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The Case of Karen Boes
📻 Episode #277
🎙️ Hosted by Maggie Freleng
📅 Jul 18, 2022
About This Episode
On the morning of July 30, 2002, Karen Boes left her Zeeland, Michigan home to meet a friend and go shopping while her 14 year old daughter Robin was home in her bedroom. Less than an hour after leaving home, she received a call that her house was on fire. Robin was killed in the…
The Case
On the morning of July 30, 2002, Karen Boes left her Zeeland, Michigan home to meet a friend and go shopping while her 14 year old daughter Robin was home in her bedroom. Less than an hour after leaving home, she received a call that her house was on fire. Robin was killed in the fire, and the fire was declared an arson homicide largely based on the junk science of ‘fire damage patterns’ as determined by an arson Investigator. Michigan State Police charged Boes with Robin’s death after almost 10 hours of non-stop interrogation which ultimately ended with Boes apparently confessing despite stating her innocence throughout the interrogation. Boes was convicted and sentenced to life in prison where she has maintained her innocence. Maggie speaks to Karen Boes, Boes’ attorney David Moran, and Boes’ friend Judy.
https://freekarenboes.com/
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/149-wrongful-conviction-junk-science-arson-evidence/
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/165-wrongful-conviction-junk-science-coerced-confession-evidence/
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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.
00:04:12“Speaker 2: just hanging out with his friends and stuff. Speaker 4: Karen became a stay at home mom, and a few Speaker 4: years later, in nineteen eighty eight, she had her second Speaker 2: She was just the love of my life. Your first Speaker 2: child is both special, but Robin was the love of”
00:16:02“Speaker 2: any difference. Yes, I had full faith in him. Speaker 4: By this time, the police had determined that the fire Speaker 4: was not an accident. Karen picked up on the fact Speaker 4: that she was the main suspect during an almost ten Speaker 4: hour interrogation eight days after the fire. She was grieving”
00:27:16“Speaker 7: down wisdom from prior fire investigators, and so much of Speaker 7: this wisdom had never been tested. And so the fire Speaker 7: investigation community was taught that if you see certain signs Speaker 7: that tells you that a fire was an arson, that Speaker 7: an accelerant was used, and also you can use some”
Listen to the Episode
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