View in browser | Support our newsroom

THE WEEKLY REVEAL

Saturday, August 26, 2023

Hello! In this issue:

  • Our reporting leads the main investigator in Billey Joe Johnson’s death to start asking new questions.
  • We’ve got some of our favorite episodes prepped and ready for your next long drive.

THIS WEEK’S PODCAST

Mississippi Goddam Chapter 4: The Investigator

Joel Wallace (left), a former special agent with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, talks to Reveal host Al Letson. CREDIT: Jonathan Jones/Reveal

Missed earlier episodes? Start here.
 

Special Agent Joel Wallace of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate the death of Billey Joe Johnson Jr. He worked alongside two investigators from the George County district attorney’s office.

Wallace said that arrangement didn’t happen very often. And he now questions why they were assigned. “If you've got me investigating the case, then I’m an independent investigator,” he said. “But why would I need the district attorney investigator to oversee me investigating a case?”

The Johnson family was initially relieved because Wallace had experience investigating suspicious deaths. As a Black detective, he had dealt with racist backlash to his work.

Reveal host Al Letson and reporter Jonathan Jones visit Wallace, now retired, to talk about what happened with the investigation.

When Wallace finds out what Reveal has uncovered, he begins to wonder whether the case should be reopened.  

Listen to the episode
🎧 Other places to listen: Subscribe to Reveal Presents on Apple Podcasts,  Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

NEW

Road Trip Listens

Wherever you’re headed on your next trip, Reveal has episodes that will keep you engaged the whole way. Click the link to your favorite podcast app, download the episodes and you’re ready to go.

One-hour trip

My Neighbor the Suspected War Criminal: There may be 1,700 suspected war criminals and human rights abusers in the U.S. Who are they, and what is the government doing about it?
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Pandora

Six Years Separated: An investigation into how children disappear inside the U.S. immigration system.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Pandora

A Reckoning at Amazon: Everything you’ve heard in the last few years about Amazon’s dangerous quest for speed started with our groundbreaking reporting.

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Pandora

Two-hour trip

Buried Secrets (two-part series): After decades of stripping away Native American identity from its students, a Catholic boarding school seeks to help the community heal. This series was a partnership between Reveal and ICT, formerly known as Indian Country Today.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Pandora

Three-hour trip

After Ayotzinapa (three-part series): In 2014, students from a rural college in Mexico came under attack by police. Six people were killed and 43 young men disappeared without a trace. Families suspected the government was hiding the truth. Now, Reveal and the National Security Archive expose corruption at the highest levels and an unsettling connection to America’s war on drugs.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Pandora

En Español: Después de Ayotzinapa (by Adonde Media)

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Pandora

The COVID Tracking Project (three-part series): This series exposes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s bungled response to COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic and takes listeners inside the massive volunteer effort to collect data about tests, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Pandora

Four hours+ trip

American Rehab (eight-part series):Reveal exposes how a treatment for drug addiction has turned tens of thousands of people into an unpaid shadow workforce. This reporting was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.
 Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Pandora

Mississippi Goddam (seven-part series): Billey Joe Johnson Jr. dreamed of graduating high school, going to college and one day playing pro football. On a cold December morning in 2008, that future was shattered. His story is a reckoning of justice in America.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Pandora

Reveal Presents: We drop all our longer series in our Reveal Presents feed. Subscribe there and you can find American Rehab, Mississippi Goddam and After Ayotzinapa all in one place.
Apple Podcasts |  Spotify | Google Podcasts | Pandora

This kind of deep, impactful investigative work can’t happen without the dedication of our journalists and our members. Donate today.

In Case You Missed It

🎧 Locked Up: The Prison Labor That Built Business Empires
🎧 How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong
This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Kate Howard and edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend. Have some thoughts? Drop us a line with feedback or ideas!
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Donate
Copyright © 2023 The Center for Investigative Reporting. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for The Weekly Reveal newsletter.

Our mailing address is:
The Center for Investigative Reporting
PO Box 8307
Emeryville, CA 94662

Add us to your address book


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from all Reveal emails.