Off Duty | The Guardian Investigates · The Guardian

Off Duty: Digital Forensics | Ep 4

March 18, 2026·24 min·1 clip

Raul hears Tyrone Clay's voice messages and timestamps that confirm hours on NBA 2K.

Tyrone Clay keeps asking police to look at his PlayStation. He says he was gaming the night Clifton Lewis was murdered, playing NBA 2K11, and he believes the machine can prove it. By 2022, he has spent ten years in Cook County Jail without ever being tried. The PlayStation has sat untouched on a shelf in an evidence room for most of that time. Jennifer's associate Eric Bisbee hears about it and sees a digital-forensics problem worth chasing. The episode also gives a quick look at Eric's background, including childhood memories of getting a Super Nintendo and growing up around his dad's work as an electrical engineer at NASA. This is not just Tyrone's case. Edgardo's confessions were tossed, Tyrone's trial was held up, and Edgardo's conviction was thrown out. Ten years after the arrests, the state is still trying to bring both men to trial. Edgardo is home on an ankle monitor, while Tyrone remains in Cook County Jail. That makes the data on the PlayStation even more important, because proof of game play could undercut the case and change the stakes for everyone involved. Eric and Jennifer get one careful shot at the console in the state's attorney's office. They bring a controller, controller wire, power cable, HDMI cable, and a hookup to connect the machine to a computer and record everything it contains. The special-edition Spider-Man PlayStation will not turn on. It smells like burnt rubber, so they shut it down and send it to the RCFL. A few months later, the RCFL says the machine is broken beyond repair. Eric does not accept that easily, since he has seen similar hardware fixed often enough to doubt that answer. From there, the investigation depends on Raul. Raul goes quiet. Eric calls him again and gets no answer. Jennifer and Eric start to worry that the pressure of the case has spooked him. Raul disappears from the thread. The Guardian then seeks answers from the Chicago Police Department, the RCFL, and the Cook County Jail. Police say officers deny misconduct. No officers have been accused of wrongdoing by officials or charged in connection with the case. The RCFL declines to comment. The jail says it takes safety seriously and investigates allegations of violence or criminal behavior within its custody.

As heard by us

A PlayStation left in evidence for years becomes the stubborn focal point of a stalled murder case.

Off Duty: Digital Forensics centers on Tyrone Clay's claim that police should have examined his PlayStation, which he says would have shown him gaming on the night Clifton Lewis was murdered.

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Why you'd press play

Play this if you want a murder case where a PlayStation may hold the alibi.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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