Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello, everybody. Welcome to 2020 The After Show. I'm Debra Roberts and here with another episode of one of our 2020 broadcast, but an opportunity to pull back the curtain as we often like to do on the making of our stories. And this episode centers around an army nurse by the name of Holly Lynn James.
And her story is so intriguing because there's a whole military component here, which we're going to get into later. Holly went missing in July of 2008 after she didn't show up for work at Womack Army Medical Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She was an American soldier whose job it was to protect our country, but in the end, nobody really could protect her from what would happen to her.
Holly's body would be found burned with a gunshot wound and she was buried in a shallow grave. And there were so many questions in the beginning, who would want to kill this beloved woman who was so devoted to her family and her career? Well, in this episode, you're gonna hear exclusive letters from Holly's killer who is in prison right now.
And also you'll hear about her father's desperate plea to find answers and to bring justice to his daughter. The episode is called You Took My Daughter. Our correspondent, Bob Woodruff, reported this story. He broke it all down for us. You can stream this episode on Disney Plus and Hulu if you haven't already. So without further ado, Bob Woodruff. Hello, sir.
Always great to be with you.
You too, but we never sit long enough. I know.
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Chapter 2: What is the story behind the murder of Army nurse Holly James Wimunc?
We're passing in the halls usually. I need to do more 2020 with you.
You absolutely do. Well, you do a lot of 2020. We just don't get a chance to do the podcast. So what's so interesting about this is that listeners get a chance to know not just more about the story, but the reporters, the correspondents. And you haven't done a podcast with me yet, but you and I have been here for almost 30 years together, walking the halls and reporting.
And you, of course, have traveled the world. And many people know that you have done a lot of military reporting. In fact, you were injured in Iraq many, many years ago. So tell listeners a little bit about you and your career and your interest here.
I was always infatuated with going overseas and far away. And, of course, wars became the story for me after 9-11. We were based over in London, and then we knew what was happening. Within about five hours, I took off after the attack to head over to Pakistan and to Afghanistan to cover the beginning of that war. Fast forward, of course, we had the invasion of Iraq.
I was over there on assignment in Iraq six different times, but the last time that I went there, I was actually embedded with the army. and we're going village by village, and an IED exploded off to the left, hit my cameraman, Doug, and me. I was out for the next 36 days, miraculously saved. But I lived through it.
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Chapter 3: What evidence was found at Holly's apartment after she went missing?
And since then, I've been very close with the other soldiers and Marines. all of the military that I've actually gotten to know very well. This is not on the field out there in the middle of the front lines, but the ones that I've met in the world that they go to when they return from the wars.
I should say we are just all so grateful that you are still here and reporting and doing well. And this has become a little bit of a passion. So when you heard about this story, you know, it dates back to 2008. You know, you've been working so closely with servicemen and women. This is a story about domestic violence, a lot of things that we're going to get into.
And this woman who's murdered, what caught your attention right away?
This is a murder case that, this happened back in 2008, as you said, so quite a long time ago, but what had never been, what never happened before this was that Holly, the victim, her father and her brother finally wanted to talk. So we got the chance to talk to them.
So it was an exclusive interview for us.
It was an exclusive, two exclusive interviews about this. And this is the one that kind of turned the story around in many ways, because it wasn't, this is really the world of emotion. Imagine the family when they lost, when the father lost his daughter, when the son lost his sister.
Tell us a little bit about Holly. She was this beloved woman, two children when this happened, young children, and by all accounts, just so devoted to her work.
You know, she joined the military. She wanted to join the army a long time ago. Her father actually served as well, Jesse James, and a great guy, of course, who I met. When she was young, she really wanted to join. A lot of this was because patriotism, because of 9-11. which had happened about seven years earlier. And she wanted to join up. Her dream was to be a nurse.
So she became a nurse within the army. And she really wanted to actually go to the front lines and serve over in the zones that others had- So she wanted to be in the action. Sure. She wanted to be in the action. But she also, everything we heard is, Holly, there's something about her soul that she wanted to help people.
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Chapter 4: Who were the main suspects in Holly's murder case?
You would have to open the windows, right? If they're closed and you try to light it on fire, it doesn't detonate much. I mean, it doesn't burn very much. So that was a piece of evidence that they're not even good at what they were doing. There obviously was a bullet in the wall that was found. So you knew this was a shooting fairly early on.
It seemed very clear that this was not a suicide, which was one of the fears that people had when they had no idea where she went.
Yeah. You know, police often go to the spouse right away, and she was married to a guy by the name of John Wymock. But they quickly kind of zeroed in on one of his friends, Kyle Alden.
She was Army, and they believed at this point that it was... possibly her husband, John, who he was Marine. So they of course went to Camp Lejeune to try to find out the people that he knew, check out his background, where was he, what had he done that day? And Alden was one of his closest friends, or at least he was one that he knew well. We heard later on in the case that
He was not really respected by John because he didn't seem like the most brilliant man, let's put it that way. He made a lot of mistakes along the way. But they wanted to see, they looked around all of the Marine base and see if they could talk to others that knew any information about John. And of course, Alton, he became the number one Most important witness to them.
Kind of a person of interest. So they start questioning him. They show pictures of Holly and the children. They kind of know they can kind of get to him on a very personal level. And then they said that they could sort of see that he was lying. They could see something like the arteries in his neck.
He showed signs that he wasn't being truthful. Yeah, the detective Locklear, he's a brilliant man. He was an incredible investigator in all of this. When they sit him down, Alden, to be interviewed, he had this, in some ways, this military skill that he could read what was inside his soul. And yeah, he could see that he would sweat a little different when they asked him certain questions.
You can see when he's lying, because he sweats differently. He had a different smell that he could read while he was doing the investigation.
That's kind of crazy.
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Chapter 5: What role did Holly's family play in seeking justice?
Right. It's part of what haunts me for a long part of my life, absolutely.
But that's looking back. Nobody can ever predict something that they already learned.
But once you go through something, it's really hard to take it away. Pretending it didn't happen is hard, but coming to terms with it is even harder.
That was a clip from this past 2020s episode called You Took My Daughter. The story of Holly James, an Army nurse who was found dead in 2008. Bob Woodruff is here with me talking about the story that he reported on.
And Bob, this is fascinating because you spoke with her brother, Beau, who has not spoken publicly and shared with you the guilt that he feels because he introduced his sister to her husband, Wymock.
Deborah, this is one of the points that made me very interested in this story because I can't imagine what it would be like to have done this. But the fairness is that he had no idea this would ever happen. that John and him, Beau, they served together in the Marines in Iraq, side by side, witnessed the same things, had the same experience. They become extremely close. Kind of like brothers.
It's like they're like brothers, yeah. They would do everything for each other. So he comes back, both of them come back, and they're now at the base, Camp Lejeune. And he says, listen, John, you've got to meet this great woman, my sister, Holly. And so he introduces them together. So they were close. And then suddenly this can take that turn.
And, you know, this is the story that made it unbearable to him. His thoughts about guilt for being the one that introduced his sister to the one that ultimately killed her. I can't imagine what that would be like.
Yeah. And he wonders like if they had never met, you know, if he'd still have a sister. And he also deals with PTSD having served in the military.
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Chapter 6: What insights did Bob Woodruff share about his reporting experience?
You took him back to the scene of where his daughter's body was found, and that was so emotional. It had to be for you, too.
He was very emotional. Jessie had never been to that spot before. Right after the murder, when her body was found out in the spot out there in the middle of the woods, he wanted to go, but he didn't go. So fast forward, he told us that he would like to go out there and see that spot for the first time.
And I remember we were at the hotel where we stayed and he went out and he bought some flowers that he wanted to put flowers where, where his daughter's body had been found, you know, burnt, buried halfway in the ground. And he wanted this kind of get this out of his soul.
I always wonder how much that would really help, but he said that it, that it did to go there to see it and talk to the details.
We've had that happen in stories before, and I certainly have gone with people to these sites that I guess feel somewhat sacred. Bob, it's a powerful, powerful story, and you bring such heart and understanding to the story, which is so important. Thank you. Thanks for stopping by. I mean, it's good to have a convo with you.
It's great.
We've got to do more of this. I know. We've got to do this more. This is an amazing place. Pretty good. Bob Woodruff, thank you for joining us. Just ahead, we have got some warning signs that might save your life or somebody that you know. In the U.S., an average of 20 people are physically abused by intimate partners every minute.
And that's a sobering statistic if you think about it from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. It equates to more than 10 million abuse victims annually. Every year. We're going to talk about what's available out there to help victims and to try to keep them safe. So stay with us.
What are you doing here? It's time to leave. You know it's been a good holiday when you feel like going under the sun. So you don't have to leave yet. Welcome back to 2020 The After Show.
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Chapter 7: How does domestic violence manifest in relationships like Holly's?
You want to have in there your ID. You want to have money, enough money, because one of the reasons why people don't go is because they don't have enough money. But start trying to build a secret account bank account, you want to have documents. Another reason why people don't leave is because of children. What is going to be your plan for your children? Where are you going to go?
Make sure you have your children's important documents too. And you may not want to keep the originals. You might want to keep only
copies at that time because if your partner starts to know you're trying to get out they can try to stop you the violence can escalate at that time as well a real strategy and then i want to say when you make that decision to leave you want to be definitive you want to leave go as far away as you can or to a very safe place and there are different um shelters that you can go they're not marked so that it is hard for anyone to find out where you are
And finally, that is when I would actually say after you have left, you want to maybe start the process of doing a restraining order because when you start that, people know that they're caught. That's right.
And then the tension really flares in a relationship. What about resources out there? Because some people may not have the resources. They worry they can't do anything. What's available out there to help someone who wants to leave an abusive relationship?
So the first call I would make is to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. There's a sexual assault hotline in different cities like New York City, New York State. There are also hotlines for domestic violence. You can make a plan with a person that is there to help you. If you also need to just get away in an emergency, you can go to a police precinct and say, I need to be safe.
You can go to a hospital. We have victim services there available for people and that can get you in a place connected to someone that can help make a plan for you. One of the things that we talked about is planning and being very strategic and when you're trying to leave. But sometimes an emergency or you might be in such peril and physical danger, you have to get out immediately.
I say make up an excuse. Say that you're feeling sick. Go to the hospital. No one can really argue with that. When you're in the hospital, the doctor has to examine you by yourself and then you can tell your doctor what's going on. And that has happened recently.
to me a couple of times and we can make an excuse to get that person out of the hospital so that you're safe for that time and things will proceed from there.
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Chapter 8: What warning signs of domestic violence should people be aware of?
Till the stadium shakes. Till the wild things are let loose. Till the trophy is lifted and the confetti falls. This is the National Championship. When it's over, you'll feel it. This is the wild world of college football. The CFP National Championship. Monday, January 19th at 7.30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and the ESPN app.