On August 1, 2000, the charred body of 18-year-old Jessica Currin was reportedly discovered in Mayfield Middle School in Mayfield, Kentucky. The victim’s clothes and skin were badly burnt, and her underwear was also ripped off. Given the state of her decomposing body, officials believed that she was murdered two days before the discovery of her corpse.
Moreover, the investigation of this tragedy started off on the wrong foot when an inexperienced cop named Tim Fortner was assigned to the murder case. Tim’s incompetence with the case reflected when he didn’t know how to proceed with the horror in front of him.
It took years to find and sentence the people involved in the murder. Furthermore, the main culprit, Quincy Omar Cross, received a life imprisonment sentence without the possibility of parole. Currently behind bars, Cross has always claimed that he is innocent. The victim’s father, Joe Currin, also believes that the man was wrongfully convicted.
Details of this tragic incident will be explained in the upcoming episode of Murder in the Heartland on ID. The episode is titled “Mom’s Night Out” and it will air at 9 p.m. on November 15, 2023.
The synopsis of the episode reads, “An inexperienced police department handles the tragic murder case of young mother Jessica Currin, leading to critical errors and false accusations; the case goes cold until Jessica’s father protests the state of Kentucky to reinvestigate.”
Is Quincy Omar Cross innocent?
Even though Quincy Omar Cross is reportedly serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of Jessica Currin, many believe that he is innocent. To this day, the convict has maintained his innocence. According to CNN, Jessica’s father also believes that Cross was wrongfully convicted. For over a decade, he has been advocating to discover the real killer of his daughter.
Joe Currin said, “We’ve just always (been) hoping that the truth would bring itself out. But when you’ve got more people hiding the truth than you do trying to get to the truth.”
Quincy Omar Cross and his lawyers have reportedly been trying to overturn his conviction for years.