Correspondent Natalie Morales and Producers Jenna Jackson and Mary Murphy examine the DNA technology that cracked the cold case of Mary Catherine Edwards’ murder. They discuss a detective and genetic genealogist who sifted through nearly 7,500 names on a family tree to identify a single killer, Clayton Foreman, and how police and a Texas Ranger arrested him. They also discuss how the Smith & Wesson handcuffs used to bind Mary Catherine came full circle and the revelation that she had been a bridesmaid at the Foremans’ wedding. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What case are Natalie, Jenna, and Mary discussing?
Yeah. And it was really cool, too, how far technology has advanced, but you still can't do it without good old-fashioned detective work.
Yeah. What is so incredible, I mean, this was a cold case for more than two decades. And when it came to, they were able to solve the crime and crack the case in a little less than three months, right? They were working at a fast and furious pace, though.
Tina actually said in testimony that had she billed for overtime, it would have amounted to something like $50,000.
So that's a lot of hours. And then it turns out that Shara hits pay dirt with... the DNA and she is able to build out that family tree and get it to a point where she pared it down to two brothers, Michael and Clayton Foreman. And it turns out they went to the same high school as Catherine Edwards. So what did they find when they looked into Clayton and how did that eliminate Michael?
Well, that's a very dramatic moment. Aaron Llewellyn describes just running a check on both of them to see if they have a criminal record. And Michael is completely clean as a whistle. But Clayton Foreman has a conviction for aggravated assault. There are some similarities to what happened to Mary Catherine. And suddenly they are off to the races. This is our guy. We are on the right track.
At that point, they felt like, okay, this has to be our guy. You know, the MO is the same. This is too close. And so they find Clayton Foreman. He's living in Ohio at the time. And they contact the police in Ohio and say, will you do us a favor, basically, and go grab his trash from the curb in front of his house. So they did.
They brought back the trash to Beaumont, Texas, had it tested in the DPS lab, and it was a match. So then those guys are like, okay, let's go get him.
Yeah. We saw the remarkable police interrogation. I mean, that was sort of a masterpiece in police work and so fascinating to see how they sort of wove through the interrogation and then kind of cornered Clayton Foreman. So Ranger Bess and Detective Llewellyn, they essentially tag-teamed the whole thing. But then comes the real clincher of the moment there, right, Mary?
Yeah, I mean, these guys, so much heart went into what they were doing. So they finally... After all their hard work and all these years, they've got an arrest warrant for them, and they have one thing, just one more thing they really need to do. And they worked it out with the prosecutors.
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