i still remember that day. it's just something i'll never forget. >> it's 2018, and pulitzer prize winning author gilbert king, widely acclaimed for his writing about criminal justice reform, is travelling to naples, florida. >> circuit judges were having a conference, and they asked me to speak. >> as he began speaking, i was very quickly blown away. and all i can think about is, if i have my way, he has no idea what he's in for. >> i just remember sitting there and signing books, and judge scott cupp, who i didn't know, came up to me. >> i take out my business card,

and i write "leo schofield." >> he handed me a card and i flipped it over, it said, leo schofield and had his florida prison number. and it said, in quotes -- >> not just wrongfully convicted, he's an innocent man. >> he starts telling me about leo's story. how in february 1987, when leo schofield was 21 years old, his 18-year-old wio was convict. leo claimed he was innocent from day one, and he still maintains his innocence. and then he told me something that just absolutely shocked me. he said, there's another man who's forensically tied to the crime scene who has confessed. i sit down and start reading, and i can't stop. i would end up spending the next three and a half years of my life doing what judge cupp was hoping i'd do -- a thorough investigation into the leo schofield case.

>> i've interviewed a lot of people in prison. most people will tell you when they're behind bars that they're not guilty. even that they're innocent. what makes you different? >> it's true. it's absolutely true. innocent is no part in it, no plan in it. didn't know it was happening, didn't know it was going to happen, and didn't want it to happen. that is me. i am 100% innocent of michelle's mrder. >> who is leo schofield? >> i like to say this, that i'm an ordinary man. there's nothing extraordinary about me. the circumstances may be extraordinary but i'm -- i'm an idealistic dreamer. i always have been. >> leo grows up in fall river, massachusetts. >> his family in the early '80s moves down to central florida,

to lakeland. >> lakeland is located literally in between tampa and orlando. it's right on interstate 4. it's the cornerstone of polk county. >> if you go into central florida, it becomes very rural and very much like the deep south. leo immediately doesn't fit in. he's got the long hair. he's got that new england accent. >> it was very tough because i grew up in a project in massachusetts from the age of 7, and i missed it as soon as we left. >> what had been your dream? what did you want to become? >> and all my life, i wanted to be a rock 'n' roll guitar player. that's all i ever wanted to do. >> we all like music and used to get together and jam. he was a good guitarist for sure. >> he had a cute smile, and i think that would probably melt some of those little teenage girls' hearts.

>> in 1985, leo met 16-year-old michelle saum. unlike leo, she was born and raised in lakeland, florida. >> michelle was my older sister. my earliest memories about michelle were that she was always happy. she was just so easygoing, you know? and people just loved to be around her. >> i met michelle in the fourth grade, and we became best friends almost instantly. michelle was very playful, just a really fun person. >> she really liked to sing. she really liked music. one of her favorites was pat benatar. she would always be singing her songs. >> jumping around doing, "hit me with your best shot." of course that was the '80s. ♪ hit me with your best shot fire away ♪ >> we always made time to goof around. >> what was your first impression of michelle when you -- when you met her?

>> she was just absolutely stunningly beautiful. first time i saw her, i thought, wow. she was always, always happy. always smiling. >> at what point did you fall in love with her? >> that minute, that second i walked in the room. >> my first impressions of leo, he was a little bit cocky, a little macho. >> he was very different from what i was used to seeing her with. a little more of the bad boy. >> leo and michelle get married in august of 1986. they'd really only known each other about six months. >> their wedding happened so fast that it was like, wow. it really surprised me. i was like, dang, man, this is in high gear. >> michelle and leo's wedding was at a small church in lakeland. it was beautiful. i was the maid of honor, so i was the only one that walked down with her. oh, here's one. this was the most recent picture of her before she passed.

i haven't seen it in a while so i apologize. this is the bouquet that i carried during michelle's wedding. her bouquet was just like this only bigger. it was just a very good memory. >> this is your wedding picture. what do you see in this photograph? >> the happiest day of my life, easily. i was so, so excited that day. i remember watching her walk down the aisle dressed like that, thinking, i'm actually marrying this girl. this girl is going to be my wife. >> i think michelle and leo struggled together, but they dreamed together about where they would be down the road. >> leo and michelle were living in this neighborhood called combee settlement. a lot of trailer parks.

they were trying to make the >> they were trying to make the ends meet. >> leo didn't finish high school. he dropped out, and he started doing some kind of odd jobs. michelle, like leo, she dropped out of high school. >> she was a waitress. >> leo was trying to be a family man. leo was used to driving his motorcycle around. now he's got this mazda station wagon. >> my arguments about michelle were 9 times out of 10 about the car. she didn't have a license, she had a permit. but i had to let her drive the car anyway. >> february 24th, 1987, the day that everything changed. >> everything changed. >> the night before, leo and michelle had slept at the home of his band mate buddy anderson. >> leo went to work, said goodbye to michelle. she had the mazda that leo and michelle shared. >> she was working at a new place called tom's restaurant.

michelle's shift is going to end around 8:00 p.m. and they agree beforehand that they're going to meet over at buddy's house. >> she was supposed to meet me back there at 8:00 that night when she got off. >> but 8:00 comes, and there's no word from michelle. >> it wasn't until 9:45 p.m. that you heard from michelle? >> right. 9:45, michelle called. she told me she made $13 in tips. she got $3 worth of gas. wanted to know if i wanted her to get something from mcdonald's, and i said no, just pick me up. >> he says, "meet me over at vince's house," anotherfriend of theirs. >> so, the last thing i got to say to her was, i love you. >> she said it back? >> yeah. oh, yeah. >> he starts waiting for michelle. >> i expected her no longer than 10:00. >> 15 minutes pass. 30 minutes pass. an hour passes. michelle has still not shown up. >> how much time needs to go by

before you begin to start getting panicky? >> polk county sheriff's office, operator 53, can i help you? >> yes, i need to talk to somebody about finding my wife. she was supposed to be the one. i used to believe in the one. and then i realized, there's plenty of savings in the sea. what? amazon has daily deals, so every day is a chance to meet the deal that catches your eye, that shakes your soul, that changes your destiny. i'm gonna go check on those tater tots. learn all the ways to save with amazon. when moderate to severe ulcerative colitis persists... put it in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when uc got unpredictable,... i got rapid symptom relief with rinvoq. check. when uc held me back... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc got the upper hand...

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the name of my podcast is "bone valley." bone valley is a region in central florida that's known as a hotbed for fossils. it's also the area where michelle schofield went missing. four years after judge cupp handed me that business card, who knew that i'd be sitting here working on a nine-part podcast series? it's the evening of february 24th, 1987. michelle has yet to show up at vince's house. minutes turn into hours. still no michelle. >> this is where michelle worked.

>> right. this is tom's restaurant. she clocked off at 8:00 p.m., and that was her last shift. 9:45 p.m., she made a phone call from right on the side of that gas station. >> how long would it have taken for michelle to leave that phone booth right there to where she was picking up leo? >> it's only a few miles away. she should've been there within 15 minutes. >> but she never showed up. >> she never showed up. >> i expected her no later than 10:00. and that's the thing -- there's no way michelle calls me at 9:45 and says she's coming to get me, and then not doing it. >> so, she was an hour and a half, at least, past when she should've been there? >> already. already. so, i called my dad. my dad said, "well, wait a few more minutes. and if she doesn't show up, call me back." and i call my dad back at midnight and i tell him, "she's not here. you need to come get me." so, i had my father take me down the road she would have had to have driven. >> they drive by tom's restaurant, sparky's gas station, and leo and michelle's trailer. >> and no sign of her?

>> no sign of her, the car. nothing. we went all the way to my house. the lights were off. the car wasn't there. i didn't even stop. we came back to vince's house. >> not a trace of her. >> not a trace. i was really, really scared for her, because somethings not right. now we're hours late, and nobody knows where she's at. and nobody -- we can't find the car anywhere. so, i make a missing person's report at 12:43 in the morning. >> polk county sheriff's office, operator 53, can i help you? >> yes, i need to talk to somebody about finding my wife. she's four and a half hours late coming home from work, and she only lives ten minutes away from her job. i'm really worried about her. i called the hospital and she hasn't -- there hasn't been no accident tonight. >> he's on hold, and he's still being recorded, and he's talking to his friend vince. >> i doubt very seriously she's just [ bleep ] around somewhere. if she is, god help her. but god, you don't know what she's like. she does this to me all the

time, i can't stand it. i hate this feeling, [ bleep ] hate it. if there's nothing wrong with her, she should call. she should call me, you know? she was on her way here. that's why i'm tripping out, man. it's not like her to do this. >> and you hear distress in his voice. >> if they find her, they'll tell her to get in touch with you right away. >> thank you very much, ma'am. and the night doesn't get any better from there. i went to her dad's house. woke him up and asked if he had seen her. >> he was upset. he was smoking a lot of cigarettes. he's pacing around. and that's when he told my dad that he couldn't find michelle. it kind of caught me off guard. >> david saum decides to go out and search for his daughter. >> leo takes off with his mother. they see two patrol cars parked in a gas station. he goes over to the officers. >> asking them if they had the missing person report. they didn't, so i gave them the whole story. >> what's your emotional state of mind through all this? >> i'm not ashamed to tell you i

was terrified something bad happened to her. this wasn't right. this felt wrong from the beginning. she's not going to be out driving around by herself in the middle of the night. i was terrified. >> i was working at a grocery store. leo walked straight up to my register and he said, "do you know where michelle is? she didn't come home all night last night." so, i walked up to the office and said, i have to go. my best friend's missing. >> a search party starts to take shape. parents, both families, friends, they drive the streets around combee and expand into other parts of lakeland. >> so, this frantic search goes for michelle goes on for two days, but there's no sign of her until at last, there's a new lead. >> one of leo's friends is on his way home from work when he spots what he thinks is leo and michelle's mazda. >> before you know it, the police have descended on the car. >> the car, we found out later, has been disabled. >> part of the stereo and the speakers are missing.

>> they also see a downy bottle in the back of the car that has what appears to be a blood smear on it. what turns out to be michelle's blood, but there's no michelle and there's no obvious signs where she might be. >> they were searching for her everywhere. >> leo senior starts telling people that he had this premonition, a vision from god. >> some kind of epiphany as to where he ought to look. >> i have never encountered anything like that. never before that, never since. ms tries to stop me. ms is like riding into headwinds, but i keep pushing forward. does ms define me? no, it does not. i take ocrevus, an infusion treatment that's two times a year. a prescription for adults with relapsing or primary progressive forms of multiple sclerosis, ocrevus is proven effective in reducing relapses in rms, and slowing disability progression, and reducing brain lesions in rms and ppms. don't take ocrevus if you've had a life-threatening allergic reaction to it, or have hep b. tell your doctor about vaccinations

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when michelle first disappeared, we learned that she was 18 years old. nobody really had any idea what might have happened to her. >> i just felt like that she was just going to magically come back and be like, oh, i was staying with a friend.

or, i just had to get away from leo, or whatever. and things were just going to be normal again. and a few days after that, it's just, you realize, oh, my god, dude, they really can't find her. >> at this point, michelle has been missing for three days. >> it's a really slow, painstaking search. leo and his family and friends, they get up at the crack of dawn, and basically, what they do is they start where the mazda was found on interstate 4. and they decide they're going to break up at this point. leo's father takes the area closest to i-4. leo and michelle's best friend, go further down state road 33. >> and it just hits me. we're looking for michelle in the ditch. what do we expect to find? >> you were looking for her body. >> i was looking for her body. by that point, i didn't feel like whatever has happened was good.

>> and then, it's close -- getting close to noon, and leo sees a sheriff's car speed right by, and then another sheriff's car, lights flashing. and they start following the path of that second squad car. and leo keeps going faster and faster till he gets to the spot. >> he jumps out of the driver's seat and starts running towards the crowd where the police were. >> i saw my dad coming out of the tree line with his hands in his face. >> and you knew. >> and i knew. and i knew. he kept telling me, she's gone. and i'm in denial. what do you mean she's gone? >> it turns out that leo's father was the one that located the body first. >> he finds michelle's body back in a canal, a little bit off of state road 33. >> michelle was found floating face down, still wearing

her uniform from tom's restaurant. she's got a long piece of plywood that's resting on her back, partially covering her. >> i don't know exactly what i felt, but it was beyond despair. >> there's actually a picture of you near where she was found. >> that man right there is totally lost right there. i was so angry at god in that moment. i ripped my shirt off. i punched a tree, punched the ground, was pulling grass out of the ground. and i -- and i cursed god. >> they found out that michelle has been stabbed 26 times. >> my dad couldn't even talk. and my mom told me, you know, they found her. and so, you know, that was -- that was a -- that was a really dark day.

>> it was horrible. i was like -- i mean, i was just -- i was just -- ugh. >> >> the following day after michelle's body was found, you see, you know, a newspaper story, but it's not front page or anything. they didn't have a suspect. it was just a case under investigation. >> i was really -- just really confused about the whole thing. and i'm like, who on planet earth would want to hurt this girl? >> when you look at the body of michelle schofield, she was not sexually assaulted. >> robbery seems unlikely because she still has rings on her fingers that were not taken. >> this was a crime of emotion, of violence. this wasn't just, "i'm going to kill you, a stab, and walk off, or even two. 26 stabs. three of which were in the back. >> certainly one reasonable interpretation of that is that

this was somebody that was very angry with her. you're going to start looking at people that are -- that are closer in her life. >> your father, leo senior, told people that he had a premonition or an inner force that led him to the discovery, ultimately, of michelle's body. tell me about that. >> um, yeah, that's true. >> the defendant's dad receives a message from god. some kind of epiphany as to where he ought to look. and sure enough, guess what? he goes virtually straight to the body. >> and i think there was a lot of question about how was he able to just walk to that if he and his son were not involved in her death? >> it was part of a methodical search that had been broken up from i-4 and then turning down, trying to retrace the route. >> police thought it was suspicious. >> well, and police would think that's suspicious. but the way he explained it to

me was he wasn't trying to say that, you know, god drove the car or anything like that. he just felt like god helped him, you know, have the strength. >> leo's father denied having anything to do with michelle's murder. >> when police speak with michelle's neighbors and friends, they find red flags about leo. >> leo had a very jealous streak when it came to michelle. >> they were all painting a very similar story that leo and michelle had a volatile relationship. >> he said, shut up. i hate you. i'll kill you, you bitch. and i couldn't believe that she was going to let somebody do that to her. for people living with h-i-v, keep being you. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day

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>> tell me where we are right now. >> we are at the scene of where my best friend michelle's body was found. you just don't imagine that's what's going to happen. i didn't really feel like she was gone. i felt like she was still here, but she wasn't. it was rough. >> did you avoid this area? >> i have for many, many years. it's really hard because, you know, i think of the alive michelle, and she was so alive. and the fact that this is where she ended up, this is where her life ended, possibly, is -- is a horrible, horrible way to end a beautiful life. >> in the very beginning, there was a lot of sympathy for leo. people perceived him as the grieving husband.

>> he appeared to be very sad, very distraught. he would, from time to time, just lose it, you know? just be like, "i can't believe somebody did this to her." >> but police are becoming suspicious of leo. a disturbing picture is emerging of leo and michelle's relationship. >> there were stories about loud arguments in the trailer. leo screaming at michelle. some noises that sounded like slaps. red marks on michelle's face. stories of leo dragging michelle by the hair. >> some of the guys that used to come around would like hit on michelle, because she was a cutie, and i think that he didn't like that, so i think that triggered his jealousy. >> he was very impatient. when she was supposed to be somewhere, she better be early, don't be late. the one time that i remember

most significantly, he grabbed her by the top of her hair and jerked her to the floor and drug her from the living room to the bedroom. and leo said to michelle, "shut up. i hate you. i'll kill you, bitch." and i could hear them screaming and hollering. >> i went in to check on her and she was down beside the -- she was down beside the bed, between the bed and the wall still laying there, crunched up with her arms over her head. and i said, i know he hit you. i heard it. and she said, no, he didn't. and i said, yes, he did michelle. you know he did. >> that just did not happen like that. it really honest and truly did not happen like that. physical abuse is one type of abuse, and then you have the emotional abuse, which i'm guilty of. i did a lot of yelling.

i did a lot of screaming, and i wasn't beyond punching a wall and being very theatrical. >> then police have a pivotal conversation with one of his neighbors. >> tell me where we are right now. this is a very important place. >> back in 1987, leo schofield and his wife michelle lived in this trailer, and across the street was a very fundamental witness, alice scott. >> she saw things from this trailer from hers. >> right, she said she was in a bathroom window. she heard a noise at night. >> and she sees the two of them get out of a vehicle and go inside their mobile home. she then hears a real fight. they're really carrying on. >> and she said she saw leo come out carrying something heavy, a heavy object that he loaded into the back of the mazda and drove off. >> was it the police's presumption that that heavy object was michelle's body? >> that was what was implied at

the time. and with that testimony, this made the trailer the scene of the crime where michelle was supposedly killed. >> what alice does to leo's story is she contradicts what leo claims. leo claims he's looking for michelle. alice says he's not looking for michelle, he's killing michelle. that's essentially what she's saying. >> how critical was alice's testimony about what she saw that night? >> she was absolutely the crux of the case. she was the only witness who saw anything that night that could place leo at technically the scene of the crime. with that single statement, alice scott puts the investigation's focus squarely on leo. >> the investigation is continuing. and over a year later, police speak to other neighbors, mary and randy laffoon, who tell police their account of what they saw the morning that michelle went missing. >> in the morning, there are

some folks, husband, wife. they're delivering newspapers. >> they say that they saw the mazda and they saw leo senior's little blue pickup truck. >> out by the place where michelle was found. >> this, along with alice scott's account, lead to an indictment. in june of 1988, police arrest leo for michelle's murder. no charges are brought against leo's father. >> the prosecutor maintained that leo just lost his temper and stabbed michelle 26 times. then he carried her out to the car and reached out to his father, and that's how they ended up out by the canal on state road 33. >> it was in the newspaper. i said, oh, my gosh, david. they arrested leo for michelle's death. i was like, you don't think he did it, do you? that was the first thing that came out of my mouth. >> i think it shocked everybody.

and we were like, oh, wow. like, wait a minute, now. hold on a second. they've been married for like six months or something. how does -- like, why would he want to kill her? >> did you kill your wife, michelle? >> absolutely not. >> he's represented by probably one of the best defense lawyers in central florida at that time, jack edmonds. >> he's known as just being a really charming guy who's well loved by juries. but he liked to shoot from the hip in the courtroom. so the night before trial is the night that he actually meets leo for the first time. he's going up against a really aggressive and effective prosecutor by the name of john aguero. >> john aguero had an electric-chair lapel pin. >> old sparky, florida's electric chair. he's going for the death penalty whenever he can get it. >> one of the things that never made sense to me was the timeline, the state's timeline.

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the trial was definitely a big story for the "ledger." anytime there's a first degree murder case, and particularly in this case, leo schofield faced the death penalty if he was convicted. >> in his opening statement, prosecutor john aguero asks, what kind of person is leo schofield? his answer, leo schofield is a very violent young man. >> the state brought up 21 witnesses who basically testified about leo's character and his temper. he smashes things, screams at michelle.

gets physical with her. >> and story after story, we hear about violent temper tantrums by leo. he had a favorite cup that he used to like to drink iced tea out of, and she brought him his iced tea in the wrong cup, so he punched her in the stomach. >> none of it's good, but is it evidence that leo murdered michelle? no. never arrested. it's noise. it's not motive. >> this was a homicide committed in rage. >> the state called 21 witnesses. >> 21 character witnesses, right. >> most of them described your temper. >> right. >> and some of them described actually witnessing physically abusive behavior. pulling her hair, punching her. did those things occur? >> let me say this unequivocally. that never happened. i have never pulled her hair. i have never punched her. i never abused her. that never happened. >> why do you think they testified that it did? >> i don't know why people lie. they do.

i know that they have. in this case, they did. i know that the state has described the relationship as volatile and violent. it was not volatile and violent. it was a very loving, passionate relationship that had moments, because of me. and i live with that every single day. >> they present this case of a man who was just about to explode and he just had to find his wife that night, and -- and he was going to kill her. >> i remember walking into the courtroom. i just wanted to stare him down, you know? >> michelle truax, michelle's best friend, testifies about something suspicious she said leo told her some months after the murder. >> leo just said, kind of out of the blue, i could have blacked out and killed her and i would never even know it. and i was just floored. like, why would a person even think that could have happened in their life?

>> they do put leo on the stand. he admits to slapping michelle twice, but he basically says, but i didn't kill my wife. >> the state has presented her as a victim, and she was a victim of a cruel and heinous crime, but not one committed by her husband. i'm not charged with being a bad husband. i'm charged with murder. >> leo's friends thought they would have the opportunity to testify on leo's behalf. >> we were told that we were going to be character witnesses. >> and then his lawyer decided not to use us. >> he says, i don't need to. he kind of assured us that he thought he had it all sewn up and he wouldn't need us. >> the main argument from the defense is the lack of physical evidence connecting leo to the murder. >> the state's theory of the case was that leo murdered his wife and stabbed her multiple times in their trailer. >> you take a knife and you stab somebody violently 26 times, there's going to be blood

everywhere. the defense argued that there was no conclusive evidence of blood in the trailer. >> you wouldn't be able to get rid of that blood if you wanted to. you'd be covered in it. but he wasn't. there were no bloody clothes. >> no injuries to his hands, no nicks, nothing. >> the prosecution points back to their key witness, leo's neighbor, alice scott. on the stand, she testifies about something she says she saw on the day michelle went missing. >> so, alice testified that the next day, she saw leo bringing a carpet cleaner into this trailer. >> right. and she said he brought in the carpet cleaner. he left the door open. so she said, i could actually see him cleaning the carpet with the carpet cleaner. and this became a very important part of the testimony. >> we knew that he had that cleaner to clean up the rug. he spent some time in there doing that. what he may or may not have done with his clothing, i don't know. it was his home. he had the ability to either get

rid of or wash that type thing. >> of course, when the crime scene technicians came here and they examined the carpet, they said, "there's no sign that this carpet was freshly cleaned." >> leo's whereabouts throughout the night is yet an another important part of the trial. >> there were people who had seen leo uring the course of the night and could identify where he was at certain times. >> it also depended on some other things which were in the record. the phone call, the visit to michelle's father, and the police officers that leo and his mother talked to early in the morning. >> the defense argued that alice scott could not have observed what she said she did. based on the timeline in her testimony, leo would have been exiting his trailer carrying michelle's body at around 2:15 a.m. but he was seen at michelle's dad's house at around 2:30 a.m. >> there was also an issue with the timeline.

>> he was all the way across town, which would've given him 15 minutes to leave here. he would've had to go and call his parents, switch vehicles. he would've had to clean himself up because he went straight from here, carrying michelle out. it doesn't add up. it doesn't make sense. >> in any case that you've looked at, you're going to find some discrepancies with witness testimony. it's human. i don't think any witness was looking at their watch saying, there's leo. i think they were being as honest as they could be in approximating exactly what they observed. >> the main thrust of the defense case was that there were too many questions and those questions led to reasonable doubt. >> there were two sets of fingerprints that were located in the mazda. and none of them matched leo, leo senior, or michelle. they were just these unidentified fingerprints. so at the very end, in his closing argument, jack edmund says, wouldn't you like to know if someone else's fingerprints were found in that mazda?

>> i just remember it seemed like it took them forever to say the words guilty or not guilty. >> the verdict was guilty as charged of first-degree murder. >> were you expecting a guilty verdict? >> no. >> what was your reaction? >> i remember my head hitting the table. i was devastated. i begged my attorney, don't let them kill me in the electric chair. >> leo was spared the death penalty, and he was given life in prison instead. >> the story of michelle's murder doesn't end with leo's conviction. in fact, the story is just beginning. the painful truth is, someone else's fingerprints were found in the mazda. >> the answer was right there underneath everybody's noses. >> this was huge. this was the turning point. we had the information now. we had physical evidence that matched somebody.

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>> we are at the scene of where my best friend michelle's body was found. >> michelle was found floating facedown. >> this was a crime of emotion, of violence. 26 stabs. >> oh, many i gosh, they arrested leo for michelle's death. you don't think he did it, do you in. >> i knew then the same thing i who now -- leo is an incident man. >> what the state said is not lining up, and what he said lines up, exactly. >> you actually came to a major discovery. >> there were finger prints found in the car. >> these finger prints have never been identified. >> now you have a literal

smoking gun. you couldn't ask for more. >> if you didn't kill your wife michelle, who did? >> i didn't mean to kill michelle schofield. >> i never,ever thought that this would be my story and my life. i had graduated from university of florida with a bachelor's in sociology. a couple years later, i went to work as a state probation officer. i went from traveling, doing things, friends, to now spending my weekends in prison. that was not something that i had planned. but here it is, and it's my life. and i realized, just now, today is our 31st anniversary from when we met.

like if i tell him i'm going to be there at 10:30, and if i am not there, he'll start to get worried and start pacing and get really nervous and then try to get me on the phone. all right, well let me hang up, 'cause i'm turning in. all right, love you. all right, bye. i'm crissie carter schofield. i'm married to leo schofield. my husband did not kill his first wife. i absolutely 100% know that, because i know him. and i've looked at the case. it's impossible. >> take me back to when you first met leo. >> i was 31. he was 25. i was a teacher at the college in the prison, and leo was an

inmate. he was assigned to me as my aide to help facilitate the class and make sure i was safe. >> i saw crissie for the first time. she was 31-years-old, and she was absolutely stunning. >> tell me about the impact crissie has had on you. >> crissie helped me become a man. she believes in me. she supports me, and she allows me and taught me how to support her. >> our relationship progressed from coworker, so to speak, to more personal information. and then i started asking a little bit more questions about his case. >> at one point, you know, there's that uncomfortable topic of, like, "why are you here?" and leo says, i was convicted of killing my wife. i'm an innocent man. >> did you believe him right away?

>> no. but i didn't not believe him. >> you didn't think that he was the guy who seemed like he'd be capable of murdering his wife? >> no. somewhere along the way, maybe three, four months into this, i went to the courthouse. and i started looking and researching. >> she becomes a great researcher and great investigator. she really starts getting documents and starts reading through the case. >> and i'm like, what the state said is not lining up, and what he's saying lines up exactly. i'm like, okay, yeah, yeah. he's innocent. >> and where does it go from you maybe being a crusader and a good friend, to saying, i actually like this guy. [ laughter ] >> yeah. maybe it was about seven months, eight months into it where i

said, oh, i like him. >> she said, i met someone. and i said, well, who is he? and she said, well, he's a prisoner. >> so, my friend synda worked at the sheriff's office at the time. >> i said, okay, well my next question is, what is he in for? and she said, murder. and i said, who? and she goes, his wife. and i said, you're crazy. >> so, you eventually marry leo. how did that come about? >> the drive for me was, what if something happens? i don't want to put off what i feel in my heart to do. >> inmates will play games with girls. they'll make up some story. i was not going to do that with her. so i just laid it all on the

line for her. i asked her to marry me in our fourth year. it's a decision i will never, ever regret. >> we got married in a little chapel in the prison. he played guitar and sang some songs afterwards. it was very, very romantic in the weirdest kind of way. but then when i leave the prison, it was so sad, because that's not how it's supposed to be. but that's what it was. >> this is a beautiful love story. it's also an extremely unlikely love story. but you know, it was meant to be, as it turns out, in more ways than one. >> years pass. you and leo are living this very unconventional life. and then something extraordinary happens. >> there was this big pregnant girl that came to visit the prison. >> and she gets the story that

she wasn't going to be able to care for this new child about to be born. we knew instantly that ashley was our baby, and we eventually had an open adoption. >> within just days after ashley was born, leo held her in his arms. >> that was the first time he held me. i was four days old. when i would cry, he would come and get me, and i would just stop crying as soon as he would hold me. >> how has ashley changed your life? >> being a dad of a daughter is another difficult thing. it's exponentially more difficult from in prison. but what ashley brings is the reason for hope and living and a future. >> these aren't your typical family albums, but they're still beautiful and filled with so much love. they're just in a setting that

most people can't imagine. >> yeah. >> you want more than pictures though. >> yes. >> you want real memories. >> yep. i want to feel and touch and see, and that's what i'm waiting for. having my head wrapped around the fact that people think he's a murderer is confusing. because if you look at the facts, if you look at the story, it doesn't add up. >> it's tough for me, because i want us to be together and i want this to be over. >> at this point, crissie is raising a small child alone but is completely obsessed with leo's case. she does everything she can to investigate it on her own. she doesn't give up. and there's one piece of physical evidence that she can't stop thinking about. >> throughout all these appeals, there was one thing. there was fingerprints found in the car. >> these fingerprints have never been identified. and that becomes her focus. >> whoever's fingerprints are in that car had to know something.

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leo made this cd in prison. super proud of it. the message and the purpose behind it is super dynamic. music has been what has sustained leo throughout his life. ♪ breathe in me ♪ ♪ made to believe ♪ >> it is amazing that in all of the ugly and despair and the sadness, there can be such beauty and such passion. it's part of what keeps us going. when i listen to his cd, it is my moment to be close to him.

>> not easy being married to somebody for 30 plus years. who's been behind bars the entire time. >> you get isolated. your family gets isolated with this experience. because you don't have a lot of friends, you don't have a lot of support, you know, from the outside. and she's done that now for 30 years. i am tired. i don't carry just my hurt. i carry the hurt of my family, and it's heavy. it's frigging heavy. >> some of the work he would have to do himself because we didn't have the money for an attorney. >> you began investigating the case, and you actually eventually came to a discovery. tell me how that happened. >> there was fingerprints found >> unidentified fingerprints. >> yeah, there's no fingerprints that match leo, michelle, the dad, but there was fingerprints in the car. so, i'm like, whose fingerprints were those? >> she was on a crusade. >> crissie would talk to anybody in this world that she thought might help her.

>> she's been called my bulldog. she's very tenacious, and she doesn't take no for an answer. >> she knew those fingerprints were real important and she thought, well, with computers and the way the system is now, i wonder, can they be matched? >> tell me what we're looking at here. >> this is the car right when they found it. there was fingerprints found on the driver's side. then this is the hatchback. there was a rental receipt, and it had fingerprints on it. >> why was it so important to figure out who left these fingerprints on the driver's side window, on the receipt? >> whoever was in the car, in my opinion, knew something. i started collecting documents in 1991. and this is just a tiny little portion, because now everything is on computer. you don't have to print everything out.

these are old. transcripts, i have legal stuff, investigations. depositions. volumes and volumes and volumes of transcripts from appeals. that's all the legal motions through the years. so, it's a lot of stuff. it's overwhelming sometimes to look at all of it. i do this because i can't not do it. to right this wrong and to see justice, it has to be done. >> she was hamstrung because she wasn't an attorney. she wasn't a licensed investigator. she had no access to forensic evidence. >> my friend synda, as it turns out, her husband was a defense attorney. >> he was in a good position to possibly help crissie.

>> i agreed to read the trial transcript. at the time, i thought i would explain to her why her husband was in prison for life and be done with it. >> crissie shows up at scott cupp's office one day with awe six binders and 2,000 plus pages of trial transcripts. and later that afternoon, he stays true to his word and starts reading. and reading. into the night. >> and i get to the end, it's late into the evening, and i closed the binder and i just kind of sat back and i went, holy [ bleep ] this guy didn't do it. the thing that stood out the most is kind of simple. you can't be in two places at one time. >> and so at that point, he's all in. >> scott cupp contacted the state police in florida and was

able to get a copy of the fingerprints. >> my friend synda, i kept hounding her. i'm like, we have to get these prints run. and i would pester her and pester her and pester her and drive her nuts. and she took them. >> in hendry county, i was the captain over the criminal investigations division for the sheriff's office. so, i asked my crime scene detective can you make out whether or not this print is viable? i did not ask that that print be run, but the print got ran. it was either a day or two days later. and i vividly recall him saying, w have a hit. >> that's when some alarm bells went off. >> synda called me and said, you're not going to believe this. was it a tow truck driver? was it a random guy that stumbled on the car? somebody knew something. never in my wildest dreams did i think that that somebody was a murderer.

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♪ the detective came back and told me there was a hit, that this print comes back to an individual named jeremy scott. >> when synda told me the name, we had an answer, who was in the car. >> that's real evidence. >> yes. we had physical evidence, and now we know who the physical evidence belongs to. it's scary. it's overwhelming. >> it was one of those "oh, crap" moments. it became very significant to me.

so i picked up the phone, and i called polk county sheriff's office, and i immediately told them what had happened. >> this was huge. this was the turning point. >> when i heard that the fingerprints matched, i thought that they found the person that actually did kill michelle. >> i was excited, because leo's gonna get either out or get a new trial. >> in 1987, when the fingerprints were lifted from the mazda, the state of florida wasn't quite using the automated fingerprint identification system. >> back in those days, they would have to go through the very laborious process of visually inspecting fingerprints compared to known samples. >> the fingerprints weren't in the system at all. >> so, it wasn't until 2004 that someone actually ran those unidentified prints, and they

came back with a hit to jeremy scott. at that point, he was in florida state prison. >> i started researching and looking into his cases and reading about it, this long history of violence. >> i first met jeremy scott when i was 16. jeremy scott's upbringing and childhood wasn't very good. his family tossed him around from home to home. >> his nickname was bam-bam. apparently, that was given to him by his grandfather because they figured out very young he liked to hit things. >> he's just very different. very narcissistic, in a way. >> he's locked up at a very early age and sent to a juvenile facility. >> jeremy scott was just a punk criminal, but one of the things

that he was almost proud of was if he saw a car that was abandoned, he would get into that vehicle and take stereo, radio equipment. >> in and out of trouble, he's constantly mixed up with the law. >> by the time he was 15, he was linked to a murder. >> he was actually put on trial for that. he was acquitted of that. >> then in november 1988, less than two years after michelle's homicide, jeremy scott was arrested for yet another murder. >> the victim was found in his, um -- in his home sitting in a rocking chair. >> and in this case, he bludgeoned him with a bottle and strangled him. jeremy was sentenced to life without parole. and that's where he's been. >> never in a million years would i have imagined that they would've matched. then we start looking more and realize that he lived about a mile from where michelle was

found. so all those are adding up. we got our guy. >> i was like, game, set, match. this thing's over. >> i went to visit, and i told him that we had a match on the fingerprints, and it was jeremy scott. and his first reaction was to put his head down on the table and cry. that was tough. that was tough. >> tell me how you felt the moment those fingerprints were matched to a convicted killer. >> for me, it was the mantle of the murderer was taken off. i really felt like that was gonna be the key that opens the whole thing. i was looking for a monster for years before jeremy was found. >> if i'm any one of the people in leo's camp, i'm going, "oh, my god, guys, look here it is, this one comes with instructions. can we fix this now? >> synda sent the information to the sheriff's office. their reaction was to send an investigator to talk to jeremy.

>> soon after the detectives leave, jeremy calls the only person he's in contact with. >> grandma, has anybody come and talk to you? >> about what? >> murder. >> murder? >> he was panicked. >> grandma, they're coming to get me! woman tc: my a1c stayed here, it needed to be here. doctor tc: ruby's a1c is down with rybelsus®. man tc: my a1c wasn't at goal, now i'm down with rybelsus®. son tc: mom's a1c is down with rybelsus®. song: a1c down with rybelsus® anncr vo: in a clinical study, once-daily rybelsus® significantly lowered a1c better than the leading branded pill. anncr vo: rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. anncr vo: don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. anncr vo: stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. anncr vo: serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. anncr vo: taking rybelsus®

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my name is lewis giampavolo. i'm a retired major from the polk county sheriff's office. back in 2004, there were unidentified latents on michelle schofield's car, and they came back with a hit. so, myself and a detective, drove up and sat down with jeremy scott. >> they asked him, why would your fingerprints have been in a car abandoned along i-4? >> first thing he said was, was

the stereo equipment missing? >> he made the statement, that's all i used to do. i'd steal every stereo out of a car. >> the stereo was left, but there's speakers in the car that are missing. >> we decided, well, let's bump it up a notch. let's see what he knows or what he's going to say. so, we slid a picture of michelle schofield to see what his reaction was going to be. >> and he adamantly denies having anything to do with michelle's murder. >> so, after the cold case, detectives leave, jeremy makes a phone call, and it's really to the only person he has left in his life. >> grandma, they said they found the girl's body in the lake. and they got evidence with my print. >> oh, lord. tell them you don't know nothing and ain't seen nothing, heard nothing, and just leave you alone. >> as far as this case goes, we look at the evidence. and as bad as he is, he ain't part of this case other than stealing out of her car.

>> leo's defense was not giving up. armed with jeremy scott's fingerprint evidence, they filed a motion for new trial while crissie rallied the local media. >> crissie out there banging that drum everywhere she goes. i think that's why it got so much attention. >> my name is donald morris. i was a news artist for the "st. petersburg times." i got a call from crissie. she shared what was going on in leo's case. it was a story that really caught my ear. so this is the doubt story as it ran on the front page of the st. petersburg times. >> in 2007, "the st. petersburg times" published an article about leo's case, which took aim

at alice scott's testimony. >> and alice scott had no relation to jeremy scott. >> she is the neighbor who claimed to have watched leo and michelle arrive home at their trailer the night michelle disappeared. >> this was alice's mobile home. >> right. >> she would've had to look through a screen at night and see 180 feet over to that trailer. and in fact, when the reporter came 20 years later and confronted her with that, that she couldn't have seen this, she said, oh, well, that's because i moved to the screen porch and i saw it from there. she never said that at trial. that was all new. >> alice's husband at the time, ricky, what did he say to the times about his wife's account of what she says she saw? >> oh, he said, she had a tendency to twist the truth. later on, he would say that there's no way that she could have seen what she said she saw from that bathroom window. >> 20/20 attempted to contact alice scott, but we never received a response. >> i believe that at the time she testified, she was credible. please bear in mind, we had no

less than three separate individuals go confirm that she could actually see what she said she saw from where she said she saw it. >> go ahead and state your name for the record, sir. >> my name is jeremy l. scott. >> when it came to this 2010 deposition, he went in there and he basically just says, yep, i'm a car stereo thief. that was my m.o. that's what i did back in the day. >> i told them, probably half a dozen cars probably got my fingerprints in them. >> jeremy sticks to his story. "i didn't kill michelle." >> i don't really care about it. it ain't got nothing to do with me. >> there was nothing tying him to brutally murdering michelle schofield. all of the arrows pointed towards leo. period, hands down. >> months later, jeremy scott was back in court to testify at leo's hearing.

and he once again says that he did not kill michelle. >> did you kill michelle schofield? >> no, sir, i didn't. >> the court found that jeremy scott's fingerprints alone would not likely have led to an acquittal on retrial. and ruled there were no issues with the trial evidence that would have led to leo's exoneration. so after the hearing, leo's motion for a new trial was denied. >> yes. i had suits prepared in the car. i had new shoes. i had the whole works. >> you thought leo was coming home. >> oh, absolutely. 100%. >> i just couldn't believe it. this was personal with me. i knew then the same thing i know now. leo's an innocent man. and it just hit me to my core. >> to lose that was -- it's horrible.

and i have to tell leo. i'm the one that tells him. >> and at that point, i've got two paths to go down. i can go down the path that leads to bitterness and hatred, or i can pray. and i did exactly that. because i'm hurting inside and i don't know what else to do. >> were you praying for a miracle? >> always. >> and then? >> and then we got it. >> i'm a private investigator. i'm talking with jeremy scott. >> he didn't murder his wife. >> i was like, what? the tears just started flowing. ♪ ♪ this is how it feels to du more with less asthma... ...thanks to dupixent. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma. and can help improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. dupixent helps prevent asthma attacks...

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music is definitely something that we share. i think that's how we are alike is because of music. he does write his own songs, and i listen to it all the time. there's this one song that's

called "be my eyes." ♪ and i'll see you in every moment ♪ >> it's actually dedicated to me. >> how would you describe your relationship to your dad? >> oh, gosh. um -- close. very close. im a huge, um, daddy's girl. huge even now. >> is there a way to put into words how hard it's been to be separated from your father, to not be able to have access to him? >> there's been times where i just want to call him or i want to talk to him or -- my relationship with my mom, i love my mom, don't get me wrong. but man, i wish i had my dad. prison breaks a man and he's not

broken yet. >> after the 2010 evidentiary hearing, that's it. the judge decided there's no new trial, and so now, leo is sort of out of options again. >> after leo's failed attempt at a new trial, leo's new attorney spoke with jeremy scott by phone. he says jeremy scott confessed to michelle schofield's murder. >> he says, the wrong man is in prison. this is a huge deal, what jeremy is telling me, because never before had he ever admitted any involvement in the homicide. >> i was like, "what?" the tears just started flowing. it was like overwhelming. >> so, after jeremy scott essentially confesses to michelle's murder, the state sends investigators to go and interview jeremy scott in jail. and he denies ever saying that to leo's defense lawyer.

>> i ain't made no confession. i ain't that dumb. >> as we sit here today, did you kill michelle schofield? >> no, sir. >> he flips every time you talk to him. jeremy scott made the statement again, i'd testify to anything for a $1,000. >> if they would've offered me $1,000, i would confess to any murder. >> jeremy scott, he's a red herring, but he's the only herring they've got. and so they're going to stick with it. >> leo's lawyer knows he has to try something else. he wants to send a private investigator to talk to jeremy to get the confession on tape. >> so, during my career, i was the private investigator for o.j. simpson, casey anthony, a number of these high-profile cases. i'll find dirt on mother teresa. >> i just wanted you to go ahead and just explain what happened that night with michelle, in

your own words. he's not even looking at me anymore. he's looking at this tape recorder on the table. >> pat just says jeremy just stood up and leaned in and started telling his story. >> it was around february, around midnight, maybe 1:00 in the morning or something. i went to the texaco station. she asked me was i waiting on the phone. and i said, no, i need a ride. we go past the old trailer park where i used to live at with my grandparents. so, i tell her to turn off in

the road. behind the little frees is a lake. i says this is where people come to make out at. she goes, "i'm married." and i went, reached in, grabbed my cigarettes. and then out of my pocket fell a seven-inch knife. she went into a panic and started screaming and hitting. next thing i know, i lost it. i done stabbed her. i don't know how many times. and i'm like panicking now because i don't know what just happened. >> and he said, "i just remember i dragged her body down to the water, and i think i covered it. and then i got up, and i took her car up to get away. >> it was along this stretch of highway that jeremy scott says michelle's car broke down. he says after cleaning up the evidence, he then walked a half

mile up the road to this overpass where he disposed of the murder weapon. >> i didn't mean to kill michelle schofield. i never intended to do any harm. i've been holding this confession for a long time. >> let me just say this. i didn't know michelle, but i've lived with michelle for 31 years. when he describes killing her, it's a horrific thing ever to have to hear and to know it's true and to know it happened. >> 30 years after michelle's murder, leo was back in court

trying to get a new trial, and jeremy scott took the witness stand. but no one knew what he was going to say next. >> my name is jeremy scott. >> he was just a wisp of a person compared to what he used to be. very emotional. >> do you recall having an interaction with michelle schofield that night? >> i made a statement. i ain't got nothing else to say. >> he's not in the best of moods. his grandmother's dead at this point. he has no visits, nobody. and now he's being brought back for this hearing. >> they keep pulling me out of prison for this [ bleep ] i'm confessing to the murder. >> jeremy basically sticks to his story. "i killed her." and then the assistant state attorney has her chance at cross examination. >> the prosecutor pointed out multiple times over the years where jeremy scott denied any role in michelle's murder, as well as certain details that he could not recall or got wrong in his testimony, such as the clothes michelle wore that night. >> and that's when this hearing really takes a turn for the ugly. she holds up the autopsy photographs. and he's visually disturbed by

them. >> you take a look at this, mr. scott. look at it. >> i done seen it before. >> see it again! >> and she's like, look at them. look at them again. did you do that? >> i didn't hear that answer. >> no. i didn't do that. >> what happened was jeremy completely fell apart on the witness stand. >> they took that as a flip-flop that he recanted. >> no one wants to look at photos of dead people, is that correct? >> no. >> and you feel ashamed at doing it, don't you? >> yes, sir. >> the very last words he says was, "i killed her." >> that's why you gave that answer? >> i killed her. >> there was no doubt that he said that. >> this known murderer confessed to the crime. my dad, he had nothing to even do with it. >> you could be out of here?

>> oh, i promised i'm not going to do this. i told ashley. ♪♪ wherever we come from... we all have one thing in common. we all want the incredible new iphone 14 pro. now at t-mobile. t-mobile gives you apple tv plus included. so watch your favorite apple originals on the most advanced smart phone display ever. get the iphone 14 pro on us with apple tv plus included. now at t-mobile. my active psoriatic arthritis can slow me down..

now, skyrizi helps me get going by treating my skin and joints. along with significantly clearer skin, skyrizi helps me move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after two starter doses. skyrizi attaches to and reduces a source of excess inflammation that can lead to skin and joint symptoms. with skyrizi, 90% clearer skin and less joint pain is possible. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. with skyrizi, there's nothing like the feeling of improving my skin and joints... ...and that means everything. now's the time to talk to your doctor about how skyrizi can help treat your psoriatic arthritis- so you can get going. learn how abbvie can help you save. (dog barking) we love our pets. but we don't always love their hair.

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♪ ♪ i once was lost but now i'm found ♪ ♪ was blind but now i see ♪ >> how have you changed in prison? >> it defines that era of my life now because of this tragedy, but today, i'm not the same man that i was then. >> my life has changed because of jesus' work and these men's lives. prison's not the place that

builds men into good men, but it can if the man is willing. >> this was a day that leo schofield had waited a long time for. >> months later, the ruling came back. >> we were definitely convinced the judge would bang the gavel and that would be it. >> ultimately, leo was yet again denied a new trial. the court said that the evidence did not meet the legal threshold for a new trial and also made a finding that the testimony of jeremy scott was not credible. >> the judge denies a new trial for leo. what was that moment like? >> i wish i could come up with a better word than devastation, than disbelief and just madness. there's no way to understand it. >> i don't like to think about it, because it hurts.

almost like they're keeping him away on purpose. and i don't know why. they don't want to admit that they were wrong. >> we did not make a mistake. i think the facts, circumstantial though they may be, are irrefutable. he's a cold-blooded, unrepentant murderer. >> this podcast, "bone valley," i hope that it's going to have a ripple effect. >> i couldn't agree more. you know, i'm a big believer in the power of storytelling. >> the first episode will rock your world. the last episode will blow your minds. i've been doing this work for 29 years, and i've never heard a story quite like this. >> we wanted jeremy scott just to tell his story. >> i have to live with this every day. it's not a good feeling, put it this way. >> recently, jeremy spoke to gilbert king for the "bone valley" podcast. and i'm gonna play a portion of it for you. >> michelle, she was just at the

wrong time, wrong place. she deserves better than that. i pray for her every night. as far as leo, leo's innocent. that man didn't do nothing. he -- he's innocent. >> what do you think of what jeremy had to say about michelle, about you? to hear the man who confessed to killing michelle say you're innocent? >> i'm convoluted. in my spirit. you know, obviously, i -- i've known that he's confessed. i -- i haven't heard any of his confession. i promised i'm not gonna do this. i'm sorry. >> it's okay. >> he murdered my wife. it's a hard thing to forgive. it's the hardest thing i've ever done in my life. >> and if that's all true, he's taken yours as well.

>> he has taken mine as well. and it's not just me, it's my wife today, it's my daughter, it's my grandsons, it's michelle's family. it's all of them. i love michelle with all my heart to this day. >> what do you want to remember most about your best friend? >> her smile. how happy she was. she believed in the goodness of people. >> what do you hope comes from this "20/20" report? >> when people see this, i want them to get mad. i think it's going to take some noise for the justice system to do the right thing. >> i want exoneration. that's what i want. >> sounds like you're going to keep fighting until you get that. >> oh, yes. oh, yes. but it doesn't end with leo getting out. this is michelle's story.

>> as you can see, this daughter says she wants some noise from this "20/20" report, and amy, you deliver. what an incredible report to kick off our new season. >> our 45th season. can you believe that? leo schofield is up for parole in march 2023. for more on his story, you can listen to lava for good's new nine-part "bone valley" podcast available now. i'm amy robach. >> and i'm david muir. as we kick off this new season, we're so glad you're here tonight. from all of us at "20/20" and abc news, good night.

>> jane have you seen my new phone yet? it like, folds in half. i would never switch to samsung, i love my phone. what??? ♪♪ (...it folds in half.) you see i love my phone. i would never switch to samsuuu... (gasping) ♪♪