In True Crime Story: It Couldn’t Happen Here audiences are introduced to small town communities across the United States that have deep scars. In its fourth season, the true crime docuseries hosted by Hilarie Burton Morgan, continues to tell the stories of these murder cases that are rife with unexpected twists and turns. We connected with Burton Morgan to discuss some of the most complicated cases from Season 4, including the cases of Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam (episode titled, “State College, Pennsylvania”), Ta’neasha Chapel (episode titled, “Brownstown, Indiana”) and Molly Miller and Colt Haynes (episode titled, “Love County, Oklahoma”). 

Details matter, especially when it comes to these cases. I noticed that you’re listed as “advocate” in the credits, and I think that’s the perfect word to describe the work that you’re doing. Do you have any part in the pre-production and selection process of these stories? How does the team manage to pick 6 cases for a season out of the thousands that I’m sure come across your desk? 

Well for Season 1, we really had to go out and solicit cases. What we know about crime reporting is that law enforcement or district attorneys generally tell the media to "keep your mouth shut until after the trial's over." We couldn't find articles that were highlighting police missteps in Georgia or police corruption in Oklahoma. You don't see those kinds of headlines. 

So, we really had to take alternate routes to find those cases, but once our first season aired, we received a flood of DMs and emails. That's largely how we get our cases these days, from people reaching out. We’ve had reporters contact us and we've had teachers reach out about former students, family members. For us, there are a couple boxes that we have to check. We have to make sure that it's happened in a small town and that it's not just a missing person's case or just a wrongful conviction, but that there's also a clear understanding of where the system went wrong. I usually explain it to people like this: in other true crime shows, you discover who the bad guy is in the second to last act. In our show, you go into it understanding that the bad guy is the system. It is a systemic bad guy in our show and our show's about navigating the puzzle of how to get out of it. 

There are people who go to college and study the criminal justice system and are experts in it, and then there’s pretty much everyone else. Whether you're a juror or you're someone who's been accused of something or you're a victim and you don't know how to advocate for your own family, none of us have an education in law and we're expected to work on the same playing field as the people who have master's degrees and are judges… it's a very unbalanced system. 

Cases that involve corruption within law enforcement are some of the most difficult to navigate and the case of Ta’neasha Chapel is no different. I think one of the major takeaways from Ta’neasha’s case is the public outcry really is a major factor in getting these types of cases solved and sadly the town of Brownstown, Indiana did not back up those that wanted answers. How was your experience being there? 

That was an awkward visit because we pulled into a town square that was beautiful. There was a big banner, the local sports team was kicking ass, and it was the postcard version of what small towns in America are supposed to look like. We were approached by a couple of girls who were big One Tree Hill fans, and that has oftentimes been a really good entry point to start conversations with strangers, so I'm happy that I have that to lean on every once in a while. But in this situation, we spoke with these girls, and everything was really warm and pleasant and the second I brought up Ta'Neasha's case, all but one of the girls dummied up and the tone shifted. 

One girl was willing to say, "That's messed up." I was so impressed with her bravery. I knew it wasn't just her speaking out against her town. It was also her speaking out of turn with her closest friends and her coworkers, and that puts you in a very awkward position, because you don't know whose uncle is a police officer. You don't know who's related to the people in power in these small towns, and so I was really impressed with this young woman. I hope that she inspires her friends to also speak out. It really does take just one person who's got the nerve and then it makes it safe for everybody else to speak out. The other girls that she was with weren't bad people. I don't think that they liked what happened to Ta'Neasha, but they also had been raised in an environment where keeping your mouth shut was the expectation. We live in a climate right now where we can't keep our mouths shut. If anything, we all just need to be the lippiest, loudest versions of ourselves.

There are only four Bureau of Indian Affairs agents that cover all of Oklahoma — a state with the largest number of missing indigenous people in the country. You make a really powerful statement regarding the Molly Miller and Colt Haynes case at the end of the episode — that true collaboration between the BIA, the FBI, and local law enforcement would actually move the needle for this case. Missing persons cases like these represent a whole other level of frustration and sadness because beloved family members are still out there... and there's absolutely no closure. Can you speak a little bit about tackling these missing persons cases, specifically when it comes to this indigenous missing person crisis that we're in right now? 

Yeah, we absolutely know that it's a crisis, and so it was really important for us to be with leadership in Oklahoma and to hear directly from them about what they're up against. I was just as surprised as you were at how limited the resources are in this relationship between the United States and these sovereign Native nations. They're forced to pay rent to use the jails to house people as they await trial. They're forced to come up with resources that they don’t have the capability to raise funds for, and then they're not allowed to speak as a sovereign nation when law enforcement and the U.S. side picks up a member of their community. 

How do you motivate yourself to keep on going with these cases in the face of such sadness and frustration? Of course, I know you’re committed to this work, but I can see in your face and your voice when you talk with these families that you’re also deeply affected by these stories and these families that you connect with. How do you ground yourself and find some semblance of hope as you continue this work? 

It really helps being surrounded by a crew that has been doing it for a very long time. The documentary filmmakers I work with, they've been working together since they went to NYU together. Our team is so tight, and they've been big brothers and sisters to me. They've made me feel incredibly safe and they've taught me so much. We’ve seen a huge percentage of success in our cases. We've seen multiple people walk out of prison. We've seen people who were wrongfully convicted finally get payouts after a decade of fighting.

We've seen people who have been wrongfully accused have new witnesses come forward. We've had jurors come forward and say, "Oh my God, we messed up." We've had so many cases move the needle. So, yes, every case is really, really, really hard, but if one in four or one in five of these cases get movement because there's now a national spotlight on it it’s so worth it. I've talked to my kids about it a lot and it's very difficult for me to be away from them, so if I'm going to be away from them, it has to be for something important — and this is something important. My husband feels that and my children feel that too, so I'm very grateful that we get the opportunity to keep telling these stories.

All episodes from Season 4 of True Crime Story: It Couldn't Happen Here are available to stream on sundancenow.com (with a cable provider login), and some of the AMC apps for mobile and devices. You can also watch episodes via AMC+ at amcplus.com or through the new AMC+ app available on iPhone, iPad, Android, Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku plus Samsung and Vizio smart TVs. AMC+ can also be streamed through a variety of providers, including AppleTV, Prime Video Channels, DirectTV, Dish, Roku Channel, Sling, and Xfinity. Sign up for AMC+ now.