Ryan Ferguson, The Amazing Race Contestant Spent 10 Years in Jail for Murder He Didn’t Commit
2 min read
NBC News
Was Amazing Race’s Ryan Ferguson a murderer in past? The Amazing Race’s premiered recently and one of their contestants has revealed a shocking truth about himself. Ryan Ferguson, one of the contestants, revealed the truth about the time he served in jail due to a charge of murder. However, it turned out he was not guilty in the case but ended up in prison for 10 years to claim justice.
Why Ryan Ferguson Was Charged With Murder?
The case revolved around the murder of an editor of daily news. Kent Heitholt, the editor of Columbia Daily Tribune, was killed in 2001 in Columbia, Missouri. At the time of the case, investigators arrested Charles Chuck Erikson who was a friend of Ferguson at the time. He was the one who got Ferguson involved in the case as a testimony of him along with a claim by Janitor were only proofs against him. As a result, Ryan Ferguson was charged with 40 years in prison.
Making a Murderer attorney Kathleen Zellner took charge of Ryan Ferguson’s case in 2013. He dug up the truth that resulted in Erickson and the janitor taking back their initial testimony.
Erickson and the janitor claimed that they were forced to give testimony against Ferguson. The prosecutor Kevin Crane forced them to give testimony and Erickson claimed to be intoxicated with drugs and alcohol while the murder was conducted.
Ornt also told Kevin Crane back in time that the man she saw fleeing after the murder was not Ferguson. However, Kevin crane forced and threatened her to change her testimony. The prosecution convicted the case as the prosecution withheld evidence from Defence.
Ryan Ferguson filed a case in the same court and was proved not guilty after living 10 years in jail. He was not guilty of the murder and hence not a murderer.
Victim Kent Heitholt
Kent Heithold was Columbia Daily Tribune’s sports editor. He was doing a late shift on 31st October 2001. It was around 2 a.m. when Heithold was having a conversation with co-worker Michael Boyd in the organization’s parking area. Once over with his talk, he was going towards his car when someone attacked him from behind. Shawna Ornt was roaming around the area when she noticed the mishappening and immediately went to report it to his senior. When they arrived they saw two men standing near his car. One of the two yelled out that someone was hurt and ran away. Heithold was found strangled and severely hurt with a blunt object.
Columbia Daily Tribune claimed that he was an easy-going man as he supported and mentored his writing staff very well.
