Confess to a murder you didn’t commit?
Brief Case Summary Here at Wikipedia
CBS News show 48 Hours profiled a case on Saturday night about a Halloween night murder in Columbia, Missouri, a few years back. A newspaper editor, Kent Heitholt, was found bludgeoned to death beside his car in the parking lot at 2:00 in the morning — and police couldn’t solve the case.
For two years.
Then, a local young man started talking to his friends and telling them he was dreaming about the murders. The young man finally went to the police and told them.
You have to watch the video of the young man, Chuck Erickson, talking to police. Go to this page, and then on the right-hand side of the screen, you will see Chuck on a video screen . Watch the video footage. Chuck is being lead by police.
For some strange reason, this young man either convinced himself he was the murderer from his dreams, or was lead by police and then convinced by their actions he was the murderer. Perhaps this young man is mentally ill and twisted and wanted to see how far he could take things by trying to get his friend convicted and sentence to prison. I have no idea what the motivating factor is to admit to a crime he didn’t commit, but I can tell you I don’t believe Chuck killed anyone.
I have little doubt that Chuck Erickson has a troubled past. More than that, I think Chuck Erickson is likely to be pathological. He is a classic “neutral person” who doesn’t express one OUNCE of emotion. He is like a drone. Void and empty. With that, I can tell you what wouldn’t motivate a young man like Chuck to go to the police and confess: a guilty conscience. Chuck didn’t and still doesn’t have any emotions — let alone a guilty conscious. When Chuck talks and points out Ryan Ferguson in court, he is saying what he thinks he should say without any conviction in his face or voice.
I do not believe that Chuck Erickson murdered anyone. Nor do I believe his friend, Ryan Ferguson is guilty, either. (FYI: Ryan was sentence to 40 years in prison. An innocent man is sitting in jail).
When I see Ryan Ferguson talk, I truly believe what he has to say. In the first thirty second clip of Ryan on the show, when he said he was glad his parents believed him, Ryan flashed a an expression which showed genuine relief — which was congruent to what he was saying. It was at this point, I knew Ryan was innocent. And the more Ryan talked, the more he convinced me. His emotions matched his words and his actions. It was all congruent.
Here are other reasons why I don’t believe either committed the murders:
- The crime scene was bloody. Blood spatter was everywhere — yet no one saw these unprofessional high-school-aged killers with bloody clothes, or found bloody clothes disposed of.
- Nor did the police ever find the murder weapon.
- Don’t tell me youth like these can commit the perfect murder without a conscious plan to commit murder. I don’t buy it. I personally suspect this was a politically motivated murder executed by a hitman. It was too perfect.
- How come the police were never able to link the two boys to the crime with DNA? The police had DNA — a hair in the victim’s hand.
- While there was a janitor in the building who thought he saw two boys in the parking lot, he wasn’t able to give any description of them for years! He only remembered when the police told him what he was supposed to remember. Furthermore, this janitor has a shaky past (as he was in prison).
- Chuck Erickson comes across as a man who feels no emotion, has no emotion or feelings for any other person. He is emotionally void. When he spoke in court, I did not get one hint of support that he was telling the truth. Everything he said however points to a lie.
- The evidence against Chuck that he is a liar is mounting. Chuck’s story about the murder involves the two boys who were at the time of murder in high school going back to a bar after the crime. If this is accurate, the boys would have returned to the bar after 2:00 a.m. The bar closed at 1:30 a.m. Chuck’s story is a lie.
- Ryan Ferguson emotions, and facial expressions were all consistent with what he was saying. I have no doubt this boy is honest in the face of all of these facts.
