We are not investigators. We are not journalists. We are family.

Small Town Forgotten began with a simple belief: no one would work harder to find the truth than the people who believed in the twins and loved Jimmie Wade Martin Jr.

No sponsorship. No network. No budget. No investigators on retainer. Just a family from Bonne Terre, Missouri inspired by twin daughters fighting for justice.

A microphone got us into places a camera never would have. We always honored privacy and anonymity. The podcast earned trust in the community — in living rooms, in alleys, over back fences, across the internet. The more people we talked to, the more people wanted to talk. The town was tired of carrying fear. The truth was setting people free. The cameras and the documentary followed.

The Twins

Andrea and Angela were the center of Jimmie’s life. We know this first hand, we are family. The entire Martin family adored them. There were multiple sets of twins in the family — Danny and Donna, David and Wade — but Andrea and Angela were the life of the family. Always dressed alike with style but also always ready to jump in the river and get messy with the cousins. Jimmie used to take them swimming every chance he got.

They were just eleven years old when their father was killed.

They grew up sneaking newspapers about the case, hiding the articles from their mother because reading them always made her cry. They watched a man get arrested, held for three years, and released without trial — and were always told “nothing could be done”. That nothing became the defiant theme of their adult lives. Phone call after phone call to victim’s advocates. Voicemail after voicemail. Promises that never materialized.

They missed their father at homecomings, dance recitals, weddings, in the daily conversations that help a child grow up feeling loved. And then their children never knew their grandfather.

When they were old enough to investigate themselves, that’s exactly what they did. They built binders. They made maps. They chased every lead they could find. And in one of the most remarkable moves of the entire investigation, they befriended the one man who had access to the case files — David Brian White, the man once charged in connection with their father’s death. They walked him through the process. They convinced him to help. The files came. Over 500 pages. The Jimmie Bible doubled in size. The investigation caught fire.

They are two of the strongest people we know. This project exists because of them. They were told there was nothing they could do. The twins wouldn’t listen.

At the change of venue hearing in 2024, they stood less than four feet from a handcuffed Wesley P. Marler, the man charged in their father’s death, and read a witness statement Looking at him with tears in their eyes, they told the courtroom why he should not be allowed a bail reduction or change of venue. They prevailed.

That day, Wesley P. Marler did not make eye contact with them. They stood strong. Voices shaking, stumbling over words. But they never stopped looking directly at him.

The Team

Shawn Lee Martin – Creator, Director

Shawn Lee Martin is Jimmie’s younger cousin and uncle to Chris Hulsey. He was fourteen years old when Jimmie was killed and remembers the devastating impact it had on him and the tight-knit Martin family. He watched his uncle, aunt, grandmother, father, cousins, and Jimmie’s twin daughters changed by something dark that would never leave them. He believes something in the town shifted after Jimmie’s death. A secret. Rumors. Fear.

Like Jimmie, he is the only Martin son of his immediate family. Shawn created Small Town Forgotten, directed and edited every episode of the podcast, and serves as executive producer and director of the documentary. He learned what not to do by doing it — and kept going anyway.

He still believes in Bonne Terre’s motto — Good Earth, Good People. He is a husband, father, and all-in family man.

Chris Hulsey – Podcast Host

Chris Hulsey is Shawn’s nephew and second cousin to the twins. A developer, contractor, and community revitalizer, Chris has spent decades with his wife, Ashton, investing in their town of Park Hills, Missouri, coaching youth sports, running small businesses, rebuilding what time had worn down.

Growing up he had heard the story of Jimmie’s death and visited the location in Bonne Terre on the way to his grandparents. Always curious and looking for a creative outlet, he bought some microphones on a whim and turned out to be a natural.

Chris is a family man always on the go. Most episodes were recorded in the early morning hours — before his family woke up and before heading to the jobsite. He is a business owner who believes in supporting local and lifting up the community you live in.

Vonessa Martin – Writer

Vonessa Martin is Shawn’s wife and has been part of the Martin family for 28 years. She grew up in Chicago so the small town world of Bonne Terre was new to her. She immediately loved his big family and the warm welcome they always had for her.

Years ago, when Shawn and Vonessa were just dating, she was struck by the death of Shawn’s cousin and how deeply it affected Shawn. When the opportunity came to contribute, she recognized that she could bring both an outsider’s perspective and an insider’s understanding.

She wrote every episode of the podcast as well as the documentary feature film. Her approach straddled journalism and storytelling; working alongside law enforcement, never sensationalizing the crime over the family, never chasing an angle for more clicks. The twins, the family, and the silenced victims were always at the heart of it.

Vonessa believes Small Town Forgotten is a voice for the forgotten. Her goal with Small Town Forgotten is simple: justice.

Ashton Hulsey – Creative Producer

Ashton Hulsey is Chris’s wife — a mother of three, small business owner, and the anchoring support of Small Town Forgotten. Ashton is the thread that ties the project together and keeps it rooted in the St. Francois County community. She carries the work across podcast production, distribution, film, social media, and merchandise. She and Chris built their life around community and family, and that foundation runs through everything STF produces.

Logan Janis – Podcast Distribution & Strategy

Logan Janis is a childhood friend of Chris Hulsey and a Bonne Terre native who found his way to St. Louis. He is the host, producer, and founder of Mostly Superheroes, an independent talk show and podcast produced out of Carrogan Studios in St. Louis, Missouri. Through Carrogan Ventures, Logan brought professional podcast distribution, strategy, and audio expertise to Small Town Forgotten from the early days, the kind of behind-the-scenes infrastructure that helped a DIY family podcast reach 350,000 downloads across 90 countries. A true indie podcaster himself, Logan understood exactly what STF was trying to do and helped make it possible. Small town roots. Big reach.

Vagrant Media – Documentary Film Production

The Small Town Forgotten documentary is being filmed by Vagrant Media, comprised of Caleb Cook, Jake Delaloye, and Brett Wiley. Based in the heart of the Leadbelt, these high school friends of Chris Hulsey, have been making films for decades. Growing up in the region, this fully outfitted professional film team, with state of the art sound and picture, have documented this land and know it well.

Vagrant Media have followed the Small Town Forgotten team across Missouri and beyond, capturing the visual story of this investigation as it unfolded in real time. They have been documenting the story since 2020 and will film through the November 2026 trial.

Documentary release is scheduled for 2027.

Blue Burn Productions LLC

A blue flame burns hottest and cleanest — no smoke, no spectacle, just the fire that gets the job done. That’s the standard here: grit over gloss, substance over sensationalism.

Blue Burn Productions is a family-run production company built by storytellers pursuing truth. We tell the stories of small towns and forgotten communities — with more in development. The company exists to help families fight back and hold power accountable, without ever losing sight of the people at the center of the story.

Small Town Forgotten is fiscally sponsored by the International Documentary Association.