Cause of Death

The investigation into January 6 grabs the spotlight on Capitol Hill. An alternative news site begins to investigate Rosanne’s death, and Lonna suddenly regrets giving them an interview. Members of Congress take up the call and ask whether Rosanne was killed by police. The search for Justin Winchell takes one last turn.

Rosanne’s official autopsy report leaves more questions than answers. Lonna, skeptical of the results, starts an investigation of her own. Meanwhile, an old friend named Sarah shares stories that cast a different light on Rosanne’s final months. With the cause of Rosanne’s death so hotly debated, seasoned medical examiners weigh in on the details.

Rosanne had always loved conspiracy theories, but her sister Lonna says there was one single night where she changed from hobbyist to hard-core QAnon believer. Ayman follows the trail of YouTube videos that led her down her final rabbit hole—and learns why so many others bought into the same myth.

The Boylands’ questions about Rosanne’s radicalization begin to swirl around one man: the friend Rosanne went to the Capitol with, Justin Winchell. He’s a guy the family never met—and now, he’s vanished. Acting on a tip, Justin Cave sets out to track him down in downtown Atlanta, and Ayman visits with the last journalist to interview Winchell before he disappeared.

Three days after Rosanne Boyland dies at the Capitol riot, host Ayman Mohyeldin gets a message from an old high school friend, Justin Cave. Justin tells Ayman that he’s Rosanne’s brother-in-law, and says the family believes she was radicalized in just a few months. Now they want to know how it happened—and they ask Ayman for help.

Rosanne Boyland hated politics. She was shy, and she rarely left her home in Georgia. But then her family got a shocking call: Rosanne had died at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in the middle of a crowd trying to force its way past a police line. From the depths of their grief, the Boylands vow to figure out what happened to Rosanne. Her brother-in-law, Justin Cave, reaches out to an old high school friend he hopes can help: MSNBC journalist Ayman Mohyeldin. The quest for the truth takes Ayman back to his hometown of Kennesaw, Georgia, where he retraces the last six months of Rosanne's life and picks up a trail that leads to childhood haunts, missing boyfriends, and down shadowy internet rabbit holes. American Radical launches December 5, wherever you get your podcasts.