WEBVTT - Coming Clean 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:14.000 Okay, big day. That's let's go to Kilbert, YEP. 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:16.600 I got everything I need. 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:25.680 It's September sixteenth, twenty twenty one. Kelsey and I spent 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.440 the night at a Best Western in Okeechobee, Florida. Neither 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.760 of us slept great giving the anticipation, but we pack 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.879 up and hit the road, heading toward Martin Correctional Institution. 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:49.320 Kenny's toward US four forty one south, US ninety eight south. 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:56.960 Did you see that sign? Or prayer is the best 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:00.000 way to meet God? Trespassing is. 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.200 Continue on Florida seven ten east for four miles. 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:10.440 I think this is really beautiful outier though. 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:13.600 Yeah. 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.640 It's been almost three years since we started working on 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:20.160 this story, and today we will finally be meeting with 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:25.520 Jeremy Scott. Driving the Martin Correctional Institution. We're in and 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:29.520 out of cell service range, but every time service returns, 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.319 my phone buzzes. I'm getting messages of support from everyone 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.640 who knows where we're heading. One of the texts is 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:41.440 from Chrissy. She offers a prediction about Jeremy's mood and disposition. 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:45.720 I think he'll be sweet, she tells me, and as 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.640 we drive, Kelsey and I are thinking about all of 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.240 the people we've talked to over the past three years, 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:55.520 people whose lives have been devastated by the violence and 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:59.120 the grief at the heart of the story. And I'm 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:03.160 thinking about the people who, despite that, or maybe because 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:07.520 of that, urged us to keep going, to keep pushing 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:12.480 and investigating. Like Jesse Som, Michelle's brother. 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:17.160 I want you guys to find the truth. I mean, whatever, 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.240 and however long it takes, it'll just bring peace to me, 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.160 you know what I mean. And that can leave this 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.080 world knowing that at least it was solved and I 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:29.760 know for a fact what happened. 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.320 And we're thinking about dan Odie, who has tried not 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:38.560 once but twice for the murder of cab driver Joseph Lavere, 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.520 a murder Jeremy Scott seems to be responsible for. 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.640 I would love to just show everybody, you know, no 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.919 matter what you think this is, this is really who 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:49.240 did it? 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.320 Now, Now y'all can rest your thoughts about me, because 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:53.560 I'm not that way, never been. 0:02:55.560 --> 0:03:01.160 That would be great, Right, we're ten minutes out. 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:02.760 How are you feeling. 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:07.239 I feel really good about this. I feel like we've 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:11.080 done all the preparation. We know so much. It's really 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.600 just going to be about making him feel comfortable and 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:17.800 just sort of establishing some kind of trust. 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:21.120 I mean, that's how you're feeling about how it's going 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:23.760 to go. How are you feeling about the fact that 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:25.880 we're finally sitting down with this person. 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:29.880 I don't know. It's like every day I just kept 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.359 checking my email, but you know, now here it is 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.440 an hour away from meeting him, and we're you know, 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.360 we have no none of those kind of emails saying 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:40.800 it the trips off. So I feel really good. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:46.640 That's still all logistical stuff. What I mean, we're sitting 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:53.920 down with the person who killed Michelle, killed three other people. 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:59.120 Is you know, to some degree the reason Leo has 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:04.760 spent the past thirty three years in prison. 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.000 Yeah, I mean I think that's probably the reason why 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:14.200 I'm talking about logistical stuff, because you know, this is 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.520 really painful when you think about it, all the people 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:20.720 that we've met over the years whose lives have been 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:24.279 damaged because of what Jeremy did. That's going to be 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.120 the part that you know, it's in the back of 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.760 your mind, but I try to, like, I feel like 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:33.320 I just want to focus on him and be sort 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.920 of empathic to him so that he's in a talking mode. 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.680 So I'm trying to like put all that stuff in 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:42.520 a compartment because it's just so painful. 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:45.240 That makes sense. 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:52.000 Your destination is on the left. Okay, there's but. 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:10.920 All right, let me just go up there and take 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:11.200 a look. 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:18.599 Well here, it's just hitting me that we are not 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:33.360 here to meet Leo. We are here doctor Jeremy pulling 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.440 up here and getting everything together. That kind of seems 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:44.680 routine as we've gone to see Leo so many times, but. 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:44.719 This is super different. 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.719 Actually getting a little nervous. 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.520 We've been preparing for this interview for the past three weeks, 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.440 but we've been hoping it would happen for the past 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:06.520 three years, and we've been fishing for advice from anyone 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.360 who'd come to know Jeremy or who'd spoken to him 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:13.240 in any capacity over the years. We spoke to private 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:18.200 investigator Pat McKenna, Judge Scott Cupp, and Leo's current lawyers 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:19.480 Andrew Crawford. 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:19.800 And Seth Miller. 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.120 They all think that the letters Jeremy's been writing to 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.800 me are an indication that he's ready to open up. 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:31.880 But it's Leo's advice that resonates with us the most. 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:34.599 I talked to him on the phone before going in 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:35.560 to see Jeremy. 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:43.400 The state has passed us as opponents in the chess game. Yeah, 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:47.120 I'm not trying to play chess. I'm not trying to 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:51.400 pin something on him. That's not my objectives. We're out 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.600 the truth, you know, and he's the one that supplied 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:57.400 the truth, you know. But I would really like him 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:01.960 to know and feel that myself and those who represent 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:07.599 me are you know, concerned for his well being as well. 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:08.000 You know. 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.640 We want to feel safe enough to tell the truth 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.600 to not you know, have to cover things up. 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:21.360 It's almost exactly like Marty or at Chardy. Same front 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:23.920 doors and the pathrooms are right across the way. We 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:27.280 arrive at Martin, and this place looks remarkably similar to 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:30.280 Hardy CI, where Leo is housed and where we've gone 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:31.560 through the security. 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:32.600 Process half a dozen times. 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:37.640 It's another giant concrete complex surrounded by tall fences and 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:42.840 lots of barbed wire. We get to security and the 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:46.160 guards give us the personal body alarms, the little devices 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:48.360 with the button were supposed to press in an emergency. 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.280 We loop it through our belts and hand over our IDs. 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.120 The warden meets us and leads us to a room 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.280 where the interview will take place. We don't know what 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.280 to expect. We don't know if Jeremy will be shackled 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:04.480 and cuffed, or if a guard will stay in the 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:08.520 room with us. I'm not expecting Hannibal Lecter in a 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.640 mask to be wheeled in, but I'm aware that Jeremy's 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:15.200 attack guards and nurses at various facilities across the state. 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:20.280 He's known to act out in unpredictable ways. As the 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:23.000 warden leaves, he tells us to be careful not to 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.760 let the inmate touch the door, because there's a latch 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:28.840 near the knob that, if flipped, would leave us locked 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:29.400 in the room. 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:30.440 Alone with him. 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:32.679 I can't even tell if he's fucking with us. 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:35.520 He definitely wasn't fucking with us. 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:39.040 It's just. 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:42.360 Well, he just wint of got the impression that they 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:44.720 were just gonna drop him off in the in the room. 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:47.280 And that's when I got a little nervous, because I'm like, oh, 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:49.679 I responsible for Kelsey. He's gonna be sitting in a 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:51.280 room with kel you know. I don't know how that's 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.560 gonna go. I mean, I try this, we don't need orus. 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:58.360 This one's better. You know, there was two different kinds 0:08:58.400 --> 0:08:59.880 of chairs there. I'm like, all right, the one that 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.079 locks him in a little bit better. And I was like, well, 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.040 let's just put one with arm rest on there. I'll 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:05.400 just make it a little bit harder for him to 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:09.240 jump over the table to get to us. I'm just 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:10.520 trying to think about this stuff. 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:15.680 It's situated like you. 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.760 I'll probably be exactly like this, like leading in talking 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:29.400 to him. Decided, Yeah, Jeremy, thanks for coming. Testing one 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:34.760 two three, Testing one two three. I'm gonna probably if 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:36.600 he comes in, I'll get up and greet him and 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:37.199 shake hands, and. 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:37.760 I think you should. 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:38.760 It's just tastyated. 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:44.880 I'm nervous now. 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:50.600 He ever, buttons. 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:54.560 Hopefully work. 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:01.680 Shore. 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:02.920 You don't want to do this about them? 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:04.840 Yeah, I'm positive, cause. 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.719 You can't leave me alone in here with them at 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:08.240 any point. 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:09.440 No, I'm not going to do it. 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:13.160 Don't worry if you need to go now go. 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:31.120 Now understood, sweeps gonna be sweet. 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:49.360 He should he's coming, Hi, Jermy. 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:58.160 Bone Valley chapter nine, coming clean. 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:13.920 Hi, I'm gonna be going around and. 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:17.840 This is Kelsey. 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:19.040 Let's think him. 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:21.360 If you would sit over here and we'll we can 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:21.800 talk to you. 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:28.400 He's about six foot, he's pretty slender build, has blue eyes. 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:34.199 And if you're comfortable with it removing your mask, we're 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:34.959 fine with that too. 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:36.719 Yeah. 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.440 They just made me, made me when he got a shave, 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:42.960 and still they just made they made me go get 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:43.680 all this new. 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:45.400 Clothes on and stuff just for y'all. 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:49.880 Are you kidding? You know, he's a tall guy, and 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.760 he's obviously can be imposing. And you know, when they 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:58.760 brought him in, he was not cuffed for some reason. 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:00.960 I don't know. I just I never felt threatened by him. 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.319 I didn't. He did not strike me as someone who 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:05.360 is going to be dangerous. And I think that was 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:07.520 his body language, you know, shaking his hand, he just 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:10.559 kind of like just sort of disappeared into himself. It 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:14.680 was a very loose handshake. Yeah, all his confidence and 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.520 everything that he might have thought about himself as a 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.280 young man is just gone. I feel felt sorry for 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:24.120 him really physically looking at him, he just seemed like 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.600 a shell of a of a man at this point. 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:31.800 Because really gonna do for me? Yeah, I mean, my 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:32.480 life here. 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:33.880 Is is just what he did, you know. 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:37.280 Yeah, how do you like Martin so far? Do you 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:38.000 feel safer here? 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:42.880 Not really, but I guess I never feel safe in prison. 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:46.960 Yeah. Yeah. One of the things Kelsey and I had 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:50.480 discussed in preparation for this interview was the intention to 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:54.760 follow Jeremy's lead. And everything we'd seen Jeremy had been 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:58.160 questioned by someone with a specific goal or agenda, a 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:00.079 detective or a lawyer who wants to get to the 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:04.640 bottom of something, a prosecutor looking for a particular story. 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:06.840 We wanted him to know that this would be different. 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:08.920 Of course, we had things. 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.400 We wanted to find out and leads we'd be itching 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.240 to follow, but we wanted Jeremy to be at ease. 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:16.640 We wanted to give him the freedom to tell his 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.640 story the way he wanted to tell it. We wanted 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.240 him to know that we were interested in him and 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:27.080 everything that entails. But that also means that sometimes, in 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.120 the middle of talking about one thing, he might pivot. 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:35.480 This happened pretty early in the interview. Jeremy casually mentions 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:38.760 the taxicab driver as he's telling us about an interaction 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.360 he had with his mother's boyfriend back in nineteen eighty seven. 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.400 He knew about it. He knew about the taxicab driver 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:48.920 because I told him here touch my mom, aw kill him. 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:54.000 And I meant that, right. I'm just trying to straight up, right. 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:58.120 I might have been a little drinking at that particular 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:01.800 day right on, that kind of slipped. 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.600 But we'd been hoping the taxi cab driver would come 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:09.240 up in conversation. We didn't want it to feel confrontational. 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:12.400 So when he brings it up, we follow his lead. 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.000 Can you talk a little bit. You mentioned the taxi story, 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.120 and I'm just curious, like how that started. Can you 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:19.360 just start that from the beginning. 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:27.960 Well, that happened, right, I haven't Right after Schofield, we 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:28.480 want to. 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:32.680 Ask more about Michelle, but for now we keep Jeremy 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:34.120 talking about the cab driver. 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.120 I mean, you know, like I said, I broke into 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:42.040 a house. I'm scared to dead. This begun on me, 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:43.160 you know. 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.080 So Jeremy mentions the same details he'd revealed in his 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.400 letters about finding the gun at a cops house. He 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:54.800 broke into an old three point fifty seven magnum. But 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.600 then he starts getting into more of a narrative and 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.440 his story it fits with the information we already knew 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:03.160 about the case. 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:07.720 So when I called it task and he took me 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:11.480 down there, and I was just gonna rob him. But 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.640 when I pointed the gun, I guess it just touched it. 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:15.880 Boom, you know. 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.400 It was it was like midnight. But then I got 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:26.720 a Task cab turn turned the car around. I was 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.440 kind of speeding, went over the tracks and I turned 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:33.400 and the car slid, you know because when the old 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:36.360 yellow taxi cab got they got the old. 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:36.800 Inches in it. 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:40.840 But then the car cat sliden, you know, and and 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.080 hit the side of a car, and another car hit 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:46.560 that car, and the Task cab hit hit the pole 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:47.800 right and. 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.560 He runs his fingers across the table, drawing the streets 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:55.360 of Intercession City, and he uses his hands to show 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:59.920 us the route the taxicab traveled before it crashed, jarring. 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:04.360 He's hastily drawn tabletop map matches what we've been able 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:08.680 to piece together. But the most striking parts aren't the 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:13.320 details Jeremy's describing here. It's the way he's telling it, 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:16.560 shifting in his seat to mimic the feel of the 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:20.800 car as it slides into a crash. He's moving his 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:25.080 body as though he's reliving it. It feels like we're 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.600 in the car with him. I can't imagine a lie 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:34.400 being so embodied. Jeremy explains how after he hits the pole, 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.360 he jumps out of the taxi and sees a group 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.600 of people moving toward him to see if anyone is hurt. 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:43.800 But I yelled at I got the car. I said, 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:46.720 y'all run runs from a blow, right, And everybody just 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:48.680 took off running. I don't wanted to see my face. 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:50.600 So that's how it took all. 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:54.280 Did when you've crashed the cab, you thought it was 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:55.920 it might blow up. 0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:02.000 Yeah, hit the light bolt, which is like sparking. 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:05.800 Nobody wants to take a chance. 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:10.520 This all matches what we know about the case. Witnesses 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:14.200 told the same story. One of the things we wanted 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.399 to know more about is that black hat found in 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.040 the taxi cab, the one with the skull and the 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:21.160 Confederate flag that was left on the back seat. 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:23.480 But we don't even have to bring it up. 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:28.600 I have a hat, and blonged to my cousin Jason Scott. Right, 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.639 he did now, right, but the head of the namement right, 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.080 and I left it in the car. I gave him 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.800 that kind of much evidence. I said, why would anything 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:40.280 in my family be in that car? 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:42.359 Almost straight up about it. 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:46.399 Jeremy seems shocked he never got caught. After killing the 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.920 cab driver and crashing the cab, he runs off into 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:51.919 the woods, and he says he hit out in an 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:56.520 empty house in Intercession City. He laid there for hours 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:59.879 under a blanket, just waiting for the police dogs to 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:00.920 come and sniff him out. 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:03.800 I know it sooner later, it's going to come back 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:07.280 helm me. No, I just wait for It's a matter 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:07.640 of time. 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:13.920 But the dogs and the deputies they never come. Nothing 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:17.520 comes back on him, and it's unclear if it ever will. 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.679 Jeremy is now given a full confession to the murder 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:25.440 of Joseph Laver, a confession to a thirty five year 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:30.320 old cold case. It's a remarkable moment, but given everything 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:35.840 we've been through, everything we've seen, not a terribly surprising one. 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:40.239 He'd already spontaneously confessed to his girlfriend Jamie Nellams more 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.960 than three decades ago, and his brother, Royal Dean seemed 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:47.440 to be aware of it too. Jeremy had casually brought 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.280 it up to two investigators from the State as though 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.119 he was trying to see what they knew, But the 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:57.240 investigators laughed him off, and in a letter he'd written 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:01.560 to me, Jeremy had revealed some seriously incriminating information about 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:05.199 the murder. We'd taken this evidence to the Ninth Circuit 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:09.040 State Attorney's office in the Osceola County Sheriff's Office more 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:13.840 than once. Even before this full confession, I thought for 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:17.320 sure we'd collected enough to convince someone in power to 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:21.240 look into the physical evidence collected from the crime scene. 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:25.360 I mean, during the original investigation of the murder, fingerprints 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.399 were lifted from the taxi cab and hair was plucked 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:32.800 from the seats. The fingerprints and the hare could match 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:37.080 to Jeremy, but the Sheriff's office never got back to 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:40.199 us about whether or not they test the evidence, or 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:47.360 if it still exists, whether the state will do anything 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.320 to officially close this case, clearing dan Odie's name and 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:55.160 bringing closure to the family of Joseph Lavere. That's yet 0:19:55.200 --> 0:20:00.600 to be seen. And in the meantime, here's Jeremy freely 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:08.040 admitting to the unsolved murder. He's coming clean, but if 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.760 nothing comes of it, it won't be the first time 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.720 in Jeremy's life that his efforts to tell the truth 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.760 were disregarded by the State of Florida. 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.399 Hi, I'm Jason Flamm, CEO and founder of Lava for 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:30.840 Good podcasts, home to Bone Valley, Wrongful Conviction, The War 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.440 on Drugs, and many other great podcasts. Today we're asking you, 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.560 our listeners, to take part in a survey. Your feedback 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:40.480 is going to help inform how we make podcasts in 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:43.440 the future. Your complete and candid answers will help us 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:47.119 continue to bring you more insightful and inspiring stories about 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:50.280 important topics that impact us all. So please go to 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:53.879 Lava for Good dot com slash survey and participate today. 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:55.600 Thank you for your support. 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:04.359 Bone Valley is sponsored by Stand Together. Stand Together is 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:08.480 a philanthropic community that partners with America's boldest change makers 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:11.600 to tackle the root causes of our country's biggest problems, 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:17.119 including the broken criminal justice system. Weldon Angelos is one 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:20.160 of those change makers. At the age of twenty three, 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.280 Weldon was arrested for a first time offense of selling 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:27.240 weed to a confidential informant. At the time, he was 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:32.159 a budding musician spending time with artists like Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Pink, 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:35.720 and Gnase. His entire life was ahead of him when 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:38.399 he was sentenced to a mandatory fifty five years in 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:43.640 federal prison without the possibility of early release. After serving 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:48.200 thirteen years, a bipartisan effort led to him getting officially pardoned. 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:53.240 Upon his release, he founded the Weldon Project, a nonprofit 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:56.600 working to create better outcomes for those still in prison 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:00.800 that funds social change and provides financial aid for all 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:04.639 those who were still serving time for cannabis related offenses. 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:09.160 Weldon Angelos is one of the many entrepreneurs partnering would 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:14.480 stand together to drive solutions in education, healthcare, poverty, and 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:18.240 criminal justice. To learn more about the War on Drugs, 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:22.080 listen to the War on Drugs podcast on Apple Podcasts 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:30.960 or wherever you get your podcasts. 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:41.200 For a few minutes, I just want to talk about 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:45.320 John Aguero. Part of our investigation is into. 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:46.160 Some of the things that we said. 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:49.080 I wanted to ask Jeremy about the meeting he'd had 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:52.480 with the prosecutor in two thousand and five. That was 0:22:52.520 --> 0:22:56.040 the meeting that motivated John Aguero to close the investigation 0:22:56.160 --> 0:23:01.800 into Jeremy for the murder of Michelle Schofield. During that meeting, 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:06.240 Jeremy was brought from state prison into John Aguero's office. 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:10.800 There were no witnesses present, and Aguero did not record 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:14.959 the meeting, so we only have John Aguero's account, the 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:19.320 one he testified to at Leo's evidentiary hearing in twenty ten. 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:24.920 Now I want to hear Jeremy's side of the story. 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:28.640 What kind of things do was Aguero telling you? When 0:23:28.640 --> 0:23:30.960 they said, oh, we found your fingerprints in this car? 0:23:31.160 --> 0:23:32.120 How that will come out? 0:23:33.080 --> 0:23:35.480 He said, what was What was you doing with car? 0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:39.159 I said, I break in cars, I mean, and the 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:41.520 ain't no secret what I do on the streets, you know. 0:23:43.640 --> 0:23:47.080 I told them basically everything I tell everybody else. What 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:49.919 I couldn't use, I'm throw in the trash, you know, 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:51.880 clean the car out the best I could. 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:52.720 You know. 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:53.560 That's why I said. 0:23:53.720 --> 0:23:56.439 I was probably when they said it pump run and 0:23:56.560 --> 0:24:00.480 only a shield, But that's when I jerk dack stereo 0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:01.240 out in there. 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:08.400 Jeremy, do you remember anything about John Aguero offering you immunity. 0:24:07.320 --> 0:24:12.120 He offered to sit on my hearing. He said, well 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:14.520 he has he has a. 0:24:14.400 --> 0:24:15.640 Lot of influence. 0:24:16.800 --> 0:24:18.720 Pro hearing calm and it never happens. 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:24.920 But he didn't mention immunity, like, he didn't say, no, 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:29.080 if you confess right now to killing Michelle, we won't 0:24:29.160 --> 0:24:29.920 charge you. 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:32.400 You have immunity. He never said anything like that. 0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:35.439 No, he won't do that. He won't do that, So 0:24:35.520 --> 0:24:35.920 he didn't. 0:24:35.960 --> 0:24:37.840 He didn't. You didn't ever hear him say that you 0:24:37.880 --> 0:24:38.520 have immunity. 0:24:39.320 --> 0:24:41.480 Okay, Oh he said it was I'm gonna be sitting 0:24:41.480 --> 0:24:43.480 on your hearing. He said, what I say on that 0:24:43.560 --> 0:24:47.720 hearing goes long ways, and he said, it's your freedom, 0:24:47.960 --> 0:24:49.200 and that's that's enough for me. 0:24:50.880 --> 0:24:54.680 We asked Jeremy about immunity three times because we want 0:24:54.720 --> 0:24:58.640 to be sure he understands. This is an important point. 0:24:59.200 --> 0:25:02.320