September 10, 2025 • 35 mins
In Part 3 of the Olympic Park bombing series, Sheryl McCollum talks with Dana Jewell about her husband’s life before, during, and after the bombing. Dana shares what Richard endured during “88 days of hell,” the paranoia and betrayal that followed, and how lawsuits, illness, and media attacks shaped his final years. She remembers his love of law enforcement, the toll of nightmares, and the injustice that haunted him. Dana also reflects on Clint Eastwood’s film Richard Jewell and the lasting impact of her husband’s story.
Dana Jewell is the widow of Richard Jewell, the security guard who found the bomb at Centennial Olympic Park in 1996. Over 88 days, Richard lived under FBI suspicion and intense media scrutiny before being cleared. Dana continues to share Richard’s legacy, reminding the world of the cost of rushing to judgment.
Missed the first two episodes?
Highlights:
- (0:00) Sheryl welcomes Dana Jewell and describes Richard spotting the suspicious backpack at Centennial Park
- (1:45) Dana shares Richard’s “88 days of hell” under FBI suspicion and media pressure, and how it damaged his health
- (5:15) “We met on a drug bust.” Dana remembers meeting Richard in Meriweather County
- (14:30) The lawsuit against the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the lasting damage of headlines
- (19:00) Kent Alexander approaches Dana about writing The Suspect
- (24:00) Richard Jewell's illness and final days
- (31:15) Dana reflects on Clint Eastwood’s film Richard Jewell
- (34:45) Sheryl closes by quoting Richard Jewell: “The media can destroy lives faster than the criminal justice system can save them.”
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Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award-winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnline, forensic and crime scene expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and co-author of the textbook Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. She is the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a national collaboration that advances techniques for solving cold cases and assists families and law enforcement with unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnappings.
Social Links:
- Email: coldcase2004@gmail.com
- Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
- Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
- Instagram: @officialzone7podcast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Y'all, welcome back to Zone seven's special edition of the
one hundred Olympic Games. Y'all, Richard Jewel, security guard for
the Olympics, spotted a suspicious backpack under a bench in
Olympic Park. It was approximately one ten am. Richard acted quickly, y'all.
(00:34):
He went and grabbed a GBI agent said look what
I see. This doesn't look right. The two of them
started moving people away from the backpack and further from
that area. Ten minutes later, a pipe bomb detonated in
Centennial Park. Richard Jewel saved lives period. His action and
(01:00):
his alone were heroic. Tonight, we are joined by Dana Jewel.
She and Richard were married. We are going to get
to talk to her and hear firsthand the aftermath for
Richard when he went from being a hero to a
(01:24):
suspect in the bombing. Dana Jewel, Welcome to Zone seven.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Thanks Cheryl, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Honey, this conversation's overdue. I tell you, you and I
we've talked, we know each other, but what you and
Richard went through is like no other story, and especially
for you, you weren't married to him during the bombing.
I mean y'all didn't get together until like eighteen months after.
(01:54):
Tell us what he would tell you about those eighty
eight days of being a suspected bomber.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know, he didn't talk a lot about it because
it was just too emotional. It was too much for him.
But when he would, when he would say stuff, you know,
it was the experience left him paranoid. He always was
looking over his shoulder, always thinking somebody was following us.
(02:24):
He would take different ways home and be checking the
rear view mirror all the time. You know. He he
said it was pure hell. It was eighty eight days
of hell, is what he said. One thing that really
upset him was that he had to put his Doberman Lacey.
(02:46):
He had to put her at the at the vent
because the media was so bad outside of the apartment
that he couldn't even take Lacy for a walk. And
and that Richard was a huge animal lover and that
was his best friend, and he couldn't even have her
as a support during all this time because it was
(03:10):
such a crazy, crazy atmosphere outside of their apartment.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, you know, I think that's also one of those
deals nobody thinks about that nobody thinks about the pet.
Nobody thinks about best friends and you know, potential employers.
They don't ever factor that into this equation. When you're
accused of something at this level and you've got two
(03:37):
extremely powerful entities, meaning the government, the FBI and the
media both are coming at you. I mean to me,
that don't make him paranoid. That makes him smart. He
had been followed, right, sure.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, he had been it. He had been followed even
before it was officially announced that he was a suspect.
You know, they followed him, you know, just within a
few days after the bombing. They were already following him.
He didn't know it at the time, but you know,
he he was. He would say he you know, he
(04:13):
would admit that he was paranoid. He had really good
reason too. He was very it was very hard to
get to know Richard, you know. And yeah, I didn't
know him before the bombing, but he it was very
hard for him to get to trust people. He was
not easy to get to know. I think that one
(04:36):
reason why he and I hit it off in the
beginning was because I didn't I didn't look at him
as Richard Jewel, the suspect in the bombing or Richard Jewel,
the hero in the Olympic Park bombing. I just saw
him as Richard, and I think that that meant a
(04:58):
lot to him because there was never any pressure with me,
you know, between us to be a certain way. It
was never you know. I tried not to make it
awkward because I didn't see him like. I just saw
him as a person. I just really the first time
I met him, I'm like, Oh, he's such a sweet
(05:19):
little thing. You know.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
How did y'all meet Dana?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
We met on a drug bust. We sure did.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So his first job after the bombing was was in Luthersville, Georgia,
which is in Meriwether County, about forty balls south of Atlanta.
And I worked for Meriwether County Department of Family and
Children's Services. I was a child protective Services investigator. And
on April tenth, which is my birthday of ninety eight,
(05:52):
at about four o'clock, I had to go out to
check on some kids that we had got a report
and there was possible drugs in the home and a
drug dealing boyfriend and and all that. So I went
to check on the kids, but I went to buy
the Luthersville Police Department to see if you know, an
officer could go with me out there, because we had
(06:14):
gotten word that the guy might be a little bit difficult.
So anyway, Richard was there and he's like yeah, and
then a couple of other officers went to and a
deputy went and so that's how we met. Come to
find out, yes, the guy was a drug dealer. Yes,
there was another big dog drug dealer coming by later
(06:36):
on in the night. So we spent about four hours
out there. It was after eight o'clock when we got done,
and I had ridden with them, so I couldn't leave,
And so we spent about four hours out there that night,
and that was the beginning of our story, A drug bust.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
You and I have talked, so you know, I only
met Richard twice, once that morning that the bomb went off,
and then once years later when he worked for Sonoy
Police Department. And we spoke only briefly that day, but
both times I saw him in person, he was so sweet.
He was very kind, almost tenderhearted, but certainly wanted to
(07:23):
help people. And what hits me about y'all's story is,
after those eighty eight days, which was actually longer than that,
because even when he was no longer a suspect, even
when we knew who the bomber was with Eric Robert Rudolph,
his life was still affected negatively from that experience. But
(07:44):
what did he do with that experience. He still had
a servant's heart. He still wanted to serve people, Dana.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
He did, I mean, And his calling was definitely to
be a police officer. That's all he wanted to do.
You know. He caught him himself the black sheep of
his family because the other men on the moms on
his mom's side of the family were all firemen, and
then he was a policeman. So he said he was
a black sheep. But he did I mean, and he,
(08:14):
you know, sometimes to the dismay of people, he lived
and breathed law enforcement. He loved it. He would drive
us all a little crazy sometimes about being so gung
ho at times.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Well, you know, I sat in a whole bunch of
meetings after the bomb went off, and everybody had all
these theories and they would toss them around trying to
connect the three bombings, and they couldn't They couldn't have
any reasonable answer for these three completely different you know,
(08:51):
bombs and the locations, but I can tell you Richard
never made any sense.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, And I don't you know, I don't know, after
having gotten to know Richard and just know his heart,
I don't know how anybody that knew him before the
bombing could even think, I mean, even for a second
thing that he could have done something like that. The
way he loved his fellow man and he just loved people,
(09:21):
I just don't understand how anybody could think that he
would have had that in his heart to be able
to do that.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
And I think that's one thing that hurt him is
how the FBI came at him and some of the
things that they said, and then the way the media
ran with such negative statements about him, right, Yeah, The
very people that he saw as comrades, you know, attacked him.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
They really did, and they said some really some really
awful things about him, you know, and one guy with
the GBI that was supposed to be his friend really
tricked him a war a wire to his in him
and his mom's apartment, you know, he came to eat
dinner with them in war a wire, And you know, Richard,
(10:12):
that's some that's some betrayal. That a person doesn't get
over very very quickly, and Richard definitely didn't. And that
was part of why it was it was hard to
get to know Richard, and you know, and it was
it was hard for my friends that had been my
friends for twenty years at that point, you know, fifteen years.
(10:35):
They were like, I just can't read Richard. I just
don't know, you know, I don't think he likes me.
I'm like, that's not it. It's just keep being you. He
has trust issues, and he has good reasons to have
trust issues.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
And the person that wore the wire from the GBI
that resulted in nothing but more heartache.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
It really did, and that really I mean that just
you know, I just for real, if people in my profession,
I think if I had been in law enforcement and
the people that I called my friends and my brothers
and sisters in law enforcement treated me like that, the
last thing I would have wanted to do is to
(11:17):
go back into law enforcement and trust people with my life,
because you have to trust the people who you work
with when you're a law enforcement officer, you trust them
with your life. I don't know how he did it.
He's a better person than I think I would have been.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
And I think that's what I was trying to say,
is that you would think, after all the betrayal and
all the negativity, that he would be like, y'all can
have it, good luck to you, and he would have
just gone into a completely new field where maybe nobody
knew him and he wouldn't have to put his life
on the line. But that is not what he did
(11:53):
at all.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
No, it's not what he did. And he he still
loved it. He loved it till the day he died.
And that was I think part of him not being
able being told that he couldn't be a police officer
anymore once he after he got sick, you know, it
(12:17):
was just a few weeks then when he passed away.
I think that that that that is what broke him,
when he knew he couldn't go back and be an
officer or a deputy, he couldn't go and hunt and
fish like he wanted to. I think that that was,
you know, that that broke him. I believe.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Now, Dana, right before he got sick, he would have
terrible nightmares.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Oh, oh, Cheryl, he had terrible nightmares from the time
we met all the way, you know, through till he died,
I mean, and it would be. And he warned me,
you know, be careful and don't wake me up if
I'm ever asleep, or be careful, you know, throw something
at me to wake me up. And I'm like, what
(13:06):
are you talking about, And he said, because I'll wake
up throwing hands. And so I said, well, that's good to.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Know, like a night terror exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
But he would wake me up in the middle of
the night, I mean several times a week, having the
night terairs, yelling no, no, no, get out, get out,
get out. You know, we're in different things. And I
would wake him up and then he he would be
soaking wet his shirt and his sleep pants and the sheets.
(13:40):
We'd have to change the sheets on the bed and
he'd have to take a shower and put clean clothes
on because he was just totally soaking wet from sweat
from what those those nighttairs did to him. And he
wouldn't he wouldn't take medicine. I tried to get him
to take something, you know, to kind of relax at
night so he could sleep, because a person's got to,
(14:00):
you know, And he would run on about three hours
of sleep at night. And that's not healthy. But he
would not take any medicine. He did not He wouldn't
go to the doctor. And that was part of the
paranoia because he said, you know, I still have this lawsuit,
and if I go to the doctor and there's something
(14:21):
wrong with me, then the AJAC will get that information
and they'll use it in the lawsuit against me.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
And that's another thing people always say, Man, if that
happened to me, I would sue the daylight that of them.
But that's a lot of stress too, and that's a
lot of money. And they've already come at his private life.
I mean, they made fun of him, They made fun
of his mama, they made fun of the way they lived, right,
and so now you're opening yourself up for more of that.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
The lawsuit with the AJAC was the one that he
really wanted to see come to fruition, and unfortunately he
didn't get to see that. Well, none of us did.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
What happened with that because you're talking about reporter that
leaked the information that the FBI had.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Right right her, Well, her her name was Kathy Scrubbs,
who wrote the wrote that article. And he really didn't have,
you know, very nice things to say about her. I mean,
he really held her in the A j C At
(15:29):
fault for all of the eighty eight days and for
all the everything that came after. You know, he felt
like the A j C. And Kathy Scrubs was responsible
for destroying his life.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Well, tell us what happened with the lawsuit.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Well, so after he died, it went on and on.
I mean it was just ridiculous. It went on and
on and fighting back and forth. But after he after
he died, it went over into his to his estate,
and then they fought for a while longer. But I
(16:08):
believe in twenty eleven we had to call it quits.
We just we didn't have we didn't have the money
to keep fighting it. His mom and I didn't have
the money to keep fighting it. And you know, when
he wasn't around to be able to testify and do things.
(16:28):
So you know, Bobby and I talked to sat down
and talked with the attorneys, and you know, we just
made a decision that you know, this, this had to
be it because we we didn't have one hundred thousand
dollars laying around to go get copies of all of
the court transcripts. So Bobby and I didn't We didn't
have one hundred thousand dollars to get the court transcripts
(16:49):
transcripts that were needed. So you know, we just had
to make the decision to just drop it.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
So no justice at all, there no.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
No justice at all, no justice for Richard and that
and I really hate that for him and his mom
and and and Watson and Lynn and Wayne and you know,
because they all fought for for Richard for all those
years too.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
They all fought.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
And here's the thing. I think a lot of people
think he got crazy paid, but that's not true.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
No, it's not true. It's not true at all. And
here's the here's here's funny. I don't I don't know
how much money he got from all those I still
don't know. And because when when we started getting serious
and we were about to get married, you know, and everything,
he's like, you know, I can't tell you how much,
(17:45):
uh how much these settlements were for. And I'm like,
have I asked you? And he goes, no, he said,
but I can't tell you because if I tell you, uh,
then if when we go to court, if they ask you,
then you'll have to tell the truth. And I'm not
supposed to have told you. I said, I don't need
to know. I don't I don't care to know. I
(18:05):
don't want to know because I don't want anybody asking
me on the stand, you know, I don't want to know.
So to this day, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
So Richard still did the right thing, no matter what.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, he was a follower for real. He was a follower,
and you know, and he never told me, you know,
the things that would say would be you know, his
his thing that he would tell folks was, yeah, he
got he got, he got settlements, but really he only
got a third because a third went to the attorneys,
a third went to the taxes, and a third went
(18:37):
to him. And he didn't work for eighteen months because
nobody would give him a job. So he lived off
of that that money that he got, you know, and
he was able. There was there was a little bit
of money, but then when we once we bought our house,
that was pretty much you know, we put that in
(18:59):
the house and that was pretty much it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Then. So well, he deserved every dime. He deserved every
diamond more so, well, let's talk about when Kent Alexander
came calling.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Oh yeah, so you know, Richard, he wasn't a big
fan of Kent's either, really initially. After after all that
in two thousand and three, I think when Eric Robert
Rudolph when when we went to court and he pled guilty,
(19:32):
I think that was two thousand and three, Richard talked
to Kent a little bit, and you know, Richard had
softened up a little bit and was a little bit
you know better, felt a little bit better about Kent.
So when Kent reached out to me, I called, actually
I called Lynn Would and and I also talked to
(19:57):
Watson Brian and I was like, okay, so dude, his
dude's calling me. What's going on? You know? And so
they're like, yeah, we're gonna talk to him. He's going
to do this book. So I was like okay, because
I had I had uh. I had promised Richard when
(20:17):
he when he died, I promised him I was gonna
figure out a way and I was gonna get a
book written about him. Because before the week or two
weeks before he died, we went to the bookstore and
bought some books about how to write a book, because
he was ready to write his own book. So I
promised that I was going to get that done, you know.
(20:39):
And so I had talked to a guy, a friend
of mine, about writing a book about him. He had
never written a book, and so we were kind of
talking about that for We've been and talks about that
for a while. And then Kent calls and and after
I talked to the attorneys then and I talked to
Kent and he was wonderful. He was amazing. And I
(21:03):
met with him and Kevin and they really put me
at ease, and I was like, yeah, I really I
trust these guys. I love the concept that, you know,
the idea of how they wanted to write the book
and tell the story. And I'm thinking, what better person
to write the book? If Richard Kent write it? What
(21:23):
better person to write the book. Kent was there on
the law enforcement side.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I mean he was there, yep, he was in the
command center. And let me tell you, you know, he
wrote the letter in October saying he's not a suspect.
He didn't do it.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Right, and that was that was uncommon. You know, that
was kind of wild that Richard got that letter.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
It was unbelievable. And then come January, here the FBI
comes again, naming him as the bomber Ken Alexander. For
those of y'all that don't know, I should have already said.
But he was the US attorney for the eleventh Circuit,
so it was going to be his case. This was
(22:06):
his deal. So from a minute that bomb detonated, he
was in the command center. He was running things. He
was making sure people were interviewed and things were collected
correctly and legally and you know, scientifically, like he was
making sure everything was done properly. And as he started
(22:26):
to look at this thing and all of his people
were given their opinions, and all of us that were
there that day and that morning, I mean it just
we were, I think, all pretty shocked how this thing
went and the way it went as quick as it did.
Because if you think of somebody planting that bomb, and
(22:47):
let's just say it was richer like they said, he
stayed there next to it, He turned his back to
it and was pushing people away. How does that make it?
Ey say sense?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Right? I mean, it doesn't make sense. Who would do that?
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Who would do that?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Right?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
And then you want me to believe he ran down
there and made a phone call to nine one one,
but then ran back.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Richard was a big back boy back then. He was big.
He couldn't have ran anyway. But it was impossible for
anybody to have gone to the phone the way. I mean,
it was a four I think a four or five
minute walk from from where the bomb was, so you know,
it couldn't have happened. But Richard was a big boy.
(23:34):
He couldn't have done that anyway.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
And then there was no motive. They could not find
a motive. They just were making up a motive. And
you know, so when Kent got involved, and I think
all of us heard always writing the book. He's writing
the book. I had the same reaction you did. There's
nobody better at this point, and I knew that he
would honor what Richard did. I knew he would. And
(23:59):
then the movie tell us about when Richard got sick
and died.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
In February of two thousand and seven. I had been
sick with bronchitis for like the two months before then,
so we had been sleeping in separate bedrooms because so
he could sleep because I was coughing my head off
and had the air condition I had an air conditioning
going in December and January because I was so hot,
(24:30):
it was it was crazy. But so he was in
the other bedroom. So one day I saw these little
h these little crescent looking things on the wood floor.
Now I'm like that, I think one of the dogs
has a cut on their foot. I told him that,
you know, because it's blood. He goes, I don't know,
it may be my foot. And I said, well, let
me see, and he hit the one of his big toes.
(24:52):
Was just the whole bottom of it was just one
big sore. I said, Richard, how long has that been
like that? He's like, I don't know. I can't fit
And I said what. He goes, I can't feel my feet.
And I said, what do you mean you can't feel
your feet? He goes, I can't feel anything on my feet.
I said, okay. It was a Sunday afternoon. I said, okay,
well look here, I am gonna go lay down. I'm
(25:13):
gonna take a nap, and when I wake up for
my nap, I'm either taking you to the emergency room
or I'm gonna pack my bags. I'm going to my
mama's house because I'm not gonna see here and watch
your foot brought off. So I went and laid down.
In about five minutes, I hear a tap tap tap
on the door, and uh, I said what he said, Well,
after you wake up, I'll let you take me to
the hospital, said, I jumped up. I said, I can't wait,
(25:35):
let's go now. So we went. That was when he
was diagnosis having diabetes. Then they ended up having to
clean out his toe in his infect the infection had
gotten in his bone. They ended up having he had
to be on iv ana by audix, which then ended
(25:57):
up making him making his kibe and he shut down,
so then he had to do dialliss. Then another toe
got in the way and got hurt. He was still
trying to heal this big toe, so that next toe
to his big toe had to be amputated. I mean,
it was just like one thing after another, and then
they couldn't control his blood pressure. It would drop about
(26:21):
seventy points when he would go from sitting to standing
and he would pass out. He was passing out a
week before he died. He called, well, I came home
from work in the back porch, was there was water
all over the place and I come in. I look
and he's laying in the bed and didn't have a
shirt on and blood's all over his chest. I'm like,
(26:42):
what's going on. He had fallen on the back porch
water and the dogs and had cut his eyebrow and
so I had to take him to get stitches in
his eyebrow because he busted it open. I mean it was.
He was in and out of the hospital for about
three months of the last six months of his life.
(27:06):
And that was about he was in the hospital in noon,
and and we lived in Woodbury, so that was about
a forty five minute drive. So the poor man, I mean,
it just one thing after another. Finally his kidney's kicked
back in and he was able to go off Dallas's.
And he told me, he said, I'll never do that again.
I will die before I have to do dialysis again.
(27:30):
His kidney doctor had told him that he wasn't going
to be able to go back to work as a
police officer, and he wasn't really going to be able
to hunt or fish by himself and that kind of thing.
And the last time he the last night he went
to work, he had he was holding his belt, his
gun belt, and I said, Richard, what are you doing?
(27:53):
He said, well, I'm just gonna he was holding his
gun belt and his bullet proofessed I said, what are
you doing? He said, well, I'm going to just put
it in the car, and if I get a call
and need it, I'm gonna put it on. That was
the only time I'd ever seen him not in full
uniform with a vest and his belt on and everything
to a t right, And so I said, I don't
I don't think you should go to work. I don't
(28:16):
you know, if if, if you're not feeling like you
can carry all that, I don't think you need to go.
He's like, I'll be okay, I'll be okay. Well, the
next morning, one of the deputies called me as I
was getting ready to go to work and was like,
you probably need to come up here and get Richard.
He was at at one of the little restaurants up there,
(28:37):
and he had basically passed out at the restaurant. I mean,
he just was exhausted from working that night. And so
after that is when the after that is when he
went back to the nephrologist and she said that you
know you can't, you can't do that anymore. You're not
(28:57):
able to. So the day that he died was a Wednesday,
August the twenty ninth, and I had started calling about
ten till ten, you know, to make sure he was
up and awake and all that, and he never answered,
and he didn't answer, and he didn't answer, so it
freaked me out. So I came home. I flew home,
(29:19):
and I got to the I got I opened my door.
At the time, we had eight dogs and five cats
because Richard brought home every animal that was around. We
also had five goats, and we had geese. We had
rabbits because the man brought everything home. But the dogs
were in the house and I've never cheryl never. I
(29:39):
never heard them howl like they were howling. And so
I go running to the door and it was locked,
So that was weird. So I knew he had not
been out or let the dogs out since I had left.
And so I got I walked in and our chocolate
lab named Duke was he came in nudge me and
(30:00):
he started walking back, and so I went to the
bedroom and Richard was there. He was sitting at the
end of the bed, leaning up against the arm will
and I was like, Richard, U okay, And he didn't
say anything. And I walked over and you know and
felt him, and I knew that he was gone, and
so I think what happened was I think he got
(30:21):
up as I was leaving and probably died before I
even got out of the driveway, is what I think.
He died of a massive heart attack because of due
to complications of diabetes.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Dana, I'm just so sorry. I mean, he was such
a sweet and gentle man that just got a roll
deal all the way around.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah he did. He was such a great guy. I mean,
he was funny, and he was loving, and he was
a goofball, you know, and all those things and not
like he was nothing. He wasn't like what people heard
that he was on the news every night.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Well, I appreciate what you were for him. And you know,
the last thing I'll ask you about is what did
you think watching the movie.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
I didn't have anything to do with the movie. I
wasn't contacted about the movie. So when one of the
my sister in law, was able to get a theater
to let us watch it early on a Saturday morning
before it was released to everybody else later, and so
we had invited I had invited family and friends to come.
(31:38):
So that's the only time I've watched it, and i'd
I'll watch it again one day. I'm not ready yet.
I mean, it's been six years. I'm still not ready yet.
Because it was so incredibly hard. I cried the whole time.
I know, my mom and I cried and we hugged
(32:00):
each other and cried throughout the whole movie. It was
just it was just so it was so emotional. But
you know, and there was some things that they got wrong,
of course, you know, Hollywood kind of does that. But overall,
I thought that the movie really depicted well of what
(32:21):
Richard described to me about what he went through during
that time, and it was pretty amazing. I think, like
the parking you know, in the the apartment parking lot,
that's that's what he described. That's how he described it,
you know. And I think that they got so much
(32:45):
in that movie, right. A few things not so much,
but but for the most part, I think the majority
of the movie I thought was was wonderful.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Well, I appreciate you joining us. I tell you it was.
It was a crazy time for all of us that
were involved. But I don't think any of us can
overstate what happened to Richard.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
You know, it was it's something I still kind of
pinched myself. I don't still I'm like, God, how did
this happen? How did I meet him and be a
part of this? But I was so blessed to have
met him and to have fallen in love with him
and to be able to be a part of his
(33:33):
after the Olympic part bombing. I'm so thankful that we
were able to spend the time together that we did.
And you know, I was truly blessed to have met
him in him been a part of my life, and
I think that you know, I think he felt the
same way about me, because it was it was a
(33:56):
it was a love story that started in a drug bust, as.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
All great love story should.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Should exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
It was awesome, and listen, I'm thrilled that we were
able to become friends, and you know we have an
odd connection as well, but you know, what a great
way to start a friendship. You know, good things do
come from bad situations, exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
And I appreciate that you reached out to me. I
really do, Cheryl, thank you, of.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Course, and for your first podcast you were awesome.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Well, thank you very much. Thanks. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Well, We will talk soon, and I'm going to end
Zone seven the way that I always do with a quote.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Okay, the media.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Can destroy lives faster than the criminal justice system can
save them. Richard Jewel, I'm Cheryl McCollum, and this is
Zone seven.
Y'all, welcome back to Zone seven's special edition of the
one hundred Olympic Games. Y'all, Richard Jewel, security guard for
the Olympics, spotted a suspicious backpack under a bench in
Olympic Park. It was approximately one ten am. Richard acted quickly, y'all.
(00:34):
He went and grabbed a GBI agent said look what
I see. This doesn't look right. The two of them
started moving people away from the backpack and further from
that area. Ten minutes later, a pipe bomb detonated in
Centennial Park. Richard Jewel saved lives period. His action and
(01:00):
his alone were heroic. Tonight, we are joined by Dana Jewel.
She and Richard were married. We are going to get
to talk to her and hear firsthand the aftermath for
Richard when he went from being a hero to a
(01:24):
suspect in the bombing. Dana Jewel, Welcome to Zone seven.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Thanks Cheryl, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Honey, this conversation's overdue. I tell you, you and I
we've talked, we know each other, but what you and
Richard went through is like no other story, and especially
for you, you weren't married to him during the bombing.
I mean y'all didn't get together until like eighteen months after.
(01:54):
Tell us what he would tell you about those eighty
eight days of being a suspected bomber.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know, he didn't talk a lot about it because
it was just too emotional. It was too much for him.
But when he would, when he would say stuff, you know,
it was the experience left him paranoid. He always was
looking over his shoulder, always thinking somebody was following us.
(02:24):
He would take different ways home and be checking the
rear view mirror all the time. You know. He he
said it was pure hell. It was eighty eight days
of hell, is what he said. One thing that really
upset him was that he had to put his Doberman Lacey.
(02:46):
He had to put her at the at the vent
because the media was so bad outside of the apartment
that he couldn't even take Lacy for a walk. And
and that Richard was a huge animal lover and that
was his best friend, and he couldn't even have her
as a support during all this time because it was
(03:10):
such a crazy, crazy atmosphere outside of their apartment.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, you know, I think that's also one of those
deals nobody thinks about that nobody thinks about the pet.
Nobody thinks about best friends and you know, potential employers.
They don't ever factor that into this equation. When you're
accused of something at this level and you've got two
(03:37):
extremely powerful entities, meaning the government, the FBI and the
media both are coming at you. I mean to me,
that don't make him paranoid. That makes him smart. He
had been followed, right, sure.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, he had been it. He had been followed even
before it was officially announced that he was a suspect.
You know, they followed him, you know, just within a
few days after the bombing. They were already following him.
He didn't know it at the time, but you know,
he he was. He would say he you know, he
(04:13):
would admit that he was paranoid. He had really good
reason too. He was very it was very hard to
get to know Richard, you know. And yeah, I didn't
know him before the bombing, but he it was very
hard for him to get to trust people. He was
not easy to get to know. I think that one
(04:36):
reason why he and I hit it off in the
beginning was because I didn't I didn't look at him
as Richard Jewel, the suspect in the bombing or Richard Jewel,
the hero in the Olympic Park bombing. I just saw
him as Richard, and I think that that meant a
(04:58):
lot to him because there was never any pressure with me,
you know, between us to be a certain way. It
was never you know. I tried not to make it
awkward because I didn't see him like. I just saw
him as a person. I just really the first time
I met him, I'm like, Oh, he's such a sweet
(05:19):
little thing. You know.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
How did y'all meet Dana?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
We met on a drug bust. We sure did.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So his first job after the bombing was was in Luthersville, Georgia,
which is in Meriwether County, about forty balls south of Atlanta.
And I worked for Meriwether County Department of Family and
Children's Services. I was a child protective Services investigator. And
on April tenth, which is my birthday of ninety eight,
(05:52):
at about four o'clock, I had to go out to
check on some kids that we had got a report
and there was possible drugs in the home and a
drug dealing boyfriend and and all that. So I went
to check on the kids, but I went to buy
the Luthersville Police Department to see if you know, an
officer could go with me out there, because we had
(06:14):
gotten word that the guy might be a little bit difficult.
So anyway, Richard was there and he's like yeah, and
then a couple of other officers went to and a
deputy went and so that's how we met. Come to
find out, yes, the guy was a drug dealer. Yes,
there was another big dog drug dealer coming by later
(06:36):
on in the night. So we spent about four hours
out there. It was after eight o'clock when we got done,
and I had ridden with them, so I couldn't leave,
And so we spent about four hours out there that night,
and that was the beginning of our story, A drug bust.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
You and I have talked, so you know, I only
met Richard twice, once that morning that the bomb went off,
and then once years later when he worked for Sonoy
Police Department. And we spoke only briefly that day, but
both times I saw him in person, he was so sweet.
He was very kind, almost tenderhearted, but certainly wanted to
(07:23):
help people. And what hits me about y'all's story is,
after those eighty eight days, which was actually longer than that,
because even when he was no longer a suspect, even
when we knew who the bomber was with Eric Robert Rudolph,
his life was still affected negatively from that experience. But
(07:44):
what did he do with that experience. He still had
a servant's heart. He still wanted to serve people, Dana.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
He did, I mean, And his calling was definitely to
be a police officer. That's all he wanted to do.
You know. He caught him himself the black sheep of
his family because the other men on the moms on
his mom's side of the family were all firemen, and
then he was a policeman. So he said he was
a black sheep. But he did I mean, and he,
(08:14):
you know, sometimes to the dismay of people, he lived
and breathed law enforcement. He loved it. He would drive
us all a little crazy sometimes about being so gung
ho at times.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Well, you know, I sat in a whole bunch of
meetings after the bomb went off, and everybody had all
these theories and they would toss them around trying to
connect the three bombings, and they couldn't They couldn't have
any reasonable answer for these three completely different you know,
(08:51):
bombs and the locations, but I can tell you Richard
never made any sense.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, And I don't you know, I don't know, after
having gotten to know Richard and just know his heart,
I don't know how anybody that knew him before the
bombing could even think, I mean, even for a second
thing that he could have done something like that. The
way he loved his fellow man and he just loved people,
(09:21):
I just don't understand how anybody could think that he
would have had that in his heart to be able
to do that.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
And I think that's one thing that hurt him is
how the FBI came at him and some of the
things that they said, and then the way the media
ran with such negative statements about him, right, Yeah, The
very people that he saw as comrades, you know, attacked him.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
They really did, and they said some really some really
awful things about him, you know, and one guy with
the GBI that was supposed to be his friend really
tricked him a war a wire to his in him
and his mom's apartment, you know, he came to eat
dinner with them in war a wire, And you know, Richard,
(10:12):
that's some that's some betrayal. That a person doesn't get
over very very quickly, and Richard definitely didn't. And that
was part of why it was it was hard to
get to know Richard, and you know, and it was
it was hard for my friends that had been my
friends for twenty years at that point, you know, fifteen years.
(10:35):
They were like, I just can't read Richard. I just
don't know, you know, I don't think he likes me.
I'm like, that's not it. It's just keep being you. He
has trust issues, and he has good reasons to have
trust issues.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
And the person that wore the wire from the GBI
that resulted in nothing but more heartache.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
It really did, and that really I mean that just
you know, I just for real, if people in my profession,
I think if I had been in law enforcement and
the people that I called my friends and my brothers
and sisters in law enforcement treated me like that, the
last thing I would have wanted to do is to
(11:17):
go back into law enforcement and trust people with my life,
because you have to trust the people who you work
with when you're a law enforcement officer, you trust them
with your life. I don't know how he did it.
He's a better person than I think I would have been.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
And I think that's what I was trying to say,
is that you would think, after all the betrayal and
all the negativity, that he would be like, y'all can
have it, good luck to you, and he would have
just gone into a completely new field where maybe nobody
knew him and he wouldn't have to put his life
on the line. But that is not what he did
(11:53):
at all.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
No, it's not what he did. And he he still
loved it. He loved it till the day he died.
And that was I think part of him not being
able being told that he couldn't be a police officer
anymore once he after he got sick, you know, it
(12:17):
was just a few weeks then when he passed away.
I think that that that that is what broke him,
when he knew he couldn't go back and be an
officer or a deputy, he couldn't go and hunt and
fish like he wanted to. I think that that was,
you know, that that broke him. I believe.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Now, Dana, right before he got sick, he would have
terrible nightmares.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Oh, oh, Cheryl, he had terrible nightmares from the time
we met all the way, you know, through till he died,
I mean, and it would be. And he warned me,
you know, be careful and don't wake me up if
I'm ever asleep, or be careful, you know, throw something
at me to wake me up. And I'm like, what
(13:06):
are you talking about, And he said, because I'll wake
up throwing hands. And so I said, well, that's good to.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Know, like a night terror exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
But he would wake me up in the middle of
the night, I mean several times a week, having the
night terairs, yelling no, no, no, get out, get out,
get out. You know, we're in different things. And I
would wake him up and then he he would be
soaking wet his shirt and his sleep pants and the sheets.
(13:40):
We'd have to change the sheets on the bed and
he'd have to take a shower and put clean clothes
on because he was just totally soaking wet from sweat
from what those those nighttairs did to him. And he
wouldn't he wouldn't take medicine. I tried to get him
to take something, you know, to kind of relax at
night so he could sleep, because a person's got to,
(14:00):
you know, And he would run on about three hours
of sleep at night. And that's not healthy. But he
would not take any medicine. He did not He wouldn't
go to the doctor. And that was part of the
paranoia because he said, you know, I still have this lawsuit,
and if I go to the doctor and there's something
(14:21):
wrong with me, then the AJAC will get that information
and they'll use it in the lawsuit against me.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
And that's another thing people always say, Man, if that
happened to me, I would sue the daylight that of them.
But that's a lot of stress too, and that's a
lot of money. And they've already come at his private life.
I mean, they made fun of him, They made fun
of his mama, they made fun of the way they lived, right,
and so now you're opening yourself up for more of that.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
The lawsuit with the AJAC was the one that he
really wanted to see come to fruition, and unfortunately he
didn't get to see that. Well, none of us did.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
What happened with that because you're talking about reporter that
leaked the information that the FBI had.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Right right her, Well, her her name was Kathy Scrubbs,
who wrote the wrote that article. And he really didn't have,
you know, very nice things to say about her. I mean,
he really held her in the A j C At
(15:29):
fault for all of the eighty eight days and for
all the everything that came after. You know, he felt
like the A j C. And Kathy Scrubs was responsible
for destroying his life.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Well, tell us what happened with the lawsuit.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Well, so after he died, it went on and on.
I mean it was just ridiculous. It went on and
on and fighting back and forth. But after he after
he died, it went over into his to his estate,
and then they fought for a while longer. But I
(16:08):
believe in twenty eleven we had to call it quits.
We just we didn't have we didn't have the money
to keep fighting it. His mom and I didn't have
the money to keep fighting it. And you know, when
he wasn't around to be able to testify and do things.
(16:28):
So you know, Bobby and I talked to sat down
and talked with the attorneys, and you know, we just
made a decision that you know, this, this had to
be it because we we didn't have one hundred thousand
dollars laying around to go get copies of all of
the court transcripts. So Bobby and I didn't We didn't
have one hundred thousand dollars to get the court transcripts
(16:49):
transcripts that were needed. So you know, we just had
to make the decision to just drop it.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
So no justice at all, there no.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
No justice at all, no justice for Richard and that
and I really hate that for him and his mom
and and and Watson and Lynn and Wayne and you know,
because they all fought for for Richard for all those
years too.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
They all fought.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
And here's the thing. I think a lot of people
think he got crazy paid, but that's not true.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
No, it's not true. It's not true at all. And
here's the here's here's funny. I don't I don't know
how much money he got from all those I still
don't know. And because when when we started getting serious
and we were about to get married, you know, and everything,
he's like, you know, I can't tell you how much,
(17:45):
uh how much these settlements were for. And I'm like,
have I asked you? And he goes, no, he said,
but I can't tell you because if I tell you, uh,
then if when we go to court, if they ask you,
then you'll have to tell the truth. And I'm not
supposed to have told you. I said, I don't need
to know. I don't I don't care to know. I
(18:05):
don't want to know because I don't want anybody asking
me on the stand, you know, I don't want to know.
So to this day, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
So Richard still did the right thing, no matter what.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, he was a follower for real. He was a follower,
and you know, and he never told me, you know,
the things that would say would be you know, his
his thing that he would tell folks was, yeah, he
got he got, he got settlements, but really he only
got a third because a third went to the attorneys,
a third went to the taxes, and a third went
(18:37):
to him. And he didn't work for eighteen months because
nobody would give him a job. So he lived off
of that that money that he got, you know, and
he was able. There was there was a little bit
of money, but then when we once we bought our house,
that was pretty much you know, we put that in
(18:59):
the house and that was pretty much it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Then. So well, he deserved every dime. He deserved every
diamond more so, well, let's talk about when Kent Alexander
came calling.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Oh yeah, so you know, Richard, he wasn't a big
fan of Kent's either, really initially. After after all that
in two thousand and three, I think when Eric Robert
Rudolph when when we went to court and he pled guilty,
(19:32):
I think that was two thousand and three, Richard talked
to Kent a little bit, and you know, Richard had
softened up a little bit and was a little bit
you know better, felt a little bit better about Kent.
So when Kent reached out to me, I called, actually
I called Lynn Would and and I also talked to
(19:57):
Watson Brian and I was like, okay, so dude, his
dude's calling me. What's going on? You know? And so
they're like, yeah, we're gonna talk to him. He's going
to do this book. So I was like okay, because
I had I had uh. I had promised Richard when
(20:17):
he when he died, I promised him I was gonna
figure out a way and I was gonna get a
book written about him. Because before the week or two
weeks before he died, we went to the bookstore and
bought some books about how to write a book, because
he was ready to write his own book. So I
promised that I was going to get that done, you know.
(20:39):
And so I had talked to a guy, a friend
of mine, about writing a book about him. He had
never written a book, and so we were kind of
talking about that for We've been and talks about that
for a while. And then Kent calls and and after
I talked to the attorneys then and I talked to
Kent and he was wonderful. He was amazing. And I
(21:03):
met with him and Kevin and they really put me
at ease, and I was like, yeah, I really I
trust these guys. I love the concept that, you know,
the idea of how they wanted to write the book
and tell the story. And I'm thinking, what better person
to write the book? If Richard Kent write it? What
(21:23):
better person to write the book. Kent was there on
the law enforcement side.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I mean he was there, yep, he was in the
command center. And let me tell you, you know, he
wrote the letter in October saying he's not a suspect.
He didn't do it.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Right, and that was that was uncommon. You know, that
was kind of wild that Richard got that letter.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
It was unbelievable. And then come January, here the FBI
comes again, naming him as the bomber Ken Alexander. For
those of y'all that don't know, I should have already said.
But he was the US attorney for the eleventh Circuit,
so it was going to be his case. This was
(22:06):
his deal. So from a minute that bomb detonated, he
was in the command center. He was running things. He
was making sure people were interviewed and things were collected
correctly and legally and you know, scientifically, like he was
making sure everything was done properly. And as he started
(22:26):
to look at this thing and all of his people
were given their opinions, and all of us that were
there that day and that morning, I mean it just
we were, I think, all pretty shocked how this thing
went and the way it went as quick as it did.
Because if you think of somebody planting that bomb, and
(22:47):
let's just say it was richer like they said, he
stayed there next to it, He turned his back to
it and was pushing people away. How does that make it?
Ey say sense?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Right? I mean, it doesn't make sense. Who would do that?
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Who would do that?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Right?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
And then you want me to believe he ran down
there and made a phone call to nine one one,
but then ran back.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Richard was a big back boy back then. He was big.
He couldn't have ran anyway. But it was impossible for
anybody to have gone to the phone the way. I mean,
it was a four I think a four or five
minute walk from from where the bomb was, so you know,
it couldn't have happened. But Richard was a big boy.
(23:34):
He couldn't have done that anyway.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
And then there was no motive. They could not find
a motive. They just were making up a motive. And
you know, so when Kent got involved, and I think
all of us heard always writing the book. He's writing
the book. I had the same reaction you did. There's
nobody better at this point, and I knew that he
would honor what Richard did. I knew he would. And
(23:59):
then the movie tell us about when Richard got sick
and died.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
In February of two thousand and seven. I had been
sick with bronchitis for like the two months before then,
so we had been sleeping in separate bedrooms because so
he could sleep because I was coughing my head off
and had the air condition I had an air conditioning
going in December and January because I was so hot,
(24:30):
it was it was crazy. But so he was in
the other bedroom. So one day I saw these little
h these little crescent looking things on the wood floor.
Now I'm like that, I think one of the dogs
has a cut on their foot. I told him that,
you know, because it's blood. He goes, I don't know,
it may be my foot. And I said, well, let
me see, and he hit the one of his big toes.
(24:52):
Was just the whole bottom of it was just one
big sore. I said, Richard, how long has that been
like that? He's like, I don't know. I can't fit
And I said what. He goes, I can't feel my feet.
And I said, what do you mean you can't feel
your feet? He goes, I can't feel anything on my feet.
I said, okay. It was a Sunday afternoon. I said, okay,
well look here, I am gonna go lay down. I'm
(25:13):
gonna take a nap, and when I wake up for
my nap, I'm either taking you to the emergency room
or I'm gonna pack my bags. I'm going to my
mama's house because I'm not gonna see here and watch
your foot brought off. So I went and laid down.
In about five minutes, I hear a tap tap tap
on the door, and uh, I said what he said, Well,
after you wake up, I'll let you take me to
the hospital, said, I jumped up. I said, I can't wait,
(25:35):
let's go now. So we went. That was when he
was diagnosis having diabetes. Then they ended up having to
clean out his toe in his infect the infection had
gotten in his bone. They ended up having he had
to be on iv ana by audix, which then ended
(25:57):
up making him making his kibe and he shut down,
so then he had to do dialliss. Then another toe
got in the way and got hurt. He was still
trying to heal this big toe, so that next toe
to his big toe had to be amputated. I mean,
it was just like one thing after another, and then
they couldn't control his blood pressure. It would drop about
(26:21):
seventy points when he would go from sitting to standing
and he would pass out. He was passing out a
week before he died. He called, well, I came home
from work in the back porch, was there was water
all over the place and I come in. I look
and he's laying in the bed and didn't have a
shirt on and blood's all over his chest. I'm like,
(26:42):
what's going on. He had fallen on the back porch
water and the dogs and had cut his eyebrow and
so I had to take him to get stitches in
his eyebrow because he busted it open. I mean it was.
He was in and out of the hospital for about
three months of the last six months of his life.
(27:06):
And that was about he was in the hospital in noon,
and and we lived in Woodbury, so that was about
a forty five minute drive. So the poor man, I mean,
it just one thing after another. Finally his kidney's kicked
back in and he was able to go off Dallas's.
And he told me, he said, I'll never do that again.
I will die before I have to do dialysis again.
(27:30):
His kidney doctor had told him that he wasn't going
to be able to go back to work as a
police officer, and he wasn't really going to be able
to hunt or fish by himself and that kind of thing.
And the last time he the last night he went
to work, he had he was holding his belt, his
gun belt, and I said, Richard, what are you doing?
(27:53):
He said, well, I'm just gonna he was holding his
gun belt and his bullet proofessed I said, what are
you doing? He said, well, I'm going to just put
it in the car, and if I get a call
and need it, I'm gonna put it on. That was
the only time I'd ever seen him not in full
uniform with a vest and his belt on and everything
to a t right, And so I said, I don't
I don't think you should go to work. I don't
(28:16):
you know, if if, if you're not feeling like you
can carry all that, I don't think you need to go.
He's like, I'll be okay, I'll be okay. Well, the
next morning, one of the deputies called me as I
was getting ready to go to work and was like,
you probably need to come up here and get Richard.
He was at at one of the little restaurants up there,
(28:37):
and he had basically passed out at the restaurant. I mean,
he just was exhausted from working that night. And so
after that is when the after that is when he
went back to the nephrologist and she said that you
know you can't, you can't do that anymore. You're not
(28:57):
able to. So the day that he died was a Wednesday,
August the twenty ninth, and I had started calling about
ten till ten, you know, to make sure he was
up and awake and all that, and he never answered,
and he didn't answer, and he didn't answer, so it
freaked me out. So I came home. I flew home,
(29:19):
and I got to the I got I opened my door.
At the time, we had eight dogs and five cats
because Richard brought home every animal that was around. We
also had five goats, and we had geese. We had
rabbits because the man brought everything home. But the dogs
were in the house and I've never cheryl never. I
(29:39):
never heard them howl like they were howling. And so
I go running to the door and it was locked,
So that was weird. So I knew he had not
been out or let the dogs out since I had left.
And so I got I walked in and our chocolate
lab named Duke was he came in nudge me and
(30:00):
he started walking back, and so I went to the
bedroom and Richard was there. He was sitting at the
end of the bed, leaning up against the arm will
and I was like, Richard, U okay, And he didn't
say anything. And I walked over and you know and
felt him, and I knew that he was gone, and
so I think what happened was I think he got
(30:21):
up as I was leaving and probably died before I
even got out of the driveway, is what I think.
He died of a massive heart attack because of due
to complications of diabetes.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Dana, I'm just so sorry. I mean, he was such
a sweet and gentle man that just got a roll
deal all the way around.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah he did. He was such a great guy. I mean,
he was funny, and he was loving, and he was
a goofball, you know, and all those things and not
like he was nothing. He wasn't like what people heard
that he was on the news every night.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Well, I appreciate what you were for him. And you know,
the last thing I'll ask you about is what did
you think watching the movie.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
I didn't have anything to do with the movie. I
wasn't contacted about the movie. So when one of the
my sister in law, was able to get a theater
to let us watch it early on a Saturday morning
before it was released to everybody else later, and so
we had invited I had invited family and friends to come.
(31:38):
So that's the only time I've watched it, and i'd
I'll watch it again one day. I'm not ready yet.
I mean, it's been six years. I'm still not ready yet.
Because it was so incredibly hard. I cried the whole time.
I know, my mom and I cried and we hugged
(32:00):
each other and cried throughout the whole movie. It was
just it was just so it was so emotional. But
you know, and there was some things that they got wrong,
of course, you know, Hollywood kind of does that. But overall,
I thought that the movie really depicted well of what
(32:21):
Richard described to me about what he went through during
that time, and it was pretty amazing. I think, like
the parking you know, in the the apartment parking lot,
that's that's what he described. That's how he described it,
you know. And I think that they got so much
(32:45):
in that movie, right. A few things not so much,
but but for the most part, I think the majority
of the movie I thought was was wonderful.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Well, I appreciate you joining us. I tell you it was.
It was a crazy time for all of us that
were involved. But I don't think any of us can
overstate what happened to Richard.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
You know, it was it's something I still kind of
pinched myself. I don't still I'm like, God, how did
this happen? How did I meet him and be a
part of this? But I was so blessed to have
met him and to have fallen in love with him
and to be able to be a part of his
(33:33):
after the Olympic part bombing. I'm so thankful that we
were able to spend the time together that we did.
And you know, I was truly blessed to have met
him in him been a part of my life, and
I think that you know, I think he felt the
same way about me, because it was it was a
(33:56):
it was a love story that started in a drug bust, as.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
All great love story should.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Should exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
It was awesome, and listen, I'm thrilled that we were
able to become friends, and you know we have an
odd connection as well, but you know, what a great
way to start a friendship. You know, good things do
come from bad situations, exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
And I appreciate that you reached out to me. I
really do, Cheryl, thank you, of.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Course, and for your first podcast you were awesome.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Well, thank you very much. Thanks. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Well, We will talk soon, and I'm going to end
Zone seven the way that I always do with a quote.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Okay, the media.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Can destroy lives faster than the criminal justice system can
save them. Richard Jewel, I'm Cheryl McCollum, and this is
Zone seven.
Host
Sheryl McCollum
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