Inside Burden of Guilt S2 | BONUS

Investigative reporter Nancy Glass talks with Andrea Gunning about Burden of Guilt Season 2—and why Betrayal listeners will feel an instant connection to this unforgettable story. You can binge the entire season of Burden of Guilt here https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/burden-of-guilt/id1711277020. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at [email protected] mailto:[email protected] and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod https://www.instagram.com/betrayalpod/ and @glasspodcasts https://www.instagram.com/glasspodcasts/. Follow our newsletter and join the Betrayal community at betrayal.substack.com. https://betrayal.substack.com/welcome See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 2:03Speaker 04

  Hi, everyone. It's Andrea. I wanted to introduce you to one of my favorite people on the planet and the host of a new podcast I think you'll love, Burden of Guilt, Season Two. Meet my mentor, friend, boss, and the executive producer on Betrayal, Nancy Glass.

• 2:22Speaker 05

  So excited to work with you.

• 2:24Speaker 04

  Me, too. I love this season. It's just so exciting. And you're here to tell us about it. It's an unbelievable story that you've been reporting on. I've been working on it, but I've also been listening on the feed, and I don't want to give too much away. But I'll say this, for people who don't know this story, it's about two men whose lives intersect in New Orleans. One is Bobby Gump, right? Who accuses the other, Jermaine Hudson, of a violent crime. But it's not at all what it seems at first, right?

• 2:56Speaker 05

  That's right.

• 2:57Speaker 04

  What about Burden of Guilt, Season Two aligns with the betrayal audience? What do you think this season has that you think the betrayal community would really find fascinating or enjoy?

• 3:11Speaker 05

  That's a very good question. In my mind, the betrayal audience is made up of people who connect emotionally with other people. People who care and people who understand what injustice is all about.

• 3:29Speaker 04

  And there was a massive injustice in this story when Jermaine Hudson was identified as the perpetrator.

• 3:35Speaker 05

  This man was put away and lost half of his life because he was wrongfully convicted. That's one thing. But what's worse is, he was convicted of a crime that never happened. He was convicted based on a fake story of a fake robbery, and he was given 99 years.

• 3:59Speaker 04

  It's astonishing. But the story of this crime in Louisiana doesn't end there. Eventually, all the lies come to light. And I'm curious, what part of this story really surprised you?

• 4:12Speaker 05

  The twists and turns are so strange. And the ultimate of this story is how the man, Bobby, who accused Jermaine, his life was destroyed by his choice. And then what he did to turn it around and how hard that was on every level.

• 4:36Speaker 04

  I think what's so interesting about this season of Burden of Guilt is this is something we actually talk a lot about on the trial. We don't get to report on a redemption arc for any of our offenders. I would love to be able to tell the story of a major act of contrition or amends in one of our betrayal stories, but so far, they haven't existed.

• 5:01Speaker 05

  These bad guys, they don't apologize. They're not interested in redemption because they don't think they did anything wrong.

• 5:08Speaker 04

  And in Burden of Guilt, season two, it's a very different story.

• 5:12Speaker 05

  It's a really interesting story. But I think what's just as interesting is the character of these two men.

• 5:20Speaker 04

  I don't think we've produced a better show with cliffhangers than season two of Burden of Guilt. Every episode, you're just on the edge of your seat. And I have to say, I just love, love, love this season. And I think you guys did an incredible job.

• 5:36Speaker 05

  Thank you, Dre.

• 5:37Speaker 04

  So here's a sneak peek of Burden of Guilt, season two, with Nancy Glass.

• 5:48Speaker 05

  I'm Nancy Glass. I've been a journalist for decades. I've covered some of the biggest crime stories in modern times. I was on the scene of the Oklahoma bombings, attended the O.J. Simpson trial, and I interviewed serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. You might recall that on the last season of Burden of Guilt, we told the story of a remarkable woman, Tracy Raquel Burns. She was framed for the murder of her baby brother when she was just two years old. She spent decades looking for answers and finally getting justice for her baby brother and for herself.

• 6:29Speaker 05

  On this season of Burden of Guilt, I want to tell you another extraordinary story.

• 6:36Speaker 05

  When I began hearing about this story, I thought, I've heard that before, that somebody's convicted of a crime they didn't commit. But I was wrong, because that's not this story. This is something different, something I hope I never hear again. This case has stolen lives, destroyed families, challenged legal systems, and in the end, it left everyone transformed, maybe even redeemed.

• 7:07Speaker 06

  Let's not stop giving praise now.

• 7:15Speaker 05

  We're at True Light Baptist Church in Eunice. It's a small town in the southern part of Louisiana known as the prairie Cajun capital.

• 7:28Speaker 05

  Every Sunday for 125 years, the congregation has met here in the same building.

• 7:36Speaker 06

  Morning. Yes, sir. Can buy your clock.

• 7:42Speaker 06

  But you can't buy your time.

• 7:45Speaker 07

  A true pastor will care for his congregation.

• 7:52Speaker 07

  The pastor's responsibility is to shepherd the flock.

• 7:58Speaker 05

  That's Pastor Jermaine Tezano. He's been leading the congregation at True Light for 30 years. It's the kind of church where everyone knows everyone.

• 8:09Speaker 06

  Amen.

• 8:11Speaker 05

  Which is why Pastor Tezano remembers this one Sunday so clearly. It was in March of 2021. When he looked up from the pulpit, he saw a stranger sitting alone in the back pew.

• 8:27Speaker 07

  I noticed somebody in the congregation sitting, and in my mind, I'm thinking, okay, who invited you?

• 8:40Speaker 07

  He didn't have the best clothes on. You could tell he was on the street. I would say he looked broken.

• 8:50Speaker 05

  He was broken, but it would be years before the pastor understood why or what had compelled this man to walk into his church that day.

• 9:01Speaker 05

  Pastor Tezano eyed him closely.

• 9:05Speaker 07

  You are Caucasian and you are in a majority African American church. Like, what's your intentions?

• 9:20Speaker 05

  Pastor Tezano's thoughts jumped to the church shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. In that case, a 21-year-old white man had been welcomed into Bible study, only to later murder nine black parishioners, hoping to spark a race war.

• 9:41Speaker 07

  And my thinking was like, it's not gonna be dead here. I would die for my sheep.

• 9:48Speaker 05

  Pastor Tezano finished his sermon, keeping an eye on this man in the back row. And when the service was over, he walked up to the stranger and extended a hand.

• 10:00Speaker 07

  I just shook his hand. I said, can you meet me in my office?

• 10:06Speaker 05

  The man agreed, and they went into the pastor's office. Tezano asked one of his ministers, Dr. Leon Gallo, to join the conversation, just to be safe. Rightfully so, because this was definitely someone no one had ever seen.

• 10:24Speaker 05

  Pastor Tezano and Dr. Leon learned that the man was homeless and had spent the night before in an abandoned house. They wanted to help him. Dr. Leon stepped out of the room to start calling local shelters. The man was having a hard time making eye contact with Pastor Tezano. So he asked the man for his name.

• 10:47Speaker 07

  He told me Bobby Gumpright.

• 10:50Speaker 05

  Bobby Gumpright. That was his real name, but he didn't say much else. We knew that he was an addict. We knew that he was traveling from places.

• 11:01Speaker 07

  To place, but didn't really know a whole lot more.

• 11:08Speaker 05

  Bobby Gumpwright was actually there with a purpose.

• 11:12Speaker 07

  So he asked me the question, do you do confessions?

• 11:19Speaker 07

  I said, well, I'm not Catholic, but I'm like, what's on your mind?

• 11:26Speaker 05

  He was carrying a secret, a secret so terrible, it felt like a thousand pound weight pressing down on his chest.

• 11:36Speaker 07

  He needed to make that confession.

• 11:40Speaker 05

  After 30 years on the job, Pastor Tezano had heard a lot of stories, but what Bobby Gumpwright told him left him speechless.

• 11:52Speaker 07

  I really didn't respond too much because I was in shock.

• 11:58Speaker 05

  Pastor Tezano didn't know what to do with information like this. Bobby had just confessed to a terrible crime, a crime that had destroyed lives, including his own. The pastor would need time to make a plan, but in the meantime, he could help Bobby with his immediate needs.

• 12:18Speaker 07

  I said, you know what? Let's get you somewhere to stay overnight.

• 12:22Speaker 05

  There wasn't room and a shelter for him that night, so Pastor Tezano and Dr. Leon picked up some essentials and paid for a hotel room at the Days Inn. He could take a shower and get a good night's sleep.

• 12:36Speaker 07

  After we got him the hotel, we got in a circle and we prayed for him. And I told him, I'm going to check on you the next day, tomorrow.

• 12:51Speaker 07

  And when I went back the next morning, the hotel management said he left.

• 12:59Speaker 07

  I was like, what?

• 13:03Speaker 05

  When Bobby left, his secret left with him, and until this story was exposed, another man's life would hang in the balance.

• 13:24Speaker 05

  This is season two of Burden of Guilt. Episode one, The First Confession. It's been over four years since Bobby Gumpwright walked into that church. Back then, he had long, greasy hair and a full beard. Today, Bobby looks dramatically different. He looks clean-cut and healthy. But the choices he made as a young man are still there, just under the surface. To understand what Bobby confessed to inside that church, we have to go back to the beginning of this story. Now, you might consider what you're about to hear to be a villain origin story.

• 14:08Speaker 05

  It might be a blueprint for the making of a monster. You might hear this as the story of a little boy who didn't get the love he needed. Or maybe you'll consider it to be a story of strength and redemption. Meet Bobby Gumpwright. I grew up in a military family. My dad was in the Navy. He was out to sea quite a bit when I was real young. Robert Gumpwright, Bobby's father, was a respected Navy captain. I was working on A4 aircraft ship as electronics technician.

• 14:51Speaker 05

  That's Captain Gumpwright, Bobby's dad. In 1979, he married Debbie, and Bobby was born a year later. His voice is very weak due to an earlier cancer treatment. And because of that strain, we asked a voice actor to step in from here on out and read the transcript of his interview. He's my only son, and I made a choice way back when that I would never have anymore.

• 15:21Speaker 02

  Children other than him. So he's always had my love and full support.

• 15:28Speaker 05

  But his parents didn't stay together. They got divorced when Bobby was three. Captain Gumpwright got full custody of his son Bobby.

• 15:38Speaker 03

  I never saw my mom again until I was in my twenties.

• 15:44Speaker 05

  As a kid, Bobby didn't understand where his mom had gone and why she wasn't around anymore.

• 15:51Speaker 03

  My dad, at that point, had decided that it wasn't in my best interest to see her.

• 15:59Speaker 03

  So I spent a big chunk of my childhood in Virginia Beach, Virginia, which is where he was stationed. Between the ages of like three and eight.

• 16:11Speaker 05

  Bobby was deeply wounded by his mother's absence. His father tried to fill the gap the best he could.

• 16:20Speaker 02

  I remember when he was very young and I was running him out to the childcare in the morning. And I'd say, who loves you? And he'd say, you do. And I'd say, yeah, I do. I love you. And he would give me a big hug.

• 16:40Speaker 05

  When Bobby was six, his father remarried. His stepmother's name was Sharon.

• 16:47Speaker 03

  She didn't have any other kids, so I was the only thing that she had.

• 16:53Speaker 05

  Sharon raised Bobby. She tried to fill in the role of a mother and love him unconditionally.

• 17:01Speaker 05

  But when Bobby was in elementary school, something tragic happened in their home, a formative experience that would shape Bobby's worldview and influence the person he became.

• 17:13Speaker 06

  Around eight years old, I was at home with a friend of mine. You know, it was the afternoon. My mom, I think, was at school and my dad was at work. And this was a friend of mine, Joey. We were just playing after school. We played baseball together and he was just in the same neighborhood. And one day he was at my house and we got into my dad's room and found a gun. And pulled the gun out and started running around the house with it. Got downstairs. We had a living room downstairs and a sliding glass door that went out to the back porch.

• 17:58Speaker 06

  And he went outside and shut the door. And I was standing on the inside of the door, the glass door. And I was kind of holding the gun, like pretending he was the robber and I was the cop. And I jumped out and as soon as I jumped out, I don't know if I pulled the trigger or my finger slipped. I didn't know it was loaded. But either way, the gun went off. And shattered the door. And he was on the ground.

• 18:35Speaker 05

  Thanks so much for listening. Now you can binge the entire series and hear the whole story. Listen to season two of Burden of Guilt, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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  She's been thinking about this sleepover all week, but I think about her food allergies all the time. Fortunately, her doctor prescribed Zolair, omalizumab. It's proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens.

• 19:59Speaker 03

  Zolir 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people one year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Zolir, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Zolir. Zolir may cause a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Zolir should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Zolir is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection, or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see zolir.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Zolir.

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  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.