Decomposing Silence: The Zion Staples Case with Joseph Scott Morgan

Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan

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True Crime

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

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Summary

In an unfathomable act, the lifeless body of young Zion Staples is discovered abandoned in a trash can. The grim finding sends waves through the community, raising existential questions on human morality. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack dissect the intricacies of the case, exploring topics ranging from the science of decomposition to the societal implications of how we treat our deceased. While Morgan brings his forensic expertise to the table, offering unique insights into time of death estimation and the decomposition process, Mack provides additional context, revealing dark layers of the family's involvement.

Time-coded Highlights:

00:00:20 — Joseph Scott Morgan sets the tone by musing on the value of life.

00:01:20 — The tragic story of Zion Staples is introduced.

00:01:54 — Taking out the trash is discussed as an everyday act with dark implications in the Zion Staples case.

00:03:00 — Dave Mack contextualizes the focus on garbage and decomposition in the case.

00:03:50 — The connection between smell and taste in the context of decomposition is explained by Joe Scott.

00:04:08 — Society's treatment of the deceased is examined.

00:07:14 — Dispelling a common misconception, Joseph Scott Morgan talks about the challenges in determining the exact time of death.

00:09:11 — Morgan shares details about another mysterious case involving a person missing for seven months.

00:14:37 — A detailed explanation of body tissue disintegration after death is given.

00:16:22 — Cause of death's impact on decomposition rates is discussed after Dave Mack brings up the example of a gunshot wound to the head.

00:21:14 — Significant changes that a decomposing body undergoes are highlighted by Morgan, emphasizing the importance of evidence preservation.

00:29:00 — New information about Zion's mother, Sushi Staples, and her history with child services is revealed.

00:30:40 — Joe Scott Morgan discusses the challenges of the investigation due to the time elapsed since the incident and the lack of concrete evidence.

00:32:08 — Morgan reveals that Sushi Staples has only been charged with concealing the body of her 10-year-old son in a garbage can, not with his death.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	BODY Bags with Joseph Scott Morgon
0:20.0	There's an old adage among church folks that says, God don't make no garbage.
0:26.0	That implying that anything that has the spark of life that is given to them by their creator,
0:32.6	that's a thing of beauty. It's a thing not to be disregarded or in our case today discarded.
0:38.9	Some cases leave you with insufficient information and I don't mean just as an investigator,
0:45.2	but as a human walking this earth to make sense of. You think about a precious life,
0:50.8	you think about all the remains of that life after it's come to an end, and you think about the
0:56.3	idea of heart and home and a loving family, the gentle touch of a mother. Today we're actually
1:03.3	going to have a discussion about a young boy, a young boy who was only 10 years old up in Illinois,
1:11.6	Rock Island, Illinois specifically, and his name is Zion, Zion Staples, and according to what
1:18.3	investigators are saying, his body was left abandoned in an old trash can. I'm Joseph Scott Morgon,
1:25.5	and this is BODY Bags. I have a routine day. Once a week I grab my city-issued garbage can
1:38.8	and I roll it out to the street and take it out, put it on the curb, and generally on Monday mornings,
1:45.5	somebody that my wife and I really like a lot of our garbage man comes by and picks it up.
1:50.8	As a matter of fact, we make sure that he gets present every year at Christmas. It's a hard job,
1:55.6	I mean, it really is, and think about what you're dealing with. You're dealing with those things
1:59.4	that are regarded as waste by people that occupy these homes. Either it's things that are
2:05.7	biodegradable, or of course we have the recycling band, and I never can remember when it's time
2:11.2	to recycle. It's like every other week on a Wednesday, and inevitably I'll forget the
2:16.8	color, the cans are different colors and all that stuff, and Kim will say to me, you didn't take
2:21.6	the recycling out today. I was like, oh god, I missed it again. I got to wait another two weeks,
2:25.4	but the garbage can itself. I make sure that I'm on top of that because you leave it by the house
	...

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