January 1, 2026 • 29 mins
On a quiet residential street, a family lived a life that looked ordinary from the outside—routine, familiar, unremarkable. But behind closed doors, a history already existed, one that had passed through courtrooms, parole boards, and official records, quietly waiting. When authorities were finally called to the house, they arrived expecting one kind of emergency and discovered another entirely—one that would force investigators, prosecutors, and the public to confront uncomfortable questions about warning signs, second chances, and the consequences of decisions made long before anyone thought they mattered. This is the story of Gregory Green—and the tragedy that revealed how the past never really stays buried.
SOURCES:
1) Dearborn Heights Man Pleads Guilty In Slayings Of His 2 Kids, 2 Stepchildren
2) Man accused of killing family in Dearborn Heights pleads guilty to murder, torture charges
3) Police: Father kills 2 children, 2 teens at Dearborn Heights home
4) Man accused of killing family in Dearborn Heights arraigned on 4 counts of murder
5) ‘You Are The Devil In Disguise’: Ex-Wife To Man Who Murdered Her 4 Children
6) Popular Pastor Pushed for Parole of Daughter's Ex-Con Husband Who Killed Their 4 Children
7) Competency exam ordered for man accused of killing family in Dearborn Heights
8) Mom of 4 slain kids to killer husband: "Justice will come when you burn in hell"
SOURCES:
1) Dearborn Heights Man Pleads Guilty In Slayings Of His 2 Kids, 2 Stepchildren
2) Man accused of killing family in Dearborn Heights pleads guilty to murder, torture charges
3) Police: Father kills 2 children, 2 teens at Dearborn Heights home
4) Man accused of killing family in Dearborn Heights arraigned on 4 counts of murder
5) ‘You Are The Devil In Disguise’: Ex-Wife To Man Who Murdered Her 4 Children
6) Popular Pastor Pushed for Parole of Daughter's Ex-Con Husband Who Killed Their 4 Children
7) Competency exam ordered for man accused of killing family in Dearborn Heights
8) Mom of 4 slain kids to killer husband: "Justice will come when you burn in hell"
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
This episode MA contained content of a graphic nature, including
descriptions of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals.
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hi, this is Tanya. Hi, this is Shannon, and we
are Crimes.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And Consequences, a hardcore true crime podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Hey Shannon, Hey Tanya. You sounds so far away. Then
how are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I am mentally far away, just getting ready for the
holidays and making my list and checking it twice.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And oh yeah, that this mid decem madness of like,
especially if you're hosting people. So you got your menu
and then you got the gifts and you got the decoration.
It's madness, it is, and it's all good.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I'm starting a new job. That dad is so crazy. Yeah,
so it's you know, I had to give notice at
my job and it's just.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Been a lot.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
So it's a whirlwind in a new year's coming. It's
going to be a year of the horse in the
Chinese calendar. That's exciting the horse. So yeah, oh, and
I wanted to tell you before we get started, because
I do want to hear your story, natch. Really, but
for Thanksgiving, Tanya had brought me over a plate she
had hosted, and I am so food motivated.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So I was asking her what side er.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Menu, and she told me, and she's like, I'll save
you a plate, and she did and she brought it
over and then her and her daughter had made some
apple jam or apple preserves. Let's tell you, Tanya, you
and Ursula, Well that was so good. It was kiss
I have carbs are my heroine, right, yes, if in
(02:05):
another world I'm bent over with a bagel in my hand,
a half eaten bagel, just out of it. Thank you,
my friend, you are welcome. So yes, very good, very good. Now, girl,
tell me what story you go?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Oh my god? So yeah, Before I get into it,
I would just like to say hello to Rose. She
works with my husband, Hi Rose, and I just wanted
to give her a little shout out. She's one of
our newest fans. But I would also like to remind
everyone to hit the subscriber follow button on whatever you're
listening to. And this story is a local story. It
(02:42):
happened in Dearborn Heights and it's just extremely, extremely sad,
so as all of our stories.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yes, all right, I'm check that box, but sure it's sad.
Check it's tragic.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Check you know so. At first glance, nothing about Dearborn
Heights seems extraordinary. The houses on Runyon Street do not
announce themselves. They sit close together, modest aging, their facades,
softened by time and neglect. In summer, the lawns grow
uneven and stubborn. In winter, the wind moves through the
(03:20):
gaps in chain link fences like a warning no one
has learned to hear. This is not a street that
expects to be remembered. But in the early morning hours
of September twenty one, twenty sixteen, that house became ground
zero for a tragedy that would shock a region, expose
systemic blind spots in the justice system, and raise one
(03:43):
of the most troubling questions in American crimes. What happens
when a convicted killer walks free and then commits murder again.
This is the story of Gregory Green, a man whose
capacity for violence was demonstrated once and tragically again. Nothing
about Gregory Green's criminal history is subtle. In nineteen ninety two,
(04:08):
he strangled his wife. She was pregnant and her name
was Tanya. According to court records, he pleaded no contest
to second degree murder in her death. The details preserved
in court records and police summaries are clinical in the
way violence often becomes once it's processed by institutions. Second
(04:28):
degree murder, domestic dispute, cause of death, strangulation. But strangulation
is not impulsive violence. It is not a single blow
thrown in anger. It's sustained. It requires proximity, pressure, and
time long enough for the victim to struggle long enough
to understand what is happening, long enough for the perpetrator
(04:51):
to stop and choose not to. Gregory Green was convicted
and sentenced to fifteen to twenty five years in prison.
At the time, the sentence was received as appropriate. There
was no public outcry, no sense that justice had failed.
The system did what it was designed to do. It
removed a violent man from society and placed him behind
(05:14):
concrete and steel. The story could have ended there, but
prisons do not end stories. They pause them. By the
mid two thousands, Michigan's prison system was under pressure overcrowding,
budget constraints, and a growing emphasis on rehabilitation shaped parole
decisions across the state. Risk assessments became formulas, violence became data.
(05:40):
Human behavior was reduced to probability. Gregory Green was not
a disciplinary problem behind bars, he completed required programs, He
maintained acceptable conduct. He aged out of the demographic most
statistically associated with impulsive violence. On paper, he improved, and paper,
(06:02):
in the end, is what parole boards rely on. In
April two thousand and eight, after serving approximately sixteen years
for the murder of his first wife, Gregory was released.
He had been denied parole four times prior, mainly due
to concerns over the nature of his violence and apparently
(06:24):
absence of remorse. However, he was eventually released due to
being a model prisoner, and he had letters of support
submitted to the parole board from a pastor and family members.
There was no public notice, no community warning, no press conference,
just a man stepping back into the world, but the
(06:47):
crimes that would define his legacy were yet to come.
Upon release, Gregory met Faith Johnson, the daughter of a
local pastor. Friends would later describe her as warm response
devoted to her children. She was working, surviving, building a
life in a city that rarely made survival easy, and
(07:09):
when Gregory met her, he didn't introduce himself as a murderer.
He introduced himself as someone who had paid his debt.
The language of redemption is seductive. It allows people, especially
people who want to believe in good outcomes, to imagine
that time alone can sand down the sharpest edges of violence.
(07:31):
Faith believed him. They got married. They built a family.
Faith brought two older children into the marriage, nineteen year
old Chadney Allen and seventeen year old Kara Allen, and
then together Faith and Gregory had two daughters, five year
old Coy Green and four year old Kayley Green. Neighbors
(07:54):
described them as quiet, hard working people. In the months
before the murders, friends saw nothing outwardly alarming, but private violence,
as so often happens, doesn't always reveal.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Itself to outsiders.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Faith had previously filed for divorce, and records show she
had sought a personal protection order in twenty thirteen due
to troubling behavior by Gregory, a petition that was denied
under then existing standards of evidence. Still, despite past dangers
and attempts to seek protection, the family remained together until
(08:32):
the early morning of September twenty one, twenty sixteen. To outsiders,
there was nothing remarkable about this family. They looked like
thousands of other families navigating blended households and financial pressure.
Despite past danger and attempts to seek protection. Like I said,
the family remained together later, though neighbors would recall tension,
(08:55):
raised voices, doors closing too hard, an atmosphere that felt heavy.
But domestic violence rarely announces itself in ways that feel
actionable to outsiders. Communities, particularly in cities like Detroit, are
conditioned not to interfere. Police involvement carries its own risks.
(09:15):
Silence becomes a form of survival, and so the moments passed.
On September twenty first, twenty sixteen, It's early morning, before daylight,
and inside the Green home, a quiet violence unfolded. At
around one fifteen am. Gregory Green called nine one one
(09:35):
and calmly reported that he had killed his family. When
officers arrived, he was waiting on his front porch and
was immediately taken into custody. Inside the home, investigators found
a scene both methodical and disturbing. Green's two biological daughters,
coy H five and Kaylee four, were dead upstairs. Autopsies
(09:59):
showed they had been killed by by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Authorities found evidence a car in the garage had been
rigged to fill with exhaust and a plastic tube connected
to it before The children's bodies were later removed and
put back inside the home. In the basement, his two stepchildren,
nineteen year old Chadney and seventeen year old Kara, had
(10:19):
been shot execution style. His wife, Faith Green, was found
bound with duct tape and zip ties, cut with a
box cutter, and shot in the foot. Officers described her
as conscious but critically injured when they entered. The efficiency
and brutality of the killings shocked even seasoned investigators. These
(10:41):
were not random acts of rage. They were executions, According
to the medical examiner's report. Graory bound and gagged his
wife first and sat her down on the basement couch.
He then shot her in the foot and slashed her
across the face several times with a box cutter. Then
he brought a step children, Kara and Chadney, to the
(11:02):
basement where Faith was. There, he forced Chadney to tie
his sister's wrists with white zip ties and duct tape. Afterward,
Gregory bound Chadney in the same manner and put him
on the floor next to his sister. He then executed
both teens while their mother was forced to watch. Chadney,
who was six foot one and two hundred pounds, he
(11:24):
was wearing pajamas. He also had abrasions on his face
and right foot. His thighs and feet were also bound
with duct tape. He had been shot in the left
ear and twice in the back besides her wrists. Kara,
who was five 't five and one hundred and fourteen pounds,
was bound at the thighs and ankles with duct tape.
She had been shot in the top of the head
(11:46):
and twice in the back. Each child lost their life
in a different way, but all understood the violence of
the same man. They were grandchildren, siblings, teenagers with lives
ahead of them, and children just beginning to understand the world.
Their deaths were not just statistics, they were futures stolen.
(12:07):
After the killings, Faith Green survived physically and emotionally scarred.
At Gregory's sentencing hearing, she delivered a harrowing statement that
reverberated far beyond the courtroom walls. Standing before Judge Dana Hathaway,
Faith expressed a grief that was intimate and searing. Quote,
(12:31):
there's no punishment that fits the crime. She said, not
even torture and death would be justice. Your justice will
come when you burn in hell for all eternity for
murdering four innocent children. End quote. Her words were a
rare public articulation of personal trauma, Raw, earnest and devastating.
(12:54):
She continued quote, you are a con artist, You are
a monster. You are a devil in disguise. She conveyed
the endearing emotional toll, explaining that the horror had altered
her life in ways that might never heal. When news
broke that the suspect was a previously convicted murderer, one
(13:17):
who had killed his pregnant wife decades earlier, the story
changed shape. This was no longer just a crime.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It was a failure.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
One of the most anguished questions that followed the crimes
was not about motive. It was about how could this happen?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Twice?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
The question shifted from what happened to how was this
allowed to happen? Gregory Green had not hidden his past.
The system had known exactly who he was. He had
already served sixteen years in prison for murdering his first wife.
He had been denied parole multiple times before he was released.
(13:56):
Then he married the daughter of a pastor who had
advocated for his relief. Yet despite this history and multiple
warning signs, including domestic trouble and worse violings, Green was
free to live with his family and ultimately kill again.
This case forced advocates and officials to revisit how parole
(14:16):
decisions are made, how evidence of past lethal violence is weighed,
and how domestic violence often escalates without effective intervention. In
the wake of the murders, Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy said, quote,
there is nothing that better illustrates the silence of violence
than this case. It was a confluence of events that
(14:41):
led to the deaths of four beautiful children. End quote.
The sentiment underscored a sobering truth. Violence does not announce
itself all the time, but when it's already killed once,
it deserves to be taken seriously. In early twoenty seventeen,
Greg pleaded guilty to four counts of second degree murder, torture,
(15:05):
assault with intent to do great bodily harm, and a
felony firearms violation. He admitted wrongdoing in the deaths of Coi, Kaylee, Kara,
and Chadney, and the torture and attempted murder of Faith.
Under a plea agreement, Green was sentenced to forty seven
to one hundred and two years in prison, with eligibility
(15:29):
for parole not until he is in his nineties, so
effectively a life term. The sentence reflected not only the
brutality of the crime, but also a belated acknowledgment of
the risk he posed.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Faith.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Green's life carries on under the weight of incomprehensible loss.
She has spoken publicly about migraines, nightmares, and emotional scars
that will never fully fade, realities that extend beyond any
prison sentence. Neighbours remember the children as a vibrant and
beloved community. Members organized memorials, Friends recalled smiles and birthdays
(16:08):
that should still be happening. The tragedy left a mark
not only on a family, but on how a community
thinks about domestic violence, parole policy, and what second chances
really cost when they go tragically wrong. Gregory Green will
never walk free again. But this story is not just
(16:28):
about punishment. It's about the way we weigh hope against evidence,
rehabilitation against risk, and optimism against history. When a life
is crossed, the darkest threshold once should the system trust
it will never cross it again. Faith Green survived, her
(16:48):
children did not. Their names, Coy, Kaylee, Chadney, Kara are
not just headlines. They were young lives, full of promise,
erased in a moment of deliberate violence by a man
the system had once released. And the question that remains
heavy and uncomforting is this how many warnings have to
(17:11):
become tragedies before we learn to listen. This is not
a story about monsters. Gregory Green did not evade the system.
He complied with it. He completed its requirements, He met
its thresholds, and he was released according to its logic.
That is what makes this case unbearable. The danger was known,
(17:33):
the violence was documented, The outcome was predictable. Today, Runyon
Street looks like any other Detroit block. Children ride bikes,
people mow lawns. Life continues, but places remember, They remember
in ways. Humans don't always articulate in the way silence settles,
(17:55):
in the way neighbors avoid looking too long at a
house they know you well. Some stories do not end,
they simply stop being told. Now, Gregory Green will die
in prison. That is the legal conclusion, but the moral
conclusion remains unresolved. How many warning signs are enough, how
(18:17):
many lives must be lost before pattern outweighs optimism. This
was not fate, This was policy, and policy, unlike fate,
can be changed. The question is whether anyone will change it.
And that my friend.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Tanya, my god.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Now the nineties, right, So he kills his Tanya, his
wife or his okay, his wife and their baby in utero,
and he gets what seven to fifteen years now.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
As I mentioned, sixteen to twenty five.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Oh, sixteen to twenty five, thank you, so he served
fifteen and now sixteen to twenty five. That kind of
does seem like I think of life expand even though
we can live to be a hundred, you know, ninety,
but a thirty year sentence for taking a life you
know the bulk, Okay, I can kind of. But what
he was able to get out and prey on a
(19:14):
woman who uses you know, who lives probably I don't
know faith, but it sounds like a woman who walks
by faith and she're a daughter of the preacher. Yeah,
so she's gonna walk her talk, yeah, and I should.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
He wants to see the good in people, you know,
the being able to have a redemption like you know,
people deserve a chance, people deserve the opportunity to redeem themselves.
So I'm sure he was a redemption story.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
You know, she probably wanted to help him be the
hero of his own story. As you know, a lot
of people men and women do for their partners that
aren't very good for them. They in whatever, I don't
think like for him to be on parole, so he
has no remorse, and this is why he gets denied
four times. But what I find so wild is when
(20:08):
Faith was filing her restraining order, she couldn't get one.
A past murderer, his record alone, his violence isn't my
free pass to get a restraining order.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
I know just from being a lawyer. I don't do
a lot of criminal cases and stuff, but I have been,
you know, adjacent to people who have needed the personal
protection order and stuff. And the law says you have
to be an immediate danger. So if you can't show
immediate danger, and what exactly does that mean, then your
(20:45):
ppo might not be granted. And I tell people all
the time, the law is reactive, it's not proactive. And
that's one of the problems of the story is that Okay,
we had the reaction. He killed his wife, he went
to prison, that was the proper reaction. Only now he
(21:06):
gets let out and there's really nothing done to be proactive.
And like you said, she goes and tries to get
this protection order. And the fact that I'm married to
somebody that murdered his wife and I'm his wife, now,
like that should be.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Enough, right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I don't hear what he did, right, Like, I don't
care if he put a gun in her face or
if he just said I'm gonna kill you bitch. What
is the immediate danger? I think the immediate danger is
living with a man that killed his wife, and now
you're exhibiting violence toward me.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Huh huh No, that's I mean.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I feel terrible because to me, the story, you know,
faith sounded like you said, she lives in faith. I'm
sure she believes in I'm sure she's a Christian, and
she believes in people trying to find the good in people.
And she loved him, you know, she had kids with him,
They had this life. And I know people that have
(22:02):
been in domestic violence relationships like, okay, it'll never happen again.
You know, you get an apology, You get a sincere
what seems to be apology. You know, I promise I'll
do better next time. You know, I'm sure she wanted
to believe him.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
You don't stay and try to work it out.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
You don't drop the divorce to try again if you
don't really want it right or you know, or have
at least some kind of game plan to you know, succeed.
We don't make up things so we really dive bomb,
you know, we make it up so we can make
it through. And for him to tie her up and
kill her kids in front of her is, Yes, the
(22:43):
most diabolical thing right up there, right up there with
Judas kiss. Yeah, the lowest, lowest level of hell there
is one. He's fucking going, what a piece of shit?
And I say, there should be like maybe some things where,
you know, the rage rooms that they have, maybe we
have rage prisoner like rage beatings of prisoners like I
(23:07):
don't know you, I've heard what you did, and I
like to enter the ring with me.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I know, I wish should we in this kind of
justice sometimes? You know, Yeah, it's it's part of the whole.
No cruel and unusual punishment is loud, you know, it's
it's unfortunately a constitutional right we all have. So all
of the vigilanti justice that happens in prison has to happen,
you know, off the record.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yes, it other prisoners. It's heartbreaking. It's a's ziabolical, it's
so cruel.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, and you know he he had to think about that.
Oh he has he had gotten saying yeah, houstdon't wake
up that night and be like, Okay, I'm just gonna
kill everybody and then kill everybody.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
No, he was methodical. He took the older kid, you know,
he took her first.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Oh, having the kids tie, having you one tie that
is terrible. Not alone Koy and Kaylee in the car,
just so cowardice. Yes, it's just I don't understand that.
Like I try to get in his brain and it's
just fucking jumbled, and you just want to you know,
why are you?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I always why are you here?
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I know what?
Speaker 2 (24:17):
But it's like one thing too.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I would imagine it's one thing to strangle someone, Like
if I strangled someone, I was upset to death.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Right, but now you have fetus.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
That's also a part of this package, the unborn child
right that should make you off limits, like sacred somehow
if you weren't sacred in the sight of the person
before you, carrying another life should make you super sacred,
right some kind of And Nope, he just is went
(24:48):
and did them both in one thing. It is time
came out, no feeling played a woman. How terrible, Tanya,
this is terrible. And I used to live in Dearborners,
dear Born in Dearborne Heights. Yeah, I loved Dearborn. I
absolutely love Dearborn. I don't really know about Dearborn Heights
as much, but the community, that darkness. I always tell Brooke,
(25:12):
I'll be like, look at that house. I wonder what
really goes on in there.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I know it's true.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Yeah, you just never know the evil that lurks behind
the door.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
And doing this podcast, I remember I went to my
parents' house and my dad had the front door open,
and I was.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Like, I am the door open. You know.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
We just did a story where the family, you know,
and I started going off.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I'm like, never do this, don't do this.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Oh, I know, I am such a I am such
soso paranoid, you know. I mean, I consider like my
neighborhood relatively safe, but my doors are always fucking locked.
I see the alarm system on my house. If my
alarm is on and you crack a window, it's going off, right,
So I mean, you know, I think like hammers around
my house, all the cameras I have around the house,
(26:02):
and you just never fucking know.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
So, but good story. I'm so sorry for faith in
the whole family. My gosh, that's good.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
I can't even imagine living my life with all of
my children gone. No way that is, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
It's really amazing. And talk about your strength.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Just honestly, she beyond Yeah. I hope the rest of
her life she just has blessings all the time.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I hope. I hope she's been able to get some
therapy and find some sort of you know, joy in life, a.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Great support system, just someone to make you smile.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Yeah, strong family maybe hopefully. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Right.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
It's so sad and tragic. But I remember this story.
I saw a show about it. Like I keep a
list of cases on my phone, you know, if I'm
watching like some kind of true crime story, and then
I'll put like a little note And I had found
this one in my notes and it was oh yeah.
So then I started researching it again and I was like, ah,
(27:05):
you know, being a lawyer and like realizing how the
justice system just fails people all the time. I mean,
I do see it. And like I said, I'm not
even a criminal lawyer, so I can only imagine the
shit that they see.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
But oh my goodness, it's just mean, like how do
you fix it?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
How do you fix this kind of issue? You don't?
Do you just decide, Okay, is it not rehabilitating the prisoner?
Are we just is the prison just for punishment? We
need to just decide.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
It's fank you right in any kind and maybe.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Change the sentencing, you know, like if I rob a
bank and I didn't hurt anybody, you know, maybe make
that sentence a little bit less and that way when
I get out, you know, it's not necessarily a violent crime,
you know, like just have if you come at a
violent crime, I don't feel like you should be back in.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
No, you've played your card. Like we're all able to
be violent. All of us have the ability to be
extremely island. And if you're going to play your cards violent,
right then we know who You don't have control over
it your week and you can't be with other strong
people who are able to control right, their tiger, their anger,
(28:17):
that would make them if you can't, if you go out,
that's your first knee jerk reaction is to take a life.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
What are they doing with Epstein's island? Ship them over? Yeah, bye,
bye bye.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
I know, live amongst yourselves, honest, but thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well, thank you very kindly for listening, and thank you everyone.
Since we are entering the holiday season, Shannon and I
are going to take a little break. We'll be back
at the first of the year, just so that we
can enjoy our families, get some episodes in the bank.
So we're just letting everybody know that we will have
(28:54):
episodes the first full week of.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
January, January twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, can you believe it.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
It's a long way from nineteen seventy girls.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I know, I know, ma'am, but I.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Just wanted to warn everybody that there won't be any
new episodes for two weeks.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
And we'll see you in the new year.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah, we'll see you in the new year, and we'll
have more tragically horrific stories to tell you.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yes, I'll bring them to you. Yeah, all right, my friend,
all right, you guys.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Have the happiest of holidays you too, Joy and peace
in your families.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, at this time and all of next year.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Absolutely everybody. A wonderful, happy merry Christmas, a joyful New Year,
and we'll see you in January.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
See a girl, love you, love you ye bye,
This episode MA contained content of a graphic nature, including
descriptions of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals.
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hi, this is Tanya. Hi, this is Shannon, and we
are Crimes.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And Consequences, a hardcore true crime podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Hey Shannon, Hey Tanya. You sounds so far away. Then
how are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I am mentally far away, just getting ready for the
holidays and making my list and checking it twice.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And oh yeah, that this mid decem madness of like,
especially if you're hosting people. So you got your menu
and then you got the gifts and you got the decoration.
It's madness, it is, and it's all good.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I'm starting a new job. That dad is so crazy. Yeah,
so it's you know, I had to give notice at
my job and it's just.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Been a lot.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
So it's a whirlwind in a new year's coming. It's
going to be a year of the horse in the
Chinese calendar. That's exciting the horse. So yeah, oh, and
I wanted to tell you before we get started, because
I do want to hear your story, natch. Really, but
for Thanksgiving, Tanya had brought me over a plate she
had hosted, and I am so food motivated.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So I was asking her what side er.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Menu, and she told me, and she's like, I'll save
you a plate, and she did and she brought it
over and then her and her daughter had made some
apple jam or apple preserves. Let's tell you, Tanya, you
and Ursula, Well that was so good. It was kiss
I have carbs are my heroine, right, yes, if in
(02:05):
another world I'm bent over with a bagel in my hand,
a half eaten bagel, just out of it. Thank you,
my friend, you are welcome. So yes, very good, very good. Now, girl,
tell me what story you go?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Oh my god? So yeah, Before I get into it,
I would just like to say hello to Rose. She
works with my husband, Hi Rose, and I just wanted
to give her a little shout out. She's one of
our newest fans. But I would also like to remind
everyone to hit the subscriber follow button on whatever you're
listening to. And this story is a local story. It
(02:42):
happened in Dearborn Heights and it's just extremely, extremely sad,
so as all of our stories.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yes, all right, I'm check that box, but sure it's sad.
Check it's tragic.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Check you know so. At first glance, nothing about Dearborn
Heights seems extraordinary. The houses on Runyon Street do not
announce themselves. They sit close together, modest aging, their facades,
softened by time and neglect. In summer, the lawns grow
uneven and stubborn. In winter, the wind moves through the
(03:20):
gaps in chain link fences like a warning no one
has learned to hear. This is not a street that
expects to be remembered. But in the early morning hours
of September twenty one, twenty sixteen, that house became ground
zero for a tragedy that would shock a region, expose
systemic blind spots in the justice system, and raise one
(03:43):
of the most troubling questions in American crimes. What happens
when a convicted killer walks free and then commits murder again.
This is the story of Gregory Green, a man whose
capacity for violence was demonstrated once and tragically again. Nothing
about Gregory Green's criminal history is subtle. In nineteen ninety two,
(04:08):
he strangled his wife. She was pregnant and her name
was Tanya. According to court records, he pleaded no contest
to second degree murder in her death. The details preserved
in court records and police summaries are clinical in the
way violence often becomes once it's processed by institutions. Second
(04:28):
degree murder, domestic dispute, cause of death, strangulation. But strangulation
is not impulsive violence. It is not a single blow
thrown in anger. It's sustained. It requires proximity, pressure, and
time long enough for the victim to struggle long enough
to understand what is happening, long enough for the perpetrator
(04:51):
to stop and choose not to. Gregory Green was convicted
and sentenced to fifteen to twenty five years in prison.
At the time, the sentence was received as appropriate. There
was no public outcry, no sense that justice had failed.
The system did what it was designed to do. It
removed a violent man from society and placed him behind
(05:14):
concrete and steel. The story could have ended there, but
prisons do not end stories. They pause them. By the
mid two thousands, Michigan's prison system was under pressure overcrowding,
budget constraints, and a growing emphasis on rehabilitation shaped parole
decisions across the state. Risk assessments became formulas, violence became data.
(05:40):
Human behavior was reduced to probability. Gregory Green was not
a disciplinary problem behind bars, he completed required programs, He
maintained acceptable conduct. He aged out of the demographic most
statistically associated with impulsive violence. On paper, he improved, and paper,
(06:02):
in the end, is what parole boards rely on. In
April two thousand and eight, after serving approximately sixteen years
for the murder of his first wife, Gregory was released.
He had been denied parole four times prior, mainly due
to concerns over the nature of his violence and apparently
(06:24):
absence of remorse. However, he was eventually released due to
being a model prisoner, and he had letters of support
submitted to the parole board from a pastor and family members.
There was no public notice, no community warning, no press conference,
just a man stepping back into the world, but the
(06:47):
crimes that would define his legacy were yet to come.
Upon release, Gregory met Faith Johnson, the daughter of a
local pastor. Friends would later describe her as warm response
devoted to her children. She was working, surviving, building a
life in a city that rarely made survival easy, and
(07:09):
when Gregory met her, he didn't introduce himself as a murderer.
He introduced himself as someone who had paid his debt.
The language of redemption is seductive. It allows people, especially
people who want to believe in good outcomes, to imagine
that time alone can sand down the sharpest edges of violence.
(07:31):
Faith believed him. They got married. They built a family.
Faith brought two older children into the marriage, nineteen year
old Chadney Allen and seventeen year old Kara Allen, and
then together Faith and Gregory had two daughters, five year
old Coy Green and four year old Kayley Green. Neighbors
(07:54):
described them as quiet, hard working people. In the months
before the murders, friends saw nothing outwardly alarming, but private violence,
as so often happens, doesn't always reveal.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Itself to outsiders.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Faith had previously filed for divorce, and records show she
had sought a personal protection order in twenty thirteen due
to troubling behavior by Gregory, a petition that was denied
under then existing standards of evidence. Still, despite past dangers
and attempts to seek protection, the family remained together until
(08:32):
the early morning of September twenty one, twenty sixteen. To outsiders,
there was nothing remarkable about this family. They looked like
thousands of other families navigating blended households and financial pressure.
Despite past danger and attempts to seek protection. Like I said,
the family remained together later, though neighbors would recall tension,
(08:55):
raised voices, doors closing too hard, an atmosphere that felt heavy.
But domestic violence rarely announces itself in ways that feel
actionable to outsiders. Communities, particularly in cities like Detroit, are
conditioned not to interfere. Police involvement carries its own risks.
(09:15):
Silence becomes a form of survival, and so the moments passed.
On September twenty first, twenty sixteen, It's early morning, before daylight,
and inside the Green home, a quiet violence unfolded. At
around one fifteen am. Gregory Green called nine one one
(09:35):
and calmly reported that he had killed his family. When
officers arrived, he was waiting on his front porch and
was immediately taken into custody. Inside the home, investigators found
a scene both methodical and disturbing. Green's two biological daughters,
coy H five and Kaylee four, were dead upstairs. Autopsies
(09:59):
showed they had been killed by by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Authorities found evidence a car in the garage had been
rigged to fill with exhaust and a plastic tube connected
to it before The children's bodies were later removed and
put back inside the home. In the basement, his two stepchildren,
nineteen year old Chadney and seventeen year old Kara, had
(10:19):
been shot execution style. His wife, Faith Green, was found
bound with duct tape and zip ties, cut with a
box cutter, and shot in the foot. Officers described her
as conscious but critically injured when they entered. The efficiency
and brutality of the killings shocked even seasoned investigators. These
(10:41):
were not random acts of rage. They were executions, According
to the medical examiner's report. Graory bound and gagged his
wife first and sat her down on the basement couch.
He then shot her in the foot and slashed her
across the face several times with a box cutter. Then
he brought a step children, Kara and Chadney, to the
(11:02):
basement where Faith was. There, he forced Chadney to tie
his sister's wrists with white zip ties and duct tape. Afterward,
Gregory bound Chadney in the same manner and put him
on the floor next to his sister. He then executed
both teens while their mother was forced to watch. Chadney,
who was six foot one and two hundred pounds, he
(11:24):
was wearing pajamas. He also had abrasions on his face
and right foot. His thighs and feet were also bound
with duct tape. He had been shot in the left
ear and twice in the back besides her wrists. Kara,
who was five 't five and one hundred and fourteen pounds,
was bound at the thighs and ankles with duct tape.
She had been shot in the top of the head
(11:46):
and twice in the back. Each child lost their life
in a different way, but all understood the violence of
the same man. They were grandchildren, siblings, teenagers with lives
ahead of them, and children just beginning to understand the world.
Their deaths were not just statistics, they were futures stolen.
(12:07):
After the killings, Faith Green survived physically and emotionally scarred.
At Gregory's sentencing hearing, she delivered a harrowing statement that
reverberated far beyond the courtroom walls. Standing before Judge Dana Hathaway,
Faith expressed a grief that was intimate and searing. Quote,
(12:31):
there's no punishment that fits the crime. She said, not
even torture and death would be justice. Your justice will
come when you burn in hell for all eternity for
murdering four innocent children. End quote. Her words were a
rare public articulation of personal trauma, Raw, earnest and devastating.
(12:54):
She continued quote, you are a con artist, You are
a monster. You are a devil in disguise. She conveyed
the endearing emotional toll, explaining that the horror had altered
her life in ways that might never heal. When news
broke that the suspect was a previously convicted murderer, one
(13:17):
who had killed his pregnant wife decades earlier, the story
changed shape. This was no longer just a crime.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It was a failure.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
One of the most anguished questions that followed the crimes
was not about motive. It was about how could this happen?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Twice?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
The question shifted from what happened to how was this
allowed to happen? Gregory Green had not hidden his past.
The system had known exactly who he was. He had
already served sixteen years in prison for murdering his first wife.
He had been denied parole multiple times before he was released.
(13:56):
Then he married the daughter of a pastor who had
advocated for his relief. Yet despite this history and multiple
warning signs, including domestic trouble and worse violings, Green was
free to live with his family and ultimately kill again.
This case forced advocates and officials to revisit how parole
(14:16):
decisions are made, how evidence of past lethal violence is weighed,
and how domestic violence often escalates without effective intervention. In
the wake of the murders, Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy said, quote,
there is nothing that better illustrates the silence of violence
than this case. It was a confluence of events that
(14:41):
led to the deaths of four beautiful children. End quote.
The sentiment underscored a sobering truth. Violence does not announce
itself all the time, but when it's already killed once,
it deserves to be taken seriously. In early twoenty seventeen,
Greg pleaded guilty to four counts of second degree murder, torture,
(15:05):
assault with intent to do great bodily harm, and a
felony firearms violation. He admitted wrongdoing in the deaths of Coi, Kaylee, Kara,
and Chadney, and the torture and attempted murder of Faith.
Under a plea agreement, Green was sentenced to forty seven
to one hundred and two years in prison, with eligibility
(15:29):
for parole not until he is in his nineties, so
effectively a life term. The sentence reflected not only the
brutality of the crime, but also a belated acknowledgment of
the risk he posed.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Faith.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Green's life carries on under the weight of incomprehensible loss.
She has spoken publicly about migraines, nightmares, and emotional scars
that will never fully fade, realities that extend beyond any
prison sentence. Neighbours remember the children as a vibrant and
beloved community. Members organized memorials, Friends recalled smiles and birthdays
(16:08):
that should still be happening. The tragedy left a mark
not only on a family, but on how a community
thinks about domestic violence, parole policy, and what second chances
really cost when they go tragically wrong. Gregory Green will
never walk free again. But this story is not just
(16:28):
about punishment. It's about the way we weigh hope against evidence,
rehabilitation against risk, and optimism against history. When a life
is crossed, the darkest threshold once should the system trust
it will never cross it again. Faith Green survived, her
(16:48):
children did not. Their names, Coy, Kaylee, Chadney, Kara are
not just headlines. They were young lives, full of promise,
erased in a moment of deliberate violence by a man
the system had once released. And the question that remains
heavy and uncomforting is this how many warnings have to
(17:11):
become tragedies before we learn to listen. This is not
a story about monsters. Gregory Green did not evade the system.
He complied with it. He completed its requirements, He met
its thresholds, and he was released according to its logic.
That is what makes this case unbearable. The danger was known,
(17:33):
the violence was documented, The outcome was predictable. Today, Runyon
Street looks like any other Detroit block. Children ride bikes,
people mow lawns. Life continues, but places remember, They remember
in ways. Humans don't always articulate in the way silence settles,
(17:55):
in the way neighbors avoid looking too long at a
house they know you well. Some stories do not end,
they simply stop being told. Now, Gregory Green will die
in prison. That is the legal conclusion, but the moral
conclusion remains unresolved. How many warning signs are enough, how
(18:17):
many lives must be lost before pattern outweighs optimism. This
was not fate, This was policy, and policy, unlike fate,
can be changed. The question is whether anyone will change it.
And that my friend.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Tanya, my god.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Now the nineties, right, So he kills his Tanya, his
wife or his okay, his wife and their baby in utero,
and he gets what seven to fifteen years now.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
As I mentioned, sixteen to twenty five.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Oh, sixteen to twenty five, thank you, so he served
fifteen and now sixteen to twenty five. That kind of
does seem like I think of life expand even though
we can live to be a hundred, you know, ninety,
but a thirty year sentence for taking a life you
know the bulk, Okay, I can kind of. But what
he was able to get out and prey on a
(19:14):
woman who uses you know, who lives probably I don't
know faith, but it sounds like a woman who walks
by faith and she're a daughter of the preacher. Yeah,
so she's gonna walk her talk, yeah, and I should.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
He wants to see the good in people, you know,
the being able to have a redemption like you know,
people deserve a chance, people deserve the opportunity to redeem themselves.
So I'm sure he was a redemption story.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
You know, she probably wanted to help him be the
hero of his own story. As you know, a lot
of people men and women do for their partners that
aren't very good for them. They in whatever, I don't
think like for him to be on parole, so he
has no remorse, and this is why he gets denied
four times. But what I find so wild is when
(20:08):
Faith was filing her restraining order, she couldn't get one.
A past murderer, his record alone, his violence isn't my
free pass to get a restraining order.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
I know just from being a lawyer. I don't do
a lot of criminal cases and stuff, but I have been,
you know, adjacent to people who have needed the personal
protection order and stuff. And the law says you have
to be an immediate danger. So if you can't show
immediate danger, and what exactly does that mean, then your
(20:45):
ppo might not be granted. And I tell people all
the time, the law is reactive, it's not proactive. And
that's one of the problems of the story is that Okay,
we had the reaction. He killed his wife, he went
to prison, that was the proper reaction. Only now he
(21:06):
gets let out and there's really nothing done to be proactive.
And like you said, she goes and tries to get
this protection order. And the fact that I'm married to
somebody that murdered his wife and I'm his wife, now,
like that should be.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Enough, right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I don't hear what he did, right, Like, I don't
care if he put a gun in her face or
if he just said I'm gonna kill you bitch. What
is the immediate danger? I think the immediate danger is
living with a man that killed his wife, and now
you're exhibiting violence toward me.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Huh huh No, that's I mean.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I feel terrible because to me, the story, you know,
faith sounded like you said, she lives in faith. I'm
sure she believes in I'm sure she's a Christian, and
she believes in people trying to find the good in people.
And she loved him, you know, she had kids with him,
They had this life. And I know people that have
(22:02):
been in domestic violence relationships like, okay, it'll never happen again.
You know, you get an apology, You get a sincere
what seems to be apology. You know, I promise I'll
do better next time. You know, I'm sure she wanted
to believe him.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
You don't stay and try to work it out.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
You don't drop the divorce to try again if you
don't really want it right or you know, or have
at least some kind of game plan to you know, succeed.
We don't make up things so we really dive bomb,
you know, we make it up so we can make
it through. And for him to tie her up and
kill her kids in front of her is, Yes, the
(22:43):
most diabolical thing right up there, right up there with
Judas kiss. Yeah, the lowest, lowest level of hell there
is one. He's fucking going, what a piece of shit?
And I say, there should be like maybe some things where,
you know, the rage rooms that they have, maybe we
have rage prisoner like rage beatings of prisoners like I
(23:07):
don't know you, I've heard what you did, and I
like to enter the ring with me.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I know, I wish should we in this kind of
justice sometimes? You know, Yeah, it's it's part of the whole.
No cruel and unusual punishment is loud, you know, it's
it's unfortunately a constitutional right we all have. So all
of the vigilanti justice that happens in prison has to happen,
you know, off the record.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yes, it other prisoners. It's heartbreaking. It's a's ziabolical, it's
so cruel.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, and you know he he had to think about that.
Oh he has he had gotten saying yeah, houstdon't wake
up that night and be like, Okay, I'm just gonna
kill everybody and then kill everybody.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
No, he was methodical. He took the older kid, you know,
he took her first.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Oh, having the kids tie, having you one tie that
is terrible. Not alone Koy and Kaylee in the car,
just so cowardice. Yes, it's just I don't understand that.
Like I try to get in his brain and it's
just fucking jumbled, and you just want to you know,
why are you?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I always why are you here?
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I know what?
Speaker 2 (24:17):
But it's like one thing too.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I would imagine it's one thing to strangle someone, Like
if I strangled someone, I was upset to death.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Right, but now you have fetus.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
That's also a part of this package, the unborn child
right that should make you off limits, like sacred somehow
if you weren't sacred in the sight of the person
before you, carrying another life should make you super sacred,
right some kind of And Nope, he just is went
(24:48):
and did them both in one thing. It is time
came out, no feeling played a woman. How terrible, Tanya,
this is terrible. And I used to live in Dearborners,
dear Born in Dearborne Heights. Yeah, I loved Dearborn. I
absolutely love Dearborn. I don't really know about Dearborn Heights
as much, but the community, that darkness. I always tell Brooke,
(25:12):
I'll be like, look at that house. I wonder what
really goes on in there.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I know it's true.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Yeah, you just never know the evil that lurks behind
the door.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
And doing this podcast, I remember I went to my
parents' house and my dad had the front door open,
and I was.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Like, I am the door open. You know.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
We just did a story where the family, you know,
and I started going off.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I'm like, never do this, don't do this.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Oh, I know, I am such a I am such
soso paranoid, you know. I mean, I consider like my
neighborhood relatively safe, but my doors are always fucking locked.
I see the alarm system on my house. If my
alarm is on and you crack a window, it's going off, right,
So I mean, you know, I think like hammers around
my house, all the cameras I have around the house,
(26:02):
and you just never fucking know.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
So, but good story. I'm so sorry for faith in
the whole family. My gosh, that's good.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
I can't even imagine living my life with all of
my children gone. No way that is, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
It's really amazing. And talk about your strength.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Just honestly, she beyond Yeah. I hope the rest of
her life she just has blessings all the time.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I hope. I hope she's been able to get some
therapy and find some sort of you know, joy in life, a.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Great support system, just someone to make you smile.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Yeah, strong family maybe hopefully. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Right.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
It's so sad and tragic. But I remember this story.
I saw a show about it. Like I keep a
list of cases on my phone, you know, if I'm
watching like some kind of true crime story, and then
I'll put like a little note And I had found
this one in my notes and it was oh yeah.
So then I started researching it again and I was like, ah,
(27:05):
you know, being a lawyer and like realizing how the
justice system just fails people all the time. I mean,
I do see it. And like I said, I'm not
even a criminal lawyer, so I can only imagine the
shit that they see.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
But oh my goodness, it's just mean, like how do
you fix it?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
How do you fix this kind of issue? You don't?
Do you just decide, Okay, is it not rehabilitating the prisoner?
Are we just is the prison just for punishment? We
need to just decide.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
It's fank you right in any kind and maybe.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Change the sentencing, you know, like if I rob a
bank and I didn't hurt anybody, you know, maybe make
that sentence a little bit less and that way when
I get out, you know, it's not necessarily a violent crime,
you know, like just have if you come at a
violent crime, I don't feel like you should be back in.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
No, you've played your card. Like we're all able to
be violent. All of us have the ability to be
extremely island. And if you're going to play your cards violent,
right then we know who You don't have control over
it your week and you can't be with other strong
people who are able to control right, their tiger, their anger,
(28:17):
that would make them if you can't, if you go out,
that's your first knee jerk reaction is to take a life.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
What are they doing with Epstein's island? Ship them over? Yeah, bye,
bye bye.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
I know, live amongst yourselves, honest, but thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well, thank you very kindly for listening, and thank you everyone.
Since we are entering the holiday season, Shannon and I
are going to take a little break. We'll be back
at the first of the year, just so that we
can enjoy our families, get some episodes in the bank.
So we're just letting everybody know that we will have
(28:54):
episodes the first full week of.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
January, January twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, can you believe it.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
It's a long way from nineteen seventy girls.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I know, I know, ma'am, but I.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Just wanted to warn everybody that there won't be any
new episodes for two weeks.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
And we'll see you in the new year.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah, we'll see you in the new year, and we'll
have more tragically horrific stories to tell you.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yes, I'll bring them to you. Yeah, all right, my friend,
all right, you guys.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Have the happiest of holidays you too, Joy and peace
in your families.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, at this time and all of next year.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Absolutely everybody. A wonderful, happy merry Christmas, a joyful New Year,
and we'll see you in January.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
See a girl, love you, love you ye bye,
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The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.