John B. McLemore

John B. McLemore was an eccentric 40-something clock repairman living in Woodstock, Alabama. In the summer of 2015, McLemore killed himself after drinking cyanide; a revelation that comes at the end of Chapter II of S-Town.

Brian Reed and Shit Town’s other executive producer, Julie Snyder, turned their microphones to those in John’s life and the messy aftermath his death produced. With no will left behind, a struggle over the care of McLemore’s mother, Mary Grace, ensued, as well as a tug-of-war over his property and finances. By all appearances, McLemore left the world a destitute man, but he was rumored to be a miser, with everything from vehicles to gold bars stashed around his vast home. McLemore’s cousins — the people left in control of his estate — began sparring with Tyler Goodson, a troubled young man that McLemore was intensely close with.