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Welcome back to Mama Mystery. I am your host, Kelly, and thank you so much for joining me today.

Today we're diving into the case of Patty Pruitt, and this is a case of love, loss, and a decades-long fight for justice. It's a story that starts with a

picture-perfect family and ends with a 75-year-old grandmother walking free after nearly 40

years behind bars. We'll walk through the story as it unfolded step by step, so get comfortable,

and let's go back to where it all began.

Patricia or Patty Pruitt and her husband, Bill, seemed to have the kind of life you'd read about in a feel-good novel. They were high school sweethearts from rural Missouri who married

young, built a business and started a big family. Patty was outgoing and witty, the PTA mom

who volunteered at school and could chat with anyone. Bill was outgoing and witty, the PTA mom who volunteered at school and could chat with

anyone. Bill was steady and hardworking, a former teacher turned lumberyard owner who was admired

in the community for his honesty and helpful nature. By the early 1980s, the Pruits were living

in the small town of Holden, about 50 miles outside of Kansas City,

running a lumber and hardware store together and raising five children. They were active in church

and civic life, and Patty was even president of the local chamber of commerce, while Bill coached

Little League Baseball. Friends and neighbors saw them as this all-American couple, hardworking and devoted.

But like every real family, behind the smiling photos, there were challenges that outsiders just

didn't see. In the mid-1970s, about a decade into their marriage, Patty and Bill faced a

trauma that would really test their relationship. In 1974, during a trip to the town of Sedalia, Patty was attacked and raped by a group of men. She was in her mid-20s, a mother of three at the time, and the assault left really deep emotional scars, as you can imagine. But in those days, sexual assault wasn't often talked about. And

...