CONVICTION OVERTURNED MO - Kent Heitholt, 48, found murdered, Columbia, 1 Nov 2001

The bloody footprints from the scene.

ETA: Sorry if that was a rhetorical question. :)

I don't believe that blood would of remained on the soles of the shoes for that distance.

If I recall correctly it was the scent the dog tracked which was not presented in court.
 
I don't believe that blood would of remained on the soles of the shoes for that distance.

If I recall correctly it was the scent the dog tracked which was not presented in court.

I am confused by what little i know. Apparently there were shoe prints in blood, hand prints on the car? hair on the victims hand maybe one or two? potential DNA at the scene? none of these are consistent with Ryan or Chuck or have never been tested...is this correct? All we have is a confused confession of a drug addicted mentally ill kid and a late identification by a sexual offending ex con. The police really dropped the ball on this one.
 
I am confused by what little i know. Apparently there were shoe prints in blood, hand prints on the car? hair on the victims hand maybe one or two? potential DNA at the scene? none of these are consistent with Ryan or Chuck or have never been tested...is this correct? All we have is a confused confession of a drug addicted mentally ill kid and a late identification by a sexual offending ex con. The police really dropped the ball on this one.

The shoe prints did not match either Ryan or Chuck.

Hair was found in his hands and did not match either of them.

There is no DNA of either Ryan or Chuck from the scene. They as well took Ryans vehicle and found nothing.

The dog tracked a scent to the university.

Chuck had a dream without knowing many of the details and told a friend. The friend phoned police. I find it amazing that considering the limited amount of time that they actually used the victims belt to strangle him. This would take additonal time and we are already dealing with a very short time frame of approximately 20 minutes. Chuck was guessing things like a bungee cord till the detective told him what he was strangled with. Utterly amazing.

You are so right the whole thing is a mess. It appears LE but moreso Crane was determined to get convictions and it did not matter whether the evidence matched or not or whether he had the right individuals. He even coached Chuck regarding his testimony based on police reports in which one report accidently reported some wrong information. It appears that Chuck studied LE's reports and repeated the same inaccurate info. For example, Chuck stated that Ryan put his foot on his back and pulled up on the belt when the victim was actually laying on his back thus Ryan would of had to of put his foot on the stomache not his back. Just one of many errors.

Shakes head again at this case
 
The shoe prints did not match either Ryan or Chuck.

Hair was found in his hands and did not match either of them.

There is no DNA of either Ryan or Chuck from the scene. They as well took Ryans vehicle and found nothing.

The dog tracked a scent to the university.

Chuck had a dream without knowing many of the details and told a friend. The friend phoned police. I find it amazing that considering the limited amount of time that they actually used the victims belt to strangle him. This would take additonal time and we are already dealing with a very short time frame of approximately 20 minutes. Chuck was guessing things like a bungee cord till the detective told him what he was strangled with. Utterly amazing.

You are so right the whole thing is a mess. It appears LE but moreso Crane was determined to get convictions and it did not matter whether the evidence matched or not or whether he had the right individuals. He even coached Chuck regarding his testimony based on police reports in which one report accidently reported some wrong information. It appears that Chuck studied LE's reports and repeated the same inaccurate info. For example, Chuck stated that Ryan put his foot on his back and pulled up on the belt when the victim was actually laying on his back thus Ryan would of had to of put his foot on the stomache not his back. Just one of many errors.

Shakes head again at this case

And Chuck also identified Mr. Byrd as a white man just as the police report had incorrectly identified him. The first policeman to do an interview of mr. byrd did so by telephone and assumed he was white and put white on the report. So of course, chuck being coached by police relied on the police report to identify byrd. Should have been enough there for reasonable doubt..but this local bumpkin jury wanted to bring justice no matter what the truth was. I am still disturbed that there were two young men walking by what had to be seconds after the assault and never came forward...why? i think this is what the jury is holding on to. who were they? I wish this could be answered...if these two males walking by were totally innocent why not come forward.....and i cannot imagine two college boys seeing what had to be a horrific scene not going back to campus and telling every friend they saw....that part confuses me...
The pathologist the family hired suggested the victim was actually struck in the neck first...i have been trying to think how someone would remove a belt from such a large man...and why would they during an attack..seems hap hazard....i was thinking that perhaps the attacker was in front of heitholt and grab his waist band as he punched him in the throat...the belt must have broken lose at that point..the 48 hrs pics show the buckle laying with blood splattered on top of it...so the buckle must have landed on the ground first..the belt must have come free in the attackers hand...then the victim collapsed due to the blow to the throat....it appears the victim's head was slammed to the wheel or ground...i think thats the pathologists opinion...i think the belt was an afterthought to insure death...so how can two small teens attack this big man from the front...no..whoever attacked this man, engaged him in a face to face conversation and was big enough to subdue him quickly with a frontal attack..one powerful blow to the throat could kill or render unconscious someone..I think ryan was 5'7" and small...the victim a heavy man 6' 3" and over 300lbs..this was an overkill..either by a meth head or a very angry personal attacker.
 
And Chuck also identified Mr. Byrd as a white man just as the police report had incorrectly identified him. The first policeman to do an interview of mr. byrd did so by telephone and assumed he was white and put white on the report. So of course, chuck being coached by police relied on the police report to identify byrd. Should have been enough there for reasonable doubt..but this local bumpkin jury wanted to bring justice no matter what the truth was. I am still disturbed that there were two young men walking by what had to be seconds after the assault and never came forward...why? i think this is what the jury is holding on to. who were they? I wish this could be answered...if these two males walking by were totally innocent why not come forward.....and i cannot imagine two college boys seeing what had to be a horrific scene not going back to campus and telling every friend they saw....that part confuses me...
The pathologist the family hired suggested the victim was actually struck in the neck first...i have been trying to think how someone would remove a belt from such a large man...and why would they during an attack..seems hap hazard....i was thinking that perhaps the attacker was in front of heitholt and grab his waist band as he punched him in the throat...the belt must have broken lose at that point..the 48 hrs pics show the buckle laying with blood splattered on top of it...so the buckle must have landed on the ground first..the belt must have come free in the attackers hand...then the victim collapsed due to the blow to the throat....it appears the victim's head was slammed to the wheel or ground...i think thats the pathologists opinion...i think the belt was an afterthought to insure death...so how can two small teens attack this big man from the front...no..whoever attacked this man, engaged him in a face to face conversation and was big enough to subdue him quickly with a frontal attack..one powerful blow to the throat could kill or render unconscious someone..I think ryan was 5'7" and small...the victim a heavy man 6' 3" and over 300lbs..this was an overkill..either by a meth head or a very angry personal attacker.

Yes huge mistake with respect to the detective stating while male in his report.

I agree that the 2 individuals seen need to be found. (Maybe they were the murderers or maybe are afraid to come forward out of fear of the LE)

The victim was 6 foot 4 inches tall with his weight to match that. There is no way these 2 were able to do that. As well taking the belt off of an unconscious individual would not be easy.

I hope once this is all resolved with Ryan that they go after Crane.
 
Yes huge mistake with respect to the detective stating while male in his report.

I agree that the 2 individuals seen need to be found. (Maybe they were the murderers or maybe are afraid to come forward out of fear of the LE)

The victim was 6 foot 4 inches tall with his weight to match that. There is no way these 2 were able to do that. As well taking the belt off of an unconscious individual would not be easy.

I hope once this is all resolved with Ryan that they go after Crane.

Another point i think about is the so called two boys standing in the parking lot as mr. byrd left...remember mr byrd never mentioned them until chuck and ryan had been arrested two years later...so the last version of mr byrd was as he was walking thru the parking lot in the middle of the night there were two white boys standing near the dumpster and he thought they looked fine, not up to anything...but a few hours later when he heard his "friend" and coworker had been beaten to death, in that parking lot, minutes after seeing those two white boys, he did not mention it? strange........and according to chucks police induced version...Chuck says,....he and ryan went looking for someone to rob...they come into this parking lot and watch a white man, mr. byrd walk across the parking lot....they then watch a few minutes later the victim come into the parking lot...they wait for all this activity to subside and then sneak up on the bigger of the two and hit him from the rear...not consistent really with the evidence...my question is, if these two were desperate to rob and return to the bar, (which had closed by then) why didn't they attack Mr. Byrd? why did they wait around a few minutes for another victim they had no reason to believe even existed...i mean if they would attack a 6'3" 315 lb mr heitholt, why not a somewhat shorter and somewhat lighter mr. Byrd? it makes no sense...one of the many things....i am convince this was a personal attack, not a robbery....there had to be easier victims to rob walking about on halloween night...and one other point...wonder if Ryan had an atm card and a checking balance? i know he was 17 but i had a checking acct at 16...so if he had access to money, why not bring that out in court? i don;t know the answer to that question.
 
Another point i think about is the so called two boys standing in the parking lot as mr. byrd left...remember mr byrd never mentioned them until chuck and ryan had been arrested two years later...so the last version of mr byrd was as he was walking thru the parking lot in the middle of the night there were two white boys standing near the dumpster and he thought they looked fine, not up to anything...but a few hours later when he heard his "friend" and coworker had been beaten to death, in that parking lot, minutes after seeing those two white boys, he did not mention it? strange........and according to chucks police induced version...Chuck says,....he and ryan went looking for someone to rob...they come into this parking lot and watch a white man, mr. byrd walk across the parking lot....they then watch a few minutes later the victim come into the parking lot...they wait for all this activity to subside and then sneak up on the bigger of the two and hit him from the rear...not consistent really with the evidence...my question is, if these two were desperate to rob and return to the bar, (which had closed by then) why didn't they attack Mr. Byrd? why did they wait around a few minutes for another victim they had no reason to believe even existed...i mean if they would attack a 6'3" 315 lb mr heitholt, why not a somewhat shorter and somewhat lighter mr. Byrd? it makes no sense...one of the many things....i am convince this was a personal attack, not a robbery....there had to be easier victims to rob walking about on halloween night...and one other point...wonder if Ryan had an atm card and a checking balance? i know he was 17 but i had a checking acct at 16...so if he had access to money, why not bring that out in court? i don;t know the answer to that question.


Once again you bring up many of the issues that have surrounded this case. It was stated that there was friction between Byrd and Heitholt.

Bryds' accounts have changed so many times whether it is the colour of the vehicle he was driving, the order in which things happened like tuning the radio, speaking with the victim etc.

I also would like to know what happened to his one vehicle. It seems to have vanished with no trace. How convenient....
 
statistically speaking murder victims usually know the person who killed them, weather it be friend, family member, next door neighbor etc.

I still don't understand why chuck admitted to killing kent.
 
statistically speaking murder victims usually know the person who killed them, weather it be friend, family member, next door neighbor etc.

I still don't understand why chuck admitted to killing kent.

there are many cases of false confessions especially in high profile cases and near the anniversaries with newspaper coverage its very common to attract nuts...the police are suppose to keep some facts from the public to help with false confessors and false witnesses. chuck had a dream around the second anniversary i think...not real clear on that...but he told friends at a party...apparently ryan even told him he was nuts...one of the friends told the police..when chuck is interviewed he clearly did not know any of the facts...and even at some point said he did not know if what he dreamed was real..but instead of holding back the facts the police assisted him with the facts....
so at first chuck did not remember the strangling...but then he was told about it, then he was asked what did ryan use to strangle heitholt...and he said he didn;t know..then after some prodding he said a bungie cord? and was then told...could it have been a belt? and chuck;s first response was, "really?" he also eventually said a white man that must of been Mr. Byrd, left walked past them in the parking lot...but mr byrd is black..but the police report they used to coach chuck said incorrectly he was white..so of course a person lying based on this report would say the same...so how did we get from chuck doesn't even know heitholt was strangled...a chuck surprised a belt was used, a white mr byrd...to a trial in which Chuck without any doubt remembered a black mr byrd walking across the parking lot, ryan standing over mr heitholt strangling him with his own belt? how could we possibly have gotten there? the police should have taken his statement way back when, winked at each other and said, chuck you really weren't there were you? his original story never fit the facts...and it took two days of coaching and visiting the scene to get most of the facts straight..and even then chuck was a mess.
 
I believe one has to look over the facts of this case. Watch the videos where Chuck was spoon fed information not only by LE but then coached by the prosecutor. Chuck was also told that Ryan was going to be offered a deal and testify against him thus it would be in his best interest to cooperate for a plea deal and he did.

I believe that this might be one case where there might be grounds for prosecutorial misconduct even though Crane is now a Judge.

These stats listed below are only based on cases taken by the Innocence Project and to me 25% is a very high number.

As per the Innocence Project:

"While it can be hard to understand why someone would falsely confess to a crime, psychological research has provided some answers – and DNA exonerations have proven that the problem is more widespread than many people think. In approximately 25% of the wrongful convictions overturned with DNA evidence, defendants made false confessions, admissions or statements to law enforcement officials."

http://www.innocenceproject.org/fix/False-Confessions.php?phpMyAdmin=52c4ab7ea46t7da4197
 
I hope ryan is set free in April...but this process has already stolen nearly a decade of youth from him. no way to get that back. his website freeryanferguson.com is not working for me lately. wonder if they closed it.
 
I hope ryan is set free in April...but this process has already stolen nearly a decade of youth from him. no way to get that back. his website freeryanferguson.com is not working for me lately. wonder if they closed it.

it works for me
 
I just now read and watched the 48 hour story on this Case! If they do not free Ryan then I will lose all hope in our Justice system. My fear is since the prosecuting attorney is now a judge will this go against Ryan! If ever I saw a innocent man and I have never once so profoundly thought any criminal locked up as innocent, but Ryan sure is!

Lady Justice better balance the scales and free him!
 
I just now read and watched the 48 hour story on this Case! If they do not free Ryan then I will lose all hope in our Justice system. My fear is since the prosecuting attorney is now a judge will this go against Ryan! If ever I saw a innocent man and I have never once so profoundly thought any criminal locked up as innocent, but Ryan sure is!

Lady Justice better balance the scales and free him!

yes this story sickens me. i totally agree with you. ryan has nearly lost the entire decade of his 20's to a lie. i am very hopeful he will be out soon.
 
Can anyone tell me about the DNA evidence in this case..i know there is no DNA in the case linking Ryan and Chuck but is there any DNA evidence collected? also on another site on this case there is talk about the Dutch scientist that do Touch DNA..they take the evidence and based on the facts of the case deduce where the attacker might have touched the victim's clothes, or other items in the scene and try to detect DNA from skin cells..i guess most police look for DNA in stains, or drops, or things visually detected rather by eye or by alternate light sources..basically looking for bodily fluids...i have read through a lot of material but have never seen any reference to unidentified DNA, or even about DNA tests.
 
Can anyone tell me about the DNA evidence in this case..i know there is no DNA in the case linking Ryan and Chuck but is there any DNA evidence collected? also on another site on this case there is talk about the Dutch scientist that do Touch DNA..they take the evidence and based on the facts of the case deduce where the attacker might have touched the victim's clothes, or other items in the scene and try to detect DNA from skin cells..i guess most police look for DNA in stains, or drops, or things visually detected rather by eye or by alternate light sources..basically looking for bodily fluids...i have read through a lot of material but have never seen any reference to unidentified DNA, or even about DNA tests.

IIRC there was DNA evidence that does not match either Ryan or Chuck. Thus if memory is serving me correctly they would have profiles. Whether they are profiles of potential killer/killers I would think it depends on whether they would be in the database.

I need to review this again as it has been some time since I looked at that information.
 
I just now read and watched the 48 hour story on this Case! If they do not free Ryan then I will lose all hope in our Justice system. My fear is since the prosecuting attorney is now a judge will this go against Ryan! If ever I saw a innocent man and I have never once so profoundly thought any criminal locked up as innocent, but Ryan sure is!

Lady Justice better balance the scales and free him!

I as well have another fear. Not only do I believe that Ryan is innocent, I believe that Chuck may as well be even though he confessed I am not completely convinced that it was not a false one.

As well there is documentation that Chuck has issues which has been submitted regarding his mental status.
 
I have been following this since it first aired a few years ago.I have never believed the confession and always hoped Ryan would be set free. What some people saw as a cold looking possible killer, I saw as a scared kid who did not know how to react to what was happening.Him and his family have worked so hard, I hope he finally gets set free.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
89
Guests online
2,070
Total visitors
2,159

Forum statistics

Threads
590,084
Messages
17,929,982
Members
228,062
Latest member
Countrygirlwv
Back
Top