The Clay Shrout Case, Pt. 4: That Was How, This Is Why

On June 1, 1882, a jury convicted George Ellis and sentenced him to life in prison rather than death. He had confessed. He had testified against the other two men. He had given the Commonwealth its ca...

15 Sep 17min

On Jan. 3, 1882 — the day after three men were arrested for the Ashland murders — as many as 1,500 people descended on Catlettsburg, Ky., for a preliminary hearing. That is more than the population of...

1 Sep 25min

Around 4:30 on the morning of Christmas Eve 1881, a woman in Ashland, Ky., looked toward her neighbor's house and thought she saw lamplight. It was fire. By the time neighbors forced their way inside...

18 Aug 28min

"He made bad choices." That's what Joseph Smith's family says they were told, in one form or another, from the night he died forward. On March 5, 2021, the 25-year-old was shot and killed in a parkin...

28 Jul 28min

Kentucky authorities considered the Joseph Smith case resolved. A grand jury declined to indict. The file was closed. His family was told he made bad choices. But the closer Smith's cousin Keeshia He...

14 Jul 17min

In any homicide investigation, the physical evidence doesn't take sides. It can contradict. It can clarify. And sometimes, it raises questions that the official record leaves unanswered. In Part 2 of...

30 Jun 15min

Season 2 of Kentucky Case Files begins with a case that state authorities consider closed — but Joseph Smith's family does not. On the night of March 5, 2021, 25-year-old Joseph Smith was fatally sho...

16 Jun 24min

On March 5, 2021, a 25-year-old man named Joseph Smith was shot and killed in a grocery store parking lot in Upton, Kentucky. The man who shot him claimed self-defense. No arrest was ever made. No cha...

9 Jun 57s