The Clay Shrout Case, Pt. 4: That Was How, This Is Why

In October 1882, Kentucky Gov. Luke Blackburn sent state troops into Eastern Kentucky to protect two condemned men awaiting retrial — one of the largest military deployments the commonwealth had ever ...

6 Loka 22min

On June 1, 1882, a jury convicted George Ellis and sentenced him to life in prison rather than death. He had confessed. He had testified against the other two men. He had given the Commonwealth its ca...

15 Syys 17min

On Jan. 3, 1882 — the day after three men were arrested for the Ashland murders — as many as 1,500 people descended on Catlettsburg, Ky., for a preliminary hearing. That is more than the population of...

1 Syys 25min

Around 4:30 on the morning of Christmas Eve 1881, a woman in Ashland, Ky., looked toward her neighbor's house and thought she saw lamplight. It was fire. By the time neighbors forced their way inside...

18 Elo 28min

"He made bad choices." That's what Joseph Smith's family says they were told, in one form or another, from the night he died forward. On March 5, 2021, the 25-year-old was shot and killed in a parkin...

28 Heinä 28min

Kentucky authorities considered the Joseph Smith case resolved. A grand jury declined to indict. The file was closed. His family was told he made bad choices. But the closer Smith's cousin Keeshia He...

14 Heinä 17min

In any homicide investigation, the physical evidence doesn't take sides. It can contradict. It can clarify. And sometimes, it raises questions that the official record leaves unanswered. In Part 2 of...

30 Kesä 15min

Season 2 of Kentucky Case Files begins with a case that state authorities consider closed — but Joseph Smith's family does not. On the night of March 5, 2021, 25-year-old Joseph Smith was fatally sho...

16 Kesä 24min