S3 Ep139: Mischelle Lawless: Interstate 70 (Part 1)

Crime Weekly

Audioboom Studios

True Crime, Society & Culture, News

4.8 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2023

⏱️ 124 minutes

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Summary

In the early morning hours of November 8th, 1992, 19-year-old nursing student Mischelle Lawless was found dead, just outside Benton, Missouri, on the side of Interstate 70. Investigators claimed the evidence suggested Mischelle had fought for her life, ran from her attacker and was pursued and caught before being returned to her car where she was shot three times in the back of the head. After questioning Mischelle’s boyfriend and friends, the case went cold until April 7th of 1993, when 17 year old Josh Kezer was arrested and charged with the murder of Mischelle Lawless. Kezer’s arrest was based on information provided to police by two jailhouse informants, and supporting testimony of a witness who claimed to see Mischelle and Josh arguing at a party the night of her murder, as well as another witness who placed Kezer at the scene of the crime. Despite the lack of physical evidence and the questionable credibility of the witnesses and informants, Josh Kezer was found guilty of second degree murder and he was sentenced to 60 years in prison. However, sixteen years later Josh Kezer was exonerated after witnesses came forward claiming he had not been at the party, and it was discovered that the eyewitness placing Kezer at the scene had changed his account of that evening multiple times. Kezer sued for wrongful conviction, being awarded four million dollars, ten thousand of which he donated to the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, to be used to find the real killer of Mischelle Lawless.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	In the early morning hours of November 8, 1992, 19-year-old nursing student Michelle Lawless
0:19.3	was found dead, just outside Benton, Missouri, on the side of Interstate 70.
0:25.4	Doctors claimed the evidence suggested Michelle had fought for her life, ran from her attacker,
0:31.4	and was pursued and caught before being returned to her car, where she was shot three times.
0:37.8	After questioning Michelle's boyfriends and friends, the case went cold, until April 7,
0:43.2	of 1993.
0:45.0	When 17-year-old Joshua Kaiser was arrested and charged with the murder of Michelle Lawless,
0:50.9	Kaiser's arrest was based on information provided to police by jailhouse informants,
0:56.4	and supporting testimony of a witness who claimed to have seen Michelle and Josh arguing
1:01.1	at a party the night of her murder, as well as another witness who placed Kaiser at the
1:05.9	scene of the crime.
1:07.5	Despite the lack of physical evidence and the questionable credibility of the witnesses
1:11.3	and informants, Joshua Kaiser was found guilty of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced
1:16.6	to 60 years in prison.
1:18.4	However, 16 years later, Joshua Kaiser was exonerated after witnesses came forward,
1:24.0	claiming he had not been at the party, and it was discovered that the eyewitnessed placing
1:28.6	Kaiser at the scene had changed his account of that evening multiple times.
1:33.5	Kaiser sued for wrongful conviction, being awarded $4 million, $10,000 of which he donated
1:38.3	to the Scat County Sheriff's Office to be used to find the real killer of Michelle Lawless.
1:47.1	Hello, everybody.
1:57.8	Welcome back to Crem Weekly.
1:58.8	I'm Stephanie Harlow, and I'm Derek Levasser.
	...

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