Previously on Bear Brook Season 2, a true crime story.

To cut you a break would utterly undermine the public's confidence in the criminal justice system.

Convictions take on this mythical power.

Once this conviction happens, it's like that story is what happened.

Who came up with that version of the story?

You know what I mean?

Then how do we...

Who said that?

That's how it happened.

Somebody had to say that that's how it happened.

So obviously it happened.

The larger-than-life detective.

It's such a crime story trope.

Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Elliot Stabler.

Their personalities are as much a part of the story as the crime itself.

But as often happens, life imitates art.

And in this case, the line separating them is especially blurry.

Detective Roland Lammy made an impression on almost everyone I talked to about the Sharon Johnson case.

Thirty-odd years later, people forget a lot of the finer points, but they remember the lead investigator.

And over and over again, people would compare Lammy to the same guy.

All I could think of was remember the TV detective Kojak.

Maybe you remember Kojak. I did not.

...