Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
It was a frigid December afternoon in 1986 when Jerry Tobias was found dead in the back of his pickup. The 31-year-old oil field worker was curled up in the fetal position on the truck bed’s bare metal floor, wearing only blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and cowboy boots.
Join us at the quiet end for False Witness. Jerry’s death was a mystery. The first clue was inside the cab of his truck, where police found a fresh package of expensive steaks from a local butcher shop. Not much of a lead. But, from that day forward, the investigation into the death of Jerry Tobias was shady. With multiple conflicts of interest, incompetent forensics experts, and a psychotic star witness, the prosecution’s case was often absurd. In fact, it would have been comical, if not for the many lives that were ravaged by it.
Sources
The Detroit Free Press Archives
The National Registry of Exonerations
The Tobias Five, victimsofthestate.org/MI/T5.html
Wicked Takes the Witness Stand by Mardi Link
It was a frigid December afternoon in 1986 when Jerry Tobias was found dead in the back of his pickup. The 31-year-old oil field worker was curled up in the fetal position on the truck bed’s bare metal floor, wearing only blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and cowboy boots.
Join us at the quiet end for False Witness. Jerry’s death was a mystery. The first clue was inside the cab of his truck, where police found a fresh package of expensive steaks from a local butcher shop. Not much of a lead. But, from that day forward, the investigation into the death of Jerry Tobias was shady. With multiple conflicts of interest, incompetent forensics experts, and a psychotic star witness, the prosecution’s case was often absurd. In fact, it would have been comical, if not for the many lives that were ravaged by it.
Sources
The Detroit Free Press Archives
The National Registry of Exonerations
The Tobias Five, victimsofthestate.org/MI/T5.html
Wicked Takes the Witness Stand by Mardi Link
