Tyler Goodson of S-Town: The Standoff, Lawsuit, and Ethics

Tyler Goodson, the young Alabama tattoo artist who became one of the central figures in the 2017 podcast S-Town, was shot and killed by police on December 3, 2023, during a standoff at a home in Woodstock, Alabama. He was 32. In the years between the podcast’s release and his death, Goodson pleaded guilty to reduced criminal charges tied to a dispute over the estate of his friend John B. McLemore, lost his tattoo business, and told reporters the fame the show brought him had made his life harder, not easier.

How Tyler Goodson Died

Shortly after midnight on Sunday, December 3, 2023, the Woodstock Police Department responded to a 911 call at a residence near the 500 block of Georgia Loop in Woodstock, a small community in Bibb County. Officers found Goodson barricaded inside the home. The nature of the 911 call was not publicly disclosed.¹

A standoff lasting roughly three hours followed, involving officers from multiple agencies. According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Goodson brandished a gun at officers during the standoff and was shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.² It was not immediately clear which officer or officers fired the fatal shots.

The Alabama Bureau of Investigation opened a probe into the shooting at the request of Woodstock police, with findings to be turned over to the Bibb County District Attorney’s Office.³ Woodstock Mayor Jeff Dodson called Goodson “well known and loved” in the community and said he was “a father, son, brother and friend to many.”¹

Who Goodson Was in the Podcast

S-Town was produced by the team behind Serial and This American Life and reported by journalist Brian Reed. It debuted on March 28, 2017, releasing all seven episodes at once, and reached 40 million downloads in its first four days on the way to more than 80 million.⁴

The podcast began when John B. McLemore, a brilliant and eccentric clock restorer in Woodstock, contacted This American Life to investigate a rumored murder cover-up. Reed traveled to Alabama and determined no such murder had occurred. The narrative then turned to McLemore himself: his intellect, his depression, his exposure to mercury fumes from antique clock work, and his relationships. McLemore died by suicide in June 2015, while the podcast was still in production.⁵

Goodson was at the center of that turn. He ran a tattoo shop called Black Sheep Ink and described McLemore as “just about the only daddy I’ve got.”² McLemore, who had no children of his own, funneled money to Goodson by paying him for manual labor, including building an elaborate hedge maze on his 148-acre property, and by buying tattoos to keep the shop afloat.⁶ Goodson supported his daughters through that work.

McLemore intended to leave his belongings to Goodson and Goodson’s brother, Jake. He died without a legal will. That absence set off the legal conflicts that shaped much of the rest of Goodson’s life.

The Estate Dispute and Criminal Case

Control of McLemore’s estate passed to his cousins from Florida, Reta and Charlie Lawrence, who came to Woodstock to care for McLemore’s elderly mother, Mary Grace. Reta Lawrence later said there was only “$69 to John’s name” when he died.⁷

Goodson claimed he had roughly $25,000 worth of his own property on the McLemore land, including two school buses, an 18-wheeler trailer, lumber, tools, and equipment, and said McLemore had promised him various items. The Lawrences barred him from the property; Goodson returned anyway to retrieve what he said was his. He also admitted searching for gold McLemore was rumored to have buried, saying he never found it.⁸

Goodson was initially charged with five counts of first-degree theft, two counts of first-degree forgery related to selling two of McLemore’s vehicles, one count of third-degree trespassing, and one count of second-degree possession of a forged instrument.⁷ A grand jury indictment in April 2017 expanded the case to 25 counts, including 13 counts of second-degree criminal trespass, two counts of burglary, and two counts of forgery. The prosecutor noted that Goodson had, in the podcast itself, “basically admits to the trespass and the burglaries and the thefts.”⁹

In October 2017, Goodson pleaded guilty to reduced charges of third-degree burglary, third-degree theft of property, and third-degree criminal trespassing. He received a suspended ten-year sentence and five years of probation.¹

What Fame Cost Him

Goodson was blunt about what the podcast did to his life. “It’s hell being famous without the rich part,” he told a reporter. “If money came along with it, I wouldn’t feel near as bad about it.”¹⁰

Fans showed up at the property where he lived with his wife, children, grandmother, and uncle. They photographed his home and trespassed. He spent time each day responding to messages from listeners around the world. He tried to sell “Black Sheep of S-Town” T-shirts online but couldn’t turn a profit because of the cost of bulk ordering.¹¹ He lost the tattoo shop and turned to construction and odd jobs.

He said the podcast had “not done him any favors” and described his experience as being “clusterfucked.” He also objected to how the show handled McLemore’s private life, including his sexuality: “I don’t have nothing against homosexuals, but it was too much for me. I felt like they took that a little far.”¹⁰

Reality television offers came in, and Goodson turned them down, partly because the ongoing criminal case made them impractical. He said he hoped that after the case was resolved, he could tell his own version of the story and “clarify some things.”¹¹ He never got the chance.

The Lawsuit Over the Podcast Itself

The separate legal fight over S-Town involved McLemore’s estate, not Goodson. In July 2018, the estate sued Serial Productions and Brian Reed in federal court in Bibb County, alleging violations of Alabama’s right of publicity law by using McLemore’s name and identity to sell advertisements for brands like Blue Apron and Squarespace without proper consent. McLemore’s mother, Mary Grace, was the heir; the estate was administered by Craig Cargile.¹²

The producers argued the podcast was journalism protected by the First Amendment. In March 2019, U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler denied their motion to dismiss, ruling he could not determine at that stage whether the podcast qualified for the “artistic work exemption” under Alabama law, given the commercial advertisements in the episodes.¹³

The case went to mediation under former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Woodall and was settled. Judge Coogler dismissed it with prejudice on March 12, 2020.¹⁴ Whether money changed hands was never confirmed; Serial Productions CEO Julie Snyder said the company was “not providing details of the settlement.”¹⁵ In a reversal, Cargile acknowledged he had filed the lawsuit “without the prior knowledge or consent of Mr. McLemore’s family” and said the producers “acted responsibly and appropriately in their reporting on John B. McLemore.” Under the settlement, the estate waived any objection to the podcast or future creative uses of McLemore’s story.¹³

The Ethical Questions the Podcast Left Behind

Long before the lawsuit, critics raised pointed questions about the ethics of S-Town. The core issue was consent. McLemore had contacted This American Life to investigate an alleged murder, not to have his mental health, sexuality, self-harm rituals, and private relationships broadcast to tens of millions of listeners. After his suicide, he could no longer consent to any of it.¹⁶

Journalist Gay Alcorn wrote in the Guardian in 2017 that the podcast was “morally indefensible” and called it “voyeuristic entertainment,” criticizing Reed for continuing to record and broadcast intimate details about a person he knew was mentally ill.¹⁶

Reed has said he remains “comfortable and proud” of the work. He acknowledged that participants were told their stories could reach a large audience, though some treated the process like “reality TV.” On the sensitive post-mortem revelations about McLemore, he said there was “no science” to the decision-making but maintained the team was judicious and felt supported by those who knew McLemore best.⁵

Goodson’s case sits inside those questions in a specific way. He was a young man from a difficult background who had started working at age five to help his family pay bills. The podcast made him recognizable without making him solvent, and it generated criminal charges rooted in a property dispute that might otherwise have stayed a family matter. By the time he died at 32, he had lost his business, served probation, and spent years fielding attention from strangers who knew intimate details of his life from a show he couldn’t control.

1
AL.com. Tyler Goodson of S-Town Podcast Killed by Police in Woodstock, Mayor Says
2
The New York Times. Tyler Goodson, Key Figure in S-Town Podcast, Dies at 32
3
Tuscaloosa News. Tyler Goodson, Featured in S-Town Podcast, Dies in Police Standoff
4
The Crimson White. Four Years Later, How S-Town Impacted an Alabama Town
5
TIME. S-Town Podcast Brian Reed John McLemore
6
Los Angeles Review of Books. S-Town Podcast Becomes Book
7
Tuscaloosa News. S-Town Story Continues in McLemore Property Case
8
Esquire. S-Town Podcast Tyler Goodson One Year Later
9
WVTM 13. Theft Case Involving S-Town Podcast’s Tyler Goodson Could Go to Trial
10
The Guardian. S-Town Serial Podcast Tyler Goodson Dead
11
Yahoo Entertainment. Tyler Goodson Talks Life in Town
12
Rolling Stone. S-Town Lawsuit John McLemore Estate
13
Variety. S-Town Podcast Producers Settle Lawsuit With Subject’s Estate
14
AL.com. S-Town Producers Settle Lawsuit With McLemore’s Estate
15
Tuscaloosa News. Lawsuit Over S-Town Podcast Dismissed
16
The Guardian. S-Town Never Justifies Its Voyeurism and That Makes It Morally Indefensible