Now part of the Darkcast Network. Welcome to Indie Podcasts with a Dark side. On the morning of May 10, 2003, a 911 call came in from Columbus, Mississippi. Inside a home on Wolf Road, the body of 33 year old Joey Fulgham had been found. He had been shot in his own bed while he slept. Officers were sent out immediately, unsure of what they were about to walk into. When investigators stepped through the door of Joey House, they found him lying in the bed where he had been attacked. He was still under the covers, dead with a bullet wound to his head. His wife, Christy Fulgham, reported discovering her husband’s body after returning from a weekend trip in the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The initial impression was that this was a personal crime. Whoever pulled the trigger had stood over Joey while he lay vulnerable in his own home. Welcome, lambs. Welcome to Love and Heartbreak to Homicide. I’m Kai bringing you another full episode of true crime cases where relationships, love and betrayal end in murder. And as always, I tell these stories with a victim in mind, so expect some ranting and raving along the way. Before we begin, a quick reminder. This podcast is listener funded. That’s why I started the Patreon, so I can keep telling these stories the way that they need to be told. Patreon.com uh, loveandmurder if I were to rely on sponsors, they may be able to tell me, hey, don’t tell the story that way. Be more conscious of the departments that did something wrong instead of being more conscious of the actual victims who were done wrong. Instead, you are my sponsor. By joining, you’re helping me to continue to be a voice of the victims. And you are a voice of the victims. And I’m not just sitting here asking for your money. No, you get extra perks like bonus episodes, ad free listening behind the scenes and exclusive series. So I’m working even harder for you. You can even join for free and still get some benefits. But if you want the full experience to be the actual sponsors of Love and Murder, to be a voice of the victim and everything that you get by being part of the LaM Patreon fam slide, sign up for one of our bonus tiers at $3 a month and above. Patreon.com loveandmurder now grab your butts, grab your delicious glass of apple juice and let’s get into this episode of Love and Murder. Tyler Edmonds was only 13 years old in the spring of 2003. He was the kind of kid still straddling that line between childhood and adolescence. Awkward, impressionable and fiercely loyal to the people he loved. He was described as a quiet, good natured honor student from a broken home. He lived with his mother, Sharon Clay, and his stepfather in the Golden Triangle region of Mississippi. He so loved his older sisty, Christy fulgham, who at 26 was more than a decade older than him. After being estranged from his biological father for years, Christy reentered his life when he was about 10 or 11, and they bonded over their shared background. In a school essay, Tyler once wrote, I love my sister more than I love myself. He trusted her implicitly, looked up to her, and would do anything to keep her happy. Christy’s life, though, was unraveling. She was married to Joey Fulgham, a, uh, steady and hard working man. But the marriage was falling apart, a fact that they had publicly aired on the Montel Williams Show a few years earlier. During the show, Christy revealed that her youngest child wasn’t Joey’s. She had ongoing affairs and was dating another man, Kyle Harvey. At the time of this case, even friends and family knew the relationship was volatile. At times, Christy would accuse Joey of controlling her, while Joey’s relatives would describe Christy as manipulative and hard to satisfy. By 2003, she had moved out of the Fulgrim home, taken the couple’s children with her, only to come back later on. Money made things even worse. Kristi and Joey were strapped financially, and Kristi had started to see her husband not as her partner, but as an obstacle. Tyler stood in the middle of this storm. He had no real understanding of the complicated adult problems swirling around his sister’s marriage. But he knew Christy leaned on him. She confided in him, fed him stories of Joey’s mistreatment, that Joey was abusive, that he was standing in the way of their happiness, and that, uh, the only way forward was to get rid of him. And in Tyler’s young mind, she was the one person he had to protect. On Friday, May 9, 2003, the weekend of the U.S. s Mother’s Day, Christy picked up Tyler for what he thought was a regular weekend visit. According to Tyler, Kristi woke him up between 3:30 and 4am on Saturday morning. They left her home in Europa, Mississippi and drove to the Fulgorn home where Joey was sleeping. They snuck into the dark house with a.22 caliber rifle and she led him to the bedroom where Joey was sleeping. Tyler later said that Christy positioned him with her, pointing the gun at the back of Joey’s head. She wrapped her arms around him and helped him pull the trigger. That shot killed him instantly. After the shooting, Kristi and Tyler packed up her three children into the car, along with a computer and jewelry. They moved a few things around to make it look like it was a robbery and then drove to Jackson to pick up Christy’s boyfriend. From there, the group went to the Gulf coast for the weekend, making it look like they were away for a weekend holiday. Later, Joey’s body had been discovered and on the drive home, Kristi’s phone started ringing nonstop with the news. Joey had been found dead. During the investigation, forensic examiners confirmed the trajectory and angle were consistent with someone shooting at close range while Joey slept and that he had been killed approximately 48 to 72 hours before his body was discovered. Christy quickly became the prime suspect. She was arrested and when questioned by the county sheriff’s office, she painted her 13 year old brother as the mastermind, telling, uh, officers that he was the one who pulled the trigger. I cannot believe she did that. On May 12, 2003, Sharon brought him to the sheriff’s office believing they just had a few questions for him. This is where, as Sharon put it, the problems started. And what happened next would later be described by legal experts as a textbook example of a coerced confession. She and Tyler signed a Miranda waiver, but then investigators asked her to leave the interrogation room. This is a, uh, legal tactic in Mississippi that officers use for murder cases, but it’s a motive to that left a vulnerable child alone with investigators. Now I have a question here. Isn’t that illegal? I’m going to look that up. And by the technology that is edited in this episode, that only took a few seconds, but in reality it took a couple minutes. So according to lawshawn.com, police officers are permitted to approach and question minors about potential involvement in a crime. However, minors are not required to answer their questions and and can request a lawyer or parent or guardian be present. The police must inform the parents if a minor is taken into custody and advise them of their Miranda rights, which includes the right to remain silent and the right against self incrimination. If a minor is arrested, they must be brought before a judge within 24 hours who will evaluate whether they understand their rights. It is important for minors to know their rights when interacting with law enforcement to avoid self incrimination. So I guess investigators were within their rights, but they also didn’t let him know that he can request a lawyer or guardian. I don’t think so. Basically, investigators were within their rights, but Tyler and Sharon weren’t aware of their rights. So that’s kind of a gray area, don’t you think? For hours, Tyler maintained his innocence, claiming he knew nothing. But then investigators told him that Kristy had already implicated him. When Tyler didn’t believe them, they brought Christy into the room in an orange jumpsuit and shackles. It scared the shit out of me, Tyler later said. Crying, Christy pleaded with him, quote, oh, my God, Tyler, they’re going to kill me. I’m going to get the electric chair. You have to help me. If you tell them it was an accident, they can’t send me to the electric chair. They can’t punish me for an accident. Don’t you see that? I love you so much. Everyone else will say, I planned it because you were there. If you say what your mom told you, you will go to jail for 15 years. But that’s not a long time. How manipulative can you freaking be? He’s freaking 13. Ah. Uh. She convinced him that if he took the blame, he’d get a, quote, slap on the wrist because he was a minor, but she would be spared the death penalty. Like, who told you you had the death penalty, ma’? Am? Like, who already put you on the stand and told you you were going to get the death penalty? Investigators repeated. And the fact that they were there watching this, like, ugh, uh, investigators repeated that they already knew what had happened. And Tyler finally broke. His voice cracked as he admitted to being there with Christy, saying, quote, we both shot him. Later, Tyler would say, quote, I guess I just wanted to please everyone there. I don’t want anybody to be mad at me, uh, or to be disappointed in me. I guess the only compromise I could come up with was to take half the blame. That’s when investigators turned on the camera and recorded his confession. They didn’t turn on the camera before that to show what they were doing to get that confession, but they turned it on after he confessed. And they did this without notifying his mother, who was still trying to get access to her son. So I don’t think this part is legal. I’m not really sure. So Tyler told them a story that didn’t quite match Christie’s, claiming they had held the.22 rifle together and both pulled the trigger. His confession was riddled with inconsistencies, as he claimed to see blood splatter on a white pillowcase. But crime scene photos showed khaki color sheets with no blood in sight. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, is he not a 13 year old boy? And as a 13 year old boy. Wouldn’t a light colored pillowcase to him be white? Like, who cares?

Pause here. Editing Gein jumping in for a second. While Kai was editing this episode, she realized that she didn’t make it clear that the story she retold earlier of Tyler walking in with Christy and pulling the trigger was part of his confession. In all actuality, Tyler had said he’d heard a loud noise coming from the house as he waited in the car. However, investigators wouldn’t believe that story, which was the truth when he gave the version of going into the house with Christie. Officers accepted that although there were many inconsistencies within this supposed confession. Kai just wanted to make that absolutely clear. Apologizes to you and to Tyler, and is happy that she caught that before this episode went out. Now back to the show.

I, I can’t believe how this interrogation is going. Like, I. Oh my God. Minutes later, Sharon burst into the room and knelt by his side. When she asked if he was being coerced, he sobbed and said, quote, I’m telling the truth, that me and Christy did it. Like, I mean, I don’t know, maybe she didn’t use the word coerced because maybe he didn’t understand what she was saying or his loyalty towards Kristi is very, very strong. So I’m, um, really not saying anything bad about Sharon because she’s just trying to help her son. She doesn’t know I am talking about the cops that were in the room who should have known. Though. Tyler was arrested and placed in jail to await his trial. Two days later, while still in jail, he repeated the confession in a phone call to a friend’s father, Marcus Sullivan, who had asked him point blank, did you do it? And Tyler said, yes, sir. Then, in a twist, just four days after his initial confession, on May 16, 2003, Tyler recanted his confession, now saying that Christy had acted alone and manipulated him into confessing. It sounds to me like someone in jail is trying to help him realize what actually happened, something, you know, the investigators in that room should have done. So somebody in the jail cell is actually getting him to realize what actually happened and how to navigate his verbiage. Despite his age and his recantation, in July 2004, Tyler was charged with murder and tried as an adult in the county circuit court. Now, I keep skipping over the name of the county because I don’t know how to pronounce it, but it’s okti B B E H A, so I’m not sure how to pronounce it, but that’s why I keep skipping over the name of the county. Anyway, so he was tried as an adult in that county court. He was 15 at the time of the trial. His confession became the cornerstone of the state’s case against him. The courtroom was packed with people eager to see how prosecutors would handle a case of a 13 year old accused of mur. Now also, I can’t blame the people who came into the courtroom. Unless you came in there for salaciousness, then you’re sick. But the reason I’m saying I can’t blame them is because they didn’t see the coercion happening in the room. So all they know is what is being fed to them, which is this kid murdered point blank, somebody. The prosecution, led by District Attorney Forrest Allgood’s office, built its case around Tyler’s videotaped confession. And in his opening statement, the prosecutor told the jury, quote, you’re going to hear how they both put their finger on the trigger and you’re going to hear how they both shot and killed Joey Fulgham. The confession was a powerful piece of evidence, especially the moment he admitted his guilt to his own mother. The jury watched the tape, hearing his nervous voice repeat the story investigators had coaxed out of him. For the prosecution, it was clear that even if Kristi had planned the murder, Tyler had willingly joined her in carrying it out. The prosecution used this, along with the testimony of Dr. Steven Hayne, Mississippi’s chief pathologist at the time, who claimed that the bullet wound was, quote, consistent with two people holding the gun. At the same time. Prosecutors leaned heavily on Dr. Haynes reputation as an expert and his testimony left an impression with the jury. Tyler’s defense attorney, Jim Wade, argued that the confession was false, coerced from a, ah, naive and emotionally immature boy who was manipulated by his sister and the police. A 13 year old, terrified and desperate to please his sister had given police exactly what they wanted to hear. The defense tried to introduce several key pieces of evidence that were ultimately excluded by the trial judge. For instance, the court had excluded critical evidence about Kristi’s manipulations and Tyler’s vulnerability, limiting how much they could show the jury, uh, about the dynamic between the siblings. Why would you limit that? If he was guilty, why would you limit that? The defense sought to have Dr. Alison Redlich, an expert on false confessions, testify that Tyler exhibited many of the classic signs of a false confessor. And he was a minor, he was easily suggestible. He was coerced by a family member and separated from his parent during interrogation. The Judge held a day long Daubert hearing and ruled her testimony was not scientifically reliable and therefore inadmissible. Okay. Hers wasn’t. But Dr. Haynes was. Uh, okay. The defense was also barred from presenting testimony from Danny Edmonds that Christy had asked him for a gun to kill Joey. Why would you leave this out? The judge also excluded the videotape of Christy and Joey’s appearance on the Montel Williams Show. Again, why would you leave this out? All of this is relevant. They said they left it out because its probative values was outweighed by the potential for prejudice. I’m just hanging my head. I, I, I have no words. I just hung my head. They also pointed out that there was no physical evidence tying Tyler to the crime. No fingerprints on the rifle, no gunshot residue, nothing but his coerced words. But the judge was having none of it. He would not bring any of this in for the jury to hear. So with the powerful confession video and Dr. Haynes seemingly scientific testimony backing it up, and the lack of anything from the defense’s side, and Christy’s, uh, silence because she didn’t testify, the jury had little reason to doubt Tyler’s guilt. In July 2004, after less than a day of deliberation, the jury found Tyler guilty of capital murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole until he was 65 years old. Remember, he’s 15 years old right now. His mother cried in the courtroom, and Tyler sat motionless as reality sank in. I’m sorry, that just broke my heart. Quote, my mom literally gave up everything that she had. Tyler said this because his mother faced a huge financial hardship trying to fund his legal defense. She had liquidated her home and 401k, went into deep debt, borrowed from her family, and her marriage had ended under the strain. And Sharon said that she would, quote, be in debt for the rest of my life and that the financial cost was necessary because it was, quote, all about saving my child’s life. This is an example of what good mothers do for their children. And I’m sorry, it gave me goosebumps just reading that. Money is just money, but saving your child’s life is priceless. Do not ever take this kind of parent for granted. Everybody out there with this kind of parent, I know you only know what you know. So you know, oh, my mom’s there. She’ll always be there. And you take your parents for granted. Do not, if you have a parent that would do this for you, go into debt to, uh, save your life. Because they believed you over everybody else. Pause this episode. Like, I’m serious. Pause this episode right now and call your parents and say, I love you and I appreciate everything you’ve done and everything you even haven’t done for me. Like, pause right now and give your parents a call. I’m serious. Do not take this kind of parent for granted. And then come back, of course, come back to the episode after you called your parents. At, uh, just 15 years old, Tyler became the youngest inmate at Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, a notoriously brutal, privately run prison that has since been shut down. Did you hear what I just told you? A, uh, notoriously brutal, privately run prison that has been shut down. This is where they sent a 15 year old. Then Christy went to trial for capital murder. Prosecutors told the court that Kristi was burdened by debt and resentment in her failing marriage and. And had plotted to kill Joey for insurance money. Of course it was insurance money. She wanted control of the household and a chance to live freely without her husband standing in the middle of her way. Investigators had discovered that Christy had taken out multiple life insurance policies on Joey totaling around $100,000. I’m sorry, $100,000. Do you know how quickly that’ll go? Then she thought that Joey had a life insurance policy worth several hundred thousand dollars, with some sources citing a $350,000 policy and another mentioning a, uh, $250,000 policy from the National Guard. She thought that she was the beneficiary and would receive the money upon his death. But again, $100,000, and let’s say the $350,000. So you have $450,000, almost half a million dollars. Do you know how fast that would go? Like, that’s nothing. And you kill your husband for damn near half a million dollars. You know, people have done stuff for $10, so why am I surprised? A few months before the murder, Christy had contacted the National Guard administrative office where Joey was stationed to ask about the amount of his life insurance policy. The only problem with her plan, she wasn’t aware that Joey had changed the beneficiary from her to his mother. Cause Joey was nobody’s fool. Christy was convicted of capital murder for the death of her husband. On December 9, 2006, she was sentenced to death. Now, after his conviction, Tyler’s defense team immediately started working on an appeal. They argued that the trial had been riddled with errors, that the jury had been given junk science and denied evidence that could have shown Tyler’s vulnerability and Kristi’s manipulation. The Mississippi Supreme Court Took the case. At the heart of it was Dr. Steven Haynes testimony and his claim that the gunshot wound was consistent with two people holding a weapon and was shredded, uh, by the justices. They said that his statement, quote, is not scientifically supportable. There was no reliable forensic method to tell whether one person or two had pulled the trigger. Like seriously, who could have told that? Who? Blood splatter would tell you how many people pulled the trigger. Like where did they get this from? And the justices said that Dr. Haynes testimony had given the jury a false claim. Sense of certainty, quote, you cannot look at a bullet wound and tell whether it was made by a bullet fired by one person pulling the trigger or by two persons pulling the trigger simultaneously. The court also looked at the way the trial court had handled evidence. Tyler’s defense had wanted to introduce proof of Christie’s influence over her younger brother. How she had lied to him, pressured him and pulled her into his scheme. That evidence was excluded, leaving juries with only the state’s narrative. A willing 13 year old accomplice. The justices ruled that this was a serious error. They also found the trial court had errored by excluded evidence of Kristi’s motive to kill Joey. Psychology professor Saul Kaysen analyzed Tyler’s confession and found that Tyler had clearly been influenced by Christie. Professor Cason said that because Tyler was so young, authorities should have scrutinized his involvement more carefully. Quote, they should have known better, which is what I was saying. The Mississippi Supreme Court concluded that Tyler Edmonds confession was based on unreliable evidence and improper exclusion of testimony critical to the defense. In May 2007, the rulin overturned the conviction and sent the case back for a new trial. For the first time, Tyler’s family believed the court had finally acknowledged what they all knew all along. That the boy’s confession was coerced and that the state’s so called science was nothing more than smoke and mirrors. The state offered Tyler a plea deal for manslaughter which would have guaranteed his release in a few months. But Tyler, now 18, refused. You know what? They knew they were wrong. They knew it and they wanted to say, okay, well you know, we’re going to do you, uh, a favor and we’re going to grant you manslaughter and you’ll get out in a few months instead of life in prison. Because they didn’t want the supreme court to come down on them, uh, diabolical. So 18 year old Tyler said no, he was innocent and he was willing to risk another life sentence to prove it. When Tyler went back to court for his retrial in 2008. The case looked very different from the one that had convicted him just three years earlier. The Mississippi supreme court had already thrown out the junk science that had once propped up the state’s case. And this time, the defense was allowed to present the evidence that they had been blocked from introducing before. One of the most important voices came from Tyler’s own family. His and Kristi’s father, Danny Edmonds, took the stand and testified about the boy’s character and his relationship with Kristi. Danny explained that Tyler was a follower, A child who would do almost anything to please his older sister. He told jurors that Christy was the manipulator in the story, not the 13 year old sitting at the defense table. He told the jury that Christy had come to his house and, quote, asked me for a gun, that she wanted to kill Joey. She said that he’s got a life insurance policy. The defense called a new court appointed pathologist who testified that a small.22 caliber wound would not have produced the blood splatter Tyler described in his confession. Attorney Wade showed the jury crime scene photos confirming the absence of blood. Attorney Wade called Kristy to the stand, hoping that she would tell the truth since she, quote, had nothing to lose. But she invoked the fifth amendment and refused to answer questions. So basically she came to the stand, but every time they asked her a question, she pled the fifth like that’s what she was doing. And to that I say selfish. This is a, um, next level that I shouldn’t be shocked about, but I am. Tyler himself testified at this retrial, Giving the jury a chance to hear directly from him instead of only through a taped confession. He told them that he hadn’t pulled the trigger that killed Joey and that he had been pressured into saying otherwise by investigators who scared him and by his sister who had spun lies that trapped him. He said that he lied in his confession, quote, to protect my sister. The prosecutor attacked his credibility, arguing, folks, somebody who will lie to protect his sister will lie to protect himself. Are you serious right now? I’m not saying that lying is right. I’m just saying, are you serious right now? When he was telling the truth, you wanted to spin your own story. Now that he’s saying why he lied when he supposedly confessed based on the adults in the room pressuring him, and y’ all are still trying to push your narrative, really? Without Dr. Hayes, so called forensic analysis, without Christy’s testimony, and with the defense finally able to show a full picture of how A vulnerable boy could be coerced. The state’s case unraveled. After four hours of deliberation, the jury returned with a verdict. Not guilty. After nearly six years of legal battles and spending his entire teenage life behind bars, Tyler Edmonds was finally free. I’m just glad that I can move on with my life. The retrial ended with his acquittal, clearing him of the murder charge that had hung over him since the age of 13. Life after prison, though, was not simple. Tyler had lost critical years of his adolescence to wrongful imprisonment. He struggled to rebuild his life while living under the shadow of being accused of murder at, uh, just 13 years old. He had to figure out life in a way most teenagers never do. Suddenly, he was the one responsible for everything. Working, paying bills, balancing a checkbook, learning to drive, trying to make friends, and getting used to coming and going without permission. Crowded places made him anxious, and he struggled to trust strangers. Remember what kind of prison he’s coming from. So, uh, imagine coming from, from a prison that was so horrible they had to close it and out into the real world. I, uh, know we can’t imagine that, but try your best. Back home, plenty of people supported him, but he could still feel the weight of suspicion from others who quietly wondered if he was really innocent. He spent some time in Arizona working, but health problems brought him back. With help from friends who believed in him, he tried his hand at running a business. First a bar, then a tobacco shop. He found that being his own boss gave him a sense of control and confidence that he hadn’t had before. Every decision he made from those businesses was proof that he could stand on his own. By 2014, Tyler had moved to Florida, where he now runs a commercial embroidery business out of his home that he shares with his longtime supporter. He still misses Mississippi and goes back often, but he knows he’s better off away from the place where his childhood ended. The great thing here is people know me for who I am. My friends know me as Tyler, not the 13 year old who went to prison. And that’s for me, an emotional freedom that I don’t think I’ll ever be allowed to feel in Mississippi. Now I know what everybody’s saying right now. Sue them. Sue, sue, sue. I know Tyler did try to get compensation from the state of Mississippi, arguing that he deserved justice for the years that were taken from him. In 2009, after Mississippi passed its compensation law, Tyler filed a lawsuit asking for $158,333. A, ah, judge denied the request, ruling that because Tyler had given a false confession in order to protect Christy, it violated the law’s prohibition against payouts to people who fabricate evidence to bring about their conviction. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. What you. Oh, uh, I, I, I literally have no words. They just keep screwing him with no Vaseline. I’m sorry I had to put it that way. I’m sorry. That was so vulgar. But this is really some BS. Tyler appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court seeking about $150,000. Attorney Wade argued that the law was meant to apply only to people who lied with the specific goal of being convicted, not kids like Tyler, who had been manipulated by his half sister and by investigators into saying things to protect someone they loved. This is what I’m saying, quote, he wasn’t intending to go to jail for life. That wasn’t why he gave the false confession. The state unfortunately disagreed. Lawyers argued that Tyler’s intent didn’t matter, that the law was written exactly for this type of situation, which I call BS because I agree with, with attorney Wade. Special Assistant Attorney General Wilson Minor told the court, quote, you can’t blame the state for using the same evidence you created to convict you. That’s some, um, diabolical. Wow. For Tyler, the fight for compensation was never just about the money. It was about thanking his mother, who gave up her financial future and her marriage to make sure he had the best defense possible. It was also about finally standing up to the system that has stolen years of his life. Quote, this is the only opportunity I have to stand up for myself. You know, truly stand up for myself and say, you are wrong. This is what you did to me. This is not okay. And that means a lot to me. The fight dragged on, complicated by the same system that had failed him at the start. Over time, Tyler began to speak publicly about his case. During one of his trips home, Tyler stopped in Biloxi to speak at a conference for the Mississippi Public Defenders Association. It was the first time he had ever addressed a live audience. When he finished, the lawyers gave him a standing ovation. He talked about what it was like to be a child questioned without proper protection, about how police pressure is. And his devotion to his sister had pushed him into a false confession. He became a larger conversation around juvenile justice and the dangers of coerced statements from children. And his case became a reference point for how flawed investigations can trap vulnerable kids. Even though his mother was already in debt due to his legal fees, Tyler had also incurred costs for therapy over a decade since his release, which he Said is not cheap. So his mother is still going into debt for her child, and still she does not care. She is still trying to help her child. And now we don’t really think about what happens when people get out of jail, especially if they were in there young and if they were in there innocent. You don’t know what terrible things might have happened to Tyler in prison. Although money might be tight, therapy is a necessity for Tyler. It’s not even a want now. I’m not saying go into debt if you can’t pay it. Of course you want to try everything you can to pay it off, even if you’re borrowing it from family, friends, and, you know, they may say that you don’t have to pay them back. So I’m not saying that at all. But his mother is also trying to get him help, you know, and she’s trying to do what’s best for her son. And I guess that’s why Tyler was looking for a very specific sum, because I was like, $333 at the end. You know, that’s like, that’s really specific. But maybe he had calculated all of his mom’s debt, and that’s exactly all he wanted to pay her back for. He wasn’t asking for any extra money. He was just like, I need to get my mom out of debt. Tyler says he no longer carries the shame that once weighed him down. Quote, I’m an adult now, and I can look back and say, you were a kid. You did what probably 9 out of 10 kids would have done at the time. And I can’t go and change anything that happened. So, no, I’m not ashamed of it. And the only regret I have is I wish that I would have been as brave then as I am now. As for Christy, for years, uh, she sat on Mississippi’s death row as appeals wound through the courts. Eventually, her death sentence was revisited. On appeal, it was determined that her penalty phase had been flawed, and. And she went to a retrial in 2010. An extensive investigation during her retrial proved that she had planned for the murder for over three years, which coincided with the time that she began asking about insurance money. So revisiting her case made it worse for her. On October 28, 2010, the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld her murder conviction, but overturned the death sentence, ordering a new sentencing hearing. The court ruled that the original trial had erred by disallowing the testimony of a social worker during the sentencing phase. So less than a month after the supreme court’s decision on November 23, 2010, a county circuit court judge re sentenced Christie to life in prison without the possibility of parole. I mean, I guess she got off a death row and now she’s just in prison for the rest of her life. So win. The state had pursued this sentence at ah, the request of Joey’s family and in exchange for Chrissy forfeiting her rights to post conviction remedies. Now post conviction remedies is a process that lets someone challenge their conviction. This is usually a tool in overturning wrongful convictions or mitigating overly harsh things, sentencing. So they said stop doing that and uh, we’ll ask them to just give you life in prison. She will spend the rest of her life behind bars at, uh, the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. Now, research has shown that children are particularly susceptible to false confessions. In an analysis of 125 proven false confessions, a, uh, disproportionately high percentage, 33% came from juveniles, most 15 year olds or younger. Researchers also found false confessions in 42% of juvenile exonerations, compared to just 15% of all exonerations. Professor Cason categorizes false confessions into three types, with Tyler falling into the voluntary category, often given by children who are more open to manipulation and less likely to consider long term consequences. So children, kids in particular, the reason they give voluntary false confession is to protect someone else. In one study, adolescents who witnessed somebody they cared about get caught cheating were more likely to falsely confess to protect that person than college students. And the ratio was 59% to 39%, indicating younger people’s heightened vulnerability to manipulation. Since the early 1900s, as exonerations have grown, more states have passed laws to compensate people who were in prison for crimes they didn’t commit. Today, uh, 32 states, along with Washington D.C. and the federal government, have statutes that order some sort of reparation. But those laws do come with strings attached. Six states refuse to pay applicants who are said to have contributed to their own conviction, fabricated evidence, or committed perjury. All of those clauses can be used against someone who has given a false confession. Three other states bar compensation for people who pled guilty. And 11 states don’t even allow prisoners who confessed or pled guilty to seek DNA testing that could prove their innocence. Legal challenges to these rules have usually focused on cases where investigators coerced or outright manipulated false confession. But Tyler’s case is different. In the state’s view, Tyler, just 13 at the time, was partially responsible for his own wrongful conviction. In their eyes, that means freedom is all he deserves. No acknowledgment, no compensation. For Tyler, Mississippi is twisting its own law and ignoring the very reason false confessions happen in the first place. Advocates for the wrongfully convicted admit that his confession doesn’t make him the easiest candidate for compensation, but they also point out that the state can’t wash his hands of this responsibility either. The Tyler Edmonds case is interesting because it’s gray. Tyler has tried to move forward. He has reflected on what happened, sharing that his biggest regret was believing his sister and trusting the wrong people. His story is often cited by advocates who warn that children are uniquely vulnerable in the interrogation room and that safeguards must be in place to protect them. Tyler Edmonds case stands as both a tragedy and a lesson. A 13 year old manipulated into confessing a crime he didn’t commit, nearly condemned, uh, to spend the rest of his life in prison, only to be freed after years of appeals. It shows how quickly justice can go wrong and how difficult it is to set it right. So what did you think of this case? Let me know your comments below or over into Patreon. You already heard all of my thoughts and I always want to hear your thoughts. If you want more, head on over to the Patreon. Patreon.com loveandmurder that’s where all the extras live, bonus cases, ad free episodes behind the scenes and exclusive series that you won’t hear anywhere else. You can join for free and get some perks or unlock it all starting at just $3 a month. Patreon.com loveandmurder and as I always end each full episode, I wanna remind you that it’s say it with me now. All, uh, love and no murder, y’. All. Thanks for listening all the way to the end and thanks for supporting the show. I’ll see you in the next case. Bye. M Hello, I’m Kona Gallagher. And I’m Ethan Flick. We’re the husband and wife team behind the True Crime podcast. And then they Were Gone. We’re a weekly show that covers unsolved missing persons cases. These are cases that you, the listener, can have an impact. 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