Unforgotten · Alabama Cold Case Advocacy

S2 Ep 2 Pt 2: Mary Faye Hunter, Interview w/Brad Golson

·1 hr 43 min·5 clips

Mary Faye Hunter was born with a cleft palate and a pronounced limp that shaped how people read her.

1. Unforgotten’s Season 2, Episode 2 focuses on Mary Faye Hunter and Brad Golson’s interview about the case. 2. Brad Golson appears as Mary Faye Hunter’s fourth cousin, an investigative journalist, and co-author of What Happened to Mary Faye Hunter? A Novel Based on a True Story. 3. The episode asks how Mary Faye Hunter’s life, relationships, and case history fit together when records are missing. 4. Brad says his interest began in childhood because his mother’s side of the family was already connected to Mary Faye Hunter. 5. He describes meeting Mary Faye’s nephew in middle school and only later learning the family connection. 6. Brad says he moved from print journalism into television in 2003 after working for the Decatur Daily and his college newspaper. 7. He also says he worked with Jamie Cooper and learned that Cooper was planning a film about Mary Faye Hunter. 8. Brad explains that the book project started when he reconnected with Jamie Cooper on Facebook and then contacted retired investigator Bob Hancock. 9. He says there was no complete set of case files, so Hancock’s memory became the foundation for the investigation. 10. Brad describes trying to determine whether the Decatur Police Department or the Alabama Bureau of Investigation still held records, but he found none in the usual places. 11. He says the case file problem reflects older record-keeping practices, small county budgets, and lost evidence storage. 12. Brad explains that the family and investigators even searched archive spaces and basements without finding the original material. 13. He says the book uses a novel format because direct quotations from Mary Faye and the people around her were not fully documented. 14. Brad states that the real aim was to show Mary Faye as more than a rumor, a photograph, or a rumor-based reputation. 15. He says Mary Faye was 34, lived at home, played piano for church, and was held up by pastors as a model of behavior. 16. Brad adds that Mary Faye was born with a cleft palate and a limp, and that strangers could mistake her for someone mentally challenged. 17. He argues that these details made her romantic hopes, choices, and mistakes easier to understand without excusing the consequences. 18. The interview is conversational and explanatory, with Brad offering family history, case background, and research limits in a calm tone. 19. People interested in Alabama cold cases, family history, and investigative reporting would likely want this episode. 20. People looking for a fast procedural recap without personal context may skip it.

As heard by us

A personal, context-first portrait of Mary Faye Hunter that resists easy shorthand.

Brad Golson's tie to Mary Faye Hunter gives the episode a real human center, and it keeps her from hardening into rumor or a clipped headline.

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Why you'd press play

You want a careful, conversational look at Mary Faye Hunter that treats her as a person, not just a case file.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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