In the Dark (podcast)

In the Dark is a podcast produced by American Public Media. Hosted and narrated by Madeleine Baran, and produced by Samara Freemark, the series features investigative journalism and in-depth reportage from APM Reports, the investigative reporting and documentary unit of APM. The 10-episode first season, which explored the kidnapping/murder of Jacob Wetterling, was released in the fall of 2016. Season 2, with episodes spanning from May 2018 through October 2020, explored the case surrounding Curtis Flowers, who was tried 6 times for a quadruple homicide in 1996. A subsequent extra series, released in Spring 2020, reported on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Mississippi Delta.
Series overview.
Season 1.
Season 1 of "In the Dark" explored the case of Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old boy from St. Joseph, Minnesota who was kidnapped and murdered on the night of October 22, 1989. Wetterling's case went unsolved for 27 years until his remains were discovered in a pasture near Paynesville, Minnesota on September 1, 2016. The location was revealed by Danny Heinrich, a long-time person of interest in the abduction of another boy, Jared Scheierl, in the nearby town of Cold Spring. On September 6, 2016, Heinrich admitted to kidnapping and murdering Wetterling as well as the abduction and sexual assault of Scheierl. Heinrich would be sentenced on November 21, 2016 to a 20-year prison term for a federal child pornography charge.
Production on Season 1 had been underway for 9 months and was in its final stages (it was scheduled to premiere on September 13, 2016) by the time Wetterling's remains were discovered and Heinrich confessed to the crime. The developments, which host/lead reporter Madeleine Baran and the APM Reports team were not expecting ahead of time, prompted them to re-edit and re-record the first two episodes (at least the first of which was already finished) and move up their release to September 7, one day after Heinrich's court appearance.
The edits to the first two episodes of "In the Dark" turned out to be minimal, for by then, the reporting team's focus wasn't so much about who may have been responsible for Jacob Wetterling's disappearance but more about the investigation of the crime and its effects on the community. The team focused on systemic failures in the Wetterling investigation, in particular how the Stearns County Sheriff's Office handled not only the case but other similar cases. (The department's lack of transparency was partial inspiration for the series' title.) Broader repercussions of the case are also explored, including the impact on Jacob's family and friends (Jacob's parents, Jerry and Patty Wetterling, are extensively featured); its effect on the immediate Stearns County area; and national implications, including the establishment of a federal law, named in Jacob's honor, that requires states to implement and contribute to registries that track sex offenders and crimes against children. Madeleine Baran stated to "Esquire", with "In the Dark", as opposed to other true crime podcasts such as "Serial", "We [APM Reports] didn't see ourselves as playing the role of detective in the case. We saw ourselves as investigating the investigation."
Episode summary.
As indicated above, the release dates of "In the Dark"s first two episodes were initially scheduled to be released on September 13, 2016. The developments that led to Danny Heinrich's confession in the Jacob Wetterling case prompted APM to re-record those episodes and release them on September 7, six days earlier than scheduled. The third episode was released on September 13, with one new episode released each Tuesday thru October 25. Follow-up episodes in December 2016 and September 2018 would follow.
Season 2.
The second season of "In the Dark" explored the legal odyssey surrounding Curtis Flowers, who was accused of shooting four people to death inside Tardy Furniture, a Winona, Mississippi store, in July 1996. Flowers, who had worked at Tardy Furniture for only a few days and who had long maintained his innocence, faced trial for the murders six times. The first five of those trials resulted in either hung juries or reversals on appeal. The sixth jury trial, in 2010, ended with Flowers' conviction on four counts of capital murder, but the United States Supreme Court remanded the case to a lower court to review racial bias in jury selection. After Mississippi's Supreme Court upheld Flowers' conviction by a 5–4 vote, Flowers once again went to the United States Supreme Court, who heard oral arguments on the appeal in March 2019, and would rule, by a 7-2 decision on June 21, 2019, to overturn his conviction and send the case back to the lower courts. Flowers would be moved from death row that September, and released on bail that December. The Mississippi Attorney General's office would review the case and, rather than try Flowers for a 7th time, submitted a motion to dismiss the indictment against him with prejudice; a judge would receive and grant the motion on September 4, 2020.
Much as "In the Dark"s first season focused on the conduct of those investigating Jacob Wetterling's disappearance, Season 2's storyline (which began with an e-mail tip to APM Reports and led to a nearly year-long investigation) pivoted from the murders Flowers has been tried and convicted for to the actions of the district attorney's office in Mississippi's Fifth Circuit Court District. The actions of two figures in the D.A.'s office are specified, D.A. Doug Evans (who prosecuted Flowers and expressed certainty of his guilt) and office investigator John Johnson (lead investigator in the Tardy Furniture case).
In its investigation of Flowers' case for "In the Dark"s 2nd season, the APM team would reveal four noteworthy actions by the D.A.'s office that appeared to ensure Flowers' conviction, actions that would be indicated in the state's motion to dismiss:
In addition to the investigation of Flowers' case, "In the Dark"s 2nd season would also offer profiles on those involved in and affected by the case, namely Curtis' family. Historical anecdotes about racial issues in Winona (which has a majority black population) and northern Mississippi have also been incorporated.
Episode summary.
Season 2 of "In the Dark" began with the release of its first two episodes on May 1, 2018, with one new episode being released each Tuesday through, initially, July 3, 2018. Subsequent developments in the Flowers case would bring additional episodes and updates, the most recent of which was released on October 14, 2020.
Special Report: Coronavirus in the Delta.
In Spring 2020, "In the Dark" would return to Mississippi for a limited-run special report. Rather than focus solely on matters of crime or jurisprudence, the special series would instead examine the effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic on rural America, in particular the Mississippi Delta. Six episodes, released between April and June 2020, would be included in the special report.
Awards.
"In the Dark" is a two-time recipient of the Peabody Award. The show's first Peabody honor came in Spring 2017, with the award's governing body applauding the program for its "immaculate storytelling talent and journalistic precision" in its probing the investigation of Jacob Wetterling's disappearance as well as its "deftly incisive" way of telling the human side of the case and its broader policy implications. The second Peabody came in June 2020, recognizing the show's work in not only "systemically dismantl[ing]" (the jury's term) the case against Curtis Flowers, but also building a case against the District Attorney who prosecuted Flowers, and recognizing those who have lived under the shadow of the case.