#289 Jason Flom with Andrew Royer

Wrongful Conviction

Lava for Good Podcasts

True Crime

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2022

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On November 28, 2002, 94-year-old Helen Sailor spent Thanksgiving with her family before returning to her apartment at a high rise building for the elderly and disabled in Elkhart, Indiana. The next day, a health care provider found her strangled to death in her apartment. One of the detectives assigned to the case had a theory about another high rise resident, Lana Canen, and a string of previous burglaries at the building. Investigators coerced a friend of Lana Canen's to give a false statement, implicating Lana and another high rise resident, Andy Royer. After subjecting Royer to a lengthy and intense interrogation, investigators cobbled together a confession. Then, an untrained deputy fabricated a fingerprint match to corroborate both false statements. Lana and Andy were both sentenced to 55 years in prison. To learn more and get involved, visit: https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/156-wrongful-conviction-junk-science-fingerprint-evidence/ http://www.elkhartcountyprosecutor.com/about-us/prosecuting-attorney https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/news/courts/2018/07/03/elkhart-county-prosecutor-asks-judge-to-silence-attorney/46341713/ https://twitter.com/elkhartpros?s=20&t=L4eZhRAZxf3eGOSG-036pg https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom/ Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	On Thanksgiving 2005, 94-year-old Helen Sailor returned to her home, a high-rise apartment
0:08.6	building for the elderly and disabled in Alcarte, Indiana.
0:12.5	When phone calls went unanswered through the following morning, family members found Helen's
0:16.8	strangle to death, allegedly with a lanyard that had gone missing.
0:21.6	A partial print of dubious importance was said to the Indiana State Police Lab.
0:26.5	Initially, Alcarte PD had two viable suspects, but the investigation went cold.
0:31.8	The case became a priority again when a new homicide unit was formed.
0:36.1	Detective Mark Dagger had an unfounded theory involving a string of burglaries and a younger
0:41.7	resident, the high-rise Lana Canon.
0:44.5	Investigators pressured a vulnerable friend of Lana's to claim that she had confessed
0:48.6	a murdering Helen Sailor with another high-rise resident, a disabled man named Andy Royer,
0:54.8	who was dragged in for a course of interrogation, resulting in a false confession.
0:59.7	To corroborate these false statements, they pulled the prints from the Indiana State Police Lab
1:04.8	and gave them to an untrained analyst just to get them to say the print matched Lana.
1:09.5	Andy and Lana went to trial together and were not able to cross examine each other to point out
1:15.0	the cleric inconsistencies in Andy's recanted statement. Between the fabricated fingerprint
1:21.0	match, false statements, and outright perjury by law enforcement, go to Lana and Andy were sentenced
1:27.3	to 55 years in prison. This is wrongful conviction.
1:53.3	As the Dutton family fights to protect their legacy, they'll learn power has a price.
1:57.3	Signing this is a declaration of war. We're already at war.
2:00.3	Yellowstone, new episodes, Sundays at 8 p.m. Eastern, exclusively on Paramount Network.
2:15.4	Welcome back to wrongful conviction. Today I have a case out of Elkhart, Indiana,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lava for Good Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Lava for Good Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.