Innocence Advocate

Twenty years ago, one of Stephan's brothers did not take the stand to testify in his defense. He was stripped of the opportunity to defend his brother because he was threatened by the prosecutor. Now, he is finally getting the chance to speak.

After everything that took place during the five and a half years of investigation, and two trials, the end result was overwhelming in its finality. It did not seem real that someone could be convicted with such little investigation and such little evidence.

In this episode, you will hear about Stephan's time at police headquarters for his interrogations. The problem is that not one second of his time in interrogation room one was recorded with video or audio. We have no proof of the alleged conversation beyond the detective's memory and summarized notes, but even those were proving to be faulty recollections.

In this episode you will hear about the man who confessed to the crime, more than once, and how this confession was hidden by the police for three years. When they finally turned the confession over during the trial, it proved that the former lead detective perjured himself.

In this episode you will learn about the man who threatened to kill the victim months before her death. He lived in her neighborhood, he openly disliked her, and he was never considered a suspect. You will also learn about some other individuals who were suspicious but not investigated fully.

This episode covers the DNA that was collected and used against Stephan. Was it enough to connect him to the murder, or did it only emphasize the fact that he lived next door to the victim?

In this episode, you will hear about Stephan's traumatic arrest, and why the detectives decided to trick a mentally ill man in order to lure him out of his home and arrest him.

In this episode, we will look at what was taking place that could have resulted in Stephan being someone the detectives wanted to investigate. But was it enough to label him the prime and only suspect?

In this episode, you will learn what we know from the day leading up to the crime, what the neighbors witnessed that night, the medical cause of death, and what investigative work was conducted during the first three days. In the end, none of this information pointed to Stephan as the killer.

Episode one will break down Stephan's life: his childhood to his conviction, specifically as it relates to his mental illness and eventual schizophrenia diagnosis.