WEBVTT - Introducing Beyond All Repair

0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.320
<v Speaker 1>Hi everyone, Zach here, it's been a long time. How

0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:06.400
<v Speaker 1>you doing okay. I wanted to let you know about

0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:08.760
<v Speaker 1>a new true crime show I've been working on called

0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.840
<v Speaker 1>Beyond All Repair. It's a collaboration with w BR in Boston,

0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:16.840
<v Speaker 1>and it's hosted by Amory Severertson of Endless Thread. It's

0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.640
<v Speaker 1>the story of a woman named Sophia Johnson who is

0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:22.079
<v Speaker 1>accused of murdering her mother in law with a pair

0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.880
<v Speaker 1>of fireplace tongs. She swears she didn't do it, but

0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:30.560
<v Speaker 1>someone says they witnessed it. Her own brother. Amory has

0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.400
<v Speaker 1>spent the last three years talking to Sophia and everyone's

0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:36.080
<v Speaker 1>surrounding this crime. And one of the main reasons that

0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:38.800
<v Speaker 1>Sophia is talking to Amory is that at the time

0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.919
<v Speaker 1>of the murder, she was six months pregnant. She's never

0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:43.960
<v Speaker 1>met her son, and she wants to try to clear

0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:46.480
<v Speaker 1>her name. There are a bunch of episodes out now,

0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.320
<v Speaker 1>but we're going to drop the first one here right now.

0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:50.640
<v Speaker 1>Hope you enjoy.

0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:57.520
<v Speaker 2>Heads up, this show has descriptions of violence and strong language.

0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:00.520
<v Speaker 2>WBAR Podcasts Boston.

0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.120
<v Speaker 3>Shane, you have no idea how much I'm trying to

0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:14.280
<v Speaker 3>protect you, little brother. You don't know it yet, but

0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:15.399
<v Speaker 3>you're being misled.

0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:23.280
<v Speaker 4>It's the same good morning, how you're doing. Listen to

0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:26.080
<v Speaker 4>me carefully. You're not ready for what will come down

0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:28.320
<v Speaker 4>if you don't stop your nonsense and keep away.

0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:33.480
<v Speaker 3>If you, guys attempt to sabotage or to trouble me

0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.520
<v Speaker 3>in any which way, or to try to slow down

0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.319
<v Speaker 3>my life, I'm gonna fight you. Guys.

0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:40.640
<v Speaker 4>You don't know what you're playing with.

0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.360
<v Speaker 3>Okay. I wanted nothing to do with it in the beginning,

0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.039
<v Speaker 3>and up to now I still want nothing to do

0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:46.280
<v Speaker 3>with it.

0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.600
<v Speaker 4>Stop ak shit about me. I don't lie on me,

0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:49.400
<v Speaker 4>but I'm not.

0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.080
<v Speaker 3>Going to let anybody lie on me.

0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:52.280
<v Speaker 5>Okay.

0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:56.320
<v Speaker 4>Okay, you're Washington Judress, You're wicked.

0:01:56.480 --> 0:02:01.000
<v Speaker 3>All I'm doing is I'm giving you fear fucking morning.

0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:07.560
<v Speaker 3>If you come at me, I'm going to destroy you too.

0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:17.000
<v Speaker 2>You're hearing an implosion of sorts a family on the

0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.400
<v Speaker 2>brink of a civil war, or maybe not so civil.

0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.399
<v Speaker 2>This is the voicemail box of a guy named Shane.

0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:27.320
<v Speaker 2>The two people leaving him messages his older brother.

0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.079
<v Speaker 3>Keep me out of him, and his.

0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:32.240
<v Speaker 4>Dad watch your mount.

0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.799
<v Speaker 2>But Shane isn't receiving the worst of it, especially from

0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.360
<v Speaker 2>his father. Shane's sister is.

0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:43.520
<v Speaker 4>You are the disease of this Rocket family. You're devious,

0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:44.600
<v Speaker 4>You're waters.

0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:48.000
<v Speaker 2>That's from her voicemail collection. Here's another one.

0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:51.520
<v Speaker 4>Oh, you're so fucking it in your lone, stupid get

0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:53.359
<v Speaker 4>ter the reporter to your lie.

0:02:54.040 --> 0:03:08.760
<v Speaker 2>Give that to the reporter too. The dad says, Hey, Hi, Hello,

0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:12.600
<v Speaker 2>I'm the reporter, and I'm the reason for these intimidating

0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:16.960
<v Speaker 2>voice messages. Part of it, anyway, They started after I

0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:20.639
<v Speaker 2>called that brother and father days earlier. My name is

0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:25.000
<v Speaker 2>Amory Severertson. I work for WBUR. It's a national public

0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:31.080
<v Speaker 2>radio station. I have reopened a box. Let's just say

0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.000
<v Speaker 2>that some members of this family were hoping would stay

0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:39.000
<v Speaker 2>shut forever, while others are the reason it showed up

0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:46.080
<v Speaker 2>on my doorstep three years ago. Inside are the details

0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:50.080
<v Speaker 2>of something that ripped this family apart, he said. She

0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:53.200
<v Speaker 2>said between two siblings that left one of them a

0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:56.640
<v Speaker 2>continent away and the other on the run.

0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.960
<v Speaker 4>Since the fighting against brother tried to lie to show

0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.840
<v Speaker 4>jump your own brother, what kind of FeelA do you have, lady?

0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.840
<v Speaker 2>And despite the fact that this event happened more than

0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:10.680
<v Speaker 2>twenty years ago, it's never been resolved. I'm talking about,

0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:27.440
<v Speaker 2>Oh Wow, a murder. I'm Amory Stegertson from WBR and

0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:34.279
<v Speaker 2>ZSP Media. This is beyond all repair. Chapter one, Foxes.

0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.600
<v Speaker 2>Let's start with a younger brother receiving voicemail threats from

0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:52.839
<v Speaker 2>his family, Shane Coria. He's the reason I'm here. Hi, Shane, Amory,

0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:54.080
<v Speaker 2>it's so nice to meet you.

0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:56.120
<v Speaker 6>Thank you.

0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.240
<v Speaker 2>I first met Shane back in twenty seventeen. I'd gone

0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.400
<v Speaker 2>to his New York City the apartment to interview him

0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:05.359
<v Speaker 2>for another podcast I make called Endless Thread. It was

0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:09.400
<v Speaker 2>for an episode about his experience with homelessness. Shane spent

0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:12.240
<v Speaker 2>a period of time in his teens sleeping on the subway,

0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:13.760
<v Speaker 2>nowhere else to go.

0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:20.200
<v Speaker 6>I was angry and pissed and sad. I only had

0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:25.160
<v Speaker 6>until morning when school started, for like some normalcy.

0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:28.839
<v Speaker 2>Back then, I didn't know much about the murder that

0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:31.800
<v Speaker 2>affected Shane's life, But the way I see it now,

0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:35.320
<v Speaker 2>Shane doesn't end up sleeping on the subway without that

0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:44.240
<v Speaker 2>dark chapter. Shane was born in the Bronx, the youngest

0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.599
<v Speaker 2>of four siblings, three boys and a girl, with parents

0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:52.279
<v Speaker 2>who were never not fighting, name calling, violence and ugly divorce.

0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.760
<v Speaker 2>It was a bad scene. So by his preteen years,

0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.719
<v Speaker 2>Shane and his mom and sister had moved across the

0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:03.680
<v Speaker 2>country to Washington State. They were all devout Jehovah's witnesses.

0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:08.320
<v Speaker 6>Verse Corinthians fifteen thirty three, do not be misled. Bad

0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:13.560
<v Speaker 6>association spoils useful habits. Still know my Verse couldn't shake

0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:14.080
<v Speaker 6>that part.

0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.440
<v Speaker 2>Shane is not a Jehovah's witness anymore, in large part

0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.880
<v Speaker 2>because of something he was realizing about himself around this time.

0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:26.599
<v Speaker 6>I remember the night that I came out to my mom.

0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.839
<v Speaker 6>She was in her room, and I like, roll in

0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:32.680
<v Speaker 6>the chair for my room and like put it in

0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.400
<v Speaker 6>the doorway, and I'm like, so, Mom, I have something

0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:37.720
<v Speaker 6>that I want to tell you. And I'm like trying

0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.000
<v Speaker 6>to couch it as much as possible, and I tell

0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.960
<v Speaker 6>her I'm attracted to men. And she looked at me

0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:49.719
<v Speaker 6>and she said, why hasn't my children become my worst fears?

0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:54.920
<v Speaker 2>Shane's mom mostly stopped talking to him. She'd leave food

0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:58.240
<v Speaker 2>outside his bedroom door, as if you were in solitary

0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:03.320
<v Speaker 2>or something. Right around this same time came this.

0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:08.400
<v Speaker 6>Arrests made in women's killing. Daughter in law accused in

0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:09.200
<v Speaker 6>woman's killing.

0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.680
<v Speaker 2>The daughter in law accused is Shane's sister.

0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.880
<v Speaker 6>Woman pleads not guilty to murdering her mother in law.

0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:23.640
<v Speaker 6>Slaying suspect has bailed, tripled, woman's murder charge upgraded.

0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.119
<v Speaker 2>This murder was a big deal in a small Washington town,

0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:37.200
<v Speaker 2>and words started spreading from newspaper headlines to gossiping teenagers

0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:38.120
<v Speaker 2>at Shane's school.

0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:40.560
<v Speaker 6>I remember like going into the lunch room and like,

0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.280
<v Speaker 6>this group of kids is like coming toward me, and

0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:46.760
<v Speaker 6>the like the kid that I don't like is like,

0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:55.960
<v Speaker 6>so is it true that your sister killed someone? And honestly,

0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:57.840
<v Speaker 6>after that, I just kind of stopped going to school.

0:07:58.040 --> 0:07:59.920
<v Speaker 6>I'd always been a really good student up to that point,

0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:01.640
<v Speaker 6>and then I just kind of shut down.

0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.600
<v Speaker 2>Going to school felt impossible. Being at home with a

0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.200
<v Speaker 2>mom who had barely talk to him felt impossible. So

0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.200
<v Speaker 2>Shane flew back across the country by himself to the

0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.680
<v Speaker 2>only other place he knew, New York.

0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:17.840
<v Speaker 6>So I slept on the train, went to school, went

0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:19.680
<v Speaker 6>to work, still got over net paycheck hourly.

0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.880
<v Speaker 2>Shane finished high school like this, unhoused. He worked part

0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:29.239
<v Speaker 2>time jobs to get by.

0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.959
<v Speaker 6>And like going to work in a rumpled suit because

0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.240
<v Speaker 6>you have no place to put it like. That was

0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.400
<v Speaker 6>when I actually started to feel homeless.

0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.040
<v Speaker 2>Shane eventually pieced together enough of an income to rent

0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:48.360
<v Speaker 2>a room in an apartment. He put himself through college,

0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.559
<v Speaker 2>then law school. By the time I spoke to Shane

0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.160
<v Speaker 2>for Endless Thread, he was working in the Bronx District

0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:58.960
<v Speaker 2>Attorney's office. The criminal justice system, to Shane, is something

0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.480
<v Speaker 2>that's brought order to a chaotic life. It's dealt with

0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:06.119
<v Speaker 2>things in a way he hasn't been able to, including

0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:09.400
<v Speaker 2>his sister being accused of murdering her mother in law.

0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:13.839
<v Speaker 2>Even when asked point blank back in twenty seventeen, do

0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:14.800
<v Speaker 2>you think she did it?

0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:16.280
<v Speaker 4>Uh?

0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:19.840
<v Speaker 6>I don't know. Everyone's got a different story, and this

0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:29.199
<v Speaker 6>is where I just kind of surrender to the justice system.

0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.720
<v Speaker 2>That's where we'd left things back then as far as

0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.920
<v Speaker 2>the murder was concerned. But the experience of hearing his

0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:39.839
<v Speaker 2>larger story told by an outsider was pretty cathartic, Shane

0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.520
<v Speaker 2>told me. He wrote to me after that episode came out, saying,

0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.880
<v Speaker 2>I feel a bit more unleashed from some stuff I

0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:56.640
<v Speaker 2>didn't fully know was holding me back, and that was it.

0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:03.000
<v Speaker 2>I thought time passed Shane changed legal jobs, adopted a dog.

0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:07.000
<v Speaker 6>Damn good boy. Yeah, I'll give you cuddles of it.

0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.880
<v Speaker 2>And then about three years later, in the spring of

0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:13.040
<v Speaker 2>twenty twenty one, I got an email from Shane out

0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:16.160
<v Speaker 2>of the blue. There was someone else looking to be

0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.000
<v Speaker 2>unleashed from something holding her back.

0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.080
<v Speaker 6>Look, I don't really know her story.

0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.880
<v Speaker 2>Something that's been boxed up and for Shane at least

0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:27.280
<v Speaker 2>untouched for more than twenty years.

0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:31.640
<v Speaker 6>Do I think that my sister is capable of committing

0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:32.720
<v Speaker 6>such a brutal crime?

0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:36.840
<v Speaker 2>Shane was reaching out to say that that question might

0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:40.320
<v Speaker 2>finally get answered because the person who could settle it

0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.360
<v Speaker 2>for him once and for all, she wanted to talk,

0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:50.000
<v Speaker 2>and she wanted to talk to me. Coming up Shane's sister.

0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:12.439
<v Speaker 6>Check check.

0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:16.800
<v Speaker 2>It's a couple weeks after Shane emailed me saying his

0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:20.480
<v Speaker 2>sister wanted to quote speak openly about something that has

0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:23.880
<v Speaker 2>caused a lot of pain in our collective eyes, the

0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:27.280
<v Speaker 2>murder of her mother in law. I'd seen pictures of

0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.960
<v Speaker 2>Shane's sister in newspaper clippings from the early two thousands,

0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:36.400
<v Speaker 2>handcuffed wearing the stereotypical bright orange jail get up. No makeup,

0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:41.800
<v Speaker 2>her expression ranging from self assured to resigned. I didn't

0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:44.640
<v Speaker 2>know what to expect. Twenty years later, and the last

0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:48.080
<v Speaker 2>I'd heard about it from Shane Uh didn't put me

0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:52.760
<v Speaker 2>at ease, And yet when she appeared on my screen,

0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.160
<v Speaker 2>I felt surprisingly calm.

0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:00.320
<v Speaker 7>Hi, good morning, how are you hey?

0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:02.080
<v Speaker 2>This is Sophia.

0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:03.480
<v Speaker 5>A little nervous.

0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:04.440
<v Speaker 7>I won't lie.

0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:12.520
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well, we're embarking on something new. I say that

0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.440
<v Speaker 2>as if I knew what we were embarking on. But

0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:19.560
<v Speaker 2>listening back to this, I want to warn my past self. Girl,

0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:23.960
<v Speaker 2>you have no idea what's coming. Sophia didn't neither.

0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:25.840
<v Speaker 7>Well, let's just see where it goes.

0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:26.280
<v Speaker 6>Why not?

0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:33.320
<v Speaker 2>Sophia showed up to our first video call looking nothing

0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.640
<v Speaker 2>like the woman I'd seen in the newspapers, her long

0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:40.960
<v Speaker 2>jet black hair, shiny and neat, her face impeccably made up,

0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:46.360
<v Speaker 2>winged eyeliner, red lipstick, meticulously shaped eyebrows, and an almost

0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.160
<v Speaker 2>air brushed appearance that defied everything I knew about her

0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:51.480
<v Speaker 2>life at that point.

0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:56.360
<v Speaker 7>I wake up, I have usually several cups of coffee

0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:57.520
<v Speaker 7>and I'm watching the news.

0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.880
<v Speaker 2>She sounded so normal, sweet, Even.

0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:04.480
<v Speaker 7>I do a little bit of gardening.

0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:06.000
<v Speaker 5>I listen to music.

0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.200
<v Speaker 2>She was talking to me from.

0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:10.240
<v Speaker 8>Yeah.

0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.120
<v Speaker 2>I can't say where she is. I can't say why.

0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:21.199
<v Speaker 2>I can't say either. Yet I can say that, contrary

0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:25.240
<v Speaker 2>to her appearance, Sophia feels anything but put together.

0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:29.120
<v Speaker 7>The only thing I can do because I'm at my bottom.

0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.559
<v Speaker 7>I stand up for myself, because I have zero expectations

0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:35.520
<v Speaker 7>that anyone else can do it for me.

0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.640
<v Speaker 2>She feels held back from the life she had imagined

0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:43.200
<v Speaker 2>for herself, a life that was really just starting twenty

0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.280
<v Speaker 2>two years ago with a new husband of four months,

0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:51.079
<v Speaker 2>new in laws with whom she'd quickly become close. Then

0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:56.120
<v Speaker 2>came January tenth, two thousand and two. Sophia's mother in law, Marlene,

0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:58.200
<v Speaker 2>was supposed to come over to her house for lunch

0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:02.040
<v Speaker 2>that day. She didn't oh, and when Sophia and her

0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:04.440
<v Speaker 2>husband went over to Marlene's house to check on her,

0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:12.480
<v Speaker 2>they found her lying on the basement floor. Marlene Johnson

0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:14.200
<v Speaker 2>had been bludgeoned to death.

0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:15.520
<v Speaker 4>You know what happened to him on.

0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:22.760
<v Speaker 1>Okay, murdered your mom. I have no idea murder.

0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.680
<v Speaker 8>On her forehead or there wasn't any bold.

0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:50.800
<v Speaker 2>Is there something that you typically do on this day?

0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:53.600
<v Speaker 7>This is a day I wish never existed.

0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.960
<v Speaker 2>It's now January tenth, twenty twenty two, twenty years to

0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:01.360
<v Speaker 2>the day that Sophie as mother in law was murdered.

0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.920
<v Speaker 2>Sophia is in her mid forties at this point, but

0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:08.720
<v Speaker 2>every year on this day, she says, she's transported back.

0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:13.840
<v Speaker 7>I'm twenty three years old in my head, and.

0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:17.120
<v Speaker 8>This is two thousand and two.

0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:20.600
<v Speaker 6>And you know what I thought.

0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:27.000
<v Speaker 8>I thought it's January tenth. And whoever did this to her?

0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:30.160
<v Speaker 7>Do they know that it's January tenth?

0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:36.920
<v Speaker 2>Do they know they're out there somewhere. Then again, there

0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:38.680
<v Speaker 2>are a lot of people who would say that the

0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:45.520
<v Speaker 2>person who killed Marlene is talking to me right now.

0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:48.520
<v Speaker 7>I want to say, and be very honest with you,

0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.680
<v Speaker 7>that if I did Marlene's murder, they wouldn't.

0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:52.760
<v Speaker 5>Have to worry about finding me.

0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:53.920
<v Speaker 7>I would turn myself in.

0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.800
<v Speaker 2>Sophia has always held fast that she did not kill

0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:01.800
<v Speaker 2>her mother in law, but she also says there's a

0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:06.000
<v Speaker 2>lot to this story that she's never told anyone until now.

0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:08.120
<v Speaker 2>This is how she thinks about her life.

0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:15.480
<v Speaker 5>It is a house that has lots of boxes and

0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:19.560
<v Speaker 5>lots of different rooms that need to be unpacked, not

0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:21.560
<v Speaker 5>necessarily sure where to start.

0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:32.320
<v Speaker 2>Okay, It's Monday, April twenty sixth, twenty twenty one.

0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:31.640
<v Speaker 3>And.

0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:37.400
<v Speaker 2>I got a box today. The day I started unpacking

0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:41.880
<v Speaker 2>metaphorical boxes with Sophia, a physical one showed up at

0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:47.600
<v Speaker 2>my office. Inside this box were VHS tapes. Sophia says

0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:51.440
<v Speaker 2>that she's never watched them. She told me today that

0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:53.680
<v Speaker 2>she does not want to watch them. She said that

0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:58.760
<v Speaker 2>she's worried that, like it'll put someone else's version of

0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.680
<v Speaker 2>the story back in her head head and right now

0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:06.199
<v Speaker 2>she just wants to focus on what she knows to

0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:13.600
<v Speaker 2>be true about what happened. Thirteen tapes in black and

0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:18.000
<v Speaker 2>gold cardboard cases. Oh, this is a lot. It was

0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:22.000
<v Speaker 2>like a time capsule. This box. Those white stickers along

0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.600
<v Speaker 2>the long edges, handwriting labeling each one in blue and

0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:30.399
<v Speaker 2>black pen. All right, let's see so these tapes on

0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:47.119
<v Speaker 2>the side. Oh my god, it says State v. Johnson, Comma, Sophia.

0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:43.800
<v Speaker 6>You're ready for the jury.

0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:46.400
<v Speaker 3>That yeah, sure, thank you.

0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:48.440
<v Speaker 7>Okay, Wan'm bringing the jury please.

0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:52.159
<v Speaker 2>These tapes are the video footage of Sophia's murder trial,

0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:56.000
<v Speaker 2>and they were really just the beginning. I didn't know

0:17:56.040 --> 0:18:01.800
<v Speaker 2>what was in all of Sophia's boxes I know now abuse, disownment,

0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:07.440
<v Speaker 2>financial crimes, deportation. To start, The boxes of my own

0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:11.520
<v Speaker 2>life look nothing like Sophia's, And yet the more of

0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:14.840
<v Speaker 2>hers I've opened, the more I've realized that they hold

0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:18.920
<v Speaker 2>a lot of my greatest fears, being betrayed by someone

0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:23.200
<v Speaker 2>who's supposed to be on my side, never being truly believed,

0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.960
<v Speaker 2>loving something more than anything in the world, only to

0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:28.920
<v Speaker 2>have it taken away.

0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:38.840
<v Speaker 7>My son turned nineteen years old yesterday. Never met him,

0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:43.000
<v Speaker 7>don't know anything really about him.

0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:46.160
<v Speaker 2>Her son. When Sophia was accused of bludgeoning her mother

0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.760
<v Speaker 2>in law to death, she was six months pregnant. She

0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:53.359
<v Speaker 2>gave birth to her only child while incarcerated and hasn't

0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:54.080
<v Speaker 2>seen him since.

0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.800
<v Speaker 7>And I do not want another one of his birthdays

0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:01.440
<v Speaker 7>to go by without at least having an image of

0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:05.840
<v Speaker 7>me and hearing the truth about what I'm sure he's

0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.160
<v Speaker 7>read and heard about his entire love.

0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.199
<v Speaker 2>That's when I realized that Sophia is really trying to

0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.159
<v Speaker 2>clear her name. In the eyes of one person.

0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:17.760
<v Speaker 7>The only thing he will ever know is that I

0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:22.520
<v Speaker 7>was accused. His grandmother is dead. This is my legacy,

0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:54.120
<v Speaker 7>This is forever my legacy.

0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:46.080
<v Speaker 2>But maybe it doesn't have to be. Sophia can't start over,

0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.240
<v Speaker 2>but she might still have time to change that legacy.

0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:52.959
<v Speaker 2>Pretty early into reporting this story, someone told me that

0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:58.600
<v Speaker 2>Sophia's life just seems so fubar. I wasn't familiar with

0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:02.439
<v Speaker 2>this term, but it's a military acronym fucked up, beyond

0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:08.639
<v Speaker 2>all repair, beyond all repair. That idea has stayed with me,

0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:13.320
<v Speaker 2>not as a statement, but a question. Is Sophia's life

0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:17.240
<v Speaker 2>beyond all repair? And if she is in fact innocent

0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:21.400
<v Speaker 2>of murder? Well, telling her story help change some people's

0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:25.480
<v Speaker 2>minds about her, starting perhaps with Shane.

0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:29.400
<v Speaker 6>Do I believe what she's saying that she believes she's innocent,

0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:32.919
<v Speaker 6>Like I can believe that, But belief is very different

0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:37.040
<v Speaker 6>from fact, you know, like someone still died.

0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:47.080
<v Speaker 7>If he believes anybody believes that, I am that person,

0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:51.400
<v Speaker 7>And I just don't know what that steps.

0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:59.960
<v Speaker 8>That means that I'm not explaining it right, or he dies,

0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:05.639
<v Speaker 8>said no, Ena, And I never want my son to

0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:11.520
<v Speaker 8>ever think that, Mom, I love you anyway. That is

0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:16.040
<v Speaker 8>not the right answer. That's not the right answer.

0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:23.960
<v Speaker 2>The right answer to me is just the truth. I've

0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:26.880
<v Speaker 2>been upfront with Sophia about this from the very beginning.

0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:29.480
<v Speaker 2>I can't root for people in this story, but I

0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:31.840
<v Speaker 2>can root for the truth. And if the people are

0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:34.119
<v Speaker 2>aligned with the truth, then I'm rooting for the people.

0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:36.480
<v Speaker 8>You know, I agree with that.

0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:40.760
<v Speaker 2>It's been almost three years since my first conversation with Sophia.

0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:44.160
<v Speaker 2>I've spoken to dozens of people connected to the story.

0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:48.000
<v Speaker 2>I have thousands of pages of case files and court records.

0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:54.800
<v Speaker 2>I have information And now, what the fuck Shane does too?

0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:55.600
<v Speaker 7>Oh?

0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:57.840
<v Speaker 8>This hurts. This hurts.

0:21:57.960 --> 0:21:58.680
<v Speaker 6>I can't read it.

0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:04.400
<v Speaker 2>Years after this murder uprooted his life, Shane's decided he's

0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:08.120
<v Speaker 2>not going to surrender to the justice system anymore because,

0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:12.240
<v Speaker 2>according to the justice system, this murder is technically a

0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:12.960
<v Speaker 2>cold case.

0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:15.400
<v Speaker 7>This is not right.

0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:17.840
<v Speaker 6>I don't care who it is.

0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:23.040
<v Speaker 2>Next time, Shane digs into his sister's case file and

0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:26.840
<v Speaker 2>I dig into Sophia's trial and the key witness who

0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:28.440
<v Speaker 2>testified against.

0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:32.640
<v Speaker 6>Her, the person kind of took it was like stocking

0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:37.000
<v Speaker 6>off their face, and it turned out to.

0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:40.520
<v Speaker 2>Be my sister, Sophia's other brother.

0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:42.520
<v Speaker 3>I'm going to fight you, guys.

0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:04.120
<v Speaker 2>Beyond All Repair is a production of wbur Boston's NPR

0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:07.800
<v Speaker 2>and ZSP Media. It's written and reported by me Amory

0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:12.040
<v Speaker 2>Severertson and produced by Sophie Coodner. Mix sound design and

0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:16.280
<v Speaker 2>original scoring by Paul Vikis, Production manager of WBR Podcasts,

0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:20.359
<v Speaker 2>Theme and credits music by me. Our Managing producers are

0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:25.200
<v Speaker 2>Summatajoshi for WBR and Liz Styles of ZSP. The show

0:23:25.240 --> 0:23:28.040
<v Speaker 2>is edited and executive produced by Ben Brock Johnson of

0:23:28.160 --> 0:23:32.600
<v Speaker 2>WBR and Zach Stewart Pontier of ZSP Media. If you

0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:35.399
<v Speaker 2>have questions about the case, the real people at the

0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:38.360
<v Speaker 2>center of this story, or anything else about this series,

0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:42.320
<v Speaker 2>we want to hear them. Email Beyond All Repair Pod

0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:47.080
<v Speaker 2>at gmail dot com, voice message, written message you do

0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:52.120
<v Speaker 2>you Beyond All Repair Pod at gmail dot com, and hey,

0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:54.520
<v Speaker 2>do me a favor. Will you tell someone you love

0:23:54.600 --> 0:23:57.600
<v Speaker 2>them and tell them about this show in that order?

0:23:58.480 --> 0:23:59.480
<v Speaker 2>Thank you for listening.

0:24:17.200 --> 0:24:21.800
<v Speaker 1>That's Beyond All Repair hosted by Amory Severertson. New episodes

0:24:21.880 --> 0:24:25.680
<v Speaker 1>drop Thursdays. Find it Wherever you're listening to this, let

0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:26.360
<v Speaker 1>us know what you think.