TOLEDO, Ohio — Editor’s note: This article is just part of a much larger story. Beginning March 23, you can stream the full documentary on WTOL 11+. The app is free and available on your phone or smart TV, giving you access to exclusive reporting, extended interviews, and the complete investigation.
In the fall of 1997, Julia Bates called detective Frank Stiles to tell him about an idea she had after attending a conference in Columbus.
Fresh off her election in 1996 as Lucas County’s first female prosecutor, Bates attended a meeting of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association in Columbus. There, she found herself talking with Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who was working through DNA in the Dr. Sam Sheppard case — the real-life murder case that inspired The Fugitive.…