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Chapter 8: Anthony Snow

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(Beth Morris for WBUR & ZSP)
(Beth Morris for WBUR & ZSP)

After disappearing before he was supposed to testify in Sophia's second trial, Sean reappears in Guyana under the name Anthony Snow.

He has since launched various ventures, including a short-lived campaign for president of Guyana in 2011, a land development business that’s been the source of allegations of fraud, and a robust social media presence.

Sophia and Sean hadn’t seen each other or spoken in 17 years when he video-called her in early 2023 upon hearing that she’s been talking to a reporter.

Months after this call, Amory talks to Sean herself. He offers up a new detail about the day of Marlyne Johnson’s murder.

If you have questions about the case, the people at the center of this story, or anything else about this series, we want to hear them. Email beyondallrepairpod@gmail.com with a voice message or written message.


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Sean Correia was brought back to the U.S. from Guyana in 2005 to testify in Sophia's second trial. He disappeared before the second trial began. Soon after, he wrote this letter to the prosecutor.
Sean Correia was brought back to the U.S. from Guyana in 2005 to testify in Sophia's second trial. He disappeared before the second trial began. Soon after, he wrote this letter to the prosecutor.
Sean began going by the name Anthony Snow in Guyana, where he became involved in politics including a presidential bid in 2011.
Sean began going by the name Anthony Snow in Guyana, where he became involved in politics including a presidential bid in 2011.
Snow has a variety of business ventures in Guyana, some of which have been accused of fraudulent activities.
Snow has a variety of business ventures in Guyana, some of which have been accused of fraudulent activities.
Online, he goes by "Papa Snow" and takes to social media to discuss a variety of topics, from cooking to religion to relationships. He is pictured here with his father, George.
Online, he goes by "Papa Snow" and takes to social media to discuss a variety of topics, from cooking to religion to relationships. He is pictured here with his father, George.

Read the transcript

Chapter 8: Anthony Snow

Heads up, this episode includes descriptions of violence and strong language.

Previously on Beyond All Repair...

Rick  Buckner: What the hell are we gonna do now? You know, she just got away with murder.  

Therese Lavallee: This is a story that was concocted by Correia to save himself from the charge of murder in the first degree. 

Shane Correia: Sean is Dad's kid, 100%

Sophia Johnson: They made him out to be this  weak, sweet Boy Scout, and I was Satan's sister,

Cynthia: He’s somebody that’s manipulative, a pathological liar, somebody that is abusive, somebody that doesn't take no for an answer.

Sean Correia: I've always looked up to my sister and I never, I'd never seen something like this out of her in my life.

It’s July of 2005, and Sean Correia is giving an interview to KPTV, a Fox affiliate. Sean had been DEPORTED to Guyana two years earlier, after testifying against Sophia in her first trial. He was born in Guyana, he’d never gotten U.S. citizenship, and even with the deal he got, he was still technically a convicted felon in the States. But the Clark County sheriff's office has now brought him back to the US, to testify against Sophia AGAIN… in a new trial, with a new judge and jury.

Sean Correia: I've never not wanted to talk about it. I've never ran from the issue. 

But a month or so after this interview… Sean… DID run from the issue. He wasn’t happy with how things were going with the prosecution this time. For one, he was basically under house arrest in Clark County, and he had to check in with detectives by phone every day.

Sean Correia: Some life to live, huh? This is what it means to be a free man, I guess.

This went on for months as the attorneys prepared for Sophia's second trial. So Sean starts thinking, “Wait a minute… what am *I* getting out of this?”

Nothing, really. Unlike Sophia’s first trial, when Sean was given a deal — just a year in jail in exchange for his testimony — there was no legal incentive this time around, despite Sean’s hope that he’d be able to stay in the U.S. after the trial.

Sean Correia: I know at the end of this, I'm going to be sent away. And I'm going to have to spend the rest of my life in a place that's totally alien to me. And they don't care. 

Sean was there to talk. But not freely, he said. The prosecutor told him to basically just “stick to the script.”

Sean Correia: What they gave me here are bits and pieces of the truth, put together the way they wanted. 

But Sean had NEW information, he claimed. Information that the detectives were IGNORING. “With this being the case,” Sean wrote in a letter to the prosecutor’s office, quote, “I refuse to take part in this charade anymore.”

Reporter: The key witness vanished just weeks before Clark County prosecutors planned to retry Correia's sister, accused murderer, Sophia Johnson.

By the time Sean wrote that letter to the prosecutor, he was already on the run. “P.S.,” he concluded, “GO SUCK YOUR MOTHER. Thank you for your time.”

That was the last Clark County officials would hear from Sean Correia. Or anyone, really. He doesn’t go by Sean Correia anymore. And he’s not the cooperative, seemingly scared 19 year-old the prosecution struck a deal with decades ago. Sean has built himself a new life, under a new name… Anthony Snow. And Anthony… wanted ME to hear what he says the detectives WOULDN'T.

I'm Amory Sivertson. From WBUR and ZSP Media, this is Beyond All Repair.

Chapter 8: Anthony Snow.

Amory Sivertson: We're rolling, Paul? Thank you so much. 

I'm in the studio with Paul Vaitkus, our production manager, at the helm. And…

Shannon Dooling: I think we can just flow. 

Shannon Dooling, an investigative reporter and former colleague at WBUR whom I’ve been talking about this story with pretty much since the beginning. She’s been looking into Sean Correia, AKA Anthony Snow — who he is, and what he’s been up to since getting deported. First up?

Shannon Dooling: In 2004, we see some coverage in the news when he was charged with passport fraud in Guyana.

A year after testifying in Sophia’s first trial, Sean was apparently caught trying to buy a car in Guyana with a fake Canadian passport. News reports of the arrest refer to him by his middle name Anthony, not Sean.

A couple years later, when Sophia herself was deported after being acquitted of the murder, she says Guyanese authorities asked her upon arrival if she knew someone named Anthony SNOW.

Sophia Johnson: And I thought, you've got to be getting me. Yeah, I know who that is.

Her mom had told her about her brother’s new name. Then, in 2011…

Shannon Dooling: This is the first time we see Sean on paper sort of transform into Anthony Snow.

Anthony Snow had his big debut…

Shannon Dooling: He forms a political party in Guyana.  That in, in his words, was supposed to sort of give Guyana back to the Guyanese people and sort of fight against corruption and sort of pro-reform. It’s called the Fundamental Structure Group. 

Sean Correia: Fundamental Structure Group, which was a political party set out to contest the 2011 general elections. 

Shannon Dooling: And he had himself as the presidential candidate.

President Snow of Guyana? Nope. He didn't win. Didn't even run, technically. He claimed there was corruption within the Guyana Elections Commission.

Shannon Dooling: Two months after he like pulled his name from the presidential ballot, he's arrested. 

Reporter: Snow was sentenced to two years in prison in 2014 for causing grievous bodily harm to a customer at his Bagotstone restaurant. 

Shannon Dooling: It was a patron at this restaurant that apparently, because apparently he's a restaurateur as well, a chef.

Restaurant Advertisement: Introducing pepper snow's, gourmet deli, tasty dishes to fulfill your cravings from the very first bite.

Shannon Dooling: There was a patron who, you know, I guess, had a little too much to drink, didn't want to pay his bill, or was, you know, fighting paying his bill. And Anthony Snow's, uh, sort of reaction to that was to beat the crap out of him, basically. This guy was handcuffed. Had abrasions all over his face, his chest. 

Shannon Dooling: One of the police superintendents who actually prosecuted this crime, told me that she believes the guy's jaw was fractured. And she said, you know, one of the things I remember, I think that that guy Anthony Snow was breeding pit bulls at the time. And supposedly, like, locked the guy up in the kennel, like, like, I don't know what he was planning on doing with him in the kennel, just gonna leave him there, I don't know, some people called the police, Anthony Snow is charged, he's convicted, he serves two years in prison in Guyana, two years in prison.

Amory Sivertson: Wow. That is more, that is twice how long he served for any involvement in the murder in Washington state. 

Shannon Dooling: Yeah, it is. 

Amory Sivertson: Just to put it in perspective. 

Shannon Dooling: Right. 

So. There's Anthony Snow, the presidential hopeful. Anthony Snow the chef and dog breeder who attacked a customer and put him in a dog kennel. But there’s also… Anthony Snow the ENTREPRENEUR…

SD: One of his companies is called Job Fair Worldwide. 

Advertisement: Job Fair Worldwide. Be your own boss. 

Shannon Dooling: What do they actually do? I'm not really sure. Okay. I'm pretty, from the descriptions and how he sort of presents it, it's sort of like a, um, like a recruitment agency where they help people get jobs.

Advertisement: How would you like to work from home with one of Guyana's top businesses? Do you want a job that pays 25 to 100 US dollars? We also offer free online training to enhance your skills.

Shannon Dooling: There's been some really serious allegations about how this company works and one of them got a pretty significant amount of, of, of media attention that then sort of like spread to some Facebook posts and some blogs and some online posts that said, Hey, don't do business with this guy.

But there’s more than one way to do business with Anthony Snow. Another opportunity?

Shannon Dooling: This thing called West Amazon Housing Scheme.

Which… has drawn accusations of LAND fraud.

Advertisement: Are you tired of paying rent? Consider buying a property? Contact the West Amazon Housing Scheme. We currently have house lots available. Enjoy living in a clean and safe private community with your family. 

Amory Sivertson: Anthony Snow is like selling a dream. He's selling a vision. He's selling a story. 

Shannon Dooling: And he's selling himself. He's selling himself. He's asking people to trust him, to buy into him and his vision. Don't miss out on this, on this opportunity to get in on the ground floor. 

Advertisement: Take advantage of this opportunity. Because Guyana, or at least the average Guyanese person, will only be able to take advantage of these opportunities for maybe about a decade before the bubble starts to slow down.

I was starting to get a pretty good picture of Anthony Snow’s life in Guyana. But I wanted to know more about his actual REPUTATION down there. So I reached out to a journalist who interviewed him in 2019 for Guyana Headline News. Her name is Esther Sobers.

Esther Sobers: The businessman, who has had questionable business venture and was incarcerated, maintains that he was never involved in fraud.

Sean Correia: I have never been involved in any type of fraudulent act in my life. I've been accused of things in the past. Fraud has never been one of them, until recently. 

Esther and I put a day and time to talk on the books. She rescheduled. She rescheduled again. And again. I finally got her on the phone, and...

Esther Sobers: I just wanted to say because I was talking to a few people and my husband…Because I'm really sorry he had asked me not to, to get involved in anything with Anthony Snow. 

Amory Sivertson: Anthony asked you? 

Esther Sobers: No, no, no, no, no, no. My husband, because he knows of Anthony and how it is. It was just speaking to me doesn't want me to get involved in anything with Anthony or this controversy. So I'm really sorry. I really don't want to get involved or to see anything more…

Esther and her husband know "how it is" with Anthony, she says. She doesn't want to get involved in this controversy, she says. And that's ALL she was willing to say on the record, despite me pressing. But if I had to guess, "how it is" might have something to do with how Anthony Snow is online. Or maybe I should say, Papa Snow...

Online videos: Papa Snow here coming to you live out of Guyana. Papa Snow coming to you live out of the gourmet deli. Papa Snow here again. This is Papa Snow coming to you live and direct out of Guyana with an episode of Tell It As It Is or Shut Up.

Anthony Papa Snow takes to YouTube and Facebook and TikTok ALL THE TIME to talk about... ALL THE THINGS. To a devoted audience.

Online videos: Happy International Women's Day. Okay? Learn how to work together. Learn how to put differences aside and unite. I tend to look at the genetics of a woman and her family prior to going and hooking up with that woman. And I know I don't want to be with a fat person. Of course, guys, our lasagna is already in the oven, okay? The righteous shall fall seven times. But this is a video a lot of people don't want you to see. Pull your money out the system. Crash the system.Let me ask all you women out there who are watching this show. Do you really want a man who is truly honest to you? Because I can prove to you today That that is a lie.

The hours of my life I will not get back from going down the Papa Snow YouTube rabbit hole. But truly, I couldn’t look away. Because the person you see online TODAY is just SUCH a far cry from the soft-spoken, wafery 19 year-old in an ill-fitting suit that I saw on VHS tapes from 20 years ago. The man the prosecution portrayed as, not a man, but a kid. Still figuring things out. Under the influence of his older sister, and scared as hell.   

She told me just to stay quiet and not say anything, and you know, I was crying. I didn’t know what else to do. 

But now, he's Anthony Snow, a built guy in his early 40s, who positions himself as an influential renaissance man. Who has it all figured out. Business, politics, cooking, relationships, religion. He’s a slick talker who slides in and out of a smooth, sing-songy Guyanese accent like a true man of the people...

Online video: Don't ask people that that never do the walk. We're going on there. 'cause they don't know, they never did it. Don't ask people that are not where you want to be in life. Is that the right way? No, because they're probably not gonna tell you they're probably not even where they want to be in life.

I do also wonder, though, if Esther Sobers’, the Guyanese journalist's concern around talking to me... comes from the knowledge of the darker chapter of Anthony's -- really, SEAN's -- life...

Sean Correia: Yes, I was incarcerated, I never hid it

…which he REFERENCED during her interview with him.

Sean Correia: Because of how the case is, I don't want to talk too many details about the case. It was a very serious, serious issue. 

Anthony doesn't want to talk details, but the very little he DID share… was tantalizing...

Sean Correia: When I was 19, I paid a visit to a family member who inadvertently was involved in something.

Inadvertently?! As in, he's saying... the family member he visited to get help with his divorce paperwork... SOPHIA... was UNINTENTIONALLY involved in the murder? SHE was the one roped into something? I was DYING to hear more of what Anthony Snow had to say about this. And pretty soon, I  would ~inadvertently~... get a preview.

More... in a minute.

It's January of 2023. My phone rings late at night. It’s Sophia, who I’ve been talking to for almost two years at this point… but I’ve never heard her quite like this. She sounds like she's shaking. “Sean just called me,” she says. Sophia never thought she’d talk to him AGAIN.

Sean Correia: Is this Sophia? 

Sophia Johnson: Of course it's me. You know it's me because you got my number from who? Dad, right?

Actually, Sean had apparently gotten Sophia's number from their dad's current girlfriend.

Sean Correia: When I bullied her into giving me your number.

Sophia Johnson: Oh, I see. Okay. Okay, well you could imagine my surprise to hear you calling, because I can't remember the last time I spoke to you. 

The last time this brother and sister had spoken was 2006. In Guyana, Sophia says. That was the last time they’d SEEN each other too.

Sean Correia: Well, let me see the face of my sister. Let my sister see my face. Been a long time since I've seen you. 

That beeping is Sean trying to turn their voice call... into a video one.

Sophia Johnson: Okay, are you there? Sean Correia: There goes my beautiful sister. Sophia Johnson: Oh goodness, not beautiful.  

Sean Correia: First, let me state. It's good to see you. 

Sophia Johnson: Thank you. You look a lot like, uh, Dad. Like, a lot like Dad. 

Sean Correia: Well, I'm his son. 

The REASON Sean is calling now, it turns out, is ME. In an ABSTRACT sense. Sean had heard that Sophia was talking to some reporter about Marlyne's murder, and he wanted to know more. Sophia explains to Sean that she wants to sue the state of Washington for wrongful conviction.

Sophia Johnson: I did not kill her. I had nothing to do with her death. And I don't think it's fair that it continues to fall at my feet. The Johnsons absolutely believe that I killed her based on your testimony. Sean Correia: Well, I didn't kill her. 

Sophia Johnson: So, the problem that I see is that I had nothing to do with it. 

Sean Correia: …and I have completely pulled myself away from the… Once it don't got nothing to do with me, I have no problem with nothing. I understand that the court wrongfully convicted you, and you had your mistrial and what not, so you are well within your legal grounds to sue the state of Washington, and if I was you, I would probably do the same thing. 

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Ok, what's said here... is remarkable... but even more remarkable is what's NOT said here. Sophia reminds Sean that HIS testimony did her in. Sean, instead of explaining his reason for testifying with something like, "I SAID you killed Marlyne... because you DID kill her, Sophia!," he says, "Well I didn't kill her." And Sophia, who's told me time and again she wants justice for Marlyne... in this moment, instead of Sean CorreiaREAMING, like I was to myself listening to this, "Well then WHO DID, SEAN?! WHO DID KILL HER?!"... Sophia just... moves on from Sean's declaration.

And Sean, the guy who said on the stand that he SAW his sister strike Marlyne with fireplace tongs, he's now telling that same sister that she's "well within her legal grounds" to sue the state of Washington for WRONGFUL conviction. That HE'D do the same thing in her position.

Truly... What. The fuck. Is going on. In this conversation?

Sophia Johnson: Since, since we're talking about this, I cannot even believe it. I'm shaking a little bit because we've never talked about this. Why would you even testify against me?  Why would you go up there and say you saw me do it? 

Sean Correia: Sophia. 

Sophia Johnson: Like really, what is the motivation behind doing something so fucked up?

Sean Correia: Sophia, I went and I assisted the prosecution based on the fact that I was called into something without my knowledge. Now, on top of that, I could have further assisted them and sealed things, but I refused to do it. You're my sister. Now, you're a free woman. You have the ability to sue them right now, and I hope to God you do. 

"I was called into something without my knowledge," Sean says... which honestly sounds like the Sean who testified against Sophia. But also that he could have "sealed things," but he refused to, which sounds like the Sean that fled from Clark County, Washington before the second trial. Because he couldn't do that to his sister... which doesn't sound like ANY Sean we've met along the way. And he HOPES she sues them? Why? For her own sake? Or just to stick it to the man?

Sophia Johnson: You understand suing them opens this case up again, right? 

Sean Correia: Listen, if it opens up this case. 

Sophia Johnson: It does open up this case. 

Sean Correia: I'm going to tell you this, if it opens up with this, the most that could happen. 

No no no no no no! Sean hangs up. Or the call drops. Where was he going with that? Or where did he STOP himself from going with that?

I needed to know.

Amory Sivertson: Good morning. Is this Anthony Snow? 

Sean Correia: Yes. Who am I speaking with?

Hi, my name's Amory Sivertson and I work for W B U R. It's a public radio station in the United States. How are you? 

Sean Correia: I'm doing all right. 

He's doing alriiiiiight. Maybe a little wary. Wouldn't blame him.

Sean Correia: What can I do for you today? 

Amory Sivertson: Yeah. I'm working on a story that involves your sister, and

Sean Correia: Can you just give me one moment because I do have a client here just don't, don't hang. 

Amory Sivertson: I won't. I'm standing by.

He has a client there, he says. A Jobfair Worldwide client, I wondered? An investor in the West Amazon Housing Scheme? A restaurant patron PAYING their bill? Part of me was tempted to say, "Can you just put the client on for a minute?" But Sean snapped me back to the REAL reason I'd called.

Sean Correia: Soon as you said my sister girl, you just made my whole, you made my whole day. 

Amory Sivertson: I made your whole day?

Sean Correia: I don’t talk to her much. I don't really talk to her much. Created a lot of devastation and a rise of the family. 

The phone line... is TERRIBLE. But he said he doesn't talk to his sister much. That she created a lot of devastation in his family. And then, he said this...

Sean Correia: I've been expecting a call actually. I've heard talking among the family. I mean, I don't really mix too much with them anymore, but I've heard a lot of, heard a lot of chatter.

Amory Sivertson: What did you hear? Do you have, is there any, do you have, um, questions for me right off the bat based on what you've heard? 

Sean Correia: Nope, not much, you know, I'm here, I'm here to listen as well. 

Amory Sivertson: Okay. I appreciate that.

Sean Correia: I'm not really in the states anymore. I've had to rebuild my life after it was wrongfully destroyed, my children loss my family loss.

Sean is not REALLY in the United States anymore, he says... I'm guessing because he's made Facebook posts even just within the last year or two claiming to be in New York briefly, visiting two of his kids who live there. Sean is a father of six children across 5 marriages, only one of whom lives in Guyana. How often he's come into the U.S., where ELSE he's gone... I don't know.

Sean Correia: Amory. Yeah, I am very un— 

He's very un-WHAT? Ugh, this phone line... and all the notifications that keep interrupting it.

Sean Correia: Hurt and destroyed, by the way, I was treated by the Clark County district attorney's office and by the police. But even in saying that I'm an adult now compared to being a 19 year old boy that was afflicted by all of those things. And I don't blame them for trying to find the truth behind something like that. And the person that actually victimized me in this whole situation is my sister. She victimized, she victimized my daughters who had to grow up without me in their life. My wife who had a nervous breakdown and even to this day, is still suffering. 

He's talking about Susie here, the woman he was dating when the murder happened, and the mother of two of his daughters. I've tried to reach Susie a number of times. But, according to one of her sisters, Sean's right about Susie not being a good place to talk about any of this. As for SOPHIA, Sean says...

Sean Correia: I'm not sure why or what she's doing. Whatever she's doing for, I thought that she would've been, she should have been grateful because after she was convicted and she had that 43 years, she, she, you know, she should have been grateful that, that she had a second chance is however, some people…… 

Amory Sivertson: Hello?.... Hello? 

Oh no, he was gone. But fortunately, not for long.    

Sean Correia: Amory? 

Amory Siverston: Yes, yes, speaking. Oh, this is great cuz this is much better. I can, I can hear you so much more clearly now too. 

I asked Sean to elaborate on what he meant when he said he was victimized by his sister.

Sean Correia: My sister betrayed my trust. She lured me to a place where she wanted to commit the crime. She committed a crime in the place. Then she tried to blame something on me.

Amory Siverston: When you say that she committed the crime,  are you saying explicitly that, that Sophia committed murder, Sophia killed Marlyne Johnson?

Sean Correia: What I'm saying is when I went downstairs in that place, the person that was holding the weapon with the things on them was my sister.  

Amory Siverston: Why did you agree to testify against your sister?

Sean Correia: Because my sister wasn't telling the truth, 

Amory Siverston: The truth that she killed Marlyne?

Sean Correia: She killed Marlyne or she knew directly what the hell was going on, but I, I can only say what I saw. I can't really say anything else outside of that. 

It's not just me, right? I'm giving Sean the opportunity to just SAY IT. Sophia killed Marlyne. Just like Sophia gave him the opportunity to say that to her face.

Sophia Johnson: Why would you go up there and say you saw me do it?

But instead, he tells me EITHER Sophia killed Marlyne, or she knew what was going on. He can only say what he saw. As if he HADN'T said on the stand 21 years ago that he SAW Sophia, with a stocking on her face, strike Marlyne with fireplace tongs.

Sean Correia: It turned out to be… my sister. 

Why was he hedging this now?

I tried a different approach. I reminded Sean of the letter he’d written to the prosecutor’s office, saying he refused to be part of their charade anymore… and the KPTV interview he'd done shortly before fleeing the country.

Sophia Johnson: What they gave me here are bits and pieces of the truth, put together the way they wanted. 

Amory Sivertson: Do you remember what was kind of frustrating you about what they wanted you to say and what they didn't want you to say for the second trial? 

Sean Correia: Yeah. They, they wanted me, they wanted me to omit certain information from my original statement. And the reality is, when I thought about it, I realized why they did that ‘cause girl wrong. If she wanna tell the truth, she could tell the truth. If there was somebody else there with her that day, she needs to tell the truth.

If there was somebody else WITH HER that day?! Somebody other than HIM, I asked?

Sean Correia: Yeah, you got, you got some sense. I saw something else move in the background, but it was further down the corridor, so I couldn't really see, cuz the place was dark. But you could, you could tell someone else was there.

Amory Siverston: Oh, wow. 

Sean Correai: But the only person who would be able to identify who else was there was my sister. And my sister would not tell the truth. 

Amory Siverston:I don't remember hearing about a shadow in the background. 

Shane Correia: That's because that's because everybody wanted that shit omitted. They, they didn't want it there. Because it just kind of complicated things. It was less clear, cuz they would, they would complicate the case because now, now you, they get, they gotta go and find whoever that person was. If you check my original statement to the police, I even told them I saw something else move in the shadows in that same place where, where that whole thing happened. 

I have the transcript of Sean's first interview with detectives. But there are a couple funny things about it. The first... is that lead detective Rick Buckner says on the record that they don't start recording until about an hour IN to talking with Sean. WHY? Why not capture EVERYTHING? What did Sean say BEFORE they hit record? The second strange thing... is that right where this detail in the story WOULD have presumably come... about a shadow of another figure in the Johnsons' house with Sophia, the transcript reads:

Buckner: What did you see, Sean? You came down the stairs...

Sean: I went downstairs. 

Buckner: What did you see, Sean? 

Sean: I see Mrs. Johnson. 

What does she look like? // I seen her face was like really swelling, there was blood everywhere. // Is she breathing? // I don't know, I was.... 

Indiscernible. The transcript reads... that whatever Sean said... was "indiscernible."

Buckner: You go downstairs, you see Mrs. Johnson, you go out the door to the right, is that right? 

Sean: Yes. 

Buckner: Okay. I'm not going to put your words in your mouth--

I mean, truly, that is EXACTLY what he just did, but...

Buckner: I'm not going to put your words in your mouth, just want to... 

INDISCERNIBLE, the transcript says again.

Yes, Sean says, to whatever Detective Buckner just said. Buckner’s response? Indiscernible.

And then... a note. "Remainder of proceeding unintelligible."

So... DID Sean mention someone else in the shadows to the detectives in this first interview, either in the HOUR before they started recording, or in this key portion of the interview that just so happens to be gone from the record? Indiscernible.

Amory Sivertson: Well, I know your sister has, she's mentioned to me that she wants to sue the state of Washington for wrongful conviction. Um, but it sounds like from what you know, that, that you think it may not have been a wrongful conviction that you think she, that she killed Marlyne. Is that right? 

Sean Correia:  It is my belief that if she didn't personally do it, because I saw her standing over the body, she didn't personally do it. Then she knows exactly who did it and they were in that building with her that day. And that was the shadow that I saw. But nobody wants to address the damn shadow in the background. And the only person who could really address that could be the one person who knew everything. And that was Sophia.

Learning more about Sean, the brother who -- by Sophia's account -- invented a story to save his own ass, who -- by his own social media accounts -- has REinvented himself in Guyana as Anthony Snow. And then talking to him, and hearing a new story about the day of Marlyne's murder, that was either also invented... or ignored all along... I was CONFUSED. More so than ever. About Sean. About Sophia. About what ACTUALLY happened.

Sean Correia: Girl, I, the worst mistake of my life was listening to my sister that morning.

Sophia Johnson: And if there's one thing I could change in my life right now where I know I made the wrong choice it was that.

Sean Correia: My whole life changed that day.

Sophia Johnson: That decision altered the course of my life

Sean Correia: She’s my sister. I would love to save her if I could, but she don't deserve it. She don't deserve it. She's such a wicked person. You have no clue. You have no clue. 

Coming up, Sophia reacts to what Sean shared with me.

Sophia Johnson: I love the new twist. I do. I love the new twist.

And... more twists surface. One that shakes Sean...

Sean Correia: Wow. It just gets more interesting. 

Another... that shakes... ME.

Amory Siverston: All I've wanted is to know what fucking happened. And this makes me feel like I know what happened.

That's next time.

Beyond All Repair is a production of WBUR, Boston’s NPR, and ZSP Media.

It’s written and reported by me, Amory Sivertson. It’s produced by Sofie Kodner. Additional reporting for this episode by Shannon Dooling.

Mix, sound design, and original scoring by Matt Reed and production manager of WBUR Podcasts, Paul Vaitkus.

Theme and credits music by me.

Our managing producers are Samata Joshi for WBUR and Liz Stiles of ZSP Media. Our editors and executive producers are Ben Brock Johnson of WBUR and Zac Stuart-Pontier of ZSP Media.

If you have questions about the case, the people at the center of this story, or anything else about this series, we want to hear ‘em. Email beyondallrepairpod@gmail.com. Voice memo or written message, you do you: beyondallrepairpod@gmail.com. You can also find pictures and a lot more information on Instagram by following “WBUR Presents.”

Do me a favor, will ya? Quit something you don’t need in your life, drink some water, consider a nap, listen to a good song, eat a treat, go for a little walk, tell someone you love ‘em, and then tell them about this show. In that order.

THANK YOU for listening.

Headshot of Amory Sivertson

Amory Sivertson Host and Senior Producer, Podcasts
Amory Sivertson is a senior producer for podcasts and the co-host of Endless Thread.

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Headshot of Sofie Kodner

Sofie Kodner Freelance Producer, WBUR Podcasts
Sofie Kodner is a freelance podcast and documentary producer.

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Headshot of Paul Vaitkus

Paul Vaitkus Production Manager, Podcasts
Paul Vaitkus is the production manager for WBUR's podcast department and is responsible for all things audio.

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Headshot of Matthew Reed

Matthew Reed Sound Designer Podcasts
Matt Reed is a Sound Designer of Podcasts in WBUR’s iLab.

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