Murder In The Black

In 1952, Ruby McCollum walked into the office of prominent white physician and politician Doctor C. Leroy Adams in Live Oak, Florida, and fatally shot him.
Ruby never denied the shooting. What she attempted to explain was everything behind it—an alleged sexual assault, a child she said Adams fathered, another pregnancy, financial dealings and the racial power that shaped their relationship.
But in a segregated Florida courtroom, Ruby was repeatedly prevented from telling that story in full.
In this episode of Murder in the Black, we examine Ruby’s life before the shooting, the relationship between the McCollum and Adams households, the trial that sentenced her to death and the Florida Supreme Court decision that overturned her conviction. We also discuss why the new trial ordered by the court never happened and how Ruby instead spent nearly twenty years confined to a state hospital.
The episode also considers the work of Zora Neale Hurston and journalist William Bradford Huie, the restrictions placed on their reporting and the importance of Black people being able to preserve and represent their own stories.
Ruby had education, wealth and status, but none of those things separated her from a system capable of exercising its power over her. Her case remains a warning about what can happen when Black voices are discussed, interpreted and judged without being fully heard.
TRUE CRIME IN CURRENT NEWS
Updated August 20, 2026
Karmelo Anthony:
Karmelo Anthony, now 19, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years for fatally stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf during a 2025 high-school track meet.
Anthony’s attorneys are seeking a new trial, arguing that courtroom-access restrictions, an off-the-record evidentiary agreement and the jury instructions affected his ability to receive a fair trial and fully present his self-defense claim.
On August 19, Judge Sid Harle removed trial judge John Roach Jr. from the post-trial proceedings. Although Harle did not find that Roach had violated judicial rules, he determined that Roach’s public comments after the verdict could cause a reasonable observer to question his impartiality.
Retired Judge Michael Chitty is now considering Anthony’s motion for a new trial. During the August 20 hearing, the defense challenged the courtroom restrictions and whether the findings required under Waller v. Georgia were properly made. Prosecutors defended the proceedings and disclosed that both sides had agreed to keep certain information about Anthony and Metcalf from the jury. A ruling must be issued by August 24 or the motion will be denied automatically.
Tupac Shakur Murder Trial:
The trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis is underway in Las Vegas. Davis is accused of helping organize the retaliatory 1996 shooting that killed Tupac Shakur. Prosecutors do not allege that Davis pulled the trigger. They argue that he obtained the gun, provided it to the men inside the Cadillac and helped arrange the shooting after Tupac’s entourage attacked Davis’s nephew, Orlando Anderson, at the MGM Grand.
The prosecution is relying heavily on Davis’s interviews and memoir, in which he placed himself inside the Cadillac and described his involvement.
The defense argues that Davis exaggerated or invented those accounts to gain attention and sell books. His attorney is asking jurors not to believe his client’s own words while emphasizing the absence of physical evidence connecting Davis to the weapon. The trial is expected to last several weeks.
CONTENT WARNING:
This episode discusses homicide, alleged sexual violence, reproductive coercion, racism, capital punishment and psychiatric confinement.

On November 7, 2013, 28-year-old physical therapist Alfred Wright experienced car trouble along a rural highway near Hemphill, Texas. While waiting for his parents to pick him up, Alfred suddenly ran from the area. During his final phone call, his wife said he sounded distressed.
His clothing and personal belongings were later discovered scattered across the surrounding countryside—but the official search ended without finding him. Eighteen days after Alfred disappeared, his family organized another search and found his body in the same general area authorities had already searched.
The official autopsy concluded that Alfred died accidentally from combined drug intoxication. Investigators uncovered toxicology evidence and messages connecting him to a cocaine supplier. Alfred’s family, however, questioned the search, the condition of his body, and whether the official conclusion explained everything that happened.
In this episode of Murder in the Black, Steph examines the documented evidence, the Wright family’s concerns, the region’s racial history, and the rumors that have complicated Alfred’s story.
What happened between the moment Alfred ran from that store and the moment he died in the East Texas woods?
Follow Murder in the Black and join the conversation.
Content warning: This episode discusses drug use, decomposition, postmortem injuries, racism, and disturbing descriptions of human remains.

During the early 2000s, Black women began turning up dead across Missouri and Illinois. Their bodies were discovered in different jurisdictions, and for months, the connection between them remained unclear.
Then, a St. Louis newspaper published a story about one of the women, Teresa Wilson. The article caught the attention of someone who claimed to be her killer—and he responded with a chilling letter, a challenge to the reporter, and a computer-generated map leading investigators to another victim.
That map would eventually take authorities to Maury Travis and expose what had been happening inside an otherwise ordinary-looking home in Ferguson, Missouri.
In this episode of Murder in the Black, Steph walks through the investigation from the discovery of the women through the digital trail that led police directly to Travis. We also discuss the victims whose names are known, the women who remained unidentified for decades, and how three of those women finally regained their names in 2025.
This story is not simply about how investigators caught a suspected serial killer. It is also about whose disappearances receive urgency, whose deaths are connected, and how vulnerable Black women were overlooked until their killer demanded attention.
Content warning: This episode discusses murder, sexual violence, torture, substance-use disorder, and violence against women.
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Until next time, this is Murder in the Black.

Emani Gabrielle Moss was ten years old. Her family called her “Angelface.” She loved reading, dancing, and cooking, and her fourth-grade teacher remembered a child with a beautiful smile who always wanted to help people.
But behind that smile, Emani was trying to survive. She went to school bruised and afraid. She disclosed abuse. She ran away. Teachers, relatives, police, and child-protection workers encountered pieces of her story—and still, she was returned to the home where she was being harmed.
In this deeply difficult episode of Murder in the Black, Steph examines the warnings that came before Emani’s death, the adults and systems that had opportunities to intervene, and the family members who fought to protect her. Most importantly, this episode remembers Emani as a child: bright, helpful, loved, and deserving of the chance to grow up.
CONTENT WARNING
This episode discusses prolonged child abuse, neglect, starvation, domestic violence, the death of a child, and an attempt to conceal and destroy a child’s remains. The material is deeply distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and pause or skip this episode if needed.
LISTENER CALL TO ACTION
If this episode moved you, follow Murder in the Black on whatever podcast platform you use and leave a five-star review. Share Emani’s story—not because of how she died, but because of who she was. And if you know or suspect that a child is being harmed, do not assume someone else will act. Report the concern to the appropriate child-protection agency and contact emergency services if the danger is immediate.

In this Thursday episode of Murder in the Black, we cover the murder of 21-year-old Asia Adams, a West Chester University student whose life was taken inside her mother’s Germantown home in November 2004.
What first looked like a house fire quickly became something else. Investigators found Asia’s body in an upstairs bedroom, but the fire was not the beginning of the story. It was the cover-up.
This episode follows the investigation from the neighbor who heard the door, to the missing bank cards, the ATM withdrawals, the nickname “Napoleon,” Asia’s dorm room, the witness statements, and the courtroom testimony that led to convictions for Thomas Strode and Simeon Bozic.
We also talk about Asia’s life before the crime, her mother Shelah Harper’s fight for justice, and the work that came afterward through the Asia Adams Save Our Children Foundation.
At the end of the episode, we close with a True Crime in Current News segment covering recent updates in the D4vd/Celeste Rivas Hernandez preliminary hearing and the independent autopsy update in the Nolan Xavier Wells case.
Cases discussed:
Asia Adams
Thomas Strode
Simeon Bozic
Celeste Rivas Hernandez
Nolan Xavier Wells
Listen with care. This episode discusses domestic violence, murder, arson, sexual assault allegations, violence against a young woman, and the death of a teenager.