On Halloween night in 2001, Columbia Tribune Sports Editor Kent Heitholt was brutally murdered in the Tribune parking lot. Two years later, Charles Erickson read a memorial in the paper about Heitholt and was convinced he and classmate Ryan Ferguson committed the murder. Despite blacking out from partying that night and having no memory of the murder, besides what he called “snapshots," Charles took a plea deal to testify against Ryan. Ryan’s conviction was overturned in 2012 based on a Brady violation and recanted witness statements, including Charles's. Ryan now sits on the board of the Innocence Project. Even though his co-defendant is free, Charles has been in prison for sixteen years. 



Learn more about Charles's case and how to help: 

http://www.freecharleserickson.org/



For more information and a complete list of sources for this episode, visit: 

https://www.unjustandunsolved.com/


6: Charles Erickson

The Innocence Project estimates that there are currently over 20,000 innocent people locked away in US prisons. These cases remain unsolved. Each week, Investigative Journalist Maggie Freleng tells the story of one of those people and takes a deep dive into the crime they were convicted of. Through her original interviews with the convicted, their lawyers, families, and friends, Freleng chronicles each inmate’s fight for exoneration and their hope that justice can still be served.

True crime

Hey, Unjust and Unsolved listeners! We're so excited to bring you the new show from the Obsessed Network, "Murder in Alliance." The new show dives deep into an episode we covered in "Unjust and Unsolved," reinvestigating the case in real time.  We've got the first episode here for you in this feed, and two more available right now wherever you get your podcasts.



Listen to the first three episodes and follow "Murder in Alliance" on your favorite podcast player HERE (https://lnk.to/98BXWuip).



In the podcast, investigative journalist Maggie Freleng reinvestigates the 1999 murder of Yvonne Layne. Though her ex-boyfriend David Thorne was convicted of the murder, evidence points to his innocence. Now, twenty years later, Maggie travels to Ohio to talk with people involved in the case, explore new leads, and try to identify who killed Yvonne.



Follow "Murder in Alliance" on Twitter and Instagram: @Murder_Alliance

Introducing "Murder in Alliance: Ep. 1 Dead in the Water"

On Feb 23, 2008 a botched robbery took place leaving 68-year-old Patricia Landry dead. Witnesses said the driver of the vehicle that ran her over was a blonde woman in her 20s. Despite the age discrepancy, Cheri Hayden, a 45-year-old woman with deep facial wrinkles, clearly not 20, was arrested, tried and convicted with no evidence other than eyewitness testimony. In fact, if the police had done a proper investigation they would have found multiple people who said the real killer confessed...and she was blonde and in her 20s.



For more information and a complete list of sources for this episode, visit: 

https://www.unjustandunsolved.com/



Join us on Patreon to support the show and access exclusive content:

patreon.com/unjustandunsolved


22: Cheri Hayden

Halloween night 2012, 19-year-old Brandon Spencer and his girlfriend were on the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles attending a Halloween party. Suddenly, shots rang out and it was pandemonium. Everyone scattered, ducked, and hid. There was screaming...it was chaos and Brandon Spencer a smart kid from a well-to-do supportive family, with a good job getting ready to enter an EMT program wound up being pinned for it. Family, friends, police, even the former mayor of Inglewood vouched for Brandon, but the jury bought the prosecution's theory, that Brandon was a hardcore gangbanger and Brandon was sentenced to 40 years to life for four counts of attempted murder. However, years later, the star witness recanted and without his testimony...there is no evidence linking Brandon to the shooting. So why is Brandon still in prison? And if he's innocent, why was he railroaded?



For more information and a complete list of sources for this episode, visit: 

https://www.unjustandunsolved.com/



Join us on Patreon to support the show and access exclusive content:

patreon.com/unjustandunsolved


21: Brandon Spencer

Former appellate attorney and author Sara Bennett captures stunning, honest portraits of women serving life sentences in prison. She and Maggie talk about how women doing time differs from men, re-entry for women, and the humanity of the people we lock up. Sara’s art has been widely exhibited and featured in publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker Photo Booth, and Variety & Rolling Stone’s “American (In)Justice.” Right now she has art up in New York City at MOMA PS1 in the “Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration” exhibit along with folks who have made art from inside prison.



For more information and a complete list of sources for this episode, visit: 

https://www.unjustandunsolved.com/



Join us on Patreon to support the show and access exclusive content:

patreon.com/unjustandunsolved


20: Sara Bennett

1990’s Bronx, New York: The most violent decade in the city’s history in one of the most impoverished areas in the nation at the time, and college student Andre Brown was right in the middle. A drug turf war, teens with guns, and a corrupt mob lawyer for the Bonanno crime family - what could possibly go wrong? 



For more information and a complete list of sources for this episode, visit: 

https://www.unjustandunsolved.com/



Join us on Patreon to support the show and access exclusive content:

patreon.com/unjustandunsolved


6: Charles Erickson

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