Beth Shelburne

But after hearing from her grandchildren, I went back and knocked on Violet Ellison's door again, multiple times.

Hi, we're looking for Miss Violet Ellison.

I wanted to learn more about her relationship with her son, Red, and her involvement in other cases.

Each time I knocked, the woman inside claimed Violet Ellison wasn't at home.

I even left a note in her mailbox along with my business card.

But Violet Ellison never responded.

Miss Ellison, is that you?

I wasn't able to find documented proof of all of the allegations that sources made against Violet Ellison.

For example, there's no paper trail that shows she lied to protect her son Red.

But there's also no ironclad proof that Violet Ellison heard to Forrest Johnson talk about killing Deputy Hardy in 1995.

The state presented her testimony with no verification of what she claimed, no recording of the calls she eavesdropped on, nothing outside her word and the notes she turned over to police and

that connected to Forrest Johnson to a murder he maintains to this day that he did not commit.

Prosecutors presented Violet Ellison as a concerned mother troubled by her conscience, and she was adamant that she didn't know about the reward when she testified.

But through my reporting, consistent negative descriptions kept coming up about her, even from her own grandchildren.

One former co-worker called her sneaky.

A relative referred to her as a peacebreaker.

Almost every person we talked to said Violet Ellison should not be trusted.

We spoke to over a dozen different people about Violet Ellison.

The consistent portrait that emerged from these conversations is

is diametrically opposed to the characterization presented by prosecutors at trial and what judges still believe as DeForest tries to undo his conviction.