Her father's murder has been unsolved for over 20 years. Here's how Madison McGhee is trying to get answers
For 10 years, Madison McGhee believed her father had died of a heart attack. It wasn't until she was 16 that she learned the truth: He was murdered. John Cornelius "J.C." McGhee had been shot and killed at his Ohio home on July 11, 2002.
Not long afterwards, McGhee learned that his killing had never been solved. Her father was a former drug dealer and a confidential informant, McGhee said, which provided possible motives for his death — but she also felt it made police less willing to investigate the case thoroughly.
The case is in the jurisdiction of the Belmont County Sheriff's Department in Ohio. An arrest has never been made. The sheriff's office declined to comment on the case or McGhee's allegations that it was not investigated appropriately.
In the late 2010s, McGhee began to notice cases, like that of the
Golden State Killer
, were going to trial after podcast investigations led to new answers. She started to wonder if something similar could help her solve her father's killing. McGhee would occasionally message family members on Facebook to ask if they knew anything about her dad or his death. In 2020, during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, she turned her attention to the project more fully.
"My dad was killed with a gunshot to the head, so only one person shot that gun, and that's what I need to figure out, is who that person was," McGhee told CBS News. "I believe there were multiple people there, so it's just a matter of who's capable of it and which person did it. That is a struggle. And then also there's the motive piece. Why did this happen? Were there strings being pulled behind the scenes? Was this a targeted thing, was this an accident?"
McGhee, 29, used her background as an independent video producer to start "Ice Cold Case," a podcast where she would try to solve her father's killing. She said she was able to get access to the case files, and began interviewing people who were mentioned in those files. Soon, she started getting tips from people who had been around at the time.
This led to her belief that police did not investigate her father's killing thoroughly. McGhee claims police told her they had been searching for a witness, but had not been able to find her. She said after a few minutes of searching on social media, she was able to find the witness. McGhee said the witness still lives in the county, and she was able to interview her on the podcast. When asked about the witness, the Belmont County Sheriff's Office declined to comment.
McGhee said police have not been cooperative with the podcast or her investigation: While she has the case files, she has not been able to see any evidence from the crime scene, which she said she believed would help her solve the crime. When asked about the request, the Belmont County Sheriff's Office declined to comment. Now, her hope is that she will be able to learn enough from interviews that she can go to the sheriff's office and see if the details she learns corroborate the information in the police files. McGhee said that she believes she is close to identifying who was present when her father died. After that, she says she'll still need to identify who fired the shot that killed J.C. McGhee.
During the podcast's second season, McGhee interviewed a man who several witnesses and people who knew her father told her was the main suspect in the killing. A grand jury was convened, but charges were never brought. When asked about the grand jury and why charges were not brought, the Belmont County Sheriff's Office declined to comment. The office also declined to comment about whether the man was a suspect. McGhee interviewed him in a library in West Virginia, she said, and his comments later appeared on the podcast. She doesn't know if he is the one who pulled the trigger.
"We sat for two hours together, and he told me he didn't kill my dad, and it was really emotional," McGhee said. "If that's all true, great. I don't know. He could be lying. That interview doesn't prove his innocence by any means, but it was interesting for sure, and it taught me a lot."
McGhee's hope is that the investigation will eventually encourage the sheriff's office to identify a suspect and file charges. If no charges are filed, she predicts the third season of "Ice Cold Case," which premieres on Wednesday, April 7, will be the last. The podcast is independently produced by McGhee, without a studio or company funding it. McGhee said she has spent over $100,000 on the podcast. It has burned through her savings, run up her credit card debt and led to strained relationships with some family members. If an arrest is made, McGhee said she will cover any legal proceedings.
Even if the podcast doesn't solve the case, McGhee said she hopes it will lead to enough interest in her father's killing to put pressure on police to keep investigating. She also said she hopes the podcast helps humanize her father in the public eye.
"I was trying to get people to see oh, wait, a lot of people like J.C. McGhee get killed, and we really don't give a s***, and maybe we should," she said. "I was really trying to get people to see my dad as the dynamic person he was: Yes, drug dealer, yes, confidential informant, yes, maybe a little bit of a shady business guy. But he was a hell of a dad ... He did everything he could for his family, and he made sure we were always provided for, and I think that should be discussed when talking about my dad."
"I don't know what will happen. I don't know if the Belmont County Sheriff's Department will decide that they are going to move with an arrest, or if they're going to do something," McGhee continued. "My hope for the next 12 months is you can't go anywhere without seeing J.C. McGhee."
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