Thread by @helenprejean

Continuing our discussion about all the evidence that exonerates #RodneyReed and implicates Jimmy Fennell in this thread...
Police suspected that Jimmy Fennell was involved in the murder of Stacey Stites almost immediately.

https://twitter.com/helenprejean/status/1195080282682134528

Despite their suspicions about Fennell, the police failed to search the apartment Stacey Stites shared with him. The apartment was the last place Stacey was seen alive, so it would have been basic police work to look around inside her last known location.

Prosecutors pinned their whole case on the DNA recovered from three sperm cells found inside Stacey's body. They claim that that is a smoking gun. In reality, the police knew that the DNA did not match Fennell soon after the murder. They still pursued him as the primary suspect.

Police aggressively interrogated Jimmy Fennell several times. He failed two different polygraph tests when he was asked if he strangled Stacey Stites. After failing the second polygraph, Fennell refused to cooperate with the investigation and police basically let him go.

Police interviewed many of Stacey's friends and co-workers. Several of them reported that Stacey had shared concerning information about Jimmy Fennell.

One of Stacey's friends and co-workers told police: "Jimmy was a jealous type person who didn't like her talking with other guys. They cancelled their wedding. Stacey never said why."

Notes from another friend's statement: "Jimmy got upset with Stacey when he found out she was going out with her friends. Jimmy wouldn't let her talk on the phone with her friends. Stacey always said she loved Jimmy. They would set wedding dates, then call it off."

Another friend saw Stacey one week before she was murdered. Notes from his statement to police: "She seemed down quite a bit and he asked her what was wrong. She told him that her and her boyfriend were having problems. And also that the boyfriend had a violent temper."

Notes from a police interview indicate that Stacey's own mother told investigators that Jimmy Fennell was "jealous of everyone." See the investigator's note:

Interestingly, none of the police interrogations of Jimmy Fennell were audio or video-recorded. All interrogations of Rodney Reed were recorded. Were police not interested in recording any incriminating statements made by Fennell?

The police probably were suspicious of Jimmy Fennell because he lied and told inconsistent stories about what he was doing in the days before Stacey was murdered. His actions in the aftermath of Stacey’s disappearance and the discovery of her body were also suspicious.

On the morning of Stacey’s disappearance, Fennell told investigators that he had filled the gas tank in his truck the previous night. Police confronted him with the fact that the tank was actually only 1/4 full. Fennell changed his story.

Also on the morning of Stacey’s disappearance, but before her body was discovered, Jimmy Fennell withdrew all of the money from the bank account he shared with Stacey.

Within days of Stacey’s murder, Jimmy Fennell sold the truck that he claimed Stacey had been driving when she disappeared. Was there incriminating evidence in the truck?

In October 1996, Jimmy Fennell failed a polygraph when he was asked “Did you strangle Stacey Stites?” In December 1996, Fennell failed another polygraph when he was asked “Did you strangle Stacey with her belt?” and “Did you leave Stacey’s body along that country road?”

After Jimmy Fennell failed the second polygraph exam when he was asked if he murdered Stacey Stites, he refused to cooperate with the investigation.