A person who has spent greater than three many years behind bars for his 18-year-old spouse continues to protest his innocence after one other offender confessed to the crime.
Leo Schofield was 21 years outdated when his 18-year-old spouse, Michelle Saum Schofield, went lacking in 1987 two years after they first met in 1985.
Her physique was later found in a distant canal in Lakeland, in Polk County, after a three-day search.
Schofield was the prime suspect on the time, however he reportedly spent days in search of his spouse. He was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime.
Nevertheless, he continues to insist he's harmless whereas one other offender, Jeremy Scott, claims to have requested Michelle for a carry from a petroleum station within the rain earlier than inflicting the stab wounds that killed her. Scott's fingerprints additionally match these allegedly present in Michelle's Mazda.
Chatting with ABC Information in September, Schofield claimed: "Harmless isn't any half in it, no plan in it, did not realize it was taking place, did not realize it was going to occur, and did not need it to occur. That's me."
Based on Polk County prosecutors, it was Schofield who erupted in a match of rage on the night of February 24, 1987 after Michelle by no means picked him up from a pal’s home after work.
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They added that “the indignity of being made to attend so enraged Schofield that, once they acquired again to their trailer, he stabbed her 26 occasions”, the reported.
Schofield allegedly wrapped his spouse’s physique in a sheet and put her within the cargo space of their Mazda station wagon. He was reportedly helped by his father because the pair dumped her lifeless physique in a distant canal.
Scott claimed on a 2022 podcast with creator Gilbert King, who has spent greater than three years investigating the homicide case, that he stabbed Michelle in an uncontrolled assault. He made the confession to King on the Bone Valley podcast.
He's at present serving a life sentence for strangling one other man with a telephone twine throughout a theft in 1988.
Scott advised King it was him that wrapped Michelle up in plastic he discovered close by after the assault and put plywood over her to guard her from snakes and gators.
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He then claimed he drove away in her Mazda and started wiping the automobile all the way down to take away fingerprints, King defined on the podcast episode.
The automobile then broke down, he alleged. One in all his fingerprints was later discovered at the back of the car.
King mentioned on the podcast: “The state does not dwell on the Mazda's situation or location. It is Jeremy who accounts for this and describes what it felt like driving the car because it broke down.
“After which, there's the proof Jeremy left within the automobile. One in all his fingerprints was lifted from within the driving force's aspect window. One other fingerprint was discovered at the back of the car the place the audio system have been. It was on a receipt close to the Downy bottle that was smeared with Michelle's blood.”
Crime scene technicians couldn’t discover any of Michelle’s blood within the trailer she and Schofield shared, though she was discovered with a number of stab wounds and misplaced 5 pints of blood.
There was additionally no bodily proof linking Schofield to the crime. In the meantime, a number of witnesses had an alibi for his whereabouts on the night time of the killing.
However prosecutors mentioned Schofield had sufficient time that night to kill his spouse and get out of the home and arrange a false alibi. A circuit choose denied Schofield a brand new trial after Scott’s fingerprints have been recognized.
His subsequent alternative for parole is Might 3. However parole commissioners need inmates to take possession of their crimes, which he refuses to just accept.
Scott claimed on the podcast: "Of all— of all issues, he is harmless on this one. I have been making an attempt to assist him. I am doing every part I might. You understand.
“I am making an attempt that will help you out... They do not need me serving to him out. Man in jail 33 years, he must be out. That man ain't do nothin'. He is harmless.”
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