AUSTIN (KXAN) — KXAN’s project “A Hanging on Backbone Creek” won the 2025 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Innovation, the Radio Television Digital News Association announced.
This is KXAN’s seventh National Murrow Award overall, and the second national award for “A Hanging on Backbone Creek.” The project also won the American Legion’s Fourth Estate Award.
The investigation delved into the mysterious death of a quiet, young girl that haunts the town of Marble Falls, Texas, nearly 60 years after her body was discovered hanging by a jump rope in a shed behind her family’s home along Backbone Creek.
Quickly ruled an accidental strangulation by a local justice of the peace, questions linger not only about this case and others nearby — but also an antiquated process still used in most Texas counties, giving certain elected officials the power to determine cause and manner of death with scant training and often without autopsies or forensic expertise.
KXAN investigates efforts underway to strengthen and modernize this system, as our discoveries also reveal potential gaps in its oversight and prompt a new review of the last day Daynon Lewis was alive.
KXAN was recognized in May with five regional Murrow awards in the Digital, Excellence in Innovation, Excellence in Video, News Series and Podcast categories.