Andrea Dunlop

True Story Media.

Please note that this show discusses child abuse, which may be difficult for some listeners.

For resources about abusive head trauma, go to shakenbaby.org.

What happened to Nolan Kelly?

This is a question that has lingered for a decade now.

Jon Stewart, a man who'd been dating Nolan's mother Danica for five months at the time of his death, was originally charged with his murder.

But Jon was never prosecuted, and neither was anyone else.

This case is a tragedy, and there was a grave injustice here.

But much of the media coverage about this case has focused not on the fact that a baby was murdered and no one was held accountable, but on the alleged injustice done to John.

And this, too, was the focus of John's email to me last July, which began, "'Dear misguided wannabe journalist,' and detailed a litany of ways in which he felt he'd been victimized by Dr. Sally Smith and, in turn, by my reporting on the case."

John is not one to mince words, as you'll hear, but I was intrigued by his email.

I'd mentioned his case only briefly on the show, but John was upset at my framing of Sally Smith, who he claimed had lied about his case.

I try never to lose sight of the fact that I'm reporting on real people and their real lives on this show.

And if I ever hear directly from someone I've talked about, I think I owe it to them to listen.

And I was curious about this case.

A child had been murdered, and all these years later, there seemed to be so much uncertainty about what exactly happened.

I was also increasingly aware of the deluge of media stories about alleged instances of wrongful accusations of abusive head trauma.

So I figured maybe the universe was giving me a nudge.

We responded to John and told him that we'd be happy to look over any documentation he wanted to send along and happy to speak with him to get his side of the story.

I didn't actually think he'd agree, but I was wrong.