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Episode 1: October 1st, 1984

The Alley: DC鈥檚 8th and H Case

Available on , , and wherever else you get your podcasts. New episode every Wednesday. Use #TheAlleyPod to share your thoughts on the the latest episode as we uncover the truth behind DC's 8th and H Case.

国产视频鈥檚 Shannon Lynch revisits the 1984 murder of Catherine Fuller that rocked Washington, DC, and the nation.

The story starts at the scene of the crime鈥攁n alley near the busy intersection of 8th and H Streets Northeast鈥攁nd unveils the fateful tip that caused investigators to settle quickly on a theory of the murder.

Voices & Sounds Heard in this Episode

  • Chris Turner, one of the accused
  • Clifton Yarborough, one of the accused
  • Thomas Dybdahl, author of
  • Patrice Gaines, former Washington Post reporter
  • Barbara Wade, victim鈥檚 sister
  • William Freeman, young man that found the body
  • Gary Reals, TV reporter, WJLA
  • Detective Patrick McGinnis, Metropolitan Police Department

Transcript:

Episode 1: October 1st, 1984

Gabrielle Sweet: The following story contains descriptions of violence and sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised.

Narrator (Shannon Lynch): October 1, 1984.

It was a rainy afternoon in Northeast Washington, DC. Just a mile from the Capitol building, the busy intersection of 8th and H Streets Northeast was bustling with people. The first was always the busiest day of the month, that鈥檚 when residents would head to the bank to cash paychecks and government assistance checks. Two banks stood on either side of the intersection of 8th and H. After collecting their money, residents often completed their shopping in the variety of stores nearby.

Several bus lines made transfers at 8th and H. Chris Turner, who grew up in the neighborhood in the 80s, explains:

Chris Turner: H street was extremely busy during the daytime, especially during after school hours, because that was the number one transfer location for people going to Spingarn, Dunbar, McKinley Tech. If you were coming from Southeast, or over Nannie Helen Bourough, that part of Northeast, you had to transfer and get your bus at 8th and H.

Narrator: There was also a park on the southeast corner of the intersection where locals congregated. 8th and H was the epicenter of foot traffic in the neighborhood. If a raucous event involving a large group of people were to happen there, it鈥檚 hard to imagine that no one would have noticed.

Among the people flooding the street that day was 49-year-old Catherine Fuller. She left her house on K St Northeast at around 4:30 pm. Mrs. Fuller was headed to a liquor store called Family Liquors, just a few short blocks away. After making her purchase, she set off into the rain on what should have been a short journey back.

Tragically, Mrs. Fuller never made it home.

Her disturbing murder would scar DC forever. It resulted in the arrests of 17 young Black Washingtonians, creating an unfortunate record for the most people arrested for a single murder in all of DC history. It also led to life sentences for 8 young men, all of whom maintained their innocence. This story is about coerced confessions. It鈥檚 about prosecutors who hid evidence and got away with it. But most importantly, this story is about the people who were convicted in the 8th & H case, and how the American criminal justice system failed them.

This is The Alley: DC鈥檚 8th and H Case. My name is Shannon Lynch.

I first learned about the 8th and H case in 2018 w hen I was living nearby. It put an unshakable knot in my stomach. Not only because of the terrible manner in which Mrs. Fuller was murdered, but also, my heart hurt for the group of men that went away for the crime. The more I questioned their guilty verdict.

Over the past 2 years, I鈥檝e interviewed dozens of people connected to the case, including the 6 surviving men that received life sentences for the murder. These accused men gave their blessing on this project. For the first time, they are sharing their story in their own words. You will hear from all of them throughout this series.

I still pass the intersection of 8th and H almost every day. I say a prayer for Mrs. Fuller as I go by. I can鈥檛 help but wonder how she鈥檇 feel about what鈥檚 transpired in the decades since she was tragically murdered.

Part 1 – The Victim

Catherine Fuller was a DC-native, born in the Georgetown neighborhood on Christmas Day in 1934. Fuller was the oldest of 3 sisters. She was raised primarily by her aunt and cousin after her mother was critically injured by a lightning bolt.

Mrs. Fuller had 3 children from her first marriage. She married her second husband, David Fuller, Jr. in 1969. They had 3 more children together 鈥 Laura, David III, and William. David III told the Washington Post that Catherine was a loving, caring parent who was the type of person who would go out of her way to do anything for you.

Mrs. Fuller was a petite, 49-year-old woman standing at just 4鈥11鈥欌 and weighing 99 pounds. By all accounts, she was well-liked within her community and known as a hard-working, lower middle class person. Mrs. Fuller had previously worked at the food service department of Sibley Hospital in Northwest DC. In 1984, she was working nights as a janitor at the World Bank.

She had several friends in her neighborhood and could be seen stopping by their houses often to check-in and say hi. She was a regular at several of the shops on H street, so most people in the neighborhood knew her in passing. One neighbor called Catherine a 鈥渟miling good Samaritan鈥 who would do anything she could to help others.

According to Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 sister Barbara Wade:

Barbara Wade: I don't know why anyone would do this, because this girl never harmed or bothered anyone.

Narrator: Many of the younger residents in the area knew her or her children, through sports, church, or the go-go band David played in.

19-year-old William Freeman was the one who discovered Mrs. Fuller's body. He鈥檇 recently been hired by James Robinson, a street vendor who sold clothes and other items on 8th and H. Their vendor table was set up near the mouth of an alley that sat just north of H street.

At around 6 pm on October 1st, William went into the alley to urinate. As he started to unzip his pants, he looked down and noticed something red on the ground, trickling on the concrete near a garage door. He could tell the liquid was coming from inside the garage. Curious, he swung open the door. He later explained to a reporter:

William Freeman: So I went and peeped into the shed, you know, and I hollered for a name for whoever it was or what it was, I didn鈥檛 know.

Narrator: Thomas Dybdahl is an author and former DC public defender. He wrote a book titled When Innocence Is Not Enough, which covers the 8th and H case.

Thomas Dybdahl: He looked in and there he saw what looked to him like the body of a little girl. Catherine Fuller was so small that he thought it was a girl and he didn't know if she was unconscious or what. So he got a little stick and poked her and said, get up, get up and didn't move. And then he realized she was dead. So at that point, he ran back to his stand. He told his boss, who was sitting in a van nearby, there's a dead girl in the garage.

Narrator: When Freeman ran back to the vendor stand, Robinson was talking to his friend Jackie Tylie, who had stopped by to say hi. Robinson asked Freeman to stay behind to guard the stand while he and Tylie went to examine the gruesome discovery. They later told the police that when they peered into the garage, the hands of the body 鈥渓ooked wrinkled鈥. Tylie lived close by, so she ran home and called 911.

At 6:10 pm, a call came over the police radio about an unconscious body that had been found in the alley by 8th and H. Metropolitan Police Department officer Stephanie Ball was nearby and responded.

Robinson waved the police car into the entrance of the alley while Tylie and Freeman waited by the garage. As Officer Ball slowly crept into the narrow alley, she saw 鈥渢wo Black males running鈥 away from the garage. She asked Freeman why the men were fleeing. He responded saying he wasn鈥檛 sure. Officer Ball put her cruiser in park facing the garage, using her highbeams to flood it with light.

She entered the garage and checked the body for signs of life. Finding none, the officer sent out a call to summon the homicide unit.

Part 2 – The Investigation Begins

On the other side of town, Detective Patrick McGinnis was having dinner with a colleague. McGinnis was in his late 30s and had worked for the DC Metropolitan Police Department, or MPD, for 15 years. A big chunk of his tenure was spent working as a crime scene technician. By this point, he鈥檇 been a homicide detective for 2 years. Officers that worked with him knew him as a man that rarely doubted his instincts.

As McGinnis ate, he heard the call come over the radio asking for the homicide unit to respond to 8th and H. It was cold and wet outside, and McGinnis was hesitant to answer, but after no one else responded, he paid his check, walked out, and promptly drove off to the scene.

Detective McGinnis parked and made his way down the damp alley. He entered the garage and laid eyes on a horrifying scene. Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 body was laid on its right side, with her head facing the garage door. She was naked from the waist down and her top and bra had been pushed up to her armpits. Her underwear, jeans, and panty hose were on the floor nearby. She鈥檇 been hit very badly in the head and had injuries to her torso.

Soon, McGinnis鈥 partner, Detective Reuben Sanchez showed up. A native of Puerto Rico, Detective Sanchez served in the Army before joining MPD in the early 70s. He had a big, strong build. When Detectives Sanchez and McGinnis teamed up in an interrogation room, Sanchez notoriously played the 鈥渂ad cop鈥 role.

Clifton Yarborough, who grew up near 8th and H, experienced this dynamic first-hand:

Clifton Yarborough: They played good cop, bad cop with me. And he would like, break in the door. And um, it was like he was holding him back.

Narrator: In October of 1984, Sanchez and McGinnis had only been partners for a few months. Neither one of them were familiar with the predominantly Black neighborhood surrounding 8th and H.

The alley in which Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 body was found looks like an upside down capital 鈥淭鈥. The top of the T runs parallel and just north of H Street, while the stem of the T runs perpendicular to H street. Fuller鈥檚 body was found in a garage located almost exactly where the two lines of the 鈥淭鈥 meet. There are alley entrances on 8th street and 9th streets Northeast.

After inspecting the garage together, Detectives Sanchez and McGinnis walked down to the 9th street entrance of the alley. They passed out business cards to a group of mostly young onlookers, standing just beyond the crime scene barrier. The detectives hoped they might get some useful tips from the crowd. Later that night, they found tatters of their torn up business cards in the same area.

At about 6:50 pm, crime scene technicians arrived and began processing evidence just as the sun was setting. They took pictures in and outside of the garage. Along with Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 clothes, the technicians collected a wooden shoe-shine box, three keys, a brown leather change purse, a bottle of pills and a pair of wine-colored ankle-high boots. The old garage was dusty, which made it difficult for the technicians to lift fingerprints.

Just past 7 pm, the assistant medical examiner, Michael Bray, arrived on the scene. He looked over the body and determined that it hadn鈥檛 been moved since the time of death. Bray based this assumption on the way the blood had pooled. He put the time of death at approximately 5:30 pm. Bray officially pronounced Mrs. Fuller dead at 7:30. Detective McGinnis requested that no one touch Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 body with their bare hands. He said he was going to try to get prints directly from her skin using a technique he鈥檇 learned recently involving super glue. His attempt proved unsuccessful later. Between that and the crime technicians鈥 failed efforts, not a single full fingerprint was recovered from any of the evidence at the scene. At around 8 pm, Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 body was transported to the medical examiner鈥檚 office.

Before heading out, Detective McGinnis spoke briefly to the press, incorrectly stating that the body was found by a lady.

Det. Patrick McGinnis: 国产视频 6:00, a lady walking through the alley discovered the partially clothed body of an adult female, Black. Apparent victim of a homicide. At this time that's about all the information we have.

Narrator: The detectives left the scene shortly after 8 pm that night. They didn鈥檛 request any officers to guard the scene overnight to prevent contamination. This was an interesting choice to make, considering that they hadn鈥檛 finished processing the crime scene. They knew they鈥檇 have to return the next day to complete their collection of evidence in the daylight.

Shortly after the body was removed and the crime scene abandoned, a man was standing less than a block away from the alley trying to sell a ring outside of Family Liquors. Ronald Murphy was visiting the liquor store for the second time that day. The man selling the ring tried to barter with Murphy, starting at a price of $100. Murphy was able to talk him down to $5. He purchased the ring and gave it to his girlfriend.

Once they arrived at the MPD homicide office, Detectives Sanchez and McGinnis took a statement from William Freeman, the young man that discovered the body. They also talked with James Robinson, Freeman鈥檚 boss, and Jackie Tylie, Robinson鈥檚 friend who made the 911 call.

The detectives asked Freeman if he had heard any loud sounds that day around 5:30 pm, like screams, gunshots, or sounds of a struggle. Freeman replied he hadn鈥檛. Most of his statement focused on the two young men he鈥檇 witnessed running out of the alley when the first police car arrived on the scene. This wasn鈥檛 the first time he鈥檇 seen them.

Freeman had witnessed the 2 men in question walk up and down H Street all day. Robinson had instructed him to keep a close eye on people that passed the stand to prevent theft. Since he was paying such close attention, and they passed by multiple times, these two men stood out to Freeman. He remembered their faces clearly.

Freeman told detectives that while he stood in the alley with Tylie waiting for police to arrive, he saw the same two men standing near the garage for about 5 minutes. He said they were looking around, seeming somewhat suspicious, and their point of interest was clearly the garage.

When officer Stephanie Ball pulled into the alley in her police cruiser, Freeman heard one man say to the other 鈥渄on鈥檛 run鈥, but then they both fled. One of them 鈥渉ad something in his coat because it was puffed up.鈥 Jackie Tylie also saw this happen. Later on, Freeman and Tylie were independently able to identify these two men from an array of photos. One of them was named James McMillan.

Other than these two young men, Freeman reported he hadn鈥檛 seen anyone else in the alley. He didn鈥檛 hear any screams or sounds of a struggle that afternoon either鈥nd he definitely didn鈥檛 see a large group of young people enter or exit the alley.

By the time McGinnis headed home that night, he was perturbed. He took offense to the young bystanders who tore up his business cards. He thought it was a sign that he and Detective Sanchez would have great difficulty in getting respect and cooperation from the community.

Part 3 – Investigation Day 2

In the early hours of October 2nd, a call came into MPD鈥檚 tip line at about 2:45 am. The caller didn鈥檛 give their name. They claimed, 鈥淚 know about seven or eight guys that hang in the alley where the body was鈥. The anonymous caller said the group called themselves the 8th and H Crew. He added that he heard 鈥淢onk Harris, Levy, and Ernie Yarborough,鈥 talking about 鈥減ulling females into the alley to rape,鈥 and then he hung up abruptly. The caller did not say they thought the 8th and H Crew was responsible for Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 murder.

Later that morning, an autopsy revealed more details of the brutal attack. Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 body had abrasions and bruises on the left side of her face. From below the right shoulder blade to just above the hip bone, her skin had been scraped completely raw, suggesting she鈥檇 been dragged a considerable distance, at least several yards. Fuller had 4 broken ribs. What little cash she had on her was taken and so were the rings she鈥檇 been wearing. There were no injuries on the back of her head or her neck. On her torso, the injuries appeared only on the right side.

There were no injuries in the vaginal area, but the area around the anus had been extensively damaged. The rectal opening had tears that extended half an inch outward. The medical examiner concluded that some type of round, uniformly smooth foreign object, like a round pipe, had been pushed into her rectum 10 to 11 inches. This caused significant internal injuries. Her liver was shattered. The object had been inserted with such immense force that it created holes in the walls of her rectal lining and uterus. In his own words, assistant medical examiner Bray would later state 鈥渟he had been impaled. I never saw anything like it鈥.

Bray determined that her blood alcohol content level was over twice the legal limit. Based on her height and weight, this suggested that she had the equivalent of about 4-6 drinks in the hour prior to her death.

Also on the morning of the 2nd, David Fuller Jr. made a call to his wife鈥檚 sister, Barbara Wade. He told her his wife had not returned home the night before. He鈥檇 seen the news reports about a body being found in a nearby alley and weepingly told his sister-in-law that he was worried the victim could be Catherine.

After hanging up, Barbara Wade headed to the police department. She was directed to the morgue once she arrived. Wade explained the situation. Her sister didn鈥檛 return home the night before, and that was very unlike her. Shortly thereafter, Detective Sanchez came out with a picture of the victim鈥檚 face, concealing the side of the photo that showed her injuries.

Barbara Wade: I said well can I see the picture. When they showed it to me, I said, That's my sister. He said, well, what is her name? I said, Catherine Fuller.

Narrator: Ms. Wade was then escorted to the homicide unit office, where she was asked to give a statement. She told detectives about the phone call she had with Mr. Fuller earlier that morning. The police asked her if she thought Mr. Fuller could be responsible for the murder. She expressed she didn鈥檛 think it was likely because of how emotional he was on the phone, a side of him she鈥檇 never seen before. Additionally, Mr. Fuller was mostly bed-ridden from a significant back injury he had sustained in the line of work.

At 11:17 am, another call came in via the tip line. This time, the caller identified himself as Michael Lee Jackson. Jackson claimed he had information to share that would directly implicate the killer. Police were able to track him down later that night and brought him in to be interviewed.

It turned out that Jackson didn鈥檛 have information that actually pinpointed a killer, but the info he shared was still useful. In the late afternoon on October 1st, around 5:30 pm, Jackson walked with a group of friends through the alley, passing by the garage where the body was found. He said he was with several friends, including Ronald Murphy, the man who would later return to the area and buy the ring outside of the liquor store. Jackson said the group heard a groan coming from inside the garage, but they did not stop to investigate. The garage doors were closed. The garage is quite small. It would be pretty difficult to fit a large group inside it with the doors closed. The timing of the group walking through the alley coincided with the coroner鈥檚 estimated time of death.

Later that day, Detective McGinnis went back to the crime scene hoping to find the object used to violate the victim. Unfortunately, this object was never found, but additional key pieces of evidence were collected that hadn鈥檛 been gathered the night before. Closer to the 9th street entrance of the alley, Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 raincoat was found folded neatly in an alcove. Her umbrella was found close by. The rods of the closed umbrella were badly bent and an empty pint of vodka was found inside. Some of her hair rollers were strewn on the 9th street end of the alley.

On the evening of October 2nd, police released the name of the victim.

Gary Reals (Reporter):The victim has been identified as Catherine Fuller of K Street Northeast.

Narrator: The locals were shocked to say the least. Things like this did not happen in their neighborhood. Sure, there was crime, but at this point in 1984, the crack epidemic that would later ravage the area had not yet hit. Residents knew their neighbors. They looked out for each other鈥檚 kids. It was a true community in that sense. People in the neighborhood knew Catherine Fuller. If something like this could happen to her, certainly it could happen to them, they thought.

Among those that knew her was a young Christopher Turner. He knew Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 son David through school and sports.

Chris Turner: David Fuller was a personal friend of mine. He was also like a little brother to me. He was in a band that I was putting together that I was managing at the time.

Narrator: The same could be said about most of the young men in the neighborhood. They were familiar with Catherine Fuller or her children. The Fullers, Chris, and almost everyone else in the neighborhood were all of similar backgrounds and means. They weren鈥檛 living in extreme poverty, but they also did not have much money to spare. This is an important element to remember for later.

Part 4 – The End of the First 48

By Wednesday, the key 48-hour window after the crime occured was coming to a close. But two important storylines were beginning to take shape.

First, MPD detective Johnnie Green ran into Levy Rouse on the street. This was the same Levy that was named by the anonymous caller. Levy was asked to come to police headquarters where Detective Sanchez took a statement from him. He said he鈥檇 learned about the murder the night before, while staying at his girlfriend鈥檚 house. A friend had come by and said the police found a woman murdered and robbed in the alley. The friend also said he heard a rumor that the police had found fingerprints. Levy claimed that鈥檚 all he knew, but the detectives were immediately skeptical of him.

Second, detectives were learning about the ring Ronald Murphy purchased outside of the liquor store the night of the murder. After giving the ring to his girlfriend, he found out about Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 murder and that her rings were missing. He contacted Mr. Fuller and showed him the ring. He confirmed it was Catherine's. After this, Ronald Murphy and Vivian Watts, who was with him at the liquor store that night, went to the homicide unit office to give statements about what they鈥檇 seen. Murphy described the seller as a thirty-something year-old man. He said the man was tall and that he had a woman with him.

Vivian Watts corroborated this description. She put the man at about 34 and stated he had a mustache. She also mentioned the woman that the man was with, saying they were close to the same height.

This was a solid lead. It was possible that the ring seller was involved in the crime. However, neither Watts nor Murphy were ever asked to look at photos to try and identify this mystery man and woman. In fact, they never heard anything from the police again after this interaction.

Shortly thereafter, Detective McGinnis got a call from the crime scene examiners. None of the items they collected from the garage tested positive for blood or feces, which meant it was likely the killer took the weapon with them when they left. At this point, the detectives basically had no solid physical evidence to connect a killer to the crime. No fingerprints, no blood, no bodily fluids, and no weapon.

48 hours had passed since the crime took place. They knew time had run out for the most crucial period of the investigation. With mounting pressure from the community and the media to come up with answers, the detectives decided they needed to pick a theory and run with it.

Part 5 – The Theory

Considering the information the detectives collected so far, there were 4 possible scenarios. Scenario number one: David Fuller Jr. killed his wife. Scenario two: the two men seen running from the garage shortly after the murder took place were the culprits. Scenario 3: the so-called 鈥8th and H crew鈥 was responsible for a group attack, as the anonymous caller had suggested. And Scenario 4, the man and woman who sold Ronald Murphy Mrs. Fuller's ring were involved in the murder.

Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 husband seemed an unlikely perpetrator, the detectives reasoned. With the extent of his back injuries that left him house-bound, it didn鈥檛 seem plausible for him to pull off such a physical murder several blocks away from his home.

Two of the theories had direct, independent eyewitness statements. Murphy and Watts gave a detailed description of a man that could have very well taken Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 ring off of her hand himself. The detectives also had detailed descriptions of the two young men seen fleeing the scene from Freeman, Tylie, and Officer Ball. They ultimately decided not to focus any of these suspects.

The theory that the detectives went with 鈥 and relentlessly pursued 鈥 was the group attack suggested by the anonymous caller. The caller had given them specific names, which would make it easier to bring in suspects quickly. Furthermore, in a huge error, Detective Sanchez conflated Michael Lee Jackson鈥檚 tip with the anonymous caller鈥檚 tip.

Jackson originally claimed that he knew who the killer was, but in fact, the only information he had to share was about hearing the groan from the closed garage while passing through the alley. The anonymous tipster said they had heard that members of a so-called 鈥8th and H Crew鈥 had been committing crimes in the alley, but they never said they thought this group was responsible for the attack on Mrs. Fuller.

Somehow, Sanchez combined these two tips in his head. In his personal notes from October 2nd, 1984, and in an interview with a reporter later on, he recounted that a single caller said 鈥渉e knew who killed the woman and raped her鈥 and 鈥渟aid it was seven to eight guys who hung out in the alley.鈥 It鈥檚 unclear if Sanchez combined these tips out of confusion or on purpose. Either way, it played a huge role in how the investigation proceeded.

The detectives鈥 theory sounded something like this: a group of young men that hung out around the intersection of 8th and H 鈥 called the 鈥8th and H Crew鈥 鈥 saw Mrs. Fuller walking alone on H street that day. As a mob, they forced her into the alley, assaulted her, brought her to the garage, shoved a pole up her rectum, and left her to die on the cement floor. From the beginning, they hypothesized that the main motive was robbery, not sexual assault, despite the clear sexually sadistic characteristics of the crime.

It was a compelling story, perfectly timed with the rise of gang violence is some major cities.

Patrice Gaines: On national news, you would hear about gangs.

Narrator: That's author and former Washington Post reporter Patrice Gaines. Her importance to this story cannot be overstated, but we鈥檒l get more into that later.

Patrice Gaines: During the time, in California, you know, there were gangs popping up, but it was, you know, like the Bloods and the Crips. But they were really big organized gangs. And there were police in DC who wanted to convince people that this was an issue in DC as well, but it wasn't at the time.

Narrator: Washingtonians were already being primed by media to fear gangs popping up in their city. Combined with a long history of racial tension in DC, the story the detectives were creating was bound to grip the public.

In his aforementioned book, When Innocence Is Not Enough, Thomas Dybdahl writes:

McGinnis and Sanchez had to know they鈥檇 embraced an incendiary theory. In a city with a long history of racial divisions, in a neighborhood still scarred by the damage after Martin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 assassination in April 1968, pinning a senseless, brutal crime on a rampaging gang of young Black kids鈥攄espite scant evidence鈥 carried heavy overtones.

In one of our interviews with him in 2022, Dybdahl explained further:

Thomas Dybdahl: Nothing about the case made sense If you really knew the neighborhood and the circumstances and the people. But if nobody raised that and nobody challenged it just to claim, could a gang of young black kids commit a horrible crime? Yeah, sure they could. And there's obviously the racist aspect to that. So the further removed you were from that, the less you knew, the more plausible it might seem. But as soon as you got close and looked at the facts, you realize that it just absolutely made no sense.

Narrator: Patrice Gaines added:

Patrice Gaines: You know, it was easy to convince and say that these young Black men are a gang and not just easy to convince White people, it was easy for them to convince Black people because this is what racism does. You know, it will make you believe that any group of people are so much worse. It divides us, you know, it鈥檚 them and it鈥檚 us.

The investigation into Mrs. Fuller's murder would go on for nearly a year. Detectives and prosecutors would relentlessly push the 鈥8th and H Crew鈥 theory. They were fully aware of evidence that directly contradicted their theory. But, they kept it hidden. The government prioritized a conclusion over the truth, regardless of what 鈥 or who 鈥 would be sacrificed to reach it.


Clifton Yarbourough: Well, I told them no, I didn't know. They did ask me about Mrs. Fuller鈥檚 murder, and I said I didn't know anything about it. I said man I was in school. And he said what did I do that Monday? And I said, well, you know, me and my girlfriend walk home from school together. We went to school together and walk home.

Narrator: That鈥檚 next time on The Alley: DC鈥檚 8th and H Case.

Maika Moulite: This podcast is dedicated in memory of Catherine Fuller. Our host is Shannon Lynch. Our executive producers are Jason Stewart and Shannon Lynch. This was recorded at 国产视频 studios and Creative Underground. The cover art is by Samantha Webster. Editorial and media support from Jodi Narde, Molly Martin, and Joe Wilkes. Audio editing and mixing by Shannon Lynch. Social media directed by me, Maika Moulite. Script editing and fact checking by Thomas Dybdahl and Charla Freeland. A very special thank you to Patrice Gaines for keeping this story alive for decades and for supporting this project throughout production. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen and be sure to follow 国产视频 on all platforms.

Episode 1: October 1st, 1984