Welcome to Rungful Conviction False Confessions.

I'm Lauren Nyrider.

And I'm Steve Trison.

In 1984, a woman from Ada Oklahoma went missing.

A few months later, a man named Tommy Ward told police that he'd had a bad dream about

her murder.

Incredibly, the police took that dream and turned it into a false confession.

Tommy Ward's story has fascinated the world.

In 2006, the author, John Grisham, wrote a book about Tommy and his co-definite, Carl

Fontanau.

John's career as a writer was changed by Tommy and Carl's case, but he's not the only

one who's been moved by it.

A few years ago, their story was made into a Netflix global series called The Innocent Man.

Now the whole world has been moved to.

It's our honor to be part of the fight to exonerate Tommy Ward and Carl Fontanau.

Here's hoping we can deliver a wake-up call in this nightmare of a case.

In 1968, five black girls, repicked up by police after running away from a reform school

in Mount Meg's Alabama.

I'm writer and reporter Josie Defi Rice.

And in a new podcast, I investigate the abuse that thousands of black children suffered

at the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children and how those five girls changed

everything.

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