Muse

Never Turned Her Back on Me
Bone Valley

Never Turned Her Back on Me

from Bone Valley

April 16, 2025 | 00:31:56 | True Crime | Explicit

0 0
0.0 (0)
35
0 0
As Gilbert’s relationship with Jeremy deepens, it’s tested by Jeremy’s darkest instincts. After a long silence, Jeremy reveals he’s been thrown into solitary confinement because he stabbed another inmate—possibly in self-defense. Possibly not. Gilbert is forced to reckon with the contradictions: the man trying to right past wrongs, and the man still capable of harm. In letters and phone calls, in moments of rage and vulnerability, Jeremy opens a window into who he is now… and what still haunts him. Even in solitary confinement, Jeremy begins to connect: with Gilbert, through books the author sends him, and eventually, with himself. For photos and images from each episode, visit: https://lavaforgood.com/bone-valley/ New episodes of Bone Valley Season 2 will be available every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts or subscribe to Lava for Good + on Apple Podcasts to binge the whole season, ad-free now. Bone Valley is a production of Lava for Good™ in association with Signal Co. No1. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
0:00 / 0:00
1.0× 100%


Transcript

00:00:00 - 00:00:31 | Speaker 2:

Brought to you by Progressive Insurance, fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.

00:00:32 - 00:00:56 | Speaker 4:

It's Bretzky. I don't know how they let me on this podcast, but I'm here to tell you about SpinQuest.com. The only place you're going to want to play craps, blackjack, roulette, and over 800 slot machines. Absolutely free from the comfort of your own home. The best part is you can win real cash prizes straight to your bank account. Where is all this happening? SpinQuest.com. That's S-P-I-N-Q-U-E-S-T.com. I love you.

00:00:56 - 00:01:02 | Speaker 5:

SpendQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Void where prohibited. Visit SpendQuest.com for more details.

00:01:02 - 00:01:44 | Speaker 1:

This is Simone Boyce from The Bright Side, a Hello Sunshine podcast. Being a mom today isn't just about bike helmets and broccoli anymore. The digital stuff is what really worries me. Like, could my kid's info be stolen before he even gets his first report card? Or what if a game download hides a virus? That's scary. That's why I use Microsoft Defender. one app across my devices. It scans for viruses, flags phishing scams, and even watches for threats to our personal info. It feels like having a bodyguard for my family online so I can actually sleep at night. To learn more, visit Microsoft365.com slash Defender.

00:01:55 - 00:02:03 | Speaker 7:

The more I talked to Justin, the more it was clear he wanted to talk to his dad.

00:02:03 - 00:02:11 | Speaker 3:

I just feel like at this point in time, since he's already opening up and stuff, I feel like we're both ready to talk to each other in a way.

00:02:11 - 00:02:52 | Speaker 7:

I would honestly say it's true. I mean, he does talk a lot about his family. I explained to Justin that Jeremy was on lockdown. We've been corresponding with him. I'll just tell you right now, he's in sort of in like solitary confinement right now. Jeremy's life was still marked by chaos and violence, even in prison. At the time, I was the only one writing and talking to him. He does feel kind of lonely. It's been only recently that people are talking. He was no longer getting any letters from anyone in his family. He would say to me, you're the only person I talk to. The only person. Jeremy said that to me multiple times.

00:02:54 - 00:03:04 | Speaker 3:

When he said that no one wrote him, I was like, damn, because I ain't going to lie. I got a letter from him before. I don't remember what it says. I don't have it. But I never put the effort in.

00:03:04 - 00:03:20 | Speaker 7:

I found myself in an unusual position. The bridge between a multiple murderer and the 35-year-old son he'd never met. I never thought I'd end up here. So I want to tell you the story of how I did.

00:03:46 - 00:04:19 | Speaker 6:

I want to see your revelation I want to know who you are I'm reaching out in desperation To the one who's holding the star To the one who's holding the stars

00:04:19 - 00:04:30 | Unknown:

To the one who's holding the stars To the one who's holding the stars

00:04:30 - 00:05:00 | Speaker 7:

Bone Valley Season 2 Jeremy Chapter 3 Never turned her back on me well before Justin reached out to me I got a midnight email from Jeremy Mr. King I have no hard feelings towards you or to society I'll make this short this will be my last time writing to you the monster in me is coming alive one last time

00:05:00 - 00:05:20 | Speaker 2:

Hope everything works out for you. Goodbye. After I got that cryptic message, I didn't hear from him again for a while. I had no idea where he was. Finally, I learned he'd been transferred to a different prison. And that's when we found out that he'd gotten into some kind of trouble.

00:05:21 - 00:05:28 | Speaker 1:

This is Inspector Padgett. Regarding an aggravated battery that occurred while you were housing.

00:05:28 - 00:05:35 | Speaker 2:

I was able to get the report on the incident from the Florida Department of Corrections in a recording of the interview with the victim.

00:05:35 - 00:05:47 | Speaker 1:

And who was this inmate? Okay. So you woke up to him stabbing you. Where was he stabbing you at? Okay. So he stabbed you multiple times. Okay.

00:05:47 - 00:07:20 | Speaker 2:

The critical incident summary from the corrections officer on duty that night is also heavily redacted. It says, After reviewing camera footage, inmate Scott could be seen entering the bathroom and retrieving the weapon and approaching inmate Blank's bunk as he slept, and proceeded to carry out the assault by stabbing inmate Blank numerous times. Inmate Blank was stabbed by inmate Jeremy Scott with an improvised ice pick style weapon. the inmate that he stabbed survived and was transported to a hospital and jeremy was put in immediate confinement it was months later after i found out jeremy had been transferred to a different prison that i got this letter dear mr king i hope you are doing well as for myself i'm still alive He's got the exclamation point there. He says, I had some trouble. It's all fucked up. I don't have shit. Not even deodorant. I get one free letter once a month. Please get back to me as soon as you can. Thanks, Jeremy L. Scott. Jeremy was in solitary confinement at Florida State Prison. And at first, he could only receive letters. But after a few months, he was allowed two free telephone calls a week, one for five minutes and one for 30.

00:07:21 - 00:07:28 | Speaker 1:

Hello, this is a prepaid call from an inmate at a Florida Department of Corrections institution.

00:07:30 - 00:07:43 | Speaker 2:

Jeremy was living alone in a cell, sharing a floor with other inmates who were also in disciplinary confinement. They call it close management, or CM. An officer brings the phone to him in his cell. Hey, can you hear me?

00:07:44 - 00:07:44 | Speaker 4:

Yeah.

00:07:45 - 00:07:48 | Speaker 2:

And at first, we just talked about how he was holding up in solitary.

00:07:49 - 00:07:50 | Speaker 4:

Okay, sorry about that.

00:07:50 - 00:08:06 | Speaker 2:

Yeah, good. He started calling me almost every week. Yeah, I also wanted to let you know, I looked into the tablet, too. And after a while, I asked him to tell me about the stabbing incident. You wrote me a note and said that they might lock you up for a while.

00:08:07 - 00:08:12 | Speaker 3:

When I told you that, that was because that stabbing I did. It really hit on me, and I found out about it.

00:08:12 - 00:08:50 | Speaker 2:

He said he'd gotten into trouble with some inmates, found out someone had put a hit on him, and that he was in immediate danger. Inmates at different prisons send coded messages to each other. Jeremy claims that another inmate in his dorm with a contraband phone had seen a code. numbers or an emoji or something with Jeremy's picture and Jeremy said he'd been in prison long enough to know what that meant he was a marked man

00:08:50 - 00:08:55 | Speaker 3:

they knew when I was coming they knew who I was, what I looked like and everything

00:08:55 - 00:08:59 | Speaker 2:

Jeremy said he knew the guy that was supposed to come after him

00:08:59 - 00:09:09 | Speaker 3:

and I know who his dude was right and when I heard what he was going to do I just snapped

00:09:09 - 00:09:17 | Speaker 2:

He said he was just laying there with one eye open until the guy fell asleep.

00:09:17 - 00:09:29 | Speaker 4:

Because I know he'd wait for me to go to sleep, right? I was wide awake. So I know if something was going to happen, it was going down. You know, by me being in prison all these years, I ain't stupid.

00:09:30 - 00:10:00 | Speaker 2:

This is Jeremy's side of the story anyway. There's video of Jeremy getting up from his bunk and going into the bathroom. He grabbed the weapon, went over to the bunk where his would-be attacker had fallen asleep, and he started stabbing him. The feeling I got from Jeremy about this is that he wasn't proud of what he did, and he wasn't ashamed of it. He was telling me...

00:10:00 - 00:10:06 | Speaker 8:

I had to do this to survive in here. And he said, I stabbed him, but I didn't kill him.

00:10:07 - 00:10:10 | Speaker 2:

I could have actually killed him. I could have put it right in his heart.

00:10:10 - 00:11:34 | Speaker 8:

When I got that note from Jeremy, that the monster was coming alive one more time, it was terrifying. And then to learn that he actually waited in the dark in his prison dorm for someone to fall asleep so he could stab him. It made me a little sick. Just, what am I doing? Why do I stay in touch with him? Up to this point, most of my communication with Jeremy had been pragmatic. I wrote to him with questions and sent him a few stamps. He wrote me back with information that helped confirm he was the man who murdered Leo Schofield's wife. Now I was talking to him every week, sometimes twice, and about all kinds of things. It used to be that the only phone calls I got from prison were from Leo. Leo was the person at the center of this story. Leo was the guy I kept in touch with. Now, I started to worry. What would Leo think of my recent telephone calls with the man who confessed to murdering Michelle?

00:11:36 - 00:12:08 | Speaker 2:

it's bretsky i don't know how they let me on this podcast but i'm here to tell you about spinquest.com the only place you're going to want to play craps blackjack roulette and over 800 slot machines absolutely free from the comfort of your own home the best part is you can win real cash prizes straight to your bank account. Where is all this happening? SpinQuest.com. That's S-P-I-N-Q-U-E-S-T.com.

00:12:08 - 00:12:14 | Speaker 6:

I love you. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit SpinQuest.com

00:12:14 - 00:13:12 | Speaker 1:

for more details. This is Simone Boyce from The Bright Side, a Hello Sunshine podcast. When my son started playing games online, I thought the biggest worry would be screen time. But then I realized it's not just fun and games out there. There are scams, viruses, even people trying to steal his info before he's old enough for social media. I'll be honest, I felt overwhelmed. I didn't know where to start, and the last thing I wanted was to download five different apps I'd forget to use. Then a friend told me about Microsoft Defender. Now I've got one app that covers my devices. It scans for viruses, blocks phishing scams, and even watches for threats to our personal info. And the best part? It doesn't make me feel like I have to be a tech expert. With Defender, I finally feel like I've got backup online so I can stop worrying about hackers and go back to worrying about the everyday stuff, like whether he ate enough veggies today. To learn more, visit microsoft365.com slash Defender.

00:13:12 - 00:13:25 | Speaker 5:

We went from normal life, healthy child to acute lymphoblastic leukemia or B-cell, ALL. The St. Jude team came up to get CJ via ambulance. Shortly after that, I noticed a rainbow.

00:13:25 - 00:13:33 | Speaker 4:

It meant that there was hope. We were driving into hope. To have hope is to have your child healthy, and we have that because of St. Jude.

00:13:34 - 00:13:41 | Speaker 3:

You can help kids fight childhood cancer. Please become a St. Jude Partner in Hope today by visiting musicgives.org.

00:13:41 - 00:14:08 | Speaker 8:

The first time I talked to Leo about the fact that I was continuing a dialogue with Jeremy Scott I wasn't really sure how Leo would feel but Leo told me Gilbert, I'm proud of you

00:14:08 - 00:14:25 | Speaker 7:

We're out with truth and he's the one that supplied the truth. But I would really like him to know and feel that myself and those who represent me are concerned for his well-being as well.

00:14:29 - 00:14:56 | Speaker 8:

Jeremy continued to help me corroborate that his account of what he'd done to Michelle was the truth, that Leo was innocent. In one of my letters to him I wrote, You've been so helpful to me in my investigation, and I think you could help me understand a few more things that I'm still not very clear on. In our calls, he would answer most of my questions. You know what, I want to ask you something. Jamie said that you used to hang out behind the mall, the Lakeland Mall?

00:14:57 - 00:15:00 | Speaker 7:

Yes. It's a little place we create.

00:15:00 - 00:15:03 | Speaker 3:

What was back there, like benches or something? Like, where'd you hang out?

00:15:05 - 00:15:08 | Speaker 2:

Around our cars. You know, Jamie had a car. Yeah.

00:15:08 - 00:15:27 | Speaker 1:

A Florida prosecutor once advised me that if I want this reporting to one day exonerate Leo, I need to prove that Jeremy Scott is credible. So that's one reason I wanted to keep my conversations with Jeremy going about Michelle and about another murder he told me he committed.

00:15:27 - 00:15:32 | Speaker 2:

So, you know, we'd just be out here listening to music. You know, and we got beer or something, you know.

00:15:33 - 00:15:36 | Speaker 3:

And Jeremy, is that the same place that you hid the gun?

00:15:37 - 00:15:37 | Speaker 2:

Yeah.

00:15:38 - 00:15:44 | Speaker 1:

And Jeremy was giving me good information. I was able to source it and corroborate it with records I had.

00:15:44 - 00:15:57 | Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's where I hid that gun at. Yeah. And she went looking for it, couldn't find it. When I saw her looking, as soon as she left, I went and got it and moved it. And I knew somebody had saw me put it there.

00:15:57 - 00:17:23 | Speaker 1:

In one of his letters to me, it's clear Jeremy was still thinking about Michelle. He wrote, During the course of my conversations with Jeremy, Leo was finally able to get out of prison. He wasn't exonerated. He was still a convicted felon in the eyes of the state. But he was paroled, and he was now in a halfway house in Tampa. So I told Jeremy about it, and told him, Leo believes that a big part of why he's out is because of you and your willingness to be honest about what you've done. Jeremy didn't say much, but I could tell he felt like he'd done something good. It was a strange place for me to be, in between these two guys, both of them caring about each other. In a way, it's what gave me permission to continue the conversations, even when they weren't explicitly about the cases I was investigating. Hello? Hello. Hey, oh, Jeremy, you there? Yeah. He always seemed to call when I was at the office, So I'd see it pop up on my phone saying, Rayford.

00:17:23 - 00:17:24 | Speaker 3:

Hey, good to hear from you.

00:17:25 - 00:17:29 | Speaker 1:

I always picked it up if I saw it. I'd just say, all right, half hour, time for Jeremy.

00:17:30 - 00:17:31 | Speaker 3:

You don't have any glasses right now?

00:17:32 - 00:17:34 | Speaker 2:

No, I'll borrow my next-door neighbor's glasses.

00:17:35 - 00:17:37 | Speaker 3:

Okay, we got to get you some new glasses.

00:17:37 - 00:17:39 | Speaker 2:

If it isn't, these glasses hurt my eyes.

00:17:40 - 00:17:42 | Speaker 3:

Oh, yeah, that's not good. You got to get the right ones.

00:17:43 - 00:17:46 | Speaker 1:

From the very start, I was excited to get his calls.

00:17:46 - 00:17:47 | Speaker 3:

All right, can you hear me?

00:17:47 - 00:17:50 | Speaker 1:

Like, wow, all right, this is going to be interesting.

00:17:50 - 00:17:55 | Speaker 3:

Yeah. What's the name of that author again? Just spell it out again. All right.

00:17:56 - 00:18:11 | Speaker 1:

He talked a lot about how, in solitary, reading is the only thing I can do. If I don't have any books, all I can do is sit here and think. And I know those were really dark moments for him. And so he would tell me what he likes to read.

00:18:11 - 00:18:19 | Speaker 2:

All right. Mark, his last name is G-R-E-A-N-E-Y.

00:18:19 - 00:18:30 | Speaker 1:

So I started sending him paperbacks. He likes James Patterson and Stephen King. He likes some Western writers. I sent him Game of Thrones.

00:18:35 - 00:18:40 | Speaker 2:

I know. Yeah.

00:18:42 - 00:18:43 | Speaker 3:

Yeah.

00:18:43 - 00:18:46 | Speaker 2:

Yeah, and the crippled kid, which he's going to become something else.

00:18:46 - 00:18:49 | Speaker 3:

Yeah, he becomes a really big part of it later.

00:18:50 - 00:19:01 | Speaker 1:

I was mostly sending things that my kids had read because Jeremy had only gone through the fourth grade in school. I didn't want to just keep sending him the same authors, so I sent him The Hunger Games to mix things up for him.

00:19:02 - 00:19:10 | Speaker 2:

Remember that series you sent me? Yeah. That was a pretty good series, too. Somebody told me they got it on TV, too.

00:19:11 - 00:19:13 | Speaker 3:

Oh, really? I didn't even know that. I'll check it out.

00:19:14 - 00:19:53 | Speaker 1:

Books have a way of building empathy. They let you step into someone else's life for a little while. And I wanted Jeremy to experience that too. To escape the reality of being locked in a prison cell, even for a moment. I could see how reading relaxed him, how it opened him up. Our conversations became more honest. And as I got to know this side of Jeremy, I started to see him differently. The more we talked, the more I understood. He didn't want to be the violent person he'd been in the past. He wanted to be better. And maybe, just by talking with him, I could help him do that.

00:19:53 - 00:19:58 | Speaker 2:

The books are pretty good. Oh, good. I still want to read the rest of them.

00:20:00 - 00:20:16 | Speaker 5:

I'm serious, but, man, that's a lot of books there. They got 18 books in that series. Really? I think I only read five of them so far. I think I read book one, two, three, four, and five. Okay.

00:20:17 - 00:20:18 | Speaker 6:

So you're going in order then, okay.

00:20:19 - 00:20:36 | Speaker 5:

Yeah. Ever since I came back over here, it seemed like everything has been going wrong for me. I get gas for no reason. They sprayed me. That pepper spray, they didn't do nothing.

00:20:37 - 00:20:45 | Speaker 6:

Sometimes, Jeremy was in a really, really dark place. And when I'd pick up the phone, I'd recognize that today would just be a listening day.

00:20:46 - 00:21:08 | Speaker 5:

Now my shit's stolen. And it's got to be something going on. Some kind of something's going on here. I don't understand this shit. I got to go to medical. He was having some real health problems, losing a lot of weight.

00:21:21 - 00:21:25 | Speaker 6:

Where is it on your stomach? Is it really low or higher?

00:21:29 - 00:21:35 | Speaker 5:

That knot, it's like, it's right, it's like maybe two inches above my navel.

00:21:36 - 00:21:36 | Speaker 6:

Okay.

00:21:37 - 00:21:38 | Speaker 5:

It's right there, right in the middle of my gut.

00:21:39 - 00:21:39 | Speaker 6:

Okay.

00:21:40 - 00:21:41 | Speaker 5:

And it hurts when I touch it.

00:21:42 - 00:21:43 | Speaker 6:

Oh, shit. All right.

00:21:44 - 00:21:47 | Speaker 5:

And when I lay down, I can see, I can see my ribs cages.

00:21:48 - 00:21:53 | Speaker 6:

Oh, man, Jeremy. Are they letting you see a doctor? Are they going to get you to see a doctor?

00:21:53 - 00:22:19 | Speaker 5:

I don't like to do it now because, you know, they charge you $5 every time you go up there to see a doctor or a nurse. You know, they're going to charge you $5 to see a nurse, and she's going to write it down, and she's going to put up a report in to the doctor. Then you've got to wait a couple weeks, maybe a month, you know, so your name pops up. Then, you know, anything can happen by then, you know?

00:22:19 - 00:22:23 | Speaker 6:

Yeah, yeah. Oh, man. All right. That's horrible.

00:22:23 - 00:23:31 | Speaker 1:

This is Simone Boyce from The Bright Side, a Hello Sunshine podcast. When my son started playing games online, I thought the biggest worry would be screen time. But then I realized it's not just fun and games out there. There are scams, viruses, even people trying to steal his info before he's old enough for social media. I'll be honest, I felt overwhelmed. I didn't know where to start, and the last thing I wanted was to download five different apps I'd forget to use. Then a friend told me about Microsoft Defender. Now I've got one app that covers my devices. It scans for viruses, blocks phishing scams, and even watches for threats to our personal info. And the best part? It doesn't make me feel like I have to be a tech expert. With Defender, I finally feel like I've got backup online, so I can stop worrying about hackers and go back to worrying about the everyday stuff, like whether he ate enough veggies today. To learn more, visit Microsoft365.com slash Defender.

00:23:32 - 00:23:53 | Speaker 4:

We went from normal life, healthy child to acute lymphoblastic leukemia or B-cell, ALL. The St. Jude team came up to get CJ via ambulance. Shortly after that, I noticed a rainbow. It meant that there was hope. We were driving into hope. To have hope is to have your child healthy, and we have that because of St. Jude.

00:23:53 - 00:24:01 | Speaker 3:

You can help kids fight childhood cancer. Please become a St. Jude Partner in Hope today by visiting musicgives.org.

00:24:02 - 00:24:32 | Speaker 2:

Chelsea here. Ready to upgrade your windows or patio doors? During our fall savings month, get 20% off your replacement windows and patio doors. Plus enjoy zero down zero payments or zero interest for 12 months. Our acclaimed impact windows are built for Florida homes. Designed to help you save on energy bills by maintaining indoor temperatures year-round. Offer ends October 31st. Restrictions apply. Visit BestWindowsFlorida.com to schedule your free in-home consultation. License number CGC, 1527613. Renewal by Anderson, where comfort meets savings.

00:24:34 - 00:24:56 | Speaker 6:

At the time I was getting all these phone calls from Jeremy, I found out that, for the first time, he'd found someone on the inside that he could trust. Hey, sorry about that. Okay, cool. I'm so glad you called me back. How are you doing, man? Yeah, I'm doing all right. This is Oscar Smith. Turns out Oscar went to theological school with Leo while they were both at hard ECI.

00:24:56 - 00:25:00 | Speaker 3:

He actually sat next to me, right in front of me.

00:25:00 - 00:25:34 | Speaker 1:

It's a class that you can get a degree from within the prison. From what I understand, Oscar and Leo graduated at the top of their class. After Leo got released, some of the graduates were spread throughout the prison system to serve as pastors for other inmates. Oscar was transferred up to Florida State Prison, where Jeremy was. them who we were as field ministers. And he mentions that he came from Hardy, CI.

00:25:35 - 00:25:48 | Speaker 2:

And then I heard a voice and he said, you guys are from Hardy. And I kind of looked over and I said, yeah. And he asked me, he said, do you know Leo Schofield? And I said, yes. Me and Leo were

00:25:48 - 00:25:55 | Speaker 1:

pretty close. And he goes, I'm Jeremy Scott. Oscar knows exactly who this is. He's very

00:25:55 - 00:26:37 | Speaker 2:

familiar with leo's case and i'm like i'm looking at him and the wing that he's in it's all open sale it's just like open bars so i'm actually can see him face to face there's really the only thing that stands between me and him is just some steel bars at the time i was like froze my heart just sank i paused for a minute and i said um actually i know quite a bit about you sir and i said i've talked to Leo. I said, I know who you are. He was like, OK. And the next thing he told me, he said, listen, Leo's innocent. He goes, I killed his wife. And now nobody wants to listen.

00:26:39 - 00:26:47 | Speaker 3:

He said, you're Jeremy Scott. I said, that's me. Right. And he shook my hand. He was one of the ones that worked with Leo over there.

00:26:48 - 00:26:54 | Speaker 1:

Jeremy was impressed that somebody close to Leo was still willing to talk to him and be kind to him.

00:26:55 - 00:27:00 | Speaker 4:

Yeah, there was a lot of guys praying for you, including, you know, Leo, obviously. Yeah.

00:27:00 - 00:27:09 | Speaker 1:

I remember thinking, like, this is a relief in a way that now there's someone on the inside who can keep an eye on Jeremy. How did he look to you when you first saw him?

00:27:10 - 00:27:44 | Speaker 2:

He's thinned. You know, I mean, anytime you're in confinement or something like that, there's a tendency of losing weight just because the trays that come back there aren't always the best trays, you know, the bread's, you know, laying in beans and so it's all mushy and soppy and so, you know, it's just, yeah, so you have a tendency to eat less. So, I mean, he was thin, looked frail, you know. He seemed to be in decent spirit, you know. It wasn't like he was really distraught or anything else like that.

00:27:45 - 00:27:49 | Speaker 1:

Oscar told me that once a week, he goes up on that wing and talks to Jeremy.

00:27:50 - 00:28:20 | Speaker 2:

I walked up there two weeks ago, and he had a gash on his head. He was literally bleeding from his head. And I'm looking at Jeremy, and he was frazzled. He kind of had tears in his eyes. He had a split basically on his forehead, but a little bit more towards the top of his head. So I knew there was something going on. You know, they can't reach one another, or they can't do whatever. so I don't know if it was self-inflicted because he was angry at something, and I have no idea.

00:28:21 - 00:28:27 | Speaker 1:

Oscar was worried about Jeremy's mental health. Oscar told me you busted your head open. What happened?

00:28:28 - 00:28:33 | Speaker 3:

Oh, they lost my property. They threw all my stuff away.

00:28:33 - 00:28:34 | Speaker 4:

They did?

00:28:35 - 00:28:52 | Speaker 3:

Yeah. They threw all my stuff away. I ain't got nothing. The books you sent me? Yeah. The four books? I ain't got to read them. They were in my property. I ain't got nothing. I'm talking about everything I owned in that. Then my loggers gone.

00:28:53 - 00:28:53 | Speaker 4:

God.

00:28:54 - 00:28:56 | Speaker 3:

Hey, can you give me four of them books?

00:28:56 - 00:28:58 | Speaker 4:

Yeah, you want more four of the Gray Man?

00:28:59 - 00:29:02 | Speaker 3:

I ain't never got to redo them. Other ones.

00:29:03 - 00:29:07 | Speaker 4:

I'll just send you the same ones if you didn't get them. I'll just send the same ones to you.

00:29:08 - 00:29:08 | Speaker 3:

All right.

00:29:09 - 00:29:12 | Speaker 4:

Did you ever see a doctor about your stomach?

00:29:13 - 00:29:30 | Speaker 1:

I was still pressing Jeremy for answers, but I could feel myself getting pulled into his life in ways I never expected, helping him navigate his health issues, trying to reconnect him with family he hasn't heard from in years.

00:29:30 - 00:29:38 | Speaker 4:

I'll tell you this. I talked to Joshua. Do you remember him? Who? Joshua. He's Jason's brother.

00:29:39 - 00:29:40 | Speaker 3:

Oh, my cousin.

00:29:40 - 00:29:41 | Speaker 1:

Yeah.

00:29:41 - 00:29:42 | Unknown:

Josh.

00:29:42 - 00:29:50 | Speaker 1:

And then, there were moments when I heard something else in him, a flash of who he might have been, a childhood memory that makes him laugh.

00:30:00 - 00:30:02 | Speaker 3:

Yeah, I don't know him at all. I'll look into him.

00:30:02 - 00:30:04 | Speaker 5:

Yeah, he's the one who got me into crime.

00:30:05 - 00:30:05 | Speaker 3:

Oh, really?

00:30:05 - 00:30:10 | Speaker 5:

He's the one who's the first I ever did a crime with was with him.

00:30:10 - 00:30:11 | Speaker 3:

What kind of crime was it?

00:30:12 - 00:30:13 | Speaker 5:

We saw the truck.

00:30:14 - 00:30:14 | Speaker 3:

Oh, okay.

00:30:15 - 00:30:25 | Speaker 5:

Yeah, he's not a criminal. That was something we did when we were 13 years old. Name that. I think I might have been 9 or 10.

00:30:26 - 00:30:29 | Speaker 3:

Yeah, no, I think you had an arrest at 10, so you started pretty young.

00:30:30 - 00:31:39 | Speaker 1:

One day, I got this letter from Jeremy. It says, Mr. King, I almost forgot to ask you. You have asked me about my family. I just don't understand why they stopped writing me. My Aunt Debbie, of all people. I tried writing her, but heard nothing. Maybe you can find out. I really would like to know. I miss them. Thank you, Mr. King. he's lost his whole family he hasn't had contact with them for over a decade and I said well listen I'm trying to talk to them too I'll try to find out I had no luck with Jeremy's Aunt Debbie so I reached out to some family members who were close to her I finally got in touch with her son Joshua Jeremy's cousin I set up a time to meet with him and at the last minute, he said he had COVID. He was very apologetic. He said, I'm so sorry. It's just not a good time. So I kept texting him, and he ended up telling me some bad news. News I knew Jeremy was going to take hard.

00:31:41 - 00:31:48 | Speaker 3:

Well, yeah, I've been in touch with Josh. We've just had a hard time connecting. I think he got COVID or something like that.

00:31:48 - 00:31:53 | Speaker 5:

Do you know of anybody else died in my family that I don't know of?

00:31:54 - 00:31:59 | Speaker 3:

Yeah, I do, Jeremy. And I'm sorry to tell you this, but Josh said that Debbie died a couple years ago.

00:32:00 - 00:32:00 | Speaker 4:

That mama?

00:32:01 - 00:32:01 | Speaker 3:

Yeah.

00:32:02 - 00:32:04 | Speaker 4:

Oh, my God.

00:32:04 - 00:32:12 | Speaker 3:

Yeah, he said it was like Christmas Eve in 2021. Oh, shit. He said, I don't even know if Jeremy knows yet.

00:32:13 - 00:32:23 | Speaker 4:

I didn't. you know me and her were close

00:32:23 - 00:32:38 | Speaker 3:

yeah i know i i was hoping to talk to her and i i just i'm sorry that i'm the one that have to tell you that but um i i just found out and uh i was trying to think about who i could maybe have you

00:32:38 - 00:32:51 | Speaker 5:

talk to about that but since you asked that's why i never heard from her yeah she died a couple I know she never turned her back on me. Because, you know, it was her and Grandma always came to see me.

00:32:52 - 00:32:52 | Speaker 3:

Yeah.

00:32:52 - 00:32:54 | Speaker 5:

You know, she always helped me out.

00:32:55 - 00:32:55 | Speaker 3:

Yeah.

00:32:56 - 00:32:57 | Speaker 5:

I know.

00:32:58 - 00:33:00 | Speaker 3:

I know she was important, and I know she raised you.

00:33:00 - 00:34:39 | Speaker 1:

Before I met Jeremy's son Justin I didn't think anyone else from Jeremy's family was ever going to write him much less call or visit I had tried to be a bridge between Jeremy and his family but I'd failed The Florida State Prison Cemetery at Rayford doesn't get many visitors. The gravestones are simple gray concrete slabs in the ground, each anchored by silver metal plates produced by inmates in the prison's license tag plant. They're embossed with the inmate's name, prison number, and date of death. That's it. You don't see any flowers laid on top. It's the final resting place for inmates who died in custody and are unclaimed by family members. Some of the men buried here were strapped to old Sparky, Florida's electric chair, or a gurney where they were executed by lethal injection. Jeremy knows he's never getting out of prison, but the idea of being buried on prison grounds seems to bother him more than anything.

00:34:40 - 00:34:59 | Speaker 2:

He said, but Oscar, I don't want to be buried here. He goes, I don't know how, you know, to go about that. I asked them, I said, well, if you have any family, I said, the best bet would be for you to try to contact them somehow, some way, because if nobody is willing to take responsibility.

00:35:00 - 00:35:05 | Speaker 5:

for the body, then they have no other recourse but to, you know, bury you in a prison cemetery

00:35:05 - 00:36:00 | Speaker 7:

because you're a ward of the state. There would have to be someone out there who cares enough to claim Jeremy's body. When Jeremy's son, Justin, asked me to help him talk to his dad, I was wary, but also intrigued. I knew if I told Jeremy there was a family member who wanted to talk to him, he would be uplifted. And the idea that it was his son, I could only imagine the excitement he'd feel. So I told Jeremy that his son wanted to write to him. Jeremy told me he would write to Justin. And while I waited for them to find their first words for each other, I headed back to Florida. I wanted to make one final attempt to put my hands on evidence that could prove without a doubt that Jeremy Scott was telling the truth about what he'd done.

00:36:02 - 00:36:10 | Speaker 3:

We had two dogs at the time. He did lead them to the abandoned house, but they lost him there.

00:36:11 - 00:36:16 | Speaker 6:

Okay. So the dog thought that whoever did this went to the abandoned house?

00:36:16 - 00:36:17 | Speaker 7:

Yes, sir.

00:36:17 - 00:36:18 | Speaker 6:

Okay. Yes, sir.

00:36:19 - 00:37:21 | Speaker 7:

That's next time. Bone Valley is a production of Lava for Good Podcast in association with Signal Company No. 1. Our executive producers are Jason Flom, Jeff Kempler, and Kevin Werdes. Cara Kornhaber is our senior producer. Jackie Pauley and Hannah Beal are our producers. Britt Spangler is our sound designer. Marianne McCune is our editor. Fact-checking by Dania Suleiman. Jeff Clyburn is our head of marketing and operations. Our social media director is Ismadi Guadrama Our social media manager is Sarah Gibbons And our art director is Andrew Nelson Additional research and production by Kelsey Decker Additional sound recording by James Johnson Bone Valley is written and produced by me, Gilbert King Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and threads at Lava for Good

00:37:25 - 00:38:14 | Speaker 2:

This is Simone Boyce from The Bright Side, a Hello Sunshine podcast. Every day, I'm juggling a million things. School drop-off, work calls, play dates. The last thing I have time for is worrying about online threats. That's why I use Microsoft Defender, one app for my devices, quietly scanning viruses, blocking scams, and keeping an eye out for our personal info on the dark web. It's like having a digital safety net for my family. And knowing it's there, that is one less thing to stress about. To learn more, visit Microsoft365.com slash Defender.

00:38:15 - 00:38:45 | Speaker 1:

Chelsea here. Ready to upgrade your windows or patio doors? During our fall savings month, get 20% off your replacement windows and patio doors. Plus, enjoy zero down, zero payments, or zero interest for 12 months. Our acclaimed impact windows are built for Florida homes. Designed to help you save on energy bills by maintaining indoor temperatures year-round. Offer ends October 31st. Restrictions apply. Visit BestWindowsFlorida.com to schedule your free in-home consultation. License number CGC, 1527613. Renewal by Anderson. Where comfort meets savings.

00:38:45 - 00:38:57 | Speaker 5:

Hey, audiobook lovers. I'm Cal Penn. I'm Ed Helms. Ed and I are inviting you to join the best-sounding book club you've ever heard with our new podcast, Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club.

00:38:57 - 00:39:06 | Speaker 4:

Each week, we sit down with your favorite iHeart podcast hosts and some very special guests to discuss the latest and greatest audiobooks from Audible.

00:39:06 - 00:39:15 | Speaker 5:

Listen to Earsay on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow Earsay and start listening on the free iHeart Radio app today.

0/0