Craig Melvin

Well, you know, my primary obligation remains to Dateline. This Dateline thing, this is correct.

Well, you know, my primary obligation remains to Dateline. This Dateline thing, this is correct.

Well, it was all-consuming, man. It was all-consuming in Columbia, South Carolina, where I'm from. WIS Television was the big station there, still is. And it was one of those stories for two weeks. Multiple stories, every newscast. And this little town, Union, South Carolina, where it happened, it was about an hour from where I grew up. Things like this didn't happen at Union. I mean, Union was...

Well, it was all-consuming, man. It was all-consuming in Columbia, South Carolina, where I'm from. WIS Television was the big station there, still is. And it was one of those stories for two weeks. Multiple stories, every newscast. And this little town, Union, South Carolina, where it happened, it was about an hour from where I grew up. Things like this didn't happen at Union. I mean, Union was...

It was like Mayberry, you know, everyone knew everybody, you know, half the towns related to the other half. I mean, that's just kinda, there's just small town, South Carolina. You know, I grew up a good Baptist boy. Even I remember on church on Sunday, you know, we were praying for these boys. We were praying for their safe return. Like it was just that there were ribbons that had gone up.

It was like Mayberry, you know, everyone knew everybody, you know, half the towns related to the other half. I mean, that's just kinda, there's just small town, South Carolina. You know, I grew up a good Baptist boy. Even I remember on church on Sunday, you know, we were praying for these boys. We were praying for their safe return. Like it was just that there were ribbons that had gone up.

I can't remember the color, but I remember they had these ribbons all over cities and towns just remembering Michael and Alex. So yeah, it was top of mind for a long time.

I can't remember the color, but I remember they had these ribbons all over cities and towns just remembering Michael and Alex. So yeah, it was top of mind for a long time.

None of that happened. You got the benefit of the doubt back then, certainly more often than not. You had this young white woman, and I hate even saying this now 30 years later, she didn't look like someone who might kill their children. She just didn't look the part. And so from jump, she immediately starts to garner respect.

None of that happened. You got the benefit of the doubt back then, certainly more often than not. You had this young white woman, and I hate even saying this now 30 years later, she didn't look like someone who might kill their children. She just didn't look the part. And so from jump, she immediately starts to garner respect.

Justifiable sympathy, you know, and so it triggers this this manhunt and you've got.

Justifiable sympathy, you know, and so it triggers this this manhunt and you've got.

And that obviously helped tremendously. And then when they put out the pictures first and then the video of these little boys, it was really sort of the perfect storm. She would see the searches. She would see the helicopters in the air, the bloodhounds on the ground, all of these investigators, these volunteers. And she still kept it up. And it wasn't just the telling of the lie.

And that obviously helped tremendously. And then when they put out the pictures first and then the video of these little boys, it was really sort of the perfect storm. She would see the searches. She would see the helicopters in the air, the bloodhounds on the ground, all of these investigators, these volunteers. And she still kept it up. And it wasn't just the telling of the lie.

The telling of the lie, the initial lie, and then there were other lies, obviously, because when you lie once, you got to keep lying to cover up the lie. She did it for nine days. A good friend of mine is from Union, and we've talked about it many times since then. People didn't carjack in Union back in the 90s.

The telling of the lie, the initial lie, and then there were other lies, obviously, because when you lie once, you got to keep lying to cover up the lie. She did it for nine days. A good friend of mine is from Union, and we've talked about it many times since then. People didn't carjack in Union back in the 90s.

First of all, there were only two intersections, and you only had like, you know, 30 cars at So much of it didn't make sense. And granted, we're looking at it now through the lens of today. And we talked to two of the journalists who covered the story closely at the time. And they both brought it up separately. I asked them about regrets.

First of all, there were only two intersections, and you only had like, you know, 30 cars at So much of it didn't make sense. And granted, we're looking at it now through the lens of today. And we talked to two of the journalists who covered the story closely at the time. And they both brought it up separately. I asked them about regrets.

And they did say, looking back on it, they wish now that there had been more journalists asking tougher questions about... the story itself and not immediately giving, giving her a pass.

And they did say, looking back on it, they wish now that there had been more journalists asking tougher questions about... the story itself and not immediately giving, giving her a pass.