WEBVTT - Arkancide 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:18.885 School of Humans. The initially interviews were so short too, 0:00:18.965 --> 0:00:20.885 That's the thing. It was so short, so it was 0:00:20.925 --> 0:00:24.085 kind of just like she fell, this happened, It wasn't, 0:00:25.205 --> 0:00:29.165 you know. They just weren't in depth. So far this 0:00:29.245 --> 0:00:32.765 season we've been taking a deep dive into the official 0:00:32.805 --> 0:00:37.285 police file. But ask anyone around Marshall about Janie Ward's 0:00:37.325 --> 0:00:40.405 death and you'll hear a lot of stories and rumors 0:00:40.525 --> 0:00:43.565 that aren't noted anywhere in the official report. It was 0:00:43.605 --> 0:00:46.925 getting dark. The cops are busting up the party as 0:00:46.925 --> 0:00:49.285 soon as that announcement was made, and it wasn't clear 0:00:49.325 --> 0:00:51.725 whether it was right before right after during the chaos, 0:00:51.765 --> 0:00:54.645 but like you know, people start running. Everybody's throwing their 0:00:54.685 --> 0:00:57.165 boos and getting their car out of the air, throwing 0:00:57.205 --> 0:01:00.085 their you know, your primary concern at that point, if 0:01:00.085 --> 0:01:01.685 your teenager at a party are not supposed to be, 0:01:01.725 --> 0:01:03.685 is getting rid of your boos, that's it, and getting 0:01:03.725 --> 0:01:06.085 your house out of there. So it's a little more 0:01:06.165 --> 0:01:09.565 understandable that they might not have noticed her or thought 0:01:09.605 --> 0:01:13.565 there was anything too wrong, But still there were people 0:01:13.605 --> 0:01:15.325 who did know what was going on and who saw 0:01:15.365 --> 0:01:18.165 and who saw she and also seeing that she was 0:01:18.205 --> 0:01:21.445 that bad off, and they could hear her gasping for 0:01:21.485 --> 0:01:24.965 air and rattling, and they still threw in the back 0:01:25.005 --> 0:01:27.245 of the truck and left her back through for herself. 0:01:28.605 --> 0:01:32.325 We have interviews in the case file where party goers 0:01:32.485 --> 0:01:36.085 recounted the events that occurred the night Janie died, but 0:01:36.205 --> 0:01:40.725 some people, including Mike and Janie's family, have warned us 0:01:40.725 --> 0:01:43.685 that we can't necessarily trust the information in the case file. 0:01:44.765 --> 0:01:47.165 Some of the party goers were later caught in lies, 0:01:47.605 --> 0:01:51.085 which to some greed is not surprising. Remember this was 0:01:51.125 --> 0:01:54.605 a high school party with booze and weed. But to 0:01:54.645 --> 0:01:58.085 a lot of people in Marshall, Arkansas, US, relying solely 0:01:58.125 --> 0:02:00.965 on what we've learned from the official case file would 0:02:01.005 --> 0:02:06.125 be seen as naive. On September ninth, nineteen eighty nine, 0:02:06.245 --> 0:02:10.445 Janie Ward died under mysterious circumstances after collapsing at a 0:02:10.525 --> 0:02:14.285 high school party at a cabin in the woods near Marshall, Arkansas. 0:02:15.365 --> 0:02:19.125 Thirty years later, her death certificates, cause and manner of 0:02:19.165 --> 0:02:23.845 death are still listed as undetermined. It's been thirty years 0:02:24.565 --> 0:02:28.605 and no one can answer the question what killed Janie Ward. 0:02:29.685 --> 0:02:32.885 We're diving into the theory that a lot of people 0:02:32.925 --> 0:02:36.445 in Marshall still believe that Jane was hid in the 0:02:36.445 --> 0:02:40.005 face with a blunt force object, causing a catastrophic injury 0:02:40.045 --> 0:02:42.645 to her spinal cord, and that her death was covered 0:02:42.725 --> 0:02:47.205 up because it affected powerful families in Marshall, families with 0:02:47.245 --> 0:02:50.765 connections to people in the highest offices of Arkansas government. 0:02:51.765 --> 0:03:30.925 I'm Catherine Townsend and this is Helen Gone. Since Jane's death, 0:03:31.365 --> 0:03:35.645 rumors had been flying in the small town of Marshall, Arkansas, 0:03:35.765 --> 0:03:38.485 including the one that Jane got into a fight with 0:03:38.565 --> 0:03:42.285 a girl at the party. Sarah. Sarah was the polar 0:03:42.325 --> 0:03:45.605 opposite of Janey. Jannie was in the high school band, 0:03:45.845 --> 0:03:49.405 a member of Future Business Leaders of America. She worked 0:03:49.405 --> 0:03:54.125 as a waitress. Sarah was rich, popular, and a cheerleader. 0:03:54.805 --> 0:03:58.685 She won beauty pageants, and her father, Jerry, was a 0:03:58.725 --> 0:04:02.205 prominent judge in town. But a lot of people around 0:04:02.245 --> 0:04:06.685 town claim that Sarah's sweet facade hides a fiery temper. 0:04:08.085 --> 0:04:11.405 After Jannie's death, a news channel talked to two other 0:04:11.485 --> 0:04:14.525 teens who claimed that they had been assaulted by Sarah. 0:04:15.165 --> 0:04:18.485 One had her nose broken. In the week leading up 0:04:18.525 --> 0:04:21.765 to her death. Janie's parents said that she confided in 0:04:21.805 --> 0:04:24.645 them that she was having issues with several girls at school. 0:04:25.365 --> 0:04:27.605 Ron talked with Bill Beach about it. In a phone 0:04:27.645 --> 0:04:30.845 call with him. Ron starts by saying that no one 0:04:30.885 --> 0:04:33.725 at the party seemed to help Jannie. He could not 0:04:33.845 --> 0:04:39.405 one pad the hipper in any way. Yeah, I heard 0:04:39.445 --> 0:04:43.565 it like that. Uh, not a kick of her trend. 0:04:44.285 --> 0:04:47.325 Heir of fact. He would have a cowboy that very week, 0:04:47.445 --> 0:04:52.525 football with two of them, and poor girl up to 0:04:52.645 --> 0:04:55.925 pick her. He that has a coup whip, brought a ball. 0:04:56.285 --> 0:05:01.205 He'd come all juried. The welfare been up head, he 0:05:01.365 --> 0:05:03.765 bet daddy. But if they don't foot bug a man, 0:05:04.645 --> 0:05:08.805 he don't foot call and I her and I thought, 0:05:09.285 --> 0:05:16.925 I you. Ron is saying that Janie told him she 0:05:17.085 --> 0:05:20.405 was having issues with two girls at school. At first, 0:05:21.125 --> 0:05:23.845 Sarah is not the girl Ron suspects Janie was having 0:05:23.925 --> 0:05:28.005 problems with. But Sarah, along with Gary, Dawn and Billy, 0:05:28.765 --> 0:05:31.285 was one of only three people who claim to have 0:05:31.405 --> 0:05:34.365 seen Janie fall, and there was something else that made 0:05:34.405 --> 0:05:38.205 the word suspicious. Sarah changed her story about what happened 0:05:38.205 --> 0:05:42.285 at the party that night. She was interviewed twice. The 0:05:42.365 --> 0:05:47.365 first one was just a very short statement, like the 0:05:47.445 --> 0:05:49.525 rest of the kids, and they were all about sixteen 0:05:49.805 --> 0:05:53.005 at the time, most of them. And she said that 0:05:53.125 --> 0:05:54.325 she had been at the party with a couple of 0:05:54.365 --> 0:05:57.125 girlfriends and then later there was a Q and A 0:05:57.285 --> 0:06:00.125 with Bill Beach, and it was he went very easy 0:06:00.165 --> 0:06:04.365 on her, and it was very short, but basically she 0:06:04.485 --> 0:06:06.805 admitted that she lied that she'd been there with a 0:06:06.885 --> 0:06:09.205 couple guys and a girl. Looked like a sort of 0:06:09.285 --> 0:06:15.285 double date situation. And she said, you know, I said 0:06:15.325 --> 0:06:17.245 I was with those other people because I wasn't supposed 0:06:17.285 --> 0:06:18.845 to be out with the people as we And he 0:06:18.965 --> 0:06:20.645 was like, oh, that's fine, you clear that all up? 0:06:20.685 --> 0:06:22.285 You're fine. I mean he was he was really, really, 0:06:22.325 --> 0:06:25.445 really easy on her. In the interview tape, Beach fills 0:06:25.485 --> 0:06:28.165 in Sarah's sentences and says that the interview is just 0:06:28.205 --> 0:06:31.125 a formality. And at the beginning of the tape you 0:06:31.205 --> 0:06:34.365 can hear Sarah and her dad, Jerry, laughing about the 0:06:34.445 --> 0:06:37.445 rumors going on around the town. Oh yeah, do we 0:06:37.565 --> 0:06:49.245 talk about the daughter of the elected. I'll tell you what, Well, 0:06:49.245 --> 0:06:50.925 all we want to do is just go back over 0:06:51.005 --> 0:06:53.565 a few points and clarify, and that's how we're going 0:06:53.605 --> 0:06:56.245 to try to do. Is that anything you want to do. Okoy, 0:06:57.445 --> 0:07:00.885 just how wait can clarify something, Sarah, The first time 0:07:00.925 --> 0:07:03.645 you and I talk, you talk about being down there 0:07:03.725 --> 0:07:08.245 with concurring name brain and I I wasn't supposed to 0:07:08.285 --> 0:07:11.485 be with the person I was in. Okay, but you 0:07:11.685 --> 0:07:15.845 think you've corrected that now working each other. Beach says 0:07:16.205 --> 0:07:19.965 you've corrected that now, so we're in good shape. Initially, 0:07:20.285 --> 0:07:23.325 it seems troubling that Sarah changed her story, but I've 0:07:23.365 --> 0:07:25.605 also been a teen girl who was afraid of getting 0:07:25.645 --> 0:07:28.125 busted for sneaking out with a guy that my parents hated. 0:07:28.885 --> 0:07:32.325 In the second interview, Sarah gave a few more details 0:07:32.365 --> 0:07:36.405 about a conversation she had with Janie. This time, she 0:07:36.485 --> 0:07:39.525 said that Jane jokingly called her a snob at the party, 0:07:39.725 --> 0:07:42.085 and then I remember sing her getting out the truck 0:07:42.405 --> 0:07:44.685 walking forward to the house. She said hello, she said 0:07:44.725 --> 0:07:47.125 I snob. I thought, I'm sorry, I didn't see it. 0:07:47.925 --> 0:07:51.405 Janie may have been kidding, but to Janie's parents, this 0:07:51.565 --> 0:07:54.765 comment illustrated the difference between the people in power and 0:07:54.885 --> 0:07:58.245 the ones with none. Comparing Sarah's interviews to the ones 0:07:58.325 --> 0:08:00.685 of the other people at the party, I noticed She's 0:08:00.725 --> 0:08:02.685 the only one who says that it was dark when 0:08:02.765 --> 0:08:06.245 Janie fell. Most people say it happened and around dusk. 0:08:06.725 --> 0:08:09.605 She's also the only person who said that Janey appeared 0:08:09.645 --> 0:08:13.605 to be very intoxicated, but according to Jane's autopsy report, 0:08:14.405 --> 0:08:17.565 her blood alcohol level was only point zero five, or 0:08:17.605 --> 0:08:20.405 the equivalent of about one drink. And she said she's 0:08:20.845 --> 0:08:25.765 she was intoxicated when I saw her her she she 0:08:25.925 --> 0:08:30.245 acted in about pat well, that's the way everybody saw 0:08:30.325 --> 0:08:32.645 her as the party. I don't know if she acted 0:08:32.725 --> 0:08:36.645 that where she really was. Another rumor going around town 0:08:37.125 --> 0:08:38.965 was that a girl was heard in the bank parking 0:08:39.005 --> 0:08:41.805 lot on the night Janie died, saying that her daddy 0:08:41.805 --> 0:08:44.685 would get her out of trouble. This quote is cited 0:08:44.765 --> 0:08:48.605 in several newspaper articles, but it's never attributed to anyone 0:08:48.645 --> 0:08:51.605 in particular, and no one can figure out who actually 0:08:51.645 --> 0:08:54.885 said it first, but people start to assume it was Sarah. 0:08:55.285 --> 0:08:57.405 A lot of people it seemed like after everything happened 0:08:57.405 --> 0:08:59.525 at the party. The party, there was a rumor the 0:08:59.565 --> 0:09:03.165 party was getting busted. Everything happened with Jane, there was 0:09:03.445 --> 0:09:05.645 a crowd of people in that parking lot, and a 0:09:05.685 --> 0:09:07.525 lot of people ended up going to the Daisy Queen 0:09:07.725 --> 0:09:12.645 and hanging out, and then Sarah said that she also 0:09:12.845 --> 0:09:15.685 was in that parking lot, and he asked her something 0:09:15.725 --> 0:09:17.525 about did you see her, you know, when she's laying 0:09:17.565 --> 0:09:19.125 there in the back of the truck, and she said, yes, 0:09:19.325 --> 0:09:21.045 but I didn't touch her. And it was just a weird. 0:09:21.645 --> 0:09:23.565 It was just weird. It was it was just it 0:09:23.725 --> 0:09:26.365 just struck me as a lot the way she answered 0:09:26.365 --> 0:09:43.005 that question. We'll be right back. People also talked about 0:09:43.045 --> 0:09:46.125 hearing Sarah and her friends laughing about Jane at school. 0:09:46.925 --> 0:09:50.805 Attempts to find anyone who actually heard this information firsthand 0:09:51.205 --> 0:09:55.365 proved feudal. I experienced this several times in Rebecca's case, 0:09:56.005 --> 0:10:00.565 and it was extremely frustrating. Recently, I was getting some 0:10:00.645 --> 0:10:04.085 photos for Janie's case processed in Mountain View when someone 0:10:04.125 --> 0:10:05.925 pulled me aside and told me they you for a 0:10:06.005 --> 0:10:09.285 fact that a group of people had killed Rebecca. I 0:10:09.445 --> 0:10:11.325 know they did it because they described the whole thing. 0:10:11.405 --> 0:10:14.205 He said. They told me in detail, how they knocked 0:10:14.245 --> 0:10:17.245 every single tooth out of her mouth. I told him 0:10:17.245 --> 0:10:20.285 I'd seen Rebecca's autopsy report and their teeth were intact, 0:10:20.885 --> 0:10:23.845 but he continued to insist that I was wrong. This 0:10:24.045 --> 0:10:26.285 was only one of hundreds of rumors like this that 0:10:26.365 --> 0:10:31.925 I heard throughout the course of the case. Bill Beach 0:10:32.085 --> 0:10:35.685 tried to track down these rumors about Jane. One person 0:10:35.805 --> 0:10:38.485 claimed that a woman who worked at Marshall High School 0:10:38.805 --> 0:10:41.245 told her she heard Sarah talk about pushing Jane out 0:10:41.245 --> 0:10:44.605 of a moving pickup truck. But when Investigator Beach reached 0:10:44.645 --> 0:10:47.205 out to the woman, she said she never heard Sara 0:10:47.285 --> 0:10:49.885 say anything like that, and whoever told him that must 0:10:49.925 --> 0:10:53.165 be confused. But if Jane and Sarah did get into 0:10:53.205 --> 0:10:57.125 a fight, what would they have been fighting about. Janie's 0:10:57.165 --> 0:10:59.245 parents said that she had a problem at school with 0:10:59.325 --> 0:11:03.365 the cheerleaders, but many other witnesses say everyone like Janie. 0:11:04.325 --> 0:11:06.725 There was another rumor going on around that a fight 0:11:06.845 --> 0:11:10.725 broke out over a guy. According to Bill Beach's interview 0:11:10.805 --> 0:11:14.125 with Janie's friend Leslie, Janie had been dating a guy 0:11:14.205 --> 0:11:18.085 named Don shortly before her death. That's the same friend 0:11:18.125 --> 0:11:21.085 who said Janie borrowed her deaf leopard shirt and that 0:11:21.205 --> 0:11:23.485 Jane spent the night with her on Friday before the party. 0:11:23.725 --> 0:11:28.965 Does she have any boyfriends that she know? She liked 0:11:29.445 --> 0:11:33.165 this guy? Leslie said. Janie told her that she and 0:11:33.325 --> 0:11:35.885 Don had broken up a few weeks earlier because he 0:11:35.965 --> 0:11:38.365 thought she was too young for him and because he'd 0:11:38.405 --> 0:11:42.005 started seeing someone else. Jane had also mentioned i Leslie 0:11:42.085 --> 0:11:44.485 that she dated other people in the past, but said 0:11:44.525 --> 0:11:46.925 she wasn't dating anyone in particular at the time of 0:11:46.965 --> 0:11:50.005 the party. Anybody else was school. She talked about night, 0:11:50.165 --> 0:12:04.245 her girl day. She talked about pay in Ron's boxes. 0:12:04.845 --> 0:12:07.685 We find an that Janie passed to her friends at school. 0:12:08.525 --> 0:12:13.285 It reads, Hey girl, I'm so hyper, I can't wait 0:12:13.365 --> 0:12:16.725 until lunch. I'm going to be loud. Come get me 0:12:16.805 --> 0:12:20.885 tonight We'll paint Marshall read Oh. According to Carla and Tiffany, 0:12:20.965 --> 0:12:23.845 I'm in love with James just because I talked to him. Oh. 0:12:23.885 --> 0:12:26.125 I hate that they think you can't talk to a 0:12:26.165 --> 0:12:28.565 guy without having the hots for that guy. It's sickening, 0:12:28.845 --> 0:12:33.005 don't you agree. Like we said earlier, Jane didn't run 0:12:33.085 --> 0:12:36.365 with the popular crowd, and that was made explicitly clear 0:12:36.565 --> 0:12:39.885 in an interview with a woman named Sherry. She was 0:12:39.925 --> 0:12:42.965 at the party and described herself as a friend of Jannie's. 0:12:43.805 --> 0:12:46.765 The investigator asks her if it would be possible that 0:12:46.965 --> 0:12:50.645 Jane and Sarah were fighting over a boy no, ok now, 0:12:50.765 --> 0:12:52.805 quick as the guy that Sarah went to day would 0:12:52.805 --> 0:12:55.205 not look to one for at Alabia at all. You know, 0:12:55.685 --> 0:13:00.085 Sarah was pretty, she was a cheerleader. Wladyan Weaven's you know, 0:13:00.245 --> 0:13:04.925 by all girl, I would glasses. Now, there's no way 0:13:05.005 --> 0:13:09.205 that they be fine on the same way I go clear. 0:13:11.405 --> 0:13:15.685 After the funeral, Janie's dad, ron couldn't escape the whispers 0:13:15.725 --> 0:13:18.845 in town. And that's when he had what he claimed 0:13:19.045 --> 0:13:22.205 was a very strange run in with Sarah. What what'd 0:13:22.205 --> 0:13:25.285 you tell a story about that? So you were coming 0:13:25.325 --> 0:13:29.525 in and buying a baseball bat? Oh? Yes? A few 0:13:29.605 --> 0:13:33.925 days after Jennie's death, Ronnie went into Harps. Harps is 0:13:33.965 --> 0:13:37.765 the grocery store in town, and he went around the 0:13:37.805 --> 0:13:42.165 corner and there was Sarah looking at baseball bats. And 0:13:42.245 --> 0:13:46.805 when she saw Ronnie, it scared her immediately and she 0:13:47.085 --> 0:13:49.965 ran toward the door. I mean he just saw her 0:13:50.325 --> 0:13:53.765 and stopped short, you know, and she ran toward the 0:13:53.845 --> 0:13:58.845 door and backed out the door, looking at him and 0:13:59.045 --> 0:14:02.485 ran And because what are the odds the timing that, 0:14:02.845 --> 0:14:05.885 what are the odds? And I don't I'm I never 0:14:05.925 --> 0:14:11.485 believed to coincidences anyway, you know, But because of the nature, 0:14:11.565 --> 0:14:14.765 you know. He just he's like, you know, you can't 0:14:14.805 --> 0:14:16.685 make that stuff up. But he's like, I ain't even 0:14:16.685 --> 0:14:21.165 gonna tell anybody, you know, because it just sounds preposterous. 0:14:22.085 --> 0:14:26.765 At first, this does sound sinister, but as an investigator, 0:14:27.485 --> 0:14:30.405 I know that there's always a danger of making a 0:14:30.525 --> 0:14:33.325 theory fit the evidence instead of the other way around. 0:14:34.085 --> 0:14:36.525 But at the same time, you have to keep an 0:14:36.565 --> 0:14:40.845 open mind. The smallest detail in an investigation can lead 0:14:40.925 --> 0:14:44.285 to cracking a case, and that's why several instances throw 0:14:44.365 --> 0:14:48.205 me off guard. Bill Beach took a group of people 0:14:48.325 --> 0:14:51.485 to the cabin in the woods to demonstrate how Janie felt. 0:14:53.165 --> 0:14:56.685 Among them were Jay who threw the party, Ron Rose, 0:14:56.845 --> 0:14:59.365 who was driving the truck that took Jannie back to town, 0:15:00.205 --> 0:15:02.925 and Billy and Gary Dawn, who both said that they 0:15:03.005 --> 0:15:06.645 saw Janie fall. This is where marry Don backtracks on 0:15:06.725 --> 0:15:11.205 his statement. Originally he said that he saw Janeye fall. 0:15:12.045 --> 0:15:15.925 Now at the reenactment, he demonstrates what would have happened 0:15:15.965 --> 0:15:19.965 if he saw her fall. It's very odd. It's also 0:15:20.085 --> 0:15:23.685 strange that Sarah was not included in these reenactments, even 0:15:23.765 --> 0:15:25.765 though she's one of the only people who said she 0:15:25.845 --> 0:15:31.525 saw Janie fall. Also, police and prosecutors filed an affidavit 0:15:31.605 --> 0:15:34.685 for a search warrant for the cabin. Initially, it was 0:15:34.765 --> 0:15:37.885 denied by a judge. He approved it a couple of 0:15:37.925 --> 0:15:41.525 hours later. The judge who initially denied the search warrant 0:15:41.845 --> 0:15:45.525 was Sarah's dad, Jerry. It's just another small detail that 0:15:45.685 --> 0:15:48.605 made Ron and the rest of the Ward family distrustful 0:15:48.805 --> 0:15:52.245 of Sarah and Jerry. The Wards also thought that Jerry 0:15:52.325 --> 0:15:55.925 and Sarah were being treated better by police and by prosecutors. 0:15:56.805 --> 0:15:59.885 Jerry was a respected judge in town, and looking at 0:15:59.885 --> 0:16:02.805 the police file, we find a letter where the prosecutor 0:16:02.845 --> 0:16:06.765 on Jane's case, H. G. Foster, gives Jerry a heads 0:16:06.845 --> 0:16:12.805 up on information about Janie's case. It reads, enclosed, please 0:16:12.845 --> 0:16:15.245 find additional material which was furnished to me by the 0:16:15.325 --> 0:16:18.165 Arkansas State Police and appears to have something to do 0:16:18.325 --> 0:16:21.685 with the Jane Ward case. It appears that this will 0:16:21.725 --> 0:16:24.765 be included within the state police file and will become 0:16:24.845 --> 0:16:28.605 freedom of information. At that point, I feel certain that 0:16:28.765 --> 0:16:31.885 Ron Ward will call the newspapers and make everyone aware 0:16:31.925 --> 0:16:36.365 of these clearly unsubstantiated allegations concerning your daughter. I wanted 0:16:36.445 --> 0:16:38.925 you to have this material before any of the press 0:16:39.005 --> 0:16:41.445 got hold of it, and give you an opportunity to 0:16:41.485 --> 0:16:43.325 share your thoughts with me about what I need to do, 0:16:43.645 --> 0:16:47.005 if anything, with it. It is my inclination at this 0:16:47.125 --> 0:16:49.285 point that it would be best to go ahead and 0:16:49.365 --> 0:16:52.285 furnish copies of this material to the press so as 0:16:52.325 --> 0:16:55.205 to diffuse any allegations that will subsequently be made by 0:16:55.325 --> 0:16:58.125 Ronnie Ward of a cover up. On the other hand, 0:16:58.725 --> 0:17:01.005 I'm not going to do anything with it unless and 0:17:01.125 --> 0:17:07.005 until I hear from you. But when talking about ron Ward, H. G. 0:17:07.205 --> 0:17:10.565 Foster finds him more of a nuisance looking at the 0:17:10.645 --> 0:17:13.285 case file, there are a few examples of when the 0:17:13.365 --> 0:17:17.085 police and prosecutors grow exasperated by ron Ward's persistence in 0:17:17.165 --> 0:17:21.805 the case. In one letter, Foster calls ron Ward irate 0:17:22.205 --> 0:17:24.965 when describing him to another prosecutor who he wants to 0:17:25.005 --> 0:17:29.005 look into the case. It reads, I was wondering if 0:17:29.045 --> 0:17:31.325 he would still be interested in fooling around with the 0:17:31.405 --> 0:17:36.485 Janey Ward investigation. Investigation is in quotes. There's continued activity 0:17:36.845 --> 0:17:39.285 and rumbling up here from the father of Jane Ward, 0:17:39.605 --> 0:17:42.885 who is of American Indian extraction six foot six tall, 0:17:43.285 --> 0:17:48.325 two hundred and sixty pounds and very irate. The showdown 0:17:48.405 --> 0:17:52.085 between Jerry and Ron began to spiral after Ron launches 0:17:52.165 --> 0:17:55.005 the Justice for Janey website in the early two thousands. 0:17:56.005 --> 0:17:59.725 The forum quickly became a hotbed for speculation and accusation, 0:18:00.765 --> 0:18:04.005 and Jerry responded to allegations against him and his daughter. 0:18:05.085 --> 0:18:07.285 In one way comment on the forum, he says he 0:18:07.405 --> 0:18:10.285 wants to sue the Wards and the journalist Mike Masterson 0:18:10.525 --> 0:18:14.205 for libel and slander, and at one point he offers 0:18:14.285 --> 0:18:16.925 up ten thousand dollars to cover court expenses for a 0:18:16.965 --> 0:18:22.085 grand jury. In an interview with investigators, Jerry is exasperated 0:18:22.125 --> 0:18:24.925 by all of the Wards allegations. Then they started getching 0:18:24.965 --> 0:18:26.765 about a grand jury. We need a grand jury, and 0:18:26.845 --> 0:18:28.685 nobody has some line for grand heere. I said, hey, 0:18:28.685 --> 0:18:30.525 I'll give you the line for a grandjury. I'll give you. 0:18:31.245 --> 0:18:33.885 I'll give you ten thousand dollars. You match it. I 0:18:34.125 --> 0:18:38.285 all that. Well, they didn't do it. We're not going 0:18:38.325 --> 0:18:41.765 to do it. All right, let's just follow that logic. 0:18:43.485 --> 0:18:45.885 They're not going to assume me when I tell him, 0:18:46.245 --> 0:18:48.805 you know, let's do it. You know, I'm a sarious 0:18:49.725 --> 0:18:55.325 very serious. Uh doue me see my daughter, and let's 0:18:55.365 --> 0:18:56.805 get on with that and we'll see how it. I'll 0:18:56.805 --> 0:18:59.845 say that nantaisi incredit any evidence which comes out in 0:18:59.885 --> 0:19:03.405 a cub case, then pop, you're going to have that information. Hello, 0:19:04.405 --> 0:19:06.805 all right. So they didn't even want to do there, 0:19:06.885 --> 0:19:08.765 and then they start talking about a grand jury, and 0:19:08.845 --> 0:19:11.405 I said, okay, I'll go that way with you too. 0:19:11.645 --> 0:19:15.645 You mass the money? What did they do? Now? Why? Why? 0:19:16.125 --> 0:19:20.365 What's the logical conclusion? The logical conclusion is is that 0:19:20.525 --> 0:19:25.005 I want to why Why don't they want to because 0:19:25.045 --> 0:19:28.765 they want to keep the story going. Why because they 0:19:28.845 --> 0:19:31.685 want to make people feel that hell my daughter and 0:19:31.765 --> 0:19:34.125 I felt that says the damn thing. First sight. You 0:19:34.205 --> 0:19:37.125 can't make me feel any worse. So that's not the reason. 0:19:37.645 --> 0:19:40.725 Jerry suspects that the words don't have any incriminating evidence 0:19:40.765 --> 0:19:45.325 to accuse his daughter of anything. In his interview with investigators, 0:19:46.165 --> 0:19:49.605 Jerry said that Ron was ruining his daughter's life. They 0:19:49.685 --> 0:19:53.045 are so ridiculous that they have done nothing but enhance 0:19:53.205 --> 0:19:57.125 my faster and her. The person that's hurt by this 0:19:57.405 --> 0:20:02.365 is my daughter. I feel so bad for her. He 0:20:04.165 --> 0:20:14.885 quit coming home or not. She felt like people were 0:20:15.085 --> 0:20:18.285 talking about her I knew they were talking on the Wednesday. 0:20:21.885 --> 0:20:25.085 In the last episode, we talked about how Fammy Mallet 0:20:25.205 --> 0:20:28.885 botched autopsies and some people said he deliberately lied to 0:20:28.965 --> 0:20:33.525 cover up cases. Journalist Mike Masterson and the Wards think 0:20:33.565 --> 0:20:36.405 that Janey's death was covered up and that the cover 0:20:36.565 --> 0:20:38.445 up could have gone all the way to the top 0:20:38.485 --> 0:20:43.325 of Arkansas's government. Looking at the case file, Mike and 0:20:43.405 --> 0:20:47.445 the Wards both voiced their suspicions about how many pieces 0:20:47.485 --> 0:20:51.405 of mail were addressed to the Governor's office. They asked, 0:20:52.045 --> 0:20:54.445 why would the governor's office be interested in the death 0:20:54.485 --> 0:20:56.565 of a sixteen year old girl in a small town. 0:20:57.445 --> 0:21:00.925 We did find one peculiar envelope addressed to Ron Ward. 0:21:02.125 --> 0:21:05.885 Inside was a typed letter that offered the Wards of 0:21:05.925 --> 0:21:10.925 dollars to stop investigating. The return address was torn off 0:21:11.725 --> 0:21:14.565 as we try to separate fact from fiction. In Jennie's case, 0:21:15.205 --> 0:21:17.565 what we know for sure is that Marshall had become 0:21:17.605 --> 0:21:20.645 a breeding ground of paranoia and the Wards were under 0:21:20.725 --> 0:21:24.445 huge amounts of stress. You might say something about living 0:21:24.525 --> 0:21:28.245 there in that environment in Marshall, Chersey County. We might 0:21:28.325 --> 0:21:31.845 talk a little bit about why people wouldn't come forward, 0:21:33.125 --> 0:21:37.085 what what would keep them from coming forward to tell 0:21:37.125 --> 0:21:41.685 what they knew to authorities or to whoever it was, 0:21:41.805 --> 0:21:44.485 the law, the powers that be, and it went all 0:21:44.605 --> 0:21:47.205 the way to the governor, went all the way to 0:21:47.325 --> 0:21:52.045 the straight State crime Lab, which the governor ran. I mean, 0:21:52.125 --> 0:21:56.725 they covered all of his bodies. You know, they knew 0:21:56.725 --> 0:22:00.645 where the bodies were buried. Literally, you knew where all 0:22:00.685 --> 0:22:05.285 the bodies were buried. Literally, not only the witnesses. They 0:22:05.605 --> 0:22:09.125 threatened us. They even called our house and told my 0:22:09.285 --> 0:22:12.125 dad if he didn't quit looking into it, he had 0:22:12.165 --> 0:22:14.645 two other kids to worry about. Dad had to pull 0:22:14.725 --> 0:22:17.125 us out of school right after Johnny died. He did, 0:22:18.445 --> 0:22:20.605 and he took me in, Matthew out of school, my 0:22:20.645 --> 0:22:22.805 little brother, and we were out for quite a while. 0:22:23.005 --> 0:22:26.005 But over the years, you know, we all suffered from PTSD. 0:22:26.605 --> 0:22:29.565 But of course we were all paranoied and worried and 0:22:30.005 --> 0:22:34.445 freaking out and stuff. Because you're lose one daughter and 0:22:34.685 --> 0:22:37.405 you have some woman call your house and threaten your 0:22:37.445 --> 0:22:40.805 other two children if you investigate the death of your daughter. Now, 0:22:40.845 --> 0:22:43.405 if that doesn't make it suspicious, I mean, there was 0:22:43.485 --> 0:22:47.845 just death threats, you know, to witnesses, our family, reporters. 0:22:47.885 --> 0:22:51.325 You know it's all little paranoid or a lot of paranoid. 0:22:52.005 --> 0:22:54.765 Not so much meat, not so much Ronnie. But we 0:22:55.645 --> 0:22:57.565 was afraid to let our other two children out of 0:22:57.605 --> 0:23:05.485 our sight. Worried about a fire, about your house being burned. Yeah. Yeah, 0:23:05.725 --> 0:23:10.365 he didn't like to leave the house unattended because of 0:23:10.645 --> 0:23:13.925 his records and things. You know he did. He did 0:23:14.045 --> 0:23:16.805 get with him. It was like moving everywhere we went. 0:23:17.365 --> 0:23:19.925 We also reached out to several journalists who have covered 0:23:20.005 --> 0:23:24.325 Janney's case. One said he never received any threats, another 0:23:24.605 --> 0:23:28.965 stopped responding, and another said they received a voicemail box 0:23:29.085 --> 0:23:32.485 full of death threats for looking into Janie's death. All 0:23:32.565 --> 0:23:36.245 of them declined to give an interview with us. The 0:23:36.325 --> 0:23:40.405 Wards grew suspicious because Sarah's dad, Jerry, was the district judge, 0:23:41.165 --> 0:23:43.845 and they are convinced he called in a favor for 0:23:43.925 --> 0:23:48.565 his daughter. In his interview with police, Jerry calls the 0:23:48.805 --> 0:23:53.365 entire theory nonsense. I know that there are those who 0:23:54.805 --> 0:24:00.725 some kind of the cause of this rule. I can 0:24:00.845 --> 0:24:09.605 tell you now that no fact that supports the theory 0:24:09.685 --> 0:24:13.685 of the cover. What I will here that he is 0:24:13.805 --> 0:24:18.325 my belief, and my belief is that there are those 0:24:18.405 --> 0:24:23.005 individuals in this county who are either ignan are very, 0:24:23.205 --> 0:24:28.005 very envious and much better. And because my daughter were 0:24:28.165 --> 0:24:34.765 present at this particular party, they have created reasons to 0:24:35.285 --> 0:24:38.725 assess and point to her as being a principle as 0:24:38.805 --> 0:24:42.125 far as the build for this real concerned. He says, 0:24:42.245 --> 0:24:44.725 it's a ludicrous that anyone would think he has enough 0:24:44.805 --> 0:24:48.205 power in the state to cover up Janie's deaths. The 0:24:48.285 --> 0:24:55.125 point I have ludicrous this accusation. Our comment is is 0:24:55.205 --> 0:24:58.365 that I am supposed to be so powerful that I 0:24:58.525 --> 0:25:02.805 reach not only into the County Poor of Office and 0:25:02.925 --> 0:25:10.045 the city police department, but into the states as well 0:25:10.085 --> 0:25:18.445 as the governor of Arkansas. Are a very very powerful man, 0:25:18.685 --> 0:25:29.845 if you believe somehow. There's another word that keeps getting 0:25:29.885 --> 0:25:33.005 brought up in connection with Janie's death or any death 0:25:33.045 --> 0:25:36.765 when our Kansas suspect to cover up. It's called arkansis. 0:25:37.965 --> 0:25:40.725 Arkanss is the conspiracy theory that claims that people in 0:25:40.805 --> 0:25:43.845 the Arkansas government would kill their political enemies and have 0:25:43.925 --> 0:25:47.765 the medical examiner rule it a suicide. It's particularly linked 0:25:47.765 --> 0:25:50.165