‘Ice Cold Case’ heats up

Photos Provided
Madison McGhee is pictured alongside her father, the late James Cornelius McGhee, and sister Alyssa McGhee.

BRIDGEPORT — More than 20 years after James Cornelius McGhee was murdered in Belmont County, his daughter set out to solve the case.

Madison McGhee was just 6 years old when her father died in 2002, but her family didn’t tell her that he was murdered until much later in her life. In 2023 she launched a podcast called Ice Cold Case, initially to bring attention to her father’s unsolved murder.

In the summer of 2020, Madison began to sift through all of the court files, witness testimony, family accounts and the countless rumors about her father’s death that had been spread around the county for the past 20 years.

“The podcast was started to promote the case and ended up becoming an investigative tool for the case,” McGhee said. “I hope the podcast is enlightening the police to different avenues to explore things they maybe didn’t consider at the time.”

She said she is hopeful that the podcast can help the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department solve her father’s murder.

“I don’t want my speculation of their investigative work or what they did at the time up to now to hinder them to continue to do their job,” she added.

To gain attention for the podcast, McGhee advertised around the Ohio Valley, which led to multiple people reaching out to her with tips and theories about her father’s death.

“The billboards, the podcast, and the news segment have all been really helpful in letting people know someone is looking into this,” McGhee said.

McGhee, whose background is in television and film production, said she thought there would be some overlap when it comes to creating a podcast, but she believes podcasting is closer to a radio or newspaper format than a film or TV format.

She said some family members and people adjacent to the family are hesitant to be interviewed.

“In the first four years, it really was sort of like, ‘I’m just asking questions, I don’t really know.’ And people were more or less willing to talk to me. But when (the podcast) came out and people started to hear how it was set up, I think people kind of realized, ‘She’s not terrible at doing this and it could go far and I don’t really want to be as involved anymore.’”

She went on to say she believes people were more willing to talk when they thought five or so people were listening instead of hundreds or thousands of people.

Last Sept. 6, McGhee released episode 9 of Ice Cold Case, titled “The End… For Now.” The episode featured her saying that she had reached a bit of a dead end with leads in the case.

On March 20, however, she released episode 10, titled “Here We Go Again,” where she speaks on the plethora of new information and leads she has received.

McGhee is now releasing a new episode every other Wednesday.

Ice Cold Case is available on all streaming services. If you have any additional tips or information regarding the murder of James Cornelius McGhee, his daughter asks that you email icecoldcasepodcast@gmail.com.