You’re right that Leo has openly admitted to striking Michelle on a couple occasions. I personally am fortunate to have no experience with intimate partner violence, so I can’t speak from that place, but I have spent a lot of time with Leo. He’s been willing to discuss the times he struck Michelle, and he’s expressed remorse for who he was and how he behaved at age 21. And, I believe him. I feel like he’s genuinely sorry and has grown immensely in the time since. That being said, Gilbert and I have had many, many conversations about this over the years. We’ve always anticipated having to answer these questions, and yet it is never easy.
We’ve looked at all the testimony and we’ve spoken to everyone who would agree to talk. And there are a few credible witness statements. But, there are also a few instances that were testified to that Leo says just didn’t happen. Stuff like this is hard to prove or disprove, especially 35 years after the fact. But what we do know is that Leo’s prosecutor, and the detectives in this case, were motivated to find witnesses who would testify to Leo’s violence and bad behavior. The conviction hinged on this bad character evidence. What we don’t have are any reports filed against Leo, anyone who ever called the cops on him, or anyone who can claim they ever saw a bruise on Michelle. I do know that domestic violence is oftentimes a very private thing, but without any evidence like this, it just never amounted to enough for us to turn away from this case.
At the end of the day, Leo was convicted for murder, and there’s not much hard evidence to support that he was capable of a crime like this, and even less to support that he’s guilty of the murder. On the other hand, we know that Jeremy Scott is capable of a crime like this. And, he’s forensically linked to Michelle’s murder, and has confessed to it.
Since his conviction, Leo has remarried. Leo and his wife Crissie have now been together for 26 years. Crissie wants nothing more than to have Leo home with her. As does their daughter, Ashley, and her two children.
All this is to say, these questions and concerns are valid. These are things I’ve grappled with numerous times over the past four years. But I haven’t seen anything that has given me pause, for more than a brief moment. And I certainly haven’t seen anything that has caused me to question the time and energy I’ve put into this investigation.
I wholeheartedly believe in Leo’s innocence, and I see him as a person of integrity and deep moral conviction. I believe he is worthy of everything I’ve invested into this project and this case.

-KD

Joe Zarbo doesn’t remember much about the day Michelle was found. At that time, he was a patrol officer and was tasked only with guarding the crime scene, while other detectives and crime scene technicians worked the scene. -KD

Leo’s attorneys have contemplated taking the case to the federal level. It is my understanding that the chances of Leo finding any relief at that level are very slim. But they are weighing all his options and we certainly trust his attorneys to make the right call on this, as does Leo.

-KD & GK

Because of the fact that Jeremy Scott, who is forensically tied to the crime scene by his fingerprints, has confessed in detail to killing Michelle, we think it’s unlikely that there’s any new evidentiary discoveries that might make a legal difference, given the post-conviction obstacles in Leo’s case. But, if anything comes to light that feels significant to the telling of this story, we will be sure to update the Bone Valley podcast with bonus episodes. -GK

This is so helpful and appreciated! I will be looking into this. Thank you so much!! -KD

No blood was found in the front of the Mazda. We elaborated a bit on this, and our theories about it, in another response. As for the link between neighbor Alice Scott and Jeremy Scott, there is no relation! That was one of the very first things the cold case detectives looked into after Jeremy’s fingerprints were identified.

-KD

Because Gilbert is a bit of a Luddite and didn’t realize his selfie was going to be public.

-GK

Thank you! And please continue speaking out. I know from my experience on the Groveland Four exonerations, it took a great deal of help from others to get this done. I’m especially thinking of State Attorney Bill Gladson in the 5th Circuit, who was so inspired to do the right thing, he conducted his own investigation into the case, and managed to find the long lost physical evidence from the original trial, where he could prove that his predecessors in the State Attorney’s office had purposely framed innocent men. There are plenty of men and women like State Attorney Gladson in Florida who are serious about truth and justice, and I will not be surprised to see someone take the lead in helping to bring relief in the wrongful conviction of Leo Schofield.

-GK

It’s unclear to me if, after all of Leo’s appeals, that John Aguero’s work on Leo’s case can be reviewed for prosecutorial misconduct. One of the areas we wanted to explore more in this podcast was the sordid history of prosecutorial misconduct in the 10th Circuit during State Attorney Jerry Hill’s time in office, and some of the innocent men he convicted who were later exonerated. His star homicide prosecutor, before John Aguero, got caught lying about exculpatory evidence that was withheld from the defense. In my opinion, that kind of prosecutorial misconduct merits charges and arrest — or, at the very least, an investigation. But Jerry Hill kept him on the job.
We also talked to a lot of people in Polk County legal circles who told us that John Aguero was known for doing the kinds of visits with defendants, without counsel and without tape recordings, that both Leo and Jeremy spoke about in our podcast. This was completely unethical, and seemingly an ongoing problem in Hill’s office. But because of the nature of these visits, John Aguero was savvy enough to not leave a paper trail.

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- G.K.

The petition is gaining signatures every day! Each signature and share helps. We’ll have to wait and see whether it has the outcome we’re hoping for. If sometime down the road other opportunities to help arise, we will post an update on the petition, and anyone who has signed will be notified. -KD

Sometimes I think Jeremy Scott was the luckiest man in central Florida. He admitted to getting away with killing Jewel Johnson in 1985 after he was acquitted of her murder. Detective Richard Putnel investigated both Jewel Johnson’s murder and Michelle’s murder, but he never thought to compare the prints found in Michelle’s car to Jeremy Scott, who was out of jail and staying about a mile away from where Michelle’s body was found. About six weeks later, taxicab driver Joseph Lavair was murdered in nearby Intercession City—another murder Jeremy ultimately admitted to. But the State instead tried to convict an innocent man for that murder, too. So Jeremy once again escaped justice.
I’m actually appalled that these tough on crime law enforcement agencies have become Jeremy Scott enablers in order to either protect one of their convictions, or avoid the humility of having their corrupt investigations exposed. That’s why it’s so important to tell these stories. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously said, “Sunshine is the best disinfectant.”

-GK

We asked around about this, but weren’t able to find any connection between Michelle and the Ziemanns. Wendi was a few years younger than Michelle.

-KD

Thank you so much! And yes, you heard that right. This was my first read job post-grad. I graduated from Barnard College with a degree in sociology. Throughout most of my time there I also worked in Columbia’s oral history archives, and I spent a lot of time attending lectures put on by the Oral History masters program there. So that’s where a lot of interest in audio storytelling is rooted. Working on this case, as my first job, was… wild. I can’t say I really knew what I was getting into at the start, but I quickly became very passionate about Leo’s case, and that’s a big part of what carried me through. I think I made up for some of my lack of experience with this passion. Once I really dug into the details of this case, and once we started investigating and reporting down in the field in Florida, I stopped thinking so much about what I didn’t know, and was able to focus more on what I did know – the facts of the case.

-KD

You can sign the petition here. And yes, #FreeLeo!

I have had some experience with Governor DeSantis, when I testified before the Clemency Board during the pardon hearing for the Groveland Four. To his great credit, after the 2018 campaign for Governor of Florida, he stated that addressing the Groveland Four case was going to be one of the first things he did when he took office. And I think it was his second day in office when he called a Clemency Board hearing and officially pardoned the Groveland Four. I also sat next to him in Lake County, Florida when we both spoke at the dedication of the Groveland Four monument in front of the Lake County Courthouse. So I know he’s committed to justice. I know there are people in Florida who are trying to bring Leo’s case to his attention, and I think he knows I will cooperate with any investigation, either by a conviction integrity review unit, or the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Florida’s history, when it comes to wrongful convictions, is not a good one. But Florida also deserves credit for being willing to improve the integrity of its judicial system by addressing some of the gross injustices from the past.

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-G.K.

I know Bryan pretty well, and he’s probably the single most person I admire in this world. I’m in awe of his work, and he’s been an inspiration to me over the years. I’m just not sure what he could do for Leo’s case, since Leo has great representation. The sad fact is, there are many cases Bryan and the EJI are involved with that are just as stalled in the courts as Leo’s. Post conviction relief has never been more difficult than it is today. But we both believe in the power of storytelling to affect change.

-G.K.

Kelsey is really the reason I decided to work on Leo’s case. I had hired her as a researcher back in 2018 because I had just published my last book, Beneath a Ruthless Sun, and I had several projects on the backburner that I wanted to explore, and I needed a lot of help. There was a television series proposal, a civil rights multi-media project, a new book idea that I was working on, and Leo’s case, which had just come to me through Judge Cupp. Kelsey was looking at them all one day, and I remember asking her which project I should prioritize. “There’s an innocent man in prison,” Kelsey said. “That one.”

It was really hard to argue with that, so I decided to commit to an investigation into Leo’s conviction. Kelsey started as a researcher, and we dug into Leo’s case as a possible feature story. But after we met and interviewed Leo, Kelsey thought he was such a great storyteller that we should do a podcast about his case instead. Neither of us had any experience, but we picked up some equipment, and Kelsey taught herself how to be an audio recordist. She also knew Leo’s case inside out. She became “the keeper of the facts” and our relationship has been a co-partnership from very early on. She tolerated all of my trips down investigative rabbit holes, and we both believed in the story we were trying to tell. It seemed like we were always on the same page. For me, it’s been so inspiring to see her “arc” in this project, going from nervous researcher in the beginning, to confronting former State Attorney Jerry Hill after Leo’s parole hearing, to sitting next to Jeremy Scott in prison and getting him to talk about things we’ve never heard him talk about before. Kelsey is someone I trusted implicitly, and her value to this project can’t be understated. I often say that she is the conscience of Bone Valley. Everything is so much better because of her contributions. We went through some incredibly difficult challenges over the four years we worked together on this story. But the obstacles and setbacks never deterred her. I wasn’t just fortunate to have Kelsey at my side. It was an honor, and I’ll always be grateful to have worked with her.

-GK

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When I came to this project, I was fresh out of college. At that time, I was looking for, basically, anything that would help me pay my rent in Brooklyn. I think Gilbert says it in the first episode, but at that point neither of us really knew what we were getting into or how long we’d be working together. At the very beginning, there was some anxiety on my part. Working as a research assistant to a Pulitzer Prize winning author was a bit intimidating. But it didn’t take long for either of us to really become invested in this project and in Leo’s case and, with that, we really fell into a rhythm of investigating this case together. Gilbert has been absolutely incredible to work with. He has always championed my role in this work. He’s always given me permission to really claim ownership of my contributions. And, he’s supported me every step of the way. He doesn’t have the ego you might expect for someone who has won such a prestigious award! So anytime I came to him with ideas for an interview approach or edits on a script, he’s always really listened to my thoughts and feedback. While this was my first real job outside of college, I did have a sense that that’s not always the way these things go. I feel very lucky to have been able to work on this alongside him. This project has been a massive learning experience for me, in so many ways, and it was with his guidance and mentorship and patience that I was able to see it through to the end.

-KD

Our research process was… reading every single thing we could get our hands on, talking to every single person we could find, turning over every leaf and going down every rabbit hole. This is probably the reason we ended up focusing so heavily on the cab driver murder and essentially solving that case; we just couldn’t not go down that road. To be honest, I’m not sure that these are good habits because I know it’s not always possible to report on and research a story in this way! There are certainly restrictions with time and resources and money that can prohibit what we were able to devote to this story. With Covid and the way the production of Bone Valley played out, we were actually quite lucky for the additional time it gave us to pursue some of these leads. But even now, there are parts of this story we don’t feel are “finished” – there are still people we’d like to talk to and things we’d like to investigate further. So I suppose my advice is – make friends with the uncertainty. It’ll always be there.

-K.D.

Thank you so much. Totally agree with your assessment of Leo! He inspires me constantly.
As for TikTok, I’ve given some thought to trying to publicize Bone Valley and Leo’s case on the platform, but unfortunately we just don’t have much in terms of visual content. Filming and photography within the prison is heavily restricted. I have seen a few TikTok reviews of Bone Valley though, which I have LOVED. So I absolutely encourage anyone on the platform to share their thoughts on the story and the case. And if you’re interested in seeing what we do have in terms of visual content, it can be found here on Lava for Good’s website.

-K.D.

You’re right that Jeremy didn’t finish school. I don't have much to say about his handwriting. But, in theory, he’s had plenty of time in prison to work on it.

-K.D.

I’m so happy to hear that someone local has been listening. I don’t have much to recommend at the moment – other than signing and sharing the petition we’ve been directing everyone to. But I would encourage you (and everyone, really) to pay attention to local elections! They matter. The position of State Attorney is an elected position. So far, publicity for this story and for Leo’s case has mostly been through word of mouth, which we definitely believe in the power of. Talking about Bone Valley and Leo’s case with friends, family, and coworkers can make a difference. Hopefully, with that this’ll eventually become unavoidable for folks in power to confront.

-K.D.

In the writing and telling of this story, we held off on mentioning Jeremy Scott from the beginning. We wanted the story to unfold over time, in the way it has in the three decades since Leo’s conviction. But, when Gilbert and I started researching the case in 2018, Jeremy Scott’s role was already pretty clearly laid out – his fingerprints had been identified and he’d confessed. So we were aware of him from the start, and that’s a big reason the case was so intriguing. There was a man who’d claimed innocence for over three decades, and another who’d confessed in a Polk County courtroom the year prior. And yet, the State of Florida found ways to discredit them both. Really getting to the bottom of who these two men are, and their roles in this case was what really drew me in. And of course, once we met Leo, and I saw the depth of his frustration and desperation to have his story told and to have this narrative corrected – that was the moment I knew we were really on to something, and we needed to really dig in to figure out what went wrong in this case.

-K.D.

Neither Kelsey nor I are trained investigative journalists. Kelsey has a background in oral history work, and I come from the world of book publishing, where I write narrative nonfiction. So I can just tell you that finding a subject or cases that really anger you, or inspire you to find out everything you can about them is the best place to come from. Figuring out exactly what you want to investigate should help you figure out where to go–whether it’s a newspaper, a podcast, television, etc.

- G.K.

Thank you. All my books have taken about 5 years to complete. I had originally thought I’d write something like a longform article on Leo’s case, but the more I dug in, the more obsessed I became with this story. It became very obvious to me that the State knew it didn’t have a case against Leo, so it resorted to distortion and misrepresentation of evidence, from the trial, all the way to Leo’s parole hearings. This is because the State does not have the truth on its side. I am just as confident that the State of Florida has convicted an innocent man in Leo Schofield, and that Jeremy Scott is Michelle Schofield’s true killer, as I am about the innocence of the recently exonerated Groveland Four. These kinds of injustices inspire me to correct the State’s false narratives, and knowing that there’s an innocent man in prison has a way of increasing a writer’s productivity.

-G.K.

The State Attorneys in the 10th circuit have really dug their heels in on this case. They’ve had many opportunities over the years to correct this injustice, but it seems that they never really entertained the possibility that Jeremy Scott might be the person responsible for Michelle Schofield’s death. It’s honestly hard for me to believe that anyone could look at all the evidence in this case and not come to the same conclusion that we did. So, I constantly find myself wondering if the State Attorneys really believe what they’re saying about this case is the truth, or if they’ve just dug themselves in so deep that they can’t do anything but maintain the same flawed narrative they’ve been spouting for years. I’m not sure what it would take to convince the current State Attorney Brian Haas to turn the case over to a conviction integrity review unit, but we’re hoping that with attention and public pressure, he’ll feel obligated to do so. Or, even better, he’ll feel moved to do the right thing.

-K.D.