Who did 'Amazing Race's Ryan Ferguson murder? Innocent contestant spent 10 years in prison
The best part of a reality TV show is that viewers get to know about people that they have never met and they suddenly become a part of our lives. Every person has a backstory and sometimes, it’s a lot worse than anyone can imagine. Season 33 of ‘The Amazing Race’ just ended its premiere episode a few moments ago and it left everyone speechless when a contestant named Ryan Ferguson talked about his troubled past.
Ferguson, who has entered the show with his best friend Dusty Harris, revealed that he served 10 years in prison for a murder that he never committed. Yes, you heard it right. One of this year’s contestants has spent almost a decade behind bars for a crime that he never did. The contestant was wrongfully convicted in the murder case of the 48-year-old Kent Heitholt. The incident took place in 2001 in Columbia, Missouri.
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After spending almost a decade in jail, all charges against Ferguson were dismissed as it was found that one of the accused in the case lied about Ferguson’s involvement. But who was Kent Heitholt? And why was he murdered? Let’s dig a little deeper and get to know about the scenario.
Who was Kent Heitholt and why was he murdered?
Kent Heithold worked as a Sports Editor at the Columbia Daily Tribune and was doing a late shift on October 31, 2001, as the sports staff had to cover some of the basketball games. According to a report by Columbia Daily Tribune, Heitholt was known as an “easy-going man who supported and mentored his writing staff.” The report also suggested that he was considered to be a “gentle giant” by the entire office.
On that fateful night, Heitholt had a brief chat with his co-worker Michael Boyd for a work-related conversation in the organization’s parking lot between 2:12 am and 2:20 am.
He left the office a few moments later and as soon as he approached his car in the parking lot, he was attacked by someone from behind. According to reports, janitor Shawna Ornt stepped outside for a cigarette break and two men standing near Heitholt’s car. She ran back and called her supervisor. They both saw two men standing near his car and one of them yelled “someone’s hurt out here, man.” Both men disappeared after yelling the aforementioned sentence and Heitholt was found severely beaten with a blunt object and strangled.
Ornt told the police that she saw the young men while the other janitor Jerry Trump said that he was unable to see their faces. For two years, the murder remained unsolved and in 2003 the local media would once again start to cover the entire case. Ferguson’s name came to light when one of his classmates Charles Erickson read an article about the case that included a sketch of a possible suspect. Erickson thought that the sketch resembled him. He and some of his friends notified the police.
While being interrogated, Erickson said that he doesn’t remember the incident at all. During the interrogation, he didn’t know how he killed him. Eventually, he would tell the authorities that he and Ferguson robbed Heitholt for drinking money. In March 2004, Erickson and Ferguson were arrested and charged with the murder.
Did Ferguson really murder Kent Heitholt?
Years after Ferguson was put into jail, some inconsistencies were seen with the witness statements. Erickson claimed that prosecutor Kevin Crane forced him to say Ferguson’s name and also revealed that he was intoxicated with drugs and alcohol when Heitholt was murdered.
Ornt, who witnessed two men fleeing the parking lot, testified that she had told Crane that the man whom she had seen on the night of the murder was not Ferguson. However, she claimed that Crane forced her to take Ferguson’s name and when she denied that, he started threatening her. Ferguson's conviction was vacated in November 2013 on the basis that the prosecution had withheld evidence from the defense team.
He went on to file a lawsuit against the city of Columbia and won $10 million in that same civil rights case.
While giving his introduction on ‘The Amazing Race’, Ferguson noted that he wants to win the $1 million prize money to set up a company that will help people like him who have been wrongfully convicted by the state.