Trailer: Beyond All Repair
2024-02-22 00:03:20
Imagine you're accused of something horrific. You swear you didn't do it, but someone says they witnessed it: your own brother. Sophia Johnson was newly married with a baby on the way when she became the prime suspect in her mother-in-law's brutal murder. WBUR's Amory Sivertson reexamines a case unsolved, a family torn apart, and the woman who wasn't believed.
WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
Did you kill Marlene Johnson?
I think you're one of the first people to have actually asked.
How could that be when you were put on trial for murder?
Because I wasn't asked, I was told.
You know, I know this happened.
We know you killed, Marlene.
Just tell me what happened.
Tell us how. Tell me what happened.
Sophia Johnson was 23 years old and newly married when she was accused of brutally murdering her mother-in-law.
Her head was beaten in with fireplace tongs.
It was shock, shock, and I'm going to sleep in jail tonight.
Sophia swears. she didn't do it, but someone says they witnessed it.
The person kind of took, it was like stalking off of their face. It turned out to be my sister.
Two siblings at odds at the center of a murder.
My brother did this to me. Just the blatant lies.
This just feels like such a, he said, she said.
And that's all we have.
For the past three years, Sophia has been telling me her side of the story, about her trial, about going into hiding, and about the son she was pregnant with when the murder happened and hasn't seen since he was born.
The only thing he will ever know is that I was accused. His grandmother is dead. This is my legacy. This is forever my legacy.
Sophia's legacy and life just seems so foobar, someone told me. F***ed up beyond all repair. Now, more than 20 years after her mother-in-law's murder, Sophia's hoping she still has time to change that legacy. The question is, is she telling the truth? Uh, I don't know.
I mean, there is nothing that comes out of the mouth of Sophia that you can believe. She played the whole damn family.
What the hell? I don't know, I feel like I got punched in the face.
I'm Anne-Marie Sievertson, and this is Beyond All Repair, a new series from WBUR and ZSP Media, about a case unsolved and unsettled.
Somebody should be in jail for murdering my sister. That's all there is to it.
A woman who's never been believed.
As long as they think I have done this, then they're not looking for who actually did this.
And that's what makes it a cold case.
No, it's a botched case.
And a search for the truth, once and for all.
All I've wanted is to know what happened, and this makes me feel like I know what happened. Wow, it just gets more interesting. Beyond All Repair, coming March 7th.
Be careful. You're digging in a place that's been very peaceful for a while.
Do it anyway. Dig.
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