Madison McGhee
Appearances
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
That's when I really decided now I need to start talking to people. Well, what do I do with that? Do I try to record it with my phone? Do I see if they'll let me interview them with my camera? How do you make a documentary with no budget? Podcasting is a natural next step because it's a little lighter of a lift now.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
What Came Next is intended for mature audiences only. Episodes discuss topics that can be triggering, such as emotional, physical, and sexual violence, animal abuse, suicide, and murder. I am not a therapist, nor am I a doctor. If you're in need of support, please visit somethingwaswrong.com forward slash resources for a list of non-profit organizations that can help.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
As far as crew requirements and gear requirements, in my case, it's very hard to get people to agree to go on camera. It's an open case. For all that we know, there's a murderer on the loose still. Maybe they've been arrested for something else or they're in prison for something else, but you don't know that.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
So it's very tricky to get people to agree to sit down for an on-camera interview when they don't know where the killer is. I faced a lot of complications with that. So podcasts just became the natural progression. I started reaching out to the police department, the prosecutor's office who sent me the files and some family members and asked if they would be willing to talk to me
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I couldn't just bank on traveling to the other side of the country and hoping that they would say yes. I had to really line up these interviews because I don't have a lot of time. It's very expensive to go and I didn't want to have to go back and forth. I reached out to some people ahead of time. I got a couple people to agree to meet with me.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
In June of 2021, I went out and I started doing my first round of in-person interviews and collecting audio. Still really unsure about what it was going to be. Every time I go back to the area, there's a couple that I meet up with. They were working at the Narcotics Anonymous program with my dad. That's how they knew my dad.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
They were one of the first people I got connected with when I started doing this. They did not ever want to be interviewed for the show, which I've been really respectful of. There's other people who knew my dad on the drug dealing side, which is a completely different side of him. My mom has her slew of stories of my dad that are also sort of very different from other people's perspective.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
When your parents are alive and you have more of a traditional relationship with them, you probably will never hear about your dad's most wild night in college. Now, because of what I'm doing, I'm hearing about that sort of side of my dad. And so I'm almost getting to know him in a way that I may never have if he was alive, because I don't think he would want me to know any of this stuff.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
It is really interesting to hear about my dad through the lens of not being a dad and being a person and doing what it takes to survive in the time that he was alive in and also the climate and the location as well. I also feel like once I got started, I was really getting to know my dad and someone who I would never have the opportunity to really have in my life.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I get to honor the memory of him that I have, but also the person that now I'm getting to know. I'm in this weird boat of I'm almost making a podcast about a stranger because I didn't really know him that well. But at the same time, it is my dad. So I am making it about one of the closest connections I will have to anyone because I'm half him.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I've gotten to know this person that now I feel this really strong connection to. And I see a lot of myself in him. He struggled with a lot of the same things I struggled with. We had similar interests. Sounds like we had similar mannerisms. That's who I'm doing all of this for. But it's weird because I don't actually know that person. I hadn't seen my sister in person since my dad's funeral.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
So we went 20 years without seeing each other. We met up when I interviewed her for the show. That definitely brought us closer together. And we talk on a semi-frequent basis. She'll listen to episodes and reach out if she remembers something from the time or this sparked this or have you thought about this?
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
So that's been really great to have that connection reignited because of not necessarily the podcast, but just the investigation and me diving into this. I do believe wholeheartedly that she wants answers just as badly as I do. We just are dealing with it, obviously, in very different ways. I did line up these interviews and then started to put it all together. It took years.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
It took a really long time. I think I could have probably logistically done this in six months, but it took me almost four years to really put it all together because I'd go through phases where there'd be months where I'm like, I just can't look at it. I don't want to look at it. I don't want to deal with it.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
And then there'd be months where I'd get really hyper fixated on it and I'd work really hard on things. I think that the emotional weight of it also was a lot at certain points in my life. Ice Cold Case, you can listen to that anywhere you get your podcasts. We call it part one, episodes one through nine. And the second installment is what's coming out now, which will be episodes 10 through 18.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
Thank you so much for listening. Madison McGee is a producer, documentarian, podcaster, and co-victim of murder from West Virginia. After learning about her father's unsolved murder in her teen years, Madison devoted herself and her future career to bringing awareness about her father's long-since cold case.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
If you go and listen through the whole thing, episode 11 and 12. are really crazy. 11 and 12 are where I sit down face to face with the police's main suspect in the murder. That was a crazy experience from start to finish. He reached out to me after listening to the podcast. I had no idea that he was aware of it or listening to it or that he knew how to get ahold of me.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
We met up, I flew out to meet with him. I went by myself. That conversation completely changed my life probably, but definitely this investigation and this case. He was calm and kind. That conversation, we had to break it up into two episodes. I remember when we were going through, what are we going to do with this? What does this even mean? How do we chop this up? And how do we cut out this?
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
We need to put this in. And that's how we decided to just do two separate episodes. Those were really difficult. Just the actual start to finish of meeting with him, talking to him, and then also cutting up that episode and writing it, recording it.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
Calling him to let him know that it's coming out and being as transparent as possible with him about what was going to go into it because he did take the time to sit with me and talk with me. When I first started hearing his name five years ago, I never imagined that I would be sitting face to face with this person. To this day, the police still tell me that that's their number one suspect.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
But that seems so strange to just let this person run around in your town and in your county if you think they murdered someone. A lot of episodes have been difficult to write. There's versions 9, 10, 11 of the script, or one in particular is episode 10. two, we had to rerecord the weekend before it was supposed to come out because I got it back to note it.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
And I remember listening going, this is so not right. And so going back through the and redoing that. I actually think we did that with episode two and three for different reasons. Two is about my backstory, my life situation with my mom that sort of started this theme in my life of you live a very different life than other kids. Your life is not normal. Your family dynamic is not normal.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
It's when I first had an experience with my mom regarding her addiction. It's a very personal episode. Things that people who have known me my whole life did not know. Writing that with respect to my mom, but also being honest was very difficult to do. There's different versions of that episode on a Google Drive somewhere where I'm a little harsher on my mom.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
There's ones where I'm not as honest as I should have been. And then we finally got to that middle ground where it was equal parts honest and empathetic, but also real and raw. That one was really difficult. I would say my relationship with my mom hasn't changed at all. I don't know how many episodes she's listened to. I know she's heard the one about her.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
When starting this, the whole point of it was no one is talking about my dad. We're happy to talk about other mainstream cases of quote-unquote perfect victims, but my dad never made any list of top cases you should know about. That was sort of the goal. So the healing part of that is that it's slowly but surely getting to that point where now people are talking about it.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
And that is really exciting for me because the thing I set out to do, I'm starting to see the results of. I remember Googling the case just to see, was there anything online I could look at or look up? And there was absolutely nothing.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
And so it's actually been an interesting exercise for me now to Google the show, myself, my dad, and to see all of the articles that come up when before there was nothing, I think really speaks to the power of media as well, but also what has really been accomplished since launching the show almost immediately. exactly a year ago. I think that for me has been really healing.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
And that's been incredible. Knowing that's what's eventually going to be the catalyst for solving the case, I think is very exciting. I think that's why I haven't had as long of breaks as I used to when I wasn't putting out the show. Now there is this motivator of people care and people are invested and people are sending in tips.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
So you've got to keep making episodes that you keep getting more information. That's been really wonderful. A traumatic side of that is you've now opened yourself up to the opinions of other people. And I've invited the world to listen into my deepest trauma and the things that make me who I am.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
opening yourself up can be very triggering and traumatizing. I just find myself retreating in social settings because I don't want every conversation to be about my podcast or about my dad when I'm out with my friends. And it just sort of always comes back to that. And as big of a thing as that is in my life, I am a nuanced person.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
And I try really hard to caveat that with showcasing my personality through my marketing tactics. I try to get funny with it because that's who I am as a person while keeping the tone of the show a little more serious. But yeah, it's been hard to differentiate myself as a person and a personality from this thing that happened to me that I'm trying to uncover.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
But again, that's the result of the popularity of the show, which is going to eventually solve the case. On my dad's side, however, I didn't know a lot of my family members. I knew some of them in passing, obviously interviewed a couple of them. I've met one cousin through this that I'm actually quite close with now. She's lovely and she's very, very supportive of this.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
We have a lot in common, actually. The rest of my family has been quite critical of the show. I have a couple cousins in particular that are very vocal about their distaste for what I am doing and others that I can just tell aren't really that interested or not super happy about it. But there are a couple that are very loud about their distaste. It's been weirdly motivating.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I've been able to use that comedic side that I have to translate some of the messages I get from my family. There is one in particular message I got from a cousin that told me that my dad deserved to die because he was a snitch ass daddy. That's my favorite thing I've ever heard in my life. As soon as I read it, I was like, oh, my God, I just love that.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I don't know where it will go, but I love it. So now I have Snitch Ass Daddy on a hoodie. I wrote a parody song called Snitch Ass Daddy, and it comes out in June. People try to put you in this boat of grieving daughter. And I think nobody knows what that even really means or what that looks like. So I remember being a little worried about, oh, is this song going to rub people the wrong way?
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
A, I don't really care. B, I don't think anyone can put anyone in the box of grief looks like this. I lean on humor as a coping mechanism. I think it's very... easy to say, well, be funny behind closed doors and don't let the world see that you're laughing because then how will people relate to you as this grieving daughter? And it's like, well, sometimes I laugh.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
In her hit podcast, Ice Cold Case, she highlights her own investigation into her father's 22-year-old murder and all that continues to come next in her journey. The Broken Cycle Media team is honored to have this discussion with Madison about the power of her work and how she's harnessed the media to obtain what justice may still be available for her and her father.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
For me, the means is definitely going to justify the ends. Absolutely.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
What is one thing you wish consumers would keep in mind while consuming our stories or something you could shift in the consumer perspective? Yeah.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
That's a great question, because I've been on both sides of this. I grew up consuming true crime content. I loved watching America's Most Wanted, Cold Case Files, when cable was really hot, and then becoming the subject of something. It's very easy to comment on and give input on people's lives. There can be a lot of commenting.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
You should do this or have you thought about doing this or I don't like how you do this. And I think really looking at this as these are human beings who are trying to share a story for the purpose of solving a case, preventing it from happening to someone else.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
else helping people navigate through whatever it is note the difference between this sort of consumerism that we live in today to not doing that in any sense but especially in a true crime forum because it's so inappropriate when people hear about a story and they care enough and it's humanized in a way then they're all in it doesn't matter what the story is it could be anything
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I think that's the power and the fear that social media, traditional media really bring to the table is that in the same way it can be very powerful, it can also turn our attention to the wrong things or make us believe the wrong things, but it can also really provide a tool for people like us as well. My show really exists to humanize my dad's story.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
And I think if we look at true crime stories and podcasts, shows, docs, whatever it is, and we look at these people as real human beings, I think that's the important way to see all of these stories. I think we're all learning still, but I think that's the biggest takeaway. We're not reality TV subjects. We are people who are grieving a great loss.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I want justice in the sense that I'd really just love to know what happened. I don't really know what justice means anymore. I just maybe selfishly want to know for my own life and want to know that I did this. I know what happened and now I can mentally move on.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I've had a really difficult time processing the fact that whether or not my dad's case can ever be solved in a court of law is dependent on the people who initially investigated the crime scene the morning of. That's the biggest thing that I've noticed in my case and that could potentially prohibit it from being solved in court.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
This lack of evidence, this lack of investigation, not interviewing people at the time. Now it's been so long, a lot of people that I would have loved to talk to that the police never did aren't alive anymore. The biggest struggle I'm facing is that there isn't a set of protocol that must be followed to investigate a crime scene.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
And what I mean by that is if there's a suspected homicide, I think no matter what, you should swipe for fingerprints. You should have to tape off the scene for a certain amount of time at minimum.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
It can obviously be taped off for longer than that, but I think there should be a minimum time that you have to tape off a scene so that people can't walk around, go in and out, contaminate any evidence. There should be a minimum amount of time that you have to keep evidence for, which I think should be longer than a life. I think it should be like 50 to 100 years.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
There should be all of these things in place. And I think that if you don't do those things and a case cannot be solved because of those things, there should be accountability for that. Let's say I see someone at the grocery store shoot someone, they die, and I never say anything. I would be considered an accomplice in murder because I allowed them to get away with it.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
If you as a police officer don't collect the proper evidence that allows someone to get away with murder, by definition, are you not an accomplice? And where's the accountability for that? And why are we not making people do the right thing at every crime scene, regardless of the context, regardless of the color of skin of the victim, and making them do the exact same thing every time?
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
My name is Madison McGee. I am a television and film producer based out of LA, originally from West Virginia. I host and created a podcast called Ice Cold Case, which is my journey as I investigate my dad's nearly 22-year cold case. He was murdered in Ohio in 2002. I've been investigating it for a few years and take you on this very interesting journey of mine.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
This was 2002. So the argument is DNA wasn't really a thing then. That's not true. It was introduced as evidence in 1986. That's plenty of time to catch up to speed. And there were cases not that far away that were swiping for fingerprints long before then. I just think that there's a certain set of protocols you have to do.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
Now, if you can't solve a case after doing those things, that's a completely different story. But if you haven't given a case the proper chance to survive in court, then are you not somewhat responsible for that? I can't even really knock them for not following a protocol because there isn't one. I just wish that there was.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
When we know better, we can do better. What do you feel has carried you through the heaviest portions of all of this process?
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
My initial gut reaction when you are like, what's getting you through? I'm like, Vanderpump Rules. I love all of those shows. They're my little escape. I am obsessed with TV, which is funny because I work in it and people usually don't like to go home and do the thing that they do at work. Not everyone can process their trauma through their work. So I guess in a way I'm fortunate.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
Although some days I would argue that it's the worst thing I ever did. But my TV is on 95% of the time. I write my episodes with Real Housewives playing in the background. It weirdly keeps me going. It used to be I was a very social person and now I'm not at all. I just love sitting at home. I have a cat. She's amazing.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I think finding that thing that becomes your escape, at least for me, was that this was a side project. This in the beginning was sort of my escape from everything. And I would work on it every now and then. Eventually, it became very all consuming. And that transition happens very fast.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
So if anyone is diving into, even if it's not for a podcast, you're just looking into a cold case, whether it's someone you know or someone you don't, it can become very all-consuming seemingly overnight. And that transition from it becoming this side thing to it becoming everything you think about all the time is so quick. It's very whiplashy.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I think always having something exciting for you to do, zero pressure involved, gets a good release. Maybe seeking professional help would also benefit me down the line. But I think that's been something that's just really nice to have in your Rolodex of like, I do this thing that's just for fun. There's no pressure involved.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
It's just an escape from the reality of the darkness that now is becoming all consuming, I think can be really healing. It's really important to have that refuel time. Ice Cold Case, you can listen to that anywhere you get your podcasts on YouTube as well. Then Ice Cold Case on Instagram and TikTok. And then I'm Madison underscore McGee on everything that exists.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I would love to hear from people about the show if they have a theory or if I haven't explored something. If you have any tips specifically, love that.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I can't wait to see what comes next for you in every realm in terms of justice, in terms of your profession and the impact you make on all of it.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
Thank you. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm nervous. It's a lot. This whole experience has been so strange and there's lots of question marks. It's very scary. There's some other conversations happening about lots of different things. So I'm very excited about what mark I'm going to leave on true crime specifically, but also in entertainment as a broader entity.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
You are amazing. I really do appreciate everything you're doing. Thank you for your time and your energy.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
Thank you so much. This was so special.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
As the U.S. Department of Justice states, experts estimate that there are currently 250,000 unsolved murders in America, which is a number that increases by about 6,000 victims each year. Each state and county approach cold cases differently, although departments specializing in cold case investigations often exist so as to raise the county and state's murder case clearance rate.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
The notion of clearance rate is applied to murder cases in which one or more suspects are arrested and charged for the crime. According to the Marshall Project, which is a non-profit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system, the number of solved and closed murder cases in 2020 was the highest since 1997.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
But the rate at which murder cases were closed, or the clearance rate, actually dropped significantly as a result of the number of homicides spiking at a much greater rate than cases are cleared. As of 2020, this brings the clearance rate of murder cases to a little below 50%.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
According to the Marshall Project, this is a far cry from the case clearance rates American police forces boasted in the 1980s, which reached around 70%. This episode is dedicated in loving memory of John Cornelius McGee. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. Next week on What Came Next.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I think when you're a kid, you don't realize that traumatic things are traumatic. If you're born into it, it becomes a norm. When you're a kid, that's just normal to you. You don't realize until later and you compare experiences with people. And I think that's sort of what happened to me when I was a kid. I grew up in a very rural town in West Virginia. It's very conservative.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
What Came Next is a Broken Cycle Media production co-produced by Amy B. Chesler and Tiffany Reese. If you'd like to help support What Came Next, you can leave us a positive review, support our sponsors, or follow Broken Cycle Media on Instagram at Broken Cycle Media. Check out the episode notes for sources, resources, and to follow our guests. Thank you again for listening.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
And so the idea of a non-traditional family was also very weird. My parents were never married, but I knew both of them and I spent time with both of them. I grew up with my grandmother as my primary caretaker.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
So I think with all of that becoming more normalized, a lot of the trauma that I experienced because I was quote unquote different won't even exist in 10, 20 years for people, which is amazing. I think that I was so naive watching other people whisper about my mom and I having different last names. I didn't even really register until I was older. And then I was like, that's why I felt so othered.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I already had this understanding of the otherness that my dad definitely experienced and I experienced to a degree that my dad was black in this very small, very, very white community. I think that created an interesting experience for me. And I think that it all forms your personality. When I was six, my dad passed away. I was told that he had a heart attack and that's how he died.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
So there was this level of trauma. Growing up, I don't really know if I realized certain things I was doing was related to trauma. I just thought it was normal. Now, depression and anxiety is talked about a lot more. Kids in high school are more familiar with those terms. We didn't really know what any of that was when I was growing up. I act like that was 100 years ago.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
It was like literally 10 years ago. It is really weird that we weren't talking about those things at the time. But I didn't realize me withdrawing or me feeling this level of social anxiety as a 12, 13 year old was related to all these things that were happening to me. When I was 16, I found out that my dad was murdered instead of dying of a heart attack.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
That was this very strange moment for me because I realized that I had this very weird intuition that I think a lot of people have, but not all people are paying attention to. I was 16, so it is a bit scary to realize your gut can sort of tell you things. My mom and I were visiting my dad's side of the family in Ohio. He lived about two and a half hours away from where I grew up.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
We went up there on my dad's birthday, May 4th of 2012. On our way back, my mom had offered to drive me by my grandmother's house on my dad's side. She was living with my dad's sister and her son. When we were leaving, my cousin walked outside to say goodbye to us. I turned around to wave goodbye and I felt something punch me in the stomach.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
So much so that I hurled forward like the wind was knocked out of me, but nothing was there. I get in the car and I can't speak because I could barely breathe. My mom is asking me, what's wrong? What happened? Did you get stung by a bee? What's going on? Thinking that my dad had a heart attack and that's how he died.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I looked at my mom and I asked her if that cousin who I saw was with my dad when he had a heart attack and watched him die and didn't help him. My mom was just silent. My mom's a chatterbox, did not know what to say. She didn't know what to do.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
We pull over and that's when my mom told me that my dad actually died because he was murdered and that my cousin was sort of involved in the happenings, not necessarily in the murder, but there was a lot of really weird things that happened that morning before my dad was killed. So it was very strange that I, who had no context, put him there with my dad, not knowing what happened.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
For me, that day was a big one. I remember that day very often. When I do go back through my life of where did everything shift, My dad was shot and killed in his house, but he was walking towards the front door. The front door was kicked in. So whoever did it never entered the house, never left really any DNA. They're not even really sure what kind of gun was used.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
There's different reports all the time. The police files are actually sitting right here. They say something different than what the detective said when I spoke with them in person. So really not a lot of info from the beginning. They were able to identify a suspect through witness testimony that was not as reliable as one would hope.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
They took a person to the grand jury to see if there was enough to take it all the way to trial. They decided that they didn't have enough, and they dropped the charges on this suspect. Since then, there's been no new evidence brought up. There's been no new information that they've uncovered. It's just sat for 22 years.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I entered in this backlog of trauma that I started to experience a little bit later in my adolescence. I had already grieved my dad's death through the lens of he had a heart attack, this very scientific health-related issue that's insanely common that no one can really blame anyone for. And so I had to grieve my dad's death now through this murder lens. which is very difficult to do.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I already felt like I've been through this. I've already grieved my dad's death. I was also reeling through the moments where over the last 10 years of my life, when anyone had a heart attack in their family and I'm the one consoling them going, I know what you've been through. I know what you're going through. Now I've been lying this whole time because I didn't.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
That's not what happened to my dad. In a way, I almost still feel like I do know what it's like to lose someone to a heart attack because for 10 years, that was what I experienced. I grew up also in church. It's like, okay, God, why did you let my dad have a heart attack? Now it's like, well, why'd you let my dad get murdered?
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I do wonder what my life would have been like had I not found out at that moment or not found out at all. My life is forever altered, not just emotionally, but also in a career kind of way. Anything that I felt like I wanted to do or was drawn to do really was now filtered through this. My dad was murdered and now I have to solve it.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I went to school then for communications instead of going for medicine. I decided that I wanted to work in film and television eventually with the hope of making a documentary about my dad's case in order to solve it. My career goals changed. I was always very funny. I was always making funny videos in high school and really, really comedic focused. And that also took a bit of a shift.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I had a really strong knack for digital content. And so if I could get people to care, I knew that there would be power in that. But I wasn't sure how to achieve that at the time. I found out about my dad's murder 12 years ago now. So it took a long time for me to really figure out the medium in which to do this. I first started racking my brain around, how do I tell this story?
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I wasn't sure what it was going to be. I just knew that I needed to start diving in whenever I felt ready. And that happened to be during COVID, the shutdown, April, May of 2020. And I was like, okay, I have all of this spare time on my hands. I could probably read through a case file or two if I only had access. So I need to do that first. to get access to the police files.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I called the county that handled the case. I called them to get access. I had heard of FOIA, which is Freedom for Information Act, allowing you access to files. I don't know how it all works. I will say that when I called, I was like, this is my dad. I found out about his murder significantly later. I was a child. I'm just very curious what happened.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I still don't even really know beginning to end what transpired that morning. Would just love access to the case file. The front desk said, we send over the request immediately. to the prosecutor's office. They redact the file. They send it back to us. We send it to you. It takes about two and a half weeks. I was like, okay, cool. Sounds great.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
I'll give it an extra two weeks because I know that these places actually move quite slow. But then a month went by. I didn't hear anything. Called back. She's like, yeah, we're waiting on the prosecutor's office. I was like, if I file a Freedom for Information Act, would I get the files right away? And she's like, oh, that's federal.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
So there was no way even, according to this person, if I had filed a FOIA that I would even get the files. So I then went over her head and just called the prosecutor's office and said, I was just wondering what the holdup is. Is there anything I can do to expedite this process? That took about another two months before they finally emailed them over.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
My initial contact was May of 2020, and I received the files in January of 2021. I got access to all the files, which took an incredibly long time and was very complicated, but I did end up getting a copy of what I would assume is one of the smallest case files I've ever seen in my life. I think that 36 pages is quite small.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
Going through the case files was really strange because I lost my dad at such a young age that essentially I probably had like a year and a half of actual locked in memories with my dad. Reading through these case files, I'm almost learning more about my dad than I ever knew while he was alive. So that was kind of strange. And then also to read about it from a victim perspective.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
This isn't like I'm reading someone writing up a retirement congratulations for my dad. This is his murder file. Reading through it takes half a day because it's such a small file. But I definitely was left with a lot of questions because it's so small and there's just so many holes in this file as far as there's so many people who could have killed my dad.
Something Was Wrong
WCN Presents: [Madison McGhee] Ice Cold Case
There's so many avenues that don't feel like they were explored enough or at all.