Forgiving the People Who Wrongfully Sent You to Jail

Mark Abbott figured he’d better take the back roads to get home in the early morning hours of November 8th, 1992. He would later claim that he was drunk and didn’t want to get another DUI or get cited for driving without a license. When he pulled off of Interstate 55 near Benton, Missouri, he saw a car idling at the top of an exit ramp. He looked in, and realized he’d found a body. 

 

Welcome to another episode of The Unlovely Truth. I’m your host, private investigator Lori Morrison. Join me for another captivating true crime story, where physical, spiritual, and emotional safety takeaways are waiting for us. If you are listening, I believe you have a unique calling—to become a different kind of PI, not a typical private investigator, but a person of impact!

 

Our book this week is “The Murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless: An Honest Sheriff and the Exoneration of an Innocent Man” by  Stephen R. Snodgrass with Joshua C. Kezer and our guest is Joshua Kezer. We will check in with Josh after we investigate this fascinating book.

The body Mark Abbott found was 19 year old nursing student Angela Mischelle Lawless. 

With all the wisdom of a drunk man, he decided someone else would come by soon, and if the police came looking for him, he’d tell them he was Matt Abbott, his twin brother.

If true crime shows had been popular back then, maybe he’d have known that twins don’t have identical fingerprints.

 

Someone else did drive and notice the car, but didn’t stop in case whoever was inside might be looking for trouble. The couple went to the sheriff’s department to tell them the scene needed to be checked out. Deputies found Angela, who went by her middle name of Mischelle lying across the center console with her head on the passenger seat. Mischelle didn’t appear to be breathing. 

 

Witnesses said that Josh had confessed to them. Despite having alibi witnesses that placed him over 300 miles away at the time of the murder, Josh was convicted and sent to prison. Prison is a rough and dangerous place and Josh had to learn how to survive there. As time passed, he got involved with the prison ministry attending Sunday services and joining Bible Study groups. 

Josh says in the book that faith became the focus and center of his life, giving him hope for the future, and helping him handle the nightmare that was his present.

 

It was there that he met Jane Williams. Jane was at the prison giving a presentation on devotionals she had written. After meeting they forged a friendship through correspondence. Eventually, Josh trusted Jane enough to tell her his story. 

 

Scott County reserve deputy Rick Walter had always believed that the case against Josh was weak. Though neither he nor Jane Williams knew what the other was doing, their combined efforts would change Josh’s life forever. It wasn’t easy, and he still lives with the trauma he endured spending so many years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. One of the most important things that he learned was the importance of forgiveness.

 

Psalm 109:1-3

 

Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths 

are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. 

They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause.

 

This is a Psalm of David, written when he was at a really low point in his life. Enemies were pursuing him with lies. Josh Kezer knows what that feels like. If you read the rest of this Psalm, you’ll see that even in his distress, David left vengeance to God. That’s not an easy thing to do at all. It certainly helped David that he cried out to God. It helped Josh that he turned to his faith too. What attacks are you facing where it’s really tempting to try to get payback? I hope that Psalm 109 inspires you to let God deal with it. 

 

Let me know what you think! Send me an email a lori@theunlovelytruth.com or message me on social media. I love it when people are willing to have those hard, but impactful conversations!

 

Visit my website to access more episodes, read my blog posts, or check out ways you can financially support the podcast so that together we can impact more people, more families, and more communities. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting and investigative services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 

Get a copy of The Murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless: An Honest Sheriff and the Exoneration of an Innocent Man

 

Connect with Josh on Facebook or Instagram

 

Contact the Scott County Prosecutor at 573-545-3562

 

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Check out my newest book, Reclaiming Sanctuary: Enhancing Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Safety in Our Churches