Beth Shelburne

It involved a local pastor named Bishop James Johnson, who was accused of inappropriately touching and kissing three teenaged girls at his church-run school in 1993.

Violet Ellison was a school employee who testified about the alleged abuse, but Bishop Johnson maintained he was falsely accused and that Violet Ellison was lying.

The charges against him were eventually dropped by the state.

We talked to Bishop Johnson, who's now in his late 80s, at his house in a suburb of Birmingham.

And he told us Violet Ellison made up the accusations in an effort to get rid of him because she wanted to run the school.

We talked to one other school employee who corroborated what Bishop Johnson told us, that Violet Ellison made up the allegations.

I tried to find some of the alleged victims in this case, but I wasn't able to track them down.

Bishop Johnson said he's forgiven Violet Ellison.

But, he said, she is not a trustworthy person.

George Holloway is the next person on our list of people that Violet Ellison testified against.

What we know from court records is this.

Between 2008 and 2016, George Holloway was charged in several domestic violence incidents involving his girlfriend.

But unlike Marika Wilson and Bishop James Johnson, George Holloway pleaded guilty to his charges, which included violating a protective order twice.

He was sentenced to three years in prison.

The documents don't show why Violet Ellison was a witness against George Holloway.

So Mara and I get in the car and drive around for hours.

knocking on doors with a list of possible home addresses with no luck.

Finally, we pull up to the last address on our list around sunset, a small brick house in Bessemer.

We're here.

You know, it's always a gamble, but let's just give it a whirl.