Each season on "Dig," from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, we expose the systems that allow injustice to fester, and shine a light on the people fighting for solutions.
We're still following the Stoner case, and we'll bring you an update when we have one. In the meantime, check out this new investigative podcast from KUOW:
Seattle, 1999. At Garfield High School, Mr. Hudson is a legend. With a thundering voice and imposing stature, Mr. Hudson — or “Tom” as select students call him — teaches biology and leads an elite outdoors program. But when teen reporters at the school paper start exploring a rumor that he sexually abused students, all hell breaks loose. Adults close ranks, and schoolmates turn on the young journalists. And then one day, a voice on the school intercom announces that Mr. Hudson is dead.
Isolde Raftery is one of the students who first hears about and reports allegations against Mr. Hudson. Three decades later, she is an investigative journalist in Seattle. In Adults in the Room, Raftery re-reports the story to understand what really happened in 1999. Was a whole school community groomed by a charismatic predator? Or was she part of a whisper campaign that cost the life of a great teacher?
11 Nov 2025TRANSCRIPT
The Girls, Part 4: ‘This is my story to tell’
Alleged victims of the Stoners find each other online and band together to demand justice. But they find themselves running up against police and prosecutors who want them to stay quiet. Hearing stories like this one can bring up painful feelings and memories, especially if you're a trauma survivor yourself. If you need to talk, you can reach the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE, or visit RAINN.org and click get help now for free, 24/7 support. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988.Learn more about preventing sexual misconduct and abuse by K-12 school employees (PDF)If you have information about this case, or you think there’s something we should know that we haven’t reported here, please contact Jess Clark at jclark@kycir.org or 502-814-6541.Our work is community funded. To help us keep digging, visit kydig.org and click donate.
11 Nov 2025TRANSCRIPT
The Girls, Part 3: ‘If it was your daughter’
17-year-old Aryalle Stoner runs away from home and tells the police that her father, Ronnie Stoner, has been sexually abusing her for years. The cursory investigation that follows is representative of a larger issue with child sex abuse investigations in Louisville.Hearing stories like this one can bring up painful feelings and memories, especially if you're a trauma survivor yourself. If you need to talk, you can reach the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE, or visit RAINN.org and click get help now for free, 24/7 support. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988.Learn more about preventing sexual misconduct and abuse by K-12 school employees (PDF)If you have information about this case, or you think there’s something we should know that we haven’t reported here, please contact Jess Clark at jclark@kycir.org or 502-814-6541.Our work is community funded. To help us keep digging, visit kydig.org and click donate.
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