This excerpt from my book Reclaiming Lives: Pursuing Justice For Six Innocent Men describes my reacquaintance and eventual partnership with Johnny Johnson; a former police officer and retired crime scene expert:

“For an entire year I successfully sold The Monfils Conspiracy books, though interest was modest at best. Friends and coworkers remained consistent in their support. They’d ask for updates, and they cheered me on when I had doubts about making headway. However, I was troubled by an inability to find anyone with a legal perspective to actually get involved. This was heavy on my mind one afternoon during the summer of 2010, as I walked to the row of mailboxes at the end of our driveway. I grabbed the contents from ours and skimmed through what appeared to be junk mail.

As I headed back toward the house, I heard a vehicle pull up to where I’d been standing. I recognized the sound of the vehicle as belonging to my neighbor, Ken. There was chatter coming from inside the cab so I waved but kept walking. That acknowledgment solicited a boisterous retort from a familiar voice. “Hey Treppa!” I rolled my eyes in amusement. Ken’s new friend, Johnny, was with him. I had met Johnny briefly prior to that day. He reminded me of Colm Meaney, the actor from the Star Trek series, with his round face and small, squinty eyes. Johnny did not have an impenetrable personality but he was enigmatic and liked to show off his flamboyant side. Both he and Ken started harassing me, albeit in a fun sort of way, so I turned around and shot back a quip or two of my own while approaching the vehicle.

Many of my conversations during the past year had focused on one thing—selling books. Today was no different. After some light banter, I redirected the conversation to focus on my mission. As I talked, a contemplative look appeared on Johnny’s face. He sat there listening for some time before he spoke in a serious tone.

“You don’t know what I did for thirty years, do you?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “Why don’t you tell me?”

He summarized his vast career in law enforcement, from being a police officer, to heading up security at a racetrack, to conducting high-profile investigations. His career was impressive . . . if it was to be believed. According to him he knew a lot of famous people in the legal field. Although his narrative sounded a bit embellished, I was mesmerized by every word. I assumed he might think I was the one overstating things. He indicated otherwise when he shared his rendering of the good cop–bad cop analysis. “I pride myself on being one of the good guys,” he said. “But I know there are bad ones out there because I’ve worked with several.”

The heat of the midday sun intensified. My mind raced as my heart leaped from inside my chest.

“Calm down girl,” I told myself. But this exchange and Johnny’s shift to a more serious demeanor felt somewhat uncomfortable. I suddenly felt unqualified to discuss legal matters on the same level as this supposed expert. I backed off from the topic and excused myself, but not before recapturing the playful banter and saying I had better things to do than entertain the likes of them. The truth was I needed to regroup and process our conversation. Ken pulled away and parked the SUV at the top of his driveway. Before I entered my side door, I turned one last time to see him and Johnny disappear around the back of Ken’s house.

As I resumed my routine, a nagging feeling consumed my thoughts, compelling me to bring a book over to Johnny. I could not dismiss this feeling, so I grabbed one and raced across the street. I knocked on Ken’s back door. I waited. Johnny appeared. “What can I do you for?” he asked with a tone as genuine as before.

“Because of your background I’d like you to read this,” I said. “I want to know what you think.”

“How much?” he asked.

“I’m not charging you. Just take it,” I replied.

He looked on the back cover then retrieved the money from his wallet. “Here, take this,” he said. “Give a book to someone who cannot afford it. I can afford it.”

I didn’t argue. I took the money and thanked him. “Call me. My card’s inside,” I said. I hurried down the steps as tears threatened to reveal my gratitude because of what my intuition was now telling me—that I had found a partner.”

Word eventually got out that Johnny and I were on a mission to reinvestigate this case on our own. When asked why we were doing it, we’d reply, “Because we could and to us, it was the right thing…the only thing for us to do.”

Johnny and I took many trips to Green Bay, Wisconsin to collect evidence, to talk with prior witnesses, to find the evidence that could prove once and for all that these men are innocent. Our persistence paid off when we found it! The problem then became, what to do with this information we’d been given. So we set out to find an attorney we could entrust it with. And we found one…

The rest is history because of the leaps we’ve made in more recent years…

In 2016, we were interviewed for a docuseries called, Guilty Until Proven Innocent that will highlight numerous wrongful conviction cases including the Monfils case. The film is being produced by Mark Saxenmeyer; Executive Director and CEO of The Reporters Inc (non-profit journalistic production company) in Minneapolis.

In 2010 I was accepted as a board member for The Reporters Inc. Here’s an article I wrote for the site regarding my advocacy in the Monfils case.

Please stay tuned. Because, we’ve only just begun…