8 episodes
An Absurd Result Mopac Audio
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- True Crime
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4.6 • 13 Ratings
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In March, 1987, a man breaks into a Billings, Montana, home and sexually assaults a young girl then escapes undetected. The crime begins a decades-long recovery process for the girl and her family. It's also the start of a maddening search for justice that involves a suspect, an exoneration and DNA evidence that ultimately exposes a loophole in the US legal system.
Hosted by Jule Banville
Music Courtesy of Nic Bommarito
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NEW RELEASE: AN ABSURD RESULT - October 27th
Coming October 27th - The home invasion and sexual assault of an 8-year old girl in Billings, Montana, begins a decades long recovery process and a painstaking search for justice. Hosted by Jule Banville
Mopac Audio Productions
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EP 1: The Crime
Episode 1: The Crime
In the pre-dawn of March 20, 1987, a man moved a swingset closer to a house on Virginia Lane in Billings, Montana. He used it to climb into a bathroom window. He walked up the stairs and assaulted an 8-year-old girl in her bed. Six others in her family were home, but no one heard what happened and he left without getting caught. Then the investigation begins...
Hosted by Jule Banville
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EP 2: The Arrest
A police sketch leads police to Jimmy Ray Bromgard, a senior at Billings Senior High. They get him in a lineup in front of Linda, the victim, who visibly reacts. The founder of the crime lab compares hairs in Linda’s bedroom to Jimmy’s, leading to an arrest in front of his house. A trial and a conviction follow, but now the founder of the Innocence Project is interested in his case. All he needs is DNA.
Hosted by Jule Banville
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EP 3: The Test
Evidence that could have been destroyed from a trial in 1987 is instead discovered sealed in the basement of the Yellowstone County Courthouse. But in 2002, there aren’t many labs that will test it, and it’s expensive. After a donor comes forward, the results prove conclusively that Jimmy Bromgard is not a match. He’s the first person in Montana exonerated with DNA. Linda, who’s now living and working in Yellowstone National Park, has to reckon with watching the man she thought raped her walk out of prison. She asks: How could they be so wrong about all of it? And will they ever find who did this?
Hosted by Jule Banville
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EP 4: The Hit
A former intern at the state crime lab is now the person in charge of the criminal DNA database that runs samples regularly. One morning, Megan Ashton discovers a hit on this case and links it to someone arrested on a felony marijuana charge. Ronald Dwight Tipton lives in White Sulphur Springs, about an hour from Linda. He meets detectives in a courthouse there who ask him about this crime. They start piecing together where he was in March 1987 and we knock on his door.
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EP 5: The Waiting
Linda gets a visit from a prosecutor who tells her: We know who did this, and we’re going to charge him. But there’s a problem. It starts where a lot of old sexual assault cases do: with the statute of limitations. Montana’s clock to prosecute this case expired with the wrong man in prison. But a law that makes an exception for DNA comes into play. Tipton’s charged under this newer law, even though that move hits another roadblock: a 2003 Supreme Court decision that didn’t allow California to apply a new statute of limitation to an old rape case. A judge in Billings must decide if she’s going to go against the country’s highest court and let the charges stand.
Hosted by Jule Banville
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Customer Reviews
Excellent yet frustrating
This podcast is excellent but the situation with status of limitations in United States and everywhere else where this archaic and inhumane judicial procedure still exist and being applied is for the least frustrating!
Interesting
This is different from some other true crime series because it’s a mix of detailing the crime, investigation, prosecution, wrongful conviction, and changing laws. The episodes are short ish and lots of different ground covered with excellent explanations. I learned a lot and felt for many involved. Well done.
Terrible crime, sensitively handled
I’m on the third episode so far, and so far this is by far one of the better true crime podcasts I’ve listened to in a while. It’s well researched, lots of interesting developments, and the host has a good voice and sets up each episode nicely with lots of in person interviews and old news clips.
This was a terrible crime involving a very young child and the material is not for the faint of heart, but the host handles the topic sensitively and never lets the listener forget that the victim was a real person (who is an adult with her own family today) and this crime changed her and her family forever.