After 20 years in prison, Marvin Mutch believed he’d likely never be released.

But the 1997 arrest of a couple later sentenced to death for a string of abductions, sexual assaults and one murder would lead an investigative reporter turned true-crime author to an alternate theory about Cassie Riley’s killer.

It wasn’t enough to overturn Mutch’s conviction, but the increased attention on his case brought him allies and a new hope for parole.