Follow the Truth

Who really killed Michael Jordan’s father? Follow the Truth is a true crime podcast re-investigating the murder of Michael Jordan’s dad, James R Jordan Sr. The two men convicted, Larry Demery and Daniel Andre Green tell conflicting stories of what happened the night of the James Jordan murder. Daniel Green has served nearly three decades in a North Carolina prison maintaining his innocence in the killing. Veter...

A nearly unidentifiable body is found in the middle of a South Carolina swamp with a gunshot wound to the chest. For three weeks, no one knows the identity of the John Doe. More than sixty miles away in North Carolina, a stripped and vandalized Lexus sports car turns up in the woods. Then the news that shocks the world. That’s Michael Jordan’s car and the dead man is identified as James R Jordan Sr, Michael Jor...

Investigators say they found the killers of Michael Jordan’s dad, now they just need evidence. Like an NBA championship ring buried in the dirt behind a grandmother’s house. A pistol in a shop vac. A music video. All clues that link Daniel Andre Green to the murder of James Jordan – or at least it looks that way. In this episode, we examine the James Jordan death investigation and how law enforcement handled a ...

Everyone followed the fairytale: The handsome kid, a born athlete, rises to stardom, gets the championships, the money, the shoes. It was a superhero story brought to life – and throughout the meteoric rise, Michael Jordan’s dad, James, was always by his side. Their identities are forever linked: even in death James was often described not by name, but as “Michael Jordan’s dad.” But who was James independent of...

Nobody in Robeson County, NC was surprised about there being another murder in their neck of the woods. Things like that just seemed to happen there. In a place where armed gunmen took over the local newspaper and a political candidate was murdered on the eve of an election, nothing was out of the question. Often dubbed one of the most dangerous places in America, Robeson County, NC earned its reputation throug...

It's 1996. Three years after the James Jordan murder, the accused faces a jury – and the media, who come out in a frenzy, cameras loaded, hungry for the next OJ trial phenomenon. As the world learns what law enforcement thinks happened when Michael Jordan’s dad, James drove through rural North Carolina in the middle of the night, all eyes turn to the state’s star witness: Larry Demery, Daniel Green’s co-defenda...

As a kid, Daniel Andre Green begged his mom to buy Wheaties so he could collect the Michael Jordan posters tucked away inside each orange “Breakfast of Champions” box. He says, to a young Black guy back then, Michael Jordan was everything. He was status. He was swag. And he was proof you could make it, too. So when Daniel was arrested in 1993 for killing Michael Jordan’s dad, no one was more surprised than him....

For Elizabeth Green, more than one life was lost in the summer of 1993. While the Jordan family mourned for their father, she wept for her son, Daniel Andre Green. And when Daniel’s childhood friend–a boy partially raised in their home––testified against him, it was traumatic for the whole family. In this episode, we talk about the lives changed on the other side of murder – what it means for your whole family ...

After winning exoneration for a falsely-accused murderer in North Carolina and blowing the lid off a pattern of corrupt behaviour at the State Bureau of Investigation, her name is one spoken in hushed tones around prison yards. She’s won every wrongful conviction case she’s ever taken on.  And now, Christine Mumma and the NC Center on Actual Innocence are in Daniel Andre Green’s corner. This episode, we go thro...

For decades, Larry Demery has been a locked box. When journalists went to his family for a statement, they were met with gunfire. Since his conviction for the murder of Michael Jordan’s dad he’s turned down every interview. But it turns out, he did speak up once: before the trial, Larry makes a bombshell statement to a reporter. But, this information never came out at trial. How is that possible? And what kind ...

After twenty-seven years behind bars for the murder of Michael Jordan’s dad, Larry Demery recants his trial testimony in a conversation with Daniel Green’s attorney. So, what’s the truth? Who murdered James Jordan? And could it be that Daniel Andre Green’s best hope to get out of prison is the Jordan family itself? In this episode: why you should care about this case – and the countless others like it – two and...

Since 1996 Daniel Green has been serving a life sentence for the murder of Michael Jordan’s dad. For the first time, he is eligible for parole.  Fortunately for Daniel, there is a devoted team of people working to make his case to the parole commission. Who are they and what did they say to try to convince the four-person panel to make Daniel Andre Green a free man?  In this episode: The three key people making...

Larry Demery has served 28 years behind bars for the murder of Michael Jordan's father, James. In 2020 he was granted parole and required to complete a three-year pre-release program. If he stayed out of trouble in prison, he would be released in August 2023. A few months later, due to some infractions, his release date was pushed to August 2024. Recently, the parole commission announced they were cancelling De...

For Follow the Truth listeners, episode one of What Remains, the newest podcast from WRAL Studios and Amanda Lamb. More than twenty years ago, a newborn baby was found dead inside a garbage bag on the side of the road near a military base in North Carolina. The officers working to solve his murder called him Baby Michael, named for the patron saint of police. With no leads on who the baby was, or who his mother...

After nearly 3 decades in prison for the murder of Michael Jordan's father, Daniel Green finally has the chance to get a hearing that could lead to a new trial and even his freedom. But instead of letting his attorney of more than 6 years argue on his behalf, in the eleventh hour, he fires her and makes his own off-the-cuff argument in front of the judge. Spectators in court are stunned, fearing Green may have ...

In September, Daniel Green came to court, fired his attorney of more than six years, and made a 30-minute oral argument on his own behalf for an evidentiary hearing. It’s not the way anyone expected the court proceeding to go down, even Daniel. Finally, we were able to speak with Daniel from prison and get his take on what happened that day and why he chose to argue for his own freedom.

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The events that took place in Chester County, Pennsylvania in August 1978 were unthinkable. Family killing family. A father calling for the murder of his own son. For ...