The Ideastream Public Media and Ohio Newsroom podcast came out Wednesday.
The podcast has followed an unsolved double murder of Ohio college students Mary Petry and Bill Sproat, that happened near Ohio State University鈥檚 campus in Columbus in 1970. The two were found dead in Bill鈥檚 off-campus apartment, the door unlocked, a radio playing.
Ideastream Public Media senior producer Justin Glanville joined the Ohio Newsroom to discuss what he found in the four years he spent reporting, researching and creating the podcast.
This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
On the biggest new developments
鈥淭here is really great DNA evidence in this case, and there鈥檚 actually more DNA evidence than they even originally thought. The evidence in this case has been really well preserved and just a couple weeks ago, lab technicians were in that evidence box getting more DNA from the suspected perpetrator. And as we know, when you鈥檝e got DNA in this day and age, there鈥檚 a really good chance, especially if that鈥檚 high quality DNA, that the case can be solved.鈥�
On the power of revisiting old cases
鈥淲e sometimes think of true crime as kind of dark and as wallowing in darkness. But I鈥檓 coming out of this feeling really good about it. By looking into the darkness and really talking about it, and partnering with both Pat and Martha, who are the surviving sisters of Mary and Bill, it鈥檚 felt very therapeutic and they share the same thing too in the last episode.
On the power of advocacy in cold cases
鈥淧olice departments right now have been having a lot of trouble just staying staffed up. There are a lot of cold cases out there. Because of all that, it鈥檚 not that police aren鈥檛 trying to solve these cases or that they don鈥檛 have an intention to solve them and it鈥檚 not even that they aren鈥檛 looking into them from time to time. But the fact that the two sisters have been so involved and gotten increasingly involved over the four years I鈥檝e been working on this project has been instrumental in refocusing the police on this case.
I don鈥檛 want to spoil the details for folks who want to seek out the podcast but something huge happened that I think is a turning point in this case just a couple of weeks ago, and I don鈥檛 think that would have happened if it hadn鈥檛 been for the two sisters pushing it along.鈥�