"Stephenville"

STORYTELLING CATEGORY — SHOWCASE Silver

Texas Monthly
Contributors: Bryan Burrough, Patrick Michels, Brian Standefer, J.K. Nickell
06/20/2023

Stephenville is a six-part narrative audio series hosted by Bryan Burrough and produced alongside his July 2023 Texas Monthly cover story on the same subject: the 1987 murder of Susan Woods at her home in Stephenville, Texas, and the lengthy investigation into who killed her.

At the heart of the show are the stories of two people whose lives were upended by the authorities’ failure to solve the case: Susan’s husband, Michael Woods, a biker and a misfit in town whose life unraveled during decades spent living under a cloud of mistaken suspicion, and Shannon Myers-Barrientos, a girl with a troubled past who was brutally sexually assaulted by Susan’s murderer but whose accusations were discounted by police and jurors in town. The show devotes a full episode to Shannon, centering the story of her resilience over decades of healing and her drive to finally hold her attacker responsible.

In Burrough’s hands, the story of this one murder from years ago becomes an exploration of the moral dynamics in Central Texas towns like Stephenville, where he was raised—of how easily the loyalty of a tight-knit community can become a tool of injustice wielded against outsiders.

The killer—Scott Hatley, the scion of a prominent Stephenville family—makes this point in his own words in the show, thanks to a key feat of Burrough’s reporting. After Hatley’s death in late 2021, Burrough gained exclusive access to Hatley’s handwritten life story. With great care and the perspective of an outside expert, Burrough guides listeners on a rare journey into Hatley’s thoughts on his crimes, his astonishment at having gotten away with murder, and his wonder at why the town protected him for so long.

MAIN LINK to content online
LINK 2 to content online*
LINK 3 to content online*
*Amended to specify episodes 1 and 2 for consideration under 90 minute time limit

Submitted by Alicia Meier.