About This Episode
Amber Hunt and Amanda Rossmann, journalists from the Cincinnati Enquirer, created Accused as a platform to re-examine cases where the justice system may have failed. Each season zeros in on one cold case, combining investigative reporting with interviews, police documents, and court records to challenge convictions that may have been unjust.
Season 1: The Elizabeth Andes Murder
The podcast's debut season focuses on Elizabeth Andes, a 23-year-old Miami University graduate murdered in her Oxford, Ohio apartment on December 28, 1978. Her boyfriend, Bob Young, discovered her body and became the primary suspect. After a 15-hour interrogation and polygraph test administered by Hamilton County Lieutenant Richard Carpenter, Young confessed—only to recant later.
Despite law enforcement's certainty, two separate juries disagreed. Young was acquitted in his 1979 criminal trial and found not liable in a 1981 civil wrongful death suit brought by Andes' family. The podcast reveals how police and prosecutors built an apparently open-and-shut case while three other uninvestigated acquaintances remained unexplored.
Season 2: Retha Welch and DNA Exoneration
Season 2 examines the 1987 murder of Retha Welch, a 54-year-old grandmother and prison minister beaten to death in her Newport, Kentucky apartment bathtub. William Virgil was convicted of her murder—until DNA testing revealed his semen was not among three samples recovered from the victim. His conviction was overturned, leaving the case unsolved and raising questions about the evidence that led to his prosecution.
Season 3: The Fernald Plant Disappearance
The third season investigates the disappearance of William Armstead, a father of three working at Cincinnati's Fernald Feed Materials Production Center—a uranium processing facility. In 1984, pieces of bone, eyeglasses, and a walkie-talkie were discovered in a vat reaching 1,350 degrees Fahrenheit. The plant was later revealed to release uranium dust into the surrounding area.
Armstead's children theorized their father was murdered to silence his knowledge of the plant's environmental contamination. William Virgil was convicted in connection with this case as well; his conviction was overturned 30 years later. The case remains unsolved.
Season 4: Elwood Jones and Police Misconduct
The most recent season focuses on Elwood Jones, a hotel employee convicted of murdering 67-year-old Rhoda Nathan in 1994. Nathan's body was initially thought to be a heart attack victim until an autopsy revealed she had been beaten, with two teeth knocked out by blunt force trauma.
Prosecutors built their case on two key pieces of evidence: a hand infection Jones sought treatment for days after the murder, which experts testified bore hallmarks of a "fight-bite" (bacteria common in human mouths), and a necklace an officer claimed to have found in Jones' car trunk. Jones maintained his innocence and accused police of fabrication.
Jones spent nearly 30 years on Ohio's death row awaiting execution. In December 2022, a Hamilton County judge overturned his conviction, citing a critical prosecutorial failure: police and prosecutors had withheld approximately 4,000 investigatory documents from the defense—evidence that could have changed the trial's outcome.
The Accused podcast demonstrates a pattern: investigations marked by tunnel vision, questionable evidence, and concealed documents. Hunt and Rossmann's work gives voice to the convicted and examines the investigative failures that may have robbed them of justice.
Sources
https://accusedpodcast.com/season-4/
https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/accused/id1145990861
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accused_(podcast)
https://play.listnr.com/podcast/accused
