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Jessica Currin, the 18-year-old mother of one from Kentucky, was found decomposed and charred behind the Mayfield Middle School when her body was discovered two days after she went missing on July 29, 2000.
Mother to baby Zion and daughter of the Mayfield fire chief, Jessica had sent his son over to his grandparents for a night with her friends in her apartment but failed to pick him up the following day raising concerns. The young woman was found sexually assaulted, possibly strangled to death, and burnt to her flesh after having her body decompose for over a day.
The Murder in the Heartland Season 6 episode on the Jessica Currin murder case states the synopsis briefly as it 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 re-investigate."
The episode titled Mom’s Night Out re-airs on November 22, 2023, at 8 p.m. EST on Investigation Discovery.
Five details of Jessica Currin's murder case
1) The Jessica Currin murder case was handled by an inexperienced case officer
The Jessica Currin murder case was handed to a patrolman and an erstwhile deputy jailer by the name of Tim Fortner. Coming with no experience as a detective, Fortner was not only inept at his current role but also a big reason for the case going cold or escalating over time.
Tim Fortner was the one to discover Jessica Currin's body behind the Mayfield Middle School and thought what he saw was a mannequin till he noticed flies buzzing around the dead body. Fortner recollected later:
“I didn’t have a clue what to do next. I have no idea how to organize a crime scene or look for forensic evidence. Frankly, I was scared stiff.”
Tim Fortner resigned from duty in 2003 shortly before the case was handed over to the Kentucky State Police while a local started to pursue the investigation as a passion project and saw progress.
2) A large number of key evidence was mishandled by the Mayfield Police Department
The spot where Jessica Currin's body was found was allegedly a landmine of evidence that was crucial to the case. However, most of it was left behind or lost in the process owing to the limitations of the case officer and inexperienced local police department.
A plastic bottle that smelt of gasoline was found at Jessica Currin's feet while a charred black belt was stuck to her throat. Her underwear lay torn next to her along with a tuft of hair.
The little evidence that was collected from the scene eventually got lost or mixed up with other pieces of evidence at the police station. Jessica Currin's r*pe kit was also mixed up with other r*pe kits. Moreover, pieces of the remaining burnt clothes were discarded by the local police.
3) Jessica Currin's cause and time of death remains unknown to this date
Jessica Currin was found murdered in the summer of 2000. However, the exact date and cause of death remains unknown to people. Jessica's body was discovered burnt with swellings at the back of her head. She had a broken nose.
There were two autopsy reports generated for Jessica - once by Dr. Mark LeVaughn who claimed that the causes could be strangulation and blunt head trauma while a second opinion from Dr. George Nichols could not determine the cause of death. Upon cross-examination by the defense counsel, Dr. LeVaughn mentioned there was no evident bruising or scratching on the body or indication of sexual assault or strangulation. He admitted to arriving after strangulation due to the presence of the belt around Jessica's neck.
4) The three girls who had testified against Quincy Omar Cross have confessed to having lied in their testimonies
The three girls who had testified against Quincy Omar Cross during his trial, Victoria Caldwell, Vanisha Stubblefield, and Rosie Crice, had later signed amendments stating that they had been pressurized into lying against Quincy through threats and monetary offers from the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation.
Victoria and Vanisha mentioned in court that they had witnessed Quincy carry out the crime of kidnapping, assaulting, and strangulating Currin which turned out to be false allegations.
Quincy Cross has maintained innocence to date.
5) The case was picked up by a self-appointed investigator and local resident, Susan Galbreath
The Currin murder case began with suspicion towards Zion's biological father, Jeremy Adams, and turned cold after insufficient evidence was presented at the trial. After the blunder, the case was handed to the Kentucky State Police which was also the time a local named Susan Galbreath decided to pitch in.
She started by sending cold emails to resourceful people who could help her case when the investigative journalist, Tom Mangold of the BBC show Panorama, responded and made it to Mayfield to meet her. They started cautiously interviewing suspects till they reached Quincy and finally had a name to work around.
Quincy Omar Cross was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for kidnap, r*pe, sodomy, first-degree murder, abuse of corpse, and tampering with evidence.
