Serious Podcast

Alan Kroetzer spent 26 years in jail for crimes he didn't commit. In 1981, three men robbed a house in Florida, raped two women, and kidnapped them. Kroetzer was implicated despite not participating in the crimes. The Innocence Project helped him get justice by proving his innocence through DNA evidence. This case led to the use of DNA evidence in all Florida cases. Kroetzer's inclusion in the case remains a mystery. The podcast also mentions a sponsorship from SeatGeek. Hi everyone, this is George Andrianopoulos and welcome back to another episode of the Serious Talks podcast. Today, we are talking about a man who spent 26 years in jail for a set of crimes he did not do. His name is Alan Kroetzer. In 1981, a man was convicted in the state of Florida for three charges, rape, kidnapping, and murder. Alright, so here is the context of Mr. Kroetzer. On July 8th, 1981, in beautiful Tampa Bay, Florida, three men entered a residence. One of the men that entered was holding a shotgun, threatening the people that lived in the house. There were five people that were in that house. They all got robbed at gunpoint by these three men and two of the robbery victims, one being a 38-year-old woman and one being a 12-year-old girl, were brought by these men into a dark area with trees surrounding them. The two victims were thrown in the trunk all the way there to this remote location. Both of these women were taken from the trunk and raped by two of the men. The weird thing about this is that the other guy was just in the car. Remember, there were three men. He did not partake in any of these gruesome actions, but according to these girls, they were tied to trees from these guys and eventually were able to escape and run to a local house to contact the police. The people that were still at the house who were robbed managed to get the license plate of the car and report it to the police. The police were able to trace the license plate back, but it was to a man who was recently put in prison, so none of this was adding up. But obviously, the police went to the man who was in jail, and according to the man that was in jail, he let a man named Douglas James borrow the car at the time. So the police pulled up a picture of Douglas James and Mr. Alan Kroetser to the two victims that these crimes happened to. What I don't get is how did these guys just get Alan Kroetser involved in all of this? Maybe he was picked out from a set of people, I have no idea. But the two culprits of the crime were identified as both Douglas James and Alan Kroetser. A picture of the supposed third person in the crime trio was shown to the victims the next day. This man was identified as Colenzo James. Just like that, off all of this little proof, they got all three of these guys. And this is where the Innocence Project stepped in. And this is when they found out that DNA tests were not provided to them during the case. The trial was weird, as Douglas stated, Alan is not involved in this. He had no connection to this crime. So the Innocence Project made sure 24 years later that Alan got the justice he deserved and the freedom he needed. And now I'd like to thank our sponsor SeatGeek. SeatGeek allows for anyone to watch their favorite artist, sports team, and even race cars in person. I use this app all the time, gets me great seats, great views, and a great experience to whatever I want to go see. Last week, I used SeatGeek to watch the Boston Celtics go beat the Indiana Pacers at home for the Eastern Conference Finals. It was a great experience, and I'm giving this opportunity for all of you to use it and enjoy the same experiences as I do. Use code SERIOUS20 for 20% off your first order. And I'd like to thank SeatGeek for sponsoring today's podcast. And thank you, all of you, for listening in. Thank you. All right, now back to Mr. Alan. This case helped Florida attorneys make sure to use DNA evidence for all their cases. Many people have been freed due to this case looking back on hidden DNA evidence. Looking back, attorneys have found out that the two girls that were raped took rape tests to see if the people that did the crime did any extra stuff to them. So I don't understand how that wasn't brought in evidence. But to me, Mr. Alan Krotzer should not have been brought up in this case at all. There's still no real evidence on why he was brought into this case, as I looked further into detail. To me, it's just a whole entire weird situation. I have no idea, but the Innocence Project made sure Mr. Alan Krotzer got free of this case. And that's all that matters. I would like to thank all of you listeners of the SERIOUS podcast for tuning in to today's episode. For next episode, be on the watch for how a man went from selling CDs on the side of the street to being one of the most influential men in the world. Thank you so much. And until next time, it's the SERIOUS podcast with your host, George Andrianopoulos.