- Crime Writers On...Esoteric

CWO Episode Description:

Ashley and Albert Debelbot had just put their newborn McKenzy to bed for the first time, but hours later, they rushed the infant back to the hospital after finding a bump on her forehead. When she died, police concluded the parents harmed her and charged them with murder. Facing an overzealous prosecutor, a partial judge, and ineffective defense attorneys, the Debelbots spent twelve years in prison trying to clear their names. But a new legal team uncovered evidence suggesting McKenzy died from a prenatal injury, not a beating. Season 11 of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s investigative series “Breakdown: Three Days in May” looks into the Debelbots’ complicated case. Hosts Bill Rankin and Tamara Hallerman recount the investigative rush-to-judgment, the flawed trial, and the evidence pointing to a medical cause of the baby’s death—not a criminal one. In Crime of the Week: going nuts!