Proof: A True Crime Podcast · Red Marble Media

Murder at the Bike Shop | Sidebar 3

·23 min·1 clip

A witness on the stand cannot identify Patrick Michelle in the courtroom where she is testifying.

1. Proof Sidebar 3 focuses on the Scott O’Byrne case and the Patrick Michelle case, with the hosts using both to examine how witness statements change over time. 2. Susan Simpson hosts with Jacinda Davis and Kevin Fitzpatrick, and their reporting matters because they interviewed Stacey in Alabama and reviewed the case files. 3. The episode asks whether witness certainty and changing timelines can coexist in a case built on confessions and later testimony. 4. The Alabama interview with Stacey happened in the front yard of a restaurant relative to her house, beside a loud two- or three-lane country road. 5. Stacey told the hosts, “I will tell you everything I know,” and they say she was not hesitant about talking. 6. The hosts say Stacey was the first in-person interview for this season, and they compare that choice to how Proof Season 2 began with Josh Burroughs. 7. Stacey’s story shifts on dates, houses, and pickup locations, but the hosts say her account stays fixed on two claims: Scott confessed and came through the basement window. 8. The hosts question the window claim by describing the basement layout and the easier access through the regular door and stairs. 9. Stacey also testified that she thought Scott’s mother was not around during the relevant time, which the hosts say makes the window entry even harder to explain. 10. The episode contrasts Stacey’s account with Scott’s denial, framing the dispute as a direct “she said, he said” conflict. 11. The hosts point out that Stacey failed a polygraph in 1989, then argue that the original investigator relied too heavily on polygraphs. 12. Kevin Fitzpatrick says the changing timeline around the confession and the window was his biggest takeaway from the interview. 13. The Patrick Michelle section shifts to Minute Market employees, a promotion to assistant manager on Stadium Drive, and a proposed motive tied to jealousy. 14. The hosts say the physical evidence against Patrick is thin because investigators did not find the gun, gunshot residue, the stolen money, or the stolen VCR tape. 15. Debbie Brown’s later statement is described as a confession story that changed repeatedly, and the hosts say she never mentioned knowing Patrick in the early investigation. 16. Christine Newberry’s testimony is also discussed, including her claim that Patrick choked her and said, “I’ll do to you what I did to Chris.” 17. The tone is conversational and analytical, with the hosts interrupting one another, revisiting the same facts, and arguing through the timeline. 18. The format moves between field reporting, case-file review, and reactions to courtroom testimony rather than a single linear narrative. 19. Listeners interested in cold-case witness testimony and timeline disputes. 20. Listeners who want a self-contained crime recap with little case-background tolerance.

As heard by us

A loose Alabama sidebar finds the gap between a steady confession claim and the details that keep moving.

Proof Sidebar follows a trip to Alabama into the problem of a murder theory that keeps changing shape around a few stubborn facts. Susan Simpson, Jacinda Davis, and Kevin Fitzpatrick revisit the house, the claim that Scott came through a window, and the current owner's shift…

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Why you'd press play

You get a basement-window theory that keeps colliding with the question of what a confession proves.

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