Wrongful Conviction / Hidden UFO History

Show Audio

About the show

In the first half, guest host George Knapp spoke with writer Dan Gleason about the wrongful murder conviction of Sandy Shaw, who also joined the conversation. Shaw was put on trial for the murder of James "Cotton" Kelly, a man who was allegedly involved in drug smuggling and had been harassing her relentlessly. She eventually sought help from a childhood friend, Troy Kell, to scare Kelly away, asking him to "beat him up" so Kelly would leave her alone. Shaw insisted she never intended for anyone to be killed. "Murder was never in my mind. I didn't wish him any harm," she asserted. However, Kell ended up shooting Kelly multiple times, leading to Sandy's arrest and conviction.

Sandy was sent to Nevada's maximum-security prison in Carson City, initially placed in the old death row section despite being a juvenile. She described her early years behind bars as defiant and fraught with conflict. "I was scared, but I was also cocky. I just knew I wasn't going to let anybody take advantage of me," she said. Over time, she matured, pursued education, earned her GED and college degrees, and sought counseling. "I didn't want to be a product of my environment," she reflected.

Dan Gleason, a veteran writer, discovered Sandy's story after watching an HBO documentary. Intrigued, he researched the case and connected with Sandy in prison. "There's so much more to it," Gleason explained. "I just felt like she got a raw deal." After 21 years, Sandy was pardoned by the governor of Nevada, an outcome she describes as a bittersweet relief. She now lives a quiet life in Las Vegas, working a stable job, raising rescued animals, and cautiously navigating a world transformed by technology she had never known. "I had no idea how to wash my hands in a public restroom," she said.

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In the second half, software engineer and UFO researcher Richard Geldreich discussed the hidden history of UFOs, including findings from newspaper archives and long-lost reports. He detailed how his technical expertise and passion for investigative work led him to mine vast archives of historical UFO data, uncovering primary sources that challenge established narratives. Geldreich's interest sparked in the mid-1980s when his Vietnam veteran father shared private UFO sightings from the late 1960s.

His entry point into archival research was the work of Frank Scully, a 1950s journalist who wrote about UFO crash retrievals, including the controversial Aztec crash. Geldreich accessed Scully's previously unscanned archives at the American Heritage Center in Wyoming, converting them into searchable digital formats. "There is an unbelievable flood of big data about UAPs, and it's untapped," he said. He also emphasized the scale: "Just for the phrase 'flying saucer'... over a year ago, I had about 700,000 hits... Now it's over a million."

Among his notable findings is detailed coverage of the 1950 Farmington, New Mexico UFO wave, where thousands reportedly witnessed a multi-day aerial event. He uncovered contemporaneous NOTAMs (Notice to Airmen) restricting flights over sensitive sites like Los Alamos and Hanford, correlating with the sightings. Geldreich also revisited the Roswell incident, discovering a July 1, 1947 report by a New Mexico politician who witnessed metallic debris falling near White Sands weeks before the official Roswell announcement. The debris was described as "metallic bubblegum... slightly heavier than that used for gum wrappers... partially burned and melted."

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