1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,320
Speaker 1: Hi everyone, Zach here, it's been a long time. How

2
00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,400
Speaker 1: you doing okay. I wanted to let you know about

3
00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,760
Speaker 1: a new true crime show I've been working on called

4
00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:12,840
Speaker 1: Beyond All Repair. It's a collaboration with w BR in Boston,

5
00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,840
Speaker 1: and it's hosted by Amory Severertson of Endless Thread. It's

6
00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,640
Speaker 1: the story of a woman named Sophia Johnson who is

7
00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:22,079
Speaker 1: accused of murdering her mother in law with a pair

8
00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,880
Speaker 1: of fireplace tongs. She swears she didn't do it, but

9
00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:30,560
Speaker 1: someone says they witnessed it. Her own brother. Amory has

10
00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,400
Speaker 1: spent the last three years talking to Sophia and everyone's

11
00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,080
Speaker 1: surrounding this crime. And one of the main reasons that

12
00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:38,800
Speaker 1: Sophia is talking to Amory is that at the time

13
00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:41,919
Speaker 1: of the murder, she was six months pregnant. She's never

14
00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:43,960
Speaker 1: met her son, and she wants to try to clear

15
00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,480
Speaker 1: her name. There are a bunch of episodes out now,

16
00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,320
Speaker 1: but we're going to drop the first one here right now.

17
00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:50,640
Speaker 1: Hope you enjoy.

18
00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:57,520
Speaker 2: Heads up, this show has descriptions of violence and strong language.

19
00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,520
Speaker 2: WBAR Podcasts Boston.

20
00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,120
Speaker 3: Shane, you have no idea how much I'm trying to

21
00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,280
Speaker 3: protect you, little brother. You don't know it yet, but

22
00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:15,399
Speaker 3: you're being misled.

23
00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,280
Speaker 4: It's the same good morning, how you're doing. Listen to

24
00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,080
Speaker 4: me carefully. You're not ready for what will come down

25
00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:28,320
Speaker 4: if you don't stop your nonsense and keep away.

26
00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:33,480
Speaker 3: If you, guys attempt to sabotage or to trouble me

27
00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,520
Speaker 3: in any which way, or to try to slow down

28
00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,319
Speaker 3: my life, I'm gonna fight you. Guys.

29
00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:40,640
Speaker 4: You don't know what you're playing with.

30
00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,360
Speaker 3: Okay. I wanted nothing to do with it in the beginning,

31
00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:46,039
Speaker 3: and up to now I still want nothing to do

32
00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:46,280
Speaker 3: with it.

33
00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:48,600
Speaker 4: Stop ak shit about me. I don't lie on me,

34
00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:49,400
Speaker 4: but I'm not.

35
00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,080
Speaker 3: Going to let anybody lie on me.

36
00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:52,280
Speaker 5: Okay.

37
00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,320
Speaker 4: Okay, you're Washington Judress, You're wicked.

38
00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:01,000
Speaker 3: All I'm doing is I'm giving you fear fucking morning.

39
00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:07,560
Speaker 3: If you come at me, I'm going to destroy you too.

40
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:17,000
Speaker 2: You're hearing an implosion of sorts a family on the

41
00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,400
Speaker 2: brink of a civil war, or maybe not so civil.

42
00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:23,399
Speaker 2: This is the voicemail box of a guy named Shane.

43
00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:27,320
Speaker 2: The two people leaving him messages his older brother.

44
00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,079
Speaker 3: Keep me out of him, and his.

45
00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:32,240
Speaker 4: Dad watch your mount.

46
00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,799
Speaker 2: But Shane isn't receiving the worst of it, especially from

47
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,360
Speaker 2: his father. Shane's sister is.

48
00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:43,520
Speaker 4: You are the disease of this Rocket family. You're devious,

49
00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:44,600
Speaker 4: You're waters.

50
00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,000
Speaker 2: That's from her voicemail collection. Here's another one.

51
00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,520
Speaker 4: Oh, you're so fucking it in your lone, stupid get

52
00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:53,359
Speaker 4: ter the reporter to your lie.

53
00:02:54,040 --> 00:03:08,760
Speaker 2: Give that to the reporter too. The dad says, Hey, Hi, Hello,

54
00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,600
Speaker 2: I'm the reporter, and I'm the reason for these intimidating

55
00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,960
Speaker 2: voice messages. Part of it, anyway, They started after I

56
00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,639
Speaker 2: called that brother and father days earlier. My name is

57
00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:25,000
Speaker 2: Amory Severertson. I work for WBUR. It's a national public

58
00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:31,080
Speaker 2: radio station. I have reopened a box. Let's just say

59
00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:35,000
Speaker 2: that some members of this family were hoping would stay

60
00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:39,000
Speaker 2: shut forever, while others are the reason it showed up

61
00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:46,080
Speaker 2: on my doorstep three years ago. Inside are the details

62
00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:50,080
Speaker 2: of something that ripped this family apart, he said. She

63
00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:53,200
Speaker 2: said between two siblings that left one of them a

64
00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,640
Speaker 2: continent away and the other on the run.

65
00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:59,960
Speaker 4: Since the fighting against brother tried to lie to show

66
00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,840
Speaker 4: jump your own brother, what kind of FeelA do you have, lady?

67
00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:05,840
Speaker 2: And despite the fact that this event happened more than

68
00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:10,680
Speaker 2: twenty years ago, it's never been resolved. I'm talking about,

69
00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:27,440
Speaker 2: Oh Wow, a murder. I'm Amory Stegertson from WBR and

70
00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:34,279
Speaker 2: ZSP Media. This is beyond all repair. Chapter one, Foxes.

71
00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,600
Speaker 2: Let's start with a younger brother receiving voicemail threats from

72
00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:52,839
Speaker 2: his family, Shane Coria. He's the reason I'm here. Hi, Shane, Amory,

73
00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:54,080
Speaker 2: it's so nice to meet you.

74
00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:56,120
Speaker 6: Thank you.

75
00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,240
Speaker 2: I first met Shane back in twenty seventeen. I'd gone

76
00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,400
Speaker 2: to his New York City the apartment to interview him

77
00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:05,359
Speaker 2: for another podcast I make called Endless Thread. It was

78
00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:09,400
Speaker 2: for an episode about his experience with homelessness. Shane spent

79
00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,240
Speaker 2: a period of time in his teens sleeping on the subway,

80
00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:13,760
Speaker 2: nowhere else to go.

81
00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:20,200
Speaker 6: I was angry and pissed and sad. I only had

82
00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:25,160
Speaker 6: until morning when school started, for like some normalcy.

83
00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:28,839
Speaker 2: Back then, I didn't know much about the murder that

84
00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:31,800
Speaker 2: affected Shane's life, But the way I see it now,

85
00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,320
Speaker 2: Shane doesn't end up sleeping on the subway without that

86
00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:44,240
Speaker 2: dark chapter. Shane was born in the Bronx, the youngest

87
00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:47,599
Speaker 2: of four siblings, three boys and a girl, with parents

88
00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:52,279
Speaker 2: who were never not fighting, name calling, violence and ugly divorce.

89
00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,760
Speaker 2: It was a bad scene. So by his preteen years,

90
00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,719
Speaker 2: Shane and his mom and sister had moved across the

91
00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:03,680
Speaker 2: country to Washington State. They were all devout Jehovah's witnesses.

92
00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,320
Speaker 6: Verse Corinthians fifteen thirty three, do not be misled. Bad

93
00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:13,560
Speaker 6: association spoils useful habits. Still know my Verse couldn't shake

94
00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:14,080
Speaker 6: that part.

95
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,440
Speaker 2: Shane is not a Jehovah's witness anymore, in large part

96
00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,880
Speaker 2: because of something he was realizing about himself around this time.

97
00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,599
Speaker 6: I remember the night that I came out to my mom.

98
00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,839
Speaker 6: She was in her room, and I like, roll in

99
00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:32,680
Speaker 6: the chair for my room and like put it in

100
00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,400
Speaker 6: the doorway, and I'm like, so, Mom, I have something

101
00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:37,720
Speaker 6: that I want to tell you. And I'm like trying

102
00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,000
Speaker 6: to couch it as much as possible, and I tell

103
00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,960
Speaker 6: her I'm attracted to men. And she looked at me

104
00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:49,719
Speaker 6: and she said, why hasn't my children become my worst fears?

105
00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:54,920
Speaker 2: Shane's mom mostly stopped talking to him. She'd leave food

106
00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,240
Speaker 2: outside his bedroom door, as if you were in solitary

107
00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:03,320
Speaker 2: or something. Right around this same time came this.

108
00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:08,400
Speaker 6: Arrests made in women's killing. Daughter in law accused in

109
00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:09,200
Speaker 6: woman's killing.

110
00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,680
Speaker 2: The daughter in law accused is Shane's sister.

111
00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,880
Speaker 6: Woman pleads not guilty to murdering her mother in law.

112
00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:23,640
Speaker 6: Slaying suspect has bailed, tripled, woman's murder charge upgraded.

113
00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:32,119
Speaker 2: This murder was a big deal in a small Washington town,

114
00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:37,200
Speaker 2: and words started spreading from newspaper headlines to gossiping teenagers

115
00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:38,120
Speaker 2: at Shane's school.

116
00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,560
Speaker 6: I remember like going into the lunch room and like,

117
00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,280
Speaker 6: this group of kids is like coming toward me, and

118
00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:46,760
Speaker 6: the like the kid that I don't like is like,

119
00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:55,960
Speaker 6: so is it true that your sister killed someone? And honestly,

120
00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:57,840
Speaker 6: after that, I just kind of stopped going to school.

121
00:07:58,040 --> 00:07:59,920
Speaker 6: I'd always been a really good student up to that point,

122
00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:01,640
Speaker 6: and then I just kind of shut down.

123
00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:05,600
Speaker 2: Going to school felt impossible. Being at home with a

124
00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:09,200
Speaker 2: mom who had barely talk to him felt impossible. So

125
00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,200
Speaker 2: Shane flew back across the country by himself to the

126
00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:14,680
Speaker 2: only other place he knew, New York.

127
00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:17,840
Speaker 6: So I slept on the train, went to school, went

128
00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:19,680
Speaker 6: to work, still got over net paycheck hourly.

129
00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,880
Speaker 2: Shane finished high school like this, unhoused. He worked part

130
00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:29,239
Speaker 2: time jobs to get by.

131
00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:32,959
Speaker 6: And like going to work in a rumpled suit because

132
00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:35,240
Speaker 6: you have no place to put it like. That was

133
00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:37,400
Speaker 6: when I actually started to feel homeless.

134
00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,040
Speaker 2: Shane eventually pieced together enough of an income to rent

135
00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:48,360
Speaker 2: a room in an apartment. He put himself through college,

136
00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,559
Speaker 2: then law school. By the time I spoke to Shane

137
00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:54,160
Speaker 2: for Endless Thread, he was working in the Bronx District

138
00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:58,960
Speaker 2: Attorney's office. The criminal justice system, to Shane, is something

139
00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,480
Speaker 2: that's brought order to a chaotic life. It's dealt with

140
00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:06,119
Speaker 2: things in a way he hasn't been able to, including

141
00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:09,400
Speaker 2: his sister being accused of murdering her mother in law.

142
00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,839
Speaker 2: Even when asked point blank back in twenty seventeen, do

143
00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:14,800
Speaker 2: you think she did it?

144
00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:16,280
Speaker 4: Uh?

145
00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,840
Speaker 6: I don't know. Everyone's got a different story, and this

146
00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:29,199
Speaker 6: is where I just kind of surrender to the justice system.

147
00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:32,720
Speaker 2: That's where we'd left things back then as far as

148
00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,920
Speaker 2: the murder was concerned. But the experience of hearing his

149
00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:39,839
Speaker 2: larger story told by an outsider was pretty cathartic, Shane

150
00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,520
Speaker 2: told me. He wrote to me after that episode came out, saying,

151
00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:46,880
Speaker 2: I feel a bit more unleashed from some stuff I

152
00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:56,640
Speaker 2: didn't fully know was holding me back, and that was it.

153
00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:03,000
Speaker 2: I thought time passed Shane changed legal jobs, adopted a dog.

154
00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:07,000
Speaker 6: Damn good boy. Yeah, I'll give you cuddles of it.

155
00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:09,880
Speaker 2: And then about three years later, in the spring of

156
00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,040
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, I got an email from Shane out

157
00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:16,160
Speaker 2: of the blue. There was someone else looking to be

158
00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,000
Speaker 2: unleashed from something holding her back.

159
00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,080
Speaker 6: Look, I don't really know her story.

160
00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:24,880
Speaker 2: Something that's been boxed up and for Shane at least

161
00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:27,280
Speaker 2: untouched for more than twenty years.

162
00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:31,640
Speaker 6: Do I think that my sister is capable of committing

163
00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:32,720
Speaker 6: such a brutal crime?

164
00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,840
Speaker 2: Shane was reaching out to say that that question might

165
00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:40,320
Speaker 2: finally get answered because the person who could settle it

166
00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,360
Speaker 2: for him once and for all, she wanted to talk,

167
00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:50,000
Speaker 2: and she wanted to talk to me. Coming up Shane's sister.

168
00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:12,439
Speaker 6: Check check.

169
00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:16,800
Speaker 2: It's a couple weeks after Shane emailed me saying his

170
00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:20,480
Speaker 2: sister wanted to quote speak openly about something that has

171
00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,880
Speaker 2: caused a lot of pain in our collective eyes, the

172
00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:27,280
Speaker 2: murder of her mother in law. I'd seen pictures of

173
00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:30,960
Speaker 2: Shane's sister in newspaper clippings from the early two thousands,

174
00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:36,400
Speaker 2: handcuffed wearing the stereotypical bright orange jail get up. No makeup,

175
00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:41,800
Speaker 2: her expression ranging from self assured to resigned. I didn't

176
00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,640
Speaker 2: know what to expect. Twenty years later, and the last

177
00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:48,080
Speaker 2: I'd heard about it from Shane Uh didn't put me

178
00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:52,760
Speaker 2: at ease, And yet when she appeared on my screen,

179
00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,160
Speaker 2: I felt surprisingly calm.

180
00:11:56,640 --> 00:12:00,320
Speaker 7: Hi, good morning, how are you hey?

181
00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:02,080
Speaker 2: This is Sophia.

182
00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:03,480
Speaker 5: A little nervous.

183
00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:04,440
Speaker 7: I won't lie.

184
00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:12,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we're embarking on something new. I say that

185
00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:15,440
Speaker 2: as if I knew what we were embarking on. But

186
00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:19,560
Speaker 2: listening back to this, I want to warn my past self. Girl,

187
00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,960
Speaker 2: you have no idea what's coming. Sophia didn't neither.

188
00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:25,840
Speaker 7: Well, let's just see where it goes.

189
00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:26,280
Speaker 6: Why not?

190
00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:33,320
Speaker 2: Sophia showed up to our first video call looking nothing

191
00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,640
Speaker 2: like the woman I'd seen in the newspapers, her long

192
00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:40,960
Speaker 2: jet black hair, shiny and neat, her face impeccably made up,

193
00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:46,360
Speaker 2: winged eyeliner, red lipstick, meticulously shaped eyebrows, and an almost

194
00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:50,160
Speaker 2: air brushed appearance that defied everything I knew about her

195
00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:51,480
Speaker 2: life at that point.

196
00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:56,360
Speaker 7: I wake up, I have usually several cups of coffee

197
00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:57,520
Speaker 7: and I'm watching the news.

198
00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:02,880
Speaker 2: She sounded so normal, sweet, Even.

199
00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:04,480
Speaker 7: I do a little bit of gardening.

200
00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:06,000
Speaker 5: I listen to music.

201
00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,200
Speaker 2: She was talking to me from.

202
00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:10,240
Speaker 8: Yeah.

203
00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,120
Speaker 2: I can't say where she is. I can't say why.

204
00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:21,199
Speaker 2: I can't say either. Yet I can say that, contrary

205
00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:25,240
Speaker 2: to her appearance, Sophia feels anything but put together.

206
00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:29,120
Speaker 7: The only thing I can do because I'm at my bottom.

207
00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:33,559
Speaker 7: I stand up for myself, because I have zero expectations

208
00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:35,520
Speaker 7: that anyone else can do it for me.

209
00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:39,640
Speaker 2: She feels held back from the life she had imagined

210
00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:43,200
Speaker 2: for herself, a life that was really just starting twenty

211
00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:46,280
Speaker 2: two years ago with a new husband of four months,

212
00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:51,079
Speaker 2: new in laws with whom she'd quickly become close. Then

213
00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:56,120
Speaker 2: came January tenth, two thousand and two. Sophia's mother in law, Marlene,

214
00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,200
Speaker 2: was supposed to come over to her house for lunch

215
00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:02,040
Speaker 2: that day. She didn't oh, and when Sophia and her

216
00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:04,440
Speaker 2: husband went over to Marlene's house to check on her,

217
00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:12,480
Speaker 2: they found her lying on the basement floor. Marlene Johnson

218
00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:14,200
Speaker 2: had been bludgeoned to death.

219
00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:15,520
Speaker 4: You know what happened to him on.

220
00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:22,760
Speaker 1: Okay, murdered your mom. I have no idea murder.

221
00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,680
Speaker 8: On her forehead or there wasn't any bold.

222
00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:50,800
Speaker 2: Is there something that you typically do on this day?

223
00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,600
Speaker 7: This is a day I wish never existed.

224
00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:58,960
Speaker 2: It's now January tenth, twenty twenty two, twenty years to

225
00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:01,360
Speaker 2: the day that Sophie as mother in law was murdered.

226
00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:04,920
Speaker 2: Sophia is in her mid forties at this point, but

227
00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:08,720
Speaker 2: every year on this day, she says, she's transported back.

228
00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:13,840
Speaker 7: I'm twenty three years old in my head, and.

229
00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:17,120
Speaker 8: This is two thousand and two.

230
00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:20,600
Speaker 6: And you know what I thought.

231
00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:27,000
Speaker 8: I thought it's January tenth. And whoever did this to her?

232
00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:30,160
Speaker 7: Do they know that it's January tenth?

233
00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:36,920
Speaker 2: Do they know they're out there somewhere. Then again, there

234
00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:38,680
Speaker 2: are a lot of people who would say that the

235
00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:45,520
Speaker 2: person who killed Marlene is talking to me right now.

236
00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:48,520
Speaker 7: I want to say, and be very honest with you,

237
00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:51,680
Speaker 7: that if I did Marlene's murder, they wouldn't.

238
00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:52,760
Speaker 5: Have to worry about finding me.

239
00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:53,920
Speaker 7: I would turn myself in.

240
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,800
Speaker 2: Sophia has always held fast that she did not kill

241
00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:01,800
Speaker 2: her mother in law, but she also says there's a

242
00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:06,000
Speaker 2: lot to this story that she's never told anyone until now.

243
00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:08,120
Speaker 2: This is how she thinks about her life.

244
00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:15,480
Speaker 5: It is a house that has lots of boxes and

245
00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:19,560
Speaker 5: lots of different rooms that need to be unpacked, not

246
00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:21,560
Speaker 5: necessarily sure where to start.

247
00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:32,320
Speaker 2: Okay, It's Monday, April twenty sixth, twenty twenty one.

248
00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:31,640
Speaker 3: And.

249
00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:37,400
Speaker 2: I got a box today. The day I started unpacking

250
00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:41,880
Speaker 2: metaphorical boxes with Sophia, a physical one showed up at

251
00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:47,600
Speaker 2: my office. Inside this box were VHS tapes. Sophia says

252
00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:51,440
Speaker 2: that she's never watched them. She told me today that

253
00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:53,680
Speaker 2: she does not want to watch them. She said that

254
00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:58,760
Speaker 2: she's worried that, like it'll put someone else's version of

255
00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:02,680
Speaker 2: the story back in her head head and right now

256
00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:06,199
Speaker 2: she just wants to focus on what she knows to

257
00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:13,600
Speaker 2: be true about what happened. Thirteen tapes in black and

258
00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:18,000
Speaker 2: gold cardboard cases. Oh, this is a lot. It was

259
00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:22,000
Speaker 2: like a time capsule. This box. Those white stickers along

260
00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:25,600
Speaker 2: the long edges, handwriting labeling each one in blue and

261
00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:30,399
Speaker 2: black pen. All right, let's see so these tapes on

262
00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:47,119
Speaker 2: the side. Oh my god, it says State v. Johnson, Comma, Sophia.

263
00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:43,800
Speaker 6: You're ready for the jury.

264
00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:46,400
Speaker 3: That yeah, sure, thank you.

265
00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:48,440
Speaker 7: Okay, Wan'm bringing the jury please.

266
00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,159
Speaker 2: These tapes are the video footage of Sophia's murder trial,

267
00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,000
Speaker 2: and they were really just the beginning. I didn't know

268
00:17:56,040 --> 00:18:01,800
Speaker 2: what was in all of Sophia's boxes I know now abuse, disownment,

269
00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:07,440
Speaker 2: financial crimes, deportation. To start, The boxes of my own

270
00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:11,520
Speaker 2: life look nothing like Sophia's, And yet the more of

271
00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:14,840
Speaker 2: hers I've opened, the more I've realized that they hold

272
00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,920
Speaker 2: a lot of my greatest fears, being betrayed by someone

273
00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:23,200
Speaker 2: who's supposed to be on my side, never being truly believed,

274
00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:27,960
Speaker 2: loving something more than anything in the world, only to

275
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:28,920
Speaker 2: have it taken away.

276
00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:38,840
Speaker 7: My son turned nineteen years old yesterday. Never met him,

277
00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:43,000
Speaker 7: don't know anything really about him.

278
00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:46,160
Speaker 2: Her son. When Sophia was accused of bludgeoning her mother

279
00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:49,760
Speaker 2: in law to death, she was six months pregnant. She

280
00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,359
Speaker 2: gave birth to her only child while incarcerated and hasn't

281
00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:54,080
Speaker 2: seen him since.

282
00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,800
Speaker 7: And I do not want another one of his birthdays

283
00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,440
Speaker 7: to go by without at least having an image of

284
00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:05,840
Speaker 7: me and hearing the truth about what I'm sure he's

285
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,160
Speaker 7: read and heard about his entire love.

286
00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:12,199
Speaker 2: That's when I realized that Sophia is really trying to

287
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,159
Speaker 2: clear her name. In the eyes of one person.

288
00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:17,760
Speaker 7: The only thing he will ever know is that I

289
00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:22,520
Speaker 7: was accused. His grandmother is dead. This is my legacy,

290
00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:54,120
Speaker 7: This is forever my legacy.

291
00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:46,080
Speaker 2: But maybe it doesn't have to be. Sophia can't start over,

292
00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:49,240
Speaker 2: but she might still have time to change that legacy.

293
00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,959
Speaker 2: Pretty early into reporting this story, someone told me that

294
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:58,600
Speaker 2: Sophia's life just seems so fubar. I wasn't familiar with

295
00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:02,439
Speaker 2: this term, but it's a military acronym fucked up, beyond

296
00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:08,639
Speaker 2: all repair, beyond all repair. That idea has stayed with me,

297
00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:13,320
Speaker 2: not as a statement, but a question. Is Sophia's life

298
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:17,240
Speaker 2: beyond all repair? And if she is in fact innocent

299
00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:21,400
Speaker 2: of murder? Well, telling her story help change some people's

300
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,480
Speaker 2: minds about her, starting perhaps with Shane.

301
00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:29,400
Speaker 6: Do I believe what she's saying that she believes she's innocent,

302
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:32,919
Speaker 6: Like I can believe that, But belief is very different

303
00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:37,040
Speaker 6: from fact, you know, like someone still died.

304
00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:47,080
Speaker 7: If he believes anybody believes that, I am that person,

305
00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:51,400
Speaker 7: And I just don't know what that steps.

306
00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:59,960
Speaker 8: That means that I'm not explaining it right, or he dies,

307
00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:05,639
Speaker 8: said no, Ena, And I never want my son to

308
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:11,520
Speaker 8: ever think that, Mom, I love you anyway. That is

309
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:16,040
Speaker 8: not the right answer. That's not the right answer.

310
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,960
Speaker 2: The right answer to me is just the truth. I've

311
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,880
Speaker 2: been upfront with Sophia about this from the very beginning.

312
00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:29,480
Speaker 2: I can't root for people in this story, but I

313
00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:31,840
Speaker 2: can root for the truth. And if the people are

314
00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,119
Speaker 2: aligned with the truth, then I'm rooting for the people.

315
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:36,480
Speaker 8: You know, I agree with that.

316
00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,760
Speaker 2: It's been almost three years since my first conversation with Sophia.

317
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:44,160
Speaker 2: I've spoken to dozens of people connected to the story.

318
00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:48,000
Speaker 2: I have thousands of pages of case files and court records.

319
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:54,800
Speaker 2: I have information And now, what the fuck Shane does too?

320
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:55,600
Speaker 7: Oh?

321
00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:57,840
Speaker 8: This hurts. This hurts.

322
00:21:57,960 --> 00:21:58,680
Speaker 6: I can't read it.

323
00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:04,400
Speaker 2: Years after this murder uprooted his life, Shane's decided he's

324
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:08,120
Speaker 2: not going to surrender to the justice system anymore because,

325
00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:12,240
Speaker 2: according to the justice system, this murder is technically a

326
00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:12,960
Speaker 2: cold case.

327
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:15,400
Speaker 7: This is not right.

328
00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:17,840
Speaker 6: I don't care who it is.

329
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:23,040
Speaker 2: Next time, Shane digs into his sister's case file and

330
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,840
Speaker 2: I dig into Sophia's trial and the key witness who

331
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:28,440
Speaker 2: testified against.

332
00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:32,640
Speaker 6: Her, the person kind of took it was like stocking

333
00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:37,000
Speaker 6: off their face, and it turned out to.

334
00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:40,520
Speaker 2: Be my sister, Sophia's other brother.

335
00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:42,520
Speaker 3: I'm going to fight you, guys.

336
00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:04,120
Speaker 2: Beyond All Repair is a production of wbur Boston's NPR

337
00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,800
Speaker 2: and ZSP Media. It's written and reported by me Amory

338
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:12,040
Speaker 2: Severertson and produced by Sophie Coodner. Mix sound design and

339
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:16,280
Speaker 2: original scoring by Paul Vikis, Production manager of WBR Podcasts,

340
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,359
Speaker 2: Theme and credits music by me. Our Managing producers are

341
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:25,200
Speaker 2: Summatajoshi for WBR and Liz Styles of ZSP. The show

342
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 2: is edited and executive produced by Ben Brock Johnson of

343
00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:32,600
Speaker 2: WBR and Zach Stewart Pontier of ZSP Media. If you

344
00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,399
Speaker 2: have questions about the case, the real people at the

345
00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,360
Speaker 2: center of this story, or anything else about this series,

346
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:42,320
Speaker 2: we want to hear them. Email Beyond All Repair Pod

347
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:47,080
Speaker 2: at gmail dot com, voice message, written message you do

348
00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:52,120
Speaker 2: you Beyond All Repair Pod at gmail dot com, and hey,

349
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,520
Speaker 2: do me a favor. Will you tell someone you love

350
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:57,600
Speaker 2: them and tell them about this show in that order?

351
00:23:58,480 --> 00:23:59,480
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening.

352
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:21,800
Speaker 1: That's Beyond All Repair hosted by Amory Severertson. New episodes

353
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:25,680
Speaker 1: drop Thursdays. Find it Wherever you're listening to this, let

354
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:26,360
Speaker 1: us know what you think.