The Murder of Sharon McLane Part Three: The Wrong Man

The Murder of Sharon McLane Part Three: The Wrong Man

From Gone Cold - Texas True Crime by TTC Productions

June 1, 2026 · 34 min

About this episode

The episode explores the wrongful conviction of John Earl Nolley for the murder of Sharon McLane and the evidence that led to his release.

In December 1996, 32-year-old Sharon McLane was brutally murdered inside her Bedford, Texas apartment. Two years later, her friend John Earl Nolley was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison. The case appeared closed. But questions never completely disappeared. Years after Nolley’s conviction, attorneys with the Innocence Project and Tarrant County’s Conviction Integrity Unit uncovered troubling problems with the original prosecution, including undisclosed evidence, unreliable jailhouse informant testimony, and forensic findings that cast doubt on the verdict. Early in the case, Paul Dennis Reid, a violent serial killer later convicted of seven murders in Tennessee and suspected in several others, emerged as an alternate suspect. But police discounted him despite many witnesses placing him at Sharon’s apartment complex around the time of the murder, among other things. In the final chapter of Sharon McLane’s story, we examine Reid’s murder convictions, the evidence that pointed away from Nolley, and the extraordinary review that ultimately led to Nolley’s release after nearly two decades behind bars. While John Earl Nolley eventually regained his freedom, Sharon…

Topics covered

  • murder investigation
  • wrongful conviction
  • forensic evidence
  • serial killer
  • unsolved case
  • legal review

Keywords

  • Sharon McLane
  • John Earl Nolley
  • Paul Dennis Reid
  • Innocence Project
  • wrongful conviction
  • murder case
  • forensic evidence
  • Bedford Texas

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Innocence Project, Tarrant County’s Conviction Integrity Unit

Places: Bedford, Texas

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