The Trail Went Cold - Episode 15 - Tommy Zeigler (Part 1)

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2016

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Christmas Eve 1975. Winter Garden, Florida. Police respond to call for help at the W.T. Zeigler Furniture Store and find one of the store’s owners, 30-year old Tommy Zeigler, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Inside, they discover that four people have been murdered: Tommy’s wife, Eunice Zeigler; her parents, Perry and Virginia Edwards; and a customer named Charlie Mays. Tommy claims he was attacked and shot by unknown intruders, but authorities believe Tommy committed the murders himself and that his gunshot wound is self-inflicted. Months later, he is put on trial and sentenced to death. However, the prosecution’s case was shaky at best and over the years, evidence has emerged to cast doubt on the conviction. Tommy Zeigler has remained on death row for over 40 years, but has never stopped maintaining his innocence and his supporters continue to fight to get him released. This is undoubtedly the most convoluted case “The Trail Went Cold” has ever profiled, so we will be making this a two-part episode. This week, Part 1 will chronicle the incredible series of events surrounding this horrific crime and the controversial trial of Tommy Zeigler. Additional Reading: “Fatal Flaw: A True Story of Malice and Murder in a Small Southern Town” by Philip Finch http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-tommy-zeigler-medill-justice-project-20160308-story.html http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/defense-seeks-touch-dna-to-question-death-row-inmates-guilt/2236115 http://tommyzeiglerisinnocent.com The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Christmas Eve, 1975. Winter Garden, Florida.
0:05.0	Police respond to a call for help at the W.T. Ziegler Furniture Store
0:09.5	and find one of the store's owners, Tommy Zieglerler bleeding from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
0:15.2	Inside they discover that four people have been murdered.
0:18.8	Tommy's wife Eunice Eiegler, her parents Perry in Virginia Edwards, and a customer named Charlie Mays.
0:25.2	Tommy claims that he was attacked and shot by unknown intruders, but authorities
0:29.9	believe that Tommy committed the murders himself and that his gunshot wound is
0:33.7	self-inflicted. Months later he is put on trial and sentenced to death.
0:38.3	Over the years evidence has emerged to cast doubt on the conviction and suggest that an innocent man has been on death row for the past 40 years.
0:48.0	After that, the trail went cold. I'm going to Oh, uh, yeah. Oh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
1:15.0	uh, uh, okay.
1:17.0	Oh, uh,
1:18.0	uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Hello everyone and welcome to episode number 15 of the trail went cold.
1:31.0	I'm your host Robin Warder and I can safely say that today's
1:34.8	episode is going to be our longest most convoluted one to date. You're probably
1:39.7	very familiar with the podcast Serial which has played a huge role in making true crime
1:44.2	podcast so popular in recent years. As you recall, Serial examined the
1:49.3	1999 murder of a girl named Ty Min Lee and cast out on whether Adnan Syed, the young man convicted of her
1:56.0	murder, actually committed the crime. Due to the man with publicity this case has received,
2:01.2	Adnan Syed has recently been awarded a new trial. So I thought it was about time that the
2:06.2	trail went cold at its own serial style episode about a case which is technically
2:10.8	solved but is fraught with doubt over the resolution.
	...

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