25. Omar’s Side

Previously On Ice Cold Case

What do you have that like? Do you – what physical evidence would you be testing?
Whatever they took at the initial time of the crime.

Do you know what size shoe Omar wears? Because the shoe print on the door is a size 10.

I seen the shoes, but you know what I mean? You just second guessed yourself, you know, you don't really wanna believe it.

In your dad situation, you're talking about two crime scenes because right next door there was allegedly a home invasion by the same people. So you, you have to treat that like a crime scene too, and do the same thing.

So I remember hearing something about, um, some red shoes, strings. I didn't know if you mentioned that on your podcast or anything, but I had, I think it was on the news about some red shoestrings, uh, accent and dirty fingernails.

The question is: will Belmont County actually do their job?

Part 0: Don’t Trust Anyone…

So don't ever, don't ever think I gave up. I I will never give up until I see justice for Uncle jc. You know, y'all, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. And then, uh, uh, I was talking to the psychic lady. She said that, you know, I'll see justice. She said, Omar, your family and you will see justice. You know, um, but you will see it at part of saying, you know, in front of you. So, you know.

I’ve heard a lot of versions of what could have happened on the morning of July 11, 2002. So many stories, conflicting timelines, details that shift depending on who’s telling them. But there is only one version of the truth, and in a case like this, finding it means wading through a lot of noise.

When word of mouth and witness testimony are all you have to work with, there’s an unavoidable amount of bullshit to sift through. Memories fade. Motives get buried. People protect themselves. But this case is darker than that. Because the murder of J.C. McGhee doesn’t just live in police reports and old case files. It sits at the intersection of family secrets and small-town drug dealing, where loyalty is currency and silence is survival.

From the very beginning, there’s been one warning that keeps resurfacing. A sentence that people say casually, like it’s common sense – or a rule you’re supposed to already know: Don’t trust anyone. Not even family.

At first, I resisted that idea. I didn’t want to believe it. I’ve spent years trying to rebuild a sense of family around a truth that was taken from me as a kid. But the longer I’ve explored this case, the deeper I’ve gone, the more questions I’ve asked, the harder it’s become to ignore that gut feeling – someone is lying.

When you’ve spoken to dozens of people and recorded hundreds of hours of conversations, something strange starts to happen. You don’t just question the stories – you start questioning yourself, your instincts, your judgment. You wonder if you’re reading too much into things, or not enough. I’ve spoken to people on the inside of this case and people who were supposedly on the outside – officials, family members, friends, strangers. Some of the statements I’ve heard recently don’t just contradict each other, they feel completely wrong, almost made up.

I’m no longer interested in chasing rumors or half-formed theories. I want verifiable information. Facts that can be tested. Statements that can be confirmed, or crossed off entirely.

There’s that gut feeling again… In a scary movie, this would be the moment where I realize the call was never coming from outside the house. The danger in this case was never some unknown outsider.

It came from someone who already knew the way in.

Part 1: An Unlikely Alliance

For a long time, I believed the biggest obstacle in this case was time. That it had simply slipped too far into the past. Memories fade. Records disappear. People die. That’s the story we tell ourselves when a case goes cold – that it’s tragic, but inevitable, unavoidable. The circumstances led to this, the killer was too smart or even got lucky. But the deeper I’ve gone, the more obvious it’s become that time isn’t the real enemy here. Inaction is the opposition to justice.

There is a fundamental difference between a case going cold because there’s nothing left to test, and a case going cold because no one bothered to test what they already had. One is unavoidable. The other is a choice. And in my dad’s case, there are still questions that can be answered – not by guessing, not by theorizing, but by actually doing the work.

At different points in this investigation, I’ve been guilty of looking for an alliance wherever I could find one. Someone who might finally help move this forward. For a brief moment – and yes, I recognize how ridiculous this sounds – I thought I might have found a unique partnership in Daryl Smith. I know. I know.

It didn’t take long to relearn a hard lesson: too many theories don’t help. Rumors don’t solve murders. Wanting someone to be useful doesn’t make them credible.

But there is someone whose role in this case can’t be brushed aside or minimized, someone whose proximity, knowledge, and memory make them a key component in this case. A person whose name is second only to my dad’s in terms of relevance – my cousin, my dad’s nephew, his next-door neighbor – Omar Foston.

Whether anyone likes it or not, this case exists in its current form because of him. The only reason I even know my dad was murdered is because of a gut feeling I had in May of 2012 – a feeling that surfaced the moment I locked eyes with Omar as he waved goodbye. I couldn’t explain it then, and I still struggle to explain it now, but something shifted in that moment. In a strange and uncomfortable way, everything that followed traces back to that interaction. 

My communication with Omar over the years has been volatile at best – sporadic, tense, and often openly hostile. There were long stretches of silence and points where it felt impossible to get a straight answer, or any answer at all. According to Belmont County, they’ve made several attempts to contact him themselves.

So when a series of messages suddenly started appearing on my phone – long, detailed messages from Omar, ending with him offering to get on a call with me – it caught me off guard. Was this his olive branch? Was it out of guilt? Or was he finally ready to get out what he had been bottling up for 23 years?

I’ve been in and out of contact with Omar for years, which is exactly why I knew how rare this moment was. Opportunities like this don’t linger. His willingness to talk fluctuates daily. If I wanted to hear his version – whatever version he was willing to share – I had to act quickly.

Here’s how the call started:

Hey, what's going on fam? 
Hi, how are you? 
I'm all right. How you doing? 
I'm doing okay. Cool. Yeah, just busy.
Said you was up with the thing, uh, uh, your book, investigation, whatever.

In another grasp for humanity, in another moment of dangerous optimism, I wondered if maybe this was it – maybe this was our chance to work together. Maybe this was finally the conversation that could bring us closer to the truth about who killed J.C. McGhee.

Part 2: Crooked Cops

What Omar says next is not fact. It’s not confirmation. It’s not quite evidence. It is one person’s account – told 23-and-a-half years after the fact – from someone who was deeply embedded in this case, and whose relationship to it has always been complicated.

This is the most coherent Omar has been since I’ve spoken to him, though that isn’t saying much. And in the early moments of the call, unprovoked, he was already overexplaining:

But, um, if you ever need help or anything, I'm here, you know, I'm truthful with my words. I might speak in tongue sometime in different ways, but that's just, you know, that's just me. I feel like when people do stuff and, uh, they act, nonchalant about it, you know, I tend to like shy away from that. You know what I mean?
In his messages he kept mentioning that the cops were involved in my dad’s murder. So I had to ask him about that.
you were saying like the cops are like involved, like what? They were there, like what do you mean?
You know what I was told? There was a, uh, two coughs up on top of the hill, made sure everything, you know, goes the way it pla they planned it. But, uh, there was two cops on the hill. And then, you know, they had their, they informants, I call 'em, uh, basically, uh, their informants and their friends, you know, do that.
But, uh, the before all that had happened with JC was, I guess he, uh, was feuding, was this guy from, uh, West Virginia. He was a cop. He was an undercover cop, I guess. Uh, from over there, we here, you know, from what I, me and my mom was gathering from him, you know, because we, like I said, man, me and your dad was tight, you know what I'm saying?
My mom, and we moved a certain way, you know, to protect Uncle JC. You know, we knew that, you know what I'm saying? We loved him, you know, and far as that informant, uncle JC was never an informant because like I say, he went to school, you know, for that type of work. So, you know, I know a couple cops that were mad, you know, 'cause he is about to take third spot in their limelight, you know what I'm saying?
So, you know, that's where West Virginia cops at. Well now, um, there's two West Virginia cops, um, poor cops and then two sheriffs, you know, I know that for a fact because like I said, I ran up on my shit, you know, uncle Jay.
How do you think those cops were involved based on like your experience that day? 
Uh, just, uh, uh, informant cocaine ring that they get paid off, Belmont County didn't paid off. You know, I'm St. Clairsville all stuff, like I said, they had money before, you know, but after that, you know, it started, their funds started basically slipping and stuff. 
So what does that have to do with my dad?

When Omar agreed to get on the phone with me, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if he would deflect, minimize, exaggerate, or shut down the moment things got uncomfortable. What I did know was that if I was ever going to understand the full picture of what happened that morning, I needed to hear his version directly – uninterrupted, unfiltered, and in his own words. So I asked him what happened that morning and his responses are almost always longwinded, incoherent, and hard to follow.

Omar’s account centers on alleged drug activity in Belmont County, people moving through the area the morning of the murder, and a black Lincoln he says was nearby. He names individuals I’d never heard mentioned before, suggests possible law-enforcement involvement, and describes confrontations and intimidation in the aftermath. Finally, Omar claims that while driving a borrowed vehicle shortly after the murder, he found spent shell casings and ammunition inside – including .45 caliber rounds. He says he collected them and contacted law enforcement, believing he could trust them, but alleges he never heard anything further about what he turned over.

And you gave him the bullet casings? 
Yeah, yeah. Yep. And they were plastic bag. I didn't even touch 'em, you know, at that point. That's evidence. You know what I'm saying? So I put it in the bag, you know, 'cause I rolled up, rolled down my sleeve, put 'em in the bag.

Omar’s side of the story always comes with a fantastical conspiracy theory – a national drug ring, crooked cops, a plot specifically targeted to get him. It’s possible that his paranoia suggests he’s not just crazy, but possibly complicit.

Part 3: Omar’s Story

Omar’s retelling begins with the hours leading up to the shooting. He describes where he was that morning, what he remembers hearing, and the sequence of events as he understood them at the time. He talks about movement – people coming and going – and about a tension in the air that he says didn’t feel unusual then, but feels significant now.

According to Omar, the morning unfolded quickly. There was no real warning. It went from a routine night that only in hindsight had moments of foreshadowing.

After 18 minutes into my conversation with Omar, and feeling more confused than I was at the top of the call. I had to ask him straight up, direct questions about the people who were there –

like, just who, like, who did this? Like who killed my dad? Who was there? 
They're saying, uh, Danny Banks did. I mean it Yeah, but 
they're saying, but like, you were there. Like who was there? 
I told him I was there. Look, I'm telling you, there was Danny Banks, okay. There was to, there was Spoon. Um, Darrell Duncan, um, boy, I know the voices. I've seen their faces. There's a dude from uh, California, they call him Callie.
He's like, he had like a short box haircut. He always wears sunglasses. That's, you know, it's in the wintertime. But other than that, you know, uh, there's a dude named Reggie. He's the one with the cream car that rides with Duncan all. He used to ride with Duncan all the time back in the day. I don't know if he does now.
That shot, that show, water got show Water Boy
and all of these people were there. 
Yep. 
And who pulled the trigger?
I don't know. This is, this is what I'm hearing, you know what I'm saying? And what I feel, you know. 'cause Duncan is, he is a Duncan. Won't pull the trigger on anybody who has somebody else do it that know Daryl. He's that devious and evil to do it. You know, tone from his background. He ain't the, uh, brightest angel on this earth either.
Who is Tone? 
Um, some guy from Columbus. What I'm hearing,
hearing, hearing from who? Just people in the street. But how would the people in, how would people in the street know more than you when you were there? 
What you mean? 
Like people in the street are saying stuff, but you were there so you should know because like they might say anything, but you were like, you were there.
Yeah, I was there. So like, I don't really like, I don't wanna know what you heard. I wanna know what you saw. Like I wanna know what you like. I wanna know what you remember. I don't wanna know what you're hearing from like other people, you know what I mean? Like I wanna know what you know, what you know for sure.
Because I'm telling you I remember. And the stuff I remember. I'm naming you these players. And that's something they would do is what I was telling you.
Voice air, you know, from the walkie talk because they had a two way.
They were saying, they were saying names though. The walkie talkie. I told Belmont County that everything Belmont County got, they got it off of me. They didn't go out there and get that shit. They got it off of me from what I felt and, and heard people saying. 
Okay, so let's just, let's just start from like, okay, so even like the, the night before, like the, it happened in the morning, so like the night before, like just walk me through it and then as the names come up and people come into play, just like say their names so that I can try to picture who was there at what point or what names were said.
At what point, so it's the night before and you and Kim were like out for a little bit and then you got home, right?

Omar claims that the night before my dad was killed, he was out with family members, including Kim, and that they returned home in the early morning hours. On the way back, he says they were followed – first by a man inside a grocery store who appeared to be watching him, and later by a light-blue Cadillac he noticed driving slowly behind them.

According to Omar, after they got home and fell asleep, he was woken up by a disturbance that he initially thought was the dog. When he got up to check, he said he saw armed men had kicked open the front door and were inside the house. He says they threatened him and his mother, demanded money, and accused them of knowing where it was hidden.

Omar alleges the intruders assaulted both him and his mother, repeatedly insisting there was money in the house and referencing other people by name. He says the men appeared to believe they were connected to a larger operation and that they were there to collect something they believed was owed.

He claims the attack lasted for an extended period, involved multiple assailants, and included threats of execution. At one point, he says he was taken outside, blindfolded, and told he would be killed last – leading him to believe others had already been harmed. And as far as the roofie/mickey situation, he says that didn’t happen during the home invasion but that he was roofied after the fact when he was at a bar. 

Omar describes the experience of the home invasion as disorienting and terrifying, saying he believed he and his mother might not survive the night.

So they take me and put me back in the floor and, uh, I'm sitting there, I'm crying, you know, I'm.
Because I think I'm gonna die. Like this is it, this is it for me and my mom. Like this is a horrible way. And you know, um, I start crying and he said, shut that shit up. I think I said, tell him dude, he said, shut that shit up. He said, and another thing you are, wait, you do go in order. He said, here's your papers over here.
So they left. Dean Don, like I said, I seen Duncan, I seen Darrell, um, know that Reggie dude know. But his car was parked in the middle of the driveway, up top by the house, the side of the house right there. It was a cream color and it was long.
Like I said, you take that pillowcase off. But my head asked me question that tone dude, um,
oh, on the side of the, of a pillowcase. And they came in there, all fucker up was on something. 'cause they kept on saying each other's names and laughing about dumb stuff. Talking about dumb stuff.
And when I got up out the ground, 'cause I didn't see Uncle JC get shot, I'm not gonna sit there and let somebody kill my uncle. That's not how shit's done over in this family. We used to out for each other no matter what they cause. But I heard that that first gun shot was on, on jc. I just, you know, I got up.
I didn't know if it was him or, yeah. Shot the guy. I got up so I can see something like, you know what I mean? I ain't going to lay on the ground and my mom's there, you know, all West Street get, get killed. 
So you were inside your house with your mom and Kim when that gunshot went off? 
Yep. And my mom was out of it still.
And then that's when you ran outside 
Untied? Yep, yep. Untied went on the side of the deck because we had a deck at the time. We had a deck door and brought the house run up and then I went on, I went on the side and, and the hill, you know what I'm saying? I slid down that hill got up 'cause I had fell because I was running so fast, you know, I had a rock in my matter of fact, I still got the scar and that's when they started shooting at me.
And the bullet, matter of fact, it ed the top of my skin. And I just kept on going, kept on running. And when I looked back I seen the PT Cruiser take off. The fucking Lincoln was in the yard by the trailer with, with Mr. Darrell Smith's foot on it, on the door of the trailer. 'cause I came down here when they finished up the rest of the investigation.
'cause they didn't take good time. Down here is three hours here, three hours, two hours over there, you know.
And I called, I said, I seen Florida license plates. And I say they were from Florida. I said, I seen Florida license plates on that, uh, Lincoln or whatever. Darryl was a, you know, a high, either a high West Virginia, you know. Um, and I told them what happened and it took, it took an hour to get down. Took him a straight hour to get done.
And as I'm going, as I'm going the house, the, uh, one car name being mentioned, he's on top of the hill. Check it. He comes down, oh, oh, oh, oh, Omar, oh man, you look like you been fucked up. What's going on? And I told him, he's like, uh, he was just sit and one of the workers, um, by my buddy's, uh, cousin that was working down here at the time, he, uh, was like, oh man, Omar, you all right da?
I was like, yeah, I'm alright. And uh, and I told him about that, uh, uncle JC had killed. I was like, oh man, thing man, this, uh, gimme yo, whatever. I was like, okay. But, um, that's about it. And the 9 1 1 call. That's what I told them.
Like I said, Belmont County got everything I told them. And if they would've went out there and got information like they supposed to do it. 'cause you ain't supposed to let your CI die like that. Um, they got all the information they needed, had to put force a good cop back cop, whatever they had to do to uh, follow with they ceases murderer or should have did, but they found to do that.

So instead of asking whether Omar is telling the truth, the better question is: what parts of this story can actually be checked?

There are names he mentioned that can be cross-referenced. Vehicles he described that can be compared to witness statements and reports. Timelines that either align, or don’t. Law enforcement interactions that should exist on paper if they really happened. And physical evidence he claims to have turned over that, if documented properly, would have left a trail.

Part 4: Did You Kill My Dad?

One thing I understand with absolute clarity is this: the relationship between law enforcement in Belmont County and my family has been broken for generations. Long before my dad was killed, there was already history here – the kind that doesn’t disappear just because time passes or people change uniforms. It is embedded into the culture of this county. That doesn’t exactly encourage Omar to reach out to them with a peace treaty and his hesitation is justified. However, it could have even darker implications beyond just not wanting to mess with dirty cops. It could stem from an even greater fear.

And sometimes I, you know, I get scared to talk to you about the situation. '
know, so you're afraid of Belmont County Sheriff's Department like coming after you if you talk to me?
Yeah. Harassment and all that. They will do that shit. I've been through it, you know what I mean? There's a couple times, you know, we was very super rich for, uh, me, Reggie, you know this 'cause man, 'cause all in all honesty, it all starts from, um, it all starts from Uncle Charles, you know.

Omar tells me he’s afraid that if he talks – like really lays it all out – Belmont County will come after him. In his mind, harassment is inevitable and he says he’s lived through it before. And when he starts explaining why he feels that way, the story stretches back decades – to our other family members, old grudges and feuds, and violent encounters with law enforcement that left permanent scars on this family.

According to Omar, these weren’t isolated incidents. They were patterns and warnings. 

What do you mean having bad blood?
Um, because Uncle Charles, nobody told you this, but Uncle Charles, he was dating this white girl. Okay. I guess she had some type of a pull towards the department and like her dad was a sheriff or her cousin, whatever, but, uh, to go down and get g groceries, you know, and she's like, yeah, that's why. Da, da da.
Well, I guess she got mad 'cause she had called hang. I was talking to this girl while he was on the phone and stuff, something stupid. But she called her dad and said, let her cousin said he stole her car. So mjs uncle um, Charles is coming out the store, gets in the car after grocery street shopping, boom.
After down my county, get outta the car with guns drawn outta the car, get out the, get out the fucking car. He's like, what do you mean? What do you mean da da Even to reach for as, as a license. And boom, they shot him in the gut.
So he ends up su and there was a matter of fact, there was a Wendy's right there at one point in time, down in apartment, down in that plaza in Bridgeport on National Road. But um, this has been hell. And then the uncle, uh, buck had said something about they can't get the older McGees to, we get the younger ones.
So yeah, I've been too scared to like talk to you and stuff like that.

It makes sense – to be afraid of the police, especially given his personal history with these Sheriff’s Deputies and several classes of Sheriff’s Deputies that came before them. But the lines are clearly drawn in the sand, and someone is lying. On one side we have the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department saying they went over to talk to Omar, left a card, and haven’t heard anything. And on the other side, Omar says he hasn’t heard from them at all.

Have they like come by to like, ask you about this recently or anything? No, that, that it on that story is bullshit. They did not come, not even blow towards my way.

So now we’re stuck between two competing realities. Those two versions can’t co-exist. And that brings me to the question I’ve been circling for a long time, ever since I was 16-years-old and locked eyes with Omar on the steps of my Grandma Daisy’s house. If Omar truly has nothing to do with my dad’s murder…If he’s been telling the truth this whole time… If he’s already shared everything he knows…

Then why not put it all on the table? Why not walk investigators through it again? Why not lock the story in? Why not remove yourself from suspicion once and for all?

But I guess it's like if you have all the info, would you be scared? Because if you're telling them who it was and they can get those people, isn't that a good thing? 
Yeah, but I'm telling them for 26 years fam,
you know, I'm, and like I said, I'm the key witness. Me and my mom and I told 'em everything. They said, oh, well, we're 30 testing me outta the four kids. You thought to mention the dog, uh, barked and, and you said the dog didn't bark. What?
This is what they said When me and my mom asked.
Why would any of that matter?

Omar says he has told them everything, that he and his mom were the key witnesses, and that investigators focused on details that felt irrelevant – whether a dog did or didn’t bark – instead of the violence he says unfolded inside that house. 

To him, it felt like deflection, like they were looking for reasons not to listen. Omar’s skepticism of the cops and what my dad was or wasn’t involved in rivals the most charged conspiracy theorist. 

And then there’s a claim out of left field. Omar is adamant that my dad was not a confidential informant. He draws a hard line between what he describes as “helping” law enforcement in limited ways and formally working as an informant, insisting my dad never crossed that line. That directly contradicts the incident report, what multiple people at the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department have told me, what other people have told me about my dad, and it contradicts what this entire investigation has been built around.

So now the question isn’t just what happened –  it’s who benefits from each version of the story being true. Because when fear, loyalty, and power all collide, silence can protect people for decades.

Part 5: … Not Even Family

I knew from the moment I started this, it was going to ruffle some feathers. There would be an inevitable fall out from my decision to drag family skeletons out of the closet. I committed to my goal of solving my dad’s murder no matter who it implicated in the process and I never looked back. Some people judge that decision, and most of those people have never been at the cross roads that I have stared at. It was not something I did flippantly. And one of the biggest critics of my decision to call out family members… was Omar. So it came as a surprise to me to hear what he had to say next.

You gotta investigate everybody in the family. 'cause anybody could be a suspect. Yeah. But so come talk to the witness, man. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. My mom, you know, we can help you.
You know what I'm saying? Man Said, we ain't trying to harm you, man. You know what I'm saying? That's not in us. That's not our time. That's not what we here for. Know my cousin. I love you. You know what I mean? I understand. You gotta do with certain stuff, you know you gotta do. You know, I understand that.

It’s a stark contrast to the energy I’ve previously gotten from Omar. His threats and anger now seem empathetic and level. What he’s saying here is important. Omar isn’t arguing against scrutiny – now, he’s asking for it.

That moment sits in a strange place. It’s part reassurance, part plea — an attempt to draw a boundary between investigation and accusation. Between accountability and blame. And I understand why he feels the need to say it.

Because once you accept that anyone could be a suspect, there’s no safe category left – not friends, not neighbors, not even family. 

But now the conversation shifts from theories to pressure. There’s no shortcut here. The only entity with the authority to do anything at all is the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department – and without proof, there is no case.

What do you, what do you think we should do? 
I mean, it's just really unfortunate, but the only people that can do anything are the Belmont County Sheriff's Department. So we just need to like really lay it out for them and say, this is who did it, but we need proof of that.
So like the only other option is if one of these guys is willing to say, I was there, I didn't do it, but I was there and I know who was there and I know who did it. Okay.
That's, yeah, I'm on the same page with you with that. You know what I mean? 
Yeah. I mean, who would be willing to do that? Like who was there that didn't pull the trigger that might be willing to admit that they were there?

This is the line many cold cases eventually run into. Someone who didn’t pull the trigger, but knows who did. Someone willing to trade silence for truth. Omar doesn’t hesitate.

I think, listen, listen. I think you put the pressure on Dunking. He's gonna crack, he's gonna crack, he's gonna tell, he's gotta put, we just gotta put pressure on him.
You know, that's the weakest link right there. I'm telling you. He is the weakest link.

It’s not exactly subtle. Omar plainly names Duncan as someone involved and frames him as the weakest link – the person most likely to break. Pressure without evidence doesn’t produce justice – it produces noise. But I’m noting the names, not ignoring them.

Then I have to ask the question that has gotten me in a lot of trouble the last few years – a question that comes with a dark connotation.

I mean, as far as family members go, like. Would any of them have been involved in this?
Have any family members? 
Yeah. Um, 
I'm hit you with like, I'm gonna hit you like this. Darrel, he related somehow. Uh, Duncan, Duncan was always with, um, Queenie Waits, which I claim is my aunt care, you know, as boys come over and, uh, you know, play mean. And then as they grew up, they come over to harass me and all that other stuff, you know, as a boy, um, mentality, you know, uh, that's how they know, you know?

This is where things get murky – and dangerous. Because proximity can raise questions, but it can’t answer them. Being around isn’t the same as being involved. Knowing someone isn’t the same as helping them. And suspicion, without evidence, cuts in every direction… especially when it stays inside the family.

This is the moment where investigation either becomes disciplined  or destructive. 

Saying “anyone could be a suspect” only works if it’s followed by actual investigation. Otherwise, it’s just another way to spread blame without resolution. In this case, blame has already traveled far enough.

Part 6: Trust Your Gut

Taken together, Omar’s version paints a picture that is both familiar and unsettling. Familiar because it overlaps with things I’ve heard before. Unsettling because of where it diverges and what it implies.

But here’s the thing: none of this can exist in a vacuum. Omar’s account doesn’t stand on its own. It has to be weighed against timelines, reports, physical evidence, and the statements of others. It has to be tested – the same way every claim in a murder investigation should be.

My feelings and my logic start to warp. I want to trust Omar. At the end of the day, my dad is still dead and Omar is still my cousin.

And I'll keep my, like I said, I'll keep on it 'cause I know ain't know, ain't nobody else gonna help me, man, or help this family. I already know that, you know, black and black crime. They hate niggas here. I mean, it's hard to say the call, hard to call it like that, but that's what they look at it like. So, you know, I've been through the system, you know, I've seen as a little kid growing up, you know, a lot of these small towns are like that.
There's, you know, sometimes you gotta go over their heads, you know what I mean? So
sometimes you gotta get self justice. 
yeah. Well, I'm trying over here. I know, I know. 
But you look at me like a monster. 
I don't look at you like a monster. 
I'm just playing with you. 
I, I, I really don't. I mean, I really don't. I know that it's been complicated. Like, mm-hmm.
Now, they was thinking, I had my one buddy. He said, oh, are you hiding bodies in the wall? I said, I'm sure. I'm surely not. 
Yeah.
Far as like, I'm, I'm just here to help you. You know what I'm saying? And you get justice, you know, because you ain't seen your dad in how long. You know what I'm saying?

I got the conversation I had been desperately wanting, so what happens now? Omar is saying all of this to me, not directly to the investigators. Podcasts are admissible in court, but it comes with a unique set of hoops to jump through and perception, especially when it comes to Omar, is not on my side.

I mean it. Would you ever, like if I came into town or something, like, would you ever go walk into the Belmont County Sheriff's Office and like sit down with them and tell them everything or no? 
Yeah. Yeah, I will. 
Because like maybe that's something we can do and like, I'll go with you so that they can't like pull anything and we can like sit down with them and just like let them ask you questions and you answer them and tell them whatever it is that you know.
And then that way it's like on the record, you know, like I can have it and I can put it in a podcast. But if you're sitting in front of them telling them this in the office, that has to go on record, you know? 
Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. I'm, I'm whatever you want to do, how you want to do it, you know what I'm saying?
Because like, I'm up to your solution, you know what I mean?

I can only hope that this isn’t the last time I talk to him.

And yeah, I mean, let's, uh, we will be in touch. Okay. And yeah, if you hear of anything or think of anything or you remember something like, please let me know. 
Uh, well, I got your gun. You know what I'm saying? I'm on your side. That's what you were, I'm on your side. 
Yeah.
Whew. Okay. Well, I'm gonna need to process this for a little bit. Um, I, I understand. I understand. Um, but thank you and I hope you have a good weekend. I guess it's Friday. Um, and yeah, I'll, um, talk to you soon. 
Okay, fam. I love you 
and be safe. Yeah, you too.
All. Holy fuck.

I am trying my hardest to feel optimistic. Omar has given me a lot to process and consider moving forward, but something is off about this whole thing. And then, my phone started ringing…

Next Time on Ice Cold Case

Hello. Hi. Sorry about that. You're fine, honey. How are you? 
I'm good now that, um, like he's not allowed to have no contact whatsoever or because he fed me death threats.

Credits:

Thanks for listening to Ice Cold Case a Yes! Podcast
Recorded in Los Angeles at Spotify Studios
This episode was written, hosted, produced, and edited by Madison McGhee
Produced, copy edited, and additional research by Opheli Garcia Lawler
Sound engineering and sound design by Sian McMullen
Graphic design by AJ Christianson

All outside sources are linked in the show notes.

A video version of this episode is available on our YouTube Channel and a transcript is available at ice cold case dot com
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