Uncovering the Truth: A Mother’s Fight & A Coroner’s Stand for Justice

In this powerful and emotional episode, Marie Lasater, a registered nurse and former elected 2-term Coroner of Texas County, Missouri, and Lashon Hudson, the grieving mother of Michael Hudson, courageously share their stories of loss, corruption, and their relentless fight for justice.

Lashon Hudson speaks from the heart about the unlawful death of her son, Michael, while in the custody of the Missouri Department of Corrections. Lashon reveals how she was never notified or asked for consent before her son’s body was transferred to a local funeral home — only to discover, in deep shock, that his tongue, heart, and kidney organs were missing when she saw him and given in a plastic bag to her. Since that day, her search for answers has been met with silence from those responsible at SCCC.

In honor of her son’s legacy, Lashon founded Michael’s Mother’s, a nonprofit organization in the works that will provide transportation for families to visit their incarcerated loved ones in Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas transporting them to SCCC in Licking, Missouri. This mission was born from a shared vision Lashon and Michael had — to bring families closer together and create positive change inside South Central Correctional Center (SCCC).

Marie, who simply goes by "Marie," shares what it was like working inside a broken system as a Coroner. She speaks candidly about the corruption and cover-ups she witnessed, especially around deaths inside the Missouri Department of Corrections. For over eight years, Marie fought for families to receive honest answers, often paying for independent autopsies from her own $14,000 salary when she couldn’t trust the state's pathologist reports. Today, as a respected expert witness, she continues to stand beside families in their fight for justice and transparency.

Together, Lashon and Marie a former retired elected 2-term Coroner expose deeply rooted corruption, raise urgent questions about accountability, and call for system-statewide reform to prevent other families from suffering similar pain.