Footsteps in the Dark Podcast
On July 18th, 2006, John Woodward’s life changed forever. He was convicted of multiple drug crimes he claims he didn’t commit. While fighting the system to get out, John finds himself in the middle of a delicate game of cat and mouse against another inmate...and John lost. This season follows a 17-year journey as John fights to get out of prison and clear his name from crimes he claims he did not commit. This is the Story of John Woodward.
Episodes
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Episode 9: 17 years, 2 months and 6 days
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Thomas Jackson calls back...and talks to John for the first time since 2010. We finally obtain the discovery evidence from Dakota County...and find multiple smoking guns. After more than 17 years, John finds his way out.
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Episode 8: The Reidell Brothers
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Monday Nov 03, 2025
A missing transcript is found, and his private investigator keeps finding things in strange places. John Woodward tells me about where this all started, and I'll discover new information showing it began long before John thought. A new name leads to a revelation...and two brothers are unmasked.
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Episode 7: Lost and Found
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Monday Nov 03, 2025
John Woodward's private investigator goes looking for documents that show up in weird places. We reexamine a failed drug test that landed John back in prison in 2009, leading to his meeting Jackson. A web of connections appear, and the PI finds Michelle McPhillips...and what she said shakes John's reality and gives a glimmer of hope.
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Episode 6: Hide and Seek
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Monday Nov 03, 2025
John Woodward's private investigator tries to get John freed after being convinced Jackson was trying to scam John, and immediately realizes something isn't right. He turns his focus onto John's first case from 2006, and runs into the same headaches as John's first investigator. As the PI pulls the strings, the ball of yarn begins to come undone.
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Episode 5: The Recordings
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Jackson made a deal with the devil, and now he had to make good on it. Tasked with getting John Woodward to talk, Jackson goes to work. John would tell his attorney everything...but it was too late, and years later, multiple analyses of the recordings would show something wasn't right.
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Episode 4: The Conman Cracks
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Through a chance email, I find myself talking directly with Thomas Jackson. After striking a deal for his story, things get weird...then, Jackson cracks and starts talking about John and what happened, and Jackson tosses a couple curveballs.
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Episode 3: What the F&%$ with the Truck?
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Monday Nov 03, 2025
In 2010, John Woodward finds himself in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Thomas Jackson. John has his wife send attorney Jan Tarvestad $2500...but for what? Was it for legal fees? Was it for a truck? Or, was it a down payment for murder?
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Episode 2: Thomas Jackson
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Monday Nov 03, 2025
In early 2010, John Woodward was fighting to overturn a ruling that could get him released, and he meets another inmate, Thomas Jackson. A lifelong criminal, Jackson offers his help. John, being desperate and depressed, accepts. It is a decision John Woodward would regret.
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Episode 1: Claims of Innocence
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Monday Nov 03, 2025
In 2006 and 2010, John Woodward was charged with multiple crimes he claims he is innocent of. Once a self-made millionaire, John has very little beyond a family that never gave up on him or his claims of innocence. In 2018, he'd hire a private investigator to look into his claims. This is the investigation and story of John Woodward.
Saturday Feb 15, 2025
Introducing FITD Season 2: The Story of John Woodward
Saturday Feb 15, 2025
Saturday Feb 15, 2025
John Woodward claims he was wrongfully convicted...twice. After a 6-year private investigation, it might be true. What John didn't know, however, is it might not be twice...it might've been three times.
This is the story...of John Woodward.









