Investigation: Homicide

Sometimes the best conversations are the unplanned ones. Our guest for tonight was under the weather this week, so hosts Therese Apel and Amanda Johansson are flipping the script and opening the floor. Episode 68, "You're the guest," is exactly what it sounds like. No case file, no set agenda, just the two of us talking with you about the stories that pull us in and keep us coming back. We are pul...

Some stories don't start in a courtroom or a case file. They start at a kitchen table, in a grandmother's voice, in a story carried quietly across generations because the truth was too heavy and too dangerous to say out loud.   In 1937, Roosevelt "Red" Townes and Robert "Bootjack" McDaniels were lynched in Duck Hill, Mississippi. It became one of the most photographed lynchings in American history...

This week on Investigation: Homicide:   An 18-year-old from West Memphis tells his mom he’s heading to the movies. Three days later he’s found in the Holly Springs National Forest. He’s 80 miles from home, shot multiple times, just yards off a remote county road.   Fredarrious Wilson was months from graduating. He wanted to be an architect. Instead he was lured across a state line into the woods b...

Tonight on Investigation: Homicide, Therese Apel and Sara Perkins Ricks sit down with author Charlie Spillers — a man whose life reads like the books he writes. Before he was a bestselling author, Spillers was an ex-Marine, an undercover agent, and a federal prosecutor, and he’s spent his career on both sides of the most dangerous corners of the law.   We’ll talk about Confessions of an Undercover...

First responders already know what it means to be strangers in a strange land — set apart by what they’ve seen, rewired by what they’ve carried. For those who also hold a faith life, there’s a second kind of strangeness layered on top of the first. In this episode, hosts Therese Apel and Amanda Johansson sit down with Clint Hatch, author of Keeping the Peace Within, to talk about what happens when...

They run toward the worst moments of our lives and then they go home and carry it alone. On the next Investigation: Homicide, Therese Apel and Sara Perkins sit down with Kristy Daniels, who knows that weight personally.   After losing her husband to suicide, Kristy didn't just grieve, she built something that would start to address the devastating and fatal metal health crises that first responder...

She was about eleven, washing dishes with fresh gashes up her arms and praying to die, when three officers answered a call for help. Two got pulled into an argument at the door. The third — a tall veteran officer whose name she never learned — knelt down and took her hands. That moment is the reason Jackson Police Department Capt. Barbara Folsom-McNeal wears a badge today.   Now, more than forty y...

Every courtroom tells a story, but rarely do we hear it straight from the bench.   This week, Nicole Kral and Therese Apel sit down with Justice Court Judge Marsha Weems Stacey for a candid conversation about what it really looks like to dispense justice at the community level. Judge Stacey pulls back the curtain on cases that have moved through her courtroom: the ones that stay with you, the ones...

 On April 24, 1996, an ordinary shift at Jackson Fire Department headquarters turned into one of the deadliest days in the department's history. Firefighter Kenneth Tornes walked the halls of the station he knew well, moving from office to office with deadly intent — targeting the men who wore the same uniform he did, the supervisors who had dedicated their lives to protecting others. When it was...

When a defense attorney steps into a case that has captured national attention, the stakes couldn’t be higher. On this episode of Investigation: Homicide, Jackson-based attorney Aafram Sellers joins Therese Apel and Nicole Kral for an in-depth conversation about representing Brett McAlpin, the alleged ringleader in Mississippi’s infamous “Goon Squad” case. Sellers offers a rare look at the legal s...

Tonight on Investigation: Homicide, we revisit the case of Alex Easterling, a missing man from Pickens whose disappearance continues to raise questions for his family and community.   Joining us is his mother, Ashley Martin, who shares the latest developments in her son’s case and the ongoing search for answers. She also discusses new efforts she’s leading to support other families facing the hear...

A woman's body is found in the road in Rankin County. No one knows how she got there. Was it a hit-and-run? An accident? Investigators are left with more questions than answers — until the phone rings. Tonight, hosts Therese Apel and Sara Perkins sit down with Rankin County Coroner David Ruth, who worked the case as a Brandon Police officer, to talk about the night Sonja Stapleton was found and th...

Tonight on Investigation: Homicide, Therese Apel breaks down the latest developments in the murder trial of Ming Chen Hsiao. The case centers on Quinton Tellis, also known as the primary suspect in the Jessica Chambers case, as the first week of testimony wrapped Friday in a bench trial that has already raised serious questions. Joining the conversation tonight is defense attorney Lance Mixon of S...

This week on Investigation: Homicide, hosts Therese Apel and Nicole Kral sit down with Sheriff Tyree Jones, who takes us back to his days as a Jackson Police Department detective working the 2007 murder of Lyneil Deshun Vaughn. Vaughn, who was disabled, was found burned and rolled up in a blanket — the tragic end to a horrific crime that began as a kidnapping. Three suspects were ultimately charge...

Mississippi’s fight over first responder retirement benefits is heating up at the Capitol — and tonight we’re breaking down what it means for the people on the front lines.   On this episode of Investigation: Homicide, hosts Therese Apel and Nicole Kral are joined by Southern States Police Benevolence Association President Andy Matuszewski, also known to many in law enforcement as “Ski.” Matuszews...

On this episode of Investigation: Homicide, Therese Apel and Amanda Johansson sit down with Byron Swilley, sheriff of Copiah County, to take a deep dive into the case of Jack Donald Cole — a case that raises difficult questions about self-defense, property rights and the limits of Mississippi’s Castle Doctrine.   Jesse James Chapman knew someone had been slipping onto his property to steal catalyt...

August 2025: Two front doors kicked in. Two men shot multiple times inside their own homes. One suspect who would ultimately confess to both killings. Tonight on Investigation: Homicide, Therese Apel and Nicole Kral Woods sit down with Rankin County Investigator Tyler Burnell to walk through the chilling case that stunned Rankin and Madison counties and ended with a rare courtroom moment: a double...

Human trafficking is dominating headlines around the world — dramatic rescues, sweeping arrests, viral claims. But what does human trafficking actually look like here in Mississippi? On tonight’s episode of Investigation: Homicide, hosts Therese Apel and Amanda Johansson sit down with Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Favian Jones, the supervisor of her Human Trafficking Task Force, for...

Tonight on Investigation: Homicide, brought to you by The Southern Connection Police Supplies, we sit down with Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace to revisit a case that, more than two decades later, still weighs heavily on his mind — the death of Angela Shires Barrentine. In November 2004, the 27-year-old Vicksburg mother left home the evening before Thanksgiving to pick up cigarettes. She never r...

Tonight’s episode of Investigation: Homicide steps away from case files, crime scenes, and criminals to focus on something many first responders quietly rely on every day: faith. Tonight, Therese Apel and Amanda Johansson will host Clint Hatch, an investigator with the Rankin/Madison District Attorney’s Office, for an honest conversation about belief, resilience, and the importance of protecting m...

Tonight on Investigation: Homicide, the focus turns to one of the most disturbing and complex fronts in modern law enforcement: Internet Crimes Against Children. The episode features Jay Houston, a veteran investigator who spent more than two decades confronting online child exploitation in Mississippi and around the world. Houston now serves as director of training for the Child Rescue Coalition,...

Mississippi’s first responders are pushing back as lawmakers debate the future of public employee retirement during the current legislative session. In this episode of Investigation: Homicide, we sit down with Reservoir Fire Chief Josh Swales to break down what Tier 5 of the Public Employees’ Retirement System really means for those on the front lines. Set to apply to new hires beginning March 1,...

On this episode of Investigation: Homicide, host Therese Apel and Nicole Kral are joined by veteran Memphis-area journalist Ron Maxey to revisit one of the most haunting and high-profile cases in the Mid-South: the 2014 murder of Jessica Chambers.   Both Apel and Maxey covered the case from its earliest days, when the Panola County teenager was found burned alive on a remote rural road — a crime t...

It’s a day Mississippi will never forget. October 1, 1997, a nerdy teenager walked into a high school and changed everyone’s life forever. We talk with Greg Eklund, who was an investigator with the Rankin County Sheriffs Dept at the time. Eklund takes us through the events leading up to that day and what the ripple effect has been over time.       This episode is produced by Daniel Anderson at Aud...

In the inaugural episode of Investigation Homicide, Therese and Nicole explore the case of an intelligent and manipulative teenager who killed her mother in cold blood through the eyes of Assistant District Attorney Michael Smith, who was tasked with prosecuting her. The Investigation Homicide team examines this sensational case beyond the national headlines. This episode is produced by Daniel And...