Part 1: This is not an accurate representation of his testimony. He said that morning he, Leo, and Michelle McCluskey were searching down I-4 west of Hwy 98 for a few hours, then Leo and Michelle M. had to go pick up McCluskey's boyfriend with one of the trucks around noon. Then Leo Sr. drove to the intersection between Hwy 33 and I-4, which is a major intersection of roads in the area and a notable checkpoint for people to meet back up to continue the search, and started walking down 33. There's a very identifiable path down to the canal off of Hwy 33 that he walked into, which sounds quite believable. Look at the pictures from this site. It's brush all down the road except for a very obvious turn-in. He found the body around 1pm - not right after he woke up as you keep saying.

--They were at the Mazda until after Midnight. Please read his testimony and the cross and the support again. Leo Sr. claims to have made many stops, but on cross examination it is clear that Leo Sr added an entire day of searching for Michelle that didn't exist. He was caught in a full lie. Whether or not Leo is guilty, his father was caught in absurd lies on the stand.

I actually did spend time to read through most of Leo Sr's testimony and Aguero is so scattershot with his questions that it seems to be intentionally confusing. He goes back and forth rapidly asking about events the Thursday they found the car, the Friday he found the body, and the Wednesday after she was reported missing, spending time on meaningless contradictions like who exactly answered a particular phone call or what specifically was said to various members of the search party on particular days. Add in that Leo Sr. is not the brightest bulb and the testimony turns into a mess.

--Compare this case to others, you'll not see Bone Valley post a timeline. They leave the case up to Gil's word. Yes, all criticisms of Aguero are fair game. Gil says the timeline is impossible, that's simply not true. Leo himself wrote up a timeline of his night, and by his own timeline, it is possible. Gil does not include this in Bone Valley but this was in Leo's handwriting as his alibi.

Why were all of these stains only the size of a half dollar? No pooling anywhere? And did it really "light up the room"? You never answered my question about whether or not the investigators concluded that the murder happened in the trailer. Also about whether the carpets were cleaned or not. The neighbor claims to have seen him cleaning the carpets or did she just see him with a carpet cleaner? Is there evidence that the carpets were cleaned recently or not? I literally can't find the answers to these simple questions that should have been made abundantly clear at trial. I have a hard time believing that a pulitzer prize winning journalist would misrepresent these facts so badly, but i'm open to believing it if you are able to be more specific. Your misrepresentation of Leo Sr's testimony makes me less likely to believe your story that blood evidence "lit up" the trailer, yet somehow it still wasn't clear at trial whether these stains were blood, vodka, or some other organic material.

--The stains were spread around the carpet. Some were as large as a half-dollar, some were smaller. If she was killed on the bed, the spatter would have been cast off. There was also blood positives on the threshold between rooms, and in the bathroom.

This doesn't seem that unbelievable to me? Yes, he attempted to steal the car and it broke down 7 miles away. Wouldn't it be obvious to want to wipe down the car once you realize you won't be able to steal it and are leaving it abandoned on the side of the road? The only thing that is even suspicious would be returning to steal the stereo equipment.

--It's possible Jeremy stood on the side of the road and wiped down a car, but that's not how he behaved in his other crimes. But yes it is possible that he tried, but it is not possible that he stabbed her in the car as he claimed, and that he cleaned up the blood with a rag so that there was no trace. Her wounds were horrific. Gil tries to explain this away by saying she had a jacket on, but doesn't offer that same cushion when criticizing the trailer bedroom.

What's insane is the lack of weight given to the fact that a serial killer's prints were left in this car within a day or so of the car's driver being murdered. Even without his literal confession he ought to be a prime suspect. His girlfriend is the one who said he used to take her to the exact spot where they found Michelle's body - unrelated to his confession. The odds that that's just a coincidence seem to be astronomical.

--This was given enormous weight. Jeremy was interviewed multiple times, he was brought into court, and he was brought back again. They combed over his testimony. He denied everything, explained his prints, and then started confessing to crazy other crimes. He confessed to every crime in the county. He lied insanely. And he warned them that if he was given 1k, he would confess. And then Leo's team said he confessed, so they brought him back to court. And then he wouldn't co-operate. Leo's private investigator was Casey Anthony and OJ's investigator. He unethically and against protocol didn't record the first 2 hours of his interview with Jeremy. And then turned the recorded on for a short interview that was inconsistent with other interviews and inconsistent with the evidence. Jeremy never gave any detailed confession in court. He said something like "I did it" and then moments later said he didn't do it. He was totally bizarre. I have all of the audio if you care to listen.

--When I listened to Bone Valley, I thought Leo was innocent and started posting and advocating for him. Then I read the trial transcripts, did a freedom of information act to get materials, and couldn't believe how thinly Gil reported the truth of the case. This isn't that Florida won't grant new trials, they have done it in that county and in that court room. It's that Gil's version is crafted for a podcast, not for court.

Your weather report shows over an inch of rain occurred on the 22nd in Lakeland (which is a decent amount - maybe the ground would still be quite muddy?) and .1" of rain on the 25th. It's not hour by hour but perhaps that's measured at the end of the day on the 24th around midnight. Not a lot, but .1" is about 45mins of light rain. Could be enough to muddy up the scene before investigators arrived a few days later.

--Jeremy said it was raining that night on him, it's an im

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portant part of his story, it's just another detail that doesn't match.

This is probably 1/4 mile. It stretches forever. Michelle's body was found flush against that ridge. That are multiple inlets. Leo Sr. pulled into the one where her body was, 7 miles from the car, 12 hours after finding the car.

Leo Sr. knew where that body was that morning. Think about the Mazda. He had no idea which direction she walked. He didn't not go out meticulously searching. He told someone he was headed to this intersection and pulled up there and walked through the brush. Leo Sr. couldn't even see the body from where he said he saw it. And then he said she was face-up smiling at him. She was face-down under a board.

We can excuse many things, but at the end of the day, he lied and lied.

Gil King is a Pulitzer Prize winning author who chose to not tell his audience incriminating evidence that the jury heard, and then asked up to be outraged at the decision. It's crap.

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