The Monster / A Cousin's Promise

Cold Case Files

A&E / PodcastOne

True Crime, Society & Culture

3.8 • 8.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Monster: Police are convinced they have caught the rapist/murderer of an elderly woman, even after DNA evidence is exculpatory. They keep him in custody until an identical incident occurs. Later, the culprit is caught in the act of attacking a teen and brought to justice on several cases shown to have the same DNA.

A Cousin's Promise: Twenty-one years after her cousin's death, Cheryl Cowans prods Reynoldsburg, Ohio to reopen the case. Once again, DNA appears to link the victim and murderer, but legal maneuvering puts him in prison for only five years.

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Transcript

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0:44.2	The following episode contains intensely disturbing accounts of violence.
0:46.3	Listener discussion is advised.
0:51.2	They were both elderly women living alone.
0:56.0	Sexual predators made an attack here. They came, he killed her, they raped her, and he left.
1:00.0	He was becoming more brazen and more violent each time.
1:06.0	The guy's a monster.
1:10.0	It's 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning in June 1993.
1:15.6	Fort Smith, Arkansas resident J.W. McAlpin is a regular at the Phoenix Village Baptist Church,
1:21.9	where he notices an empty pew, one usually occupied by 58-year-old Juanita Wofford.
1:28.3	If she could get here, she was here.
1:31.3	Anytime I'm church door is open, she was here.
1:34.3	After church, McElpin and a friend pay Wofford a visit
1:39.3	and immediately realize something is wrong.
1:43.3	The living room door were partially opened, so we opened the storm door so we can kind of see.
1:50.1	All we can see was a trail of blood.
1:52.5	We're going through the house.
1:54.5	They call the police, and Fort Smith Detective Randy Cook is the first to arrive.
	...

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