In the Dark: Charges Dropped After 23 Years

Winona, Mississippi. July 16, 1996. Four people are shot dead inside Tardy Furniture Store. Over the next two decades, one man, Curtis Flowers, is put on trial for the killings. Not once. Six times.

This is the finale of In the Dark's second season, Episode 19: "Freedom." Reporters at American Public Media spent more than a year digging into the case, and their work put the prosecution's strategy under a harsh spotlight. The season examined the evidence, the witnesses, and the way the case was handled, including the role of the district attorney who tried Flowers again and again.

The story did not stay on the page. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Flowers's conviction in Flowers v. Mississippi, finding racial bias in jury selection by the prosecutor. Flowers was released on bail that December. In September 2020, the Mississippi attorney general's office dropped the charges, ending the long fight in the courts. Flowers has maintained his innocence throughout.

But here's the question that lingers. If the case against him is finished, what happened to the four people who died that morning? Start with the finale, then go back to the beginning. Listen on Apple Podcasts, or find it wherever you get your podcasts.