Bone Valley

Sharing a special episode this week from a new podcast called Blood Will Tell. When a birthday party in suburban San Jose turns deadly, 18-year-old identical twins are arrested for suspected murder. One brother spends nearly two years in jail before the truth comes out: authorities locked up the wrong twin. How could one brother let his twin take the fall? And why would the other sacrifice his freedom for a crime he didn’t commit? Blood Will Tell is a modern-day saga of Shakespearean proportions, following Vietnamese-American brothers whose unbreakable bond is tested by silence, sacrifice, and an unthinkable choice.  In this episode, after a drunken fight at a birthday party turns deadly, police narrow in on two suspects — identical twin brothers, Trung and Anh. But when an eye witness mistakes the brothers for each other in a lineup, one brother must make a heartbreaking sacrifice.  Listen to more episodes of Blood Will Tell at https://wondery.com/shows/blood-will-tell/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earwitness: Chapter 8 | Bondage to the Law In an unusual turn, District Attorney Danny Carr and original prosecutor Jeff Wallace push against Toforest Johnson’s conviction, even as he remains on death row. Beth Shelburne traces a system reluctant to admit its failures, while Toforest’s children reveal the human toll of a life caught between injustice and hope. To learn more and get involved, visit: www.toforestjohnson.com Toforest on Instagram Earwitness is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earwitness: Chapter 7 | Messy Years after the conviction, the original prosecutor, Jeff Wallace, begins questioning Violet Ellison’s story, while Beth Shelburne uncovers a troubling pattern. Ellison’s moves through the legal system blur the lines between cunning and deceit, revealing a figure far from the innocence prosecutors once claimed. To learn more and get involved, visit: www.toforestjohnson.com Toforest on Instagram Earwitness is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earwitness: Chapter 6 | Misfiled Beth Shelburne uncovers the murky story behind Violet Ellison, the ‘earwitness’ whose $5,000 payoff shaped Toforest Johnson’s fate. Decades of denial give way to uneasy facts, revealing a conviction propped up by money, influence, and half-truths. To learn more and get involved, visit: www.toforestjohnson.com Toforest on Instagram Earwitness is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earwitness: Chapter 5 | Anybody Will Do Beth Shelburne digs into how Toforest Johnson was convicted without a shred of physical evidence, as prosecutors leap between ever-shifting theories of Deputy Hardy’s murder. Confronting the prosecutor who once sought a death sentence, she uncovers a case where the law bends into something dangerously personal. To learn more and get involved, visit: www.toforestjohnson.com Toforest on Instagram Earwitness is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earwitness: Chapter 4 | Witness or Defendant Digging into the Hardy murder investigation, Beth Shelburne follows a trail narrowed by tunnel vision and vanishing alternatives. As detectives chase certainty over truth, witnesses falter, leads evaporate, and a case emerges driven more by obsession than evidence. To learn more and get involved, visit: www.toforestjohnson.com Toforest on Instagram Earwitness is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earwitness: Chapter 3 | Police Girl When Yolanda Chambers admits to perjury, Beth Shelburne sets out to understand Chambers’ motivations. Tracing a life shaped by trauma and hidden alliances, her story slips between villain and victim—leaving behind questions that linger far longer than answers. To learn more and get involved, visit: www.toforestjohnson.com Toforest on Instagram Earwitness is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earwitness: Chapter 2 | Don't Know Diddly In the raw hours after Deputy Hardy’s murder, Beth Shelburne digs through a story that pulled 15-year-old Yolanda Chambers into its orbit and put Toforest Johnson in the frame. A confrontation with lead detective Tony Richardson exposes a case built on pressure, doubt, and truths that won’t stay still—where justice isn’t blind, just selective. To learn more and get involved, visit: www.toforestjohnson.com Toforest on Instagram Earwitness is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earwitness: Chapter 1 | Behind the Crown Beth Shelburne dives into the shocking conviction of Toforest Johnson for the murder of Deputy William Hardy, following a case that never stopped bleeding questions. With former Attorney General Bill Baxley as her guide, she moves through a justice system wired for punishment over truth, uncovering a story built on fear, assumption, and a man who may not belong at its center. To learn more and get involved, visit: www.toforestjohnson.com Toforest on Instagram Earwitness is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we're introducing you to Earwitness. Earwitness is one of Lava for Good’s most important investigative series and will be released right here in the Bone Valley feed. You’ll see it shown here as Bone Valley Season 4 but it is a completely different show told by a different host - noted Alabama-based journalist and podcaster Beth Shelburne. We hope you enjoy. One hot July night in 1995, Deputy Sheriff William G. Hardy was shot dead behind a Birmingham, AL hotel. At the same time, four miles away at least ten people saw Toforest Johnson at a packed nightclub called Tee’s Place. It didn’t matter. The cops zeroed in on Toforest as the culprit anyway. What followed was a familiar American ritual: arrest, trial, conviction, death sentence. No eyewitnesses. No physical evidence. Just unjustifiable confidence. For more than 25 years, Toforest has lived in a five-by-eight cell on Alabama’s death row. In 2019, journalist Beth Shelburne reopened the case and found something far worse than incompetence. The state once tried to pin the murder on another man. Its case hinged on an “earwitness,” a woman secretly paid by prosecutors to testify about an overheard phone call. The jury never knew. Neither did the defense. They found out 17 years later. Earwitness, an eight-part docuseries from the team behind Bone Valley, pulls back the curtain on a justice system that refuses to admit it got it wrong. With rare access to detectives, prosecutors, jurors, and witnesses, Shelburne asks the only question that matters: how did an innocent man end up on death row, and why is the state still trying to kill him? On February 4, we'll be releasing all eight episodes right here in the Bone Valley feed as Bone Valley Season 4 | Earwitness. For those who want to hear Earwitness early and ad-free, subscribe to Lava for Good+ on Apple Podcasts. Earwitness is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.