Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

High-profile cases don’t stay behind the scenes anymore. Lawyers are hired before investigations are complete, advocates and private experts release their own findings, witnesses speak on podcasts, and online accusations spread long before anyone is charged with a crime.
In this episode of Zone 7, Sheryl McCollum welcomes back criminal defense attorney Joshua Schiffer to discuss how that shift is changing the criminal justice system and putting new pressure on prosecutors, investigations, witnesses, families, and potential jurors. Using the Nolan Wells investigation as an example, Sheryl and Joshua talk about outside experts, secondary autopsies, media coverage, death threats, doxing, and what can happen when people outside an investigation become involved before law enforcement has finished its work. They also explain how public statements, podcasts, and social media posts can complicate a case and potentially create reasonable doubt if it eventually reaches court.

Highlights:
(0:00) “Crazy town”: the troubling trend in high-profile cases that brings Joshua Schiffer back to Zone7
(1:00) How lawyers, GoFundMe campaigns, protests, and public pressure can begin before an investigation is complete
(6:00) The personal toll of high-profile cases on prosecutors, public defenders, investigators, and their families
(8:30) From theories accusing Lindsay Clancy’s husband to lawsuits against influencers: where true crime interest crosses into harassment and civil liability
(12:15) The Nolan Wells investigation and the outside force already influencing the case before any criminal charges are filed
(14:30) Private reports, outside experts, nonprofits, and public advocacy: when well-meaning help complicates an active investigation
(18:15) Why following police procedures matters when a defense attorney begins challenging an investigation
(20:00) Hiring a lawyer or remaining silent is a constitutional right, not an admission of guilt
(22:15) No blunt force trauma or signs of a fight: what the secondary autopsy does and does not show
(27:30) Death threats, doxing, disputed audio, and why Sheryl and Joshua question the theory of a violent death
(34:30) How podcasts, books, interviews, and social media posts can introduce reasonable doubt before a case ever reaches trial

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Joshua Schiffer is an Atlanta-based criminal defense attorney and longtime Zone 7 contributor. He represents clients in criminal matters and frequently provides legal analysis on high-profile cases, courtroom strategy, constitutional rights, and the realities of the criminal justice system.

Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an active crime scene investigator for a metro Atlanta police department and the director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, which partners with colleges and universities nationwide. With more than four decades of experience, she has worked on thousands of cold cases using her investigative system, The Last 24/361, which integrates evidence, media, and advanced forensic testing.
Her work on high-profile cases, including The Boston Strangler, Natalie Holloway, Tupac Shakur and the Moore’s Ford Bridge lynching, led to her Emmy Award for CSI: Atlanta and induction into the National Law Enforcement Hall of Fame in 2023.

Social Links:
Email: coldcase2004@gmail.com
X: @ColdCaseTips
Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
Instagram: @officialzone7podcast
TikTok: @Sheryl.McCollum

Sheryl’s new book, Swans Don’t Swim in a Sewer: Solving the Cold Case of the Flint River Killer’s Daughter, is available now wherever books are sold.
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A 10-year-old Oregon girl is safe after being abducted from her bed and discovered bound inside a duffel bag, leading to the arrest of a suspect who assaulted her older sister with a hammer. In Oklahoma and Texas, authorities confirm four-year-old Andres "Harry" Furley was fatally shot in the head by his father in a tragic murder-suicide following a missed custody exchange. An Idaho man accused of violently sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in his Tesla avoids immediate prison time after a judge sentences him to a one-year rider rehabilitation program. Sydney Silvagni reports.
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In January 2023, Duxbury, Massachusetts mother Lindsay Clancy allegedly used exercise bands to strangle her three children—five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan—in the basement of their home before jumping out of a second-story window in an attempt to take her own life, claiming postpartum psychosis and command auditory hallucinations. Following a recent criminal trial that ended in a hung jury and a mistrial—with reports that 11 of the 12 jurors favored finding her not guilty by reason of insanity—defense attorney Kevin Reddington has stunned observers by filing a Rule 25 motion for a required finding of not guilty, asserting that the Commonwealth presented insufficient evidence to prove Clancy committed the homicides at all. Nancy Grace and an all-star panel dissect this dramatic legal shift against the backdrop of Clancy’s newly filed multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit against her treating physicians and hospitals, examining how the detailed admissions embedded in her own civil pleadings completely dismantle her defense team’s latest claims.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
Josh Kolsrud (Phoenix, AZ) - Criminal Defense Attorney and Former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Founder of Kolsrud Law Offices, New Book: The Criminal Lawyer's Guide to Immigration Law, Facebook and YouTube @KolsrudLawOffices
Dr. Bethany Marshall (Beverly Hills, CA) - Psychoanalyst, Watch Dr. Marshall on hit shows "Paris in Love" on Peacock and "The Valley, Persian Style" on Bravo. You can also catch her on Netflix and Hulu as well. Host of "The Dr. Bethany Marshall Podcast", Instagram, Facebook & TikTok: @drbethanymarshall, X: @DrBethanyLive
Dr. Jessica Dwyer (Dallas, TX) - Director and Chief Medical Examiner, Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences (SWIFS), Social Media: @jessbdwyer
Penny Kmitt (Boston, MA) - Reporter WBZ / CBS Boston, Instagram, TikTok, X: @Pennylikeacoin
Dave Mack (AL) - Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories'
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Five-year-old Summer Wells vanished without a trace from her rural Hawkins County, Tennessee home in June 2021 after heading inside to play, leaving investigators puzzled by a squalid, makeshift home and dead-end searches across the Appalachian terrain. Now, the case is back in the headlines after deputies rushed to the Wells residence late at night following a panicked text to 911 from Summer's mother, Candace, who reported that her husband, Donald "Don" Wells, had assaulted her during an alcohol-fueled rage and threatened to "get rid of her." Nancy Grace and her panel of investigative and forensic experts break down Don Wells' latest arrest, his violent criminal history, the couple’s decision to sign away custody of their remaining children, and his shifting excuses as Summer remains missing.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
Jo-Anna Nieves (Oakland, CA) - Criminal defense attorney and Founder of The Nieves Law Firm, Instagram, Facebook and X: nieveslawfirm, YouTube and TikTok: thenieveslawfirm
Dr. John Delatorre (TX) - Licensed psychologist and mediator, specializing in forensic psychology, psychological consultant to Project Absentis, a non-profit organization that searches for missing persons, Twitter, IG, and TikTok: @drjohndelatorre

Chris McDonough (UT) - Director at the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective, worked over 300 Homicides in 25-year career, Trained the first Native American Homicide Task Force; & Host of YouTube channel, "The Interview Room”
Kristen Quon (Bristol, VA) - News Anchor at News 5 WCYB, website: WCYB.com, X: KristenQuon, Facebook: Kristen Quon WCYB
Dave Mack (AL) - Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories'
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In Florida, a husband is indicted for first-degree murder in his missing wife's presumed death after allegedly orchestrating an elaborate international scheme to fake her digital footprint overseas. In Southern California, an Anaheim man faces murder charges after allegedly stabbing a man to death upon discovering him in bed with his wife and two young children. In New York, tactical officers arrest a mother's ex-boyfriend after her body was discovered buried in a shallow grave near a Queens beach. Sydney Silvagni reports.
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