transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] If you want a deeper look behind My Mother's Lies, now's the time. Join our free newsletter at patreon.com/thebinge, and get exclusive story details you can't get anywhere else. Again, that's patreon.com/thebinge. Thanks for being a subscriber to The Binge. Don't forget, your subscription includes access to over 60 jaw-dropping true crime series, ready to binge and full and ad-free right now. Plus, you get a binge drop of a brand new story on the first of every month. Visit The Binge channel on Apple Podcasts or getthebinge.com to explore all the great shows included in your subscription. Enjoy this episode of My Mother's Lies. Every murder trial tells a story. What happened? Who did it? How did it happen? Even why it happened? When there's strong corroborating evidence, that story is anchored to fact. But when there isn't, when the physical proof is missing, when there's nothing to go on by eyewitness testimony, the story, that testimony, becomes the case. This series is about a story that was repeated, reinforced and eventually accepted as truth. A story that may have mattered more than evidence to the contrary. And at the center of it all is the woman who helped write that story. It's August 1st in the year 2000, a balmy Tuesday morning in the small town of Mayfield in Western Kentucky. Beyonce and the boy band NSYNC are dominating the airwaves. Gladiator and X-Men are playing at the local theater. At the local middle school, staff are now preparing for the coming year, though nothing could prepare teacher Tina Schlosser for what was to come. She steps outside to water the plants near the back of the school. When she sees something out of the corner of her eye, something laying just behind the low brick wall, it's an item of clothing strewn on the grass, a single sandal. Just laying there, she'd later say, as if someone had just run out of it. Walking closer, she peers around the corner and stops in her tracks, standing rigid and horror. Before her lies the brutalized and partially burned body of a young black woman. The singed grass around her is a strange yellow color. Aside from the damage done by fire, the body is starting to decompose. Only later would they be able to identify the young woman as Jessica Currin. Her murder would shake this quiet town to its core and make headlines across the nation.

Speaker 2:
[03:20] Someone had murdered 18-year-old Jessica Currin, a local fire captain's daughter, a single mother. Her smile lit up her friends.

Speaker 1:
[03:33] Jessica was last seen by her parents, Joe and Jean Currin, on the afternoon of Saturday, July 29th. They were taking care of her seven-month-old baby, Zion, for the evening.

Speaker 3:
[03:44] We got up Sunday morning, and, you know, my wife said she already knew something was wrong because Jessie normally calls and checks on Zion pretty often. And she hadn't called at night. We got up that morning and went by her house, knocked on the door, we didn't get an answer.

Speaker 1:
[04:02] They didn't have to wait long to discover the awful truth. Less than 48 hours later, the Mayfield Police Department, the local cops, were scrambling, trying to make sense of a chaotic crime scene. The police footage shows the half-clothed, partially burned body of Jessica Currin. Her dress is torn, underwear discarded. The sandal lying nearby suggests she might have been attempting to flee her attacker. Plenty of theories about what happened and who did this would emerge. But for the police, it was too soon to say.

Speaker 4:
[04:40] Police say 18-year-old Jessica Melissa Currin died from multiple blows to the body. Investigators say she was assaulted and her body set on fire. So far, police say there are no motives.

Speaker 1:
[04:52] In the archive footage of the crime scene, you can clearly see the yellow police tape blocking off the area. Tape is supposed to be a barrier between the crime scene and onlookers to protect the evidence from contamination. But it doesn't stop one curious Mayfield resident from getting closer than she should. Susan Galbreath. She's 40, white, slightly overlooked within the community, a little overweight with bleached blonde hair, and a rough and ready charm, brazen even. She's not a journalist or a cop. She's a housewife. Exactly how she came to be at the crime scene is a matter of some debate. But here she is giving one version of events to a journalist some years later.

Speaker 5:
[05:41] A friend and I are sitting in a restaurant and our waitress walked over and asked us if we had heard that there was a body that had been found at the middle school. As I'm heading towards home, I saw a crime scene tape. And I started walking through this grass. As I come through the clearing of it, I just look up and there I see the body of a black woman.

Speaker 1:
[06:05] People get fixated with true crime stories and sometimes citizen sleuths will jump in and try to solve or help the police. But they're doing it from afar. Susan lived in the same town where Jessica Currin was murdered. And Susan didn't know Jessica personally. In fact, she had no connection to her at all. And yet she felt so compelled as to physically step into the crime scene. Her name is there in black and white on the official police log.

Speaker 5:
[06:39] I knew that it had grabbed me. I knew it because I could not stop thinking about her.

Speaker 1:
[06:51] Susan's motivations will be a matter of debate for years. No one could know how this case would come to haunt Mayfield for the next two decades, making Susan Galbreath a hero to some and a villain to others.

Speaker 3:
[07:09] If you get somebody like that on the wrong track, they could take the ball and go to the wrong direction.

Speaker 1:
[07:17] What were Susan's real motives for trying to solve the Jessica Currin murder?

Speaker 6:
[07:22] She was in the intent to find the killer that killed their daughter.

Speaker 1:
[07:26] How did the authorities come to trust this middle-aged housewife and her evidence?

Speaker 7:
[07:32] Is that normal for citizens to be walking around with case files, motions of discovery?

Speaker 8:
[07:38] It'd be very unusual.

Speaker 1:
[07:41] It's a question that has left many perturbed, including her son.

Speaker 9:
[07:47] It was just the lies. There are so many lies. So the narrative that's in front of us can't be the truth.

Speaker 1:
[07:56] Did Susan ultimately do more harm than good?

Speaker 8:
[08:00] Why in the world would you allow them to get this close, especially somebody that would have a motive?

Speaker 10:
[08:08] I remember somebody calling me and saying, man, you need to go to Myspace and look at this.

Speaker 11:
[08:11] I'm just like, you know, what do I do? Oh, my God.

Speaker 1:
[08:14] And perhaps the biggest question of all, did she help convict an innocent man?

Speaker 3:
[08:21] I do feel like that they got the wrong people.

Speaker 1:
[08:27] From Sony Music Entertainment and Message Heard, you're listening to My Mother's Lies, ad-free on The Binge, where you get all episodes all at once. I'm Beth Karas, a journalist and legal analyst who has been covering stories at the heart of our criminal justice system for decades. This is episode one, The Hero Housewife Who Solved a Murder. The stories I've covered include some of America's most high-profile trials. And as a legal analyst and podcast host, I try to provide listeners with deep legal insight and my perspective on these complex true crime stories. But I can tell you, there are aspects of this story that are unlike anything I've ever reported on. You know, we know there's a large and passionate audience for true crime stories, especially for the victims. But the action of one person in this story takes that passion to a whole other level, an incredibly dangerous level. Jessica Currin was from a well-respected Mayfield family, the daughter of a lieutenant at the local fire department. And in the summer of 2000, she was finishing her high school diploma with big plans to go to college in nearby Paducah. She had also just become a new mom to her son, Zion.

Speaker 3:
[10:02] She wanted to name it something holy, which is Mount Zion.

Speaker 1:
[10:06] This is Jessica's father, Joe, today. He's still a pillar of the community. The former firefighter once played defense for the Mayfield Cardinals' high school football team, and he's a dedicated churchgoer. It's been more than 25 years since Joe has lain eyes on his daughter, but warm memories of her are never far from his mind.

Speaker 3:
[10:29] She liked calling people and talking to them, relatives and friends, and she'd help with the pastries, and she made a chocolate chess pecan.

Speaker 1:
[10:39] He's talking pie here. Apparently, it's just heavenly and a real southern treat.

Speaker 3:
[10:45] And I still ain't had one like that since. It was the best.

Speaker 1:
[10:49] By all accounts, Jessica was a compassionate soul, a natural caregiver, and Joe thinks that his daughter would have gone on looking after people for the rest of her life.

Speaker 3:
[11:01] She was signed up to go to college in Paducah. She had already signed up. I assumed she was going to go most likely in the nursing. That's kind of what I figured, but she really liked helping people.

Speaker 1:
[11:12] Jessica and her son had also recently moved out of her parents' home to their own apartment. Jessica was beginning to stand on her own feet and make a life for herself. Charlotte Chabarras managed Jessica's apartment back in the summer of 2000.

Speaker 12:
[11:28] She was respectful. She was very sweet. Her neighbors said she was very kind. She wasn't loud. Some girls, when they first get out, you know, remember how you were young? They wanted to, you know, maybe fill their oats a little bit and have little parties or something. She did not do that. When she was out there talking to her neighbors, her baby would be right there in this little carrier.

Speaker 1:
[12:00] Her son Zion came from a fleeting one-off encounter with a local man, 20-year-old Jeremy Adams. But this was a fact Jeremy contested at the time. He was just a peripheral figure in Jessica's life, a friend of a friend, or more specifically, a friend of her new boyfriend, Carlos Saxton. Carlos and Jeremy were both involved in local drug circles. According to her then 16-year-old cousin, Benesha, Jessica was kept on a pretty tight leash by her parents.

Speaker 6:
[12:35] Jessica stayed in the house all the time. It was like when she wanted to go to hang out with her friends or go see some family members, a lot of the time she couldn't do that. She had to stay at home, all right? Because mommy dears didn't want her out there like that. Couped up in the house all day, every day, going to school, church, school, church, school, church.

Speaker 1:
[12:50] Benesha says her cousin was at an age where she wanted more freedom.

Speaker 6:
[12:55] Jessica wanted to live her life. She didn't want to be living the life standing under her parents' rules all the time, 24-7, and she didn't.

Speaker 1:
[13:02] Then again, from Joe's point of view, Benesha's relationship with Jessica was not exactly straightforward.

Speaker 3:
[13:10] Benesha always seemed like she needed help, or somewhere to stay, or some food, or some money to get something to eat. And she felt sorry for her.

Speaker 1:
[13:20] Jessica felt sorry for her cousin, that is.

Speaker 3:
[13:23] And here's the other part of it. Benesha was not a friend. Benesha couldn't stand her. She was one of the ones that felt like Jessica was trying to be acting like she's better than them. But she wasn't. She was just being herself.

Speaker 1:
[13:38] What is clear is that Jessica's cousin Benesha would be one of the last people to see her alive. Joe recalls that day vividly. On the late afternoon of Saturday, July 29th, Joe dropped by Jessica's apartment to pick up his grandson. He thought he'd just be taking care of baby Zion for one night. Not a lifetime.

Speaker 3:
[14:04] Jesse told us that when she would come by Sunday morning, she might go to church with us. But while I was there, it was Benesha and a few other girls that I didn't know and they were talking about going somewhere and she was talking about going to Benesha's house to play cards.

Speaker 1:
[14:22] According to Benesha's early police statements, after drinking and playing cards, Benesha called around hoping to find a ride home for Jessica. But eventually Jessica decided to walk the mile and a half home herself. Now, that old police tape is hard to hear. But Benesha described her evening with Jessica at her aunt's house. After they left, Benesha waved Jessica goodbye on the corner of South 14th and Walnut streets sometime after 1 a.m. By mid-morning, Joe and Gene Currin, who are babysitting Zion, are already worried they've heard nothing from their daughter. Over the course of Sunday afternoon and into Monday, the Currins drive all over town, asking friends if they've seen Jessica.

Speaker 3:
[15:25] She's 18, lived on her own, in her own house. You can't really turn them in as missing until so much time passed by. We started checking around town and everybody we thought that she might know or might have some information and we didn't find her.

Speaker 1:
[15:43] Which brings us back to that Tuesday morning behind Mayfield Middle School.

Speaker 3:
[15:48] We had heard a story from the neighbor down the street that they had found a body behind the middle school in Mayfield. And that's when we, you know, we went over there, but they wouldn't let us into the scene.

Speaker 1:
[16:04] The man in charge of this crime scene was Mayfield Police Department's Tim Fortner, one of the first law enforcement officers to arrive. At the time, he was a newly made detective with zero experience in handling homicide cases, let alone a murder that would become as high-profile as this.

Speaker 8:
[16:25] They put somebody in charge, I can't even imagine why, that had never investigated, barely been a police officer, been a deputy jailer, when they had other people that could have done that or even...

Speaker 1:
[16:37] That's John Poole, an ex-cop and private investigator, who'd come to know this case inside out. Curiously, according to Jessica's parents, Detective Fortner openly expressed doubts to them about his own capabilities.

Speaker 3:
[16:54] They appointed Tim Fortner, who came to our house and told us he'd never done this before. He said that to us. He said, so excuse me, because I'm learning on the job. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know why they made me a detective.

Speaker 1:
[17:12] We reached out to Tim Fortner, who doesn't recall this conversation, but he did confirm that it was effectively his first day on the job as a detective. In fact, he was told to go home and get changed out of his uniform. Are you kidding me? He literally went from his uniform to a suit as a detective? The first hours of a murder investigation are critical. Sadly, as it turns out, putting a rookie detective in charge of a major homicide investigation was only the beginning of the problems with this case. The crime scene was next. The Mayfield Police seemed to make one mistake after another. Now, it's important to know that the chain of custody of evidence, items collected at the scene, for example, must be clearly established in order for it to be admissible at trial. When there's a problem with that chain, the risk is that the evidence can't be used. And that's exactly what happened here. Evidence wasn't collected properly, if at all, or labeled correctly. That meant much of the evidence that was in police possession was contaminated or unusable. Here's Miranda Hellman. She's a Kentucky-based attorney who knows this case well because she would later represent one of the suspects accused of killing Jessica.

Speaker 13:
[18:30] It was almost like a puzzle that you didn't have a picture of and you were missing half the pieces. Every piece of evidence had multiple evidence numbers on it. Anything from the state lab didn't correspond back to our original Mayfield Police Department file. Having the local police department handle the crime seen in a place that is not Louisville or Lexington, we're talking a very small local police department handling a massive, sort of from the beginning, high-profile murder investigation was to me highly unusual.

Speaker 1:
[19:04] It took years, but the Mayfield Police Department would eventually manage to build a case, bringing charges against two suspects. Now, it's well known that in more than half of female murder cases, the perpetrator is a boyfriend, husband, or an ex. In the case of this Mayfield Police investigation, they charge both a current boyfriend and an ex. But on February 12, 2003, at a pretrial hearing against Jeremy Adams and Carlo Saxton, Detective Fortner made a fatal error when he failed to hand over some key documents to the defense. And since this discovery violation was on the EVA trial, the judge, in an unusual and frankly shocking move, dismissed the whole case against Jeremy and Carlos.

Speaker 14:
[19:52] A grand jury indicted Curran's boyfriend, Jeremy Adams. But when a judge learned Mayfield Police withheld information from prosecutors and the defense, he tossed out the indictment.

Speaker 1:
[20:05] Just to correct the news reporting you just heard, Jeremy Adams was not Jessica's boyfriend. He was actually the father of her son. Jessica's boyfriend was Jeremy's co-defendant, Carlos Lolo Saxton. Anyway, after the public embarrassment of having the case thrown out, Tim Fortner was removed from the case and he resigned. Shortly after that, the Mayfield Police turned the entire investigation over to the Kentucky State Police. When Jamie Mills, the new lead detective, saw the original case file, he was stunned. Even he could not understand why the case was so poorly handled, a fact he later told news reporters.

Speaker 15:
[20:45] My first reaction when I read through the case was, is this really a murder case? You know, when I think of a murder case and when you're reading a murder case, you're thinking hundreds of pages of documents. And I would venture to say that the case report itself probably contained less than, I can't recall for sure, but less than ten pages. I mean, just the actual narrative, the investigative part of the report.

Speaker 1:
[21:12] Whether through incompetence, negligence, or whatever else, after four years, the murder of Jessica Currin was still an open case. Enter the Citizen Sleuth, Susan Galbreath, ready to take matters into her own hands.

Speaker 12:
[21:29] Somebody had to do something.

Speaker 5:
[21:31] And if somebody was me, so be it.

Speaker 1:
[21:43] In the spring of 2004, Susan K. Galbreath was 44 years old, and her life was drifting. Fate hadn't always dealt her a fair hand. She was unemployed, collecting disability, and coming out of a bad relationship. Susan, by all accounts, was a bit of a character, but otherwise unexceptional. Remember, she's the one who stepped into the crime scene when Jessica Currin was first found. She's not a cop, a private investigator, or a journalist. And yet, apparently she felt so passionately about the murder of Jessica Currin, she decided to take matters into her own hands. If the cops couldn't solve the case, maybe she could. Susan wasted no time in looking for support. She wrote to Jerry Springer, Oprah Winfrey, even appealing to celebrities Jay-Z and Julia Roberts, perhaps hoping for an Aaron Brockovich style intervention. If that sounds fanciful, I can tell you, I get letters and emails like these all the time. Sometimes I respond, and though I wish I could, I just can't take up their causes. I don't have the bandwidth. But in the case of Susan Galbreath, someone did exactly that. Tom Mangold, award-winning British investigative journalist and broadcaster.

Speaker 5:
[23:09] I am writing you in hope you can help see that this young woman's murder is solved and that all those involved in the events that followed will be brought to justice. I have nothing to gain from writing you except knowing that this young woman's...

Speaker 1:
[23:21] Miraculously, Tom not only replies, he flies out to Mayfield on his own dime to aid her investigation. They form an unlikely friendship. Tom is the first to look past Susan's lack of formal education or investigative experience and recognize her potential. He takes Susan under his wing. Together, they conduct interviews and chase down leads. Suddenly, with Tom by her side, phone calls are returned and doors are unlocked. People are taking Susan seriously. In just one week, with Tom's clout and Susan's local knowledge, they quickly identify a new prime suspect. Reflecting on it some years later, by Tom's own admission, it wasn't even that tough of a case to crack.

Speaker 10:
[24:16] And I'd love to say we were great investigators who solved the case in days, but the truth is, the evidence of who was behind the murder of Jessica was actually lying all over Mayfield. The seriously nasty drug dealer called Quincy Cross.

Speaker 1:
[24:33] Quincy Omar Cross, a small, softly-spoken 24-year-old black man from Tiptonville, Tennessee, who was just passing through Mayfield for the night. He had a criminal record, repeat low-level felonies, including an assault conviction and a couple of drug charges. But in the early hours of July 30th, he was found on a rural roadside, high on cocaine, driving someone else's car and smelling of gasoline. Just two days before Jessica Currin's burned body was discovered. In a town desperate for answers, and with few other leads to go on, newly appointed state police investigator, Jamie Mills, was open to Susan's ideas.

Speaker 15:
[25:17] I mean, she was a nice person. She could get information. I took the information and put it together with all of the other stuff, and I tried to find where it might fit. And then I would try to find who's the next person to go talk to in relation to that. So she was a good investigator. I think she just loved it. She loved doing it.

Speaker 1:
[25:39] As Tom heads back to England, Detective Mills works closely with Susan. But with a lack of any physical evidence, there just wasn't enough to charge Quincy. Weeks turned into months, months turned into years. Susan continued her sleuthing. But by 2006, the state's case wasn't any closer to a resolution. That's when Jessica's father, Joe, made an emotional appeal to the Attorney General's office. And in response, the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation steps in, the third law enforcement agency to investigate Jessica's murder. When agents finally arrive in Mayfield, Susan Galbreath is standing by. She greets them armed with a thick case file assembled over the past two years. And by this time, she also has witnesses ready to testify to her theory. As one KBI agent later reflected, Susan's assistance was invaluable.

Speaker 11:
[26:39] A fantastic lady by the name of Susan Galbreath that we came to know. She was a person that was out front, that took this case single-handedly and decided that she was going to try to do everything in her power to help find out what had happened to Jessica Currin.

Speaker 1:
[27:01] Within six months, the new investigators arrest Quincy Cross along with four accomplices. All of them initially denied any role in the murder. Quincy's case was finally set for trial in 2008. The air in Hickman County Circuit Court in Western Kentucky is heavy and humid, despite the AC humming overhead. The 12 jurors shift uneasily in their box. This is a major case for a rural courtroom. The clerks in bailiffs survey the crowded public gallery. The Currins are front and center. They've waited a long time to see justice for Jessica. Finally, the judge takes the bench, and the trial begins. Commonwealth of Kentucky versus Quincy Omar Cross.

Speaker 16:
[28:06] On or about July 30th, 2000, in Graves County, Kentucky, above main defendant Quincy Omar Cross, acting alone or implicitly with Tamara C. Goldweb and or Jeffery Allen Burton, committed the offense of capital kidnapping when he unlawfully restrained Jessica Currin.

Speaker 1:
[28:27] That is prosecutor Barbara Whaley. She's outlining the charges against Quincy Cross and his co-defendants. These include Tamara Caldwell, Jeffery Burton, and Austin Leach. There are others, too, who were charged in relation to the murder, those who wouldn't stand trial at this point, others because they took a deal, pleading guilty to lesser charges. One of them was Jessica's cousin, Venetia Stubblefield. The same cousin you heard at the beginning, just 16 at the time, who had been with Jessica the night she disappeared, the same cousin who claimed to have waved goodbye to her as she walked off into the night, that Venetia. As the prosecution continues, the full horror of the defendant's alleged crimes is revealed. This may be difficult to hear.

Speaker 16:
[29:15] Committed the offense of sodomy in the first degree, rape in the first degree. Committed the offense of abuse of corpse by performing sexual acts or aiding or...

Speaker 1:
[29:26] The story that is laid out for the jury is one of unimaginable violence and deprivation. According to the prosecution, in the early hours of July 30, 2000, Jessica was picked up in a car, beaten, raped by the defendants, before being strangled to death with a belt by Quincey Cross. They believe her body was stored in a shed for two days. And then, early in the morning of August 1, Jessica's body was transported, discarded, and burned outside Mayfield Middle School. Although there is a distinct lack of physical evidence connecting him, Quincey is convicted as charged, primarily on the strength of eyewitness testimony. The prosecution's two star witnesses are Victoria Caldwell, another young black teenager in Mayfield, and Venetia Stubblefield, Jessica's cousin. We'll come back to Victoria and Venetia later. Their names will come up again and again in this series. Quincey Cross is sentenced to three life terms without any chance of parole. Following Quincey's conviction, Jeff Burton and Tamara Caldwell both take plea deals. The final defendant, Austin Leach, stands trial and is found not guilty. So after eight long years, the Currants finally have some closure. Although in my experience, there really is no closure for families. There may be a measure of justice, but these wounds never heal. At the time, Jessica's father, Joe, lauded the efforts of amateur investigator Susan and journalist Tom Mangold for identifying Quincy and his accomplices after they had been missed by law enforcement.

Speaker 17:
[31:15] This gentleman had come over here and investigated about a week or 10 days on this case. He had found several pieces of information that hadn't been discovered and hadn't been checked out when the Mayfield police had the case.

Speaker 1:
[31:28] Susan is celebrated for her three-year investigation, which provided officers with the crucial information to finally secure a conviction. She was even given an outstanding citizen award by the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation. Here's a newscast of her at the time.

Speaker 2:
[31:49] Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Currin.

Speaker 1:
[31:57] It's a feeling warmly shared by KBI agent Bob O'Neill, who, even years later, maintained Susan's value in solving the case.

Speaker 11:
[32:06] Here was a situation where her involvement was so great and so appreciative that in the middle of this case, we stopped and took a moment to recognize her for a job well done. I don't think that we could have broke the case without Susan.

Speaker 1:
[32:26] Over the following years, Susan's incredible story continued to gain attention. The hero housewife who solved a murder, the tale of an ordinary woman pursuing the great American dream, the idea that if you work hard enough, want it badly enough, you can achieve greatness. Susan appeared on various networks and even gave an interview on Japanese TV. Along with press articles and a BBC radio documentary, Tom Mangold had big plans to help turn the Susan and Tom story into a movie. He even traveled back to Mayfield with a big time Hollywood producer to discuss a screenplay. But before that dream could come to fruition, Susan Galbreath suddenly died of a stroke in 2018. Following her death, Tom continued pushing for the film deal, memorializing Susan's story. In the early 2020s, a British production company, Blink Films, agreed to produce a documentary series. This has all the makings of a true crime classic, The Odd Couple Who Cracked a Cold Case, The Veteran Newsman, and The Citizen Sleuth. But that's where the hero's story ends. And our story really begins. So it's nice to see you again, Alice.

Speaker 18:
[33:54] Good to see you, Beth.

Speaker 1:
[33:56] Why don't you introduce yourself to our listeners and tell them who you are, how you're connected to this story.

Speaker 18:
[34:01] So my name is Alice Arnold. I'm a documentary journalist and podcaster. And I've been working on the Jessica Currin story for about four years now.

Speaker 1:
[34:12] Alice was originally brought on as a producer for the TV documentary. And she was one of the first to realize Susan's investigation had a lot of holes in it.

Speaker 18:
[34:22] There's plenty of evidence, but nothing linking Quincy to that crime scene. And no evidence of Jessica being in the car that Quincy was driving. So sure, you can prosecute without forensics, but then why was Quincy prosecuted? Which led me to the witnesses.

Speaker 1:
[34:40] Venetia Stubblefield and Victoria Caldwell. Let's just say things didn't quite add up. We'll get to those details later. Meanwhile, Alice and her colleagues kept digging.

Speaker 18:
[34:54] It blew my mind. I've been brought on to tell this story of Susan's successful investigation and the prosecution of Quincy Cross, but nothing I was finding was leading me to that story.

Speaker 1:
[35:17] For the past three years, Alice has continued her digging, and her results will be featured throughout this series. We're going back through Susan's investigation, through 25 years of documents, interviews and rumors, to understand exactly what impact Susan had on the conviction of Quincy Cross. How does a private citizen become so involved with an official investigation? Was altruism truly at the heart of Susan's involvement? Did Susan just end up way over her head? Or did she have ulterior motives from the start? She died years ago, so we can't ask her. But in this series, we'll speak to those who knew her best, like her only child, Ray.

Speaker 9:
[36:04] The mother-son stuff that I've dealt with my whole life, that I can deal with. I've learned to deal with that. But to know that she possibly covered up a murder for somebody.

Speaker 1:
[36:17] As Ray says, did Susan's actions allow the real killer to go free? We'll talk to people who investigated the case themselves.

Speaker 13:
[36:26] There were red flags having to do with the police department, red flags having to do with the evidence. But by far the biggest stack of red flags all came back to Susan Galbreath.

Speaker 1:
[36:37] And people whose lives she had a hand in destroying, wittingly or not.

Speaker 7:
[36:42] What's so crazy is I told the people I might do this.

Speaker 11:
[36:46] It's a made up story, man.

Speaker 1:
[36:51] At time of release, we have not received a response from the Kentucky State Police, Carlo Saxton or Jeremy Adams regarding allegations reported in this episode. The Mayfield Police Department responded saying, none of the investigators that worked on the Currin case 26 years ago remain employed by the department. And the police department was, quote, not in a position to respond to the allegations. You're listening to My Mother's Lies, ad free on The Binge. As a subscriber, you get binge access to new stories on the first of every month. Search and follow The Binge Crimes and The Binge Cases Fees to stay up to date on all the true crime and investigative podcasts included in your subscription. This is My Mother's Lies, an original production of Sony Music Entertainment and Message Heard, hosted by me, Beth Karas. From Message Heard, Alice Arnold is our investigator producer. Robin Simon, our producer. McAllister Bexson, our series producer. Tiago Diaz, our assistant producer. Alan Lear is our supervising sound editor, supported by sound editors Lizzie Andrews and Ivan Easley, with original composition by Mike Maynes. From Sony Music Entertainment, our executive producers are Catherine St. Louis and Jonathan Hirsch. From Blink Films, our executive producer is Justine Kershaw. And a big thanks to the whole Sony Music Entertainment team.