Accused Podcast S4E1 - 'The Crime': The 1994 murder of Rhoda Nathan

New Jersey native Rhoda Nathan had flown to Cincinnati for a family event: the bar mitzvah of her best friend's grandson. It should have been one of those quick, life-affirming trips we all experience every so often. But somehow, this one ended in tragedy.

Rhoda Nathan, the victim

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Nathan, a 67-year-old widowed grandmother, skipped breakfast with her friends to shower. When her best friend returned to their shared hotel room, she found Nathan sprawled on the floor, bruised and unresponsive.

More episodes: Accused Podcast S4E2 - 'The A-Hole': Elwood Jones claims innocence. He sits on death row

Listen to previous seasons: The Accused podcast

My mother was never the same after that day," said Cynthia Kirsch, who was with her mother, Elaine Shub, when Nathan's body was discovered Sept. 3, 1994. "She was on the floor screaming like I had never seen, like someone who literally lost their mind. Just a blood-curdling scream."

Elwood Jones, convicted for Rhoda's murder

A year later, police would say they knew what happened to Nathan. Elwood Jones, a hotel worker with a criminal past, had entered the room to rob it, police said, and then viciously beat Nathan when she caught him in the act.

They pointed to a necklace found in Jones' car trunk and an infection in his hand as all the proof they needed. The jury agreed, and Jones remains on death row to this day. But he has always maintained his innocence.

In the fourth season of Accused, an award-winning podcast by journalists with The Cincinnati Enquirer, Nathan's death and the subsequent police investigation are re-examined in detail. Was Jones' conviction really a win for forensic science? Or is the 1994 attack poised to claim a second innocent victim?

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The Accused podcast: Inside the case of Rhoda Nathan's 1994 murder