In this episode of Death, Lies, and Alibis, host Christy digs into the life and unresolved death of 18-year-old David Savage Jr., telling the story of the loud, funny kid from Perry County who survived a near-fatal lightning strike only to be found dead along State Route 93 less than a year later. Through interviews with family, friends and retired law-enforcement officers, the episode pieces together what is known, what remains missing, and why the case still haunts the community nearly 16 years on.

We hear from David’s family and friends about who he was — a hard-working young man who loved the outdoors and was known for making people laugh — and learn about the miraculous 2009 lightning strike that nearly killed him and how he recovered. The episode reconstructs the July 17–18, 2010 timeline: David at a party, an alleged confrontation, his attempts to call for a ride (including a call made on Matt Nelson’s phone to Scott Wolfe and Rachel Anderson), and the crucial “missing hour” between roughly 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. when witnesses and records go silent.

Key names and threads explored include Colton Watts (who reportedly rode to the party with David), persons repeatedly mentioned in community rumors — Mike Thomas, Bo Smith, and Heather Patterson — and claims that parts of the night involved an altercation and an alleged attempt to stage a hit-and-run. The episode also covers corroborated details such as the discovery of David’s body on July 18, 2010, the location and positioning of his body on the white line of the road, witness impressions of severe head injuries, questions about whether David still had his shoes, and references to autopsy findings (discussed respectfully, with further documents available in the show’s Facebook group).

Christy interviews retired officers familiar with the scene, including former Crooksville officer Wybert Weisscarver, and speaks with law-enforcement sources about who actually led the inquiry. The episode documents the investigation’s trajectory: early interviews and tips, the Ohio State Highway Patrol identified as the lead agency, and the troubling discovery that the official case file was later closed and records destroyed under retention rules — information the family reportedly learned only after this reporting began.

Concluding with a call to action, the episode asks listeners and authorities to take another look: Christy requests review by the Ohio State Patrol, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and BCI, and encourages anyone with information to come forward. Listeners are invited to join the podcast’s Facebook group for documents and discussion, and to contact the production at deathliesalibis@gmail.com. The episode centers on memory, unanswered questions, and the family’s search for truth and justice for David Savage Jr.

Most listeners have heard the headlines about Lucasville — the 1993 riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility — but few have ever heard what it sounded like from the inside. In this episode we play a real radio transmission from within the prison and center the episode on George Gates, an inmate negotiator who spoke to the outside world while the riot was still unfolding.

We explore the stakes and strategy behind that voice: why the first question, "Are we live?", matters; how prisoners sought to control the story as much as the prison; and what it meant when rival groups put aside divisions and united. The episode unpacks the collapse of trust in the administration, the demand for an FBI negotiator, and the chilling resolve captured in lines like, "If we die, we die."

Through the transmission and a reenactment based on original transcripts, the episode highlights the pressure on a single man speaking for hundreds, the negotiation tactics under extreme duress, and the human moments that surface even in the midst of violence — a message to family, a plea for outside credibility, and the moral and strategic calculations driving the takeover.

Expect historical context on the Lucasville riot, an eyewitness audio experience, analysis of negotiation and group dynamics inside a maximum-security prison, and a conversation about what that raw, live voice reveals about leadership, desperation, and the pursuit of being heard.

In this episode we dissect the "tunnel tapes"—real-time recordings and notes made during the Lucasville prison riot that captured conversations, accusations, and decisions as they happened. The host explains how law enforcement listened in through phone lines and the prison's narrow utility corridors, and how someone inside transcribed those exchanges line by line.

We explore the dual realities heard on the tapes: negotiations with the state over demands and conditions on one hand, and targeted labeling and killings on the other. The episode highlights how a single word—"snitch"—became a sentence without proof, and how influential voices inside the prison directed others to act.

Key points include how those tunnel recordings were later used in prosecutions that placed five men on death row, and the serious limitations of relying on partial, unattributed audio and transcripts as evidence. The episode raises questions about identity, context, and responsibility when only fragments of conversations are available.

Listeners are directed to the original tunnel tape transcripts, documents, and reports for deeper review, and invited to join the Facebook community "Death, Lies, and Alibis" to examine the files and discuss the case firsthand.