Narrator / Storyteller (likely the main Bone Valley Season 2 narrator)
Appearances
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Jeremy Scott was a shadow in Justin's life, always there but only mentioned in hushed tones. Growing up, he'd hear stray comments about Jeremy, but the details were always vague, a hazy mix of fact and fiction.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
When Jeremy and Brian are arrested, they eventually tell police everything. That the murder happened the morning after Halloween night.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
That they were drinking and smoking in Don's trailer. Jeremy knows Don's got hundreds of dollars on him. He wants the cash and Don's car. And when he sees Don asleep in the recliner, Jeremy smashes him over the head with a bottle. When Don doesn't die fast enough, Jeremy wraps a telephone cord around his neck and watches Don take his final breath.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Justin also heard bits and pieces about a true story, the story of the one murder his dad did get convicted of.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
From the tapes, it's clear the murder, like so many of Jeremy's violent acts, was completely senseless and not well thought out. He kills Don to give himself time to search for money he knew Don was hiding in the trailer. But the murder didn't bring him any closer to finding it. Jeremy gave up looking for the cash and left a fake note on Don's door to buy themselves time to get away.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
It reads, Friend was in trouble in Orlando. Went to help him. Be back in a few days. Don." That's when Jeremy drives over to Jamie's with blood on his clothes and brings her to the trailer in Davenport. When police pull Jamie over in the Chevy, Jeremy hears a dog from the canine unit from inside the trailer. He sees the helicopter circling above.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
With nowhere to go, he and his younger brother, Royal Dean, take off into the woods. Dean's got a warrant out for his arrest. It's an unrelated charge, but he doesn't want to be thrown in jail either. They wade into a creek, hoping the water will mask their scent, but the helicopter stays fixed above them.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
They sit together on a log, and Jeremy finally tells Royal Dean what he did to Donald Moorhead. "'They're after me, not you,' he says, watching the scene unfold through the trees." From where they sit, Jeremy sees the officers putting Jamie in the back of a cop car. And then, he does something that for me, looking at it now, reveals what a complicated and conflicted person he is.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Jamie had nothing to do with this murder, and he doesn't want her or Royal Dean caught up in it.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
What I know from police records is that Jeremy walks up the hill toward the waiting detectives. Are you looking for me, he asks. His voice is calm, almost resigned to his fate. He's been behind bars ever since. Somebody told Jamie that you were going to kill Jamie.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Now Justin wanted to know everything about who his dad was and what he'd done, as long as it was finally the truth.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
On March 5th, 1989, while Jeremy is locked up in the Polk County Jail awaiting trial for Donald Moorhead's murder, Jamie checks into the hospital with her mom.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
By the time Jeremy's trial began, his son was six months old. This trial was not a whodunit. Both Jeremy and his co-defendant, Brian Hall, had already confessed to killing Donald Moorhead. Even though the jury recommended life in prison at Jeremy's sentencing, prosecutor John Aguero convinced the judge to send him to the electric chair.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
So Jeremy was shipped off to death row at Rayford to wait for his execution date. And while he waited, he could not stop thinking about his son.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
There are some things, Justin, I can tell you about this murder. Hey, Shane. Hey, buddy. How are you, sir? This looks different. I can tell you about the evidence Kelsey and I saw at the Polk County Courthouse. Don't touch anything. Take some pictures. Correct. That we saw the blood-spattered shirt your dad was wearing the day he was arrested. Spud McKenzie's T-shirt or something?
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Jamie drives north to Rayford to visit Jeremy. In the visitation area, death row inmates are separated from visitors by thick glass. When Jeremy's escorted in, he's wearing blue prison pants with an orange shirt reserved for death row inmates. Jamie is seated on one side of the glass. Jeremy sits down on the other side.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Jamie tries to move on, to forget. But every time there's a change in Jeremy's status, the DOC notifies her. Like a few years later, when the Florida Supreme Court overturns Jeremy's death sentence, citing all the physical and emotional abuse he suffered as a child. She's told that his sentence has been reduced to life in prison.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
When she gets these calls about Jeremy, she has to start forgetting all over again.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
But then, she also has this little baby. And as he grows up, it becomes even harder to forget.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
But she doesn't talk about it. Doesn't share the hurt she feels. Not with her son as he gets older or with anyone else.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
I fly down to Florida to visit Justin about a month after our first phone call. First thing I notice is how much he resembles a younger version of his father. I've seen Jeremy's mugshots and the photos taken during his prison transfers when he was around the same age as Justin. Both father and son have the piercing blue eyes Jamie talked about.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
That the weapon was a bottle. Sparkling white grape juice. That's what it is. The confessions exist on two black cassette tapes.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Justin isn't as tall as Jeremy, but he shares the same thin build. Even their voices have a similar tone and cadence. The other thing that stands out about Justin is his nature. He's a real people pleaser, thoughtful, sensitive. He tells me that for as long as he can remember, he's yearned for a strong and stable family.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
There were years when Jamie couldn't care for her son. Justin spent time living with his grandmother and then an aunt while his mom fought to push away her painful past.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Even as she tried to avoid talking about Jeremy at all costs, he had a way of resurfacing in her life. Like how, in 2005, Jamie got an unexpected knock on her door.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Investigators had just learned that Jeremy Scott's fingerprints were identified inside the car Michelle Schofield was driving the night she was killed.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
I can tell you what's in them, and I will. But there are other parts of the story. Parts I could never have known if your mom hadn't chosen to share her side of things. She's the one who can tell you about your dad's final moments of freedom. Because your mom was there, Justin. And in a way, so were you.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Justin learned not to ask too many questions about his dad.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
What was it like when you found out you were going to be a father?
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Justin doesn't have a criminal record. He's never gotten into the kind of trouble Jeremy did.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
The first time Justin heard his dad's voice, he heard him confessing to a murder.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Jeremy can never set things truly right. He can't bring back the dead or erase the ripples of pain he's caused for so many. But he can set the record straight, which he hopes, and Justin hopes, and I hope, will one day help to exonerate Leo Schofield, whose conviction for the murder of his wife still stands today. Justin wants to support his dad through this struggle.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
He wonders if this will help him be a better father to his own son so he can someday show him that even broken pieces can be put back together in their own way.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
I tell Justin I'll try to help him. We can definitely help you with this. We've been corresponding with him. I'll just tell you right now... But deep down, I was unsettled. Connecting Justin with his father means bringing him into the chaos of Jeremy's life. I knew what that was like. But Justin is his son. How would he respond to getting a letter like this one?
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Our executive producers are Jason Flom, Jeff Kempler, and Kevin Werdes. Cara Kornhaber is our senior producer. Jackie Pauly and Hannah Beal are our producers. Britt Spangler is our sound designer. Marianne McCune is our editor. Fact-checking by Dania Suleiman. Jeff Clyburn is our head of marketing and operations. Our social media director is Ismadi Gouardrama.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Our social media manager is Sarah Gibbons. And our art director is Andrew Nelson. Additional research and production by Kelsey Decker. Additional sound recording by James Johnson. Bone Valley is written and produced by me, Gilbert King. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and threads at lava4good.com.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Jamie thought she was done with Jeremy. He broke up with her after finding out she was pregnant. But the morning after Halloween, Jeremy shows up in a Chevy Beretta. Brian's in the front seat.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Here's what I learned from police files and trial testimony. Jeremy met 37-year-old Donald Moorhead that fall at a gay bar called Fantasy 2000. Don gives him some weed, asks if he wants to make some money, and Jeremy begins doing handiwork at his trailer. Sometimes, Don would let Jeremy stay overnight if he had no place to go. Don's friends later testified that Don was paying Jeremy for sex.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Jeremy circles the block a few times. From the back seat, Jamie notices both boys are jumpy and nervous. Jeremy looks like he's starting to cry.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Jeremy tells her something really bad happened and that he and Brian have to leave town. They let Jamie out of the car and they drive off. Jamie is terrified. She runs inside and calls her friend Jennifer.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Later that night, Jeremy calls again. He says he wants her to lay low with him for a few days, then make a run for Texas and a fresh start. He's coming back to get her.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Jamie takes another look at Jeremy. He's still wearing the bloodstained clothes he had on earlier that morning.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Jeremy and Jamie set off in Don's Chevy Beretta. As they drive, Jeremy talks about his plan. He's got family about 30 miles away. They can hang out with them for a few days before hitting the road. Maybe leave Polk County for good. An hour later, they arrive at a trailer in Davenport. Jeremy's younger brother, Royal Dean, is there with his teenage wife, Anna, and their baby.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Back in Lakeland, Jennifer spent the whole night worrying about her friend.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
The headline in the Lakeland Ledger reads, Neighbors and investigators mystified by Lakeland man found dead in home. Below it, a photo shows a sheet-covered body being wheeled to a van. Jennifer skims the article, reading that the victim, Donald Moorhead, died from a head wound and that police believe his Chevy Beretta was stolen.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
Jennifer's thoughts jump to Jamie's panicked call and to Jeremy Scott.
Bone Valley
Jeremy | Chapter 2 - Destroyer
That same morning, across Polk County, Jamie wakes up in a trailer with Jeremy.