What the fuck? That's what they think. So his former girlfriend, Tabitha Taylor, said that Cornell actually used to keep a small handgun in his trunk all the time. Uh-oh.

A little tiny guy. Yeah. Yeah, a little 22. And they said that he left the party after 1 a.m. Oh. Yeah, he left after 1 a.m. He left shortly after a shoving match with another partygoer who threw him into some garbage cans.

Oh, so embarrassing. Not to mention, he, Cornell, matches the psychological profile put together by SLED and the FBI to a T. Is that right? Including age, race, residence, acquaintance, educational background. He fits it like a glove. So they're like, is that right? That's interesting. Now they talked to some of his coworkers and they said that the next day they called him nervous and pacing as he ticked off minute by minute details of his whereabouts to coworkers the morning after the death.

These accounts didn't match what he told the police or what people at the party actually witnessed him do that night. So he has three different stories. Yeah. The co-worker said that he told someone he told them that someone beat him up and he had a scratch and a bruise near his left eye from that. Workers said, because they said, hey, why'd you get a scratch on your face? He goes, oh, I got in a fight at this thing. Workers at the real estate office said that Cornell told them he'd gone to Piedmont Medical Center for treatment, but left because he didn't want to give his name.

What? Who goes to the hospital to get treated for something and i'm not going to give you my name unless you're a gangster who was shot in the street doesn't want to you know give it up like what are you talking about what are you about to pay in cash because you're about to give him an insurance card that has all that on it all your info medical records they said he told us everything he'd done from five o'clock the night before up until that moment is what the co-worker said which is weird a co-worker said that cornell told him that the assailant at the time used a 22 caliber gun although the police hadn't questioned him or mentioned a weapon publicly at all oh he knew the caliber immediately

which is not good cornell told him he didn't own a gun though so then they said that cornell denied ever owning a gun or later on he said he denied ever owning a gun or receiving injuries on his face the night before. So he's told a shitload of different stories that night. It's not great. Everybody said, though, he became very edgy when his former girlfriend came in, started to leave the club, got in a scuffle, thrown into some cans, left in a rage. She saw it. And she saw it, which made it even matter. In May of 1980, near Anaheim, California,

Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and seemed unwell. She insisted on driving him to the local hospital to get treatment. While he waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen alive again, leaving us to wonder, decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott? From Wondery, Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and many more. Every week, hosts Erin and Justin sit down to discuss a new case, covering every angle and theory, walking through the forensic evidence and interviewing those close to the case

to try to discover what happened. And with over 450 episodes, there's a case for every true crime listener. Follow the Generation Y podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Welcome to the small town of Chinook,

where faith runs deep and secrets run deeper. In this new thriller, available exclusively on Wondery Plus, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community. Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't convinced. She suspects connections to a powerful religious group. Enter federal agent V.B. Loro,

who has been investigating a local church for possible criminal activity. The pair form an unlikely partnership to catch the killer, unearthing secrets that leave Ruth torn between her duty to the law, her religious convictions, and her very own family.

But something more sinister than murder is afoot, and someone is watching Ruth. With an all-star cast led by Emmy nominee Sanaa Lathan and Star Wars' Kelly Marie Tran, Chinook is available exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. I understand that anybody who's paid attention to the media will have to come to the conclusion that I killed my wife. Hi, my name is Zach Stewart-Pontier. I'm one of the filmmakers behind The Jinx, and I'm excited to bring you the official Jinx podcast.

We'll be revisiting all six episodes of part one and watching along with part two as it airs on Max starting April 21st. Bye-bye. The official Jinx podcast. Listen on Max or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, they also find the woman who actually was looking at the house. Oh. Yeah, the potential buyer of the house.

She said that she had $25,000 in cash that she was trying to put down on the house. It was only 50 grand or something. $25,000 cash, and he wouldn't call her back after the 23rd. Weird. Yep. As bad as Cornell wanted to sell it, he never called her back is what the guy said, his boss said. What is that? called her back is what the guy said that his boss said so cronel like i said is known publicly as john doe because the cops are fighting in court to try to get hair and blood samples from him

but he's not arrested nowadays you can get a court order to compel them to to do that to get evidence to arrest them back then if you weren't arrested they couldn't take blood samples from you only if you were in custody that then you know your whole everything in your body was in custody and they could take it but if you weren't in custody it weren't arrested they couldn't take from you so that order only huh no even there was no you couldn't get a court order to get blood from but you had to arrest to get the court yes you had to arrest whereas nowadays they use the blood and hair to solve a lot of these cases right oh your dna is on that you're fucked that's it so they they show they're trying to figure this out in the search warrant they said that he was a suspect for several several

reasons so they had all this you know probable cause the car the lockbox the yeah differing stories all this type of shit but a lower court rules that you can't take blood from an unarrested person. They rule you can't. It's insane. That is wild. I can't even believe that was a thing back then, that you can't take blood from an unarrested person, even if you have probable cause and take it to a court to get a court order.

So they keep fighting this and fighting this and fighting this. So they go all the way to the state Supreme Court. This is like late 1991. And to try to overturn this, at the time there were the two suspects. Like I said, it was Michael and it was Ed. They just wanted to get blood samples and figure out

who was who here. So the Supreme Court finally ruled in April 1992, more than two years later, that officers could use a search warrant to get blood and hair samples from John Doe here. So that's what they did. Wow. Took two damn years. Two years to get finger, palm prints, body fluids, and hair from him.

Oh, boy. Two years. So the DNA evidence rules out the brother, Michael Shepard. Not him. He's free. He's free. He's free, like we said. So they say that Cornell, state and federal agents testify later that Cornell may have been the source of semen found on Snyder that night. They said in five South Carolina law enforcement division, the SLED comparisons, they call that SLED.

So I'll just say SLED from now on. sled comparisons they call that sled so i'll just say sled from now on uh comparisons of cornell's blood with the semen four matched and one was inconclusive because a computer couldn't measure dna pieces this is 19 this is very very primitive dna technology now like i said you touch something and they could just wipe it and oh there you are so they one of the fb one fbi test test matched Cornell and three were inconclusive. So a SLED agent testified just one in 230,000 Caucasian people would match Cornell's DNA profile or pattern of genetic makeup. The probability was one in ten based on its – the FBI probability was one in ten based on its sample size. SLED's tests were more extensive and bolstered the state's case when its database went online and they said the DNA profiling

can't definitively say a person's body fluid was at the scene of the crime back then now it can, but rather that it fits the DNA pattern found in the fluids at the scene. And they tell you this much. Remember with OJ they were like, you know, it's one in five billion people and they were like well there's six billion people in the world.

It could be somebody else. That's what happens. There's another billion people, you guys. Come on. We're just forgetting about a billion Asians? No. No. I will not forget about the entire country of China.

Now, you, sir, are a racist. You want to dismiss the Chinese people. You're like, what are you talking about he killed a lady you're chasing my client who is clearly black yeah ignoring chinese people you race son of a bitch a billion and by not including them in the process you're also racist against them so they said that um the prosecutor said what he did not plan on leaving was his genetic fingerprint. Yep. They said the defendant was a prime candidate suspect in the case. Several other suspects had been cleared.

They said that this is pretty conclusive as far as he's the only guy who matches, had lockbox capabilities, fits the profile. The story is very plausible, and he can't explain it away. Absolutely not. So they search his dad's home in 1992 at 6.50 p.m. Seven officers come in. They recover a.22 caliber pistol with nine live rounds in it, a.22 caliber Remington rifle, and a.22 caliber Winchester rifle. This guy loves his.22s.

He's a big fan. The weapon used to shoot him in the head, Melinda, in the head has not been found though. It's none of these guns. None of these guns. Now, their defense is basically saying that this evidence doesn't link

their client with the crime. They said the footprint found in the bathroom belongs to other people. It's not even my client. None of his footprints, fingerprints, body hairs were found in the home. None of this. Nor could they match the murder bullet with any of his.322 caliber guns. So he's good. He's good.

He goes, he tries to get Bond. They give him a $150,000 Bond. Fascinating. If you're a guy who's silently breaking into young ladies homes and raping and murdering them in the night you don't get bond in my opinion you're dang you could be dangerous very dangerous and i understand the innocent until proven guilty but he's the suspect of it and that's why they arrested him there should be no but it's crazy bond is based on how likely you are to show

up not right the severity of the crime. Yeah, that's the thing. So they said that their lawyer said, we're pleased that the court set bond. Well, yeah, I bet you are. We are. Oh, shit. I bet you're surprised, too. For real?

He said yes. The judge was like, I set bond 150. No shit? I think you heard from the defense. Wow. We are both pleased and surprised. Fucking high five, I guess. So the trial comes up here and it's first degree murder, first degree criminal sexual conduct and first degree burglary as well.

So his defense attorney repeatedly questions the state's case and its witnesses about the actions that might have destroyed evidence. That's the thing and he says in his opening edward cronell is not on trial in this courtroom this week the state of south carolina and these people sitting here pointing at the prosecutors they're on trial i don't think you know how this works sir the balls it's literally the state versus one guy one guy it's not that guy versus the state no they are the plaintiffs fella i bet if he said you want to call this off he'd go sure let's all just go home i bet he doesn't really want to push it so felicia testifies okay against cronell obviously she said she heard the noises the loud bang the strange car smelling gun

powder she said i you know what i told you before she heard the footsteps down to the bedroom up to the bathroom back to the bedroom heard a bang and she said a lot of different thoughts were going on in my head i didn't know anything was wrong right and then i did everything wrong and then i did all sorts of shit wrong and put cast murder suspicion over my brother hardcore so she uh she said she heard someone leave the house looked out the window saw the brake lights of the white car got back in bed thinking you know might have been her leaving like i said heard the moaning smelled the gunpowder partially nude blood coming from her head calls 9-1-1 and she said that she said, I told them that my roommate shot herself because that's what I thought.

You don't think someone's going to be in your house shooting somebody. Fair enough, I guess. So the police officer here, Officer Leroy, testified that Felicia Kirk told him a slightly different story from what she told investigating officers. He said Kirk didn't mention until later that a white car had left the scene she didn't initially she didn't mention that till much later being interviewed that later that day at the police station yeah okay when they showed up and all this is going on and they said what happened she never mentioned a white car and later on she brought it up she's probably not trying to solve the crime.

She's likely just saying what happened. I get that deleting that is very important. Seems important. What did you see? She only saw like three things, and she didn't say one of them. Let's be honest. I heard this. I saw that.

Then this happened. I'm trying so hard to defend this. I know. I know. I get that's not her fault. She's a poor kid who woke up in the middle of the night but yeah jesus christ this is like the exact don't do this if anything happens in your house do the opposite of this because you're just casting suspicion on yourself she didn't do anything we know that if a murder happens around you just lay down and

scream i didn't do it i didn't call the cops and go the dead person come over i don't know and just stand there with your hands up i don't know what to do here. So they said Cornell had access to the home. The defense said so did 300 other area real estate agents. So could have been one of them. Let's get their DNA. So all of them. Another SLED, the SLED people agent, used the FBI's DNA samples with which to conduct its comparisons, prompting

the defense to say, quote, the true matter is at hand is to determine whether Mr. Cornell is guilty of these people's accusations. It's not to determine whether or not this is a tragic, horrible case, because it is. Because they were, they kept saying, you know, this is so horrible and tragic, and we know that. So the defense attorney here, Greeley, suggested all types of reasonable doubts attacked the credibility of Felicia Shepard. That's her name, Felicia Shepard Kirk. Felicia is the main one that they're attacking. This girl, she obviously did something wrong.

She lied to the cops, and she did this. She wouldn't go check on her friend. She behaved suspiciously, reported it as a suicide, wouldn't go into the room. Yeah. Doesn't look good for her. Her brother shows up acting quiet and suspicious and weird and shit. So very strange. He also said, what about she just broke up with her boyfriend?

What about him? Yeah. Said, yeah. So they said, what proof was there that Snyder didn't voluntarily have sex with someone before she was murdered, he said as well. The defense attorney said the only evidence the state had against Cornell was his DNA test, a second DNA test conducted by SLED. They said this test indicated that his DNA profile found in the semen on the victim would only occur, like we said, every 230,000 people, Caucasian people. They said the the ones conducted by the FBI indicated in the DNA sampling. would only occur, like we said, every 230,000 people, Caucasian people. They said the ones conducted by the FBI indicated in the DNA sampling, it was only one out of 10.

Greeley said, that's nothing. He said, this courtroom has 40 people in it. Four of you are likely to have the same profile. Should you be on trial? You bunch of murderers. You bunch of murdering son of a bitches. But this is one of those cases where the DNA is, unless another person who fits that profile happened to have access to the house and stories that are all fucked up, time lines that are all out of whack and multiple lying and marks on their face after they attacked a woman in her sleep and all that type of thing. You know, it's kind of tough. So the verdict here doesn't take the jury very long to find him guilty of everything.

All the whole duration here. Sentencing, they got him good here. You, sir, may fuck off two life terms concurrent. So same time, though, not consecutive, plus 30 plus 30 years okay that's good for that um yes so he's taken in i'm gonna find out which prison he's gonna go to but he's eligible for parole after 20 yeah i mean it's south carolina i figured they were gonna use him as shark bait or some shit no 20 20 is eligible for parole yeah fascinating yeah yeah you figure he would be cut up for chum but no so his lawyer said that he couldn't comment on the reaction to the verdict.

He said that he wouldn't fault the jury's verdict. He said the jury sat through several days of testimony and I'm not going to sit back and question the judgment by those 12 people. That's theirs and no one else's. Whatever the verdict is of the jury, I accept that as the verdict. You have no choice. So enjoy. And he's like trying to guilt them about what they do.

Yeah, I mean, sure, they fucked up, but I'm not going to say they're dicks for it. You know, just regular people doing their job. I mean, it's another man's life, but you guys did it. Hey, you know, life hangs in the balance, but what are you going to do, right? If you can sleep at night, I'm fine with it. Hey, if you can sleep, I'll sleep too. All right. So the prosecutor said definitely DNA was the clincher, probably investigation-wise as well as prosecution-wise.

The DNA was basically the common link or thread that allowed us to tie a large portion of the other evidence, largely circumstantial, together. They may not have been unable to stand alone without the DNA. Otherwise, it was just a guy in a white car. True. True. So 1998 1998 he wants a new trial oh really new trial he's like this is ridiculous um yeah he alleges that his attorney who said all that crazy bullshit that attorney this guy pulled a lot out of his ass i mean he was he pulled every trick out of his out of the book you can pull and he said that he mishandled the case that attorney fucked it all up need a new trial he said yeah his attorney um he said he never testified at the first trial at his lawyer's

insistence he wanted to testify he could have proclaimed his innocence he's out of his fucking mind he's a salesman he thinks he could have sold it to a jury. Yeah, you're right. I know they were looking for four beds and three baths, but this three-bed, two-and-a-half, you know what? I can get them. They're going to like this neighborhood, and the school district is good. I think I can get them to buy it. That's literally what he was thinking, I think. That's natural gas, not propane. That's it.

Cornell said, I mean, they'll live with it, I think. Cornell said, after the trial, we came across statements from other people that I'd never seen. I can recall during the trial when a state's witness was called and he leaned over and asked me if we had any questions for him. So he's like, he wasn't even doing anything. You know, I was running the case, basically. His new attorney said that his new attorney gave a list to the court of 110 things that the old attorney did or didn't do that may have cost the case it included everything from diagrams being drawn in red the color of blood can't have that to not determining whether snyder was left-handed or right-handed

okay they said the biggest point of contention was the dna evidence used to put him at the scene they said that this you know it had been had been properly validated and that really should have called an expert to dispute it yeah so they're trying to say because she was shot on her uh left side yeah what about that right side she would have to be a left hand he'd have to be a left hand or if he was done it from behind her hurt no they said hurt they never figured out what on hand she was which doesn't make a difference because she didn't kill herself there was no gun there so who fucking cares yeah it doesn't make sense so cornell's father bill testified about meetings he had with his son and now and the son's lawyer saying that he passed notes to his son's attorney and even

copied weather reports from the library that they introduced into evidence, which could say, which could place another man at the crime scene. This lawyer said of Bill, the dad, quote, he studied into the guts of the case. Okay. A weird thing to say. Also in 1998, Jim Reno, the ex-boyfriend there, he ends up being elected to the Rock Hill City Council. Oh, pretty good dude. Very upstanding here.

Yeah. 2014, he's up for parole for the first time. Holy shit, that good dude. They're pumping him out. No problem. Is he defiant? We'll talk about it. They say, what are your plans? He says, right away my plans are to move to New York with my Aunt Nancy and get something in the flower business. Okay. Because he says he's behaved the last 20 years in prison. He's kept the same job, which is horticulture, I guess it's called. Okay. He's growing shit.

He's growing flowers and plants, and the prison sells those and makes money that way. He's growing shit. Growing flowers and plants, and the prison sells those and makes money that way. Okay. So he said he's made the prison thousands of dollars in plant sales, and he's learned his true passion for plant cultivation. Okay, he's going to be a florist. He said he'll take any job when he gets out, but then he wants to get into a career in plants. That's his main deal. So here's a question and answer.

Question. How do you feel about the crime you committed? Yeah. Awful, he says says that's all awful that's it awful that keeps me up at night you know i have nightmares and it's you know the worst thing i ever did awful i grow flowers about it anything just awful let me tell you how to grow a chrysanthemum um they said how do you feel about the victim and the victim's family? These are important questions that they ask at parole that you really need to knock out of the park.

He said, quote, to be honest with you, I'd like to talk to the victim's family sometime if that could be arranged. The parole board's going to tell you to never be near them. What are you talking about? I'd like to be. I'd like to fucking. I'd like to try to talk them out of this. I'd like I think I can talk to him anyway.

That's what it is. He thinks he could talk him into being on his side. They said, well, what would you say to them? And he said, quote, listen to this shit. Listen to the words he's saying. This guy's a fucking scumbag. He says, quote, I want to apologize that they have to go through this parole hearing after all this time. I'm sure this is very traumatic for them and i feel awful not only for them but for my entire family and for many people

i don't even know are you fucking kidding me i want to apologize that they have to go through this parole hearing not that they have been without their daughter for the last 24 fucking years because i killed her and stole her from their lives and her whole future. He's trying to say, I hate that they have to relive this, but Doug, they've been living it. He will not admit that he did it, though. No. That's the thing. They said, what led you to do what you did?

Which is a very straightforward question, which you better fucking answer in a parole hearing. And he said, quote, I could not tell you, sir. What do you think the guy said to that? You better try. You've had 20 years to think about it. That's why we put you in prison for that long. So you could think about what the fuck you did and maybe get some remorse and be a member of society, asshole.

You've had 20 years to consider that and you sit before me with no answer and he might have the worst answer in the history of parole hearings like they should show this to prisoners as not what not to do in a parole hearing he then says and you know what i could do another 20 years and there's i could not explain it to you. I have no idea why. Let's give that a try. So great. Maybe 25 years from now, you'll have a fucking answer for me. Eat dicks. So they said, well, if you don't know why, how can we set you free and not expect this to happen again if you don't know why?

And he said, I understand your point. I understand your position. Are you trying to get parole or not? Dude, right? So then they said, all right, well, thank you very much. Then the family comes in and they put the picture of Melinda up and they talk about how wonderful she is. And obviously she was. And the father, Jerry Snyder, he says, this guy will rape and kill again.

Don't let him do it. They said, don't let him do it. They said, don't let him do it. Cornell said, and also one of the police officers testified and sheriff, Bruce Bryant. He said that Cornell was, quote, the most dangerous man I've ever seen in more than 180 murder investigations. Everybody is Barry Bonds on that fucking resist all. It's crazy. So crushing these crushing. Boom crushing boom 450 into the bay baby yeah take that babe ruth suck a dick well while cornell is dropping bunts what is happening it is he's swinging and missing left and right it took the parole board three seconds to vote no

yeah fuck off um jerry snyder said life sentence should mean life in jail end of story so we It took the parole board three seconds to vote no. Yeah. Fuck off. Jerry Snyder said, life sentence should mean life in jail. End of story. So we were very happy with the outcome. And they also said, the father said he might be willing to talk to Cornell at some point. The mother said, I have nothing to say or hear from him. He can go fuck himself, basically. Truly, yeah.

Not interested. 2016, up for parole again. He's up for parole every two years, by the way. These poor people, every two years by the way these poor people every two years they don't even live in south carolina every two years they have to go to south carolina and and go through this again that's not a vacation at all nope he's denied again in 2016 and 2018 2016 when they denied him there, that's when an investigation discovery one came out, came out like two weeks before his parole hearing,

which isn't good for him at all. Not at all. Um, so here is a member of a parole of the parole board here. Um, he's, or of the, uh,

broad river correctional facility. I served time or somebody not, obviously I thought they worked there. They were in prison. There's a guy named Jason. I will don't say his last name, but it's a comment on this thing. And he said, I don't know how true this is obviously, but I'm throwing it worked there. They were in prison. There's a guy named Jason. I don't say his last name, but it's a comment on this thing. And he said, I don't know how true this is, obviously, but I'm throwing it out there. I served time with this guy at Broad River Correctional Facility in Columbia in 2016 and 17.

And I can tell you he has zero remorse for what he did. In the penitentiary, you never ask whether a person's guilty or even ask about their crime, for that matter. But he freely talked about his crime. All this POS ever complained about was how his lawyers screwed him. Not that he was sorry that he took someone's daughter, sister, friend away from them. I can tell you firsthand that the only thing he is sorry for

is that he got caught. He needs to stay right where he is until he can come to terms with what he did. You would think that after having 20 years to think about something like what he did, he could get to a place of true sorrow and remorse. Wow. Unbelievable. 20 years to think about something like what he did he could get to a place of true sorrow and remorse wow so today he is from what i understand at the medium security broad river which is the same one that guy was in correctional institute in south carolina he's been denied his last parole eligibility was march 24th 2023 and i didn't see he was released, so I assume he was denied.

He's only been disciplined behind bars for a couple things, possession of a cell phone and using social media, but that's it. There's a change.org petition, by the way, everybody, and you can get in on this if you'd like to keep this asshole where he is. It's a change.org petition. Keep Edward Cornell in prison for the murder of Melinda Snyder. And 2,729 people out of 5,000 have signed it. We could very easily get that over 5,000 there. And he's ID number 210762. I think there's a deal there.

Go sign that today. Sign that shit if you want to sign that shit and keep that asshole in prison. But that, everybody, is Rock Hill, South Carolina. Rock Ridge, Rock Ridge. Yeah. deal there go sign that today sign that shit if you want to sign that shit and keep that asshole in prison but that everybody it's rock hill south carolina rock ridge rock ridge yeah it just makes me think of of uh blazing saddles and a wild ass story that's wow oh my god that's james if he wasn't caught that was going to get way worse than rock hill i want to know if there's anybody because he sold real estate all the way through 94 when they put him to trial, or 93. So, Jesus Christ.

He could have done it so many times. He's had access to keys for that long. Think about that shit. Is this his first time? Who knows? It doesn't seem like it. This is a weird first time to do. So, whatever.

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