Kim Kardashian’s new true-crime podcast series The System has already been met with some serious backlash. In her opening episode, titled “Life & Death,” the description reads: “In 1994, a brutal massacre in Ohio resulted in Kevin Keith’s life imprisonment. He, his family, and his legal team have fought for years to get this case re-evaluated. Now, Kim Kardashian takes a closer look, and hopes to help shed light on what occurs behind the scenes in a criminal case: the good and bad. Is the justice process as trustworthy as you’d think? Maybe there are cracks…”
Now, brother and sister murder survivors who survived the 1994 triple murder told the Daily Mail Thursday (October 6) that the reality star never bothered to contact them to check the facts of the case and insist the man she is trying to free is actually guilty.
Kevin Keith, 58, was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Marichell Chatman, her four-year-old daughter Marchae, and Marichell’s aunt, Linda Chatman, at their home in Bucyrus, Ohio, in 1994. Keith has been in prison for 28 years but insists he is innocent. Kim used his story as the launchpad for her podcast, which launched earlier this week (October 3) with two episodes. Episode two’s description reads: “The alibi is one of the most crucial parts of a criminal trial. So– where was Kevin on the night of February 13, 1994? Kim, Lori [Rothschild Ansaldi, the show’s producer], and the team go through the police records and witness accounts to piece together Kevin’s alibi. We also hear our first victim statement.”
Quanita and Quentin Reeves, Marichell’s cousins who were six and four at the time told Daily Mail they were stunned when the podcast emerged without their contribution. They claim they were never invited on as guests, and that they’ve never even heard from Kim. “She did not contact us, not one time,” Quentin said. “If Kim Kardashian wants to get involved, she should come and meet us face-to-face.”
The siblings were both shot in the stomach by Keith. “We saw it with our own eyes. You don’t forget something like that. I don’t care what Kim Kardashian says – Kevin did it,” Quentin added. “Why doesn’t Kim Kardashian come out here to Ohio? She doesn’t want to hear from us. She wants to get him out to make her look better… that’s the truth.”
Quanita added, “We should have been the first call. Kevin gets to sit in jail and become a celebrity. Meanwhile, we’re out here dealing with this our entire lives… it’s crazy.” She said the first time she heard from Kim’s team was on the day the podcast went live from producer Lori Rothschild Ansaldi.
The siblings both say Kevin arrived at the time seeming “nervous.” He came inside, asked for multiple glasses of water and then suddenly retrieved a gun. He yelled for them all to “get on the ground” and started shooting, they said, adding that Marichell screamed, “Kevin, why are you doing this?!”
Sources close to the podcast claim the siblings were contacted. Six more episodes of The System are yet to be released.