While investigators testified at trial that Elwood Jones was always their best and only real suspect in the 1994 slaying of Rhoda Nathan, the police files say otherwise. Three people – two with violent criminal pasts on their records – seem equally as suspicious, so much so they were given lie-detector tests in the days after the murder. Do their alibis hold? And if Elwood as such a good suspect with such good evidence to indicate his guilt, what took the police and prosecutors a year to indict him?




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Chapter 4: If Not Elwood, Who?

Binge all of Season 4 early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery+. 
 Season 4: When Rhoda Nathan's lifeless body was discovered in her hotel room, it was assumed she'd had a heart attack. The autopsy proved otherwise: Nathan, 67, had been viciously beaten to death, punched so hard by her assailant that two of her teeth had been knocked out. Days later, a hotel employee went to the hospital to be treated for an infection in his hand, which was teeming with a bacteria most often found in human mouths. That, plus a pendant an officer said was discovered in the trunk of his car, sealed the fate of Elwood Jones, who awaits execution on Ohio's death row. For nearly 30 years, Jones has maintained his innocence -- and accused police of straight-up framing him. The journalists of Accused are reexamining the case to learn if Jones truly belongs on death row, or if a botched investigation let someone else get away with murder. Season 3: In 1984, a father of three disappeared while working at a mysterious Cincinnati plant. It turned out he’d met a gruesome fate: Pieces of bone, his eyeglasses and walkie-talkie were uncovered inside a vat that reached 1350 degrees Fahrenheit. Two months later, the Fernald Feed Materials Production Center was revealed to have been processing uranium – and polluting the region. The dead man’s children believe their father was murdered because he intended to expose how the plant had been releasing millions of pounds of uranium dust into the atmosphere. We’re hoping to figure out: Did 39-year-old David Bocks kill himself, as Fernald officials alleged, or was he more likely killed? 
 Season 2: A soft-hearted prison minister was found killed in her Kentucky apartment, and Newport police zeroed in on an ex-convict she’d counseled. Thirty years later, the conviction is overturned and the case is once again unsolved. The Cincinnati Enquirer investigates:&nbsp;Was William Virgil wrongly convicted for murder? 
 Season 1: When Elizabeth Andes was found murdered in her Ohio apartment in 1978, police and prosecutors decided within hours it was an open-and-shut case. Two juries disagreed. The Cincinnati Enquirer investigates: Was the right guy charged, or did a killer walk free?

Society & Culture

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True crime

Season four of Unsolved delves into the disappearance of Alexis Patterson, a 7-year-old girl who disappeared on her way to school in 2002. At first, there was a massive search and sympathy for her family, but that quickly changed as her parents became suspects. Over the years, there have been conspiracy theories and false leads and cases of mistaken identity. Still, her mom has never given up hope that Alexis will come home again someday.

Unsolved, a true crime podcast series from USA TODAY and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, guides listeners through these real-life mysteries, uncovering new clues along the way.

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Introducing Unsolved, Season 4

After spending nearly three decades on Ohio's death row, Elwood Jones finally got a new day in court -- which resulted in his conviction being overturned.

Chapter 8: A new trial

Seven years have passed since DNA evidence led to William Virgil’s release from prison. A lot can change in seven years — and yet, so much can stay maddeningly stagnant at the same time. We examine what one of life’s inevitable developments will mean for the civil lawsuit Virgil had filed alleging he’d been wrongfully convicted in the murder of Retha Welch.




Credits from the script: Accused is written by me, Amber Hunt, produced by Amanda Rossmann, edited by Amy Wilson and engineered by Phil Didion. Music is by Andrew Higley. You can support this show directly by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/accused. To see photographs and supplemental documents, www.accusedpodcast.com. The best way to spread word about the cases we cover is to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.

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The Homegoing

As adamant as police and prosecutors are that they properly handled the case against murder suspect Elwood Jones, a judge is expected to weigh whether Jones can get a new trial in the 1994 slaying of Rhoda Nathan. Elwood’s lawyers accuse prosecutors of withholding key information that could have changed jurors’ minds 25 years ago. 




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Chapter 7: What Now?

Hamilton County, Ohio, is known nationwide as having one of the highest capital punishment rates per capita – and a recent 25-year study shows that race plays a huge role in determining who’s sent to die. Elwood Jones is Black. His victim was white. If the pandemic had not intervened and last-minute attempts for a new trial put on hold, Jones would already have been dead. If he is innocent, that’s a tragedy. If he is not, did the punishment fit the crime? He is again scheduled to be executed in 2023. 

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Chapter 4: If Not Elwood, Who?

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