← All Cases / Episode #535
The Case of Ben Bowlin with Reynaldo Munoz
📻 Episode #535
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Jul 24, 2025
About This Episode
On September 8, 1985, dozens gathered on Keeler Avenue in Chicago, IL for a friend's birthday party. In the early morning hours, while walking back to the party after getting cigarettes, 19-year-old Ivan Mena and 21-year-old Bouvier "Bobby" Garcia broke up a fight between 16-year-old Reynaldo “Scooby" Munoz and another partygoer. Munoz walked home after…
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 September 8, 1985, dozens gathered on Keeler Avenue in Chicago, IL for a friend's birthday party. In the early morning hours, while walking back to the party after getting cigarettes, 19-year-old Ivan Mena and 21-year-old Bouvier "Bobby" Garcia broke up a fight between 16-year-old Reynaldo “Scooby" Munoz and another partygoer. Munoz walked home after that fight, but Mena and Garcia returned to the party. Shortly after, around 4am, Mena and Garcia were shot. Garcia survived, but Mena did not. Within days, Munoz was arrested for the shooting, and as a result of misconduct from since-disgraced Chicago police detective Reynaldo Guevara and his partner Ernest Halvorsen, Munoz was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 60 years in prison.
https://www.instagram.com/bonjeanlawgroup/?hl=en
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/423-jason-flom-with-fabian-santiago/
We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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.
00:05:18“Speaker 1: September seventh. Speaker 3: Well, I was invited to this party. It was in Speaker 3: the neighborhood. It was the older gentleman. His wife was Speaker 3: throwing the party for him, and I was invited to Speaker 3: one of my friend's mother. So it was not again”
00:19:40“Speaker 3: of my guys coming out of the alley towards where Speaker 1: But no one else at the party saw Ray after Speaker 1: three twenty am let alone after the shooting, or with Speaker 1: two other guys. Speaker 2: And again not really anything else, really no real corroboration”
00:33:49“Speaker 2: Rights action, we deposed Ernie Halverson, who was still alive Speaker 2: at the time, and I confronted him with the allegations Speaker 2: of Ray Munos, including whether or not he fabricated the Speaker 2: identification testimony of Bobby Garcia, whether he suppressed exculpatory material, Speaker 2: all of that, and Halverson not just Gavara. Halverson invoked”
Listen to the Episode
🎧 Listen on Omny / the podcast's platforms
🎧 Full episode page — Lava for Good
Resources & links from the episode:
Share this case, follow the organisations working on it, and support the podcast's fight for the innocent at lavaforgood.com.
← #534 Ben Bowlin with Robert Johnson #536 the Virginia 3 →
Also on the podcast: #1 Jason Flom and Barry Scheck with Barry Gibbs · #10 Jason Flom on Christmas Behind Bars: A Special Episode with Amanda Knox, Jarrett Adams, and Jeffrey Deskovic · #17 Jason Flom and Barry Scheck with Jason Baldwin