S2, Ep. 2 | The Pursuit

It was a story, true or false, that convicted Jason Carroll.

It matters where that story came from, how it was created, who created it.

So before we get to why some people are convinced that Jason Carroll is innocent, We need to know the story of why some people are convinced he's not.

Sharon Johnson's body was discovered in July of 1988.

A construction worker found her around 8.30 on a Friday morning.

The area was in the early stages of a transformation from forest into housing development.

A large clearing had been cut.

Dirt roads connected a series of housing plots.

In some places, the ground was freshly chewed by excavators.

Sharon's body was found at the edge of the construction site, furthest from the main road, at the edge of a small pond that workers were digging.

She'd been stabbed 14 times and strangled, probably by a light rope or something similar, according to the medical examiner.

She was naked from the waist up.

Her bra was still draped over her shoulders, but it had been sliced open in the front with a knife.

Her shirt and purse were missing, but her watch and three rings were found nearby.

Each detail was its own mystery.

Why were her rings off? Why was her shirt missing? Why this construction site? The day before Sharon's body was discovered, a Thursday, Sharon left work at 6.30 p.m.

She went to a gas station and cashed some lottery tickets at 6.58 p.m. That's her last confirmed location.

And it's pretty much all we know for sure about Sharon's whereabouts after she left work that night.

One of Sharon's co-workers told police she said she was going shopping at the Mall of New Hampshire, a big mall in Manchester about 30 minutes from her job.

But another co-worker later testified Sharon said she was going shopping at the Bedford Mall, a different mall only a few miles away from the Mall of New Hampshire.

To make things more complicated, witnesses at both malls told police they saw Sharon, or someone who matched her description, the night of the murder.

So on Thursday, Sharon left work, cashed a few lottery tickets, and then maybe went to one or two malls.

The construction site where Sharon's body was found is in Bedford, about 15 minutes from the two malls.

Whatever happened to Sharon happened between 7 p.m. on a Thursday and 8 a.m. on a Friday.

By the way, you can see a timeline of Sharon's last day on our website, barebrookpodcast.com.