Ferguson and Erickson
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Ryan Ferguson and Chuck Erickson were convicted of the brutal murder of Columbia Tribune Sports Editor Kent Heitholt. The crime occurred on October 31, 2001 in Columbia, Missouri. At the time of the crime, a black janitor, Jerry Trump, caught a glimpse of two young white men running away from Heitholt’s car around the time of the murder. The janitor said he could not provide a detailed description of them. Two years after the crime, after reading anniversary newspaper coverage, Erickson began telling friends he dreamed he had killed Heitholt. When police questioned him later, Erickson confessed but gave videotaped details inconsistent with the crime. He also named his friend Ryan Ferguson as his accomplice. Erickson said that following the murder, he and Ferguson went back to the bar they had been at earlier. However, the bar had closed more than a half-hour before the murder. Erickson confessed, that he, then 17, beat the 6'3", 315 lb. Heitholt with a tire iron just once. An autopsy showed Heitholt was beaten multiple times. Erickson said that afterwards, Ferguson, also 17, strangled the victim. He did not know how, and seemed surprised when told that Heitholt had been strangled with his own belt.
There was no physical evidence linking either defendant to the crime. Nevertheless, Erickson pled to the crime, and was the state's star witness at trial against Ferguson. The janitor, who had little memory at the time of the crime, identified Ferguson at trial. Ferguson is not absolutely sure that Erickson was not at the crime, but is adamant about his innocence. The jury could not get over the fact that Erickson was willing to implicate himself in the crime, if he did not do it. Ferguson will be eligible for parole in September 2042.
