The First Degree

On episode 41, Jac, Alexis and Billy conclude with part two of the story of Bob & Diane Ward, and their two daughters' decade-long fight to prove their father's innocence. We learn about the Space Chicken, the struggle against the media and how they found an incredibly key piece of evidence years after their mother’s death.

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On the night of September 21st 2009, police responded to a 911 call at the Isleworth mansion of Bob and Diane Ward. Inside they found Diane dead from a gunshot wound. It launched one of the biggest courtroom sagas in Florida and a textbook example of trial by media. In Episode 40, Jac, Alexis and Billy are joined by First Degree guest, Sarah Ward-Rupp as she walks us through trauma of losing her mother and the decades-long battle to exonerate her father.

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On episode 39, Jac, Alexis and Billy conclude the puzzling case of family annihilator William Bradford Bishop. The international manhunt for Bishop has spanned nearly four decades and lured law enforcement across international lines. Many questions remain, did Bradford Bishop use his international savvy to relocate abroad, or is he in the US hiding in plain sight?

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In March of 1976, police were drawn to a fiery stretch of North Carolina woods. At the time, first responders had no idea that the horrors revealed there would prompt a world wide and decades long search for the person responsible. On Episode 38, Jac, Alexis and Billy explore the mysterious force that unprecedentedly and unexpectedly snuffed out what appeared to be a perfect family.

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Psychopaths make up about one percent of the general population. We work with them, we're friends with them—and some of us even date, fall in love with, and marry them. On Episode 37, Jac, Alexis and Billy speak with two sisters whose lives were uncomfortably intertwined with a dangerous psychopath, and how they were able to survive him to tell their tale.

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Black Friday is the name assigned to the notorious shopping day after Thanksgiving. Although the original derivative of the term has been diluted, some say that the phrase was originally coined by police in the 1950's to describe the mayhem prompted by a high volume of shoppers who cause traffic accidents, trample over each other, and resort to intentional brutality... all in the name of a bargain. On episode thirty six, Jac, Alexis and Billy discuss the details of a chilling Black Friday case that boasts all the trappings of what some believe the day itself represents; chaos, materialism, and violence-inducing greed.

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There is no crime more difficult to comprehend than the murder of a child by his or her own parents. Nevertheless, tales of the killing of newborn children are as old as time. On episode 35, Jac, Alexis and Billy explore the elusive concept of neonatacide, and delve into the incredibly disturbing case of the Debeers, who didn’t stop at killing just one of their newborns.

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Women are 70 times more likely to be killed in the two week window after leaving their partners than at any other time during the relationship. And on Episode 34, Jac, Alexis and Billy profile a case that illustrates the horror of that statistic and shows the devastating aftermath when they’re joined by a first degree connection who was at the very center of the story in the worst possible way.

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On April 19, 2015, a 21-year-old named Samantha Young was found brutally murdered behind her ex boyfriend's house. Her killing was horrific; but even more chilling was the revelation of the months of planning the perpetrators undertook before the murder. On episode 33, Jac, Alexis and Billy discuss the facets of the case, the conspiracy, and how dysfunctional puppy love can lead to a decent into madness.

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Is there a serial killer gang murdering college-age men in the waters of America? Jac, Alexis & Billy conclude the story of the Smiley Face Killer theory, with the help of Kevin Gannon, Mike Donovan, Anthony Duarte, and Doc Gilbertson.

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