Skip to content
Overturned

Ryan W. Ferguson

Year
2001
Where
Missouri
Source
Wikipedia
Evidence
1
Image published by Wikipedia for Ryan W. Ferguson
Image via Wikipedia
What the record says

Ryan W. Ferguson (born October 19, 1984) is an American man who spent nearly 10 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a 2001 murder in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri. At the time of the murder, Ferguson was a 17-year-old high-school student. Kent Heitholt was found beaten and strangled shortly after 2:00 a.m.

Summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Records change. The source is the authority.

Where to start

Got ten minutes? Do one of these.

What evidence was the conviction built on, and what has changed since trial?

  • Write down what the conviction rested on: eyewitness, confession, forensics, informant.
  • Find the court opinion and read what changed after trial.
  • Look for other cases with the same detective, lab or prosecutor.

New to this? Read the field guide. Five short lessons.

Coverage and records

What is out there.

Nobody has researched this case yet. Have the AI search the web for reporting, podcasts and videos about it.