COJ #189 - How Did Spartanburg Police Describe the AC Hotel Incident Deborah Barbier Reported?

Investigative journalists ⁠⁠Mandy Matney⁠⁠ and ⁠Liz Farrell⁠⁠ and producer of journalism David Moses are recording near Washington, D.C. for a special episode on an explosive FOIA returned from Spartanburg PD.

First, David opens with gratitude for the listeners who requested a GoFundMe and refused to let Mandy stand alone. Then we’re examining the very relevant Spartanburg Police Report that Deborah Barbier filed claiming that a man stood up in the AC Hotel’s lobby area, photographed her, “kept screaming her name” — and that “Mandy Matney” was somehow involved. 

The report on the June 22, 2026 incident was released after Mandy’s contempt order was issued and it is stunning: a search warrant, a thumb drive, an IT department, roughly four hours of hotel video — and a police lieutenant who wrote that he was “unable to locate the confrontation Mrs. Barbier advised”.   Mandy, Liz and David unpack what’s in the report and what’s very obviously not.  

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Episode References

Mandy joins Laura Richards on Crime Analyst Ep #357 🎧

Link Beth’s FB post highlighting same rules, different treatment 🌐

Hercule Poirot novels by Agatha Christie 📚