Chapter 6: Deserving of Death?

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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. Here we explore why prosecutors maintain that Jones is a "murderous bastard" who will kill again, and what will happen next in this politically sensitive murder case. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More than a decade after Elwood Jones was convicted of killing Rhoda Nathan, he learned that a woman had stepped forward saying she knew who the real killer was. Tracking down this mysterious figure became something of an obsession for Elwood’s current defense team. And for us.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Investigating any crime scene requires finesse, but in the case of Rhoda Nathan’s 1994 beating death, at least some of the detectives arriving at the Embassy Suites hotel, many who had never investigated a murder before, thought they were dealing with a heart-attack victim. As such, they say they didn’t immediately secure the scene, allowing outsiders to tromp through a room that was already teeming with all kinds of hotel-user DNA.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The prosecutor handling the case against Elwood Jones had some choice words to describe the suspect on national television. In this episode, we explore: Who is Elwood Jones? Was he really an a-hole? Is being one now, steadfast as he is in refusing to cop to the 27-year-old crime? And does being an a-hole also mean he was a killer? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When Elaine Shub opened the door to the hotel room she was sharing with her best friend of 48 years, she saw such a gruesome sight that she collapsed in the suburban hotel hallway. Rhoda Nathan, a kind-hearted New Jersey grandmother who had just stepped out of the shower, lay on the floor, unrecognizable from the vicious beating she’d endured. Who could have done this? What could have been the motive? Who had access? Who had motive? And why did Rhoda have to die?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.