Southern Fried True Crom covers cases that are not suitable for young listeners, and there

may also be some explicit language used.

Today's episode briefly mentions the sexual assault of minors, while not graphic, if you

find that topic distressing, please use discretion.

On September 10, 1999, a 17-year-old girl named Jessica Dishon disappeared from her driveway

in Shepherd'sville, Kentucky.

The local sheriff's department bungled the case from the very beginning, when a rookie

deputy called the lead detective in the department to come to the scene, and he refused, saying

Jessica was just a runaway.

Girls who run don't tend to leave their car, purse, and one shoe behind.

It was a crime scene, but it wasn't treated as such for days.

Jessica's battered body was found two and a half weeks later in a ditch about seven

miles away.

By the following month, the police had zeroed in on a suspect.

Jessica's next-door neighbor, David Bucky Brooks, though they had no direct evidence

against him, they pursued him with vigorous tunnel vision, and the neighboring families

began feuding.

They took Bucky to trial in early 2003, but it ended in a mistrial when the same detective

who had refused to come to the scene that day made an error on the stand that was either

idiotic or manipulative as the case was going badly.

Ten years later, a tip would lead to Jessica's real killer, and he was even closer to home

than a neighbor.

...