March 23, 2022 • 47 mins
In the early morning hours of April 27, 1982, 35 year old JoAnn Tate was stabbed in the chest and sexually assaulted while in her apartment in St. Louis, MO. Her 7 year old daughter, Melissa, was stabbed several times, and her 4 year old daughter, Renee, had her throat cut. The girls survived the attack, but their mother did not. For a while, Melissa had said that a man named Bill was the attacker, and she gave details of his car and house. Eventually, police showed Melissa a picture of Rodney Lincoln who had a previous murder conviction from a decade's old bar fight and who also had dated her mother. Soon after, she was shown a highly suggestive four-person live lineup, resulting in Lincoln's arrest, charges, and conviction. She had maintained that identification through trial and nearly 4 decades until she saw photos of an admitted serial killer whose MO matched the attack on her family.
To learn more and get involved, visit:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/9d49b-rodney-lincoln-free-after-36-years
https://www.gofundme.com/f/2nu2f-help-melissa-find-housing
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-real-killer/id1596167670
https://investigatinginnocence.org/bill-clutter
https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
In the early seventies, Rodney Lincoln served two years in
prison for accidentally killing a man in a bar fight.
About ten years later, he briefly dated a woman named
joe Ane Tate, and about a year after that, in
the early morning hours of April seven, Joanne was brutally
stabbed at death and sexually assaulted in her Saint Louis apartment.
(00:23):
Her two young daughters, seven year old Melissa and four
year old Renee, miraculously survived the attack. Joanne's brother thought
her ex boyfriend, Rodney Lincoln, resembled the composite sketch. Investigators
presented the older girl, Melissa, with a very suggestive lineup,
and it had the desired effect. Without DNA testing available,
(00:43):
This misidentification, along with Rodney's past conviction, sealed his fate.
The first trial ended in a hung jury. However, in
the second, the state leaned heavily on dubious hair microscopy
evidence and Melissa's testimony. Unfortunately for Rodney, pointing out the
inconsistencies between Melissa's initial statements and trial testimony could not
(01:04):
overcome the power of and then nine year old girl
describing an unspeakable attack. Twenty seven years later, DNA testing
excluded Rodney, but Melissa's testimony still looked Finally, when a
serial killer named Tommy Lynncell's had confessed to scores of
eerily similar crimes, Melissa immediately recognized him for photos as
(01:24):
the actual attacker. However, her recantation was still somehow not
enough to immediately said, Rodney free. This is wrongful conviction.
(01:45):
Welcome back to wrongful Conviction Today's episode. I mean, it's
truly mind bowing, even for me, and I've been doing
this for a long time. This is a case of
the wrongful conviction of a man named Rodney Lincoln who's
here with us today. And first of all, before I
go any further, Rodney, you know what can I say?
(02:06):
I'm sorry you're here under these circumstances. You never should
have to go through any of this in the first place.
But I'm obviously very happy that you're here to share
your story. So thanks for being here today. Thank you
for having me, Jason. We also have with us today
one of the most tenacious and persistent fighters for Rodney's innocence,
and that's Rodney's own daughter, Kay Lincoln. Kay, thanks so
(02:27):
much for being with us today. No problem. And Rodney
what a guy. I mean, this is a man who
served over thirty six years in prison and his case
involves junk science, a mistaken eyewitness identification. There's a serial
killer whose name you'll probably recognize because he was responsible
(02:47):
for other wrongful convictions we've covered on this series. I mean,
Rodney's case is a case that when you're at one
of these innocent conferences and you start talking about this
or that, people go, yeah, but have you heard about
Rodney Lincoln? It's like whispered because this case is so bad,
shit crazy. So, without further ado, let's go back in time.
(03:08):
So where did you grow up? I grew up in
South Saint Louis. I was a happy kid. We would board.
Everybody rounded board too, so we didn't know that we
was boy. Right. There was no social media back then,
so you had a happy childhood. And then it goes
up to nineteen seventy three. You're still a very young man. Right,
(03:31):
You got into a drunken bar fight, and this is
not the case we're here to talk about. This was
something that actually happened, right, But do you want to
talk about that just for a second. Three I was
convicted of a second degree motive. I do have boy
drinking one day and bring the mind from across the
street came over and tell me, hey, some guy that
(03:54):
told something. How you're talking? Well, I had there's enough drink, Jammine,
and I would ready to go after him. Unfortunate way
I did. Were got into a confrontatory and he drew
rock at me, and miss I threw rock at him,
and didn't I wound you up? Convicted of second degree motive. Well,
(04:19):
you served your time in prison for that crime, but
little would you know at the time that was just
the tip of the iceberg for your experience with the
criminal legal system in this country. Right, and in this
case you were actually guilty. And did you plead guilty
in that case? Yet? I did? I competed to the crime.
(04:39):
I would rightfully convicted. All right. So now it's the
late seventies getting into the early eighties and you're out
of prison. What were you doing for work? And how
did you first meet Joe and Tate? Miter? Say? As
you dated at some point? Right, Yeah, we dated for
ten I was ken day boy and placed old the
(05:00):
cottage inn and this couple comes down. The boy and
I find out that this is Joanne take and her brother.
While there, I got talking to Joanne. When they got
ready to leave, Joanne gave me a piece of paper
(05:20):
with a phone number on it asked me to call
it that night when I got off what I called,
she answer, And that was the first time we met
outside of the boy And when I say we dated,
it wasn't like a mad love affair. Our relationship was
purely sexual, okay. And then how long after that does
(05:43):
this horrible crime happen? It was just about a year
I think, maybe a little over because I had been
dating my girlfriend at the time for about eight months.
Now we passed forward to the early morning hours of
April two seven. This is gonna be hard to hear.
I'm just gonna warn the audience this crime is so
(06:06):
grotesque that it's hard for me to even say it
or read it, because this was the mark of a
serial killer who was reaching the depths of his depraved
crime spree. So in the early morning hours of April seven,
Joe and Tate was thirty five years old. She was
stabbed in the chest and sexually assaulted with a broomstick
(06:30):
in her apartment at St. Louis Missouri now her seven
year old daughter, Melissa, also was stabbed several times at
her four year old daughter, Renee, had her throat cut.
The girls survived the attack, but their mother tragically did not.
Her body was discovered at ten am when her brother
and boyfriend entered the apartment and found her lying face
(06:52):
down in a pool of blood and her daughter's lying
there as well, covered in blood with multiple stab wounds.
The ups there's neighbor had heard a loud noise from
Mrs Tate's apartment at approximately four am that morning, and
then when police arrived at the scene, they noticed the
two girls were still alive. But they saw that there
were and again brace yourself, bristles of a broom were
(07:15):
protruding from the anus of Missou and Tate now Renee.
The four yeo had never offered any identification of the attacker,
but Melissa, the seven year old gave the police various
different statements. Now for a while, she suck to a
story that a man named Bill was the attacker, right
not Robbie Bill, and she gave the police of details
(07:36):
about his car at his house. I believe they also
made a sketch. But do you know how your name
first came up to the police the way my name
came up, and they found my name and Joanne diary,
and Buddy said that the guy thank you, that that
(07:58):
the guy at it looks like And police eventually showed
a picture of you, a photo of you Roddy to
the young girl Melissa, and they had the fact that
you had a murder conviction on your record from the
drunken fight ten years earlier, completely unrelated by the way,
which was a very different situation obviously. But after they
show Melissa your photo, this poor little girl was showing
(08:20):
a four person live lineup with you in it. And
here's the thing. You had short hair and a slight build,
but the other three men didn't resemble you at all. Right,
one was about jarew taller than I was, and all
of them had plainly long hair and were built a
(08:44):
lot bigger than I was. I've always been a small person.
I was the smallest in that lineup. Not the mention
that they were all younger than I was. Yeah, so
this is suggestive. Isn't even a strong enough word. And
this is why I believe that these things should all
be recorded. I witness identification, not just interrogations of suspects,
(09:04):
because how much more traumatized could a child be. She's
witnessed her own mother's brutal murder and also was stabbed
several times by this monster. And now imagine her, this
little child, with these police officers, you know, steering her.
Maybe they were doing it consciously, subconsciously, I don't know,
(09:25):
towards the one guy in the lineup who looked anything
like what she had said she remembered from this attack. Also,
during the investigation, there was hair found and pubic hair
that apparently did not belong down Joe had tape. So
the state brings in a few quote unquote experts and
we'll get to that insanity and just a bit. Okay,
(09:47):
so you were arrested Rodney on May. So this is
just a few weeks after the attack. You're arrested and
charged based on this. Let me say this sort of
just the identification procedure, this junk science of the hair,
and the basic idea that they had tunnel vision because
(10:09):
they said, well, here's a guy who had been convicted
of murder, nothing like this one, nothing had comment at all,
and who dated her just briefly, so it must be him.
So you're in jail awaiting trial from May until August.
I was doing gail with five and thirty five days
(10:29):
five about a year and a half awaiting the trial.
But now you had kids, he had with four kids
by this point, yes, two downs and two daughters and
your daughter case here with us now. So okay, what
was all of this like for you? What do you
remember feeling at that time? Confusion? Why was this happening?
(10:53):
Just was so lost as to what why, how could
this even be a thought that he could do something
like this. And I remember the first time we went
to visit him when he was being held at the
city jail, shortly after he was arrested, and he just
looked us in the eyes and said, I need you
to know I didn't do this. I had nothing to
(11:14):
do with this. And that was really all I needed
to hear. And I really believed that. Okay, so he
didn't do it. These guys are trying to just do
their job. They'll figure out that it wasn't him and
he'll come home. And of course that didn't happen. And
it was a year and a half before he went
to trial, and we thought, well, okay, he's going to trial,
(11:36):
they'll figure it out. The judges sent him home. And
in the first trial that almost panned out. And who
who represented you? Riddy? I rejected Janet buying attorney by
the name of Robert Hampy. And how long did the
trial take? The thick salt took fifteen days and it
ended in the seven to five split verdict which hung
(11:58):
the jury. Of course, so now back to jail to
await another trial, which took place in October of n
And was it the same attorney that represented you in
the second trial? So at the second trial, the state
presented two criminalists who were employed by the City of St.
Louis Police Department, Joseph Crow and Harold Mesler, who testified
(12:21):
about hair that was found at the crime scene. Now
Crow said that he examined a blanket found in the
bedroom found hair and found one sample of a pubic
hair that did not belong to the victim. On cross examination,
Mr Crow stated that the information that could be gathered
from a hair is limited and that he didn't think
it was possible to determine the age of the person.
That one could not identify the ethnicity of a hair
(12:44):
from a Caucasian quote with a great deal of certainty.
This doesn't sound like very strong testimony. So the hair
evidence was then passed to Mesler, the other guy, to examine,
and he testified that compared to a sample from you,
Roddy along with Sam, was from thirty seven other Caucasians,
the thirty seven others were not comparable to the hair
(13:04):
found at the scene. Okay, so I'm no scientists, but
so these thirty seven other samples, thirty seven other people,
that's what passed for the exclusion of anyone else on
the planet. Right, It's unbelievable that this is allowed to
go on in a cord of a lot. But okay,
(13:26):
Later the same guy mes to testify that when examining
the thirty seven other individuals hair along with Tate's hair
and Lincoln's hair, only yours Rodney matched, and that in
two hundred cases that he had handled, he had never
found one where hair recovered from the crime scene matched
to more than one person. Again, what does that even
mean or prove? I mean, if the process is getting
(13:49):
thirty seven samples, who cares if you did the same
shoddy testing two hundred times or two million times? Is
that disproved that your suspects hair is just similar to
the actual killers here. How do you know that from
this method? Well, the answer is you don't. Hair microscopy
possesses little to know forensic value. You know. I'm reading
(14:13):
this fantastic book now and the fact that just finished
it last night by m. Chris Fabrikant, and it's called
Junk Science and the American criminal justice System. One of
the things it highlights is how the National Academy of
Sciences did a study not not that long ago where
the FBI was forced to admit that they have been
lying in case after case for decades about this evidence.
(14:36):
A sampling of the first five transcripts were revealed that
special agents had given bogus testimony in about nine of
the cases. Thirty five had been death penalty convictions, and
all but two of those have been marred by false testimony. Now,
nine men had already been put to death and five
more had died of other causes while waiting to be
(14:58):
executed on death row due to this junk science. It's
nothing short of a forensic testimony disaster. So you've got
this junk science presented at your trial, Rodney, but it's
really there to support Melissa, whose testimony, despite the inconsistencies,
was still very powerful. We're talking about a what was
(15:19):
she by the time of the trial, just nine years old,
so she described with the little nine year old Melissa
described waking up the screens and seeing her mother laying
down on her stomach and a pull of blood. Near
the door to her bedroom, she said, she saw a
naked man and again, I'm sorry, you have to hear this,
who came over to her bed, picked her up and
carried her up to take the bedroom, put her on
(15:41):
the bed, and remove her clothes. She said he tried
to get her to quote do a few things he
stand to repeatedly, and she attempted to play dead until
he stopped again. This is her testimony. She said. The
attacker then washed off the knife, and she hid under
her sister's bed, and she then heard the attack or
hurt her sister. Oh man, this is just getting worse
and worse. When she was in her mother's bedroom, she
(16:02):
said she got a good look at the killer. She
said she did not remember his name at the time,
but she remembered seeing him before that night a long
time ago, when she Renee and her mom spent the
night at your house, Rodney, and she said the house
was across from a park with a playground, and that
your mother and some pets lived there, and she identified
the playground at the park from photos. She then identified
(16:25):
a photo of you, Rodney, as her attack, her as
the attacker of the whole family, and she identified you
in the courtroom as well. She then explained that she
initially said because you remember she had said Bill, did
it right? Because she was sick and hurt and everyone
kept bothering her for a name, she just said Bill.
She stated several times at Bill and Lincoln were the
(16:47):
same person, and at the time of the attacks, she
did not really know your name. And I sit there
in a second trial, I'm beginning to see I am
into trouble. Let's talk about your defense. Your attorney, Roddy,
Robert Hampy, who had been with you now for quite
(17:07):
some time through the first trial and the second trial.
He had an almost impossible task, because how do you
cross examine a traumatized, terrified little girl who has lost
her mother and almost lost her own life, as well
as seeing her sister savagely attacked. I don't know how
you go about doing that, but how how did he
attempt to because she was really the whole case, right right.
(17:31):
I think as I look back on it now, his
whole line of attack. He thought mostly on the inconsistencies
of her statements, trying to get it to repeat the
different things that she had said in the past that
(17:51):
was not exactly was supposed to be now. And I
look back on it now, I almost feel like down there, well,
that could backfire as well. But I mean, he had
to walk a tight rope, and it sounds like he
didn't do it very well. But he literally was in
between a rock and our place, because the jury is
(18:12):
not gonna want to see him being anything other than
gentle so to speak to this child. But he had
your life on the line, and the only way to
get you out of this at this point was to
undermine her testimony, which of course turns out all those
years later to have been false. Okay, So then we
get to the closing argument, and in the state's closing argument,
they didn't really focus on the hair sample. Rather, they
(18:35):
kept harping on little Melissa's testimony, noting that Renee was
too young to testify, his stating that Melissa quote bore
the responsibility for the three of them to tell you
what happened that night whoa, And then they recapped the
Melissa's identification of you, Rodney, and I would say at
that point your fate was probably more or less sealed.
(18:57):
I mean, these are people on the jury, These are
normal people who are listening to this testimony of this
child and who want to get justice for her and
her mom and her sister and the family. And so
I think that that's going to cloud their judgment. And
while they may have had real doubts as to your guilt,
at this point, the human instinct is depended on somebody, right.
(19:17):
So how long did they deliberate for the second row
they was out? I think about two a half hours.
Well that's not very long at all. And when they
came back in, did you still hold out hope or
did you, as you said before, you knew you were
in serious trouble and you basically resigned yourself to the
(19:37):
idea that these people were going to come back and
render a guilty verdict. No, I fell about that they're
gonna get it right, come back and say, look, we
can't buying enough of a dent convicted guy. And you
would go home and try to piece your life back
together again. But unfortunately that was not to be so Rodney.
(20:00):
When the jury came back in, What was that moment
like when they convicted you and send you to life
in prison plus fifteen years for a crime you had
nothing to do with. I find it very hard to
describe that feeling. It was just like everything inside of
me was yanked out. Nothing there but the shell. At
(20:39):
that time, I was taken to the Madrid State and
Intentiory in Defferent City. When I arrived, I was taken
to a large room with a bunch of other people.
We were stripped down, got into a shower where we
(20:59):
were strade like cattle. I was designed to two house
at the death of the City Penitentiary. Once I got there,
it was a living nightmare. I was always looking over
my shoulder. Do anything any or going anywhere and remain
(21:24):
a right. But ten years and meanwhile you're enduring these
archaic and barbaric prison conditions while being handed one devastating
disappointment after another from the courts. And by that I
mean that in six your wrongful conviction was upheld on
(21:48):
direct appeal and then the motion for post conviction. Relief
was denied two years later in n but a crucial
breakthrough came in two thousand three when the St. Louis,
Missouri Circuit Attorney's Office and a Justice project to review
old convictions and shows your case to review out of
old cases. And here I'd like to turn back to
your daughter k because she plays an absolutely crucial role
(22:11):
in what happens next. It's okay, can you take us
through this. It was June five, two thousand three. I
got off work that evening and I stopped by my
mom's house and I walked in the door and she
was just finishing watching the news and she said, your
dad maybe out in a couple of weeks. And I said,
you're crazy, what are you talking about. She said, they
(22:33):
just showed his picture on the news and they said
they're reviewing his case. So the next morning I called
down to the Circuit Attorney's office and I asked them
is this true? Is he one of the cases? And
they verified that yes, this was one of the cases
that they were looking at. And so I started a
communication with the man who was in charge of doing
this review, and through the course of our communication, they said,
(22:57):
well we can't find the transcripts. We can't get ahold
of the train in scripts. So I tracked them down.
I went to the Court of Appeals and I purchased
the transcripts from them. It was like to get these transcripts.
I made copies and took them down to the Circuit
Attorney's office and said, here you go, get busy, you know.
(23:17):
So as they're doing their review, I'm rereading these transcripts
myself and I'm just getting blown away by the things
that I'm seeing. Because my aunt had an original copy
of Melissa's deposition from back in so I'm comparing Melissa's
deposition to things that were said in trial, and I'm like, well,
(23:38):
this isn't even driving. It's not making sense. So then
I thought, well, I need to see these police reports.
So I requested the police reports, and it took forever
to get them. The police department did not want to
give them to me. Now I'm reading them and I'm
freaking out because there's so much information here. More I read,
(24:00):
the more I need to find more, you know. So
I'm like, I need this lineup photo. And I had
to fight and fight to get the lineup photo. I
finally got that, and I was just blown away. I
don't know if you've seen it, but it's incredible. Yeah, right,
it really is. I mean the suggestive nature the whole thing.
You know that there's these huge dudes with long hair
(24:24):
and your dad's got short hair and a lighter build. Yeah,
it's almost like a joke. So I got the lineup photo.
I'm reading trial transcripts and police reports and I'm like, oh, well,
there's more depositions somewhere. So I go back down to
the courts and I request all the depositions and I'm
reading through them, and one really got my attention. There
(24:46):
was a criminologist I guess by the name of John Salmone,
and in his deposition he states that he identified a
fingerprint on the knife as my dad's, and I'm like,
wait a minute. That never came up into rial. I
guess it was my dad's attorney who was doing the deposition,
and he said, are you aware of a man named
(25:06):
George bone Break? And Detective Salmone said yes, he was
a fingerprint analysis expert at the FBI, And so the
attorney asks him, are you aware that this print was
sent to George bone Break for evaluation, they go off
the record, come back on the record, and he states
that he is no longer willing to testify that that
(25:30):
is Rodney Lincoln's fingerprint unless George bone Break testifies that
it's Rodney Lincoln's fingerprint. Well, what happened was the police
department had sent that print to bone Break to try
to get confirmation of it being his. Bone Break gave
them back a report saying no, it's not his fingerprint.
And he actually offered to testify for the defense, but
(25:52):
wanted like a thousand dollars or something that they didn't
have to pay him. So you had a detective who
says the says his fingerprint and absolutely knows it's not
And that was never brought up at trial. Dad's attorney
and the prosecutor agreed to a stipulation that neither one
of them would bring that print up at trial. And
(26:13):
I was like, why in the hell would his attorney
not bring that up. So this investigation into your dad's
conviction by this circuit attorney, Well, in April two thousand four,
they decided to close it down. Right. They said they
couldn't locate the fingernail scraping from Joanne from the attacker
and couldn't provide any conclusive proof with the hair, so
(26:34):
they wouldn't be doing any further investigation or testing. I mean,
I can't imagine how that would have felt. What did
you do? What were you thinking? Then? I'm like, wait
a minute, I've got way too much information now in
the past ten months, somebody's going to do something. You
might be finished, but I'm not, and you weren't, and
(26:55):
we're about to get into that. I mean, Rodney, you
have to be so proud of cam Damn. I'm proud
of K. And without her we probably wouldn't even be
having this conversation right now. Absolutely, it would be a
hold that was shaped and what I am today if
not for she gathered all the information and did all
(27:17):
the leg work and did a lot of the investigation.
Contacted a guy by the name of Steve Weinberg who
was a journalist at the Columbia School of Journalists. He
was also the founder of the Midwest Entrance. K made
contact with him and he used my case with his
(27:42):
journalists students and allowed them to investigate my case, and
they came up with a lot of the information that
we have today. So it's now two thousand and ten,
so this ordeal has now been going on for more
than a quarter century. And two in ten, DNA testing
that the Midwest Innisent Project had fought for was approved
(28:05):
and samples from the clime scene were tested, and of
course the results did not match you, Rodney. And then
m I P filed to have you released, but the
motion was supposed and Circuit Court Judge Robin Vanoy ruled
that the DNA results were not enough to exonerate you, Rodney.
I mean, how did it feel to you when you
were aware that the DNA had ex call pay? Did
(28:26):
you right? And yet the courts are saying and uh,
we're not buying that DNA stuff. Well, what we were
told that DNA on my hair was not enough to
relate me because they still had the eye wouldntimony? Right?
So in teen become to a crucial turning point in
(28:48):
this case, and that brings us to this awful character
in this story today. And we've heard his name on
the show before. I'm talking about serial killer Tommy Lynn Cells.
And so I reached out to a fascinating person whose
investigative work into just how many innocent people were in
prison for murders that were actually commended by Tommy Land
Cells led him to start several organizations in different states,
(29:11):
including the Illinois Innocence Project. By the way, just to
give you an idea of how many murders and rawful
convictions for which Cells is responsible. Julie Ray, who's been
on the show, herb Whitlock. You Rodney, of course, and
we're not even scratching the surface. So in speaking with
this investigator, he gives us a look inside his journey
into the murderous career of Tommy Land Cells, starting with
(29:32):
the rawful conviction of Randy's stitle and how that unfolds
into Rodney's case. My name's Bill Clutter. I'm a private investigator.
Twenty years ago, i started the Illinois Innocence Project in Springfield, Illinois.
I was involved in the case of Rady Stidle, who
spent most of his seventeen years on death row. You know,
in two thousand and fourteen, although Steidl Whitlock were free,
(29:55):
they still hadn't had their names cleared, and so I
filed affidavit detailing all the crimes of Tommy Lynn Cells.
So part of those details included his modus operandi where
in many of his cases he would strike at four am,
take knives from the kitchen where he would stab his
victims to death. But it was the details of the
(30:18):
Dardine case that was in my affidavit that caught the
attention of an attorney in Rhode Island, Jen Fitzgerald. She
reached out to me and asked if I was aware
of the Rodney Lincoln case. When she started telling me
the details that that the murder happened at four am,
a knife from the kitchen was used, that it happened
in St. Louis, where I knew that Tommy Lynn Cells
(30:41):
family moved around February. That was significant because it gives
Cells opportunity to have committed the murder of Joe and Tate.
And here he was only seventeen at the time and
this would have been one of his very early murders
that he committed. And all of the factors of that
case are identical to many of his other cases for
(31:04):
a m knife from the kitchen. And it so happened
that Crime Watch Daily there was a new syndicated crime
show that reached out and was interested in doing a
story about my investigation linking Cells to the murder of
Joe and Tate. It was that show when it aired
in November of two thousand and fifteen that triggered the
(31:25):
recantation of Melissa the Bore. When she saw the images
of Tommy Lynn Cells, she had a flashback and this
visceral reaction and she reached out to Kay Lincoln on
social media that your dad is innocent. Tommy Lynn Cells
killed my mother. Well, it's sure checks out because when
(31:49):
you look at the grotesque details of Mrs Ruby Dardine's
murder and again brace yourself because this is grotesque, but
Mrs d means body was found next to her three
year old son and newborn baby. Now, Tommy land Sells
was a hit man for hire as well as just
(32:10):
seems like he just enjoyed violence, like it was his
sort of weird kick, and this case appears to be
one of the hired variety because it's believed that the
mafia actually hired him to brutalize the Dardine's. The husband, Keith,
in particular, was made to watch his family be physically destroyed.
Tommy Land Cells had waited for Ruby's husband Keith to
(32:32):
come home, and during this time, Ruby gave birth to
her baby. Oh my god, I'm gonna cry. And Keith
was found a while away, shot execution style, with his
penis severed and stuffed into his mouth. I mean, and
his wife, Ruby was found And this is important. Again,
(32:52):
cover your ears if you're squeamish. But this is important
because it relates back to the circumstances surrounding the tape murder.
Mrs Dardine was found with a baseball bat protruding from
her vagina. So this was this six bastard's m O.
After Melissa reached out to k on Facebook and Midwest
(33:13):
Instance Projects shifted their attention to Tommy, but it sells.
At some point Melissa learned that you, Rodney, were left handed,
unlike the man who killed her mom and attacked her.
So on November fifteen, Melissa, now a grown woman well
into her I guess forties, now from that nine year
old girl who testified a seven year old girl that
(33:34):
had been attacked, she recanted her testimony against Rodney Lincoln.
She said, and this is a direct quote, Rodney Lincoln
did not kill my mom, He did not attempt to
kill my sister, and I it was Tommy Lynn Cells
when the veil felt from my eyes. I was horrified
I have kept an innocent man in prison for thirty
(33:56):
four years. I did not know I was wrong, but
I was, and realizing it is so painful. When I
saw a picture of Tommy lind Cells, I had a horrible,
horrible feeling. And when I think about that terrible night,
I now see how I could have gotten mixed up.
This is all I can really say right now. End quote.
(34:18):
I learned about that again through my daughter. She came
up to bisit me, and when she told me that
she talked to Melissa and Melissa was going through recamp
her statement, we laughed, we cried. I felt, at last,
(34:38):
it's finally ending. Then, after Melissa actually went through the
prosecutors office, I was told how Melissa were treated like
she couldn't possibly be right after thirty years, saying that
(34:59):
if you you drown, But yet they do have any
trouble believing her when she was traveling me. That just
amazed me. Yeah, it seems backwards and upside down and
inside out and everything right, And it's amazing how they
can just believe what they want to believe when they
want to believe it. And then discount it when it
(35:19):
doesn't match exactly what they want the narrative to be.
I can't leave out that this poor, poor woman, Melissa,
is now being re traumatized as she learns that she
had been lied to by the people who were sworn
to protect and serve her, and who, as a child
who had just lost her mother, must have been just
(35:41):
imagine clinging on to anyone, any grown up that you
think might be able to help you. And to have
been betrayed, and then too, as she said so eloquently
and in such a heartfelt manner, to now have to
live with this awful feeling that she was responsible for
putting a man who had nothing to do with it
in prison. For I mean, Jesus, she served almost four
(36:04):
decades in prison, and now the state is refusing to
listen to her. But she wasn't done yet. December two fifteen,
Melissa went and met with the Satan was prosecuting attorney's
officers declare her recantation. And she even came to meet
you in prison to ask for your forgiveness. I mean,
I told her that there was nothing to forgive her,
(36:25):
but she didn't do anything. She was manipulating clog and
guided and tricked that I couldn't forgive there was anything
to forgive her thought if you would, And we did hug,
we tried, we laugh. When she first walked up to me,
(36:52):
she just kept saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
and I get down. There's nothing to be joy boy,
you didn't do anything. It was moment that I can't
really describe how I felt. It was a moment now
(37:14):
I would cherished the rest of my life. I'm always
at a loss for words when I hear these stories.
(37:36):
What I read is that what you said to her
when she begged for your forgiveness was I have nothing
to forgive you for You are completely blame those I
thank you for your courage, but you only have my love,
not any anger from me. I'm so sorry for you
and for losing your mom. That's uh, That's probably exactly
(37:59):
what she needed here and probably exactly what you need
to get off your chest. And then things started to roll,
even though there was still one more major speed bump
ahead right which is added two thousand seventeen. Despite the
DNA evidence and the soul eye witness both on your side,
your case was still denied a review by the Missouri
(38:20):
Supreme Court. I mean, like, like what I mean, what
was your reaction to that? Well, by the time I'm
being getting to understand they have perfect court system, isn't
so perfect the decision on the Appeals Court that innocence
(38:43):
it isn't enough two three a person unless they have
the depth penalty that blowed me. And then the Supreme
Court wouldn't even hear the case exactly den I to
hear it. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense, like what
(39:04):
denyed on what basis? But you're here today, and that's
because remarkably Governor Grighten's certainly not a criminal justice reformer,
stepped in and commuted your sentence into in the two
thousand and eighteen and you were immediately released, not pardoned,
by the way, and so you're still living as as
a convicted murderer, which is insane. You know, I won't
(39:28):
do about that today. I didn't find out about this
until around ten thirty the morning of the day that
I left. They came and got me and told me
that I had to go up and wait for a
call from the governor. The phone rang and I would
(39:50):
sitting in the office at time managing aim through the phone,
and the phone to me, I'd say, hello, always said,
is this Brideney Lincoln? I said, yesterday is He said,
someone here wants to speak to you. Here's the governor
of the state of Missouri. And then Governor, come down,
(40:12):
he said, Brideney. I said, Yester, I just wanted to
call and tell you that I'm commuting your sentence to
time served. The only thing I could think of at
that moment would thank you. And then the governor told me, Ridney,
I want you spend the rest of your time building
(40:33):
a better community, making this a better country. And God
blessed you. And you know I could say, was God
blessed you. That's a short and sweet conversation if I
ever heard one. Yes, shut sweet and at least for me,
very powerful. I never left the penitentry until twenty minutes
(40:59):
after Strip that evening, and I walked out. My two
daughters and my grandson and two of my attorneys were
there to meet me. Rodney, I gotta ask, what was
that like? Like you, I'm talking about your first steps
out as a freeman into free air after so many
(41:21):
long years in prison. You know, today everything virtual, and
that's kind of way I felt there, like, did you
you know happy? Virtually this isn't real. So he felt
like it was a dream, absolutely very good one, the dream.
And then what you do. So a lot of hugs
(41:42):
and tears, I'm sure, and laughter, um we huh laugh.
I am a very emotual family. One of the things
that I remember so vividly is that we remember telling
my daughter how my better the sunshine felt outside of
(42:04):
the prison, but the way it did on you inside,
what a day man. That Meanwhile, that was back in
two thousand eighteen and it's now two so this is
a little more than three and a half years ago.
And I understand that you have been traveling the country
speaking about your experience courageously and and advocating to try
(42:28):
to help prevent others from going through the same nightmare
that you went through. There's a wonderful quote that I
read from you said, just the fact that I could
possibly help someone that was the same position that I
was in. If I could do something today that makes
me a better person or help someone else, it's been
a good day. That's awesome. You're You're awesome, man. That's
all I can say about that. So, how has life
(42:50):
been these three and a half years of freedom. Fantactically
amazing would almost cover it. Since I've been out, I've
been on some advocations, there's a deep sea patient, did
some pair of gliding rod the pirate ship. I jumped
(43:13):
out of a perfectly good airplane twice. Amazing. I'm using
this time to learn more about myself as well as
the people around me. I was away a lot of
things you just lose touch of, and I'm trying to
(43:34):
regain that tightness and family bonds. I try and keep
in touch with this many of the guys back at
the prisoners I can by email. Since it's COVID hit.
I've been able to too much speaking advocating. Intend to
(43:59):
continue with that. What we need you out there, and
we need you on here and the good news. You
know a hundred thousand plus people will hear this podcast
and here your thoughts that you've shared with us so generously.
It's been an honor for me to have the chance
to interview you here today. You are an inspiration and
(44:19):
for people who want to help Rodney as he hopefully
lives another twenty thirty years and as he continues to
do his good work there's a go fund me. Just
go to the link in our bio. We'll have it
posted right there for you. One click, donate five dollars,
five thousand dollars, whatever you want, anything you can spare
(44:41):
to help Rodney. You can also learn even more about
this case on a podcast called The Real Killer. It's
a twelve episode series and this case certainly has a
lot of layers to it. And then Rodney, we now
turned to the closing the show, which we call closing arguments.
It works like this. I'm gonna turn off my microphone,
check back in my chair, turn the volume up, and
(45:03):
beat my headphones on, and just listen to any thoughts
you want to share that we haven't already covered. As
boy as my caith, I think we covered that preached
the lad certainly apprecreate you giving me this opportunity. One
(45:23):
thing that I would like to share is Melissa. It's
trying to get re established here in St. Louis, and
there's a go fund me for her to help her
raise money for housing. If you want to go to
(45:44):
that go fund me and help Melissa out. She's am
a pretty rough time right now. If you need some
help and by helping her. That would help me. That's beautiful.
We'll also have the go fund me for Melissa, who
you've heard so much about in this episode. We'll have
(46:07):
it posted in our bio as well, So go there,
click on that. Rodney. What a generous and wonderful spirit
you are. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts with us.
Thank you again for having me, Thank you for listening
to Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to thank our production team
(46:30):
Connor Hall, Justin Golden, Jeff Clyburne, and Kevin Wardis, with
research by Lila Robinson. The music in this production was
supplied by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be
sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on
Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at wrong Conviction,
as well as at Lava for Good. On all three platforms.
(46:52):
You can also follow me on both TikTok and Instagram
at It's Jason flop Ronful Conviction is the production of
Lava for Good Pipe as an association with Signal Company
Number one
In the early seventies, Rodney Lincoln served two years in
prison for accidentally killing a man in a bar fight.
About ten years later, he briefly dated a woman named
joe Ane Tate, and about a year after that, in
the early morning hours of April seven, Joanne was brutally
stabbed at death and sexually assaulted in her Saint Louis apartment.
(00:23):
Her two young daughters, seven year old Melissa and four
year old Renee, miraculously survived the attack. Joanne's brother thought
her ex boyfriend, Rodney Lincoln, resembled the composite sketch. Investigators
presented the older girl, Melissa, with a very suggestive lineup,
and it had the desired effect. Without DNA testing available,
(00:43):
This misidentification, along with Rodney's past conviction, sealed his fate.
The first trial ended in a hung jury. However, in
the second, the state leaned heavily on dubious hair microscopy
evidence and Melissa's testimony. Unfortunately for Rodney, pointing out the
inconsistencies between Melissa's initial statements and trial testimony could not
(01:04):
overcome the power of and then nine year old girl
describing an unspeakable attack. Twenty seven years later, DNA testing
excluded Rodney, but Melissa's testimony still looked Finally, when a
serial killer named Tommy Lynncell's had confessed to scores of
eerily similar crimes, Melissa immediately recognized him for photos as
(01:24):
the actual attacker. However, her recantation was still somehow not
enough to immediately said, Rodney free. This is wrongful conviction.
(01:45):
Welcome back to wrongful Conviction Today's episode. I mean, it's
truly mind bowing, even for me, and I've been doing
this for a long time. This is a case of
the wrongful conviction of a man named Rodney Lincoln who's
here with us today. And first of all, before I
go any further, Rodney, you know what can I say?
(02:06):
I'm sorry you're here under these circumstances. You never should
have to go through any of this in the first place.
But I'm obviously very happy that you're here to share
your story. So thanks for being here today. Thank you
for having me, Jason. We also have with us today
one of the most tenacious and persistent fighters for Rodney's innocence,
and that's Rodney's own daughter, Kay Lincoln. Kay, thanks so
(02:27):
much for being with us today. No problem. And Rodney
what a guy. I mean, this is a man who
served over thirty six years in prison and his case
involves junk science, a mistaken eyewitness identification. There's a serial
killer whose name you'll probably recognize because he was responsible
(02:47):
for other wrongful convictions we've covered on this series. I mean,
Rodney's case is a case that when you're at one
of these innocent conferences and you start talking about this
or that, people go, yeah, but have you heard about
Rodney Lincoln? It's like whispered because this case is so bad,
shit crazy. So, without further ado, let's go back in time.
(03:08):
So where did you grow up? I grew up in
South Saint Louis. I was a happy kid. We would board.
Everybody rounded board too, so we didn't know that we
was boy. Right. There was no social media back then,
so you had a happy childhood. And then it goes
up to nineteen seventy three. You're still a very young man. Right,
(03:31):
You got into a drunken bar fight, and this is
not the case we're here to talk about. This was
something that actually happened, right, But do you want to
talk about that just for a second. Three I was
convicted of a second degree motive. I do have boy
drinking one day and bring the mind from across the
street came over and tell me, hey, some guy that
(03:54):
told something. How you're talking? Well, I had there's enough drink, Jammine,
and I would ready to go after him. Unfortunate way
I did. Were got into a confrontatory and he drew
rock at me, and miss I threw rock at him,
and didn't I wound you up? Convicted of second degree motive. Well,
(04:19):
you served your time in prison for that crime, but
little would you know at the time that was just
the tip of the iceberg for your experience with the
criminal legal system in this country. Right, and in this
case you were actually guilty. And did you plead guilty
in that case? Yet? I did? I competed to the crime.
(04:39):
I would rightfully convicted. All right. So now it's the
late seventies getting into the early eighties and you're out
of prison. What were you doing for work? And how
did you first meet Joe and Tate? Miter? Say? As
you dated at some point? Right, Yeah, we dated for
ten I was ken day boy and placed old the
(05:00):
cottage inn and this couple comes down. The boy and
I find out that this is Joanne take and her brother.
While there, I got talking to Joanne. When they got
ready to leave, Joanne gave me a piece of paper
(05:20):
with a phone number on it asked me to call
it that night when I got off what I called,
she answer, And that was the first time we met
outside of the boy And when I say we dated,
it wasn't like a mad love affair. Our relationship was
purely sexual, okay. And then how long after that does
(05:43):
this horrible crime happen? It was just about a year
I think, maybe a little over because I had been
dating my girlfriend at the time for about eight months.
Now we passed forward to the early morning hours of
April two seven. This is gonna be hard to hear.
I'm just gonna warn the audience this crime is so
(06:06):
grotesque that it's hard for me to even say it
or read it, because this was the mark of a
serial killer who was reaching the depths of his depraved
crime spree. So in the early morning hours of April seven,
Joe and Tate was thirty five years old. She was
stabbed in the chest and sexually assaulted with a broomstick
(06:30):
in her apartment at St. Louis Missouri now her seven
year old daughter, Melissa, also was stabbed several times at
her four year old daughter, Renee, had her throat cut.
The girls survived the attack, but their mother tragically did not.
Her body was discovered at ten am when her brother
and boyfriend entered the apartment and found her lying face
(06:52):
down in a pool of blood and her daughter's lying
there as well, covered in blood with multiple stab wounds.
The ups there's neighbor had heard a loud noise from
Mrs Tate's apartment at approximately four am that morning, and
then when police arrived at the scene, they noticed the
two girls were still alive. But they saw that there
were and again brace yourself, bristles of a broom were
(07:15):
protruding from the anus of Missou and Tate now Renee.
The four yeo had never offered any identification of the attacker,
but Melissa, the seven year old gave the police various
different statements. Now for a while, she suck to a
story that a man named Bill was the attacker, right
not Robbie Bill, and she gave the police of details
(07:36):
about his car at his house. I believe they also
made a sketch. But do you know how your name
first came up to the police the way my name
came up, and they found my name and Joanne diary,
and Buddy said that the guy thank you, that that
(07:58):
the guy at it looks like And police eventually showed
a picture of you, a photo of you Roddy to
the young girl Melissa, and they had the fact that
you had a murder conviction on your record from the
drunken fight ten years earlier, completely unrelated by the way,
which was a very different situation obviously. But after they
show Melissa your photo, this poor little girl was showing
(08:20):
a four person live lineup with you in it. And
here's the thing. You had short hair and a slight build,
but the other three men didn't resemble you at all. Right,
one was about jarew taller than I was, and all
of them had plainly long hair and were built a
(08:44):
lot bigger than I was. I've always been a small person.
I was the smallest in that lineup. Not the mention
that they were all younger than I was. Yeah, so
this is suggestive. Isn't even a strong enough word. And
this is why I believe that these things should all
be recorded. I witness identification, not just interrogations of suspects,
(09:04):
because how much more traumatized could a child be. She's
witnessed her own mother's brutal murder and also was stabbed
several times by this monster. And now imagine her, this
little child, with these police officers, you know, steering her.
Maybe they were doing it consciously, subconsciously, I don't know,
(09:25):
towards the one guy in the lineup who looked anything
like what she had said she remembered from this attack. Also,
during the investigation, there was hair found and pubic hair
that apparently did not belong down Joe had tape. So
the state brings in a few quote unquote experts and
we'll get to that insanity and just a bit. Okay,
(09:47):
so you were arrested Rodney on May. So this is
just a few weeks after the attack. You're arrested and
charged based on this. Let me say this sort of
just the identification procedure, this junk science of the hair,
and the basic idea that they had tunnel vision because
(10:09):
they said, well, here's a guy who had been convicted
of murder, nothing like this one, nothing had comment at all,
and who dated her just briefly, so it must be him.
So you're in jail awaiting trial from May until August.
I was doing gail with five and thirty five days
(10:29):
five about a year and a half awaiting the trial.
But now you had kids, he had with four kids
by this point, yes, two downs and two daughters and
your daughter case here with us now. So okay, what
was all of this like for you? What do you
remember feeling at that time? Confusion? Why was this happening?
(10:53):
Just was so lost as to what why, how could
this even be a thought that he could do something
like this. And I remember the first time we went
to visit him when he was being held at the
city jail, shortly after he was arrested, and he just
looked us in the eyes and said, I need you
to know I didn't do this. I had nothing to
(11:14):
do with this. And that was really all I needed
to hear. And I really believed that. Okay, so he
didn't do it. These guys are trying to just do
their job. They'll figure out that it wasn't him and
he'll come home. And of course that didn't happen. And
it was a year and a half before he went
to trial, and we thought, well, okay, he's going to trial,
(11:36):
they'll figure it out. The judges sent him home. And
in the first trial that almost panned out. And who
who represented you? Riddy? I rejected Janet buying attorney by
the name of Robert Hampy. And how long did the
trial take? The thick salt took fifteen days and it
ended in the seven to five split verdict which hung
(11:58):
the jury. Of course, so now back to jail to
await another trial, which took place in October of n
And was it the same attorney that represented you in
the second trial? So at the second trial, the state
presented two criminalists who were employed by the City of St.
Louis Police Department, Joseph Crow and Harold Mesler, who testified
(12:21):
about hair that was found at the crime scene. Now
Crow said that he examined a blanket found in the
bedroom found hair and found one sample of a pubic
hair that did not belong to the victim. On cross examination,
Mr Crow stated that the information that could be gathered
from a hair is limited and that he didn't think
it was possible to determine the age of the person.
That one could not identify the ethnicity of a hair
(12:44):
from a Caucasian quote with a great deal of certainty.
This doesn't sound like very strong testimony. So the hair
evidence was then passed to Mesler, the other guy, to examine,
and he testified that compared to a sample from you,
Roddy along with Sam, was from thirty seven other Caucasians,
the thirty seven others were not comparable to the hair
(13:04):
found at the scene. Okay, so I'm no scientists, but
so these thirty seven other samples, thirty seven other people,
that's what passed for the exclusion of anyone else on
the planet. Right, It's unbelievable that this is allowed to
go on in a cord of a lot. But okay,
(13:26):
Later the same guy mes to testify that when examining
the thirty seven other individuals hair along with Tate's hair
and Lincoln's hair, only yours Rodney matched, and that in
two hundred cases that he had handled, he had never
found one where hair recovered from the crime scene matched
to more than one person. Again, what does that even
mean or prove? I mean, if the process is getting
(13:49):
thirty seven samples, who cares if you did the same
shoddy testing two hundred times or two million times? Is
that disproved that your suspects hair is just similar to
the actual killers here. How do you know that from
this method? Well, the answer is you don't. Hair microscopy
possesses little to know forensic value. You know. I'm reading
(14:13):
this fantastic book now and the fact that just finished
it last night by m. Chris Fabrikant, and it's called
Junk Science and the American criminal justice System. One of
the things it highlights is how the National Academy of
Sciences did a study not not that long ago where
the FBI was forced to admit that they have been
lying in case after case for decades about this evidence.
(14:36):
A sampling of the first five transcripts were revealed that
special agents had given bogus testimony in about nine of
the cases. Thirty five had been death penalty convictions, and
all but two of those have been marred by false testimony. Now,
nine men had already been put to death and five
more had died of other causes while waiting to be
(14:58):
executed on death row due to this junk science. It's
nothing short of a forensic testimony disaster. So you've got
this junk science presented at your trial, Rodney, but it's
really there to support Melissa, whose testimony, despite the inconsistencies,
was still very powerful. We're talking about a what was
(15:19):
she by the time of the trial, just nine years old,
so she described with the little nine year old Melissa
described waking up the screens and seeing her mother laying
down on her stomach and a pull of blood. Near
the door to her bedroom, she said, she saw a
naked man and again, I'm sorry, you have to hear this,
who came over to her bed, picked her up and
carried her up to take the bedroom, put her on
(15:41):
the bed, and remove her clothes. She said he tried
to get her to quote do a few things he
stand to repeatedly, and she attempted to play dead until
he stopped again. This is her testimony. She said. The
attacker then washed off the knife, and she hid under
her sister's bed, and she then heard the attack or
hurt her sister. Oh man, this is just getting worse
and worse. When she was in her mother's bedroom, she
(16:02):
said she got a good look at the killer. She
said she did not remember his name at the time,
but she remembered seeing him before that night a long
time ago, when she Renee and her mom spent the
night at your house, Rodney, and she said the house
was across from a park with a playground, and that
your mother and some pets lived there, and she identified
the playground at the park from photos. She then identified
(16:25):
a photo of you, Rodney, as her attack, her as
the attacker of the whole family, and she identified you
in the courtroom as well. She then explained that she
initially said because you remember she had said Bill, did
it right? Because she was sick and hurt and everyone
kept bothering her for a name, she just said Bill.
She stated several times at Bill and Lincoln were the
(16:47):
same person, and at the time of the attacks, she
did not really know your name. And I sit there
in a second trial, I'm beginning to see I am
into trouble. Let's talk about your defense. Your attorney, Roddy,
Robert Hampy, who had been with you now for quite
(17:07):
some time through the first trial and the second trial.
He had an almost impossible task, because how do you
cross examine a traumatized, terrified little girl who has lost
her mother and almost lost her own life, as well
as seeing her sister savagely attacked. I don't know how
you go about doing that, but how how did he
attempt to because she was really the whole case, right right.
(17:31):
I think as I look back on it now, his
whole line of attack. He thought mostly on the inconsistencies
of her statements, trying to get it to repeat the
different things that she had said in the past that
(17:51):
was not exactly was supposed to be now. And I
look back on it now, I almost feel like down there, well,
that could backfire as well. But I mean, he had
to walk a tight rope, and it sounds like he
didn't do it very well. But he literally was in
between a rock and our place, because the jury is
(18:12):
not gonna want to see him being anything other than
gentle so to speak to this child. But he had
your life on the line, and the only way to
get you out of this at this point was to
undermine her testimony, which of course turns out all those
years later to have been false. Okay, So then we
get to the closing argument, and in the state's closing argument,
they didn't really focus on the hair sample. Rather, they
(18:35):
kept harping on little Melissa's testimony, noting that Renee was
too young to testify, his stating that Melissa quote bore
the responsibility for the three of them to tell you
what happened that night whoa, And then they recapped the
Melissa's identification of you, Rodney, and I would say at
that point your fate was probably more or less sealed.
(18:57):
I mean, these are people on the jury, These are
normal people who are listening to this testimony of this
child and who want to get justice for her and
her mom and her sister and the family. And so
I think that that's going to cloud their judgment. And
while they may have had real doubts as to your guilt,
at this point, the human instinct is depended on somebody, right.
(19:17):
So how long did they deliberate for the second row
they was out? I think about two a half hours.
Well that's not very long at all. And when they
came back in, did you still hold out hope or
did you, as you said before, you knew you were
in serious trouble and you basically resigned yourself to the
(19:37):
idea that these people were going to come back and
render a guilty verdict. No, I fell about that they're
gonna get it right, come back and say, look, we
can't buying enough of a dent convicted guy. And you
would go home and try to piece your life back
together again. But unfortunately that was not to be so Rodney.
(20:00):
When the jury came back in, What was that moment
like when they convicted you and send you to life
in prison plus fifteen years for a crime you had
nothing to do with. I find it very hard to
describe that feeling. It was just like everything inside of
me was yanked out. Nothing there but the shell. At
(20:39):
that time, I was taken to the Madrid State and
Intentiory in Defferent City. When I arrived, I was taken
to a large room with a bunch of other people.
We were stripped down, got into a shower where we
(20:59):
were strade like cattle. I was designed to two house
at the death of the City Penitentiary. Once I got there,
it was a living nightmare. I was always looking over
my shoulder. Do anything any or going anywhere and remain
(21:24):
a right. But ten years and meanwhile you're enduring these
archaic and barbaric prison conditions while being handed one devastating
disappointment after another from the courts. And by that I
mean that in six your wrongful conviction was upheld on
(21:48):
direct appeal and then the motion for post conviction. Relief
was denied two years later in n but a crucial
breakthrough came in two thousand three when the St. Louis,
Missouri Circuit Attorney's Office and a Justice project to review
old convictions and shows your case to review out of
old cases. And here I'd like to turn back to
your daughter k because she plays an absolutely crucial role
(22:11):
in what happens next. It's okay, can you take us
through this. It was June five, two thousand three. I
got off work that evening and I stopped by my
mom's house and I walked in the door and she
was just finishing watching the news and she said, your
dad maybe out in a couple of weeks. And I said,
you're crazy, what are you talking about. She said, they
(22:33):
just showed his picture on the news and they said
they're reviewing his case. So the next morning I called
down to the Circuit Attorney's office and I asked them
is this true? Is he one of the cases? And
they verified that yes, this was one of the cases
that they were looking at. And so I started a
communication with the man who was in charge of doing
this review, and through the course of our communication, they said,
(22:57):
well we can't find the transcripts. We can't get ahold
of the train in scripts. So I tracked them down.
I went to the Court of Appeals and I purchased
the transcripts from them. It was like to get these transcripts.
I made copies and took them down to the Circuit
Attorney's office and said, here you go, get busy, you know.
(23:17):
So as they're doing their review, I'm rereading these transcripts
myself and I'm just getting blown away by the things
that I'm seeing. Because my aunt had an original copy
of Melissa's deposition from back in so I'm comparing Melissa's
deposition to things that were said in trial, and I'm like, well,
(23:38):
this isn't even driving. It's not making sense. So then
I thought, well, I need to see these police reports.
So I requested the police reports, and it took forever
to get them. The police department did not want to
give them to me. Now I'm reading them and I'm
freaking out because there's so much information here. More I read,
(24:00):
the more I need to find more, you know. So
I'm like, I need this lineup photo. And I had
to fight and fight to get the lineup photo. I
finally got that, and I was just blown away. I
don't know if you've seen it, but it's incredible. Yeah, right,
it really is. I mean the suggestive nature the whole thing.
You know that there's these huge dudes with long hair
(24:24):
and your dad's got short hair and a lighter build. Yeah,
it's almost like a joke. So I got the lineup photo.
I'm reading trial transcripts and police reports and I'm like, oh, well,
there's more depositions somewhere. So I go back down to
the courts and I request all the depositions and I'm
reading through them, and one really got my attention. There
(24:46):
was a criminologist I guess by the name of John Salmone,
and in his deposition he states that he identified a
fingerprint on the knife as my dad's, and I'm like,
wait a minute. That never came up into rial. I
guess it was my dad's attorney who was doing the deposition,
and he said, are you aware of a man named
(25:06):
George bone Break? And Detective Salmone said yes, he was
a fingerprint analysis expert at the FBI, And so the
attorney asks him, are you aware that this print was
sent to George bone Break for evaluation, they go off
the record, come back on the record, and he states
that he is no longer willing to testify that that
(25:30):
is Rodney Lincoln's fingerprint unless George bone Break testifies that
it's Rodney Lincoln's fingerprint. Well, what happened was the police
department had sent that print to bone Break to try
to get confirmation of it being his. Bone Break gave
them back a report saying no, it's not his fingerprint.
And he actually offered to testify for the defense, but
(25:52):
wanted like a thousand dollars or something that they didn't
have to pay him. So you had a detective who
says the says his fingerprint and absolutely knows it's not
And that was never brought up at trial. Dad's attorney
and the prosecutor agreed to a stipulation that neither one
of them would bring that print up at trial. And
(26:13):
I was like, why in the hell would his attorney
not bring that up. So this investigation into your dad's
conviction by this circuit attorney, Well, in April two thousand four,
they decided to close it down. Right. They said they
couldn't locate the fingernail scraping from Joanne from the attacker
and couldn't provide any conclusive proof with the hair, so
(26:34):
they wouldn't be doing any further investigation or testing. I mean,
I can't imagine how that would have felt. What did
you do? What were you thinking? Then? I'm like, wait
a minute, I've got way too much information now in
the past ten months, somebody's going to do something. You
might be finished, but I'm not, and you weren't, and
(26:55):
we're about to get into that. I mean, Rodney, you
have to be so proud of cam Damn. I'm proud
of K. And without her we probably wouldn't even be
having this conversation right now. Absolutely, it would be a
hold that was shaped and what I am today if
not for she gathered all the information and did all
(27:17):
the leg work and did a lot of the investigation.
Contacted a guy by the name of Steve Weinberg who
was a journalist at the Columbia School of Journalists. He
was also the founder of the Midwest Entrance. K made
contact with him and he used my case with his
(27:42):
journalists students and allowed them to investigate my case, and
they came up with a lot of the information that
we have today. So it's now two thousand and ten,
so this ordeal has now been going on for more
than a quarter century. And two in ten, DNA testing
that the Midwest Innisent Project had fought for was approved
(28:05):
and samples from the clime scene were tested, and of
course the results did not match you, Rodney. And then
m I P filed to have you released, but the
motion was supposed and Circuit Court Judge Robin Vanoy ruled
that the DNA results were not enough to exonerate you, Rodney.
I mean, how did it feel to you when you
were aware that the DNA had ex call pay? Did
(28:26):
you right? And yet the courts are saying and uh,
we're not buying that DNA stuff. Well, what we were
told that DNA on my hair was not enough to
relate me because they still had the eye wouldntimony? Right?
So in teen become to a crucial turning point in
(28:48):
this case, and that brings us to this awful character
in this story today. And we've heard his name on
the show before. I'm talking about serial killer Tommy Lynn Cells.
And so I reached out to a fascinating person whose
investigative work into just how many innocent people were in
prison for murders that were actually commended by Tommy Land
Cells led him to start several organizations in different states,
(29:11):
including the Illinois Innocence Project. By the way, just to
give you an idea of how many murders and rawful
convictions for which Cells is responsible. Julie Ray, who's been
on the show, herb Whitlock. You Rodney, of course, and
we're not even scratching the surface. So in speaking with
this investigator, he gives us a look inside his journey
into the murderous career of Tommy Land Cells, starting with
(29:32):
the rawful conviction of Randy's stitle and how that unfolds
into Rodney's case. My name's Bill Clutter. I'm a private investigator.
Twenty years ago, i started the Illinois Innocence Project in Springfield, Illinois.
I was involved in the case of Rady Stidle, who
spent most of his seventeen years on death row. You know,
in two thousand and fourteen, although Steidl Whitlock were free,
(29:55):
they still hadn't had their names cleared, and so I
filed affidavit detailing all the crimes of Tommy Lynn Cells.
So part of those details included his modus operandi where
in many of his cases he would strike at four am,
take knives from the kitchen where he would stab his
victims to death. But it was the details of the
(30:18):
Dardine case that was in my affidavit that caught the
attention of an attorney in Rhode Island, Jen Fitzgerald. She
reached out to me and asked if I was aware
of the Rodney Lincoln case. When she started telling me
the details that that the murder happened at four am,
a knife from the kitchen was used, that it happened
in St. Louis, where I knew that Tommy Lynn Cells
(30:41):
family moved around February. That was significant because it gives
Cells opportunity to have committed the murder of Joe and Tate.
And here he was only seventeen at the time and
this would have been one of his very early murders
that he committed. And all of the factors of that
case are identical to many of his other cases for
(31:04):
a m knife from the kitchen. And it so happened
that Crime Watch Daily there was a new syndicated crime
show that reached out and was interested in doing a
story about my investigation linking Cells to the murder of
Joe and Tate. It was that show when it aired
in November of two thousand and fifteen that triggered the
(31:25):
recantation of Melissa the Bore. When she saw the images
of Tommy Lynn Cells, she had a flashback and this
visceral reaction and she reached out to Kay Lincoln on
social media that your dad is innocent. Tommy Lynn Cells
killed my mother. Well, it's sure checks out because when
(31:49):
you look at the grotesque details of Mrs Ruby Dardine's
murder and again brace yourself because this is grotesque, but
Mrs d means body was found next to her three
year old son and newborn baby. Now, Tommy land Sells
was a hit man for hire as well as just
(32:10):
seems like he just enjoyed violence, like it was his
sort of weird kick, and this case appears to be
one of the hired variety because it's believed that the
mafia actually hired him to brutalize the Dardine's. The husband, Keith,
in particular, was made to watch his family be physically destroyed.
Tommy Land Cells had waited for Ruby's husband Keith to
(32:32):
come home, and during this time, Ruby gave birth to
her baby. Oh my god, I'm gonna cry. And Keith
was found a while away, shot execution style, with his
penis severed and stuffed into his mouth. I mean, and
his wife, Ruby was found And this is important. Again,
(32:52):
cover your ears if you're squeamish. But this is important
because it relates back to the circumstances surrounding the tape murder.
Mrs Dardine was found with a baseball bat protruding from
her vagina. So this was this six bastard's m O.
After Melissa reached out to k on Facebook and Midwest
(33:13):
Instance Projects shifted their attention to Tommy, but it sells.
At some point Melissa learned that you, Rodney, were left handed,
unlike the man who killed her mom and attacked her.
So on November fifteen, Melissa, now a grown woman well
into her I guess forties, now from that nine year
old girl who testified a seven year old girl that
(33:34):
had been attacked, she recanted her testimony against Rodney Lincoln.
She said, and this is a direct quote, Rodney Lincoln
did not kill my mom, He did not attempt to
kill my sister, and I it was Tommy Lynn Cells
when the veil felt from my eyes. I was horrified
I have kept an innocent man in prison for thirty
(33:56):
four years. I did not know I was wrong, but
I was, and realizing it is so painful. When I
saw a picture of Tommy lind Cells, I had a horrible,
horrible feeling. And when I think about that terrible night,
I now see how I could have gotten mixed up.
This is all I can really say right now. End quote.
(34:18):
I learned about that again through my daughter. She came
up to bisit me, and when she told me that
she talked to Melissa and Melissa was going through recamp
her statement, we laughed, we cried. I felt, at last,
(34:38):
it's finally ending. Then, after Melissa actually went through the
prosecutors office, I was told how Melissa were treated like
she couldn't possibly be right after thirty years, saying that
(34:59):
if you you drown, But yet they do have any
trouble believing her when she was traveling me. That just
amazed me. Yeah, it seems backwards and upside down and
inside out and everything right, And it's amazing how they
can just believe what they want to believe when they
want to believe it. And then discount it when it
(35:19):
doesn't match exactly what they want the narrative to be.
I can't leave out that this poor, poor woman, Melissa,
is now being re traumatized as she learns that she
had been lied to by the people who were sworn
to protect and serve her, and who, as a child
who had just lost her mother, must have been just
(35:41):
imagine clinging on to anyone, any grown up that you
think might be able to help you. And to have
been betrayed, and then too, as she said so eloquently
and in such a heartfelt manner, to now have to
live with this awful feeling that she was responsible for
putting a man who had nothing to do with it
in prison. For I mean, Jesus, she served almost four
(36:04):
decades in prison, and now the state is refusing to
listen to her. But she wasn't done yet. December two fifteen,
Melissa went and met with the Satan was prosecuting attorney's
officers declare her recantation. And she even came to meet
you in prison to ask for your forgiveness. I mean,
I told her that there was nothing to forgive her,
(36:25):
but she didn't do anything. She was manipulating clog and
guided and tricked that I couldn't forgive there was anything
to forgive her thought if you would, And we did hug,
we tried, we laugh. When she first walked up to me,
(36:52):
she just kept saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
and I get down. There's nothing to be joy boy,
you didn't do anything. It was moment that I can't
really describe how I felt. It was a moment now
(37:14):
I would cherished the rest of my life. I'm always
at a loss for words when I hear these stories.
(37:36):
What I read is that what you said to her
when she begged for your forgiveness was I have nothing
to forgive you for You are completely blame those I
thank you for your courage, but you only have my love,
not any anger from me. I'm so sorry for you
and for losing your mom. That's uh, That's probably exactly
(37:59):
what she needed here and probably exactly what you need
to get off your chest. And then things started to roll,
even though there was still one more major speed bump
ahead right which is added two thousand seventeen. Despite the
DNA evidence and the soul eye witness both on your side,
your case was still denied a review by the Missouri
(38:20):
Supreme Court. I mean, like, like what I mean, what
was your reaction to that? Well, by the time I'm
being getting to understand they have perfect court system, isn't
so perfect the decision on the Appeals Court that innocence
(38:43):
it isn't enough two three a person unless they have
the depth penalty that blowed me. And then the Supreme
Court wouldn't even hear the case exactly den I to
hear it. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense, like what
(39:04):
denyed on what basis? But you're here today, and that's
because remarkably Governor Grighten's certainly not a criminal justice reformer,
stepped in and commuted your sentence into in the two
thousand and eighteen and you were immediately released, not pardoned,
by the way, and so you're still living as as
a convicted murderer, which is insane. You know, I won't
(39:28):
do about that today. I didn't find out about this
until around ten thirty the morning of the day that
I left. They came and got me and told me
that I had to go up and wait for a
call from the governor. The phone rang and I would
(39:50):
sitting in the office at time managing aim through the phone,
and the phone to me, I'd say, hello, always said,
is this Brideney Lincoln? I said, yesterday is He said,
someone here wants to speak to you. Here's the governor
of the state of Missouri. And then Governor, come down,
(40:12):
he said, Brideney. I said, Yester, I just wanted to
call and tell you that I'm commuting your sentence to
time served. The only thing I could think of at
that moment would thank you. And then the governor told me, Ridney,
I want you spend the rest of your time building
(40:33):
a better community, making this a better country. And God
blessed you. And you know I could say, was God
blessed you. That's a short and sweet conversation if I
ever heard one. Yes, shut sweet and at least for me,
very powerful. I never left the penitentry until twenty minutes
(40:59):
after Strip that evening, and I walked out. My two
daughters and my grandson and two of my attorneys were
there to meet me. Rodney, I gotta ask, what was
that like? Like you, I'm talking about your first steps
out as a freeman into free air after so many
(41:21):
long years in prison. You know, today everything virtual, and
that's kind of way I felt there, like, did you
you know happy? Virtually this isn't real. So he felt
like it was a dream, absolutely very good one, the dream.
And then what you do. So a lot of hugs
(41:42):
and tears, I'm sure, and laughter, um we huh laugh.
I am a very emotual family. One of the things
that I remember so vividly is that we remember telling
my daughter how my better the sunshine felt outside of
(42:04):
the prison, but the way it did on you inside,
what a day man. That Meanwhile, that was back in
two thousand eighteen and it's now two so this is
a little more than three and a half years ago.
And I understand that you have been traveling the country
speaking about your experience courageously and and advocating to try
(42:28):
to help prevent others from going through the same nightmare
that you went through. There's a wonderful quote that I
read from you said, just the fact that I could
possibly help someone that was the same position that I
was in. If I could do something today that makes
me a better person or help someone else, it's been
a good day. That's awesome. You're You're awesome, man. That's
all I can say about that. So, how has life
(42:50):
been these three and a half years of freedom. Fantactically
amazing would almost cover it. Since I've been out, I've
been on some advocations, there's a deep sea patient, did
some pair of gliding rod the pirate ship. I jumped
(43:13):
out of a perfectly good airplane twice. Amazing. I'm using
this time to learn more about myself as well as
the people around me. I was away a lot of
things you just lose touch of, and I'm trying to
(43:34):
regain that tightness and family bonds. I try and keep
in touch with this many of the guys back at
the prisoners I can by email. Since it's COVID hit.
I've been able to too much speaking advocating. Intend to
(43:59):
continue with that. What we need you out there, and
we need you on here and the good news. You
know a hundred thousand plus people will hear this podcast
and here your thoughts that you've shared with us so generously.
It's been an honor for me to have the chance
to interview you here today. You are an inspiration and
(44:19):
for people who want to help Rodney as he hopefully
lives another twenty thirty years and as he continues to
do his good work there's a go fund me. Just
go to the link in our bio. We'll have it
posted right there for you. One click, donate five dollars,
five thousand dollars, whatever you want, anything you can spare
(44:41):
to help Rodney. You can also learn even more about
this case on a podcast called The Real Killer. It's
a twelve episode series and this case certainly has a
lot of layers to it. And then Rodney, we now
turned to the closing the show, which we call closing arguments.
It works like this. I'm gonna turn off my microphone,
check back in my chair, turn the volume up, and
(45:03):
beat my headphones on, and just listen to any thoughts
you want to share that we haven't already covered. As
boy as my caith, I think we covered that preached
the lad certainly apprecreate you giving me this opportunity. One
(45:23):
thing that I would like to share is Melissa. It's
trying to get re established here in St. Louis, and
there's a go fund me for her to help her
raise money for housing. If you want to go to
(45:44):
that go fund me and help Melissa out. She's am
a pretty rough time right now. If you need some
help and by helping her. That would help me. That's beautiful.
We'll also have the go fund me for Melissa, who
you've heard so much about in this episode. We'll have
(46:07):
it posted in our bio as well, So go there,
click on that. Rodney. What a generous and wonderful spirit
you are. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts with us.
Thank you again for having me, Thank you for listening
to Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to thank our production team
(46:30):
Connor Hall, Justin Golden, Jeff Clyburne, and Kevin Wardis, with
research by Lila Robinson. The music in this production was
supplied by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be
sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on
Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at wrong Conviction,
as well as at Lava for Good. On all three platforms.
(46:52):
You can also follow me on both TikTok and Instagram
at It's Jason flop Ronful Conviction is the production of
Lava for Good Pipe as an association with Signal Company
Number one
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
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