EP 164 The Fairbanks Four with Brian Patrick O’Donoghue

In this one, Cody talks to journalist and retired professor Brian Patrick O’Donoghue, whose decades-long investigation into the wrongful convictions of four young men of Alaska Native and Native American descent — known as the Fairbanks Four — helped reshape one of the most important criminal cases in Alaska history. Brian’s investigative reporting class at the University of Alaska Fairbanks became more than an academic exercise, it turned into a collaborative effort that collected interviews, uncovered new evidence, and helped bring national attention to the case. In his new book, The Fairbanks Four, he traces that journey in painstaking detail, from questionable confessions and buried evidence to the grassroots push for justice that eventually caught the attention of The Innocence Project. 

When Brian joined the faculty at UAF, he knew exactly what he wanted to focus on. Even though he hadn’t covered the Fairbanks Four case as a reporter at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, it had always raised unanswered questions for him, ones he couldn’t ignore. So, when he was asked to identify a research area, he returned to that case and built a class around it. At a glance, it might have looked like a traditional classroom, but in reality it functioned more like a working newsroom, with students knocking on doors, flying to remote communities, and surfacing details that hadn’t been fully explored in court. And then when their findings began to gain traction in legal filings, Brian realized they were no longer just reporting on the case, they were influencing it.