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Warning. The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.
For years now, we have covered dozens of stories on this podcast where guns are used to take a human life. And most of the time, the person pulling the trigger is the bad guy. But the question we will present to you in this story is when is taking a life justified?
In July of 2022, the DeCrow family in Sydney, Ohio had no idea that their lives were about to change. It had been a seemingly normal summer. But one day, after coming home from running errands, someone from their past would show up at their front door. And Mitchell and Stacey DeCrow knew exactly who it was. It was their daughter's ex-boyfriend, 22-year-old James Rayl.
Through Ring camera footage that we will play throughout this episode, you will hear the Ducros tell James to leave several times. But he doesn't, and instead he starts to break their door down. After multiple warnings, Mitchell Ducro aims the gun at the intruder and he shoots him three times, killing him.
This story sparked a lot of controversy, not just in Ohio, but all throughout the nation. Some claim that Mitchell DeCrow is a murderer, but others call him a hero who did what he had to do to protect his family. So this is their story. I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. ♪♪
Bye.
High school relationships are pretty complicated. For many teenagers, you'll have your first date, your first kiss, and for some, it'll be the first time you fall in love. It's an exciting time, but it's also full of emotions, both good and bad. And since our brains aren't fully developed, it can be pretty complicated and sometimes even toxic. But unless you're high school sweethearts, there usually comes a time when you grow up.
A time where you realize you've outgrown your high school relationship and you're ready to move on, which is exactly what happened with Alison Ducro in Sydney, Ohio.
She attended Fairlawn High School, and throughout her time there, she had an on-and-off boyfriend named James Rail. And like many high school relationships, it was pretty rocky. The two would have fights and break up, but they would always keep in contact and try to stay friends afterwards. Which is never a good idea. As we all know, staying friends with an ex usually just leads to getting back together again, which is exactly what happened. Allison would later say that he was generally a nice guy, but they still weren't good for each other.
And although James was never physically abusive towards her, he would text her some pretty damaging things like calling her worthless or saying no one will ever love you.
And we've all heard of relationships like that. If you weren't in one yourself, you probably know someone that was. But there usually comes a time where you finally realize that this relationship is no longer serving you. For Allison, that came in 2019. After years of back and forth with James, she decided to end it once and for all.
It definitely wasn't an easy decision for her, but she was ready to move on and cut ties. And just to make sure he wouldn't come creeping back into her life like he always did, she blocked him on all social media.
I want to say in total maybe like a year and a half if we added it all up. Like all through your high school years or after you graduated? It started in high school and then it went out of high school. Okay. Just very briefly. Okay. On and off, were they bad breakups or just kind of... No, we stayed friends. Okay. Every single time. So I don't... And when was the final breakup approximately? I don't know. I want to say maybe...
- 2019 or 2020, I'm not positive. - Okay. What caused that breakup? - He was just-- - Okay. - Sorry, I didn't know. - I'm sorry. - We're all adults here. You can say whatever you need to say. - He was just being rude all the time and I was just like, I don't wanna put up with it. - Was he ever abusive physically or mentally? - Well, maybe mentally a little bit. He would just get in my head a bunch. - When he got mad, what kind of things? Was he aggressive at all? - He would just,
Tell me everything that was wrong with me. He would say that nobody was going to love me anymore. Stuff like that because he's a child. Okay. Would he scream those things to you? No, there was all over text and everything. He would never say it to my face, which... Okay. So you broke up in 2019. Did you bring old friends after that?
Now, following their breakup, both Allison and James seemed to be thriving without each other. James even moved to California for a year and a half, where he got really into fitness and working out.
But for whatever reason, James decided to move back home to Sydney, Ohio. Allison knew he was back, but she had no intentions of rekindling their relationship. And she made that pretty clear. When's the last time you talked to him? I said...
Right.
Now, because Allison and James had mutual friends, she would always hear little updates about him and how he was doing. And according to his friends, after he moved back home from California, something was different about him. Is there anything about him that you think we should know about his personality? Has he ever threatened anybody before? Was he like a fighter? I thought he was always very nice. I mean, he worked out all the time. I don't know if...
Like he didn't do boxing or anything. Okay. But he was okay in high school, but then after he came back from California, he just was different. Like his close friends or whatever, he just started treating like crap and nobody wanted to deal with it.
Now, like we mentioned, Allison and James were not in contact with one another during this time. She had heard things about him here and there from his friends, but that was it. He was now just a distant memory, a person from her past. So on the night of July 30th, 2022, she was not expecting a phone call from him. The call came in pretty late at around 1130 p.m.,
and Allison was already asleep, so she missed it. But the following morning when she woke up, she was surprised to see a voicemail from her ex. So she pushed play, and this is what she heard. Hi, Allie. It's James. I just wanted to reach out to you because I...
I just wanted to see how you're doing and maybe hear from you if that would be alright ideas. It's been a while since I've talked to you and I don't know. I feel like it... I don't know what I feel. I do know that I do want to talk to you though. I do. It'd be nice. It'd be sweet. It's probably late right now but
If you want tomorrow, you could probably give me a call. And yeah, it's about it. Please give me a call back. Thank you. As Allison listened to the voicemail, she was taken aback. She hadn't heard James's voice in over a year, and she didn't really know what to think of it.
Of course, she still cared about him, but she had finally moved on after years and years of going back and forth. And after giving it some thought, she figured it was best not to open old wounds. So she didn't respond. And hopefully, she thought by ignoring his voicemail, he would get the message that she wasn't interested and he'd leave her alone. But sadly, that would not be the case.
Now, before we get into the events of July 31st, 2022, we're going to tell you what we know about James Douglas Rail. He was born on February 25th, 2000 in Louisville, Kentucky. And from what we could tell, he came from a very tight-knit family. After spending eight years of his childhood in Kentucky, his family packed up and moved to Sydney, Ohio. And from looking on Facebook, it's clear he was very close to his older sister, Jessica. She would later write...
No one else knew a baby was in my belly growing in 2016, except for you, until our family Christmas. I remember going to the beach with you, and us telling you about the wee little baby growing, and that you were going to be an uncle. You
you first said wait really like i would really go so far as to make the shirts for justin and i just to play a joke on james you were so excited you couldn't believe it you kept saying you were going to be the best uncle and i believed it with a heart like yours how could you not be jessica also talked about how her brother had a heart of gold she said he would always send her random text messages just checking in on her or just to say he was proud of her
Many people in James' family had similar things to say about him, like how he cared deeply for people and always put others before himself. Now, as for other aspects of James' life, there isn't a ton of information out there. We do know that he went on to graduate from Fairlawn High School and Upper Valley Career Center, which is a public vocational school that is designed to train students in a variety of skills.
And after graduation, he and Allison would continue to date for a short period of time before she ultimately broke up with him.
And after spending some time in California, James came back to Ohio where he seemed to be living a normal life. According to friends and family, he spent the majority of his free time working out, playing basketball, and lifting weights. At the time, he was employed as a professional steel worker where he had recently been working the third shift. Now, Allison did say that throughout their relationship, James was known to dabble in drugs, but it was mostly acid and marijuana. Do you know...
If he was on any drugs or has he ever done any drugs that you know of? He has done drugs. Okay, do you know what his drug of choice is? He liked to do acid a lot. Okay. Back then, I don't know about recent, since he moved out to California not too long ago and then came back, so I don't know if he like started something while he was out there. Gotcha. When did he come back? How long has he been back in town, do you know?
I want to say maybe a year. So back then when you were dating him and kind of friends with him, acid was his... Acid and weed and I don't know what else he did other than that. Was he ever on meth or heroin or anything? I don't know. I don't think he would have told me because I didn't like it. Right.
But despite this recreational drug use, James really didn't show any major red flags. There were no signs of mental illness or any history of violence. And yes, his friends said that his demeanor had changed since moving back. But no one could have predicted the events that were about to unfold. On July 31st, 2022, after waking up and listening to the strange voicemail from her ex-boyfriend,
Alison DeCrow decided to just ignore the message and go about her day. She and her mom, Stacy, went out for breakfast that morning with a friend at the local Perkins restaurant in town. Afterwards, they dropped the friend off and stopped by the local speedway before finally returning home at 2907 North Cuther Road.
By this point, it was 11 a.m. and nothing was amiss. Allison and Stacy grabbed their things and make their way to the front door of their home.
The movement of them walking up initiates their Ring camera to start recording, so everything from this point forward is documented. Now in the video, right as Allison and Stacey walk up to the front door, they hear a car pull into their driveway. You see both of them turn their heads to look around, and then they both go inside.
Now, at first, neither of them recognized who had just pulled up to their home.
But they decided to lock the deadbolt just in case. We will be posting this video on our Instagram and Patreon, so if you want a visual, make sure to head over there. But here is the first few seconds of that audio. Stop it, Allie. Boy, in the house.
So as you can see, they aren't panicking just yet. They even talk to their dogs as they unlock the door. But moments after walking inside and locking the door, the Ring camera captures a video of James Rayle approaching their home. He's wearing a navy blue zip-up jacket, a beige t-shirt, black basketball shorts, and a blue baseball cap.
Now, as he casually strolls up to the front porch, Allison can be heard in the background saying, quote, he's coming back. She also tells her mom that she doesn't want to talk to him. So Stacy intervenes and she tells James, quote, James, she doesn't want to talk to you. But James doesn't seem to care.
And from here, without saying a word, he starts to ring the doorbell several times. Here is the audio from that. Wait, he's leaving. Hey, he's coming back. Nope, nope, nope, I'm calling. James, she doesn't want to talk to you. Hello?
Now in the video, James can be seen staring down at the ground and he takes a big breath before reaching for the door handle. And it's here where the DeCrow family realizes that he's going to try and break in. So fearing for her life, Allison calls 911.
911, what's your emergency? Hello? Um, there's some guy on my front porch and he won't leave and he's got his hands behind his back and he won't answer me on the ring. Okay. So he left me a voicemail on my phone last night. Where are you at? What's your address? Uh, 2907 North Cedar Road. 21. Oh, and you said 2907? Um, he's trying to walk. I'm sorry. He's trying to door.
In the background of that call, you just heard Allison's father, 52-year-old Mitchell DeCrow, telling James to leave the property. But he doesn't listen.
So from here, Mitchell walks to the family's garage to try and persuade James to leave the front porch and come talk to him. But unfortunately, James continues to ignore Mitchell, appearing to be almost in a daze. There's a blank look in his eyes and again, he's not saying a word. So from here, Mitchell walks to his bedroom and grabs a gun.
Meanwhile, James starts violently throwing his body against their front door. James, no! James, no!
At this point, Mitchell gives James several more warnings. He even tells him that he has a gun, but that doesn't stop James from trying to get inside. With each and every blow to their front door, he's getting closer and closer to breaking in. The doorframe began to split. The glass started to crack.
And even though Mitchell is holding the door shut with his entire body, James is still somehow gaining entry. So to protect his family, Mitchell aims the gun at James through the glass and quickly fires off three shots. Here is that audio. - Got it.
And here is that audio from Allison's 911 call. Do you know who he is? Hello? Ma'am? Ma'am? Wait, we have a... We have gone. No!
43. He's going to 29 and seven North. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah. What's going on? He broke through the door and my dad shot at him. He shot at him. Do we know where he is? No.
You want ma'am?
Now, something important to note is that when looking at the ring camera footage, you hear three simultaneous gunshots.
And with each shot, James is turning his body away from the house. But all three bullets hit him while he's still on the front porch. Now, one of these bullets happened to hit him in the back since he was turning around, which will come up here in a little. But after getting shot, James stumbles off the front porch and he collapses on the driveway, just out of the ring camera's frame.
Now in the camera you can still see his feet and after a few moments James completely stops moving. Back inside of the DeCrow residence both Stacy and Allison were screaming and distraught. And at one point while Allison was still on the phone with 911 she could be heard thanking her father for saving her life.
He is shot? He has been shot? Do what? Ma'am, ma'am, I need you to calm down and up to tell me, has he been shot?
I think so. I don't want to look. Please don't make me look. Has he been... It's okay. I can talk. It's fine. Okay. I need to know if he's been shot or not. I think, I believe so, yes. I'm sorry. Do we know who he is? I'm sorry. Yes, I know who he is. No, Daddy, come back. No!
Do you know who it is? Yes. Yeah, he is an ex-boyfriend of mine. And her next door friend? Yes.
They're advising a male subject has been shot. I'm going to put squad on standby. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. You're fine. You're fine. I'm so sorry. Is he on your front porch? No, he's not. I'm sorry. Is he still on the ground now on the front porch? Yes, yes.
Now, at this point, officers have been dispatched to the home, and while they wait for them to arrive, a neighbor named Jeffrey Hereford can be seen walking over to James' body that's laying on the driveway. Stacey then yells out to him, He tried breaking into our house. He was trying to hit our daughter. But Jeffrey clearly didn't see James violently throwing his body against the Ducro's door, so he doesn't see James as a threat. He tried breaking into our house!
He what? He was trying to get to our car! Okay, he's fine. He don't have nothing. He don't have no gun. What? He don't have no gun.
Don't do anything! He's trying to break in and get to our daughter! Okay, well he's not moving, he'll have a gun.
He broke our door in. Trying to get into our daughter. Our daughter is busted in. I'm sorry. Okay, hold on. Did you shoot him? Yes. Okay. Call 9-1-1. We're on the phone with him right now. Okay, he's not moving. He's...
He ain't going nowhere. I don't know why he was probably shot. So, Chris shot. He broke into our door coming in after my daughter. But my husband shot. He took Marilyn and right behind me and my daughter in the car. Oh, Jesus. Yeah, so we got in here and he wouldn't leave. We kept telling him to leave. Yeah, I...
Oh my god! You're f- Oh my god. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Honestly, this was a, this was a, that's when you, was he dating her? They dated a long time ago! They not, it was a long time ago. I think, yeah. And he left her voicemail and left, and left it the last night. Oh my god. Okay, just calm down. Calm down.
At this point, more neighbors gather in the front yard, and they all stand around James' body. And just by looking at him, it's clear that he's about to die.
Uh, dude, I don't... You better hurry up and get a hand with that. Oh my gosh. Hey, did you already tell them, Alan? Yeah, I did. Did you tell them he was... Did you tell them he shot? He's dead? He shot? He's gone. He's dead. Dude, he's about... He's about ready to die. Yeah, he's about dead. He's dead. He's dead.
This is it.
By the time police arrive at the Ducros home, the neighbors inform the officers that the man lying on the ground is dead.
It was obvious from one glance that James Rail had succumbed to his injuries. Here's the audio from when the officers pull up to the house.
Okay.
I was over there next door and I heard these gunshots going off. They told me what was going on. Can the guy with the gun, can you come out here and leave the gun inside? I'm sorry, that door is booked. I can take a few breaths there a little bit ago and then he quit. So I think he died. I don't know.
First responders attempted to render aid by using defibrillator pads to jumpstart James' heart, but it soon became clear that they were too late. 22-year-old James Rael was already deceased. Now, inside of the home, one of the officer's body cameras captured him trying to figure out exactly what had happened. Here he is asking Allison about her relationship with the suspect.
So you've been split up for a couple years. When's the last time you've talked to him? So there's been no communication for two years? And then just out of the blue, he started... The detectives don't want to check that out and everything else.
From here, the Shelby County Sheriff's Department taped off the area and covered James' body. The scene was then processed for evidence. The Sydney Police Department's captain, Jerry Tangeman, walked through the residence and took pictures of everything inside. The gun used in the shooting was placed on top of the fireplace mantle, and there were three hollow .9mm spent cartridges on the floor inside of the living room. It was also very clear to everyone investigating the scene that James had tried to break in. There was no question about that.
The Ducro's wooden front door was broken and splintered, and the door frame had completely detached from the wall. But the most damning evidence of all was the ring camera footage. Not only did it show James breaking in, but it also showed that both Mitchell and Stacey gave him multiple warnings before he was shot.
After processing the scene, James Rayl's body was taken to the Montgomery County Coroner's Office for an official autopsy, and the DeCrow family was brought to the police station to give their statements. During Stacey's interview, it was clear that she was very shaken up about everything that went down, and she started by walking the investigators through everything that went down that day, starting with the voicemail.
- Were you aware, I understand that there was a voicemail left by James to your daughter, Alison. Were you aware of that or did your daughter say anything to you about that prior to this incident? - This morning she did. - Was that breakfast or was it? - She, we were getting ready to leave to meet my friend for breakfast and she said, "Hey, remind me when we get before we leave from Beth's house, I wanna play you something." I said, "What is it?" She's like, "A voice message."
And I said, "What's it about?" I asked her, I said, "Who's it from?" She goes, "I'll just play it for you." She didn't want to give it away. So we kind of went round and round about that.
As Stacey recounted the events of that morning, she sobbed. She told the detectives that she feared for her daughter's life as James broke their door down. She said that the look on his face was terrifying, void of any emotion.
The whole time, he just stood there and didn't even acknowledge anything. Even when Mitch said he looked around the corner and said, hey, you need to leave, James. He said he didn't even acknowledge him. And then when I was talking to him and watching him through the monitor, you know, watching him through the app, he was just standing there with his hands like this behind his back like this and just standing there like this and not...
Not even. Not doing anything. Nothing. Nothing. So clearly not normal behavior. No. And Allie, she was terrified. Did her and Allie have a bad relationship or was it to end on a bad note? I don't know. She's not one. God love her. She's not one to...
The detective also showed Stacey his support, reassuring her that James' actions that day were very unusual.
I don't know if he had bad intentions, okay? But from what you and Mitch and everybody's telling me, okay, that's not normal behavior for somebody that's something to do. It's one thing to show someone else, right? Yeah. But it's not normal behavior for them to just stand there and not do anything, you know? I'm terrified. I've never seen anything like that before, ever. I'm terrified. I'm terrified.
And although Stacey defended her husband's actions that day, she also thought about James' family, saying, quote, Now, as for Mitchell's interview, he told investigators that he had been downstairs in the basement watching a movie when he heard some commotion upstairs.
He said he paused the movie and went to the family's living room to find his daughter's ex-boyfriend standing outside ringing the doorbell. Now, Mitchell didn't even know about the strange voicemail that James had left on Allison's phone. But as soon as he walked upstairs and saw his daughter's face, he could immediately tell that she was scared of James' presence. So that's when they started telling him to leave.
But even more alarming was that as he and his wife tried to communicate with James to tell him to go away, he just stood there, ignoring them.
I started getting nervous, you know, because he wasn't answering. They were talking over the ring, telling him to leave. She don't want to talk to you. Was that over, like, the phone? Or were they just yelling through the door? I think it was through the phone. Okay. Through the ring. Okay. They were... It's good to bear with me. You're fine. You're fine. They were just doing everything they could to make sure that he...
would leave. We didn't want him here. I ended up going around to the garage door, opening it up and walking around. He's just standing there with his head down. I said, James, I don't know exactly what I said. I know I said his name. He didn't mean me to leave or something like that. He wouldn't acknowledge me. He didn't even budge. That made me
Kind of nervous. And I went back in, shut the garage door, made sure he didn't sneak in. So I went in, got my nine. Where was that? On my side of the bed in the back stand. But then I noticed...
All that talking, they wouldn't acknowledge that. I saw him start to jiggle the handles and stuff, saying that it was locked. And that's when I went up to the door. You know, kind of
Eventually.
And once I realized he was getting in, the door was open is when I shot. Did you shoot through the door? I shot through the window, the window part of the door, because the door was open and he was...
Okay. Okay.
During the interview, it was obvious to investigators that Mitchell had acted in self-defense. One cop even said that it was really good he had that ring camera because it clearly showed that he was trying to defend his home and his family.
Which is very true. If they wouldn't have had that footage, it wouldn't have been as easy to see what happened there. But for most people, they viewed Mitchell Ducroix as a hero. He was a father who saw that his daughter was in danger, and he did what he had to do to protect her. But not everyone would share this same opinion.
On Monday, August 1st, 2022, two Shelby County detectives attended the autopsy of James Rael and due to his erratic behavior on the day of the incident, a toxicology report was conducted but all that was in James' system was marijuana so he wasn't under the influence of any crazy hard drugs.
It was also found in the autopsy that he had been shot three times. Once in the right shoulder, once in the left shoulder, and once in the back. And it was found that that shot to the back was the one that caused his death.
So, as you can imagine, when word got out that James was shot in the back, there was a lot of controversy. Historically, a shot to the back means murder. But for this case, it's not so black and white. Like we mentioned earlier, all three shots were fired one after the other, and they all hit James while he was still on the porch.
In fact, he was so close to their front door when he was shot in the back, there were actually shards of glass found in his bullet wound from the decorative window. So it's not like Mitchell was chasing him down as James ran away. But James' family didn't see it that way. To them, a shot in the back meant that James was murdered, and they wanted the man responsible prosecuted.
Later that same day, it was determined that the case would be presented to a Shelby County grand jury to see if Mitchell could be prosecuted for James' murder. So the following day, on August 2nd, Detective Chris Brown and Sheriff Fry met with James' mother, stepfather, and sister. And during that meeting, they were shown a lot of the evidence in the case, including the ring video footage, copies of the 911 calls, and all of the police interviews of Allison, Stacy, and Mitchell. And that only caused more controversy.
James' family felt as if the Ducros weren't even that fazed by James' murder. In one part of Allison's interview, she was even seen smiling. But it's important to note that that doesn't mean she doesn't care. If you listen to the 911 call, you can clearly hear how terrified she was throughout the entire ordeal. And sometimes people react in strange ways. Now, in order for them to do a thorough investigation, the investigators asked James' family to send in any tips that could help his case.
But nothing that was sent in would really help. So on August 4th, all of the evidence from this case was presented to a grand jury. There were photographs, the ring camera footage, 911 calls, witness statements, autopsy results, interview videos, body cam footage, you name it.
And although everyone could recognize that this was a tragic story all around, the grand jury had something very important to consider, which is the Stand Your Ground law and the Castle Doctrine. Now as a little history lesson, the Castle Doctrine has origins in the medieval English common law. And it basically states that everyone has a right to defend their home from an attack
or an unlawful entry, even if that means using deadly force. The Castle Doctrine was upheld in the United States Supreme Court back in 1895 and it made it to where if someone comes to try and take your land, you're allowed to kill them because that land is yours.
Now, the Stand Your Ground law makes it to where if someone comes onto your property and tries to harm you, you're also allowed to use deadly force to defend yourself or your family. In 2005, Florida was the first to implement this law and since then many others have followed suit. But you can't just shoot people on your property and claim "Stand Your Ground."
If you could, there would be a lot of people getting away with murder. So there are very specific requirements that must be met.
Like, it has to be an unprovoked attack. You can't be the initial aggressor. There also has to be a reasonable degree of forced use and response to the threat. And the person has to fear that they are going to be injured or murdered. So as you can see, this story checks all of those boxes. And thanks to the Ring camera footage, it was very clear that the DeCrow family feared for their lives.
as James was breaking their front door down. And under the Stand Your Ground law, they were within their rights to use deadly force. Now, luckily for Mitchell, the state of Ohio had just implemented this law in April of 2021.
According to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the person who is attacked, without fault of his own, may use deadly force only if he reasonably and honestly believed that deadly force was necessary to prevent serious bodily harm or death. If the person does not have this belief, he should not use deadly force.
Again, if it does not put your life or the life of others in danger, you should withdraw from the confrontation if it is safe for you to do so. It's also important to note that although James was unarmed, the de Croo's didn't know that. And during parts of the break-in, James was seen putting his arms behind his back.
Not to mention, they told him to leave the property several times, even warning him that they had a gun. Which is a pretty scary thought. If someone is bold enough to continue breaking a door down after you tell them that you're armed, who knows what they're capable of. Now clearly, we don't know what James' intentions were. No one does, and he's not here to tell us.
Maybe he didn't go there to harm Allison, but there's also a chance that he did. And Mitchell DeCrow wasn't willing to take that chance. Now, the grand jury in this case would ultimately make an eight to one vote to throw out the felony indictment, meaning Mitchell would not be prosecuted due to the stand your ground law
After the ruling, Prosecutor Sell and Sheriff Frye issued a statement to the family of James Rael and said they "extend their sympathies in the loss of their loved one and to all affected by this incident."
Fry also told Inside Edition, "This is a no-win situation for any of the parties. It is very, very sad." But that wasn't enough for James' family. His sister told Inside Edition, "There wasn't a full investigation done. They were only on the scene for two hours and then rushed it to a grand jury. My brother had no history of anger or violence. He was very kind and compassionate. I just don't understand how there wasn't more compassion for James' life."
Jessica also spoke out about the fact that no one tried to administer CPR as James bled out on the driveway for seven minutes before the police arrived and that that should have been looked at in the investigation. She also talked about wanting to make changes to Ohio's self-defense laws, stating, We do think that there needs to be some tweaks to it.
if that law is going to be in place. I feel like we need at least a full investigation first to see what needs to be changed so that this sort of incident doesn't happen to another family. And I don't wish this kind of pain on someone else.
Now, Jessica would later say that she believed the Shelby County Sheriff's Department was biased towards Alison Ducroix because she had previously worked there as a dispatcher. She also said that Mitchell was good friends with the sheriff, so due to these circumstances, she believed that her brother's death would never get a full investigation. But the county sheriff has responded to this, saying that James' death did indeed get a full and thorough investigation.
Now, this case caused a lot of controversy not just in Ohio, but all throughout the nation. One side sees James as a young and harmless kid who was murdered, shot in the back by an angry father. Interestingly enough, the neighbor who was the first to arrive at the Ducros property after the shooting, he believes that Mitchell shouldn't have shot him.
Next door neighbor Jeffrey Herford said he saw everything as well as rail on the ground. Just a shallow breathing. I was looking at the guy's hands. He wasn't, didn't have any gun in his hands or anything. Herford does not agree with the neighbors or the police report. He says from what he saw, rail never made it inside. I don't see that. If he entered the house, why did he shoot through the door?
But on the other hand, many people around the US have been very vocal in their support of Mitchell. And from what I've seen online, most people believe that he was justified in the shooting and that he was just a father protecting his daughter.
But with the new stand-your-ground laws here in the state, Ohioans do not have to back down if they feel threatened on their own property. I think he had every right. Which, in the 911 call, you can hear the daughter agree with. Dad, at that rate, there is nothing you can do. You saved my life. After the grand jury failed to bring charges against Mitchell, James' family launched a Justice for James campaign.
The profile picture on the Facebook page shows a picture of James Rail with the words, quote, Mitch shot him in the back. Hashtag justice for James Rail. James's sister Jessica has made many posts on the page. One reads, quote, No matter what anyone says, those who knew him knew who he was.
and where his heart had always been, including his quote-quote friend he went to see on his very last day. You do not know the whole story from one short clip. James was a wonderful, good-hearted person, and the reason we are fighting is because he deserves it.
You may think you know everything after watching a three-minute clip or whatever you saw, but you do not. You look forward to being able to shed more light on all of this when we are able. Until then, maybe you shouldn't be so quick to judge a situation you know nothing about."
One comment under that post read,
He ignored all the warnings. His death is on him and him only. Not you or your family, not the dad, Allison, or her family. Again, sorry for your loss. I can't imagine the heartbreak of this. Honor him in spirit. Another post made by James' family reads, quote, Mitch shot him in the back and killed him.
End quote.
Now, I will say that there are rarely any comments on this Facebook page that support James. I had to scroll for a while just to find a few. So it's clear that almost everyone agrees that Mitchell did what he had to do. But I also think it's important to recognize that James' family is hurting.
If you've ever lost a loved one, then you know that grief is a hell of a journey. And I think in people's grief, they often search for answers, which is clear that that's what his family is trying to do. And I can only hope that from here forward, they find peace.
Now, as for the Ducro family, they were also very shaken up by everything that happened. So much so, they actually put their home up for sale just three weeks after the shooting. The horrible memories there were just too much to bear. So the spacious 1,800-square-foot three-bedroom home hit the market on August 18, 2022, and the asking price was $436,000.
A description for the home read, "A little piece of paradise." According to Zillow, the home sold on October 29th, 2022, and it really does make you wonder if the new owners know the story of what happened there. Now, it's unknown where the Ducro family relocated to, and as for the Justice for James Real Facebook page, it appears that there has not been a lot of traction in their quest for justice.
Now, even though this story occurred in 2022, the ring camera footage of this incident has been getting a ton of attention on Facebook and TikTok. And if you haven't seen it yourself, I do recommend going to watch it before you make any judgments.
Because I do think it's important to see the way that James is breaking in rather than just hearing it. But this video is starting a huge conversation about people's right to defend themselves. And the question I will leave you with today is if you were in the DeCrow's position, what would you have done? In what situations is it okay to take a human life?
And when your family is in danger and you use deadly force, will people call you a murderer or a hero? As for Mitchell Ducroix, it seems like the majority thinks the latter.
As a lot of you probably know, Courtney and I's time is already really stretched thin. We have multiple projects that we're working on. I'm working on a documentary. We're posting a video every week on YouTube, a podcast, a second podcast. So we don't have a lot of extra time in our lives, especially when it comes to cooking. I know that for myself at the end of a long workday, the last thing that I want to do is get in the kitchen and cook myself something. And meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking can be a huge hassle.
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Hey everybody, it's Colin here. Thank you for joining us for this week's episode of Murder in America. Courtney and I have been working really hard on the podcast lately and we just have so much to do with this October month being such an important month in both of our schedules. So we appreciate everybody for tuning in every week and being a part of our extended family online. We love each and every one of you that listens.
I want to shout out some of our new patrons. I'm so sorry if I messed up anybody's names.
But wow, we are still catching up on patrons to shout out from literally a month and a month and a half ago. If you want to have your name read at the end of an episode and you want access to all of our bonus content, all you have to do is head to patreon.com and search murder in America.
For only $5 a month, you get access to all of our episodes early and ad-free. For $10, you get all that, plus two full-length bonus episodes of the podcast posted exclusively on Patreon. And if you're generous enough to give $20 a month, we get you four full-length bonus episodes of the show every single month, along with all the episodes early and ad-free, and we can all talk and chat on there. If you want to join our Facebook group, you can join our Murder in America Facebook group.
Or you can follow us on Instagram to see photos from every case that we cover on the show. We have a couple really, really crazy episodes coming up in the near future. So we're excited to share those with you. And yeah, thank you all for tuning in on this Friday. Have a great weekend and catch you on the next one.
Hello, I'm Shelby Scott, the host of Scare You to Sleep, a podcast where I tell you spooky bedtime stories full of creepy sound effects and music that is soothing yet unsettling to help immerse you into a world of horror. This is a show for those of us who have realized that we are not alone.
Horror can be a strange but relaxing escape from reality. Speaking of escapes, sometimes I lead you through guided nightmares, like a guided meditation, but instead of flowery meadows, I take you on a journey through your own personal nightmare.
So come get lost in the terror with me. Listen to Scare You to Sleep wherever you listen to podcasts or find us online at bloody.fm. Sweet screams. Welcome to the All 80s Movies Podcast. I'm Bill. And I'm Jason. And this is the podcast where we talk about the blockbusters, the flops, and everything in between from one of the freshest decades for movies, the 1980s. So whether you're a brain, a jock,
a valley girl, or a Jedi, we've got some 80s classics for you. Do these movies stand the test of time? Are we discovering something new? Is there an 80s movie we are finally watching for the first time? Join us each week as we dive into the cinematic nostalgia that inspired and influenced a generation. From the hits to the cult classics, we'll discuss our earliest memories, favorite scenes, fun facts, and our not-so-favorite movie moments, too. You can find the All 80s Movies Podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Please follow, and happy listening. Hey there, are you in need of a new weekly fix of horror gaming discussions? Then look no further than Saferoom, Bloody FM's horror video gaming podcast. I'm your host Jay Krieger, and I am the other one, Neil Boe. And every week, Neil, myself, and the occasional guest get together to chat about classic and contemporary horror games, and the elements that make them a standout amongst the hordes of horror games being released seemingly every day now.
In addition to celebrating anniversaries and new releases, we also interview influential horror developers such as Amnesia the Bunker's creative lead, Frederick Wilson, and even the maestro of lo-fi horror, Erdorf, the developer behind the Faith trilogy. And finally, on Thursdays, we release episodes of Horror Bytes, our bite-sized indie horror showcase in which Neil and I share a game that we discovered on Itch.io from an up-and-coming developer.
So if this sounds like the podcast for you, please consider checking out Safe Room on your preferred podcast platform and be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at Safe Room Pod for show updates.
