The Big Story

Blind Justice on Trial

George Goodwin, Atlanta Journal

English · True Crime, Radio

This surviving portion of The Big Story dramatizes the case of Paul Refoule, a French citizen suspected of murdering his wife, Margaret. After her body was found near the Atlanta home they were renovating, police focused on Paul despite his alibi. The account describes his repeated, prolonged interrogations and the damage caused by an investigation that failed to identify the killer.

The episode is associated with George Goodwin, an investigative reporter for the Atlanta Journal. The accompanying account questions the broadcast’s attribution, noting that Goodwin’s Pulitzer Prize recognized his reporting on voter fraud in Georgia, not coverage of the Refoule murder. It also explains that the newspaper covered the case, while the precise reporters assigned to it remain unclear.

The Big Story brought newspaper reporting to radio through dramatized accounts of stories and the journalists who pursued them. Here, the crime narrative is framed by a troubling question of police conduct and by the gap between a real case and its fictionalized presentation. Only part one of the broadcast recording has survived.

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.