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20/20

The Hand in the Window: Piece by Piece

10 Dec 2025

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.031 - 23.254 Debra Roberts

This is Debra Roberts. I'm here with another weekly episode of our latest series from 2020 and ABC Audio, The Hand in the Window. Remember, you can get new episodes early if you follow The Hand in the Window for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or your favorite podcast app. Now, here's the episode.

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24.601 - 34.515 John Quinones

To Kim Major, there is nothing more normal than a Friday night football game. That's true now, and it was true back in September 2016.

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34.715 - 44.128 Detective Kim Major

On Friday night, my husband coaches football. He coached the football game. I actually took my younger kids to the football game.

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44.446 - 74.822 John Quinones

Major has three kids. At the time, her two youngest were under eight years old. Even they knew something was going on at their mom's job. They noticed her working long hours, coming home after their bedtime. They even saw her on the news. Major had spent three days interviewing Sean Great, hearing his horrific confessions. The weight of it all was seeping into her home life.

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75.482 - 80.788 John Quinones

Major sensed that her family needed a night that felt normal.

81.569 - 94.523 Detective Kim Major

I sat there, which was also surreal, seeing all the things around me and the lights and the... People are happy. They're happy, they're cracking the helmets, the band, watching my husband, hearing the whistles, just the whole thing.

94.564 - 96.826 Unknown

Friday night lights.

96.846 - 99.529 Detective Kim Major

It's Friday night lights. That's small-town America.

104.099 - 119.32 John Quinones

But while the crowd roared and the band played, Major couldn't stop thinking about Great's case and something he kept mentioning in their interviews, specifically the forts that he had built in the woods.

Chapter 2: What happened during the Friday night football game in Ashland?

121.102 - 122.704 Sean Great

I just recently built a fort.

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123.365 - 126.49 Detective Kim Major

Did you build that fort there for a reason?

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126.51 - 127.491 Sean Great

Well, I knew the area.

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129.327 - 140.447 John Quinones

Great kept bringing up one fort in particular. There was something about this fort that nagged at Major, even when she was off the clock.

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141.849 - 152.989 Detective Kim Major

I came home early, a little bit earlier, when the game was just ending. I brought my kids home, put them to bed, and then I was sitting in the living room, and my oldest son came in, Corbin.

153.307 - 159.266 John Quinones

Corbin Major was 19 at the time. He was getting ready to enter the police academy.

159.306 - 182.392 Detective Kim Major

He walks in, and he's like, what's going on, Mom? I said... Sean Gray keeps talking about this fort he built. And my son said, where is it? And I said, well, if you come up out of Mifflin and you take that first left, and my son cut me off and said, and then you take a hard right and there's a gas well up there. And they found a girl there a while back.

183.073 - 187.6 Detective Kim Major

And this, as a crow flies, is, I don't know, a mile, two miles from my home.

188.12 - 199.48 John Quinones

Despite how close it was, Kim Major had never heard of the case her son was talking about. She worked in town, and this was out in the countryside.

Chapter 3: How did Kim Major feel after interviewing Shawn Grate?

313.649 - 344.402 John Quinones

He thought it might be a discarded Halloween decoration. But as he got closer, he realized it was a body, half naked, resting against a tree. The worker called 911, and investigators soon realized that there were visible tattoos on the body that matched those of a person who had been reported missing, a local woman, 31-year-old Rebecca Lacey.

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344.77 - 370.165 John Quinones

Her family, who called her Becky, had been searching for her for more than a month. Her father told a local journalist that Rebecca had a drug problem. He said that to earn money, she'd been doing sex work. When the Richland County Coroner's Office examined Rebecca Lacey's body, they produced a toxicology report showing cocaine and opioids in her system.

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371.006 - 402.3 John Quinones

They ruled that the cause of death was a drug overdose. That's why Detective Kim Major was hesitant about her son Corbin's suggestion. With a cause of death determined, the case of Rebecca Lacey was all but wrapped up. But Corbin seemed sure that Great was somehow involved. So the next day, Major went down to the jail where Great was being held.

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405.003 - 405.663 Detective Kim Major

How you doing, Sean? How are you?

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405.684 - 413.031 John Quinones

All right. Major sat Great in an interview room and told him she was looking for clarification.

414.432 - 431.949 Detective Kim Major

There's a case from out in the county, meaning that we found a girl. And we're trying to see if you'll be honest, if that's something you had something to do with. We're asking for that. Rebecca Lacy.

433.111 - 436.414 John Quinones

Great answered without hesitation.

437.956 - 441.16 Detective Kim Major

He said, Rebecca Lacy. And I knew.

441.841 - 442.822 John Quinones

We have another victim.

Chapter 4: What was the significance of the fort mentioned by Shawn Grate?

599.216 - 622.714 John Quinones

Once again, Major left the interview room with a confession from Sean Great and a promise that there were no more crimes he needed to complain about. But in the days that followed, Great kept asking to see Detective Major. Before she could meet him again, she heard something troubling.

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622.734 - 631.969 John Quinones

A month after he's arrested, a fellow inmate tells you that Sean Great is targeting you, that he wants to kill you?

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633.091 - 645.589 Detective Kim Major

Yeah. The inmate said he needed to talk to me, needed it to be in secret. He didn't want anybody to see him talking to me. So I made that arrangement, and I sat down in front of him.

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645.649 - 664.251 Detective Kim Major

He said that Sean Great told him he was trying to find my gun on my body, couldn't figure out where I was keeping it, and that he thought it would be the ultimate to kill me as the female detective that was handling his case.

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665.26 - 692.82 John Quinones

Despite this allegation that Sean Grade was making a threat against her life, Major believed there was the chance that Grade wanted to see her because he had more to confess. The information that Major received from the inmate didn't lead to any additional charges against Grade. When Major next interviewed him, they met at the jail where no weapons were allowed.

697.559 - 712.315 John Quinones

During this interview, Great's behavior was erratic. He was upset with the other inmates in the jail and at the staff.

712.335 - 712.595

Okay.

713.496 - 724.107 Sean Great

How do you feel like they're playing games with you?

725.032 - 734.101 John Quinones

Sitting in front of him again, Major thought about the alleged threat that Great had told an inmate he wanted to kill her.

Chapter 5: What led Detective Kim Major to connect Grate with Rebecca Lacey's case?

962.174 - 969.725 Detective Kim Major

Is it like a hobby? I'm about to quit my job and go into work. What I like about you, it comes out of your head, you put on a piece of paper and you get up there. It's like therapy.

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969.745 - 974.171 Bob Jones

Starring Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andrew Day, and Bradley Cooper. Doing this helps.

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975.113 - 979.058 Detective Kim Major

How does it help to have a room full of people laughing at you?

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979.078 - 984.927 Kumail Nanjiani

Is This Thing On? Now playing in select theaters everywhere January 9th. Rated R. Under 17, not admitted without parent.

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985.008 - 987.19 Debra Roberts

The college football playoff isn't over.

987.791 - 997.101 Detective Kim Major

Not yet. That epic run. That wild dream. Not over till the clock hits zero. Till the stadium shakes. Till the wild things are let loose.

997.442 - 1008.274 Debra Roberts

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.

1008.914 - 1018.668 Detective Kim Major

The CFP National Championship. Monday, January 19th at 7.30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and the ESPN app. Tell Me Lies returns with an all-new season.

1018.989 - 1020.651 Kumail Nanjiani

I'm willing to forgive you after everything you've done.

Chapter 6: What confessions did Shawn Grate make during his interviews?

2107.313 - 2128.106 John Quinones

The Hand in the Window is a production of ABC Audio and 2020. Hosted by me, John Quinones. Produced by Madeline Wood, Camille Peterson, Kiara Powell. Edited by Gianna Palmer. Our supervising producer is Susie Liu. Music and mixing by Evan Viola.

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2128.626 - 2155.056 John Quinones

Special thanks to Katie Dendos, Janice Johnston, Michelle Margulis, Caitlin Schiffer, Rachel Walker, Annalisa Linder, Joseph Diaz, Jonathan Balfaser, Gail Deutsch, Gary Nguyen, Stephanie McBee, Natalie Cardenas, and Samantha Wanderer. Josh Kohan is our director of podcast programming.

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2165.431 - 2166.293 Kumail Nanjiani

What are you doing here?

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2166.573 - 2180.858 Unknown

It's time to leave.

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