Beyond All Repair

Why did Jacob Wideman murder Eric Kane?

In 1986, the two 16-year-olds were rooming together on a summer camp trip to the Grand Canyon when Jacob fatally — and inexplicably — stabbed Eric.

That night, Jacob went on the run, absconding with the camp’s rented Oldsmobile and thousands of dollars in traveler’s checks. Before long, he turned himself in and eventually confessed to the killing — although he couldn’t explain what dr...

Not long after Jacob Wideman murdered his summer camp roommate, Eric Kane, in 1986 — seemingly with no motive — a question emerged in the breathless news coverage of the tragedy: Was Jake a “bad seed”?

It was no accident that some reporters latched onto the phrase. After all, it was plucked straight from perhaps the most famous book written by Jake’s own father, acclaimed author John Edgar Wideman, about his family’s experience...

Imagine the worst day of your life, when you did the one thing you are most ashamed of. Now imagine having to convince a panel of strangers — who suspect you might be lying — how sorry you are. After years of preparing for this moment, you get only minutes to make your case. And the stakes couldn’t be higher: The rest of your life depends on whether or not the strangers believe you.

This is how people seeking parole often descr...

How do you build a meaningful life in prison, knowing you might never be free? What if whether you might one day be free hinges on your ability to build a meaningful life in prison? In Part 4 of “Violation," we follow Jacob Wideman’s decades-long journey through the Arizona prison system and hear how he prepared to tell his life story to the parole board.

Two years after he murdered Eric Kane, Jake was transferred from county ja...

In 2016, after 30 years behind bars and seven hearings in front of the Arizona parole board, Jacob Wideman was released from prison.

Being on parole is a strange hybrid between prison and freedom. You’re still technically serving your sentence, but in the community. When Jake first got out, he was on home arrest, a strict version of parole. He had to wear an ankle monitor so the state could track his whereabouts, and he couldn’...

Six months after Jacob Wideman was released from prison on home arrest, he appeared before the parole board for a routine check-in hearing. His parole officer told the board that Jake was doing well: Jake’s employers and therapists gave him positive reviews, as did the director at his halfway house and the landlord at his apartment complex.

But other people were coming to a different conclusion.

About a week before the heari...

Two months after Jacob Wideman was arrested at work and brought back to prison — for failing to make an appointment with a psychologist on a particular day, as directed by his parole officer — he faced the Arizona parole board again.

The board had to make a formal finding: Did Jake violate the conditions of his parole by not making that appointment? And, if so, should he stay in prison or be returned to the community?

Parole...

In August, lawyers representing Jacob Wideman argued before a judge in Arizona that state officials treated him in a “constitutionally impermissible” way when they revoked his parole more than six years ago.

Lawyers for the parole board and the state corrections department said Wideman was trying to avoid following directions and therefore could not be trusted to be free. In this update, we fill you in on the hearing and how it...

Imagine if, one day, you are accused of something. Something horrible, violent, heinous. Something you swear you did not do, and nothing you say can convince anyone otherwise — even the people closest to you.

That’s Sophia Johnson’s story.

Sophia was starting fresh: A new life, a new husband, a baby on the way. But it...

Reporter Amory Sivertson has reopened a box that some members of the Correia family were hoping would stay shut forever.

Amory first met the youngest Correia, Shane, in 2017 while interviewing him about his experience with homelessness. But there is another dark chapter of Shane's life: his older sister being accused of murdering her mother-in-law in 2002, when he was 13 years old.

Now Shane wants to know, did his sister comm...

Amory learns more about Marlyne Johnson, Sophia Johnson’s late mother-in-law, and her murder is explored through footage of Sophia’s 2003 trial.

Clark County Detective Rick Buckner and his team narrowed the field of suspects to siblings Sophia and Sean Correia (Shane Correia's older brother and sister).

Sean testified during Sophia’s 2003 murder trial that he saw his sister standing over Marlyne’s body, holding fireplace tong...

Sean Correia's credibility is called into question as Sophia Johnson and Shane Correia tell Amory about his role in their upbringing. Amory learns how these three siblings ended up in Washington state after being raised in New York, and how Sophia became estranged from Shane and their mother, with whom she’d been incredibly close.

Sophia finds a new family in the Johnsons — Brad, her husband, and Marlyne and Richard Johnson, Bra...

Amory meets Lyn Page and Linda Dillard, friends of Marlyne Johnson and her husband Richard, who share more about the Johnson family.

Richard struggled with alcohol abuse and gambled, and Marlyne had started saving money in case she needed to leave him. 

Richard eventually agrees to talk to Amory and shares memories of his wife and the day she was killed.

If you have questions about th...