541 - House or Wife

This is exactly right. Hello and welcome to My Favorite Murderer. That is Georgia Hardstar. That's Karen Kilgariff. And we're here to podcast at you. We do it every day of our lives. How are you? Good. How are you? I'm good. It's like a lovely summer day. I just kind of wanted to sit outside all day long. Yeah. And. Smoke cigarettes. You know when it's hot and you just want to smoke a big long Virginia Slim. You know, the kids are starting to smoke again. Like real cigarettes? Yeah. Not vapes. I mean, hopefully. Yeah. Vapes are just immediately killing children. Yeah. That is allegedly. Also, cigarettes aren't great either, but. Cigarettes won't get you healthier. They won't. They won't. There's so many things now that it's like, remember the story we did where it's like the green wallpaper or the green dresses that were poisoning people in the Victorian era or whatever. It's like, that's vapes. Yeah. And you're like, you know that. So you're essentially licking the wallpaper. You're not even like, I didn't know. It's like, you know. You're like, the doctor was here. Yeah. Told you to stay away from the wallpaper. And look at you go. Look at you. With that tongue. Mommy. I love the wallpaper. The boy. Vapes taste like death. I have a kind of an update. Okay. About, remember when I covered the bodies on Mount Everest in episode 174 called Rough Winds in High Water? Then there. Yes. Well, I had mentioned the body of a climber that was called Green Boots because of his distinctive boots. And he was like, what's it called when you're like hiking and he's like a spot that everyone knows along the trail. Landmark? Landmark. Thank you. They could never see his face. And so. So he had been identified as possibly being one of two men, both from India, but the Indian government has now identified him. They did DNA testing. Wow. They can't move him right now because it's impossible to survive and move a body. But they are sure now that his name is Dorjay Malroop and there are plans to recover his body later this summer. Do you know how long he's been there? 30 years. Wow. 30 years. Well. It's chilling too. The photo of him is just. Oh, I mean, I just can't get over those. It's tough. It's like it's such an extreme decision when people. I mean, that's why they do it. Right. And that's why when they come back, they can say they did it. Right. But the danger is. I'll never understand the like. I'll never understand a lot of things. Agree. Climbing Mount Everest is one of the top ones. I mean, I've told you this multiple times, but there's times where I order like dinner and the doorbell rings and I just can't get up. Get off the couch to answer the door to get the food. You can't even climb your own stairs. My personal Everest living room, which is flat. I couldn't bother. I think what I'm always looking for is that get up and go that people who are like rock climbers and extreme athletes and all those things like they have an engine in there. Yeah. Is it always on? I don't know. And is it because they like cut everything else out of their lives? I give them dopamine. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. They have to run for seven miles straight to get that three beer feeling. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. And when we know better, when we know the way. We do. When you never when you haven't had those deep conversations after three beers at a bar that like suddenly everything makes sense. Of course, you're going to want to go fucking climb a mountain. Right. No one comes and talks to you at mile seven. No. No. They think that guy's intense and I can't really have a conversation right now. He's into his thing. Right. They don't ever say that at the bar. No, they don't. They're quite the opposite. Truly. I was going to just tell the listener that I told you right before we started that I driving over here today, I have a brown long sleeve shirt on listener. Watcher, welcome to Netflix. Netflix, what's up? It's boiling hot outside, but I'm playing against the weather. Yeah. And I was thinking everyone's mom, me and Georgia match accidentally or psychically. Interesting to see what she'll be wearing today. Yeah. And it's literally the extreme opposite of what I'm wearing. I am wearing like a 1970s. Like disco dress that's in rainbow colors. Yeah. I'm dressed like Gordon Lightfoot's roadie and you're dressed like Donna Summer herself. With pockets. Did you have that made or something? No, it's from Unique Vintage, this online company I love. Hey girl, are you going roller skating after this? Yeah. It is a roller skating outfit. It really is. Yeah. Or a birthday party. And look at this ring I found at a vintage wedding store in Altadena. A vintage. A vintage wedding store? Yeah. Does that say Carol? Nope. It says cunt. Oh, cunt. How amazing is that? Among all the like beautiful vintage purses and shoes and jewelry and like little headpieces. Yeah. I said the same thing. Does that say cunt? And then I was like, I'm wrong, but I'm going to be embarrassed. I'm saying it to the girl. Yeah. And did she say it's current or that it's a 70s cunt ring? I don't think it's, I think it's current, but you could tell she was like just kind of cheeky and wanted to throw it in. Yeah. And she loves it. And I was like, it's going to a good home. Should we get started? Do you have anything else? Let's do it. We have a podcast network. It's called Exactly Right Media. And these are some highlights from what's going on on that network. This week on Buried Bones, Kate and Paul continue their investigation into the Axeman of New Orleans. One of the most compelling and fascinating old timey cases. As the bodies continue to pile up, they ask whether the murders are truly connected or the work of copycat killers. Did you see they're making a Dorothea Puente biopic? With who? I think Geena Davis. How great is that? Unbelievable. Yeah. Do they have to dig her a trench because she's so much taller than everybody? Right. That's what I always think of with her. But you know what's creepy is that like she probably is the same age as Dorothea Puente. It's just that we don't look like old ladies anymore when we get older. And also Dorothea Puente was dressed up as an old lady on purpose. She wasn't as old as she dressed and acted like. Because you get away with so much. She was like in her mid to late 70s. But she was kind of like, I'm a little old lady. And then she's picking up bodies and bringing them upstairs and stuff. Like a little old lady. Okay. Then also over on Disgraceland, Jake tells the unbelievable story of the band Happy Mondays. Legends. Love them. From thieves and drug dealers to attempted kidnappings and the fall of Manchester's music scene. This one is almost too wild to be true. To be alive then in Manchester. Incredible. I mean. So many drugs. So many drugs all day long. Jake is so good at breaking stuff down. Yeah. But then after that, you can go watch the movie 24 Hour Party People, which is truly one of my favorites. It's incredible. Then over on Dear Movies, I Love You a Million, Casey celebrate the Criterion release of John Waters' Desperate Living from 1977. And writer and actor Lloyd Kaufman joins them to talk DIY filmmaking, My Dinner with Andre, and the movies he's watching now. And for the biggest news of the summer, we've teamed up with Blanchard House once again. We love them. For our newest true crime limited series called Royal Swindle, listen to the trailer now before the premiere on July 23rd. Follow the show on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, please. It's a scammer limited series with crazy people scamming British horse people. Yeah. Insane. It's going to be epic. Because we've been talking about from the last rewind, we've been talking about the word proclensity. I did claim it to be the best title we have ever titled. Any episode. I kind of went way out on a limb there. I don't think you were wrong. I think that people have responded. And because proclensity is such a popular, I guess, title and made up word of Georgia's, we're now going to make some proclensity merch. It's so good. It's really good. We just laughed our asses off when we picked it out. We gave them some options and we were like, this has to be it. Yeah. It looks like. The cover of a drug, the box. Yeah. It looks like a drug container. Like someone made up a drug. A drug logo. A drug logo. Yes. And you went to a convention for drugs. Yeah. And this place gave you. This place gave you a proclensity shirt. Yep. Or a tote. Yes. So please check it out. You can pre-order it now. Go to MyFavoriteMurder.com and click on shop. And get in there and look for that pre-order. It's very fun. Proclensity. And listen to The Rewind as well. If you don't know what we're talking about. It doesn't really matter. Okay. My story today starts in Portland, Oregon in late July of 1946. Okay. It's right after the end of World War II. Summertime, it has been particularly hot, especially for Portland, Oregon. This July alone has several days with temperatures that go over 100 degrees. This is July in 46 or now? 46. Okay. Yeah. Wow. Who cares about now? Yeah. Back in 46. Wow. Very unusual. Yeah. And in this relentless heat, there's a mix of a sort of post-war malaise and it has Portlanders on edge. As the summer passes, the violent crime rate begins to tick upward. On any given day this summer, you can pick up an Oregon newspaper and see disturbing and grisly articles from the crime beat. There's the Oak Grove Jane Doe case where an unidentified female victim's torso is found in the Willamette River. There's also the case of the 22-year-old veteran William Kilpack who was randomly attacked outside of a theater with a hatchet. He barely survived and he later told a reporter, quote, war is safer than standing in a Portland street. Oh, my God. But those are not the cases. is I'm talking about today. Today's case is arguably the most notorious Portland summer of 46, and it starts around 845 on the night of Saturday, July 27th, as police rush to a home on Southeast Yamhill Street. Inside, they find a chaotic scene. An explosion has turned the house upside down. And tragically, the 44-year-old wife and mother who lives in this home, Fern Bowden, is dead. But whether or not this is a murder scene is unclear, and in some ways, it remains unclear to this day. I'm in your area. Okay. This is the story of what the Portland press calls the Pandora's box murder. Ooh, cold case for Karen. Right? This is actually a story that we were thinking about doing for the Portland show on the tour. Yeah. So the main sources used today are articles from the Oregonian and Oregon Journal archives and the writing and research of J.D. Chandler. And the rest of the sources are in our show notes. So. Here's what we know about the Bowden family. On the night of the explosion, Fern Bowden is home alone. Her 13-year-old daughter, Doris, is out roller skating with friends. So 1946. And thank God, right? Yeah. Because also her 17-year-old daughter, Shirley, is away visiting family. And her husband, Jim, is 130 miles away on the Oregon coast on a fishing trip. Okay. The Bowdens have been married for decades. Jim is a steam fitter. That means he installs and repairs pipes for heating systems. Buildings. Sometimes his job takes him out of state for high-paying gigs, because not everybody can do that. Sure. And over the last few years, he has worked months-long stints in places like Alaska and Toledo, Ohio. But Fern herself is also employed, not out of financial necessity, because Jim, of course, makes enough money alone to support the family as a pipe fitter, because there were unions back then. Working was a personal choice for Fern. She reportedly, quote, thought it her patriotic duty to help out. End quote. During the war, she joins the Union Pacific Railroad workforce. We don't know what capacity, but the odds are that it's clerical. She likes the job enough to keep it after the war ends. So back to the night of the explosion. Of course, the police rushed to the scene, and officers determined that this explosion took place in the basement, and that it was very powerful. It actually pushed the kitchen, so the kitchen was directly above, and it pushed the kitchen floor up one inch. Oh, my God. So huge. And, of course, furniture, dishware, and windows throughout the house are destroyed. If any other members of the Bowdoin family had been home, they would have been killed, too. And at first, investigators wonder if someone was keeping a military-grade explosive in the basement, like a keepsake for war, and then it just accidentally went off. Where was she? She just immediately died from the explosion? She did. Okay. But then when they go into the basement, they find a small box in the corner of the room, and the box is. It's been described to look like a trunk, an apple box, a suitcase, and or a footlocker. But footlocker seems to be the most common description across all reporting, so we'll call it a footlocker. Okay. It's about three feet long, three feet deep, ten inches wide. It's kind of small. Investigators can tell that normally this footlocker is padlocked. They can tell stuff like that. It's already exploded. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. That's so weird. And back then. But, of course, now the lock is no longer attached, and the lid is missing. But somehow. The base of this footlocker is largely intact. Exploded upwards. Police even find a few random items inside, including a journal with handwritten notes. It's so weird, that explosion. This is like. It doesn't explode everything. It doesn't explode every single thing. Yeah. But it moves the floor above it by a full inch. So weird. There's also a bunch of wires running through this box, which immediately leads investigators to believe this was a deliberate bombing. Officers are dispatched to track down all members of the Bowden family to tell them what's happened. They find Shirley and Doris first, because they're close by. But it takes longer to reach Jim over on the Oregon coast. And when they finally do find him out on his fishing trip, they don't tell him Fern is dead. They just say there's been an accident at the house and ask if he knows anything about explosives being stored there. He says no, but the police believe there's something off about the way he's answering their questions. According to police, Jim seems very agitated, as he's responding. So now the investigation moves back to Portland. And as detectives dive deeper into the personal lives of this family, a picture of a failing marriage comes into focus. They find out that notebook that they found in the footlocker appears to log Fern's whereabouts across several dates. As if someone was quietly documenting her movements, they have a good idea of who was doing this. The husband. Yeah. I thought you'd say it was me. The husband. The husband. The husband. And then they find out that on June 20th, about a month before her death, Fern filed for divorce, citing Jim's cruel behavior. And after that, on June 27th, Jim submitted a response to that filing. And in it, he denied acting cruelly and accused Fern of being unfaithful. So investigators determined that the notebook in the footlocker was Jim tracking his wife's whereabouts, probably to record evidence and prove his theory that she was cheating on him. Right. So news spreads quickly about Fern's death. And within a day or so, a local contractor named William Buell reaches out to the police and identifies himself as an old buddy of Jim's. And William says that Jim recently came to him with an odd request. He wanted to get his hands on explosives strong enough to, quote, blow the fish out of the ocean. Cool. Great. Just go ask your buddy. Yeah. William has access to dynamite through his job, so he gives his friend six sticks of TNT. Ask a couple questions. William says he saw Jim put the explosives into a footlocker, ostensibly the same one found by investigators, and he never seemed to ask any questions. Bros before hoes. Okay. Okay. Dynamite bros. When police speak to the Bowdoin daughters, they say their dad had recently taken on a very secretive project. They would watch him disappear down into the basement over and over, and he was usually wearing thick gloves when he did it. And he seemed intentionally invasive about what he was doing down there. Evasive? Evasive. Sorry. Invasive. It's like getting in their faces, their teenage daughter faces. He's looking through their diaries. What am I doing? What do you think I'm doing? Guess what I'm doing? Well, but here's what's weird. That is what he does. So he basically will go down into the basement and mess around with his big gloves on and come up and be like, nobody go into the basement and certainly don't look into that footlocker. And then he's like. It's padlocked, and my notes are inside. Do not go look at it. Great. So he's just warning people, don't go near it. My journal's in there. It's padlocked anyway. Stay away. Your diary. Yeah. Now Fern and her daughters really want to know what's going on, what their dad is up to, and what is in that footlocker. They do contemplate going downstairs to snoop around because of these weird warnings. Investigators go question Jim again when they find this out from the family. And at first he sticks to his original story. He even denies that his friend William gave him that dynamite and that he asked for it. But eventually Jim will crack and admit that he did in fact create a bomb and keep it in his basement. He sketches a diagram of it even for the police, showing exactly how he had rigged this circuit, connecting the dynamite sticks to some batteries. So if someone lifted the lid of the locker, it would trigger an explosion. With your two daughters? I mean, your wife, of course. But your two daughters in the house and you're like basically egging them on to open the fucking locker? It's like he's a cowardly family annihilator. Yeah. Like he can't do it directly, but he's, yeah, true. Yeah. So Fern obviously fell for this terrible ruse, but Jim maintains to investigators. Oh, do they think she opened it? She opened it. Oh. That's how she died. I thought it just blew up on its own. So they think she went down there finally when the girls were out? Because the girls basically told the investigators, like, Oh. Oh. Oh. We actually were talking about maybe going and looking because he was being so weird about it. Fuck. I know. So right now I'm about to show you a picture of Jim Bowden. The killer. But you better get ready. Okay. I'm so scared. Oh, Jesus Christ. God almighty. Can you imagine if this man was waiting around the corner for you on a dark and stormy night? It looks like the bomb just blew up in his face. I mean, he doesn't love flossing. That's something I can guarantee you. No, he looks shell-shocked. Okay. He looks absolutely like if he had a knife in his hand and he was dragging it behind him, you would run. Yeah, definitely a hatchet outside the theater. Did we know he didn't do that one, too? That's so true. Right? He switched it up when that didn't work and it was like a bummer. Jesus. We have Fern as well. Okay. Poor Fern. And then I think we have a picture of the footlocker. Oh. And that headline says, Explosion Damages Home. Husband question. I don't know why when I think of an explosion, I think of it destroying everything. But there's so much left over. Yes. Interesting. I wonder also if it's like he kills his wife and then he can just still go live and he's the victim. Right. Or insurance. I'm sure there's insurance somewhere in the story. Somewhere. House or wife. But the thinking is so beyond bad. Yeah. October is the month when being scared is supposed to be fun. Terrified in a haunted house? Sure. Your actual house? Absolutely not. Feel safe in your home with SimpliSafe. SimpliSafe is designed to help stop intruders before they get inside. I recently got an alert from my camera outside. that there is like someone prowling around late at night. And of course I got freaked out. I opened my camera and it was a big spider dangling in front of the camera, which was terrifying in itself, but such a relief. And I love that I know that it works. Like so much better a spider than an actual person, but I'll be prepared. All the answers are on your phone. You don't have to worry and sit there and wring your hands. Join the more than 6 million people who entrust Simply Safe with their home security. Right now, save 60% off with professional monitoring when you visit simplysafe.com slash fave. That's simplysafe.com slash f-a-v. And when you order, please write in my favorite murder in the checkout survey. It lets them know that we sent you and it really helps support the show. Simply Safe, ahead of crime in real time. Goodbye. This episode is brought to you by 20th Century Studios Whale Fall in theaters this Friday. Based on the acclaimed book by Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Krauss, it tells the tale of a diver fighting for his life after being swallowed by a whale. Experience the ultimate survival story that's unlike any movie you've ever seen before. Don't miss Whale Fall in theaters this Friday. Goodbye. Sometimes being a little salty is completely justified. Pair your salty side with something sweet with the new salted caramel flavor from Cachava. Cachava is a whole body shake with plant-based protein, fiber, greens, and other nutrients to help fill nutritional gaps. Just two scoops provide complete nutrition your body craves with protein, fiber, greens, and so much more. Their new salty caramel flavor combines sweet caramel with a little salt so you get that salty-sweet balance along with the nutrition Cachava is known for. When the day demands your salty side, fuel it with plant-based protein that actually tastes delicious. I really do love Cachava and I really do think it does taste delicious for getting you through the morning, filling in the gap if you just need some protein and you need some vitamins. It's such a nice little treat. It's such an easy way to get everything you need and it tastes good too, which is just a huge bonus. So embrace your salty side. Go to Cachava.com and use code MFM for 15% off your first order. That's Cachava, K-A-C-H-A-V-A.com, code MFM. Goodbye. So Jim maintains to investigators the bomb was not meant for Fern. He claims that it was built with a different person in mind, a local man named George Hakanyos. Love when a brand new character comes into the investigation. I love this story because it sounds like we all know what's happening, but you've already heard about it. You've already told me something weird is happening. So I'm like, what's it going to be? Everyone is a suspect. Okay, so according to Jim, your favorite TV show of all time, I wrote that down, about a year earlier, he'd become suspicious that his wife was having an affair with this man, George. He was working in Toledo at the time and he claims he began receiving anonymous letters to imply that Fern was cheating on him. The letters said cryptic things like, quote, Saturday afternoon tea parties and luncheons, can obviously become Saturday night dinners and breakfasts, end quote. Love the word luncheon. Luncheon, sex luncheon. Welcome to my sex luncheon. Welcome. Do you want any crab cakes? So gross. So gross. Sex crab cakes? No, they don't mix. Are you trying to do a title right now? Hell no. We're not calling this sex and crab cakes. Sex crab cakes. Okay. So of course, Jim reads these letters. He's overcome. Jealousy. But he wants definitive proof of his wife's infidelity. So every time he talks to her on the phone and Fern tells him what she's doing and what her plans are, he takes careful notes and then secretly fact checks what she's saying by calling up the people and places that she mentions to him. Vince does that to you, right? I mean, like. It's not a big deal to like take notes on your partner's whereabouts, right? And like write them in a journal and lock them up. It's like, Cara Clank Pooh? Right. Take a picture where you're at right now and show me. Show it. He does all the time. So Jim does this for months, according to the journal that police find in the footlocker. And he claims to have at least on one occasion caught his wife lying. Fern told him that she was going to a tea party, as was mentioned in the letter. But when Jim calls around to confirm it, he can't. He concludes that she made it up. When he returns to Portland, he notices that his wife is spending a lot of time with her coworker, George. Wow. We don't know too much about him. We don't know too much about George. He was a private person. Records suggest he was a solid member of the community. He held his post at Union Pacific for more than four decades. And he's heavily involved in Portland civic organizations. We also know that in the 20s, he was married to a woman named Thelma, but she's not listed in his. George and Thelma are my grandparents' name. Ooh. Like, that's why I'm named Georgia, is because of George. Is that right? And my grandma's name is Thelma. That's fucking weird. The combo? Yeah. No, not the combo. But our clothes don't match. Like, what? If we're going to do it, let's do it. Wait, what? I don't understand that. Oh, just, like, weird psychic connections of, like, your grandparents are here. That was a psychic connection. You knew it was going to happen. Get ready. Get ready for your grandparents. That's fucking weird, though. George and Thelma? That's super weird. George marries Thelma. Okay. This is where we are. Okay. But because she's not listed in his future obituary, nor do they seem to have children together, it seems likely this marriage. This marriage was over by the time George and Fern worked together at Union Pacific. But he's a little older. She likes him a little. It seems like he's a little older. So they meet at Union Pacific in the 40s. Basically, after that, she starts driving him to work. Now, at the time, I was kind of surprised to learn this, but carpooling with coworkers got very common during the war because there was all these gas rations. Sure. Makes sense. Yeah. It was strongly encouraged, and it seems Fern also drove other work colleagues as well. Yeah. I feel like that was kind of a normal thing as carpools of multiple people. Yeah. Like, up until probably the 80s. Right. And then we're all like, everybody's on their own. Peace. We want to take up as much room as possible. We hate the ozone. That's right. Get me a Mick Separated or whatever those things were called. Mick Separated. Remember this? Mick DLT. Mick Separated. That is the name of the episode. Hot side's hot and the cool side's cool. David Letterman talked about the Mick DLT so much when that thing came out. The kids don't know what we're talking about. They don't. But please. Look it up. Look it up. You'll have a good time. So over time, George and Fern do become close while Jim is out of town. George helps her around the house with handiwork. Sometimes he stays for dinner with the family. And those dinners continue when Jim comes back to Portland. So it doesn't seem like Fern's acting like she has anything to hide. Right. Still, Jim is consumed by jealousy. Do we think George was gay, maybe? And, like, she became friends with him? Yeah. I mean, could have been. There's so many possibilities. Or, like, you just, you're the kind of woman that in the 40s is like, no, I want to work. And I want to, like, be outside of the house. So, like, I bet she was great and the kind of person that had a bunch of friends, maybe. Boys and girls can be friends, can't they? So even though he has no proof, he's consumed with jealousy. So he starts accusing Fern of having this affair. So basically, he works out of town and he's having affairs, probably. Right. And then coming back and being like, how dare you? So both Fern and George consistently, and adamantly deny any affair between the two. They insist they're just good friends. So, he could have been gay. Even after Fern's death, George will continue to stress that their relationship was purely platonic. Although he does say that they had a strong bond. And he did admit he kept Fern's checkbook for safekeeping when her marriage started to fall apart. Oh. This now, it sounds weird, but back then, women weren't even supposed to have checkbooks. books. So I wonder if it was like, can you make sure that the budget's balanced? Because I don't know how to do this. Oh, he was like keeping it as in balancing it. That's what it sounds like. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Not like, it's in a drawer when you need it. Yeah, that's what I thought. No, I think it's like she turned it over to him. Okay. Which makes me go, I wonder what he did at Union Pacific. Right. He could have been an accountant or something. Jim can't shake his feeling that George is a threat to his family. That's called paranoia. And the Bowdoins start fighting constantly. Fern eventually reaches a breaking point, and that's when she files for divorce. And that's also when Jim comes up with this plan to get rid of his competition, or so he claims. But before he could plant it somewhere where George would be the one that would open the footlocker, Jim claims that he got cold feet, that he wasn't sure how to get rid of this bomb that he had built. So he locked it up and left it there. And he's like, I don't know what to do. He left it in his basement until he could think of a better plan. With his daughters just sleeping above. Just right upstairs. So Jim Bowdoin is arrested and charged with his wife Fern's murder. The trial begins in December of 1946. And it seems like Jim's legal strategy is to double down on the claim that George was his intended victim, not Fern. Per reporting, Jim's lawyers seem interested in exploring the Castle Doctrine, which is the idea that you can defend your home with deadly force if need be. So if Jim saw George as a threat to his home vis-a-vis his marriage, then a jury might be convinced to convict him of a lesser charge like manslaughter. But prosecutors jump on this logic immediately. If that was the case, why did Jim go through the elaborate process of learning how to create a deadly bomb, only to leave it in his basement in a place that was accessible to his family? You said that already, like 20 minutes ago. Not only that, but the prosecution reveals that the lock Jim used to secure the footlocker was one they had used before. So Fern knew the combination. Standing in the kitchen going, do not go near that locked footlocker. Rest your case. That's it. Guilty. No, Your Honor. No. Prosecutors pushed back also on the idea that Jim didn't know how to dismantle or dispose of the bomb when obviously he fucking built the bomb. It doesn't say that on that piece of paper. That you're fucking fishing in. Don't build it in the first place. Yes, that too. Okay. He knew exactly what wires to cut. Right. He could disarm that bomb anytime. Sure. He didn't do it. He could throw it in the lake. He was fishing that weekend, right? Yes, that's right. It could have never threatened anybody because you go snip, snip like every great Keanu Reeves movie we've ever seen and it's over. Yeah. In the end, the district attorney, John R. Collier's case rests on the idea that Fern just as likely could have been the intended target, which suggests premeditated murder. Yeah. Even the judge tells the jury, quote, Yeah. We have only the defendant's own statement. That he intended the bomb for George Hockenios rather than his wife. It's a question of fact for the jury to decide. End quote. So it took that jury five hours to deliberate and come back with a murder conviction for Jim Bowden. He is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife. And it seems like he actually did spend the rest of his life in prison. Imagine that. Right? The rare story where that's he didn't get out on good behavior. Jim passes away sometime in the 50s. We don't know why. So whether the target of Jim's homemade bomb was Fern or George is something that we kind of can't ever know. Yeah. Are you as frustrated right now as I usually am at this point? No, because I think it's her. I think she was the target. Yeah. It's kind of logical. It's kind of clear. Yeah. And we only have his claims to go on. The indisputable fact is that he was the only genuine threat in the Bowden home. And as D.A. John Collier said during Jim's trial, quote, Yeah. I never once hear this defendant say, I'm sorry. I wish I had my wife back. His silence resounds louder than his words. All he did was defend himself. Not a moment of. Yeah. It's not me. And I wanted to kill him. It's like still a killer. His wife's death was premeditated, intentional and deliberate. This man is a good poker player. End quote. Wow. And that's the story of Portland's so-called Pandora's box murder. Wow. I didn't understand in the beginning. And it's so much more chilling that he wanted someone to open it. And she did. I thought it just accidentally blew off at some point. It was like the thing of him standing around being like, do not. Right. He thought he was using reverse psychology. But that's what's creepy about it to me is his daughters easily could have. They all talked about maybe going down and snooping. So was he like a half family annihilator? Yeah. I wonder what the daughters thought. Those poor girls. So sad. Yeah. Wow. Well, great job. I've never heard of that one. Yeah. It was hard to not pick that one for Portland. But the one you did in Portland is incredible. I think we're putting up the live episode soon. It's the one of the high school, the high school scam. The high school bank robbers. Yes. That'll be on a couple episodes. So make sure you check out that live episode from Portland. That's right. Sure. Your actual house? Absolutely not. Feel safe in your home? My home was SimpliSafe. I recently got an alert from my camera outside that there is like someone prowling around late at night. You don't have to worry about it. Join the more than 6 million people who entrust SimpliSafe with their home security. Right now save 60% off with professional monitoring when you visit SimpliSafe.com slash fave. That's SimpliSafe.com slash f-a-v. SimpliSafe, ahead of crime in real time. Goodbye. Based on the acclaim. Named book by Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Krauss. It tells the tale of a diver fighting for his life after being swallowed by a whale. Goodbye. As an adult, making dinner isn't the hard part. The hard part is deciding what to make every single night for the rest of your life. But with Hungry Root, you can make that decision a whole lot easier. Hungry Root is like having your own personal shopper and nutritionist all wrapped up into one. They'll take care of weekly grocery shopping. And recommend groceries and meals tailored to you. Once you tell them about your goals and preferences, they fill your cart with personalized recommendations. And those recommendations get smarter as Hungry Root learns more about what you did or didn't like. Most of Hungry Root's recipes can be made in just 15 minutes or less. I mean, of course, it's always great to have delicious and very healthy groceries delivered to your house, which they can do. But I love the fact that Hungry Root will also just make you dinner so you can have it sitting there waiting. They make a classic chicken cornbread. And they have all kinds of variations on those themes. So that's one that I love to reach for. And all these options so you're getting really healthy meals. For a limited time, get 40% off your first order. Plus, get a free item in every box for life. Go to HungryRoot.com slash MFM and use code MFM. That's HungryRoot.com slash MFM. Code MFM to get 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. Goodbye. Okay, my story's a little wild. It's a little wild, too, in that a what actually happened kind of a thing. Perfect. Which I think we're going to solve it, as I always say. Although, I know it. We know it happened, and it sucks. Can I just say this really quick? Yeah. In terms of cold cases, I was getting ready to come here today, and I was like, they caught the Gilgo Beach killer. That's a reality. It's not a cold case anymore. Yeah. As hard as things are these days, we must focus on things that are true progress. Right. That thing was, like, he's behind bars. He can't kill another. He can't kill another person. Yeah. Oh, my God. So, this one, you see sometimes as headlines, like click-baity headlines. I saw this one on an Instagram account called History Feels with the headline that was kind of makes you laugh at first. It's along the lines of, man in Illinois sentenced to prison for causing the 1993 Great Flood to keep partying. That's, like, the idea behind it. Whatever you're about to tell me, I'm so here for it. Yes, you are. And the local story goes that this catastrophic flood was almost. It was almost entirely preventable were it not for the town ne'er-do-well who basically wanted to strand his wife on one side of the flood plain so he could keep drinking and partying and fishing on the other side of it. Oh, no. So, he purposely caused the levee to break. That's the story. That's the headline. Okay. But, of course, as truths so often tend to be, the real story is a little darker and much more complex than the folklore and click-bait headlines would lead you to believe. This is the story of James Scott. Okay. A man who authorities claim caused a massive natural disaster so he could strand his wife on one side of the river while he partied on the other. Everybody can relate to that. Right? I just want to party a little bit more and someone's going to stop me from doing that, so I'll flood the zone. Right. So, you see that headline and you're like, I know that guy. Yeah. I used to party with him in high school. I am that guy. I get it. I am that guy. The main sources for the story are a Vice documentary and a 2017 episode of Criminal, a podcast. Criminal called Catastrophe. Also, the dollop covered this one as well. It's just such a perfect dollop story that I'm going to now cover, and the rest of the sources can be found in the show notes. So, let's talk about the flood. It's July 16th, 1993, exactly 33 years before this story airs on the day. Oh. To the day. God, that's upsetting. I was like, where was I? And then it's just like, you mean a whole person ago? Yeah. 33 years ago? When I realized what high school reunion I would be coming up on recently. I kind of disassociated from my life. Did you go like this backwards? So, 33 years, and we're on the banks of the Mississippi River. I'm so old. How did I make it this far? We did it. We've done it. We've done it. High five. So, we're on the banks of the Mississippi River. We're in two towns on opposite sides of the Mississippi River. One side is Quincy, which is in Illinois, and the other side is West Quincy, which is actually in Missouri. They love to do that back there. Kansas City. You can stand on both sides. Yeah. And then you touch. Either side. Right. We're only about 20 miles upstream from Hannibal, Missouri, which, as you know, is where Mark Twain was born and is the basis for the setting of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Just to give you and your brain an idea of where we are. I've always got to go literary like that. Yeah. I thought you were going to say, birthplace of Hannibal Buress. Hilarious comedian, Hannibal Buress. So, this summer, the Mississippi is looking particularly mighty. The previous winter had been very snowy. Of course, there's, you know, climate change. Even in 93, guys, imagine that. And it's also been a very rainy spring and early summer. So, the river is worryingly high. In the days leading up to July 16th, it's been raining buckets, that summer rain. All up and down the Mississippi, the river has been breaking through its levees, washing out houses, neighborhoods, towns, and wiping out harvests on thousands of acres of farmland. And I read that during this great flood of 1993, more than a thousand levees were basically breached. along the Mississippi and the area. 1,000 levees. Yeah. So that's all fucking a town. It looks like a river, but see, that's a town. That's a bunch of people's livelihoods and houses underwater. Not supposed to be there. We maybe do a before and after. I love a before and after. Oh, my God. I just click, click, click, click over and over. Okay. Especially when it's a haircut. But the river's good, too. I was talking about, like, natural disasters. Same, though, right? Sometimes. Bangs can be a natural disaster. It can be a natural disaster. If you do it yourself, it's a natural disaster. So for the week preceding July 16th, there's been an all-hands-on-deck effort to come down to the levees and help sandbag. It's kind of this, like, feel good, get the community together to help. Pretty much everyone in town is there. They use bulldozers to try to scrape the dirt upward to make the levee taller and then put sandbags on the top of that just to make it taller. That's how the water, you know, you get it. And so by the afternoon of the 16th, the river. The levee is at 31.9 feet high, and the levee is supposed to keep out water up to 32 feet. Oh. So we're not close enough. Okay. At this point, it's not really safe for most volunteers to be out working on the levees, but there are a few up and down the river keeping watch for breaks, along with a National Guard. At 2 p.m., from a quarter mile away, guardsmen and volunteers on a bridge hear trees cracking and realize the levee has broken. In an area that wasn't being directed. And it wasn't being directly watched because it had thought to be one of the strongest points. Instantly, rushing water creates a hundred foot gap in the levee and water comes pouring through, washing out roads and bridges, flooding farmland and essentially cutting off access to West Quincy. And we have a photo of that levee breach, just to give you an idea. So that is the point of where it breached and just opened up and all this water that had been held back just flowed in and took everything out. Yeah, it's pretty fucked up. A barge. A barge gets sucked through the hole like a fucking ship. Oh, my God. Like a long ship. The long, flat ones that they like to have on those rivers. And crashes into a gas station, causing an explosion and a fire that burns into the night. It's just mayhem. But miraculously, no one is killed in that accident or hurt or in this instance of flooding at all. So no one's hurt. Just a lot of damage. That evening on the local news, an interview airs from just after the levee had broke. They show up and they're just trying to interview whoever's there. And they find this 23-year-old. This 23-year-old man who is a volunteer who's trying to help, you know, put those sandbags up and stuff. His name is James Scott. He said he had seen the weak spot where the levee wound up breaking and he had tried to patch it up. Everyone else had left. In the interview, he says, quote, everybody else left. Sorry. I decided to stick around until the next crew came, end quote. He says that he had seen a spot where the water was seeping in and he had moved some sandbags to that spot and then had gone to get help. And while he was doing that, the levee had broken. So James, who most people call Jim or Jimmy, we're going to call him Jimmy, is from Quincy on the higher up Illinois side. So his town is fine. But his wife, Susie, works at a restaurant on the Missouri side where it just flooded. And so he, like many other Quincy residents, had been out helping to prevent a flood for his neighbors across the river. When that interview with him airs, it catches the attention of a lot of people in Quincy who know who he is. But particularly a police detective. And this is because the detective knows Jimmy very well. The thing is, Jimmy and his brothers, but especially Jimmy, are a bit notorious around Quincy for various crimes, but particularly for arson. So I'm going to show you a screen grab from that news report that's from the Vice documentary because I want to show you. He's got that. He listens to Slayer, probably. Yeah, for sure. Right. And Motley Crue, maybe. I don't know. That's what all the boys who were seniors when I was a freshman. That's what they look like. That's what they look like in the 80s. I mean, now this is the 90s, but there was an adultness to young men back then. With their little mustaches and stuff. Absolutely. Yeah. I totally dated a guy that looked like that from rehab. Like, it's just, he looks, you know, he looks like a bad guy, but. I would think that he would have a pack of cigarettes rolled in one of those sleeves. Definitely. Right. Definitely smokes and drinks a lot of beer. Yeah. And wants to go to the lake. Right. But tried to help. Tried to help. His neighbors. Or so we thought. Also, that was my favorite. That was my hair from the 90s. It just kind of needs some hair oil. Oh, yeah. And. Weird wavy. We're on TV, yet we don't seem to care. Just kidding. It was tough back then. There was no products. No. Just like harsh ones. Basically, in 1982, when Jimmy is 12, he and his two brothers, who are 11 and 13, they sneak into their old elementary school at night. And the elementary school, I think at this point, isn't in use anymore. But they sneak in, and they're already known as local troublemakers. But that night in school is when they cement their reputation. They wind up in the auditorium, smoking cigarettes. Basically, the youngest brother ends up with a lighter, and Jimmy dares him to set one of the curtains on fire. They're just fucking. And I can't judge. If I were judged based on shit that I lit on fire when I was that age, I would be in prison. But I'm just guessing. Did you light things on fire indoors? Yeah. Oh. No. We were bad fucking kids. But did you light things like curtains on fucking fire? Where it's like, this is the second step to every Christmas tree fire you've ever seen. We didn't know that. There was definitely vandalism. I refuse to implicate myself. Yes. Or my family. But there was some? But there was some vandalism. Are you Banksy? That would be amazing. I wish. I told you how, as a, I think I was in fourth grade, with my fingernail, I carved the word fuck into the back of the chair. Yes. Because I had seen it. It was spray painted on our school wall and everyone was like. Right. Well, I did that. I spray painted it. You did it. That was me when I was six. And then I processed it in a borrowed car. But just to say, like, they targeted him because he had done bad stuff in the past. And it's like, so have I. So let's not. We can't do that. Many kids do. Right. But then if you're getting older and you look like you're 39. Right. How about you don't light the fucking curtains on fire? Yes. But he was. He was 12 when that happened. OK. He's still not a good guy. He still did some crimes. Yes. He's still. Also, the fact that the crime is arson as opposed to vandalism. Those are wildly far apart in terms of the what's going on with the 12 year old. Totally. That's a. Totally. It's your bug. OK. So he lights the curtain on fire and it immediately ignites as curtains do when you light them on fire. Especially old ones at grammar school. Totally. This is an old fucking school to the boys try for a few seconds to put it out, but they realize the fire is spreading to the whole curtain. So they try to get out of the school through the window that they climbed through on their way out. Jimmy realizes his brother is holding a stolen grade book. So he's worried about fingerprints. So Jimmy takes the grade books, lights it on fire and throws it back into the classroom and they get out of there. Oh, so they like basically they're getting F's and they went and took the book that said that. I don't know. From what I've read, the school's already closed. So maybe they were just like closed down. Oh, just. I don't know. Stuff to burn. Yeah. OK. By two in the morning, the whole town smells like smoke. The fire keeps burning into the morning as firefighters work to put out the blaze. But the hundred K square foot school is ultimately burned to the ground. Oh, my God. Like this old brick, beautiful building. And it was a couple of fifth graders that did it. Right. Fifth, sixth, seventh. Investigators immediately suspect that kids had been involved and ask local teachers to keep an eye out for any kids who are behaving strangely, which is smart. Doesn't take long for teachers to hone in. Hone in on the Scott boys who are behaving very weirdly and who have made a few cryptic, you know, allusions to their friends about having started the fire. OK. Because they want that credit. They want the credit and their children. In juvenile court, a judge determines that Jimmy was the ringleader and sends him to a juvenile detention center for the rest of the school year, which is about four months. The youngest brother is sent to live with a foster family and the oldest brother gets probation. By the summer, the whole family is reunited. But the Scott boys, especially Jimmy, get a reputation around town. That they can't seem to shake or don't want to. And they don't do much to shake it because Jimmy does set a few other fires, mainly abandoned cars and dumpsters this time. Jimmy's got something to say. Yeah. In his late teens. And he also gets arrested a few times for petty theft. I mean, he's not, you know, our perfect innocent victim. He does set a fire at one occasion, according to police, to an occupied apartment of a girl who turned him down for a date. So it's not good that he's he's. It's not good. It's not good. It's not good, Georgia. Yeah. It's a he's a he's a troublemaker. Yeah, for sure. But fires next level. Yes. Fire is not good. It's not good. It's not good. When Jimmy's 18, he is charged for several arsons at once, and he is sentenced to seven years in prison. He serves three and he's released when he's 21 and he gets a job at Burger King. And of course, because this always seems to happen, he marries a woman who wants to marry him. Yes. You know, I mean, coming in hot off of like a jail stint. Yeah. And boy, there's a McConaughey vibe to her is. Yeah. He's got he's got cigarettes rolled up in his ear up on the cash register at Burger King. This guy comes rolling in. Always got Schlitz cold Schlitz ice cold on the breath. So he marries a woman named Susie and he's known to party a lot at his friend's house. But it does seem like he's calmed down with the arsons and mostly with the thefts to two years. pass. And that brings us to those rainy days in July leading up to the levee breaking on the 16th. So we met him as, like, a concerned citizen. Yes. But when the cops find out and see him, they're like, uh-oh, our boy's bad. Our boy was at the scene of, was it a crime? That's the thing. It was a natural event. Right. Or was it a crime? That's what they think. Or was it a crime? So on October 1st, James is arrested on unrelated burglary charges. But once at the station, it turns out that police have warns for five different crimes, most prominent of which is intentionally breaking the levy that caused the July 16th flood. So they immediately are like, you did this. You did it on purpose. You did it. Jimmy vehemently denies this. He denies all the charges. He says he did pass a bad check. That's the only thing he did. And he stole a backpack out of a truck. He admits to those two things. What if he did both of those things while he was piling up those sandbags? Right. He just got it done. Do, do, do. Yeah. But he says he had nothing to do with this flood. He is ultimately convicted under an obscure Missouri law that makes it a felony to, quote, knowingly cause a catastrophe. A catastrophe is defined as an explosion, fire, flood, collapse of a building, or the release of poison, radioactive material, bacteria, viruses, or other difficult-to-confine forces. My story is a catastrophe story as well. Yeah. So this event must result in the death or physical injury to 10 or more people. So no. Or substantial damage to five or more buildings. No. But that's what he gets fucking, that's the law. It's like an old obscure law that they're like, great, let's use this. Which sounds like there's like a sheriff that knows that boy and I'm going to get him this time. Like, okay. Right. It does, doesn't it? It does. But again, no one was killed in the flood, but of course many buildings were substantially damaged. But here's the thing. We have discussed all the evidence the police have that showed that Jimmy broke the levee. That's it. It's like a hunch. And he was there. That's it. Their case is basically that he was there and that he has a history of setting fires and thefts. But this is water. Water. Yeah. He controls water. He now can. I didn't tell you that. He gave up fire for water. But it's water, not fire. That is a really good point. It's like if it caught fire, sure, maybe. Maybe. But he's taking it in a totally different direction now. There's only one other piece of evidence and it's this. In the days leading up to the levee break when everyone had been helping to sandbag, Jimmy included, he had said, or a teenager he knew that he was playing basketball with, said that he said, quote, if that levee broke. I hope it strands Susie over in Taylor so I can party here without her, end quote. It doesn't sound like a teenager talking. And it also doesn't sound like a threat. Right. As much as it is a hope. A fun husband's concept about getting away from his wife. About how you know a divorce is coming. And this is pretty much the only basis for the motive of wanting to cause a flood in order to party that the prosecution uses. Like they didn't have a motive. This guy who. Who knows if he got anything out of saying that as they tend to do. Yeah. So that's it. The only other real evidence the prosecution has is a federal expert saying that the levee had failed at one of its strongest points and had been inspected two hours earlier. Like it should not have failed where it did. Right. But at the same time, two soil experts who testify for the defense say that the levee was very likely to break and that the spot where it did was where they would have predicted it would have broken. But those are soil experts. Yeah. Because here's the thing, because it's a very narrow point in the river, which creates a bottleneck. So the river is flowing. It goes to here. And then suddenly there's a ton of pressure on the levee. Yeah. And the effort to build the levees taller by pushing the dirt up with bulldozers actually may have undermined the levees by thinning them out. And it was like really soft sand. So they pushed it and made the wall thinner. Oh. And also it went. It was 31.9 inches and the water was 32. Yeah. That's like an inch too much. Did I say inch? Do I mean something else? I think you mean feet. And I mean feet. And I mean. And when I say inches. Feet picks. You should know. So basically the experts testify that. They also say that it's highly unlikely that anyone would be able to intentionally break a levee holding back a raging river without being swept away themselves. What if they're a bad kid? Could they do it then? They could then hold on tight. And remember, most people. Most people had left the levees by that point because they were basically at their maximum level at the time they failed. They were dangerous. Yeah. Why didn't he? He was hanging out till the next people got there? I think he later says something about feeling like, you know, this is my way to prove myself and I'm going to be, you know. A hero. They're all going to see me and know that I'm like, you know, I'm going to get the accolades I've always wanted kind of a thing. But in truth, he's just down there with a lighter trying to light the levee on fire. He's trying to light the river on fire. Bro. Over and over. Okay. There's also. There's also evidence about. We're not going to get into levees, not actually doing anything in the first place, but exacerbating flooding. I don't want to argue with you today about that. We will go back into our Katrina argument. Oh, yeah. So here's the thing. Jimmy is found guilty and he's given a life sentence. What? No one died. A life sentence. There's a sheriff behind all of this or someone that's mad. And when the judge convicts him, he says to Jimmy, like, basically, you did this. Because you had a sense of, quote, excitement or power or sexual arousal or all of the above, end quote, from his alleged crimes. So basically saying, like, he's a pyro destroyer. He gets like gets off on all of this, which isn't even wasn't even part of the prosecution's argument. He just kind of. And also, it makes sense for fire because that's like a psychologically studied. Right. Right. How would the opposite thing give him? Yeah. No, totally. And also that would he would have had to. He'd do it before to know that that turns him on. Right. It's such a weird, gigantic. It's not. It doesn't make any sense. It makes no sense. Missouri law enforcement officials themselves speak on the record and say that the sentence feels out of step with the severity of the crime. So everyone's like, wait a second. Get in here. Hurry up. Assuming there was a crime. Child predators routinely get much shorter sentences for murder and fucking pedophiles. And rapists get shorter sentences than this. So this raises a question. Why are the authorities so keen to charge anyone for breaking the levee if it's not even clear that it was broken? Oh, scapegoating? Like I said, the levees have been breaking over a thousand times up and down the river all throughout the early summer of 93. It had been happening. This wasn't the only one. And it's like, oh, no, this is the one. It must be someone who did it. And no one had been criminally charged for those breaking of levees. They couldn't get them. There's a contingent of people. Yes, I said a contingent of people led by a journalist named Adam Pitlow. Who's the guy who did the Vice documentary who believed that Jimmy was a convenient scapegoat. OK, here's this. This is just going to blow you away. OK. The local farmers do not have federal flood insurance that covers flooding. They don't have insurance for that. They do have homeowners policies that cover damage due to criminal vandalism. Oh, no. So in every other instance of flooding on the Mississippi River in the summer of 1993, there are no insurance payouts because of that. But in West Quincy, Missouri, most farmers and business owners are made whole again after Jimmy is convicted for causing the flood. So out of the people who get that insurance payout because it was vandalism includes the civilian chair of the Levee District Commission. He's the largest landowner in the area, and he is one of the people who had testified in Jimmy's trial that the levee had broken at its strongest point. Oh, shit. He testified against Jimmy and got the biggest payout of anyone. He lied. And even he, he's in this documentary for a minute being all like sheepish. And he's like, well, I think he served his time. You could tell he's like, oh, shit, I did not think he would get stuck in prison. A life sentence. So that, oh. He does not disclose his financial stake in the outcome of the trial when he testifies. So that immediately is. This smells like making a murderer. It does. But nobody died. So Jimmy's granted a new trial when it comes to light that the prosecution had not. Shared all of their witnesses with the defense in advance. But Jimmy's conviction and sentence are both upheld at the new trial. I think the town and the people in the surrounding area were so angry and so upset that they wanted to blame someone. Yes. They found him. Yeah, he's a scapegoat. And, I mean, even if no one died, the amount of damage and cost. It's so devastating. Yeah. Personally, I don't think he did anything. To cause a huge levee to collapse has to be more than one. Person could do. I mean, I just tried to picture it where I'm like, so if he has like a box cutter and he's slicing open the sandbags, how would he single handedly do it? Totally. Yeah. So while he's in prison, his two biggest advocates are his mother and the journalist Adam Pitlock that I mentioned. He writes a book laying out the case for Jimmy's innocence and appears in the Vice documentary. And also the other one is his mother, Sharon. On the criminal episode, she says, quote, there's only two that know what happened that night and nobody's going to change. That is God almighty and Jim. Everything happens for a reason that me and the river don't get along as far away from the river. I can stay. I'm happy. End quote. And she just talks to him every day and it's just like on his side trying to get him back. Are you telling me he's still in jail? Uh huh. He's 56 years old now. When he was 23 and he's been in prison since 1993, he's taken every class available to him and train service. service dogs. come on. After a few delays, he's finally scheduled to have his first parole hearing at the end of this month. Oh, wow. July 2026. Good. As of the Vice documentary, which was made in 2019, he did not plan to apologize for causing the flood at his hearing, which he takes responsibility and they'd be more likely to parole him, especially because nobody was hurt. But he refuses to do it because he's adamant that he didn't do anything wrong and he will not take blame for something that he didn't do. Right. I have a past that I am not proud of, but when it comes to the West Quincy levy, I'm sorry for what people lost. I'm sorry for what we went through as a community. But for me to go in there and say, I'm sorry for something I've never done, I can't do it. End quote. Jimmy's biggest advocate, his mother, Sharon, passes away in 2019 without getting to see her son free. And that is the story of Jimmy Scott and the great 1993 Mississippi River flood. So. So clickbait. Wow. Behind the clickbait. Behind the clickbait and the real story. Yeah. Yeah, because what the fuck is the partying thing? He did it to party and so he goes to jail for life. The whole argument, too, is like, OK, if he did it, which a lot of people, including me, don't think he did, that's too long of a sentence. That doesn't make any sense. Right. But I really don't think he had anything to do with it. And, you know, there's no proof that he did. They couldn't prove he did anyways. Right. So he shouldn't even. I mean, it's that if it is what you're saying, it's like corruption at the highest and most kind of evil level. Totally. Just let that guy go and be in jail forever. Right. Oh, good one. It's not a good one. I was excited to do that one. Yeah. That was great. Thank you. This is, I would say, in our top 7000 episodes, wouldn't you? I hope I have an update for you at the end of the month that he like. Oh, my God. Or something. Oh, yeah. I can't wait to hear. Yeah. That's very exciting. Well, thank you for listening to that. Yes. Listener and watcher, thank you for listening. We genuinely have gratitude. You're like a levy, an unbreakable levy to us. To us. In our hearts and souls. That's right. Stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie? This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Molly Smith and our associate producer is Tessa Hughes. Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo. This episode was mixed by Liana Squalacci. Our researchers are Maren McGlashan and Allie Elkin. Email your hometowns to myfavoritemurder at gmail.com. And follow the show on Instagram at myfavoritemurder. Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And now you can watch My Favorite Murder on Netflix. And when you're there, hit the double thumbs up and the remind me buttons. That's the best way you can support our show. Goodbye. Calling all amateur detectives and podcast obsessives. Virgin Voyage's second true crime voyage sets sail March 20th, 2027 for a five-night escape to Grand Turk and the Beach Club at Bimini. As part of the On Air at Sea collection, this immersive sailing brings together fan favorite podcasts, including Disgraceland, Buried Bird. Bones and Wisecrack. For live recordings, behind-the-scenes access, exclusive meet-and-greets, and crime-themed programming that you won't find anywhere else. All aboard our award-winning, kid-free ships. Head over to virginvoyages.com slash truecrime to secure your spot. Goodbye.