Dead of the Night Podcast · Kenneth Bailey

Ep 12: Conclusions

January 23, 2021·23 min·2 clips

Jessica O'Neill learns a photo of a body wrapped in plastic was posted from Kenneth's phone, turning him into the prime suspect.

The episode opens at 2:30 a.m. with Jessica describing returning home after hours of police questioning. Authorities have seized the podcast's equipment and are treating Devon's disappearance as a homicide with Kenneth as the primary suspect. An Instagram photo posted from Kenneth's iPhone shows what appears to be a body wrapped in plastic, though Devon's remains have not been found. Jessica reviews Kenneth's online activity and finds that he registered the Dead of the Night podcast domain on January 1st, 2019, a month before Devon disappeared. This suggests Kenneth was researching true crime cases for a podcast before Devon vanished. He had driven to Cripple Creek, Colorado to attend the sentencing hearing in the Kelsey Barrett murder case, involving Patrick Frazee and Crystal Lee, hoping to secure interviews for his podcast. When no one would speak with him, he returned to Boise dejected. Jessica presents the case of the Kelsey Barrett murder in detail, noting that Patrick Frazee beat Kelsey to death on Thanksgiving and received life in prison plus 167 years, while Crystal Lee received three years for evidence tampering. Back in Idaho, Jessica finds that Kenneth's credit card shows a Cheesecake Factory charge on the night Devon disappeared, at the same location where Devon and Isaac had dinner hours earlier. A Ring doorbell video from Kenneth's neighbor shows him pacing outside his father's house the night of the impound lot fire, apparently talking to himself in what could be a sleepwalking episode or psychotic break. He drives away and returns around 5:20 a.m. In an interview, Maxine, Devon's best friend, says she now believes Kenneth murdered Devon to create a podcast case when he could not access legitimate high-profile cases, and that Devon's prior rejection of him added motive. Kenneth is arrested for first-degree murder and arson. Jessica accepts one of his jail calls in which he deflects blame and suggests Devon was encoding messages in Instagram usernames. Jessica refuses to accept the explanation and ends the call. She closes the podcast, apologizing to Devon's family for her role in the production.

As heard by us

A hard-edged ending that turns suspicion, evidence, and regret into one sustained reckoning.

The ending hits hard. Jessica O'Neill comes home at 2:30 a.m., the police have taken her hard drives and computer, and Kenneth quickly becomes the main suspect in a murder investigation.

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Why you'd press play

A finale built from records, timestamps, and a photo that turns every receipt into a threat.

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