Link to Episode One of the Suspect Convictions featuring the Christina McNeil murder:
http://wglt.org/post/suspect-convictions-episode-1-frantic-911-calls-reveal-fathers-grief
This first episode describes Barton finding his daughter Christina dead in her bed and frantically calling 911. Police initially treated her death as natural. Later that day, Bart found signs of entry in her bedroom and called the police back to investigate it as a murder case. You have to listen to the audio of Bart’s 911 calls to the police.
Bart is very emotionally upset on the tapes; almost hysterical and then later frantic to get the police to take him seriously and come back out to reinvestigate. As both Reeder and Willis discuss; Bart’s actions are not the actions of a man who killed his child and it’s only his illogical (if he’s the murderer) insistence which makes the police turn her death into a murder case.
WGLT, Bloomington-Normal’s public media, is partnering with the popular true crime podcast Suspect Convictions to explore the 1998 murder of a 3-year-old Bloomington girl, Christina McNeil.
Barton McNeil was convicted of killing his daughter, Christina, but has long maintained his innocence. He says his ex-girlfriend was the real killer—the same woman who 13 years later was convicted in a second McLean County murder. Now serving a life sentence in a southern Illinois prison, McNeil is pursuing exoneration with help from the Illinois Innocence Project.
Season 2 of Suspect Convictions will focus on the McNeil case. Each episode of Suspect Convictions will be broadcast during GLT’s Sound Ideas every Friday at noon and 6 p.m., starting Oct. 27. The podcast will also be available through popular apps like Apple iTunes and Stitcher. Every episode and additional materials will first be available at WGLT.org.
Suspect Convictions producer Scott Reeder will partner with GLT News Director Emeritus Willis Kern on Season 2. The show’s successful first season, chronicling a 1990 Quad Cities murder, was a joint production with WVIK Quad Cities 90.3 FM.
“Scott’s partnership with fellow public radio station WVIK in the Quad Cities for the show’s first season was a great success,” said GLT general manager R.C. McBride. “WGLT is the perfect home for this kind of in-depth journalism. I know our audience will look forward to hearing and reading the work, and I hope this platform provides an opportunity for the GLT news team’s work to find a new audience.”
Reeder is a veteran freelance journalist based in Springfield.
“After 30 years in the news business, I’m honored to work with a journalist of the caliber of Willis Kern. He is a man of integrity and skill,” Reeder said. “Together we will explore intricacies of the murder of Christina McNeil and provide our listeners with differing perspectives on the evidence. We hope to honor the memory of this precious, little girl and help ensure justice is done.”
GLT’s Sound Ideas, the station’s flagship newsmagazine show, airs at noon and 6 p.m. every weekday. It also streams at WGLT.org and is available on the NPR One app.
Suspect Convictions’ first season is available at SuspectConvictions.
RichardWanke.Com 