Bone Valley: A Judge Says an Innocent Man Is Locked Up

Polk County, Florida, 1987. A young woman named Michelle Schofield is murdered, and her husband Leo Schofield is convicted and sent away for life. Case closed — except it wasn't, not really.

Bone Valley, hosted by Gilbert King and produced with the Lava for Good team, reopens the file from the first episode, "God Help Us." This isn't a dramatized retelling — it's dogged, on-the-ground reporting, with the kind of access that gets a sitting judge on record questioning the conviction that's kept a man in prison for decades.

That's the hook that makes this one different: a judge saying out loud what Leo Schofield's supporters have argued for years — that the evidence doesn't add up, and that someone else may have walked free while he sat behind bars. DNA, a shifting timeline, and a confession from another man tangled up in the case all come into play as the series unspools. Whether Florida's courts ultimately agree is the question the show keeps circling back to.

Start from the beginning tonight and listen on Apple Podcasts.