1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: Hello, You have a call at no expense to you 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 1: from an inmate at Anamosa Dave. 3 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 2: What did he call himself? 4 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: You may begin speaking now, Hello. 5 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,599 Speaker 3: Hello, how you doing? 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 2: I'm good? Is this William? 7 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 3: Yes? 8 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 2: Okay? What do you like to be called? Do you 9 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 2: like to be called will or William? 10 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 4: Most people call me Drifty Drifty. 11 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 2: Bill got the nickname drifty because his mind tends to 12 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:37,840 Speaker 2: wander and he's. 13 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 3: Aloof Bill was kind of a loner. 14 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 2: This is his mom, Donna. 15 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: He's off from the corner by himself, reading or watching television. 16 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 4: I just don't like crowds. 17 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 2: Crowds even people I like it, don't like crowd especially 18 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 2: in prison. 19 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 4: I come in when I was twenty three. I was 20 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 4: sixty seven. Now do you realize what happened day to 21 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 4: day in a place like this? And I just he 22 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 4: wouldn't believe some of the stuff I've seen. 23 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 2: So he sticks to himself, and the name drifty stuck 24 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 2: to him. Like this. One time in the prison yard, 25 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 2: two guys started getting into it. 26 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 4: They get dark in then down the old fort. I 27 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 4: used to watch the two red tail hawks sore while 28 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 4: they were arguing, and he says, ah, there he goes 29 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 4: drifted off again. 30 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 2: Drifty Beaman, but he also says I can call him Bill. 31 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:46,320 Speaker 4: I'm William Beaman. I've been incarcerated for forty four years 32 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 4: or something that I didn't do, and I hope some 33 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 4: good comes of this, not only for me, but for others. 34 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:58,279 Speaker 2: From LoVa for good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie 35 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 2: Freeling today. William Beeman. William Beeman was born April twenty second, 36 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 2: nineteen fifty seven, in Muscatine, Iowa. What was life like 37 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:14,079 Speaker 2: growing up in Iowa? 38 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 1: Hey? 39 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 4: It was great. Mustin eat that that rule. I mean, 40 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,519 Speaker 4: it ain't no big city, but we had a lot 41 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 4: of industry and stuff around. Heine's fargest metalw factory was 42 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 4: in Muscatine Banded eggs Hedge Corners. We had three factors 43 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:39,959 Speaker 4: to them. 44 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 2: And many many other factories. Once known as the pearl 45 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,360 Speaker 2: button capital of the world in the early nineteen hundreds, 46 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 2: before most buttons were made of plastic, Muscatines button factories 47 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 2: employed half of the city's workforce. The city was the 48 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:01,800 Speaker 2: world's largest producer of pearl buttons. Muscatine was a blue 49 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,920 Speaker 2: collar town, and so was Bill's family. Here's Bill's mom 50 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 2: Donna again. 51 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: I was a checkout at highge and I also managed 52 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:13,079 Speaker 1: the music department at war Worse. 53 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 2: She was also a mom to two other. 54 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 3: Kids, two girls and a boy. 55 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:22,359 Speaker 2: Bill is in the middle. 56 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 4: Harry's four years older than I am. She's mom's first marriage. 57 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 4: And my little sisters you're younger. And we were together 58 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 4: all the time, and Teresa. 59 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: Teresa and Belle were like two pieces of pod where 60 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: you've seen one, you've seen the other. 61 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 2: Bill and his little sister, Teresa did everything together. 62 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 4: Every now and then at dolls was or so she'd 63 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 4: play army with me. I thought both of them how 64 00:03:55,880 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 4: to fight is one against two, But I got a 65 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 4: little nose star fighting back. They had to learn how 66 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 4: to fight, so it kind of hard. Hits some sentence too. 67 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: The girls kicked on him that I think it was 68 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: because he was a boy. 69 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:14,360 Speaker 5: What would they do? 70 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 3: Oh just tale tale stuff. 71 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: Uh, Bill's doing this, Bill's doing that? 72 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 3: Which wasn't He wasn't doing anything really, so. 73 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 4: I was two against fun. One time I got accused 74 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:33,720 Speaker 4: of shooting out a woman's neighbor woman's window with my beaf. Again, 75 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 4: as the only guy on the blocks that had to 76 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 4: beat against him, I had to pay for the window. 77 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 4: I had to help fix mode and filled the snowing 78 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 4: lawn for a year. Yeah, I've been down here four 79 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 4: or five years and found out Terry's the woman done it, 80 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 4: because that woman made her mad. 81 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 2: Donna now remembers those times fondly. 82 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:01,840 Speaker 3: He was a happy, go lucky kid. 83 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: He had a no adney on a mini bike, and 84 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:08,480 Speaker 1: he made ramp some things out here in the backyard 85 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: and jumped them and rode over him. 86 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 2: She remembers hunting and family camping trips and making him 87 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:16,559 Speaker 2: his favorite food. 88 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:21,600 Speaker 1: He likes whoppers, and then he likes pizza. When he 89 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,840 Speaker 1: was a kid, I fixed stuff on the grill at 90 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: that time, and there was hamburgers and hotbugs. 91 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,360 Speaker 3: You know, he just lived on stuff like that. 92 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,480 Speaker 2: Donna remembers being close with her only son. 93 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: It just seemed like every time he had a little problem, 94 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: he would come to me and his dad usually sup 95 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: a lot in the daytime because he worked at night. 96 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,680 Speaker 3: And I just I don't know what to say. Bill 97 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 3: and I were just close. 98 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,039 Speaker 2: Donna says. The girls were troublemakers, but not Bill. 99 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 3: Bill smoked, He never drank, he never took street drugs. 100 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: He just well I don't know. 101 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:10,039 Speaker 3: He stayed home most of the time. 102 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 2: At night, they would watch TV or cook, or Bill 103 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:16,600 Speaker 2: would go off and do his favorite thing. 104 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: That was what he was more interested than was his 105 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: mini bike and modad and his motorcycle. 106 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 2: As Bill got older, he struggled in school. Donna says 107 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 2: he would have to stay home often because he'd get 108 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 2: so worked up about going to school he'd make himself sick. 109 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:38,359 Speaker 1: He actually ran a fever and throw up. Really yeah, 110 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: and Bill was very smart. 111 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 2: Despite being smart, school just wasn't for Bill, so Donna 112 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:48,360 Speaker 2: took him out instead. Bill got his ged and joined 113 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 2: a job core program in South Dakota. 114 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:55,040 Speaker 4: I went to South Dakota. I got thirtified as a 115 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 4: welder Union carpentry building supply. 116 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 2: After getting certified, Bill bounced around working different gigs, trying 117 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 2: to figure out what he wanted to do in life. 118 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 4: Or did gas station as maintenance man at a nursery 119 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 4: or nursing home. I was a maintenance man in a 120 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 4: dress shop or gas stations, working a couple of different 121 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 4: button factories, one feet mill bandagg rubber, retire pre. 122 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 2: Treading, lots of working and writing. What did you write? 123 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 4: What I was doing? The street racing and stuff on 124 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 4: the street with the dirt bike was three fifty six 125 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 4: fifty straight bike and a GS thousand Dzuki street. 126 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 2: In his early twenties, Bill was good looking, tall, slim, 127 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 2: with floey brown hair. He's been described as a charmer, 128 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 2: and that's evident by the amount of girlfriends Bill says 129 00:07:59,360 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 2: he had. 130 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 4: That's kind of a butthole because how was Cardra to 131 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 4: settle down. 132 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 2: After a while searching for the right job, Bill finally 133 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 2: found one he liked as a part time DJ at 134 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 2: a local night spot called Baker's Front Street Disco. What 135 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 2: kind of music were you playing? 136 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 4: Disco? 137 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 2: Disco? So you know, what would that have been like 138 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy eight, What were the heads? 139 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:36,199 Speaker 4: What all depends on the real disco was always you 140 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 4: had to beg Michael Jackson had more than people thought. 141 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:47,600 Speaker 4: Then you had poin Iner sisters and oh it's been 142 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 4: a long time. 143 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,559 Speaker 2: You might be wondering what a guy who hates crowds 144 00:08:55,679 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 2: was doing as a DJ. 145 00:08:57,640 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 3: Well. 146 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 2: Bill says that the DJ booth was on the side 147 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,360 Speaker 2: and floor. There was only room for him and a 148 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:04,439 Speaker 2: few chairs. 149 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 4: So there wasn't a bunch of people coming up there 150 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:09,679 Speaker 4: and stand in row right, so I wasn't in any 151 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 4: crowds and stuff. 152 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:13,960 Speaker 2: And Bill loved it. He was part of the fun, 153 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 2: but far away enough to feel safe. 154 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 4: I could look out over the dance floor and everything, 155 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,600 Speaker 4: see everybody having a good time, and I knew they 156 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 4: were doing it because of me. And that's what being 157 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 4: a DJ mean to me. 158 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:30,520 Speaker 2: Bill had the life. 159 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 4: As DJ and night I built remodeled houses during the day. 160 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 4: I really liked that. 161 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 2: One night in April nineteen eighty, twenty three year old 162 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 2: Bill Beeman was in his DJ booths. 163 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:57,120 Speaker 4: People would use all kinds of different reasons to come 164 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 4: talk to me up in the booth, and I think 165 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:01,720 Speaker 4: gets first place I heard. 166 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 2: About it about the body of a young woman found 167 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 2: in the campground of wildcat Den State Park. She was 168 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:16,559 Speaker 2: naked and had been beaten and stabbed seventeen times. Whispers 169 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 2: of the crime were making their way around town. 170 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 4: Yeah, everybody was talking about it. Mom and dad was 171 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:22,559 Speaker 4: talking about it. 172 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 2: The body turned out to be twenty two year old 173 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:29,000 Speaker 2: Michelle Winkle. Police said she had last been seen on Monday, 174 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 2: April twenty first, nineteen eighty at the Canterbury Inn and Spa, 175 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:36,360 Speaker 2: A hotel she would go and swim at after work. 176 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 2: Michelle Winkle allegedly spent a lot of time alone. 177 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 5: She didn't seem to have a lot of close friends 178 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:46,000 Speaker 5: are relatives. 179 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 2: Erica Nichols Cook is the director of the Wrongful Conviction 180 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 2: Unit at the Iowa Public Defender's Office. She says Michelle 181 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,360 Speaker 2: also spent a lot of time at the mall. 182 00:10:56,040 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 5: She was also known as the crier by a group 183 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,240 Speaker 5: of girls who worked at the mall. That's so mean 184 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:05,320 Speaker 5: because she'd walk around them all crying. 185 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 2: Erica says Michelle had a troubled life. 186 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:16,640 Speaker 5: She had experienced a lot of mental instability. She had 187 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 5: been treated for psychiatric issues in seventy eight seventy nine 188 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 5: at the University of Iowa. 189 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 2: She had recently moved back home with her parents, who 190 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 2: were devout Catholics, and Erica says Michelle's father could be. 191 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 5: Abusive, comments about her being overweight. There was comments that 192 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:38,079 Speaker 5: she wouldn't wear red because her dad said only sluts 193 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 5: were read, that he called her piggy, those types of things. 194 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 2: So kind of a sad life. 195 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:50,640 Speaker 5: That sounds like, yes, I think, much more so than 196 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:55,319 Speaker 5: the state portrayed at the trial. She'd had some struggles. 197 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,360 Speaker 5: We also learned that she liked a hitchhike. 198 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:00,800 Speaker 2: Michelle had recently been in a car accident and her 199 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:04,120 Speaker 2: dad wouldn't let her drive the family car anymore. Despite 200 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:08,200 Speaker 2: living on a state highway, she had to walk everywhere. 201 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 5: So she would walk along this state highway and catch 202 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:16,000 Speaker 5: a ride into town or catch a ride back out. 203 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 2: She was last seen that Monday around ten forty five pm, 204 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:22,760 Speaker 2: leaving the spa and getting into a brown car with 205 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,640 Speaker 2: a white man. Five days later, her body was found. 206 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 5: One of the sticking points in this investigation was that 207 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:36,560 Speaker 5: they didn't have any immediate leads of who Michelle was 208 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:39,199 Speaker 5: with or who she could have been hanging out with 209 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 5: or gotten a ride from. 210 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 2: Police evaluated her body for sexual assaults and collected semen 211 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:49,520 Speaker 2: and blood samples, but in nineteen eighty forensic testing was 212 00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:53,679 Speaker 2: in its infancy. The most law enforcement could determine from 213 00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 2: a sample was blood type, and their tests found specimens 214 00:12:57,800 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 2: from an unknown male and. 215 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 5: Someone told investigators that she used to go to Baker's 216 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:08,920 Speaker 5: Front Street disco and that they had seen her there. 217 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:11,680 Speaker 2: Police thought maybe she got a ride to the disco 218 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 2: after swimming. 219 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,440 Speaker 4: That was the only reason they even interviewed me. They 220 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:18,200 Speaker 4: thought maybe her with somebody. 221 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 2: More than a week after the body was found, police 222 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:24,320 Speaker 2: brought him Bill for questioning. Bill says he was laid 223 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,440 Speaker 2: up and on painkillers because he'd broken his foot on 224 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:32,080 Speaker 2: his birthday about two weeks earlier. He also had a migraine. 225 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 4: I've had migraine headaches since I was a little kid, 226 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:40,240 Speaker 4: and my dumbass didn't know I couldn't mix the pain 227 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 4: painkiller from migraines with the painkiller for more broken foot. 228 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 2: And on top of that, he was now in a 229 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,080 Speaker 2: police station being asked about Michelle. 230 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:53,679 Speaker 4: Yeah, I didn't know her at all, but police. 231 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 2: Let him go home. 232 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:56,559 Speaker 5: His girlfriend is then questioned. 233 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:58,559 Speaker 2: His girlfriend, Joyce, and she. 234 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 5: Says, well, he was with me that week of his birthday, 235 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 5: and you know, after he broke his foot, but. 236 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,559 Speaker 2: Her memory was blurry, and she says. 237 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 5: I don't know for sure about Monday night if he 238 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 5: stayed at my house or went to his apartment. 239 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:16,120 Speaker 2: Bill had accompanied Joyce to the police station that day 240 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:18,760 Speaker 2: on May eighth, and police brought him back in to 241 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 2: question him again about what had happened Monday night. 242 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 5: And during that interrogation they tell Bill that we know 243 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 5: that you know something. We think you picked her up 244 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:38,120 Speaker 5: and killed her Monday night. 245 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 4: They must have realized I was on drog or whatever 246 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:44,040 Speaker 4: and decided to had done. 247 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 2: They also knew Bill had a reputation. 248 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 4: I've never been addicted to anything other than motorcycles. 249 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 2: And maybe girls. Bill had a reputation with girls. 250 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 4: And a club. I had three motorcycles. I had a 251 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 4: fifty seven two to a hard top. I had a 252 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 4: blue van and the sixty eight BIS came and a 253 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 4: fan cloth and they made a joke about it. Day 254 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 4: after I got arrested, nine girls come down Stanley. We 255 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:27,000 Speaker 4: were engaged and needed to talk to me. See, I 256 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:28,320 Speaker 4: told you I was about all the time. 257 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:31,760 Speaker 2: He might have been a butthole, but Bill says he 258 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:35,320 Speaker 2: wasn't a killer, and he had an alibi for Monday night. 259 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:40,080 Speaker 4: I stopped the Clark gas station. It was not far 260 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 4: from where I lived, talked to a girl about my 261 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 4: birthday party. The next day I got home. 262 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 2: Joyce was there, but detectives weren't buying it. They were 263 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 2: pointing the finger at Bill in the interrogation room, and 264 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:58,120 Speaker 2: Bill says his mind was cloudy from the meds and 265 00:15:58,720 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 2: from fear. 266 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,920 Speaker 4: They both had their guns out, wiping them off of handkerchiefs, 267 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 4: and I was thinking, this don't look good, and I 268 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 4: was starting to feel kind of happy, I guess, and 269 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 4: they kept saying, well, what if we had somebody that 270 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 4: seen it. I said, they're lying because I didn't do it. 271 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 4: I was confused because I knew I didn't do it, 272 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 4: So how can they have this evidence? How can they 273 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:31,520 Speaker 4: have these witnesses. 274 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:36,160 Speaker 2: The interrogation wasn't recorded, and Bill didn't have a lawyer present, 275 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 2: and the next thing he knows, he's in a holding cell. 276 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:43,480 Speaker 4: I just thought they gout me for like a drunken 277 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 4: disorderly or something like that, and cop star laughing, SNA boys. 278 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:51,720 Speaker 4: So they got you in here for murder. 279 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 2: Police called Donna to the station. 280 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: He didn't even know where he was at or what 281 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,280 Speaker 1: he was doing in there. When I walked in, I 282 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:04,280 Speaker 1: said Bill, I said what is going on? And he said, Mom, 283 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:08,159 Speaker 1: I don't know. He said, they took my picture and 284 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:10,440 Speaker 1: took my wallet and my shoe strings. 285 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:15,640 Speaker 2: According to police, Bill signed a confession. Do you remember 286 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 2: signing anything like? Do you remember having anything in front 287 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 2: of you? 288 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 4: I don't remember riding nothing, not I remember going in 289 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:27,680 Speaker 4: there and Nick harping on this. Bad witnesses, bad evidence. 290 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:31,200 Speaker 4: They were cleaning their guns, they were doing this. I mean, 291 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,399 Speaker 4: my mind was on cody. 292 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:38,439 Speaker 2: But there was the statement signed by Bill saying he 293 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 2: picked up Michelle that night, took her to the park 294 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 2: where they made out, and after she refused to have 295 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:45,919 Speaker 2: sex with him, he kicked her in the head with 296 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:50,160 Speaker 2: a steel toe boot. By the time the sexual assault 297 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,360 Speaker 2: kit came back, it didn't matter that the samples didn't 298 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:58,840 Speaker 2: match Bill. Law enforcement had what they needed, a confession. 299 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,760 Speaker 2: Bill arrested that day on May eighth, for the murder 300 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 2: of Michelle Winkle. Donna was frantic trying to help Bill 301 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,919 Speaker 2: and pay a two hundred and fifty thousand dollars bond. 302 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: They said that we could have got him out of 303 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:19,120 Speaker 1: bond by putting my house up for you know, collateral. 304 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 3: And Dick wouldn't do it. 305 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:22,800 Speaker 2: Bill's dad, He said no. 306 00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: And I tried to sell my coin collection and different things, 307 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:31,800 Speaker 1: but it wasn't enough money. 308 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 2: Wow, how much money did you get for the coins? 309 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: Well, I only got five hundred dollars and I should 310 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: have got about two thousand. 311 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:42,679 Speaker 3: That I had to pay. 312 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 1: The lawyers had to pay somebody. They got court appointed, 313 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 1: but there was somebody they had to pay, so I 314 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:55,360 Speaker 1: had to sell it and give them the money. And 315 00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:00,600 Speaker 1: I was on disability and I didn't get much money 316 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: at that time. I think I was only getting ninety 317 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:07,199 Speaker 1: two dollars a month, and I tried to save my 318 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: money and I hired a private detective, but that didn't 319 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:13,399 Speaker 1: go any place, and I couldn't keep him because I 320 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:14,360 Speaker 1: couldn't afford it. 321 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 2: Bill was actually offered a plea before. 322 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 4: Trial, second great plea barg well second degree then was 323 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:28,680 Speaker 4: only twenty five years and me, mom, dad and lawyer's 324 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,720 Speaker 4: got talked about it and I didn't do it. So 325 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,800 Speaker 4: I believed in system and boy. 326 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:45,840 Speaker 2: Bill went to trial in October, just short of five 327 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:47,639 Speaker 2: months after his arrest. 328 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 5: The state's theory was that Bill picks her up close 329 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:54,280 Speaker 5: to the SPA, but not from the SPA, at a 330 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,200 Speaker 5: gas station and offers to give her a write home, 331 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,359 Speaker 5: and they just said to drive around, and they end 332 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 5: up at the park, they start making out and then 333 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,479 Speaker 5: you know the failed sexual encounter, but that he killed her. 334 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 5: On Monday the twenty. 335 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:13,600 Speaker 2: First, a pathologist testified that Michelle's body was infested with 336 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:17,400 Speaker 2: maggots placing the time of death around three to fourteen 337 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:21,520 Speaker 2: days before her body was found on Saturday, but she 338 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:26,360 Speaker 2: was last seen five days prior, on Monday the twenty first. Remember, 339 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 2: Bill had broken his foot on Tuesday the twenty second, 340 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 2: and the lead investigator conceded that Bill had an alibi 341 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,720 Speaker 2: for all the days between Tuesday and Saturday when Michelle's 342 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:41,080 Speaker 2: body was found. So law enforcement determined that if Bill 343 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:44,879 Speaker 2: killed her, it had to have been on Monday, but 344 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 2: the evidence to back that up had holes. 345 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,200 Speaker 4: The only thing they had against me was the statement, 346 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,760 Speaker 4: no way doubt stands see you know. The said, well, 347 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,479 Speaker 4: we know he'd done it because we've seen it, or no, 348 00:20:57,560 --> 00:20:59,920 Speaker 4: we know he'd done it because this evidence backs it up. 349 00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:03,680 Speaker 4: All their evidence counterdicted the statement. 350 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,800 Speaker 2: Michelle was seen getting into a brown car. Bill's defense 351 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,119 Speaker 2: said he used a motorcycle to get around because his 352 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:13,760 Speaker 2: car didn't run well. The defense also presented three alibi 353 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:17,199 Speaker 2: witnesses for the evening of April twenty first, who testified 354 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,560 Speaker 2: to seeing Bill between ten thirty and midnight, when the 355 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 2: crime had supposedly occurred. But most surprising of all was 356 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:28,520 Speaker 2: that a witness testified at trial that she'd seen Michelle 357 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,199 Speaker 2: alive after the twenty first. A high school peer of 358 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 2: Michelle's testified she had seen her at the mall on 359 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:38,919 Speaker 2: April twenty second, the day after she was supposedly killed, 360 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 2: with a man who was not Bill. At trial, Bill's 361 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:47,880 Speaker 2: defense also contended he had signed the alleged confession out 362 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:52,200 Speaker 2: of fear and confusion. Still, after deliberating for five and 363 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 2: a half hours, the jury found Bill guilty of first 364 00:21:55,760 --> 00:22:02,400 Speaker 2: degree murder on October eighth, nineteen eighty. Donna sat through 365 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:03,639 Speaker 2: the whole trial. 366 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:08,680 Speaker 3: It was terrible. I I really. 367 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:13,640 Speaker 1: Can't explain it. I have believed Bill right from the start. 368 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,960 Speaker 1: Bill just couldn't do that g anybody. I done a 369 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:18,639 Speaker 1: lot of crying. 370 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:22,879 Speaker 4: God took me through the value of death. You know, 371 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:28,359 Speaker 4: I stuff my tongue as and I'm still in the 372 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:30,720 Speaker 4: value of death. Far as that concern. 373 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 2: Used to being alone, safe up in his DJ booth, 374 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 2: far away from everyone, Bill was surrounded in prison. 375 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:49,120 Speaker 4: When I got Donald Fort Madison, it was like they 376 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:51,040 Speaker 4: were throwing a goki in the shark tan. 377 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:53,640 Speaker 2: Bill says he had to fight to survive. 378 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:56,200 Speaker 4: I turned out to be a wolf, and he. 379 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 2: Was angry, resentful about what happened to him. And his family, 380 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 2: and he took it out on anyone who crossed him. 381 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:07,879 Speaker 4: I had that rage. Somebody could say something stupid, go 382 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:08,560 Speaker 4: off on him. 383 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:12,720 Speaker 2: After decades, the rage turned into loneliness, and people on 384 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:14,359 Speaker 2: the outside fell. 385 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:18,120 Speaker 4: Off, girlfriend's friends, family, everybody did. 386 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 2: Even Teresa. 387 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,880 Speaker 4: After a while, she just kind of fell off. 388 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,479 Speaker 2: Too, everyone except Donna. 389 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:30,920 Speaker 1: People don't have that much to do with somebody in prison, 390 00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: you know, they kind of forget him. 391 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,360 Speaker 2: But Donna never forgot about her only son. 392 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: I feel terrible. I told Bill just this morning, I 393 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:45,600 Speaker 1: wish I could do more. I wish there was something 394 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: I could do, and he said, Mom, you'd done it 395 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,080 Speaker 1: when you were younger. 396 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:52,600 Speaker 3: I've gave him money as. 397 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:56,920 Speaker 1: When I could, and done everything I could for him. 398 00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:00,359 Speaker 2: For more than four decades, They've stayed in con instant 399 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:04,119 Speaker 2: contact through phone and visitation. What is that like? Going 400 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:06,200 Speaker 2: to visit your son in prison. 401 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: After forty four years? You get used to it, but 402 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:13,640 Speaker 1: I don't like it. 403 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 3: I want him home. 404 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,919 Speaker 2: Do you worry that maybe you're getting older and you 405 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:22,439 Speaker 2: might not see him come home? 406 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 4: Yes? 407 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:23,720 Speaker 3: I do. 408 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:31,160 Speaker 1: I'm ninety two and I have several things that matter. 409 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:36,399 Speaker 1: My voice, as you can tell, I have COPD, which 410 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:40,080 Speaker 1: kind of gets worse all the time, and I have 411 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:43,520 Speaker 1: an ampathy in my legs and of course the usual 412 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:47,840 Speaker 1: arthritis and everything, and I. 413 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:50,439 Speaker 3: Just want him home. I'd like to know I have 414 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 3: a sum for a while. 415 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 1: I just sometimes feel like I've never had a son. 416 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: And then there's times I feel like, you know, I've 417 00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:07,200 Speaker 1: had him and he's just gone for a while. 418 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:10,240 Speaker 3: But I don't sleep. 419 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: I uh, if you just had a key where you 420 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: could shut off your mind, but you can't do that. 421 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:26,040 Speaker 2: However, when Erica came across Bill's case, Donna was able 422 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 2: to sleep a bit easier. When Erica's office was first started, 423 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:34,560 Speaker 2: she was given a specific assignment from higher. 424 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:36,160 Speaker 5: Ups get a DNA exoneration. 425 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 2: Iowa had never had one, so she was on the hunt, 426 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,199 Speaker 2: and Bill's case appeared to have evidence from which her 427 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:45,679 Speaker 2: team could potentially recover DNA. 428 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:51,200 Speaker 5: We had a chance to know submit that all for 429 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:56,720 Speaker 5: testing if it could be found, and that kind of 430 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:57,679 Speaker 5: started our quest. 431 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 2: I guess, a quest that gave Donna nude hope. 432 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: Oh, Erica is a doll. I there you if she's 433 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: a miracle. She has found out stuff that we didn't 434 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 1: even know. 435 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 2: Erica started with the basics, what would have been Bill's 436 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:19,120 Speaker 2: motive to kill Michelle. 437 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 5: The most fascinating part was that there was no connection 438 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:26,879 Speaker 5: between him and the victim. They weren't They hadn't dated, 439 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,800 Speaker 5: they didn't go to school together, they hadn't been seen together. 440 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:33,720 Speaker 2: But Michelle had been seen with an unidentified man in 441 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:37,119 Speaker 2: a brown car from the beginning. Were there any better 442 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:38,840 Speaker 2: suspects that should have been looked into? 443 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:45,679 Speaker 5: Yes, we found a handwritten suspect matrix from the in 444 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:46,680 Speaker 5: the DCI file. 445 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:51,199 Speaker 2: That is something you could only hope to find. 446 00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:58,399 Speaker 5: And we'd read a little bit about the fact that 447 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,480 Speaker 5: she had gone out with a guy or told someone 448 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,240 Speaker 5: that she had a date with the Larry Dance. 449 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:07,920 Speaker 2: Erica found that Larry Dance had gone out with Michelle 450 00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 2: about a month before she disappeared. 451 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:14,359 Speaker 5: He told investigators that he'd picked her up from the spa. 452 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,400 Speaker 5: They'd gone back to his house. They were messing around, 453 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 5: they got naked and got into his bed, and then 454 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:23,919 Speaker 5: she changed her mind and didn't want to have sex, 455 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,640 Speaker 5: and so they went to sleep, and he took her 456 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:30,200 Speaker 5: to her friend to a mutual friend's house the next 457 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 5: morning and dropped her off there and to me the 458 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 5: similarities between his story and the confession quote unquote were 459 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,080 Speaker 5: so eerily similar. 460 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,119 Speaker 2: And Danz didn't have an alibi for the night of 461 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:49,200 Speaker 2: the twenty first, but he was cleared after a polygraph and. 462 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 5: The lead DCI investigator, Rick saiwasinc His brother Jeff vouched 463 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:58,119 Speaker 5: for Larry Dance and said he's a good guy. I 464 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:03,880 Speaker 5: play softball with her. But the most alarming was that 465 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:09,720 Speaker 5: law enforcement had her dad, Francis Winkle, as a suspect 466 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:10,399 Speaker 5: on their list. 467 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 2: Remember, Michelle had a troubled home life, which was evident 468 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:16,920 Speaker 2: to Erica by the fact that no one had reported 469 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:17,520 Speaker 2: her missing. 470 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,120 Speaker 5: I can't imagine if my family saw me on Monday 471 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,920 Speaker 5: and didn't hear from me when my body was found 472 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:29,359 Speaker 5: on Saturday, that they still hadn't raised an alarm. 473 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 3: Wow. 474 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:37,080 Speaker 5: Michelle never came home, and the brothers also had a 475 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:43,000 Speaker 5: really callous attitude towards her, things like she'd being a 476 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:46,840 Speaker 5: problem child, used to run away. And then none of 477 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:51,480 Speaker 5: the family members testify at trial. They actually call the 478 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:56,360 Speaker 5: brother Mark's girlfriend now wife, Diana, to say the last 479 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,320 Speaker 5: time that she saw her at the house was that 480 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:02,160 Speaker 5: Monday afternoon. She wanted a ride into town, so she 481 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,840 Speaker 5: could go to the bank before going to work, and 482 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:10,000 Speaker 5: her brother refused to take her, so she left on foot. 483 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 2: What did all this information tell you? 484 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 5: That the investigation that it had all of the features 485 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 5: of a wrongful conviction, That investigators focused on the player right, 486 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:27,360 Speaker 5: the DJ, the guy that had multiple girlfriends. They ignored 487 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:36,160 Speaker 5: all these other legit credible alibis or motives for murdering her. 488 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:39,080 Speaker 5: We knew there was just there had to be more 489 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 5: to the story. 490 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 2: Erica and her team discovered a list of people who 491 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,400 Speaker 2: said they saw Michelle alive after the twenty first, the 492 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:52,200 Speaker 2: only day the state concedes Bill could have killed Michelle. 493 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,560 Speaker 2: It wasn't just the schoolmate who testified at trial that 494 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 2: she'd seen Michelle at the mall Tuesday. 495 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,560 Speaker 5: People saw her alive up through Thursday. 496 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 2: This list was never disclosed to the defense. Erica filed 497 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 2: this as a Brady violation withholding exculpatory evidence from the defense. 498 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:14,040 Speaker 2: Then she turned to the crime scene. 499 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:18,560 Speaker 5: The pathologist testified she was heavily infested with maggots, and 500 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,480 Speaker 5: she's not when you look at the crime scene photos. 501 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:27,040 Speaker 5: An entomologist that we hired said that the best in 502 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 5: her opinion, the best estimate was that Michelle died Wednesday night, 503 00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:35,080 Speaker 5: the twenty third, and that she did not die on Monday, 504 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:41,920 Speaker 5: that the bugs that were there, the maggots, and the temperatures, 505 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 5: that there's no way she died on Monday and looked 506 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 5: like that on Saturday. 507 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 2: And again everyone agrees Bill could not have killed Michelle 508 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:56,120 Speaker 2: after Monday the twenty first. So Erica also filed an 509 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:59,840 Speaker 2: actual innocence claim, but she had to explain if Bill 510 00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 2: was actually innocent, why did he confess? She says, to 511 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,560 Speaker 2: start calling the statement a confession is a stretch. 512 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 5: It's a one page statement, and he never admits or 513 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:17,400 Speaker 5: remembers killing her. It's I must have done it, but 514 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:21,280 Speaker 5: I don't remember it. And so it raises all of 515 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:28,520 Speaker 5: these red flags about whether it's reliable, and what coercion 516 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 5: was happening in that room, and how vulnerable was he. 517 00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:35,520 Speaker 2: In terms of the evidence that brought Erica to Bill's 518 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:37,000 Speaker 2: case in the first place. 519 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,440 Speaker 5: We were denied DNA testing because the state kept saying 520 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,280 Speaker 5: the evidence was gone. They don't have it, they can't 521 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:43,719 Speaker 5: find it. 522 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,160 Speaker 2: The sexual assault kit the one thing that could help 523 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:48,480 Speaker 2: prove Bill's innocence. 524 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 5: We could find everything but the physical evidence. 525 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 2: So Erica also filed a young blood claim. 526 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:58,800 Speaker 5: Young Blood versus Arizona, which is a due process violation 527 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 5: for destruction of evidence. And so we just had a 528 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 5: trial on that in June, and the court ruled and 529 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:10,360 Speaker 5: denied that claim and said that while the sexual assault 530 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:15,560 Speaker 5: kit has been destroyed, it wasn't done in bad faith. 531 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:19,760 Speaker 5: A couple of big things the court missed was that 532 00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:26,800 Speaker 5: the victim's clothing is still unaccounted for. It was never released, 533 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 5: it was never on an order to be released it. 534 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:36,080 Speaker 5: It was there, they collected it, they had it. 535 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,760 Speaker 2: So you just don't know where it is. Like, do 536 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 2: you think it was destroyed? 537 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,200 Speaker 5: I think it was destroyed. I think it should have 538 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,160 Speaker 5: been with the sexual assault kit. Wow, it should have 539 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 5: been in the sheriff's office. 540 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 2: And remember agent Saiwazink, whose brother vouched for Larry Dan's. 541 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:54,360 Speaker 5: He's the last one to have known to have had 542 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:58,320 Speaker 5: the sexual assault kit or any physical evidence. He picked 543 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,640 Speaker 5: it all up from the lab des Moines and was 544 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 5: supposed to drive it back to Muscatine a couple hours away. 545 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 5: But he doesn't file a report, he doesn't sign a 546 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 5: chain of custody document, he doesn't do anything. 547 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 2: All of the claims Erica filed have been denied. She's 548 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 2: amending them and refiling. 549 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,880 Speaker 5: If we lose these claims in Iowa, I think next 550 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:29,360 Speaker 5: stop is federal court. 551 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,360 Speaker 2: Erica says that Iowa is a hard place to litigate 552 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:34,920 Speaker 2: post conviction cases. 553 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 5: There's no skepticism and everybody knows everybody and it's oh, 554 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:42,960 Speaker 5: I know him, he's a great guy. He's done lots 555 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,600 Speaker 5: of murder cases. To me, it's a hard place to 556 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:52,760 Speaker 5: be because I'm the outsider. I'm a threat. The work 557 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,600 Speaker 5: is a threat because they're so nice. They don't get 558 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:56,240 Speaker 5: anything wrong. 559 00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:00,000 Speaker 2: Do you get any community backlash? 560 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:00,400 Speaker 3: Yeah? 561 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:07,280 Speaker 5: I think there is a unwillingness to work with us. 562 00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:13,160 Speaker 2: And through all this bill sits in prison year after year. 563 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:19,799 Speaker 4: Every time we turn around, we prove I didn't do it, 564 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:23,760 Speaker 4: and nobody seems to give a shit. There's no justice 565 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,480 Speaker 4: in Iowa. There's no way you can convince me. I 566 00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:31,880 Speaker 4: don't care what they do. Convince me. Ryl ever be 567 00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:38,640 Speaker 4: justice in Iowa or the courts. I mean, if you're 568 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:40,239 Speaker 4: going to put somebody in prison, you've got to be 569 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:44,759 Speaker 4: damn sure. Especially with a death sentence, which is a 570 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:49,120 Speaker 4: life sentence in Iowa, you should be sure you should 571 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:54,839 Speaker 4: be on the shadow of a doubt. Well, I got 572 00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:56,160 Speaker 4: a cave darkness. 573 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 2: One minute remaining. 574 00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:04,960 Speaker 3: I had a dream last night that Bill was home. 575 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:07,960 Speaker 2: Were there any specifics in your dream? 576 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:14,640 Speaker 1: I just dreamed that he came walking in and we 577 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:19,319 Speaker 1: just kind of, you know, I was explaining to him 578 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:23,719 Speaker 1: what things were, because Bill no computers, no phones, no, 579 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:27,560 Speaker 1: you know, a lot of things. And this town has 580 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 1: changed so much since. 581 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:32,280 Speaker 3: In fact, it's changed so much. 582 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:36,960 Speaker 1: That I see these things whenever this lady takes me 583 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,560 Speaker 1: to the doctor or out of town that I don't 584 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:41,520 Speaker 1: know is there. 585 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:46,640 Speaker 3: And that was the main thing, and I was so tickled. 586 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,200 Speaker 1: I just would let him out of my sight, and 587 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:54,080 Speaker 1: I took him to McDonald's because that's the first place. 588 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:57,800 Speaker 3: He's gonna go. And then it's going to be a pizza. 589 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,200 Speaker 2: Every now and then. Donna lets herself believe that dream 590 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:07,280 Speaker 2: of having Bill home will become a reality. 591 00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:11,040 Speaker 3: Oh I'm gonna love it. I don't know as I'm 592 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:14,080 Speaker 3: gonna be here that long that I'm gonna love every 593 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:14,799 Speaker 3: minute of it. 594 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,680 Speaker 2: Bill was recently moved to another prison and he's been 595 00:36:21,719 --> 00:36:24,640 Speaker 2: having a hard time adjusting. He says this new prison 596 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:28,920 Speaker 2: is rough, it's also hard holding onto hope. He has 597 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:30,839 Speaker 2: yet another petition pending in. 598 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:34,200 Speaker 4: Court, but it's gonna take probably a year. 599 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:38,160 Speaker 2: I asked Bill if he thinks his mom has a 600 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:38,840 Speaker 2: year left. 601 00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,840 Speaker 4: No, no, I'm afraid she don't. 602 00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:49,960 Speaker 2: What does it mean to you to have had her 603 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:51,000 Speaker 2: all these years? 604 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:56,319 Speaker 4: Yes, Mama, that's the where mom is. 605 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,080 Speaker 2: Bill says, if his mom is going on, there's only 606 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:02,719 Speaker 2: one other thing he'd want. 607 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:05,280 Speaker 4: We left the hell over. 608 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:08,040 Speaker 2: And get a motorcycle. 609 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:13,200 Speaker 4: I want to have a woman on the back. I 610 00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:15,440 Speaker 4: want to be going down the road. Reached down and 611 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,799 Speaker 4: lay my hand on her sigh the land next to 612 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,040 Speaker 4: me for her being on the back of the bike, 613 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:23,839 Speaker 4: and I'll know I'm home. 614 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,680 Speaker 2: If you want to help Bill, you can contact the Muscatine, 615 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:44,800 Speaker 2: Iowa County Attorney Jim Barry. Thank you for listening to 616 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:48,360 Speaker 2: Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please support your local innocence 617 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 2: organizations and go to the links in the episode description 618 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:54,440 Speaker 2: to see how you can help. This episode was written 619 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,800 Speaker 2: by me Maggie Freeling, with story editing and sound designed 620 00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:01,880 Speaker 2: by senior producer Rebecca Ibara. Our producer is Kathleen Fink. 621 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:05,760 Speaker 2: Our mixer is Josh Allen, with research by Donald Salzman 622 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:10,080 Speaker 2: and additional production help by Jeff Cliburn. Executive producers are 623 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:13,719 Speaker 2: Jason Flamm, Jeff Kempler, and Kevin Wordis. The music is 624 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,919 Speaker 2: by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Make sure 625 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,040 Speaker 2: to follow us on all social media platforms at Lava 626 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:24,280 Speaker 2: for Good and at Wrongful Conviction. You can also follow 627 00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:28,319 Speaker 2: me on all platforms at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with 628 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,520 Speaker 2: Maggie Freeling is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts 629 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:36,320 Speaker 2: in association with Signal Company Number one