7 | What Does It Matter?

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Now you're in your filial. ID, Otis, for all of you. Please note, this podcast contains references to physical and sexual assault and graphic to fiction's violence. Listen to discretion, is advised.

The views and opinions expressed throughout this podcast are solely those of the individuals

expressing them. Do not necessarily align with the opinions or beliefs of the host or producers. Hey, it's Troy here. I just wanted to thank you for listening and supporting us in faith's family on the search for justice.

As you know, faith's case is selective and things are moving and shaking every day. After this episode, we're going to take a really brief break just to catch up on a few things, but don't worry, the way it won't be too long. We'll be back with episode 8 on Monday, May 25th.

“Until then, if you want to continue supporting the case, please jump on over and follow”

the justice for faith's early Facebook page. Please continue to share rate and review the show as it helps us get faith's case out to a broader audience. Today's episode is a tough one and it may be triggering for some listeners, but I think it needs to be heard.

Too often victims of sexual assault are left voiceless, not believed, or in a position where there just isn't enough evidence to support prosecution. The statistics show that nearly one and two women will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime, with more than 450,000 victims every year in the United States alone.

That's one victim every 68 seconds, and the vast majority of them will go unreported, and the ones that are reported have a very slim chance of actually making it to court, with only

“around 1,500 cases heard in federal court in the United States last year, and things”

out much better in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, or New Zealand either.

The statistics aren't just devastating, they're completely unacceptable, and the first

step-to-finding justice is reaching out and talking to someone about it. So if you or someone you know has a risk experiencing sexual assault or violence, help is available, and contact numbers for support organizations in our primary listener countries are available in today's episode next. And I will tell you that we went through some shit with Shawnee over that.

I mean, there's the level of corruption and ridiculous, it turns out that the thumb drive, that he had recorded face original video and audio statement about what happened, got lost. So that detective went out to the jail, where the guy was still in custody. Got it on recording, that he admitted to everything. And years later, New DA comes in, I sit down and have a conversation with her.

I find out that they lost that too. Are you fucking kidding me? It's no wonder you're disillusioned with law enforcement, this is ridiculous. Fucking insane. Fucking insane.

[MUSIC PLAYING] After Rosemary flags in a girl case with me and what it could mean in relation to faith's death, I call a man into filler in, but it becomes clear pretty quickly that today, it's me who's going to get an education. And the subject of it leaves me absolutely devastated.

Faith was drugged in rape two months before she was killed. After she was killed, I was dealing mainly with the homicide. Caitlyn was keeping track with sexual assault. Six months after faith died, Caitlyn got a hold of the detective over her case and it turns out that the dumb drive that he had recorded face original video and audio statement

about what happened, got lost.

It doesn't seem to matter how hard I push my brain.

“I can't begin to comprehend the pain and loss.”

Not only do you lose your daughter and have to champion the charge to find answers, or simultaneously grieving the loss of your son, I'm not earlier. But now you've got to process the fact that your daughter was also raped only a few short months before her death. Oh, and the people who are there to make sure justice gets served, at least in the assault

case. Yeah, they accidentally lost the evidence. Couldn't find it any. Well, I had a meeting with their lieutenant. And their sergeant over the detectives was present in that meeting, which was sergeant

Huey and lieutenant Reeves, and I let them know my thoughts about that. So that detective went out to the jail where the guy was still in custody, got it on recording, that he admitted to everything two years later, new DA comes in.

“I sit down and have a conversation with her.”

I found out that they lost that too. What? Yeah, Shawnee PD will have lost the recorded conversation, interview with the suspect. She outright admitted that it was absolutely the fault of Shawnee PD. And in the district attorney's office, that those pieces of evidence were not kept locked

up and stored appropriately, that they have been lost. It's early 2023, almost two full years after Faith was killed, and Amanda and Caitlin are heading in for a meeting at the Pots County District Attorney's office, to discuss Faith's sexual assault case. Searching for answers that just don't seem to want to come easily.

I'm just going to kind of like, I know you're here, obviously to talk to me about this case, and I'm going to just kind of tell you how it is. I'm not very good at like sugar coding things. I'd rather do it then.

I will tell you, can't tell me this case had come up, and I'll tell you, it's always

a hard time to recharge a case after this long of a period of time, especially this nature of case, because witnesses, their testimony, it gets worse over time and doesn't get better. Right? And memory doesn't get better over time, it gets worse. And so whenever Kevin initially told me about it, I'll tell you, I kind of had it in the

back of my mind. Like, I'm going to read this case. I'm going to have to tell the family that there's no way I could write the charge. Okay, then I write through it, and I thought this actually may be one that I could actually

“do, because there's a lot of evidence rules that I think I could use to tell her story,”

even without her, but then I talked to Kevin again about meaning with you, and she told me about some of the things that I didn't know from just reading the case, okay, such as the main detective on the case, which I do know anything about what's going on. I know detective Duncan was relieved from Shawnee PD, less suddenly. So apparently my information is that he no longer works there, because of maybe send this

contact the half inch that wouldn't take his credibility, because sometimes if you have to get a detective like there's evidence that they lied or something, I would have to disclose that that obvious is going to ruin his credibility, it's not good, right? It's not that, but it might cause like a little bit of issue for us, but the biggest issue is the recording of the interview that he did with the defendant, which is the best piece

of evidence has been lost. I met with Shawnee Police Department, it was some detectives who worked there right now and asked them to go through and look again. Then they can't find it. Right, which we were told that.

You are unique. But we were also told that that wouldn't even matter in court, it would be admissible in court. By Lieutenant Reefs. Right.

It would be admissible through, not through, okay, that it was meant thing. I'm sorry. I'm with you. Yes. So here's the part where I'm going to kind of tell you like, I am sorry, because I'm going

to tell you that in this case has been failed, like, every step of the way, by multiple people. He was failed at the police department stage because they did it. Do what they needed to do to archive the evidence and preserve it for later. It was failed by this office because whenever it was dismissed at the preliminary hearing

stage, that never should have happened and the reason that I'm told that you were offered

for that was because the witness he was in prison.

I'm not doubting that what your told was in that interview, and that's why the recording

“and I'll tell you once again, and this is just me being honest with you, blame this office”

because this is the interview that we need. And when I got this file, like, this is the, like, sleep in here, and this disk isn't in this case. So I mean, at one point in time, both the police department should have had this, at least reported, produced at least this copy, instead of, like, kept a copy within their systems,

which is what's supposed to happen in it. So this boy, this grown man, is going to get away with wiping somebody because of the

incompetence of shoney pity, is that basically sum it up?

And because I haven't ethical duty to charge cases that I think I can prove beyond a reasonable doubt to 12 people, right, not just what I know and my get to be true. So I mean, also, I don't want you to blame just shoney police to grab because I'm the one who's making, like, the bugs stops with me, okay? So I don't want you to leave this conversation thinking that, like, they made the decision,

I'm making the decision, but because we don't have the evidence that we need to pursue the prosecution. Not because it didn't exist, but because shoney police department lost it. And what about the rape kit, the saying nurse? Well, because the rape kit doesn't prove that it was not consensual.

“That's what this case is going to turn on, is it not consensual?”

That's what hip defense is going to be.

It's not going to be that he didn't have some type of sexual intercourse. It's going to be that it was consensual, not not consensual, right? Was there blood work done on her that evening that came back any kind of drug that she had said that he gave? So her blood is a kind of positive for some, and talks against yes.

Problem is that the DNA can extend 72-ish hours before, like when it's taken. So we can't prove when the drugs were ingested versus when the sexual intercourse happened, and kind of her level of intoxication when the rape happened. The only two people who know what happened in that window that's not before and after are the defendant and your daughter who's not here to tell us.

If she were here to tell us, I would be filing this case for sure, not a question.

And it would be supported by even as bad as I think it might be, the detective who I would

make come in and we would deal with what we had with him. But we don't have any one to testify for that period of time where we don't have someone. What about that Brandon Dudes mother? He's the one that brought her into his said he got the medicine, the aspirin from her. What does she said?

She doesn't say it. That's not part of the case. I don't know what you're talking about. But I have a copy of the original report. Faith was dropped off, she went in, aspirated for some aspirin because she had a headache.

He went said he went to his mother and got the medicine from the mother and gave it to her. Turns out that was a drug, according to the Shawnee PD, who also told me when they interviewed him at the jail, he stated he got the aspirin from his mother. So what does his mother said? So that's not in the report that I have, I'm happy to read it to you.

He said that Brandon's story is that it was when someone else went to get the Narcon that he did what he did. That's the part that is missing and nobody can sing defined. A few days later, Amanda receives a call from the District Attorney's office with, for once, some good news.

Did you do some attorney's office? Yes, this is Amanda Langston, I'm returning a call from Kim Witten. I'm sure one moment. Hi, Kim, this is Amanda Langston, I'm returning your phone call. I just wanted to let you know, when he met with Lori last week, she told you that

Shawnee Police Department, looking for that recording of the interview, well, they found it. Which one? The one with face that they lost for the one with Brandon that they lost.

“I believe it's the one with Brandon that they lost.”

Okay, that's the one that she was really wanting anyway. Yes. So, you want to get it reached out to you and let you know that it's been found in her possession. She needs a couple days to review it and then once she reviewed it and can see what information

that it holds. No, nobody. Stay in her possession now.

Fantastic.

“And so, once she reviewed it and then can, you know, see if it's got everything we need,”

then I'll call you guys and have you come back in and then we'll sit down and she'll

talk to you about whether it has what we need to be able to charge this. Okay, but I just want to let you know she said that she would let you guys know if it was ever found and it was found and she does have it to review it. So, you'll be here and from you soon. I'm probably going to have you guys come back in so she can talk to you about what everything

entails. Well, I'm glad that it's in her possession now. Yes. She has it in her possession. Yeah, I feel like maybe after talking with her that she's got, it's going to, she's

going to make sure that it stays in evidence. So, yes, and really glad to have met her.

“Well, I'm glad and I hated the circumstances that you had to be here the other day, but”

I promise you the best she's going to make the best decision to be able to live on this forward. She's probably over the last, you know, couple years the best one who's been able to look at it. So, before it was charged, it's going to be definitely in good hands.

Good. Bad. Well, thank you for letting us know about that. The mandate continues searching for answers and accountability. In a conversation with Captain Goss and Sergeant Hughie, from Shawnee Police Department.

Hello? Hi, Captain Goss. How are you, man? I've been better. I really have been.

This is the reason for my complaint. My daughter, Faith Ely, was sexually assaulted in January of 2021. My same daughter was murdered March 28th, 2021. Okay. Shawnee PD had six months after her death, we learned that Shawnee PD had lost.

Officer Duncan had lost the only audio visual recording of an interview he had done with Faith before her death. Then, the officer Duncan then went out to the jail and interviewed the suspect with approximately six months later, we learned from Detective Duncan that he had lost the only interview he had done with my daughter about the rape case.

Then, we find out he went out to the jail, he interviewed the suspect recorded the whole interview. We just recently found out last month from the District Attorney's Office that that piece of evidence also got lost. So therefore, according to the Assistant District Attorney Ms. McConnell, she has no chance of prosecuting the case, absolutely took accountability for the District Attorney's Office

having failed and also stated that Shawnee Police Department had failed my daughter's case every single step of the way. What I don't understand is, how is it two pieces of evidence?

The crucial evidence, what I was told, gets lost in the same case by the same department.

Yeah, now I'll be frustrated as well. This last piece of evidence for the second interview, I don't even know what to tell you as far as the first interview that Detective Duncan said, if he had told you that he couldn't find, this last piece was we usually have a way that we were applies to all of our detective's store-all of our interviews so that they're easily accessible, and so we scouted over and

over and over again, looking for that, and he slid it into a different area that we normally don't put anything.

“And that's what the problem was, and so as far as moving forward on, it's try to make sure”

our detectives are saving things in the right places, the same places, so that all of us have access to being one of my moves. Okay.

It's the first king, sir, it gets lost, I agree with you, I'll be very frustrated as

well. I'm extremely frustrated because that's not an interview that can ever be done again. Right. Yep, I agree. You know, and my further concern is for other women, young girls, even young boys, who

experience the same thing, and they, because of improper procedures, their cases won't get prosecuted either, and then they're walking around with knowing their rapist is free. That's just unacceptable.

being out free, free of charges, free of trial, and free to do it again. Well, we're still a little loosely found that video, like I said, I apologize for it. The place where it is, we make sure with our detectives, we have now the detectives done because we're not at the detectives right now, and you won't be at the detectives with

us, and it was a silk deal, I don't, like I said, I can't say what up with that first

interview at all, the second interview, it was just, it was simply for the place where we don't want to do it, but as far as moving forward, as I've heard with you, I don't want to see any other, any other person to get that at all, be able to, to be victimized and not get any answers for it, because we lost interviews, we would dress that with our detectives to make sure they're getting safe in the same spot, so that even those 30 years from now

will be able to access that interview, and I'm going to bring it with you, so we've got to, please be done in a better job, and most of the time, and I'm not an option of the time, the interviews are easily accessible, it's just as warm, it was placed at a

“different spot that we, we don't, we don't put it, and so that's why it was difficult”

for us to find it, it took as long as it did for us to find it, and we're talking about

first steps to make sure that this doesn't happen again, 'cause, you know, when we

into that finding out that that video was missing, you know, we were devastating for you guys, because that's about how we wanted to go, and it does matter to us, that the person that did is to think it's prosecuted, so we're still working on the case now that we're able to find a video, I bet it contacts with Laurie McConnell, and we're connecting a couple more interviews in resumitting this to Laurie for, for

for Charges to be filed on it. Can I ask another question, I have the statement, the written incident report from Detective Duncan that he took with faith, and she mentioned in that incident report that Mr. Alahe went and got, she had asked for some aspirin cashia to headache, and that he went and asked his mother, however, Miss McConnell was not aware of any of that, has

anything been, has anyone followed up on what the mother says about it, was she there?

“Yeah, that's what we have a detective following up, they were, they spoke to Brandon and”

they spoke to the mother on separate occurrences last week, and I don't have the report from this all know exactly what statement that the detective Duncan got when she was talking to your daughter, so I can't, I don't know what I was in that round of the top of my head, but I do know that we're one of the interviews who still need to conduct his with Brandon's mother.

Okay, have she, Miss McConnell, given you in the indication that Charges will be refiled? There's an opportunity for that, absolutely. She wouldn't have given us, well we talked to Miss McConnell, we talked to Lori, there was a task, that's the step that she wanted for us to follow up on, and I don't really see what happened to us following up on it, if she wasn't looking for the opportunity

to repy along this case. Okay, well I wanted to vocalize my concerns and my issues with the shocked police department had had done in her case, and I sincerely hope that you guys are working to make sure that doesn't happen to anybody else. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, we are, and I said, we apologize that this got misplaced

the late day, it's not anything we're trying to do, it's not something that's a normal around here, but there are the steps to make to ensure that it's not happening to anybody else anymore, and still trying to work like right now, we've got to investigate it, it's working to follow up on all the stuff that the Dishon 30s office needs for face case.

Okay, okay, thank you Sergeant Huey and thank you Captain Goss for returning my phone call and answering my questions and listening to my concerns. Well, just know that this case with you daughter is a priority to us, so we're still

“working on it and we're going to have a look at the power, are you okay?”

I'm very glad to hear that you guys haven't forgotten about her, because we certainly haven't. We're still working for it. So who is this guy that the perpetrator? Oh, his name is a branded, he got convicted in and since to 25 years.

Well, he's appealing based on tribal, that the state under McGurrick, the state of local home, that has no jurisdiction to prosecute him. His problem is, is he what? What's his name? He's a Native American member, but the crime did not occur within those five civilized

tribes and boundary lines. Right. Gotcha, okay. But he got 25 years. What made them decide 25 years was because he said, well, she's dead now, what is it

That's what got in 25.

“There's a reason why I don't have any kind of faith.”

I mean, two different cases in two different counties, three different law enforcement investigators and they've all fucked up. It's unbelievable.

And then Brad hits me with the whole, this is, this was never a hit and run.

I put the fuck are you talking about? So yeah, we've been through some shit the last five years. Thankfully in Faith's case, Justice prevailed, and the perpetrator, subject to the outcome of his appeal, was convicted and jailed for 25 years.

“Well, it's great to finally see the Justice system working.”

What Faith's family had to go through to get there was nothing short of exhausting.

And the most heartbreaking part of it all was, by the time they did, Faith wasn't alive

to see it happen. But at least it was served. One down, one to go. In the wake of it all, while I'm still trying to process what Amanda has shared with me, and the absolute chitcho of a rollercoaster ride she had to go on to get the evidence.

My phone rings.

“It's Amanda again, but now she shifted gears.”

And from everything she has to say, it sounds like we're just about to jump right into

the eye of a hurricane. We had a one gentleman called Caitlyn, he called the new station after the last report, who then called Caitlyn and Caitlyn talked to this gentleman. And I mean, he, you could tell me, I felt he was intoxicated, or if he had like a speech and a bit of it, not judging, but he talked to us specifically about Faith's case, but he

did not hold back on names. It's a drug dealers and we woke up, King pins and we woke up, law enforcement officers in we woke in similar county who cover up for them. I mean, he would just give us all the team. Faith's case is still open, and her killer or killers have not yet been brought to justice.

If you know anything about Faith, her death or those who may be responsible, we'd like to hear from you. Please visit ecospaced.media/tips, and either leave a voicemail or send us a message. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at BluntForce Drama Podcast. If you're enjoying this podcast, please consider our subscriber optional Apple podcasts,

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BluntForce Drama is a production of Echo Space, written and hosted by Troy Taylor. Executive producers of Troy Taylor, Mark Terrulli, and Fred Scherzer. Our main theme song is "Lose My Mind" by Maya David Off, and the show also contains audio content from movie gratis.