The Olympic Park Bombing Part 3 | Dana Jewell on Richard Jewell’s Life and Legacy

Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime

4.4 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Part 3 of the Olympic Park bombing series, Sheryl McCollum talks with Dana Jewell about her husband’s life before, during, and after the bombing. Dana shares what Richard endured during “88 days of hell,” the paranoia and betrayal that followed, and how lawsuits, illness, and media attacks shaped his final years. She remembers his love of law enforcement, the toll of nightmares, and the injustice that haunted him. Dana also reflects on Clint Eastwood’s film Richard Jewell and the lasting impact of her husband’s story.

Dana Jewell is the widow of Richard Jewell, the security guard who found the bomb at Centennial Olympic Park in 1996. Over 88 days, Richard lived under FBI suspicion and intense media scrutiny before being cleared. Dana continues to share Richard’s legacy, reminding the world of the cost of rushing to judgment.

Missed the first two episodes?

Highlights:

(0:00) Sheryl welcomes Dana Jewell and describes Richard spotting the suspicious backpack at Centennial Park
(1:45) Dana shares Richard’s “88 days of hell” under FBI suspicion and media pressure, and how it damaged his health
(5:15) “We met on a drug bust.” Dana remembers meeting Richard in Meriweather County
(14:30) The lawsuit against the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the lasting damage of headlines
(19:00) Kent Alexander approaches Dana about writing The Suspect
(24:00) Richard Jewell's illness and final days
(31:15) Dana reflects on Clint Eastwood’s film Richard Jewell
(34:45) Sheryl closes by quoting Richard Jewell: “The media can destroy lives faster than the criminal justice system can save them.”

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Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award-winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnline, forensic and crime scene expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and co-author of the textbook Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. She is the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a national collaboration that advances techniques for solving cold cases and assists families and law enforcement with unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnappings.

Social Links:

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
Instagram: @officialzone7podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast.
0:11.8	Y'all welcome back to Zone 7's special edition of the 100th Olympic Games.
0:20.6	Y'all, Richard Jewel, security guard for the Olympics, of the 100th Olympic Games.
0:25.0	Y'all Richard Jewel, security guard for the Olympics,
0:30.5	spotted a suspicious backpack under a bench in Olympic Park.
0:34.4	It was approximately 110 a.m.
0:42.2	Richard acted quickly. Y'all, he went and grabbed a GBI agent, said, look what I see. This doesn't look right. The two of them started moving people away from the backpack and further
0:48.2	from that area. Ten minutes later, a pipe bomb detonated in Centennial Park.
0:58.1	Richard Jewell saved lives, period.
1:03.1	His actions and his alone were heroic.
1:08.9	Tonight, we are joined by Dana Jewel. She and Richard were married. We are going to get to
1:18.1	talk to her and hear firsthand the aftermath for Richard when he went from being a hero to a suspect in the bombing.
1:31.6	Dana Jewel, welcome to Zone 7.
1:34.8	Thanks, Cheryl.
1:35.7	Thanks for having me.
1:37.1	Honey, this conversation's overdue.
1:38.9	I tell you, you and I, we've talked, we know each other, but what you and Richard went through is like no other story.
1:49.9	And especially for you, you weren't married to him during the bombing.
1:54.1	I mean, y'all didn't get together until like 18 months after.
1:58.5	Tell us what he would tell you about those 88 days of being a suspected bomber.
2:07.2	You know, he didn't talk a lot about it because it was just too emotional. It was too much for him.
2:14.1	But when he would, when he would say stuff, you know, it was, the experience
	...

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