Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch - Friendly Fire | 1. Officer Down

Episode Date: June 6, 2022

A sheriff’s deputy is shot during a drug bust in Scott County, Tennessee. But who shot him? And how did it happen? The clock ticks as his wife, Lori scrambles for answers. She’s left with a shocking discovery. A Campside Media & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Campside media. It is just a eerie feeling when you pull up in that driveway. I'm almost just putting myself back in. John, John, she's thought we have got to get down to the bottom of this, the details. And I'm just thinking about what could possibly be going through his mind at this time. Back off. Two, back. Three, five, four, three, one, three, go. Back to the right. Back off. Back off. Back off.

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Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back. Back off. Back. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back off. Back. Back off. Back. Scott County is in East Tennessee, right up against Kentucky border in the Western foothills of the Appalachians. It's very pretty. It's all hills and streams, Mosu rural, and it's way off the beaten path. It's also one of the poorest counties in Tennessee. And like a lot of poor rural places, there's a fairly significant amount of drugs. There's a lot of heroin and opioids these days, but 20 years ago it was methamphetamine. In 2003, a man named Marty Carson was the drug officer for the Scott County Sheriff's Department. His partner was the Canaan officer, a sergeant named John-John Yancey. His real name was Hubert, but everyone called him John-John, except

from Marty. He just called him John. Methamphetamine was so rampant in Scott County in 2003 that the sheriff sent Marty and John John to Kentucky for a week of special training and method enforcement. A few weeks after they returned home to Tennessee, they found themselves outside a mobile home on a swirvy two-lane road in the woods, just west of a little city called Onida. It was a ratty little single-wide with wobbly porches on the front and back. The sun was already down that night, but there was a light at the top of the tall pole,

like a street light that lit up the backyard and one side of the mobile home. Beyond that, it was just dark woods. John John and Marty had a tip that a guy was cooking meth inside, and that he might be really dangerous. Maybe even on the FBI's most wanted list. It was cold, 34 degrees, starting to snow. Marty and John John had two other deputies with them covering the front of the building. John John, the K-NAT officer, was in the yard talking to the guy who lived there. Marty, the drug officer, knocked on the back door.

A woman answered and Marty went inside. A minute later, Givertake, John John ran up the back steps and he went inside. There was a bag. Marty ran out the back door, screaming for the other deputies to take cover, and to call an ambulance. That there was a man inside with a shotgun, and that his partner was down. Those are just about the only facts that everyone agrees on. One officer down.

This is a story that begins with a shooting in a meth lab. But it's a story really about perspective, about who saw what and from what angle and when. It's about what happens in the shadows and the stories we tell to explain those things. And it's about which stories we choose to believe. From campsite media and Sony music entertainment, this is Season 2 of Witnessed, Friendly Fire, Episode 1. I'm Sean Flynn. The Backroads of Scott County are strobing with red and blue lights. When cops hear that phrase, officer down.

They can't get there fast enough. It doesn't matter if they're from the same agency. It's part of the code. Law enforcement officers take care of each other. I know y'all, if you're not now, but it's maybe in the instance of, we're right here for you. I'm not going to say that.

I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. from the same agency. It's part of the code. Law enforcement officers take care of each other. The sheriff rushes there as fast as he can. One of his deputies is down. There's a suspect with a shotgun on the loose. When he gets to the scene, he sits in a cruiser with Marty. All around them is controlled chaos. Everyone wants to know who did this and where they should be looking. What kind of perimeter do we need to set up? The sheriff's son is right down there on Hope & Morn County.

When Marty and John John first got to that mobile home, there were three people inside. A man and a woman were sleeping in the back bedroom with a batch of meth cooking on a hot plate in the room. The third person was Nikki Porter. She was 26 with blue eyes and dirty blonde hair, but she looked older, tired. She was asleep when the cops came. She's the one who opened the door when Marty knocked. She's the only one of the three who didn't run. She held John John's hand while he lay bleeding on the floor. Now Nicky's in the backseat of a cruiser with Detective Randy Lou Allen. My name is Randy Lelndon, I'm a search partner. I take a radio ride to the step because you're not under arrest. I try to find the information, okay?

Compensation of the intercourse. It's a mess, crying. It's hard for her to talk. The man just got shot in front of her. Randy is sitting next to her. He's wearing a ball cap and body armor. He lights a cigarette. He asks very basic questions. What happened?

Who was in the trailer? Nikki tells him she lives there with her boyfriend, Ryan. Listen, there's no room for no one. Lies or nothing. She said you don't know about this. I told you not to trust me. Listen. Listen. Now, he shot it. It's getting a better. She says the man in the bedroom. It was the man in the bedroom.

I'm listening. I can't tell you with all this shit, Owen. I can't. Truth is all this shit on, I can't. Truth is, she doesn't know. Randy's getting frustrated. I think I need to end this interview and read your rights. Let's start all over. No.

Well, they said you're a cop. You're a cop? I'm scared. No, I'm not. I'm dead serious, honey. If you want to talk to me behind, like I told you, I'm searching for information. Now, I'll be being shot here, and I understand. It's bad. Now, you want to talk to me behind, like I told you, I'm searching for information. Now, I'll be inside here and I understand it's bad.

Now, you want to talk to me or not? I don't know. You want me to re-read? I don't know. Well, is your house? No. Is that where you live? Yeah.

With your boyfriend? Yeah. Is it not safe for me to kind of think you know who's in there? Nikki finally tells the man in the back bedroom is named Mark. She doesn't know his last name, doesn't know him, and she definitely doesn't know anything about any guns in the house. Randy keeps asking questions for another four minutes. Nikki gives the same answers.

Then Randy gets out of the cruiser and leaves Nikki sitting there. A little more than an hour later, Randy comes back. The radio is on a country station, and the wipers are keeping snowflurs off the windshield. Nikki's calmer now. Randy moves her to the front passenger seat. Did I keep a secret? No, it wasn't. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Randy gives her a smoke and reads her a rice. She's not under arrest, but Randy wants to go by the book.

Make sure Nikki understands that she doesn't have to talk to him, and then she can get a lawyer if she wants one. Nikki agrees to talk. Nikki tells him that Marty knocked on the door and she let him in. She told him no one else was inside but Marty could tell there were people in the back bedroom. The light was leaking through a gap at the bottom of the door and Marty could see shadows people moving so we started yelling for them to come out then more officers came inside and John John got shot there's not a lot of detail in her story you didn't tell me much. Well, nothing's happened, but a cop got shot. I mean, how much more do you want to know? That's why I want to know how worried,

find out, shot to the earth, my phone, what is. Is going on, we want here to, who was in the house? Everything is what I want to know. Everything to the smallest detail. Well, I did it. I'm trying to question you so we can figure out what happened. That's what happened.

But you may think you're telling me a lot, but I need details of anything that you heard said. It's more about what's going on than I do. Who does? Marty. He was going standing there. They were going standing there. When we're going to be talking to Marty. I don't know.

We're going to be talking to Marty. No, no. I know it's not Santa Man, it's gone, front of me. The question goes nowhere, again. Will you in this recording? In this interview, would you not answer any questions? Is that the way you want? Oh, yes. Okay, we're in.

Oh, no, we're in. Uncover from CBC podcasts brings you award-winning investigations year round. Infiltrate an international network of neo-Nazi extremists. Discover the true story of the CIA's attempts at mind control. Their objective was to wipe my memory. Or dig into a crypto king's mysterious death and a quarter billion dollars missing. There are deep oddities in this case. With episodes weekly, uncover is your home for in-depth reporting and exceptional storytelling. Find uncover wherever you get your podcasts. y una historia de la historia. ¡Vamos a verlo! ¿Cuál es el que te encuentras? In 2003, John John had been married to his high school sweetheart, Laurie, for 13 years.

They had three young sons. The oldest was seven. Laurie was a nurse in the emergency room at the local hospital. But this day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, she's off. She'd taken the boys to Knoxville to look for a Christmas tree while John John was at work. On their way home, around 8-8-15, she stopped by her mom's house. There's a message that John John had called and I tried to calling back But it went to voicemail when Laurie was at home She'd usually have a scanner running in the background a receiver that picks up on chatter from all the emergency frequencies We left it on pretty much all the time even it not especially if John John was working it not

I just felt like a little safety thing, you know Just won't be able to here's boys make sure you yeah, yeah, he's still talking. He's okay. A few minutes after she tries to call John John, Lori's brother calls the house. Then said, do you all have a scanner on or y'all listening to the scanner? And he said an officer's been shot. And we didn't have a scanner on. And that's, I'm just, you know, got that sick feeling when I said an officer had been shot. She turns on the scanner. It's crackling with chatter. And at the Sheriff's Office, the dispatcher is feeling non-stop calls. Talk radio. Hi, yeah. What's going on? Yes, sorry Paul, from the audience. We're getting reports from us.

So we're shocked. It's going to be okay. I have no idea what's going to happen. Thank you. Could you tell me if that was Charles, if it got John Wayne? I'm just kind of listening. Just a lot of background noise. And you know, I kept waiting to hear John John's voice

on there and I wasn't hearing anything. Okay, who's out there that's a supervisor that I'm calling to the EDF today? Well, she's been here and Martin's out there, I'm just pregnant and I'm trying to jump in between the hearts of men. I'm trying to start going, I'm trying to be afraid of it, I'm trying to be a target. Lori's trying not to panic. She calls the Sheriff's Department. Hey, this is Lori.

That's not John John's truck. We don't know which one it is, OK? OK. Well, they get it to the emergency room? Yes. OK, thanks. All right. Then on the scanner, Lori hears the medics and the ambulance calling into the ER, the

same one where she works. They started giving details that they were bringing in a 35-year-old male. A John-John was 35 years old. They said they had a gunshot went into the chest. The chest still opened. There's me, CBR Park, a program. So I know it was him. Just don't bother me. CPR Park progress. So I know it was him. Gunshot wound to the chest.

CPR in progress. I think that was not going to be good. So I called back to the yard. And they just said, or Lori need to get up here. Back at the scene, another officer confirms that it is John John. Then Lori's brother calls in. I know you're not supposed to give us information

that was at my brother's mouth. Can you do your brother now? John John. Yeah. It was? Yeah, like so. I think you're okay. We don It was. Yeah, like so. It was okay. We don't know.

I did trade. We got there. There was. It was just unbelievable. There's police cars everywhere. The parking lot was full. I mean, there was really a place to park. There's just people everywhere.

So I just went on in. I only know, you know, I kind of just, I guess I just left my mom. I just went straight in. I knew which room because we usually have a desk. I just went in. I just went in. I just went straight in, I don't even know. You know, I guess I just left my mom. I just went straight in. I knew which room, because we usually have a designated trauma room.

So I just went straight to that room. I don't even know if anyone tried to stop me or not. I can't even remember if they'd come in the surgery team. I mean, though we are staff, everybody was there. And everybody's working on it. I mean, I just was like, I had no idea they were there. And everything's working on me. I mean, I just was like, I had no, they were doing everything that they could to save him.

And I thought I was gonna stay in the corner all the way. Let them keep doing what they're doing. But I just did them prayed, but he'd been down for a while. And they had no rhythm. I mean, he wasn't breathing, but eventually, you know, they had to stop because I just got nothing to work with. It's just the saddest thing.

That's the saddest thing. I just kind of stayed in there with George, I think let us just be in him him be there for a little bit. You know they were at the St. John's Affirm and all the topsy. They needed me to send a paper for that so they brought me on the room. So I went back to our ICU waiting area. And then I think the next person I'm seeing was probably Robbie Carson. Robbie, their name you go to York, you had an officer shot. I had an officer shot. Yeah, a way you don't know.

We didn't know they that or nothing. Robbie Carson was the chief detective in the Sheriff's Department at the time. He's not related to Marty in any meaningful way. They're fifth cousins or something. Carson is just a really common name in Scott County. That is really wanted to know what the world had happened. And I think Robbie Carson told me at that point, best I remember, that someone had shot manhoods and they were at looking for him. There's a huge manhunt. A sheriff's deputies, local police, state troopers, they're all looking for a man with a shotgun suspected of killing John John Yancey.

But a shotgun didn't make a whole lot of sense. A shotgun would have blown a giant hole through John John Yancey. But a shotgun didn't make a whole lot of sense. A shotgun would have blown a giant hole through John John. If it hit him in the shoulder, which is where John John was hit, it probably would have torn his arm off. But he's got just a little hole, and on the x-rays the doctors and detectives can see a solid, misshapen slug. They tell Laurie that John John must have been hit by what's called a pumpkin ball. It's a single piece of lead instead of a cartridge full of pellets.

They're mostly used for taking down big game. It's a stretch, but a pumpkin ball is the only way a shotgun would be remotely plausible. As far as Laurie knew, John John was supposed to have had a routine shift that night. She knew he and Marty had been looking for someone who might be on the most wanted list, odd as that sounds for Scott County Tennessee. But he hadn't said much about it. Laurie thought John John really just wanted to follow up on a totally separate arrest he made two days earlier on Wednesday.

John John was in a hurry to get back because on that Wednesday night I guess it was late and he did not take his statement. Then there was Thanksgiving on Thursday. So that was his number one go on that Friday. Instead John John goes to a meth lab hours later. He's dead and his widow, Lori, is at the hospital waiting to see his partner, Marty. When she finds him, he's having his blood drawn so it can be screened for drugs and alcohol. It's mandatory in cases like this. Totally routine. It'll come back negative.

I asked him what had happened, and that's when he told me that, I got named Martinu, that they had been looking for on that Tim most wanted. That's who it's shot, John, John, and that he had fled into the woods and that there was a man hunt they had been looking for on that Tim most wanted. That's who it's shot John John, and that he had fled into the woods and that there was a man hunt they had brought and dogs from Brushy Mountain.

You know, everybody was out looking for him. It was, yeah, very clear morning. That's who it's shot him. Had you ever heard that name before? No, no. I didn't know him. I'm Martin O'Neal, and we're in my home in Whitley City, Kentucky. For the record, Mark knew had absolutely nothing to do with John John Yancey being killed. There was a guy named Mark in the mobile home that night, and he was cooking meth, but it wasn't this guy.

If you're confused, well, so was he. He lives in Kentucky now, just over the state line. But in 2003, he's living in Scott County, on William's Creek Road. The same road where John John were shot to death. Mark and his wife have a furniture store, and he sells cars on a lot of the owns. The day John John shot his black Friday and like a lot of people on Black Friday, Mark and his stepson go out shopping. We spent the biggest part of the day looking at motorcycles, came home that evening and had a friend to stop by and he was a good buddy of mine. While we were sitting there, me, him, my wife, and my stepson, heard all these sirens. I mean, I'm talking like a bunch. And we was just, you know, it was like, wow, something bad is going on down the

here, you know, a bad wreck or something. Meanwhile, Mark's brother Steve, who's living a few miles away in Kentucky, he starts hearing Mark's name and then his name. I've been a commissioner at the Far-O-Department over there since, well, when this was going on and my scanner goes all the time. It came across a scanner that he might have fled to his brother's house and then said, Steve knew, that's what got me. I mean, that's when it occupied my mind.

I got straight on the phone and called. I said, Mark, what's going on? It was coming across saying that he had killed the deputy sheriff down there, had shot a deputy sheriff. Let's linger for a second and Steve's head. He's just heard through official police channels that his brother, who sells cars and furniture, is a desparado, a cop killer, is on the run. It's running all over Scanner 2, you have shot a deputy sheriff down there.

And he said, oh, Lord, I don't know what you're talking about. And he said, I'm here to house. And I said, don't leave the house. You need to get this to gear up. And I was like, you know, you've got to be kidding. I really didn't know what to play of. I was like, you know, you got to be kidding. I really didn't know what to play. And then I seen this for real, you know, there wasn't nobody pranking me or nothing that they was being serious. Lord, I got so many calls. Mark,

are you all right? Mark, what's going on? I'm talking, run down like three phones, cordless phones and cell phones, killing them out dead from getting that many calls and talking. So I absolutely started losing it. I mean I was freaking out. I thought what should I do? I mean what do I do? And I scared to really do anything. And my wife and I decided that I'll just stay there till morning time, and then we all try to get to the bottom of it. The absurd part is that Mark says no one came to his house.

No sheriff's deputy, no police officer, no state trooper. No one knocked on Mark's door to see if he was home. I'm sitting just a mile or so from what happened and don't know nothing. They're going to houses, several houses they searched, supposedly looking for me. Thought I was hiding out on the run, just killed an officer. I stayed here in the in the bedroom of what he'd come out of the house, like I said, I was looking at any time from the night my door down and come in and kill me. In other words, I had to man-hunt on me. But never came to my house. Never. Sometimes you know it feels like it was just still yesterday.

You know, it's been several years, but it just, you know, things that you see like, I don't know, it's just like you're in a cloud It's just really hard to comprehend what happened And I got three little kids that are you know three five and seven How do you even tell them about their dad? just Oh, full. I don't even know how you know, broke down even to tell that he's not going to be coming back. How old are you? You're four? When will you be five?

When is our time? Well, when is your birth time? That's John John, with a video camera. On the last birthday, he celebrated with her oldest boy. What's up? Kimmelton the... Can you help the prince? Hey, what's up?

Lori, can we lock Logan's open his prison? Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Logan. Happy birthday to you. Blow it out, Logan. Oh, you're watching. I'm going to go on. Probably the right clock in the morning,

I came back to my house with the boys. And then, you know, we just try to lay down. But of course, you know, you can't sleep. The next day, Saturday is a blur. Of course it is. Laurie's in shock, exhausted. None of this makes sense yet, or even seems real. Late in the day, three deputies from the Sheriff's Department come to Laurie's house.

Like a six or seven o'clock that night. And had told me that that got a preliminary report back that it was actually Marty Carson's gun that had shot John-John. The bullet that killed her husband came out of Marty's gun. And that's how I actually had found that out. And that was after the autopsy report. I thought, you know, there's possible struggle. It's just accidentally went off, you know, and this terrible thing has happened.

And you know, I really, I feel bad for him. Laurie, in that moment when she's drowning in her own grief, her heart breaks a little for Marty. She can't imagine a worse trauma for a deputy. Marty's lost his partner, the man who always had his back, who had his back in a meth lab where some maniac was waving a shotgun around, and they were both scared and everything took a bad turn. And then a gun went off, and it was Marty's gun. And the bullet hit his own partner. For him not to even know at this point on Saturday night that he had shot him, that it was actually him. They said that the sheriff was so upset that he couldn't come tell me himself.

The sheriff, Jim Carson, is especially upset about the whole ordeal, in large part because he also happens to be Marty's father. This season, on Witnessed Friendly Fire. Okay, Mr. Carson, we're on the record. You were sworn yesterday, so I'm friend. Yes. You understand you're under oath today? Yes.

Who's telling the truth? I thought they were friends, best friends. He said you've got this all wrong. This whole scenario just not making sense to me. Just my gut feeling. Piecing together versions of the same story. Why you? That's the million dollar question.

A story that isn't about who did it. I did get tied up in this whole case because of what happened that one night. It's about why. You could kind of cover up a little dope dealing. Were you asking me if I had a catch like you? John, John, John, John. I'm asking you if you intended to pull the trigger. You're going here, 1,500 stories, how it happened,

how this took place, and will we ever know the truth, probably not unless somebody comes forward. We can take a pretty good stab at it though. The Witnesses and production of Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment. Friendly Fire was reported and hosted by me, Sean Flynn. Lindsey Killbride is the senior producer and Callie Hitchcock is the associate producer. The story editor is Daniel Riley. The series was sound designed by Shawnee Aviram with mixing by Iwan Lytrimuun. This episode was fact-checked by Alex Yablon.

The theme song is Booey by Shuk Twins. A special thanks to our operations team Amanda Brown, Doug Slaywin, Alia Papes and Allison Haney. Campside media's executive producers are Josh Dean, Vanessa Grigoriatus, Adam Hoff, and Matt Shere. If you enjoyed Witnessed Friendly Fire, please rate and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Soy Paco y voy a ser periodista. El futuro es exigente pero me siento preparado. También doblegrado en comunicación. Con comunicación digital, doblegrado en derecho y ade, fisioterapia, de porte. Más de 30 años formando profesionales de éxito.

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