In September 2010, 24-year-old Michelle O’Connell was found dead in her home in St. Augustine, Florida just minutes after breaking up with her boyfriend, St. Johns County Sheriff Deputy Jeremy Banks. Just over eight years later, in January 2019, Eli Washtock, an amateur investigator looking into the O’Connell case, was found dead in his condo.

Criminal Conduct is a brand new true-crime podcast hosted by John Taylor and Javier Leiva that investigates these two interlinked murders. The ten-episode, weekly series looks into new evidence and perspectives from O’Connell’s murder, tying her death into the Washtock case.

A New Collaboration from Two Podcast Pros

John hosts a true crime podcast called Twisted. He brings deep criminal justice experience to the podcast as a practicing private investigator and former Secret Service agent. Javier is the producer of Pretend Radio, a documentary-style podcast that tells stories of people pretending to be someone else.

John and Javier first connected about three years ago at a podcast meetup in their home state of North Carolina. They remained in contact since then, looking for an opportunity to do a collaboration podcast. Several months ago, they agreed that the O’Connell/Washtock story was a great case for the first season of their new podcast series, Criminal Conduct.

Case #1: Michelle O’Connell

Minutes after breaking up with St. Johns County Sheriff Deputy Jeremy Banks, Michelle O’Connell was dead in her home. Soon after, Jeremey called 911, claiming he found her lying on her floor with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The St. Johns County Sheriff investigators ruled her death a suicide. 

John and Javier look into the Sheriff’s Office’s handling of the case, noting several mistakes in an overall lackluster (and likely biased) investigation. They also take a deeper look into Jeremey, whose 911 call and overall demeanor during the episode raises major red flags.

Case #2: Eli Washtock

Just over eight years later, Eli Washtock was found dead in his St. Augustine condo. Eli was an amatuer sleuth conducting his own independent investgiation into the O’Connell murder. He was said to have found “bombshell” evidence against Jeremy right before his death, which is still under investigation by the neighboring Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. 

John and Javier find Eli to be a fascinating character. He was a loner, with very little social media presence. He never knew Michelle O’Connell, but was so enthralled by the case that he befriended Michelle’s mom, Patty O’Connell, over the course of his investigation. He was also a car mechanic who owned two expensive condos that seemed to be out of his price range. Throughout the series, Javier and John dig deeper into Eli’s past to understand his motivations and secrets.

The Inaugural Ten-Episode Season of Criminal Conduct

The first season of Criminal Conduct explores the O’Connell and Washtock cases, with the hope of reinvigorating interest into the mysteries surrounding their deaths. Perhaps the podcast can even help lead to a resolution of the cases.

The ten-episode season of Criminal Conduct debuted on March 23, 2020 with new episodes published weekly. Start listening today!

You can catch up on all of the Payne in the Pod episodes, here. Become a patron to receive even more exclusive content from Mary Payne including in-depth conversations that you won’t find anywhere else!

John and Javier’s Podcast Recommendations:

Re-Sound

Case of the Missing Hit

Mugshot

Swindled

In the Dark (Season 2)

Serial (Season 1)

The Shrink Next Door

Find Criminal Conduct at:

Criminalconduct.net

Twitter: @criminalcon

Instagram: @criminalcon

Facebook: Criminal Conduct Podcast

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