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The Case of Keith Cooper
📻 Episode #328
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Jan 26, 2023
About This Episode
On October 29, 1996, two gunmen broke into Michael Kershner’s apartment in Elkhart, IN and robbed Kershner, his mother and four friends. After fighting back, Kershner was shot in the abdomen. Months later, Keith Cooper was arrested on a purse snatching charge. Lead Detective, Steve Rezutko, determined that Cooper might be one of the perpetrators…
Case status as carried in this site's original 2026 profiles. Independent record verification is rolling out episode by episode — statuses are being re-checked against court and registry sources and date-stamped as verified.
The Case
On October 29, 1996, two gunmen broke into Michael Kershner’s apartment in Elkhart, IN and robbed Kershner, his mother and four friends. After fighting back, Kershner was shot in the abdomen. Months later, Keith Cooper was arrested on a purse snatching charge. Lead Detective, Steve Rezutko, determined that Cooper might be one of the perpetrators in Kerschner’s case based on his resemblance to a computerized sketch of the gunmen. After placing Cooper’s photo in a lineup, witnesses identified him, along with one witness who claimed to recognize his voice without ever seeing him. However, the DNA from the hat left at the scene by the gunman did not match Cooper. Solely based on eyewitness testimony, Cooper was convicted of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/211-jason-flom-with-marcus-wiggins/
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/289-jason-flom-with-andrew-royer/
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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.
00:06:30“Speaker 1: Steve Rizzuko. Elliott, can you give us some background on Razuko? Speaker 4: You know, something that we would later obtain on the Speaker 4: civil side of things was Razuko's application of the Okar Speaker 4: Police Department and so they conduct, you know, a background Speaker 4: investigation to Berzuko, and then they go to like three”
00:25:49“Speaker 2: familiar with the laws, and I'll better for you to Speaker 2: do it with this judge and have to go through Speaker 2: the twelve people because the judge know more about your Speaker 2: case than they do. And like I said, I know Speaker 2: about the system. So I went with what he was”
00:43:33“Speaker 2: because it was like a dream had just come true Speaker 2: for me. The burden, all that weight there was, all Speaker 2: my chests is just a thousand pounds were just lifted Speaker 2: off my chest, man, and I was free. My name Speaker 2: was cleared, and I made history in the state of Indiana.”
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← #327 Hope White #329 Brandon Woodruff →
Also on the podcast: #6 Keith Harward · #227 Keith Washington · #244 Kevin Cooper