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Missed Chapter 1? Start here.
We’re dedicating seven episodes of the Reveal podcast to the story of Billey Joe Johnson Jr., a 17-year-old Black high school student who authorities say shot himself during a traffic stop with a White deputy in Lucedale, Mississippi.
But this isn’t just the story of Billey Joe. It’s the story of how tragedies in America and the lack of justice and accountability around those tragedies create the context for the world we live in. It’s part of the reason Billey Joe’s family never believed the official story of what happened to him.
But that’s also an oversimplification.
To really understand why the Johnsons lost faith in the investigation, you have to go back to the morning Billey Joe died: Dec. 8, 2008. That morning, crime scene tape separates the Johnsons from their son’s body.
As the Johnson family tries to get answers about their son’s death, they get increasingly frustrated. They feel that law enforcement officials, from the lead investigator to the district attorney, are keeping them out of the loop. While a majority-White grand jury rules that Billey Joe’s death was accidental, members of the family believe the possibility of foul play was never properly investigated.
Does the official story add up?
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