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This podcast discusses murder and violence against children.

Please take care while listening.

It's October 5, 1996.

John Feeney sits in a courtroom in Green County, Missouri.

He is being tried for the murder of his wife, Cheryl, his six-year-old son Tyler,

and his 18-month-old daughter, Jennifer.

A jury of eight men and four women, who deliberated for more than five hours,

sit opposite of the 36-year-old man.

He's wearing a dark suit with a crisp white dress shirt and his signature

oversized glasses. Judge Miles Sweeney reads out three verdicts, not guilty, not guilty, not guilty.

John braces himself on the defense table, bows his head, and begins to cry. This moment would mark a dead

end for the case and would leave the town of Springfield in shock. John was the sole suspect,

pursued by police and prosecutors, and many people in Springfield believe that he was the murderer.

So was this a killer who was let off the hook, Or is this an innocent man who just lost his entire family?

There's a big difference between being found not guilty and innocent.

And I said, I have seen no evidence that he did it.

And when you're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, I would hope to God that that's the case.

You know, having been a crime scene officer and a homicide officer for years,

and I've tried, I don't know, six, seven murders,

I think everything points to John Feeney.

I don't think anything points anywhere else.

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