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Hey everyone, this is Liam Luxen, host of Tenderfoot Series
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Status Untraced. Welcome to a very special episode of Culpable,
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the first bonus episode of the season.
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And I'm here with none other than the voice of Culpable. Dennis,
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how are you, man? It's been a while.
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Hey, Liam. Pretty good, man. Yeah, long time no see.
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Well, I'm thrilled to be talking with you today about
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this new season of Culpable. I know that we just
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started getting into Danny Violet's case, and I'm sure there's
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a lot in store for us over the next several weeks.
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So we're going to do our best to avoid spoilers.
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But that being said... There may be some sneak peeks
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waiting for you in this interview. Let's kick things off,
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and why don't you give us a brief summary about
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Danny's case?
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Sure. Yeah, so Danny Violet, he's a 17-year-old living in
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a small Ohio town called Willard. And in the fall
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of 98, he vanished. He was missing for roughly 11
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days and then was found dead in a cornfield on
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the outskirts of town. Under suspicious circumstances, he had what
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appeared to be a ligature mark around his neck and
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what appeared to be tire tracks across his bare torso.
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And then there was some additional evidence found in that
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field the following day that also lent itself to the
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possibility of foul play. And so, you know, long story
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short is it's been over 25 years now and his
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case remains unsolved. And it was one that when I
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heard about it just initially intrigued me. And just thought
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it could be a neat challenge as well to take
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on a much older case than the last two I
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worked on.
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You covered this case a few years ago in your
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case review series. Now that we have a full-length investigation
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on it, I assume there are some new things that
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you've learned?
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Absolutely, yeah.
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So when we first did that episode, there was like
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nothing known about this case. And I just spoke with
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his brother, Drew, and did the best we could to
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cover it and put a spotlight on it just because...
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all the attention had died off after so many years
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and nobody there was talking about it. One thing led
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to another and it's ballooned into something much bigger than that. Wow.
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Can you give us a teaser of any of the
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stuff that you found?
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Well, without giving too much away, what I'll just say
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is that at the time, pretty much nothing was known
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about it. I interviewed Danny's brother, Drew, and he did
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his best to just kind of tell me what he
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had heard and or learned over the years. And turns
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out actually a lot of the stuff that he thought
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he knew was actually not even true you know there
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were some inaccuracies there which just goes to show the
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importance of doing these types of deep dives because since
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then we've gotten much more lost in the weeds of
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this case and again without giving away too much have
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learned way more information than what was known then and
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that i think really anybody in that town and even
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danny's family have known after all these years.
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So this is actually your third season hosting Culpable, and
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I'm sure a lot of people listening are familiar with
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your work, but can you give us a little bit
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of your background of how you got into podcasting?
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Yeah, so I always say my background is kind of odd.
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It did not, I don't feel like in any way,
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lead me to where I'm at now. That said, it
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does match a lot of my interests. I've always been
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into true crime, even since as a child. I remember
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watching crime shows with my parents growing up, and on
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top of that, I've always... loved writing as well. So,
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you know, those two things kind of cross into the
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mold of podcasting and it's probably why it was such
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a good fit for me. But the path that led
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me here was not one that I really pursued. I
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got married and had kids at a young age and
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was just trying to find anything I could do to
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provide and just find the next good job and have
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worked in all sorts of different fields that are far
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away from what podcasting is. But a friend of mine,
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launched a podcast production company, you know, podcasts were booming
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and I was getting into them myself. And it was
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something that was like, I would love to do that
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sort of a bucket list thing. But right now I
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just need to keep working my nine to five and, um,
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just kind of the stars align. He learned about a
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story in Mississippi that would end up becoming season one
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of culpable. And, you know, I just kind of pitched
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to him, like, I'd really like to try to turn
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this into a podcast. Could you kind of help with that?
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And I met the family and yeah. the rest is history.
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And that's essentially what Burr is culpable. But in a
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lot of ways, if I'm being honest, I really just
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kind of stumbled into this. But ultimately, I'm happy that
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I did.
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Now we're three seasons later.
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What motivates you or continues to motivate you to investigate
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these kind of cases and tell these stories?
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Is it the writing aspect of it?
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Yeah, I think, you know, one thing is definitely the
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writing aspect. But I think, again, I've also always been
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into true crime. And a reason for that is just
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that itch that those stories give you to want to
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try and solve them. And then ultimately, like, a big reason, again,
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why I got into this is also, like, I just
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wanted to sort of be a voice for the voiceless.
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When I first learned about Christian's story in season one,
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it kind of gave me a taste of, like, what
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families who lose loved ones go through. Sometimes there's a
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lot of attention around it, and sometimes there's not. And
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then these families are kind of left with their hands out, like,
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where do I go? What do I do now? And
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so seeing that made me kind of want to help
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be that voice for those people in a lot of
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ways and help get these stories out and help get
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a spotlight on them because these stories deserve to be heard.
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These victims deserve to be remembered, not forgotten. And ultimately,
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the goal of obtaining justice for them should never expire.
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So that's always, I think, been a driving force for
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me as well.
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Tell us a little bit about your process, about how, one,
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you find a case that you really want to go
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dive into and hopefully make a difference on, and really
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the creative process of how it then gets made.
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Yeah, so I definitely have not figured out the art
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of finding a case. All the cases I've covered thus
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far have found me. The first one came through a
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true crime convention. The second one came from a friend
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of mine. It was a case in their hometown. And
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then this most recent one came from a listener, an
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email that she sent in to us, which had very
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little about the case, but was enough to intrigue me.
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You know, it mentioned the same things I mentioned at
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the beginning of this about the ligature mark around his
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neck and the tire tracks across his torso. It was
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very short and sweet. And for whatever reason, it scratched
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that itch and made me think there's got to be
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more here. I can't be the whole story.
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Did you think you could maybe solve it as well?
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No, I didn't necessarily think that I could solve it,
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but I think I just really wanted to learn more.
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You know, the creative process for this season has been
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a rather odd one because of the way things started.
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The intent was never to make a full season on
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this until a few things aligned and there was a
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shift and things started going that direction. But still though,
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to get into that creative process that you asked about,
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I always like to start with speaking with the family
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and or who's closest to the story, learn what I
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can from them, which is what I did in this
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case by talking with Drew initially. You know, from there
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you request documents, you maybe do a couple more follow-up interviews.
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You know, you want to put in a little bit
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of legwork before you ever commit to doing a story
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or before you get too far into production. And then
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from there, I'll always try to outline it. You know,
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how many episodes might this be? What's kind of the
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story arch there? But in that knowing that it's not
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going to stay the same through the end. It never does.
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It will always change in some way, shape or form.
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But that's what's neat about doing this sort of more
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live in the moment investigative type of podcast. It's that
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you really don't know like what each day will bring
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and what might change along the way. And then from there,
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you just keep on keeping on. Keep digging. Keep doing
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your interviews. You know, from there, the show slowly comes together.
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But a lot of that, you know, I can't take
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credit for. I like to give credit where it's due.
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And I have some amazing folks I work with, producers
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John and Jamie. And then, of course, my engineer Dayton,
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who can take my words that I utter into a
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mic and pace everything out in that score and make
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it sound like almost like a movie. Just a very
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immersive experience. And that's something that makes this unique that
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I don't take for granted. So I'm thankful for the
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people I've surrounded myself with. So yeah, I'm fortunate to
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have a team around me.
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Yeah, big shout out to our Tenderfoot team.
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What's that balance look like of sensitivity to the victim,
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their family, and various people that become featured in the show?
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Yeah, so that's always like a tightrope, right?
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Because I want to have a connection with the family
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so long as they want to put this story out.
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The way it's worked so far is the three stories
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I've told. The families have been all for this. But
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their involvement has all looked... quite different. Everybody just kind
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of has a different approach. The interesting thing about Danny's
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case is that so much time had passed. All the
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kids have grown up and started their own lives and
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have their own kids and everybody's busy. They'll all admit
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that this wasn't really something that they talked about over
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the years. They didn't really know how to handle it
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when they lost Danny. And they have all described it
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as sort of like this blur, like everything just became
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a blur after it happened. And, you know, yeah, they
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talk about him on his birthday and his anniversary and
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stuff like that but for the most part they kind
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of shied away from digging into the nitty gritty of
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like what might've happened to him and trying to piece
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that together. They put a lot of faith in law
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enforcement to do that. And law enforcement worked this case
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and investigated it pretty hard, but unfortunately it never led
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to anything. So when I got connected with them, you know,
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the interesting thing there was they're not really of that
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like bulldog mentality of like, you know, let's do whatever
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it takes. Let's get to the bottom of this. But
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They want answers. I think they're more at a point
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where they were just exhausted and, you know, getting older
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and they just wanted some information. They had been left
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in the dark throughout his entire investigation. You know, back
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to your question about balancing the sensitivity and all that.
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You know, it's hard because these families have to essentially
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trust you with their loved one's story. And you have
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to tell it honestly. You know, we can't like sugarcoat
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it or make a victim to be out to somebody
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that they're not. And then with that connection to the family,
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a lot of families can obviously have their own bias
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and whatnot. And so you want to hear them out,
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but you have to form your own opinions at the
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end of the day and work this case kind of
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separately from them, which can always be a challenge. It
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hasn't been as much in this season because, again, they're
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happy to remain mostly hands off with this. And so
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that's made a little bit easier. But yeah, that's always
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a challenge with all these stories. And I'm a firm
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believer again, and giving a voice to those people and
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having a lot of heart in these stories, because I
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think that can move people and helps it not just
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become like a salacious story of like oohs and ahs
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and wow moments. I do want some of that heart
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to be captured in the stories that I tell. So again,
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it's a challenge, but I'd like to think I've gotten
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it down pretty well.
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Yeah. And from my personal experience, tracking Justin Alexander and
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his story, I know how life-encompassing these stories can really become.
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What was that moment that you knew this case was
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the right one for you to make a full season on?
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Like if one moment really stands out.
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With Danny's case, I would say one thing that really
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drew me to it was I kind of got the
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sense that maybe he was misunderstood in that town. His
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family would be the first to tell you he was
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far from perfect. He struggled with addiction. He was also bipolar,
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so he had mental health struggles as well. He didn't
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always make the best decisions. But interestingly, amongst his friends,
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he was seen as spotless. Nobody saw him for those things.
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They loved Danny. By all accounts, you'll hear in the
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show that he had no enemies. He only had friends.
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And on top of that, even the mistakes that he
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made in life, they're really not too different from what
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your average teen in a small town is probably doing.
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I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. It's nowhere near as small,
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but the teenagers around here tend to follow those same paths.
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I know that I did. And so it was easy
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to put myself in his shoes in that kind of way.
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00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:00.710
And talking with people around that town, you know, and
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maybe this is a product of the amount of time
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00:13:02.490 --> 00:13:05.250
that's passed or some of the elements that you'll hear
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00:13:05.289 --> 00:13:07.350
come into this story as far as like his addiction
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00:13:07.370 --> 00:13:10.769
and his mental health. The popular theory around town like
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really seemed to be that this was some kind of
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00:13:13.169 --> 00:13:16.620
freak accident. you know, maybe an overdose, maybe a bad
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00:13:16.659 --> 00:13:21.259
reaction to his prescribed and illicit drugs that he took.
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And even the possibility that this was a suicide, right?
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Because he had a ligature mark around his neck. And so,
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you know, it really just seemed like the consensus was,
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it's just this weird unexplained mystery. Some freak accident must've happened. And,
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you know, it's just really sad. And while I didn't
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know a whole lot about it at first and wasn't
269
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able to gather a whole lot from his brother, Drew,
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in that first interview I did, like I said, At
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the same time, I couldn't help but look at it
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and see immediately, to me, there seems like there's signs
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of foul play here. Don't want to jump to conclusions.
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You know, would like to speak with maybe some experts
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before I reach that. But just at a glance, to me,
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it seemed like he can't end up in that position,
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in that field, and in the condition he was found
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00:14:04.419 --> 00:14:07.039
in without there being some degree of foul play to this.
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And so, you know, I think a part of me
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felt sort of compelled to make sure and get the
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00:14:14.250 --> 00:14:17.049
truth out there to whatever extent in that town and
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00:14:17.090 --> 00:14:20.450
make sure and sort of correct that narrative in a way,
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00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:24.039
if that was people's common misconception of what happened to him.
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00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:26.940
Yeah. And that's something that I noticed when I was listening.
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00:14:27.139 --> 00:14:31.200
I noticed a very similar sort of just normal teenage
286
00:14:31.580 --> 00:14:36.409
culture out there. So I totally understand the relatability and
287
00:14:36.429 --> 00:14:39.629
then the curiosity. So what's your next step? You just
288
00:14:39.649 --> 00:14:42.110
kind of reached out to some experts and decided that was...
289
00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:47.820
That made sense? Or what was your next steps that solidified.
290
00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:48.539
That this was going to be a full season?
291
00:14:49.559 --> 00:14:52.080
So to fill in the gap there a little bit,
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00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:55.480
what was funny about Drew was, again, one thing he
293
00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:58.759
made apparent to me early on is that so much
294
00:14:58.820 --> 00:15:01.440
of the story around what happened to Danny is just
295
00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:05.360
fueled by rumors, small-town rumors, right? I mean, word travels
296
00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:09.600
fast in a town that small. And so that's sort
297
00:15:09.620 --> 00:15:12.320
of what happened with him, right? Because his family... And
298
00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:14.159
he didn't talk about it a whole lot. And so
299
00:15:14.179 --> 00:15:17.299
a lot of the information he'd gathered just by happenstance
300
00:15:17.340 --> 00:15:20.000
over the years was just things he'd heard about it.
301
00:15:20.500 --> 00:15:23.480
And he admitted that going into that. He was unorganized.
302
00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:27.679
He didn't know a whole lot, but his passion was there. Also,
303
00:15:27.820 --> 00:15:31.480
like this timing aligned there that he was just kind
304
00:15:31.500 --> 00:15:33.350
of reaching a point in his life where it's like
305
00:15:33.379 --> 00:15:35.990
enough is enough. I've kind of put this to the side.
306
00:15:36.009 --> 00:15:38.049
I haven't made a focus like I want to get
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00:15:38.070 --> 00:15:40.370
to the bottom of this once and for all. And
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00:15:40.470 --> 00:15:43.429
so he jumped at the opportunity to talk with me.
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00:15:43.529 --> 00:15:45.570
And in doing that, you know, I told him, like,
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I got a bunch of work that I got to
311
00:15:47.330 --> 00:15:48.750
go do. I got these other interviews I got to
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00:15:48.789 --> 00:15:49.970
do for these other cases.
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00:15:50.629 --> 00:15:51.549
But keep at it.
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00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:54.419
Reach out to some people around the town and, you know,
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00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:56.580
see what else you can learn. And, you know, more
316
00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:59.059
than anything, start to get organized. Because I could tell
317
00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:01.120
that he did have some information. He just didn't know
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00:16:01.539 --> 00:16:03.850
what was fact and what was fiction. And there was
319
00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:06.470
no rhyme or reason to the information he had collected, like,
320
00:16:06.529 --> 00:16:09.049
on paper that he had brought with a binder to
321
00:16:09.090 --> 00:16:11.720
that interview. So that was the advice I left him with.
322
00:16:11.779 --> 00:16:13.350
And I just went back to the drawing board and
323
00:16:13.870 --> 00:16:18.149
kept working on other episodes. And it wasn't until that winter,
324
00:16:18.230 --> 00:16:21.250
like six months later, that we got reconnected. And I
325
00:16:21.289 --> 00:16:24.409
found out like he had taken the advice and ran
326
00:16:24.429 --> 00:16:28.080
with it and had done all this digging and requested
327
00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:33.220
documents and was starting to finally learn a little bit more.
328
00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:36.950
Not a lot, but a little. Interestingly, in doing so,
329
00:16:37.029 --> 00:16:39.220
he also got connected with a woman by the name
330
00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:42.360
of Danielle. She was actually the woman who submitted his
331
00:16:42.379 --> 00:16:45.039
case to us, the email. She didn't know Danny. She
332
00:16:45.059 --> 00:16:48.000
wasn't from Willard. She heard about it from her husband
333
00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:50.820
and just had been interested by it and was a
334
00:16:50.860 --> 00:16:53.539
listener of our shows and sent it in. Somehow they
335
00:16:53.570 --> 00:16:57.529
got connected after he and I met, and she really
336
00:16:57.570 --> 00:17:01.409
helped him get organized and start digging into this. And
337
00:17:01.429 --> 00:17:03.049
it kind of just became a sort of a group
338
00:17:03.110 --> 00:17:06.220
effort between those couples, Drew and his wife, Andrea, and
339
00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:08.940
Danielle and her husband, Eric. And so when I got
340
00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:12.480
reconnected in the winter and I'm being told, hey, we've
341
00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:14.259
learned some more stuff, this and that, I'm not really
342
00:17:14.299 --> 00:17:16.759
knowing what to expect. And I meet up with them
343
00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:22.369
at Drew's house and was like blown away. They've really
344
00:17:22.650 --> 00:17:26.769
been busy over here. And so I think for me,
345
00:17:27.509 --> 00:17:31.630
I obviously once saw that as a unique opportunity. Now
346
00:17:32.309 --> 00:17:34.359
there's a ton of information available There's a lot more
347
00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:35.720
story to tell here. And a part of me felt
348
00:17:35.779 --> 00:17:39.359
an obligation to sort of finish the story and clear
349
00:17:39.420 --> 00:17:44.380
up any possible errors or inconsistencies in there. But on
350
00:17:44.420 --> 00:17:46.849
top of that, the final piece to fall was that
351
00:17:47.589 --> 00:17:49.509
they had learned from law enforcement that it wasn't really
352
00:17:49.549 --> 00:17:52.630
being actively investigated. They had other priorities to work on.
353
00:17:53.450 --> 00:17:57.539
And so he started making a push to close the
354
00:17:57.579 --> 00:18:00.660
case and get his brother's case file because it felt
355
00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:04.079
like it's been so long. not a lot of people
356
00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:07.440
know stuff or remember stuff very well. You know, how
357
00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:10.500
could we see the work from back in 1998 when
358
00:18:10.519 --> 00:18:12.700
this happened or like the couple of years that followed,
359
00:18:12.740 --> 00:18:16.680
like when it was fresh in people's minds. And that
360
00:18:16.700 --> 00:18:19.109
was his only real way that he solved doing that.
361
00:18:19.140 --> 00:18:21.690
And so the family came to an agreeance that, yeah,
362
00:18:21.730 --> 00:18:24.210
let's let's take that approach. It was not an easy
363
00:18:24.250 --> 00:18:27.950
choice by any means, but they did that. And it
364
00:18:27.990 --> 00:18:30.890
wasn't an easy road either. It wasn't just like, hey,
365
00:18:30.930 --> 00:18:33.690
you're on county, you know, can we get Danny's case file.
366
00:18:33.710 --> 00:18:37.609
Like it took getting attorneys involved and fees and months
367
00:18:37.650 --> 00:18:39.869
and months and months of sending stuff. But all that
368
00:18:39.910 --> 00:18:44.490
to say is eventually they got his case file released
369
00:18:45.210 --> 00:18:46.950
and shared that with me. And then it was like,
370
00:18:47.589 --> 00:18:50.410
then it became a no brainer because not only as
371
00:18:50.450 --> 00:18:54.890
like an investigator of sorts, but also as a storyteller,
372
00:18:55.259 --> 00:18:57.630
you know, in this role, you don't always have that
373
00:18:57.670 --> 00:19:01.009
at your disposal. So that felt like a huge, piece
374
00:19:01.049 --> 00:19:04.150
that that could kind of make this different and kind
375
00:19:04.200 --> 00:19:07.839
of put people back in time way back to 1998
376
00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:10.079
which has been kind of cool working in some of
377
00:19:10.119 --> 00:19:12.140
the audio that we acquired and those files from back
378
00:19:12.180 --> 00:19:13.960
in that time so that was kind of the final
379
00:19:13.980 --> 00:19:16.700
piece that made me you know commit to doing this
380
00:19:16.740 --> 00:19:19.029
story and that was all their work to give them
381
00:19:19.069 --> 00:19:24.049
the credit not my own 27.
382
00:19:33.259 --> 00:19:36.819
Years, I imagine, provides a whole lot of roadblocks. Were
383
00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:40.940
there any challenges that really, really presented themselves to you
384
00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:43.789
in starting to look into this? Was there ever a
385
00:19:43.829 --> 00:19:45.490
moment that really made you.
386
00:19:45.410 --> 00:19:46.869
Want to quit or give up?
387
00:19:47.869 --> 00:19:49.970
To the point you just made, I think that's probably
388
00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:54.880
been the biggest challenge. And I'll even kind of speak
389
00:19:54.940 --> 00:19:56.940
on that, you know, some in the podcast as far
390
00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.680
as the amount of time that's elapsed. Again, when I
391
00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:04.750
did Christian and Brittany's cases, they were much fresher compared
392
00:20:04.789 --> 00:20:08.930
to this one. I never worked on a cold case
393
00:20:08.970 --> 00:20:12.279
as old as this. And so one thing I didn't
394
00:20:12.299 --> 00:20:16.319
really realize getting into it is how much time like
395
00:20:16.359 --> 00:20:19.819
that can play with people's memories of things. You know,
396
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:22.779
hearing someone's account from 98, two weeks after it happened
397
00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:27.099
versus hearing it now, all these years later, and thinking
398
00:20:27.980 --> 00:20:30.910
which one is more reliable. You know, what do I
399
00:20:30.950 --> 00:20:33.670
believe here? On top of that, like with the passing
400
00:20:33.690 --> 00:20:36.130
of time, like people pass away, they move on, they.
401
00:20:38.349 --> 00:20:41.470
You know, in some ways lose interest in this. You know,
402
00:20:41.579 --> 00:20:43.180
it's not like it just happened the other day and
403
00:20:43.220 --> 00:20:46.299
everybody's running around town with their hands up, freaking out,
404
00:20:46.380 --> 00:20:48.799
like talking about what happened. I mean, the conversation had
405
00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:52.599
really died off, like I said. So it doesn't feel
406
00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:55.220
as close to home anymore in a lot of ways.
407
00:20:55.799 --> 00:20:59.019
And so people aren't as eager to speak on it
408
00:20:59.059 --> 00:21:00.839
or aren't quite as passionate about it. So there's been
409
00:21:00.859 --> 00:21:03.400
a lot of challenges with that, that, like I said,
410
00:21:03.460 --> 00:21:07.609
can all pretty much relate to the passing of time. Fortunately,
411
00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:10.500
we do have the case files, which has been a
412
00:21:11.059 --> 00:21:13.819
huge asset because of some of those challenges to be
413
00:21:13.859 --> 00:21:16.900
able to really put yourself back in time to days,
414
00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:20.210
weeks after it happened and hear people's accounts. I mean,
415
00:21:20.230 --> 00:21:23.950
detectives spoke with over 60 people, I think. Not all
416
00:21:23.970 --> 00:21:28.069
the audio is listenable. Again, another challenge with time. These
417
00:21:28.089 --> 00:21:31.190
are recorded on like VHS tapes and stuff. So thankfully,
418
00:21:31.269 --> 00:21:33.880
a lot of them are good enough audio to play
419
00:21:33.910 --> 00:21:36.960
and hear what they're saying and whatnot. And then as
420
00:21:36.980 --> 00:21:40.039
far as like Challenges that sort of made me want
421
00:21:40.059 --> 00:21:43.160
to quit. I haven't really reached that, I wouldn't say.
422
00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:47.069
But this has been definitely a tough case to work
423
00:21:47.160 --> 00:21:50.829
on for various reasons. It's kind of been up and
424
00:21:50.849 --> 00:21:53.529
down with law enforcement as far as like they weren't
425
00:21:53.569 --> 00:21:57.589
really involved early on in this. But fortunately, there has
426
00:21:57.630 --> 00:21:59.569
been a little bit of a shift there recently. And
427
00:21:59.589 --> 00:22:03.529
there's been some promise with them potentially getting involved in
428
00:22:03.569 --> 00:22:07.099
this and helping us with something that we're trying to
429
00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:09.440
pursue right now that the family is trying to pursue
430
00:22:09.460 --> 00:22:11.519
that could really help change the outcome of this case
431
00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:14.339
so it seems like a corner has started to be
432
00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:17.079
turned there you know only time will tell it's definitely
433
00:22:17.099 --> 00:22:19.839
been a long and bumpy road but one thing about
434
00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:22.720
this season is it's very much been like a group
435
00:22:22.779 --> 00:22:25.740
effort of sorts and and that's really helped to keep
436
00:22:25.789 --> 00:22:28.130
things moving along as far as some of the people
437
00:22:28.170 --> 00:22:31.410
involved in this from danny's family to again danielle and
438
00:22:31.450 --> 00:22:33.369
her husband eric who have stepped in and helped a
439
00:22:33.390 --> 00:22:37.519
lot of ways and then also a investigator of sorts
440
00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:39.539
who we'll be working with in this season as well,
441
00:22:39.980 --> 00:22:43.059
who has gotten involved and helped to learn some new
442
00:22:43.099 --> 00:22:43.660
things as well.
443
00:22:44.779 --> 00:22:48.160
So what can some listeners expect this season? Anything you
444
00:22:49.019 --> 00:22:52.240
want to drop to have us look forward to?
445
00:22:53.420 --> 00:22:56.859
What's cool about these types of stories and very live
446
00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:59.980
in the moment types of cases we're working is, you know,
447
00:23:00.019 --> 00:23:02.559
as we record this, I'm not even finished working on
448
00:23:02.599 --> 00:23:05.180
this season yet. That's the nature of it, right? But
449
00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:11.319
I just received an update today, actually, that we had
450
00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:13.440
something kind of go our way that we've been working
451
00:23:13.480 --> 00:23:16.210
on for quite some time now that could really help
452
00:23:16.250 --> 00:23:18.730
with this case. And so I don't want to give
453
00:23:18.769 --> 00:23:22.049
away exactly what that is, but that's really exciting because
454
00:23:22.069 --> 00:23:25.450
that's something that's, again, been a long road to get there.
455
00:23:25.470 --> 00:23:28.039
A lot of back and forth, a lot of hearing
456
00:23:28.059 --> 00:23:31.240
crickets for some time to eventually get to this moment
457
00:23:31.259 --> 00:23:33.849
right now where it seems like finally we're going to
458
00:23:33.869 --> 00:23:36.589
get some movement there and some assistance from the sheriff's office.
459
00:23:36.630 --> 00:23:40.529
So that's exciting. Time will tell how that all pans out.
460
00:23:41.109 --> 00:23:43.190
But yeah, beyond that, I mean, I think one of
461
00:23:43.230 --> 00:23:45.450
the reasons I was drawn to it is because it's
462
00:23:45.549 --> 00:23:50.819
just a totally bizarre and perplexing story, which are always
463
00:23:50.839 --> 00:23:53.900
the types of stories or cases that I've been drawn to.
464
00:23:54.740 --> 00:23:57.440
My favorite show growing up was Unsolved Mysteries. And this
465
00:23:57.500 --> 00:24:00.160
is definitely a story that would fit perfectly into the
466
00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:03.970
mold of that show just because You really aren't going
467
00:24:03.990 --> 00:24:06.670
to know what to think at times. There's a lot
468
00:24:06.730 --> 00:24:10.250
of persons of interest to consider in this story. There's
469
00:24:10.269 --> 00:24:15.259
a lot of different theories, both as to his cause
470
00:24:15.299 --> 00:24:18.000
of death to also the manner in which he was
471
00:24:18.059 --> 00:24:20.720
found in that field and how he would have gotten
472
00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:24.119
there in that condition. Even as something as much as
473
00:24:24.140 --> 00:24:27.160
like nailing down the last time he was seen. has
474
00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:29.799
proven to be a challenge as several people kind of
475
00:24:29.819 --> 00:24:32.460
claim to have seen him in the hours after his
476
00:24:32.529 --> 00:24:35.910
disappearance from his home. So a lot of things to
477
00:24:35.930 --> 00:24:39.410
get into. But then on top of that, we have
478
00:24:39.430 --> 00:24:42.150
been able to learn a lot of information, which will
479
00:24:42.170 --> 00:24:44.750
be exciting to follow along with from, you know, my
480
00:24:44.789 --> 00:24:48.089
digging into this to a lot of digging that Danielle
481
00:24:48.309 --> 00:24:51.329
has done. And as well as Michael Curtis, you'll meet
482
00:24:51.349 --> 00:24:54.230
in the show who has helped us on the investigative
483
00:24:54.269 --> 00:24:57.109
side as well. It's been a real group effort. I
484
00:24:57.150 --> 00:24:59.829
don't want to give away too much, but I'll just
485
00:24:59.849 --> 00:25:01.609
say like, if you like season one, there are definitely
486
00:25:01.630 --> 00:25:05.339
some parallels to that. There's this weird thing that happened
487
00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:08.559
the night before that's always kind of plagued this case.
488
00:25:09.059 --> 00:25:12.940
And I think for a certain reason, he was taking
489
00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:15.480
acid the night before with some friends, which we'll get
490
00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:19.059
into in the coming episodes. And that kind of sent
491
00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:21.660
the investigation for like a tailspin in the early days
492
00:25:21.740 --> 00:25:24.799
of it. That's similar to Christian's story in that like,
493
00:25:25.230 --> 00:25:26.890
The whole gun night that happened the night before his
494
00:25:26.930 --> 00:25:30.490
death sort of played into his investigation. On top of that, again,
495
00:25:30.509 --> 00:25:33.390
it's just a suspicious death of a young man that
496
00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:36.500
nobody seems to be able to give a perfect story
497
00:25:36.579 --> 00:25:40.920
for or a perfect explanation for. But I'm hoping that
498
00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:43.279
we'll be able to do that by the end of
499
00:25:43.319 --> 00:25:47.140
this or at the very least present a compelling case
500
00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:49.880
to authorities that then they can take and run with
501
00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:52.759
from there. Because I do feel like we've really made
502
00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:55.700
some strong headway on this, which you'll get some of
503
00:25:55.779 --> 00:25:57.299
as you follow along in the series.
504
00:25:58.140 --> 00:26:00.960
It sounds like you definitely have a preferred or hopeful
505
00:26:01.099 --> 00:26:05.359
outcome for the season of Culpable. Is that anything you
506
00:26:05.380 --> 00:26:06.940
want to share right now or still want to keep
507
00:26:06.980 --> 00:26:08.079
that a little ambiguous?
508
00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:11.910
With these cases, the ultimate goal is always to solve it. That's,
509
00:26:12.430 --> 00:26:14.150
I think, you know, why a lot of people are
510
00:26:14.170 --> 00:26:16.490
into this genre and get into this field even is
511
00:26:17.069 --> 00:26:19.650
for that exact thing, you know, wanting to solve it
512
00:26:19.690 --> 00:26:21.809
or at least kind of help move the needle towards that.
513
00:26:22.490 --> 00:26:26.259
So that's always the ultimate goal and try to be
514
00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:29.000
as optimistic as possible about that, but also realize that
515
00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:32.200
it is a long shot. If it was happening more common,
516
00:26:32.220 --> 00:26:34.980
I think you'd see even more people doing this type
517
00:26:35.029 --> 00:26:37.950
of work. It's not something that can really be expected,
518
00:26:38.009 --> 00:26:40.789
but it's something that can be strived for. And we
519
00:26:40.829 --> 00:26:43.950
are continuing to do that right now and pushing towards
520
00:26:44.589 --> 00:26:47.289
some new angles, like I said, that could help change
521
00:26:47.309 --> 00:26:48.029
the outcome.
522
00:26:48.210 --> 00:26:48.839
Of this case.
523
00:26:49.559 --> 00:26:52.750
To me, that's the best end to the story. is
524
00:26:52.809 --> 00:26:55.390
solving it. And I don't think it's too late to
525
00:26:55.430 --> 00:26:58.779
make that happen. History has proven that. There's cases older
526
00:26:58.799 --> 00:27:01.519
than this one that are being solved. But again, the
527
00:27:01.539 --> 00:27:04.079
interesting thing with this is like, it's really not even
528
00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:07.500
the way the family looks at this at this point,
529
00:27:08.119 --> 00:27:11.579
maybe because time's passed, whatever it is. But in their heart,
530
00:27:11.619 --> 00:27:16.119
they've forgiven whoever played a role in this in any capacity.
531
00:27:16.700 --> 00:27:20.910
What they really just wanted was a better understanding of it. Again,
532
00:27:20.950 --> 00:27:23.269
they'd had been kind of left in the dark on
533
00:27:23.309 --> 00:27:26.380
that for all these years. And by not talking about it,
534
00:27:26.450 --> 00:27:29.750
not really pressing, didn't really get any steps closer to
535
00:27:29.809 --> 00:27:33.529
knowing that truth. And so I can say with confidence
536
00:27:33.569 --> 00:27:36.569
that they have a much better understanding of this than
537
00:27:36.609 --> 00:27:39.950
they did over the past 25 years and are more
538
00:27:40.009 --> 00:27:44.039
in tune with this and advocating more for this than
539
00:27:44.059 --> 00:27:47.380
they once were. And I think I can take some
540
00:27:48.119 --> 00:27:50.579
rest just in knowing that because to them, it wasn't
541
00:27:50.599 --> 00:27:54.539
ever about getting an arrest or anything like that. At
542
00:27:54.579 --> 00:27:57.690
this point, they just wanted answers. And so we're getting
543
00:27:57.730 --> 00:28:00.529
there for sure. Yeah. And then beyond that, it's just,
544
00:28:00.809 --> 00:28:03.029
I want to do right by the victim and tell
545
00:28:03.049 --> 00:28:06.549
an honest, compelling story that moves people and respects him
546
00:28:06.809 --> 00:28:09.099
and his family. And, you know, I'm happy with the
547
00:28:09.140 --> 00:28:12.519
work that we've done there for sure. And also just
548
00:28:12.539 --> 00:28:14.339
to be able to put a spotlight on this. Again,
549
00:28:14.380 --> 00:28:17.900
this case needed it desperately. There was some chatter around
550
00:28:17.940 --> 00:28:20.140
town for the first couple of years, but for the
551
00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:22.450
better part of like the last 25 years, There wasn't
552
00:28:22.470 --> 00:28:25.390
really much of anything. And so, you know, it felt
553
00:28:25.430 --> 00:28:27.150
like an honor to kind of be the one to
554
00:28:27.190 --> 00:28:31.470
sort of break the story in a sense. And so, yeah,
555
00:28:31.490 --> 00:28:34.470
I'm fortunate to have been able to do that. But
556
00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:36.220
hopefully we can take it even further than that. And
557
00:28:36.579 --> 00:28:38.119
we'll just kind of have to have to wait and see.
558
00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:40.279
Like I said, it's still a very active thing. A
559
00:28:40.859 --> 00:28:43.759
lot can change in the coming weeks, coming months. So
560
00:28:43.779 --> 00:28:47.119
I don't plan on stopping working on this anytime soon,
561
00:28:47.619 --> 00:28:50.660
no matter where the series may end at. So, yeah.
562
00:28:50.859 --> 00:28:51.000
Yeah.
563
00:28:51.170 --> 00:28:52.890
We'll see what the future holds. But I think, I
564
00:28:53.029 --> 00:28:55.950
think I definitely have a healthy degree of optimism of
565
00:28:56.009 --> 00:28:56.829
where this thing could go.
566
00:28:57.950 --> 00:28:59.990
Well, Dennis, I really appreciate you sitting down with me
567
00:29:00.009 --> 00:29:01.950
to talk about Danny's case. And I know there's a
568
00:29:02.109 --> 00:29:05.119
lot more in store over the next several weeks. Everyone
569
00:29:05.150 --> 00:29:06.839
is very interested to see where the story in your
570
00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:10.099
investigation goes, including myself. Thanks for making the time to
571
00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:12.380
sit down and tell us a little bit about it.
572
00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:15.839
Thanks for having me. It's been a, been a pleasure to,
573
00:29:15.859 --> 00:29:18.750
to talk with you about it and Yeah, hope that
574
00:29:18.789 --> 00:29:22.319
gave you listeners enough to stick around and listen through
575
00:29:22.339 --> 00:29:25.059
the conclusion of this because I think it's going to
576
00:29:25.079 --> 00:29:25.890
be an interesting ride for you.
1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:06.019
Hey everyone, this is Liam Luxen, host of Tenderfoot Series
2
00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:09.179
Status Untraced. Welcome to a very special episode of Culpable,
3
00:00:09.539 --> 00:00:11.019
the first bonus episode of the season.
4
00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:14.160
And I'm here with none other than the voice of Culpable. Dennis,
5
00:00:14.199 --> 00:00:15.179
how are you, man? It's been a while.
6
00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:18.000
Hey, Liam. Pretty good, man. Yeah, long time no see.
7
00:00:18.019 --> 00:00:20.320
Well, I'm thrilled to be talking with you today about
8
00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:23.789
this new season of Culpable. I know that we just
9
00:00:23.820 --> 00:00:26.730
started getting into Danny Violet's case, and I'm sure there's
10
00:00:26.769 --> 00:00:28.570
a lot in store for us over the next several weeks.
11
00:00:29.149 --> 00:00:30.910
So we're going to do our best to avoid spoilers.
12
00:00:31.269 --> 00:00:34.119
But that being said... There may be some sneak peeks
13
00:00:34.219 --> 00:00:36.100
waiting for you in this interview. Let's kick things off,
14
00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:38.119
and why don't you give us a brief summary about
15
00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:38.719
Danny's case?
16
00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:44.649
Sure. Yeah, so Danny Violet, he's a 17-year-old living in
17
00:00:44.770 --> 00:00:49.409
a small Ohio town called Willard. And in the fall
18
00:00:49.469 --> 00:00:54.789
of 98, he vanished. He was missing for roughly 11
19
00:00:54.789 --> 00:00:59.079
days and then was found dead in a cornfield on
20
00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:03.579
the outskirts of town. Under suspicious circumstances, he had what
21
00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:05.659
appeared to be a ligature mark around his neck and
22
00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:08.599
what appeared to be tire tracks across his bare torso.
23
00:01:09.239 --> 00:01:11.519
And then there was some additional evidence found in that
24
00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:15.299
field the following day that also lent itself to the
25
00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:19.140
possibility of foul play. And so, you know, long story
26
00:01:19.189 --> 00:01:23.170
short is it's been over 25 years now and his
27
00:01:23.250 --> 00:01:26.890
case remains unsolved. And it was one that when I
28
00:01:26.930 --> 00:01:31.709
heard about it just initially intrigued me. And just thought
29
00:01:31.730 --> 00:01:34.269
it could be a neat challenge as well to take
30
00:01:34.349 --> 00:01:36.750
on a much older case than the last two I
31
00:01:36.790 --> 00:01:37.129
worked on.
32
00:01:38.090 --> 00:01:39.980
You covered this case a few years ago in your
33
00:01:40.019 --> 00:01:43.459
case review series. Now that we have a full-length investigation
34
00:01:43.540 --> 00:01:45.319
on it, I assume there are some new things that
35
00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:45.700
you've learned?
36
00:01:46.060 --> 00:01:46.799
Absolutely, yeah.
37
00:01:46.859 --> 00:01:49.980
So when we first did that episode, there was like
38
00:01:50.689 --> 00:01:53.670
nothing known about this case. And I just spoke with
39
00:01:53.709 --> 00:01:56.730
his brother, Drew, and did the best we could to
40
00:01:57.290 --> 00:02:00.049
cover it and put a spotlight on it just because...
41
00:02:00.549 --> 00:02:02.450
all the attention had died off after so many years
42
00:02:02.549 --> 00:02:05.609
and nobody there was talking about it. One thing led
43
00:02:05.650 --> 00:02:09.349
to another and it's ballooned into something much bigger than that. Wow.
44
00:02:09.889 --> 00:02:11.810
Can you give us a teaser of any of the
45
00:02:11.830 --> 00:02:12.550
stuff that you found?
46
00:02:13.129 --> 00:02:15.370
Well, without giving too much away, what I'll just say
47
00:02:15.449 --> 00:02:18.629
is that at the time, pretty much nothing was known
48
00:02:18.669 --> 00:02:23.030
about it. I interviewed Danny's brother, Drew, and he did
49
00:02:23.069 --> 00:02:24.900
his best to just kind of tell me what he
50
00:02:24.979 --> 00:02:28.759
had heard and or learned over the years. And turns
51
00:02:28.860 --> 00:02:31.639
out actually a lot of the stuff that he thought
52
00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:35.180
he knew was actually not even true you know there
53
00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:38.479
were some inaccuracies there which just goes to show the
54
00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:42.370
importance of doing these types of deep dives because since
55
00:02:42.430 --> 00:02:44.569
then we've gotten much more lost in the weeds of
56
00:02:44.610 --> 00:02:47.610
this case and again without giving away too much have
57
00:02:47.650 --> 00:02:51.830
learned way more information than what was known then and
58
00:02:51.849 --> 00:02:54.949
that i think really anybody in that town and even
59
00:02:54.969 --> 00:02:57.550
danny's family have known after all these years.
60
00:02:58.229 --> 00:03:01.539
So this is actually your third season hosting Culpable, and
61
00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:03.860
I'm sure a lot of people listening are familiar with
62
00:03:03.879 --> 00:03:05.620
your work, but can you give us a little bit
63
00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:08.060
of your background of how you got into podcasting?
64
00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:12.370
Yeah, so I always say my background is kind of odd.
65
00:03:12.409 --> 00:03:14.050
It did not, I don't feel like in any way,
66
00:03:14.370 --> 00:03:17.330
lead me to where I'm at now. That said, it
67
00:03:17.370 --> 00:03:20.330
does match a lot of my interests. I've always been
68
00:03:20.370 --> 00:03:22.990
into true crime, even since as a child. I remember
69
00:03:23.030 --> 00:03:26.719
watching crime shows with my parents growing up, and on
70
00:03:26.750 --> 00:03:29.830
top of that, I've always... loved writing as well. So,
71
00:03:30.310 --> 00:03:33.360
you know, those two things kind of cross into the
72
00:03:33.379 --> 00:03:35.979
mold of podcasting and it's probably why it was such
73
00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.539
a good fit for me. But the path that led
74
00:03:38.580 --> 00:03:42.139
me here was not one that I really pursued. I
75
00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:44.080
got married and had kids at a young age and
76
00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:46.639
was just trying to find anything I could do to
77
00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:49.280
provide and just find the next good job and have
78
00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:52.710
worked in all sorts of different fields that are far
79
00:03:52.770 --> 00:03:57.030
away from what podcasting is. But a friend of mine,
80
00:03:57.509 --> 00:04:00.729
launched a podcast production company, you know, podcasts were booming
81
00:04:01.389 --> 00:04:03.210
and I was getting into them myself. And it was
82
00:04:03.229 --> 00:04:05.189
something that was like, I would love to do that
83
00:04:05.330 --> 00:04:07.289
sort of a bucket list thing. But right now I
84
00:04:07.310 --> 00:04:09.569
just need to keep working my nine to five and, um,
85
00:04:10.469 --> 00:04:12.759
just kind of the stars align. He learned about a
86
00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:15.300
story in Mississippi that would end up becoming season one
87
00:04:15.319 --> 00:04:17.939
of culpable. And, you know, I just kind of pitched
88
00:04:17.959 --> 00:04:20.560
to him, like, I'd really like to try to turn
89
00:04:20.579 --> 00:04:23.300
this into a podcast. Could you kind of help with that?
90
00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:26.740
And I met the family and yeah. the rest is history.
91
00:04:26.750 --> 00:04:29.740
And that's essentially what Burr is culpable. But in a
92
00:04:29.779 --> 00:04:31.620
lot of ways, if I'm being honest, I really just
93
00:04:31.660 --> 00:04:34.360
kind of stumbled into this. But ultimately, I'm happy that
94
00:04:34.379 --> 00:04:34.579
I did.
95
00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:36.720
Now we're three seasons later.
96
00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.439
What motivates you or continues to motivate you to investigate
97
00:04:40.459 --> 00:04:42.279
these kind of cases and tell these stories?
98
00:04:42.339 --> 00:04:44.680
Is it the writing aspect of it?
99
00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:48.279
Yeah, I think, you know, one thing is definitely the
100
00:04:48.300 --> 00:04:52.259
writing aspect. But I think, again, I've also always been
101
00:04:52.300 --> 00:04:55.240
into true crime. And a reason for that is just
102
00:04:55.300 --> 00:04:59.259
that itch that those stories give you to want to
103
00:04:59.319 --> 00:05:04.060
try and solve them. And then ultimately, like, a big reason, again,
104
00:05:04.100 --> 00:05:06.379
why I got into this is also, like, I just
105
00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:09.930
wanted to sort of be a voice for the voiceless.
106
00:05:10.470 --> 00:05:13.009
When I first learned about Christian's story in season one,
107
00:05:13.589 --> 00:05:15.129
it kind of gave me a taste of, like, what
108
00:05:15.889 --> 00:05:19.470
families who lose loved ones go through. Sometimes there's a
109
00:05:19.490 --> 00:05:21.430
lot of attention around it, and sometimes there's not. And
110
00:05:21.470 --> 00:05:23.810
then these families are kind of left with their hands out, like,
111
00:05:24.509 --> 00:05:26.569
where do I go? What do I do now? And
112
00:05:26.629 --> 00:05:30.209
so seeing that made me kind of want to help
113
00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:32.769
be that voice for those people in a lot of
114
00:05:32.810 --> 00:05:34.889
ways and help get these stories out and help get
115
00:05:34.939 --> 00:05:38.160
a spotlight on them because these stories deserve to be heard.
116
00:05:38.500 --> 00:05:42.879
These victims deserve to be remembered, not forgotten. And ultimately,
117
00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:47.970
the goal of obtaining justice for them should never expire.
118
00:05:48.310 --> 00:05:50.149
So that's always, I think, been a driving force for
119
00:05:50.170 --> 00:05:50.550
me as well.
120
00:06:03.149 --> 00:06:05.670
Tell us a little bit about your process, about how, one,
121
00:06:05.709 --> 00:06:08.639
you find a case that you really want to go
122
00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:13.300
dive into and hopefully make a difference on, and really
123
00:06:13.319 --> 00:06:15.920
the creative process of how it then gets made.
124
00:06:16.779 --> 00:06:20.240
Yeah, so I definitely have not figured out the art
125
00:06:20.459 --> 00:06:23.730
of finding a case. All the cases I've covered thus
126
00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:27.269
far have found me. The first one came through a
127
00:06:27.449 --> 00:06:31.040
true crime convention. The second one came from a friend
128
00:06:31.060 --> 00:06:34.120
of mine. It was a case in their hometown. And
129
00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.860
then this most recent one came from a listener, an
130
00:06:36.899 --> 00:06:39.500
email that she sent in to us, which had very
131
00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:43.399
little about the case, but was enough to intrigue me.
132
00:06:43.720 --> 00:06:45.339
You know, it mentioned the same things I mentioned at
133
00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:48.589
the beginning of this about the ligature mark around his
134
00:06:48.629 --> 00:06:51.490
neck and the tire tracks across his torso. It was
135
00:06:51.529 --> 00:06:56.050
very short and sweet. And for whatever reason, it scratched
136
00:06:56.069 --> 00:06:57.490
that itch and made me think there's got to be
137
00:06:57.529 --> 00:06:59.310
more here. I can't be the whole story.
138
00:06:59.750 --> 00:07:01.610
Did you think you could maybe solve it as well?
139
00:07:02.189 --> 00:07:04.490
No, I didn't necessarily think that I could solve it,
140
00:07:04.610 --> 00:07:08.730
but I think I just really wanted to learn more.
141
00:07:09.269 --> 00:07:11.509
You know, the creative process for this season has been
142
00:07:11.529 --> 00:07:15.290
a rather odd one because of the way things started.
143
00:07:15.410 --> 00:07:17.209
The intent was never to make a full season on
144
00:07:17.250 --> 00:07:21.569
this until a few things aligned and there was a
145
00:07:21.610 --> 00:07:24.569
shift and things started going that direction. But still though,
146
00:07:24.629 --> 00:07:28.110
to get into that creative process that you asked about,
147
00:07:28.889 --> 00:07:31.600
I always like to start with speaking with the family
148
00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:35.339
and or who's closest to the story, learn what I
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can from them, which is what I did in this
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case by talking with Drew initially. You know, from there
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you request documents, you maybe do a couple more follow-up interviews.
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You know, you want to put in a little bit
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of legwork before you ever commit to doing a story
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or before you get too far into production. And then
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from there, I'll always try to outline it. You know,
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how many episodes might this be? What's kind of the
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story arch there? But in that knowing that it's not
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going to stay the same through the end. It never does.
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It will always change in some way, shape or form.
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But that's what's neat about doing this sort of more
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live in the moment investigative type of podcast. It's that
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you really don't know like what each day will bring
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and what might change along the way. And then from there,
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you just keep on keeping on. Keep digging. Keep doing
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your interviews. You know, from there, the show slowly comes together.
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But a lot of that, you know, I can't take
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credit for. I like to give credit where it's due.
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And I have some amazing folks I work with, producers
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John and Jamie. And then, of course, my engineer Dayton,
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who can take my words that I utter into a
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mic and pace everything out in that score and make
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it sound like almost like a movie. Just a very
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immersive experience. And that's something that makes this unique that
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I don't take for granted. So I'm thankful for the
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people I've surrounded myself with. So yeah, I'm fortunate to
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have a team around me.
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Yeah, big shout out to our Tenderfoot team.
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What's that balance look like of sensitivity to the victim,
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their family, and various people that become featured in the show?
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Yeah, so that's always like a tightrope, right?
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Because I want to have a connection with the family
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so long as they want to put this story out.
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The way it's worked so far is the three stories
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I've told. The families have been all for this. But
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their involvement has all looked... quite different. Everybody just kind
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of has a different approach. The interesting thing about Danny's
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case is that so much time had passed. All the
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kids have grown up and started their own lives and
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have their own kids and everybody's busy. They'll all admit
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that this wasn't really something that they talked about over
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the years. They didn't really know how to handle it
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when they lost Danny. And they have all described it
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as sort of like this blur, like everything just became
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a blur after it happened. And, you know, yeah, they
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talk about him on his birthday and his anniversary and
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stuff like that but for the most part they kind
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of shied away from digging into the nitty gritty of
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like what might've happened to him and trying to piece
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that together. They put a lot of faith in law
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enforcement to do that. And law enforcement worked this case
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and investigated it pretty hard, but unfortunately it never led
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to anything. So when I got connected with them, you know,
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the interesting thing there was they're not really of that
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like bulldog mentality of like, you know, let's do whatever
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it takes. Let's get to the bottom of this. But
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They want answers. I think they're more at a point
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where they were just exhausted and, you know, getting older
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and they just wanted some information. They had been left
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in the dark throughout his entire investigation. You know, back
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to your question about balancing the sensitivity and all that.
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You know, it's hard because these families have to essentially
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trust you with their loved one's story. And you have
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to tell it honestly. You know, we can't like sugarcoat
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it or make a victim to be out to somebody
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that they're not. And then with that connection to the family,
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a lot of families can obviously have their own bias
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and whatnot. And so you want to hear them out,
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but you have to form your own opinions at the
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end of the day and work this case kind of
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separately from them, which can always be a challenge. It
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hasn't been as much in this season because, again, they're
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happy to remain mostly hands off with this. And so
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that's made a little bit easier. But yeah, that's always
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a challenge with all these stories. And I'm a firm
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believer again, and giving a voice to those people and
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having a lot of heart in these stories, because I
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think that can move people and helps it not just
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become like a salacious story of like oohs and ahs
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and wow moments. I do want some of that heart
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to be captured in the stories that I tell. So again,
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it's a challenge, but I'd like to think I've gotten
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it down pretty well.
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Yeah. And from my personal experience, tracking Justin Alexander and
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his story, I know how life-encompassing these stories can really become.
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What was that moment that you knew this case was
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the right one for you to make a full season on?
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Like if one moment really stands out.
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With Danny's case, I would say one thing that really
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drew me to it was I kind of got the
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sense that maybe he was misunderstood in that town. His
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family would be the first to tell you he was
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far from perfect. He struggled with addiction. He was also bipolar,
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so he had mental health struggles as well. He didn't
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always make the best decisions. But interestingly, amongst his friends,
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he was seen as spotless. Nobody saw him for those things.
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They loved Danny. By all accounts, you'll hear in the
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show that he had no enemies. He only had friends.
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And on top of that, even the mistakes that he
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made in life, they're really not too different from what
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your average teen in a small town is probably doing.
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I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. It's nowhere near as small,
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but the teenagers around here tend to follow those same paths.
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I know that I did. And so it was easy
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to put myself in his shoes in that kind of way.
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And talking with people around that town, you know, and
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maybe this is a product of the amount of time
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that's passed or some of the elements that you'll hear
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come into this story as far as like his addiction
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and his mental health. The popular theory around town like
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really seemed to be that this was some kind of
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freak accident. you know, maybe an overdose, maybe a bad
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reaction to his prescribed and illicit drugs that he took.
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And even the possibility that this was a suicide, right?
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Because he had a ligature mark around his neck. And so,
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you know, it really just seemed like the consensus was,
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it's just this weird unexplained mystery. Some freak accident must've happened. And,
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you know, it's just really sad. And while I didn't
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know a whole lot about it at first and wasn't
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able to gather a whole lot from his brother, Drew,
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in that first interview I did, like I said, At
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the same time, I couldn't help but look at it
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and see immediately, to me, there seems like there's signs
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of foul play here. Don't want to jump to conclusions.
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You know, would like to speak with maybe some experts
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before I reach that. But just at a glance, to me,
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it seemed like he can't end up in that position,
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in that field, and in the condition he was found
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in without there being some degree of foul play to this.
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And so, you know, I think a part of me
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felt sort of compelled to make sure and get the
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truth out there to whatever extent in that town and
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make sure and sort of correct that narrative in a way,
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if that was people's common misconception of what happened to him.
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Yeah. And that's something that I noticed when I was listening.
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I noticed a very similar sort of just normal teenage
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culture out there. So I totally understand the relatability and
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then the curiosity. So what's your next step? You just
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kind of reached out to some experts and decided that was...
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That made sense? Or what was your next steps that solidified.
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That this was going to be a full season?
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So to fill in the gap there a little bit,
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what was funny about Drew was, again, one thing he
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made apparent to me early on is that so much
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of the story around what happened to Danny is just
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fueled by rumors, small-town rumors, right? I mean, word travels
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fast in a town that small. And so that's sort
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of what happened with him, right? Because his family... And
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he didn't talk about it a whole lot. And so
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a lot of the information he'd gathered just by happenstance
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over the years was just things he'd heard about it.
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And he admitted that going into that. He was unorganized.
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He didn't know a whole lot, but his passion was there. Also,
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like this timing aligned there that he was just kind
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of reaching a point in his life where it's like
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enough is enough. I've kind of put this to the side.
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I haven't made a focus like I want to get
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to the bottom of this once and for all. And
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so he jumped at the opportunity to talk with me.
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And in doing that, you know, I told him, like,
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I got a bunch of work that I got to
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go do. I got these other interviews I got to
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do for these other cases.
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But keep at it.
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Reach out to some people around the town and, you know,
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see what else you can learn. And, you know, more
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than anything, start to get organized. Because I could tell
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that he did have some information. He just didn't know
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what was fact and what was fiction. And there was
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no rhyme or reason to the information he had collected, like,
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on paper that he had brought with a binder to
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that interview. So that was the advice I left him with.
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And I just went back to the drawing board and
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kept working on other episodes. And it wasn't until that winter,
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like six months later, that we got reconnected. And I
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found out like he had taken the advice and ran
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with it and had done all this digging and requested
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documents and was starting to finally learn a little bit more.
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Not a lot, but a little. Interestingly, in doing so,
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he also got connected with a woman by the name
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of Danielle. She was actually the woman who submitted his
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case to us, the email. She didn't know Danny. She
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wasn't from Willard. She heard about it from her husband
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and just had been interested by it and was a
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listener of our shows and sent it in. Somehow they
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got connected after he and I met, and she really
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helped him get organized and start digging into this. And
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it kind of just became a sort of a group
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effort between those couples, Drew and his wife, Andrea, and
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Danielle and her husband, Eric. And so when I got
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reconnected in the winter and I'm being told, hey, we've
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learned some more stuff, this and that, I'm not really
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knowing what to expect. And I meet up with them
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at Drew's house and was like blown away. They've really
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been busy over here. And so I think for me,
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I obviously once saw that as a unique opportunity. Now
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there's a ton of information available There's a lot more
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story to tell here. And a part of me felt
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an obligation to sort of finish the story and clear
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up any possible errors or inconsistencies in there. But on
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top of that, the final piece to fall was that
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they had learned from law enforcement that it wasn't really
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being actively investigated. They had other priorities to work on.
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And so he started making a push to close the
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case and get his brother's case file because it felt
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like it's been so long. not a lot of people
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know stuff or remember stuff very well. You know, how
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could we see the work from back in 1998 when
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this happened or like the couple of years that followed,
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like when it was fresh in people's minds. And that
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was his only real way that he solved doing that.
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And so the family came to an agreeance that, yeah,
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let's let's take that approach. It was not an easy
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choice by any means, but they did that. And it
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wasn't an easy road either. It wasn't just like, hey,
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you're on county, you know, can we get Danny's case file.
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Like it took getting attorneys involved and fees and months
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and months and months of sending stuff. But all that
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to say is eventually they got his case file released
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and shared that with me. And then it was like,
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then it became a no brainer because not only as
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like an investigator of sorts, but also as a storyteller,
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you know, in this role, you don't always have that
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at your disposal. So that felt like a huge, piece
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that that could kind of make this different and kind
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of put people back in time way back to 1998
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which has been kind of cool working in some of
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the audio that we acquired and those files from back
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in that time so that was kind of the final
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piece that made me you know commit to doing this
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story and that was all their work to give them
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the credit not my own 27.
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Years, I imagine, provides a whole lot of roadblocks. Were
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there any challenges that really, really presented themselves to you
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in starting to look into this? Was there ever a
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moment that really made you.
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Want to quit or give up?
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To the point you just made, I think that's probably
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been the biggest challenge. And I'll even kind of speak
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00:19:54.940 --> 00:19:56.940
on that, you know, some in the podcast as far
390
00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.680
as the amount of time that's elapsed. Again, when I
391
00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:04.750
did Christian and Brittany's cases, they were much fresher compared
392
00:20:04.789 --> 00:20:08.930
to this one. I never worked on a cold case
393
00:20:08.970 --> 00:20:12.279
as old as this. And so one thing I didn't
394
00:20:12.299 --> 00:20:16.319
really realize getting into it is how much time like
395
00:20:16.359 --> 00:20:19.819
that can play with people's memories of things. You know,
396
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:22.779
hearing someone's account from 98, two weeks after it happened
397
00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:27.099
versus hearing it now, all these years later, and thinking
398
00:20:27.980 --> 00:20:30.910
which one is more reliable. You know, what do I
399
00:20:30.950 --> 00:20:33.670
believe here? On top of that, like with the passing
400
00:20:33.690 --> 00:20:36.130
of time, like people pass away, they move on, they.
401
00:20:38.349 --> 00:20:41.470
You know, in some ways lose interest in this. You know,
402
00:20:41.579 --> 00:20:43.180
it's not like it just happened the other day and
403
00:20:43.220 --> 00:20:46.299
everybody's running around town with their hands up, freaking out,
404
00:20:46.380 --> 00:20:48.799
like talking about what happened. I mean, the conversation had
405
00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:52.599
really died off, like I said. So it doesn't feel
406
00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:55.220
as close to home anymore in a lot of ways.
407
00:20:55.799 --> 00:20:59.019
And so people aren't as eager to speak on it
408
00:20:59.059 --> 00:21:00.839
or aren't quite as passionate about it. So there's been
409
00:21:00.859 --> 00:21:03.400
a lot of challenges with that, that, like I said,
410
00:21:03.460 --> 00:21:07.609
can all pretty much relate to the passing of time. Fortunately,
411
00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:10.500
we do have the case files, which has been a
412
00:21:11.059 --> 00:21:13.819
huge asset because of some of those challenges to be
413
00:21:13.859 --> 00:21:16.900
able to really put yourself back in time to days,
414
00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:20.210
weeks after it happened and hear people's accounts. I mean,
415
00:21:20.230 --> 00:21:23.950
detectives spoke with over 60 people, I think. Not all
416
00:21:23.970 --> 00:21:28.069
the audio is listenable. Again, another challenge with time. These
417
00:21:28.089 --> 00:21:31.190
are recorded on like VHS tapes and stuff. So thankfully,
418
00:21:31.269 --> 00:21:33.880
a lot of them are good enough audio to play
419
00:21:33.910 --> 00:21:36.960
and hear what they're saying and whatnot. And then as
420
00:21:36.980 --> 00:21:40.039
far as like Challenges that sort of made me want
421
00:21:40.059 --> 00:21:43.160
to quit. I haven't really reached that, I wouldn't say.
422
00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:47.069
But this has been definitely a tough case to work
423
00:21:47.160 --> 00:21:50.829
on for various reasons. It's kind of been up and
424
00:21:50.849 --> 00:21:53.529
down with law enforcement as far as like they weren't
425
00:21:53.569 --> 00:21:57.589
really involved early on in this. But fortunately, there has
426
00:21:57.630 --> 00:21:59.569
been a little bit of a shift there recently. And
427
00:21:59.589 --> 00:22:03.529
there's been some promise with them potentially getting involved in
428
00:22:03.569 --> 00:22:07.099
this and helping us with something that we're trying to
429
00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:09.440
pursue right now that the family is trying to pursue
430
00:22:09.460 --> 00:22:11.519
that could really help change the outcome of this case
431
00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:14.339
so it seems like a corner has started to be
432
00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:17.079
turned there you know only time will tell it's definitely
433
00:22:17.099 --> 00:22:19.839
been a long and bumpy road but one thing about
434
00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:22.720
this season is it's very much been like a group
435
00:22:22.779 --> 00:22:25.740
effort of sorts and and that's really helped to keep
436
00:22:25.789 --> 00:22:28.130
things moving along as far as some of the people
437
00:22:28.170 --> 00:22:31.410
involved in this from danny's family to again danielle and
438
00:22:31.450 --> 00:22:33.369
her husband eric who have stepped in and helped a
439
00:22:33.390 --> 00:22:37.519
lot of ways and then also a investigator of sorts
440
00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:39.539
who we'll be working with in this season as well,
441
00:22:39.980 --> 00:22:43.059
who has gotten involved and helped to learn some new
442
00:22:43.099 --> 00:22:43.660
things as well.
443
00:22:44.779 --> 00:22:48.160
So what can some listeners expect this season? Anything you
444
00:22:49.019 --> 00:22:52.240
want to drop to have us look forward to?
445
00:22:53.420 --> 00:22:56.859
What's cool about these types of stories and very live
446
00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:59.980
in the moment types of cases we're working is, you know,
447
00:23:00.019 --> 00:23:02.559
as we record this, I'm not even finished working on
448
00:23:02.599 --> 00:23:05.180
this season yet. That's the nature of it, right? But
449
00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:11.319
I just received an update today, actually, that we had
450
00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:13.440
something kind of go our way that we've been working
451
00:23:13.480 --> 00:23:16.210
on for quite some time now that could really help
452
00:23:16.250 --> 00:23:18.730
with this case. And so I don't want to give
453
00:23:18.769 --> 00:23:22.049
away exactly what that is, but that's really exciting because
454
00:23:22.069 --> 00:23:25.450
that's something that's, again, been a long road to get there.
455
00:23:25.470 --> 00:23:28.039
A lot of back and forth, a lot of hearing
456
00:23:28.059 --> 00:23:31.240
crickets for some time to eventually get to this moment
457
00:23:31.259 --> 00:23:33.849
right now where it seems like finally we're going to
458
00:23:33.869 --> 00:23:36.589
get some movement there and some assistance from the sheriff's office.
459
00:23:36.630 --> 00:23:40.529
So that's exciting. Time will tell how that all pans out.
460
00:23:41.109 --> 00:23:43.190
But yeah, beyond that, I mean, I think one of
461
00:23:43.230 --> 00:23:45.450
the reasons I was drawn to it is because it's
462
00:23:45.549 --> 00:23:50.819
just a totally bizarre and perplexing story, which are always
463
00:23:50.839 --> 00:23:53.900
the types of stories or cases that I've been drawn to.
464
00:23:54.740 --> 00:23:57.440
My favorite show growing up was Unsolved Mysteries. And this
465
00:23:57.500 --> 00:24:00.160
is definitely a story that would fit perfectly into the
466
00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:03.970
mold of that show just because You really aren't going
467
00:24:03.990 --> 00:24:06.670
to know what to think at times. There's a lot
468
00:24:06.730 --> 00:24:10.250
of persons of interest to consider in this story. There's
469
00:24:10.269 --> 00:24:15.259
a lot of different theories, both as to his cause
470
00:24:15.299 --> 00:24:18.000
of death to also the manner in which he was
471
00:24:18.059 --> 00:24:20.720
found in that field and how he would have gotten
472
00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:24.119
there in that condition. Even as something as much as
473
00:24:24.140 --> 00:24:27.160
like nailing down the last time he was seen. has
474
00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:29.799
proven to be a challenge as several people kind of
475
00:24:29.819 --> 00:24:32.460
claim to have seen him in the hours after his
476
00:24:32.529 --> 00:24:35.910
disappearance from his home. So a lot of things to
477
00:24:35.930 --> 00:24:39.410
get into. But then on top of that, we have
478
00:24:39.430 --> 00:24:42.150
been able to learn a lot of information, which will
479
00:24:42.170 --> 00:24:44.750
be exciting to follow along with from, you know, my
480
00:24:44.789 --> 00:24:48.089
digging into this to a lot of digging that Danielle
481
00:24:48.309 --> 00:24:51.329
has done. And as well as Michael Curtis, you'll meet
482
00:24:51.349 --> 00:24:54.230
in the show who has helped us on the investigative
483
00:24:54.269 --> 00:24:57.109
side as well. It's been a real group effort. I
484
00:24:57.150 --> 00:24:59.829
don't want to give away too much, but I'll just
485
00:24:59.849 --> 00:25:01.609
say like, if you like season one, there are definitely
486
00:25:01.630 --> 00:25:05.339
some parallels to that. There's this weird thing that happened
487
00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:08.559
the night before that's always kind of plagued this case.
488
00:25:09.059 --> 00:25:12.940
And I think for a certain reason, he was taking
489
00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:15.480
acid the night before with some friends, which we'll get
490
00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:19.059
into in the coming episodes. And that kind of sent
491
00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:21.660
the investigation for like a tailspin in the early days
492
00:25:21.740 --> 00:25:24.799
of it. That's similar to Christian's story in that like,
493
00:25:25.230 --> 00:25:26.890
The whole gun night that happened the night before his
494
00:25:26.930 --> 00:25:30.490
death sort of played into his investigation. On top of that, again,
495
00:25:30.509 --> 00:25:33.390
it's just a suspicious death of a young man that
496
00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:36.500
nobody seems to be able to give a perfect story
497
00:25:36.579 --> 00:25:40.920
for or a perfect explanation for. But I'm hoping that
498
00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:43.279
we'll be able to do that by the end of
499
00:25:43.319 --> 00:25:47.140
this or at the very least present a compelling case
500
00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:49.880
to authorities that then they can take and run with
501
00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:52.759
from there. Because I do feel like we've really made
502
00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:55.700
some strong headway on this, which you'll get some of
503
00:25:55.779 --> 00:25:57.299
as you follow along in the series.
504
00:25:58.140 --> 00:26:00.960
It sounds like you definitely have a preferred or hopeful
505
00:26:01.099 --> 00:26:05.359
outcome for the season of Culpable. Is that anything you
506
00:26:05.380 --> 00:26:06.940
want to share right now or still want to keep
507
00:26:06.980 --> 00:26:08.079
that a little ambiguous?
508
00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:11.910
With these cases, the ultimate goal is always to solve it. That's,
509
00:26:12.430 --> 00:26:14.150
I think, you know, why a lot of people are
510
00:26:14.170 --> 00:26:16.490
into this genre and get into this field even is
511
00:26:17.069 --> 00:26:19.650
for that exact thing, you know, wanting to solve it
512
00:26:19.690 --> 00:26:21.809
or at least kind of help move the needle towards that.
513
00:26:22.490 --> 00:26:26.259
So that's always the ultimate goal and try to be
514
00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:29.000
as optimistic as possible about that, but also realize that
515
00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:32.200
it is a long shot. If it was happening more common,
516
00:26:32.220 --> 00:26:34.980
I think you'd see even more people doing this type
517
00:26:35.029 --> 00:26:37.950
of work. It's not something that can really be expected,
518
00:26:38.009 --> 00:26:40.789
but it's something that can be strived for. And we
519
00:26:40.829 --> 00:26:43.950
are continuing to do that right now and pushing towards
520
00:26:44.589 --> 00:26:47.289
some new angles, like I said, that could help change
521
00:26:47.309 --> 00:26:48.029
the outcome.
522
00:26:48.210 --> 00:26:48.839
Of this case.
523
00:26:49.559 --> 00:26:52.750
To me, that's the best end to the story. is
524
00:26:52.809 --> 00:26:55.390
solving it. And I don't think it's too late to
525
00:26:55.430 --> 00:26:58.779
make that happen. History has proven that. There's cases older
526
00:26:58.799 --> 00:27:01.519
than this one that are being solved. But again, the
527
00:27:01.539 --> 00:27:04.079
interesting thing with this is like, it's really not even
528
00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:07.500
the way the family looks at this at this point,
529
00:27:08.119 --> 00:27:11.579
maybe because time's passed, whatever it is. But in their heart,
530
00:27:11.619 --> 00:27:16.119
they've forgiven whoever played a role in this in any capacity.
531
00:27:16.700 --> 00:27:20.910
What they really just wanted was a better understanding of it. Again,
532
00:27:20.950 --> 00:27:23.269
they'd had been kind of left in the dark on
533
00:27:23.309 --> 00:27:26.380
that for all these years. And by not talking about it,
534
00:27:26.450 --> 00:27:29.750
not really pressing, didn't really get any steps closer to
535
00:27:29.809 --> 00:27:33.529
knowing that truth. And so I can say with confidence
536
00:27:33.569 --> 00:27:36.569
that they have a much better understanding of this than
537
00:27:36.609 --> 00:27:39.950
they did over the past 25 years and are more
538
00:27:40.009 --> 00:27:44.039
in tune with this and advocating more for this than
539
00:27:44.059 --> 00:27:47.380
they once were. And I think I can take some
540
00:27:48.119 --> 00:27:50.579
rest just in knowing that because to them, it wasn't
541
00:27:50.599 --> 00:27:54.539
ever about getting an arrest or anything like that. At
542
00:27:54.579 --> 00:27:57.690
this point, they just wanted answers. And so we're getting
543
00:27:57.730 --> 00:28:00.529
there for sure. Yeah. And then beyond that, it's just,
544
00:28:00.809 --> 00:28:03.029
I want to do right by the victim and tell
545
00:28:03.049 --> 00:28:06.549
an honest, compelling story that moves people and respects him
546
00:28:06.809 --> 00:28:09.099
and his family. And, you know, I'm happy with the
547
00:28:09.140 --> 00:28:12.519
work that we've done there for sure. And also just
548
00:28:12.539 --> 00:28:14.339
to be able to put a spotlight on this. Again,
549
00:28:14.380 --> 00:28:17.900
this case needed it desperately. There was some chatter around
550
00:28:17.940 --> 00:28:20.140
town for the first couple of years, but for the
551
00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:22.450
better part of like the last 25 years, There wasn't
552
00:28:22.470 --> 00:28:25.390
really much of anything. And so, you know, it felt
553
00:28:25.430 --> 00:28:27.150
like an honor to kind of be the one to
554
00:28:27.190 --> 00:28:31.470
sort of break the story in a sense. And so, yeah,
555
00:28:31.490 --> 00:28:34.470
I'm fortunate to have been able to do that. But
556
00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:36.220
hopefully we can take it even further than that. And
557
00:28:36.579 --> 00:28:38.119
we'll just kind of have to have to wait and see.
558
00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:40.279
Like I said, it's still a very active thing. A
559
00:28:40.859 --> 00:28:43.759
lot can change in the coming weeks, coming months. So
560
00:28:43.779 --> 00:28:47.119
I don't plan on stopping working on this anytime soon,
561
00:28:47.619 --> 00:28:50.660
no matter where the series may end at. So, yeah.
562
00:28:50.859 --> 00:28:51.000
Yeah.
563
00:28:51.170 --> 00:28:52.890
We'll see what the future holds. But I think, I
564
00:28:53.029 --> 00:28:55.950
think I definitely have a healthy degree of optimism of
565
00:28:56.009 --> 00:28:56.829
where this thing could go.
566
00:28:57.950 --> 00:28:59.990
Well, Dennis, I really appreciate you sitting down with me
567
00:29:00.009 --> 00:29:01.950
to talk about Danny's case. And I know there's a
568
00:29:02.109 --> 00:29:05.119
lot more in store over the next several weeks. Everyone
569
00:29:05.150 --> 00:29:06.839
is very interested to see where the story in your
570
00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:10.099
investigation goes, including myself. Thanks for making the time to
571
00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:12.380
sit down and tell us a little bit about it.
572
00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:15.839
Thanks for having me. It's been a, been a pleasure to,
573
00:29:15.859 --> 00:29:18.750
to talk with you about it and Yeah, hope that
574
00:29:18.789 --> 00:29:22.319
gave you listeners enough to stick around and listen through
575
00:29:22.339 --> 00:29:25.059
the conclusion of this because I think it's going to
576
00:29:25.079 --> 00:29:25.890
be an interesting ride for you.
