9 | Red Bird

As the conversation continues, Amanda, Kaitlynn and Casey press deeper into the details of Faithe’s final night, trying to separate grief from suspicion, memory from fact, and explanation from excuse. But the more that's said, the more difficult it becomes to know what to believe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amanda, Kaitlynn and Casey sit down with the one person who may know more about those final hours than anyone else. What begins as a search for answers becomes something far more complicated, as old wounds reopen, memories shift, and the truth about that night feels closer than ever, but still just out of reach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The investigation takes a darker turn when two anonymous callers share disturbing claims about Faithe’s death, a list of women marked for violence, and a town where fear seems to travel faster than truth. As Rosemarie uncovers a possible path toward FBI involvement, a new forensic pathologist offers a stark new reading of Faithe’s autopsy, one that challenges the official story in ways that are difficult to ignore. And just as the case begins to feel heavier than ever, Amanda receives a message from someone unexpected - someone who says they're finally ready to help her find the truth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The investigation takes a side step when Amanda shares shocking information about an assault - and the series of unfathomable events that followed, as she and Kaitlynn find themselves on the bumpy road toward accountability and justice for the second time in as many months. Listener Note: Today's episode of Blunt Force Trauma contains references to sexual assault and may be triggering to some listeners. If you or someone you know needs support, please reach out to an organization in your area: United States: National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN): 800-656-HOPE (4673). Free, confidential, 24/7 support in English and Spanish. Text "HOPE" to 64673, or chat online at rainn.org/hotline. Australia: 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732. Australia's national domestic, family and sexual violence counselling service. Free, confidential, 24/7 by phone, text (0458 737 732), online chat or video call. Canada: Assaulted Women's Helpline: 1-866-863-0511 (24/7, multilingual). Talk4Healing (for Indigenous women, available in 14 languages): 1-855-554-HEAL (4325). Support Service for Male Survivors of Sexual Assault: 1-888-887-0015 (24/7). New Zealand: Safe to Talk / Kōrero Mai: 0800 044 334, or free text 4334. Available 24/7 with interpreters for 44 languages. Webchat at safetotalk.nz. United Kingdom: Rape Crisis England & Wales — 24/7 Rape & Sexual Abuse Support Line: 0808 500 2222. Free and confidential, with online chat also available. For anyone aged 16+. Rape Crisis Scotland: 0808 801 0302, every day 5pm to midnight. Text 07537 410 027. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The investigation of a new threat is thwarted by a disappearing witness as Amanda begins piecing together a profile on just who may have been behind the threatening phone call to her Aunt. A discovery by Rosemarie offers a potential new angle for the investigation, and Troy takes a call from someone who knows Ryan almost as well as he knows himself, leading to a number of shocking revelations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rosemarie sends Troy a copy of the Medical Examiner's report - and what's in it raises enough red flags to send the investigation outside the State of Oklahoma for an independent review. What comes back is a version of Faithe's last thirty minutes that doesn't match anything that's been said about her death. Buried in the file is a decision someone made that suggests, even at the time, this case wasn't as closed as it looked. And on the same call where Troy starts pulling that thread, another voice patches in - with a story she's been carrying since January, and a question about who, exactly, has been listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five years after Faithe’s death, attention turns to the agencies that were supposed to investigate it — and runs straight into the same wall Amanda’s been hitting since 2021. Records that won’t be released. Officers who won’t talk. A case nobody will quite agree they own. As the institutional silences deepen, a discovery surfaces that may crack open one of the strangest details of the night Faithe died — a phone call that, on paper, makes no sense, and on closer inspection, may not have happened at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A single phone call changes everything. As we work to pinpoint exactly when Faithe’s family was told she was dead, the timeline begins to fracture in ways that are difficult to explain, and even harder to ignore.   As the known events of that night are broken down and tested against distance, sound, and witness accounts, a troubling pattern starts to emerge. On paper, the official version of events may be possible, but when placed against the full weight of the evidence, it begins to feel increasingly unlikely… and dangerously incomplete. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blunt Force Trauma is a new serialised investigation into the unsolved murder of Faithe Ely, from EchoSpace and host Troy Taylor. On March 28, 2021, Faith Ely was found lifeless on the side of a dark Oklahoma highway, her death quickly being ruled a hit and run.  But the evidence doesn’t line up. The injuries don’t tell a clear story. And the more you dig, the harder it becomes to make sense of the official narrative. What should be a straightforward accident begins to feel anything but… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We get to know Faithe through the voices of those who knew and loved her, and a fuller picture begins to emerge. As the details of that night come into focus, a version of events starts to take shape - one that doesn’t quite hold together - and a mysterious 911 call placed from nearly 100 miles away raises new questions about what really happened on Highway 56 that night.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices