Matter of Fact: A play on "matter" (physics) and "facts" (news).

Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old U.S. Air Force senior airman, was shot and killed in the doorway of his Florida apartment in May 2024, seconds after opening the door to an Okaloosa County deputy while holding his own gun pointed at the floor. The sheriff's office fired the deputy, Eddie Duran, and he was charged with manslaughter. On October 1, 2026, a jury found him not guilty.

We go through the afternoon of May 3, 2024 second by second, the body-camera video, the girlfriend who was on a video call with Roger, the sheriff's own investigation, and the trial, where Duran testified that he believed he was about to die. Both sides, the way the jury heard them.

Chapters:

00:00 A knock at the door

00:38 Welcome

01:31 Who was Roger Fortson

02:27 The call and the knock

03:54 What the body camera shows

04:33 The video is released

05:50 The deputy is fired

06:43 Fired vs. charged: two different questions

07:37 The manslaughter charge

08:32 Stand your ground and the immunity hearing

09:57 The trial

10:21 Duran takes the stand

11:19 The defense experts

12:04 Cross-examination and closings

13:19 The verdict

14:32 Where things stand

Follow The Headline Case on Spotify for new cases every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

This episode was produced with AI voices, from a research brief of court records and news reports. Sources are listed below.

Sources:

WUWF: Former Okaloosa Deputy found not guilty in fatal shooting of Senior Airman Roger Fortson, https://www.wuwf.org/local-news/2026-10-01/former-okaloosa-deputy-found-not-guilty-in-fatal-shooting-of-senior-airman-roger-fortson

WJHG: State Attorney releases statement following not guilty verdict in Eddie Duran case, https://www.wjhg.com/2026/10/01/state-attorney-releases-statement-following-not-guilty-verdict-eddie-duran-case/

WUWF: Former Okaloosa County Deputy Eddie Duran takes the stand in manslaughter trial, https://www.wuwf.org/local-news/2026-09-30/former-okaloosa-county-deputy-eddie-duran-takes-the-stand-in-manslaughter-trial

WUSF: An Okaloosa County deputy is fired following an investigation into Roger Fortson's killing, https://www.wusf.org/courts-law/2024-05-31/okaloosa-county-deputy-fired-eddie-duran-investigation-roger-fortson-shooting-death

WJHG: Former Okaloosa deputy charged with manslaughter in Roger Fortson case, https://www.wjhg.com/2024/08/23/former-okaloosa-deputy-charged-with-manslaughter-roger-fortson-case/

Fox 10: Testimony begins in trial of former sheriff's deputy charged with senior airman's death, https://www.fox10tv.com/2026/09/29/testimony-begins-trial-former-sheriffs-deputy-charged-with-senior-airmans-death/

WSB-TV: Girlfriend describes hearing final moments of Atlanta airman killed by Florida deputy, https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/girlfriend-describes-hearing-final-moments-atlanta-airman-killed-by-florida-deputy/5TPGVW4XBBFSZJPH3GBPGXN44E/

CNN: Florida sheriff releases bodycam video of airman fatally shot in apartment, https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/09/us/roger-forston-florida-airman-shot/index.html

Kristin Smart was a 19-year-old Cal Poly freshman when she vanished after a party in May 1996. For 25 years, no one was charged. Then a podcast brought new witnesses forward, and in 2022 a jury convicted Paul Flores, the student last seen with her, of first-degree murder. His father, Ruben Flores, was acquitted.

But Kristin has never been found. In May 2026, investigators spent three days digging at another house, and soil tests pointed to human remains. They still did not find her. We go through the night she disappeared, the evidence under a deck, the trial with two juries, and why her family is still waiting.

This episode mentions testimony about sexual assault. In the US, the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800-656-4673.

Chapters:

00:00 Thirty years later, still not found

01:01 Who was Kristin Smart

01:39 The night she disappeared

02:47 The first days and the black eye

03:53 Cadaver dogs and a lawsuit

05:27 A new sheriff and a podcast

06:30 The search under the deck

07:16 The arrests and the charges

08:08 The trial

09:58 Two juries, two verdicts

11:07 The sentencing

11:56 The appeal and the 2026 search

13:18 Where the case stands

Follow The Headline Case on Spotify for new cases every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

This episode was produced with AI voices, from a research brief of court records and news reports. Sources are listed below.

Sources:

NBC News: Verdicts reached in 1996 disappearance and murder of California college student, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/verdicts-reached-1996-disappearance-murder-california-college-student-rcna49787

KCBX: Two juries, two verdicts in Kristin Smart murder trial, https://www.kcbx.org/central-coast-news/2022-10-19/two-juries-two-verdicts-in-kristin-smart-murder-trial-paul-flores-guilty-ruben-flores-not-guilty

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney: Paul Flores Found Guilty / Justice for Kristin Smart, https://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Departments/District-Attorney/Latest-News/2022/October/Paul-Flores-%2844%29-has-been-convicted-by-jury-of-the.aspx

NBC News: Kristin Smart 'not recovered' after search of property linked to her 1996 disappearance, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/search-property-linked-kristin-smarts-1996-disappearance-hasnt-found-r-rcna344154

ABC News: Kristin Smart case: Sheriff's office says latest search completed, her remains not found, https://abcnews.com/US/new-search-warrant-kristin-smart-case-decades-after/story?id=132719151

Christa Pike was set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. On September 30, 2026, an appeals court stopped the execution an hour before it was due, the Supreme Court restarted it, and then two doses of the execution drug failed. She was taken to hospital, and Tennessee has paused all executions for the rest of the year.

We go back to January 1995, when Pike, then 18, killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at a Knoxville job-training center. Pike confessed and was sentenced to death in 1996. We look at the childhood abuse her lawyers say was never properly weighed, what Colleen's mother has waited 31 years for, and what happens now.

This episode discusses violence and abuse. In the US, if you need support, call or text 988.

Chapters:

00:00 The night of September 30, 2026

04:10 Christa Pike's childhood

07:17 Colleen Slemmer and January 1995

10:25 The satanic panic and the 1996 trial

16:02 Thirty years on death row

21:33 Clemency denied

24:12 A stay, a reversal, an execution that failed

29:53 Where the case stands now

Follow The Headline Case on Spotify for new cases every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

This episode was produced with AI voices, from a research brief of court records and news reports. Sources are listed below.

Sources:

CBS News: Christa Pike's execution temporarily halted, as Tennessee seeks to put to death first woman in 200 years, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-to-know-christa-pike-first-woman-executed-tennessee-200-years/

PBS NewsHour / AP: Court halts execution of Christa Gail Pike for a Tennessee murder she committed at age 18, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/court-halts-execution-of-christa-gail-pike-for-a-tennessee-murder-she-committed-at-age-18

Al Jazeera: Tennessee death-row prisoner Christa Pike survives lethal injections, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/1/us-supreme-court-clears-way-for-christa-pikes-execution-in-tennessee

Death Penalty Information Center: Governor Bill Lee Denies Clemency for Christa Pike, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/governor-bill-lee-denies-clemency-for-christa-pike-refusing-to-stop-tennessees-first-execution-of-a-woman-in-more-than-200-years

The Intercept: The "Satanic Panic" Made Her a True-Crime Obsession. The Truth Is More Haunting., https://theintercept.com/2026/09/27/christa-pike-execution-women-death-row/

Matter of Fact is taking a break. Our true crime episodes, the ones you listened to most, now have their own show: The Headline Case: True Crime Behind the News. Every episode takes one case in the news right now and tells it from beginning to end, with new episodes every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The first episode covers the Lindsay Clancy mistrial.

Find it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3wvcSJGJ0pA6jjmjZHEmjV

All past Matter of Fact episodes stay up. Thank you for listening.

This episode was produced with AI voices.

In 1903, Pittsburgh heiress Alice Thaw married the debt-ridden Earl of Yarmouth after he refused to walk down the aisle until her family handed over one million dollars. The union proved to be a facade, as the couple lived separately and the Earl left the marriage completely unconsummated. In 1908, Alice obtained a formal legal annulment, reclaiming her wealth and maiden name to later build a quiet, independent life.

A 66-year-old abbot of a royal temple in Ayutthaya, Thailand, was arrested alongside his 47-year-old female assistant for embezzling over 92 million baht in temple donations and amulet sales. Investigation footage exposed the pair engaging in intimate physical encounters within the temple's private quarters, during which the abbot monitored live surveillance feeds on his phone to avoid detection. Authorities subsequently seized over 215 million baht in illicit assets—including gold bars, a pure gold Buddha statue, stacks of cash, and property deeds—and charged both individuals with corruption, official misconduct, and money laundering.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has evolved into a costly war of attrition that severely devastated Ukraine's domestic economy through widespread infrastructure destruction and massive population displacement, leaving the nation heavily reliant on foreign financial aid[1]. Meanwhile, Russia initially absorbed Western sanctions through aggressive central bank rate hikes and redirected energy exports, but its transition to a war-driven industrial economy has triggered labor shortages, high inflation, and rising budget deficits[5]. Consequently, both combatants are operating on borrowed economic capital, with Ukraine hovering near fiscal insolvency while Russia steadily depletes its sovereign financial reserves to sustain military spending.

The theory that the Mayan and Aztec ancestral home, Aztlan, was actually the lost city of Atlantis, suggesting deep cultural connections between these civilizations and ancient Egypt

Larry Wells, a popular assistant manager at a Toys "R" Us in Hamburg, New York, was tragically found stabbed to death in the store's office during an early morning shift in June 2013. DNA evidence recovered from a discarded hat at the scene eventually linked the crime to Bernard Grucza, the regional loss prevention manager who had been stealing merchandise to manage over $1.2 million in personal debt. Grucza ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, leaving the victim's family to cope with the profound loss of a devoted husband and father.

UK TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother Ansreen orchestrated a plot to silence Saqib Hussain after he attempted to blackmail them by threatening to release explicit photos of his long-term affair with Ansreen. After recruiting several accomplices to lure Hussain to a late-night meeting, they engaged in a high-speed chase that ended when they rammed the victims' car off the road, killing Hussain and his cousin. In September 2023, both women were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, with the judge noting that Mahek's online fame had contributed to her sense of entitlement and lack of remorse.