Joseph Sledge Closer To Freedom

By Hady Mawajdeh,

Published December 8, 2014 at 12:06 PM EST

Joseph Sledge, photographed at Pamlico Correctional Institution in Bayboro, N.C. Thursday, February 28, 2013.

In 1976, Joseph Sledge escaped from an Elizabethtown prison and within 24 hours, mother and daughter Josephine and Ailene Davis were murdered.

He was considered an obvious suspect and was later accused of their murder. But slowly over the past two years evidence has been discovered that could have exonerated Sledge 35 years ago.

Host Frank Stasio talks with News & Observer Investigative Reporter Mandy Locke about the evolution of Joseph Sledge’s case and the work of the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission to bring the case to a three judge panel for possible exoneration.

The News & Observer has a timeline that tracks the progress of Joseph Sledge's fight for freedom. You can follow his journey here.

Mandy Locke has been writing about Joseph Sledge's case for the past year and this article from last year details his entire ordeal.

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Hady Mawajdeh

Hady Mawajdeh is a native Texan, born and raised in San Antonio. He listened to Fresh Air growing up and fell in love with public radio. He earned his B.A. in Mass Communication at Texas State University and specialized in electronic media. He worked at NPR affiliate stations KUT and KUTX in Austin, Texas as an intern, producer, social media coordinator, and a late-night deejay.

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Frank Stasio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.

See stories by Frank Stasio