Southern Fried true crime covers cases that are not suitable for young listeners and there may also be some explicit language used.

Today's episode involves sexual assault, so I'd like to emphasize listener discretion.

At 408 AM, a fire alarm went off at Poland Hall dormitory on the Western Kentucky University campus.

Students in all states of undress, most grumpy and hungover, gloomily gathered outside and waited to be told it was a false alarm so they could go back to bed.

Some had only been asleep for a couple of hours. There had been a big frat party over at the Pike House the night before, but the grumbling turned agasping as two firemen brought out a small young woman, naked, except for the sheet she was carried in and the t-shirt tied around her neck.

She had burns from her neck to her thighs. She would be taken by helicopter to the Burn Unit at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, where she would die three days later from third degree burns.

Katie Audrey had come to Western Kentucky University beating all odds. She had been bounced between her mentally ill mother and relatives until she was placed in foster care at the age of 10.

Despite her hard-scrabble upbringing, she worked hard in high school. She was a straight-a cheerleader and overachiever, a bubbly, always smiling, petite and pretty girl.

At Western, she did change a bit. It was her freshman year, and like a lot of new college students, she was drinking and partying too much.

And she was also working out some of her demons. But she was finding her footing and her independence. She had a bright future ahead of her.

Until it was stolen from her in the early morning hours that May 4, 2003, when she was raped and then set on fire in her dorm room.

Two suspects would emerge, one from a wealthy family with the resources for a first-rate defense. The other was poor, mixed race, and was assigned a public defender.

Even 16 years later, a lot of locals aren't happy with the investigation, the trial, or the outcome. Many still believe that one of those boys got away with murder.

Welcome to episode 62, The Rape and Murder of Katie Audrey.

Bowling Green is a mid-sized city nestled in southern Kentucky, among the hills, caves, beautiful foliage, and humidity that dominates much of the south.

It's probably most famous as the city that manufactures Corvettes. At the General Motors Corvette assembly plant, visitors can watch the step-by-step production of one of America's favorite sports cars.

The Corvette Museum includes one of the kind prototypes that were designed but never manufactured, along with other Corvette memorabilia.

In 2014, a huge sinkhole opened up beneath the skydome of the museum, swallowing eight custom corvettes.

The sinkhole was 40 feet wide and about 30 feet deep. It made international news, but thankfully the structure of the building was not damaged and the museum sits at the same site today.

The sinkhole has been credited with helping tourism in the area and the anniversary is celebrated every year.

Last year, one of the sinkhole corvettes that had been restored was put on display. Bowling Green is about 60 miles northeast of Nashville and a hundred miles southwest of Louisville, and it sits at the edge of a caste region where caves, springs, and sinkholes are common.

Cursed is landscape underlaid by limestone, which is eroded over the centuries. The main entrance to mammoth cave National Park is about 30 miles northeast of the city.

...