Introducing: Bone Valley - Season 1 & 2

In 1987, 18-year-old Michelle Schofield was found dead in a phosphate pit in Florida. Two years later, her husband, Leo Schofield, was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison. Fifteen years after his conviction, previously unidentified fingerprints found in Michelle’s car were matched to Jeremy Scott—a violent teenager who lived nearby. 

Host Gilbert King uncovers startling new evidence that Jeremy is responsible for the murder of Michelle Schofield as well as a string of additional murders. But when Gilbert coaxes a confession out of Jeremy, the State of Florida refuses to believe him. 

Gilbert King digs deeper, uncovering chilling details of Jeremy’s past crimes and the darkness he’s carried with him. As their unlikely connection grows, Gilbert helps Jeremy confront the painful truths of his violent history while navigating the fractured relationship between Jeremy and the son he never knew. With new revelations and a search for redemption, Bone Valley takes unexpected turns—bringing haunting questions of justice, forgiveness, and the possibility of change.

Gilbert King is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Devil in the Grove, which led to the exonerations of four innocent men.

Bone Valley is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Named one of the best true crime podcasts ever by
Entertainment Weekly and called a triumph by The New York Times.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm Gilbert King and this is Bone Valley. I'm in
Florida speaking at a legal conference when this judge hands
me his business card. On the back it reads Leo Schofield.
Not just wrongfully convicted, He's an innocent man.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey, listen, this is the story. It is what it is.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
You believe it, don't believe it.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
It's up to you.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
It will not change the fact that I'm an innocent man.
Leo's eighteen year old wife, Michelle, was killed in nineteen
eighty seven. When I meet Leo, he's in prison, where
he's been for the last thirty years, convicted of her murder.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Somewhere along the line in this nightmare of a dream
we having that we're all going to wake up and
see that this isn't right, because justice plays out always.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
We talked for hours, and I find out about new
evidence that surfaced in his case. Always always. The fingerprints
was a big question in my mind. So I took
the fingerprint and I handed it to one of my
crime scene detectives, and he said, there's a hit a
guy named Jeremy Scott. Jeremy Scott. Who the fuck's Jeremy Scott?

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Holy shit.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Jeremy was an extraordinarily violent young man who lived right
down the road from Leo and Michelle. But when the
fingerprints came back to him, the state of Florida quickly
shut down the investigation. Leo Scholfield is a cold blooded murderer,
and if I have my way, he'll never get out
of prison. I investigated this case for over five years.

(01:57):
I became convinced that Jeremy Scott was the key to
solving this case, and I needed him to tell me
why his fingerprints were found in Michelle's car after she
was murdered. They ain't got no proof of the Oh, Lord,
they come stupid.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
I hate God. Damn cops are they're coming back? Grandma? Well,
I just tell him, you don't know nothing, and I
ain't seen nothing, heard nothing, and just leave you alone.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
At first, I wasn't sure I wanted to know any
more about this guy than I absolutely had to, But
once I started talking to him, I couldn't stop.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Hello, Hello, Hey, oh Jeremy, you're there.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
There are two men connected to the murder of Michelle Schofield.
Leo Schofield swore to me he's innocent.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
I did not kill Michelle.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Jeremy Scott told me that he's the one who killed Michelle.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
I told you I killed her.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
The State of Florida doesn't believe either man. This is
the story of the people who do.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
I did love him. I did love Jeremy Gilbert King,
I'm the son of.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Jeremy wind Scott. Bone Valley Seasons one and two, Stone Judgements.
Do you hear the whole story?

Speaker 1 (03:34):
Bone Valley, written and hosted by Pulitzer Prize winning author
Gilbert King, is the winner of the Ambi Awards for
the Best Documentary Podcast and Best Reporting. It's also the
winner of the Signal and Webby Awards. Bone Valley was
named one of the best podcasts by Vogue Magazine, Entertainment Weekly,
The Atlantic, Vulture, Slate, and The New Yorker. Listen to

(03:57):
Bone Valley wherever you get your PODCAS casts