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The Case of Gloria Killian
📻 Episode #93
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Apr 08, 2019
About This Episode
On December 9th, 1981, Stephen DeSantis and Gary Masse, disguised as telephone repair men, gained entry to the suburban home of Sacramento coin collector Ed Davies. They hogtied Ed and his wife Grace, ransacked the house, and came up with 6 suitcases full of silver before murdering the older couple. There had been a string…
The Case
On December 9th, 1981, Stephen DeSantis and Gary Masse, disguised as telephone repair men, gained entry to the suburban home of Sacramento coin collector Ed Davies. They hogtied Ed and his wife Grace, ransacked the house, and came up with 6 suitcases full of silver before murdering the older couple. There had been a string of robberies connected to area coin shops, and Ed Davies was a customer at the coin store where law student Gloria Killian had worked. When an anonymous tip sent police in search of DeSantis and Masse, Joanne Masse named Gloria as the mastermind to her husband’s crimes, an assertion that was repeated through the anonymous tip line. However, without sufficient evidence the charges against Gloria were dropped. Upon being convicted, Gary Masse offered his testimony, naming Gloria as the mastermind of his criminal enterprise, in exchange for sentencing leniency and other perks. This deal was concealed from the defense and the jury. In absence of corroborating evidence, Gloria Killian was sentenced to 32 years to life solely upon Masse’s incentivized testimony. She spent 17 years in prison until evidence surfaced, exposing the prosecution’s machinations and Masse’s false testimony. Gloria Killian was released in August of 2002 and currently advocates for women in prison. You can support Gloria Killian’s efforts by visiting the Action Committee for Women in Prison at acwip.net. In this episode, Gloria tells her story alongside Innocence Project Senior Staff Attorney Nina Morrison.
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:06:47“Speaker 3: When people get picked up as you did, who had Speaker 3: nothing to do with and had no knowledge of a Speaker 3: situation a crime, they generally go in as you did, Speaker 3: waving their right to an attorney, expecting that everything's going Speaker 3: to go smoothly. And you, being a law student, you”
00:26:00“Speaker 3: can still hear the pain and you know, recognize that, Speaker 3: you know, the extra day of your life or whatever Speaker 3: it is. And of course then there's that saying, which Speaker 3: I'm gonna start using a tag line of my emails. Speaker 3: I think you know that it's better that one hundred”
00:44:46“Speaker 6: because they have a relationship with someone, typically but not always, Speaker 6: a man who is kind of high up in a Speaker 6: crime or a criminal enterprise, and the woman might have Speaker 6: some tangential involvement, agreeing to carry something or transport something Speaker 6: or make a phone call once, but they don't have”
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