thank goodness this is finally over. >> finally he is free. >> oh, my god. you're home. i love you. >>onight go inside ryan ferguson's journey from pron to aew life. >>t's very strange. it's surreal. it's a story "dateline" has followed for years a young college stent accused of arime he swore he didt commit. >> so scy that this can actually happen to someone. >>e was convicted of a halloween night murder. there were fgerprints, footprints, stras of hair, but here's the thing. none of it matchedis.

so why did he enup in prison? that's the question that still haunts. >> i lied and said i remembered things i didn't remember. >> locked behind bars for almo a decade. >> everything u love has been taken from you. >> n, the ending he's be dreaming of. the reunion with grandrents he waafraid he'd never see again. back with his fami. >> to freedom. >> in the place he loves. i'm lester holt, and ts is ateline." here's kth morrison with the story of "the wrong man." >> reporter: no onknows how many there a sprinkled through the populations of america's bursting prisons, the innocent, thfalsely convicted, t tiny percentage we haveo hope. most with names we'll never know but somemes rarely we learn

their storie >> ryan ferguson will soon be a free man. >> reporter: like thone about ryan ferguson, the yng man in e news this week. >> for a msouri man whose murder convictiohas now been overturned. >> ryan ferguson inow a free man. his conviction wiped clean. >> reporter: easy, you'dhink, to hear e news, show he's innocent, out he comes but that, as you're about to se isn't how it works in 21st ceury america. ryan ferguson s been a preoccupatiohere at "dateline" for years. thprison here on no mo victims row, our familia destinatn. you've been he what, how many years? >> 40 years. >> reporter: tonht we'll she you the inside story of s long sagand how he went from colle student to convict murderer to prisoner and finally to trist in his own home town. you recognize your town?

>> i do recogne it. i'velways wondered whether this particular building he s. i've seen it on tv a lot >> reporte atsz ps been a trip all right. the sort of tr that on the wrg night at the wrong place could happen to anyone. this is the cautnary tale of wh happened to him. easy to t convicted of something. >> absolutely. >> repter: hard to get out again. >> incredibly fficult. reporter: the nightack when it all began was a rare combinatn, halloween under a full moon. it was 2001, a college tn. columb, missouri. ryanerguson and chuck erickson, both at 17 considerably underage, had gained entry to a llege bar, a hangout named e by george. that's pretty young to be able to get io a club. >> that's a coege town. you know, universi. just the way the people live in college towns. everybody wants to be in the mix,ang out, yeah. >> reporte it was ryan's older

sister kelly that helpedneak th in. >> i remember seeing them one time in there and ry was talking to a flamingo dress girl who was ve tall. they seemed to be having lots of fun. >> reporter: outside, raucous music carried thugh empty stres until closing time1:30 a.m. ur blocks away it wanearly itting time at the lal paper, "the lumbia daily tribune." sports editokent heitholt heed to his car after long day at work. it was just about 2:30 when two night janitors from e paper called 911. >> 9 what's your emergency? >> what'going on. >> there's somebody outside. reporter: it was suddenly at the adly center of the biggest story in town. >> the sports editor kent is laying on the ground in pool of blood. it just rocks you bk on your heels. >> reporter: the managing editor jim robertson got the call. his friend heidi, the beloved sports edito was dead.

>> we were in shock. the whole newsroom, the whole building was in shock because everybody knew kt. >> reporr: it wasn't pretty. murd never is. somebody smashed kent's head, maybe with something like a tire iron, then strangledim. the investigors found fingerints on his car and the victim's hd strands of hair which he must surely have pulledrom the head of his killerr perhaps two killers? in that call to 911 those night cuodians reported this. >> i saw two guys in the aa. >> were they white or blac >> white. i'd say , 20. >> do you remember any kinof description at all on these guys? >> i don't think -- th were close 6 feet. thin, e of them had blond hair. ally, really short blond hair. >> reporter: the trail of oody footprts, two sets of footprin led from the parkin lot toward a college dorm a few blocks away,ut a search there turned up nobody suscious.

ditto for this composite stch bad on the janitors' descriptions. ey vanished like a pr of ghosts at halloween. >> at colombia, i don'think anybody could have gotten around and not ard about it. >> reporr: this is leslie, ryan's mother. >>hen you live in a to and there's been aurder and they don'know who committed t murder, u're wondering, you ow, is this person still out ere? >> reporter: but life goesn. ryan went to college, chuck struggled, boozedrugs, the usual cocktail of trouble. and then two years aer kent's murder, the "tribune" ran an anniversary story, printed wha details were known all over again. and a couplef months later chuck was in the sauce, d he ran into ryan home from college for the holidays. >> he sayshey, man, remember hanging out on halloween a couple years back gointo the pub? yeah. he says, do you know if had anything to do with that cme

that was comtted against this guy o was killed? anat that point, i'm kd of freaked out. it's night. i'm outse. it's past midnight, and this guy's talking about do i know if he's involved in murder. >> reporter: ryan shook itff. he said it had to chuck's ideaf a morbid joke. but it wasn't. chuck told other fends about hiweird dream-like notn. and before long someone to his seriously and called the polic >> you know that reporter at t tribune that was murdereand no one found out who itas? >> mm-hmm. >> i know what happed and i know the murderer. >> reporter: and a dd case came roaring back life. what happened next? now, that's where the real myery lies. > when we come back, you'll hear two very different stories about that night one from chuck erickson. >> iemember seeing ryan huddling over th guy and i

think i asked him if he's dead. ryan said, yes, he's dead. >> another from ryan ferguson. >> i h nothing to do with this crime whatsoever and leds come standa. thiss the freedom to keep asing althe horizons you want. introducing the all-new 2014 jeep cherokee. ♪ [ mo] be right there, baby. [ mfled noises ] oops. ow. sry. [ baby ying ] ♪ [ female anuncer ] new pampers. nlike ordinary diapers with 2 layers, pampers have 3 absorbent layers, totay up to 3 times drier, so babies can sleep soundly all night.

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for the star in your life. empty. not one sod leadin the kent heitholt murder. and w there was this kid, so they'd been told, who knew the whole sty, chapter an verse. >> let's go over this one more time. >> reporte he brought chuck erickson in for quesoning but in the chaire went all vague on them. >> it's so foggy. >> rorter: so was he backing out? >> i could just be sitting here fabricing all of it and not know. and i don't. reporter: during a long conversation chu seemed to remember a whole lot of things,

detailedhis. >>. >> did you see blood coming from him? >> yeah. >> reporter: theotive, he said, was robbery, mey to buy more drinks back at the bar. >> was this at csing time? >> n this was before tha >>eporter: it made perct sense a ir skinned teenager out drinking just a few blocks from the newspaper. but remember the cusdians saw two young men the parking lot and e police tracked twoets of bloy footprints. and so here it was, the moment ryan fguson's fate was sead. >> i rember seeing ryan hovering over this guy, and i think i asked him if he's dead. and ryan said, yeshe's dead. >> reporter: tngs began haening very, very fast. ryanremember, was at colge, was living in a different to and s puzzled, he said, when a strange van follow him home from school. it was when he pulled up to his door that he was surrounded by

police. what happened when you got to the police departmen they tell me they'r arresting me on suspicion of a murder. and at that point i'm just like, oh, my goodness, ts is absurd. >> reporter: they ked about thatalloween, and ryan td detectives he left the bar with chucat closing time 1:30 a.m., then dropped chuck offt his house, went home and went to bed. >> i knew that i had nothing to do with this crime whatsoever. >> reporter: but en as he sat here in an interrogation room denying he had anything to do with the murder, the news of his arrest was on tv. >> there is a big break tonigh in the murder of former "columbia tribune" sports editor kent heitholt. >> reporter: ryan's father got e news from a reporter and a friend watchintv called leslie. >> my first reaction was just -- i said, well, it's not our rya it has to be another ryan ferguson. >> reporter: impossible, not sweet, loving, lovable ryan, not

violent bone in thatoy's bo said his father bil >> he st didn't have that sort of a mentality. anso all of a sudden f him to be accused of a heinous murder is bend comprehension. >> you have the right to remain silent. reporter: but just ke that ryan ferguson slped from carefree collegetudent to the town's mt heinous murder suspect and still he failed to understand what was in store. he waited eagerly f his trial, convinced a jury would see that he was lling the truth and chuck was clearly confused. isn't it possible th you did have enough to drink that you repressed yo own memories, that you jt -- you're in a fog, youidn't know what you'd done? >> absolutelnot. absolutelyot. >> reporter: pretty sure of that memoryf yours? >> absolutely. no doubt in my mind. i know exactly what i did that night. >> rorter: chuck's fate was dermined quickly. took a plea deal, 2years in exchange for agreeg to testify against ryan

and th's what he did. at ryan's ial in 2005, chuck re-enacted what he said they did to poor kent heitholt. hit him on the head wi a tool from ryan's car, then ryan strangled him with a belt. >>e had his foot on his back, on the victim's back, and he was pulling up on the belt like this. >> reporter: the prosecutor didn't psent dna or fingerint evidence linking ryan to the bloody scene but perhaps he didn't ha to because he hadhuck. >> i g to tell them what that man did. >> reporter: and he had this man. his name - >> jerry trump. >> reporter: you might want remember that name. jerry trump is one of the nitors who called 911 the night of the mder. the man who reported seeing two ung men lurking near the victim'sar. >> do you remember a kind of scription at all on ese guys? >> i don't think -- they were close to 6 feet. >> reporter: athe time of the

kiing, trump told poli he wasn't sure he'd be ableo pick out a suspect, but now icourt his memory hadmproved. >> would you point tthat individu or individuals please? >>es. >> reporter: ryan tookhe stand in his own defen, a ringing and deteined denial. >> did you go to the "tribune" parking lot? >> no. >> did you see kent heitholt anywhere? >>o. >> did y participate in this murd? >> no. >> reporter: how could a jury believe otherwise, he thought. there was evidence at the crime scene, aft all. footprints, fingerprts, the hair in the victim's hand and none of it matched ryan. it was a friday evening when the ju went out. and at same friday eveni wh they came back, a bsk preweekend deliberation. >> we the jury find the defendant, ryan william ferguson, guilty of murderf the send degree. >> repter: he didn't show much on the outside but now finally he understood what had happened to him

thsentence was 40 year and the heholts felt they were getting th thing people liked to call closure. >> i'm glad that finally can remember him as just my daand soone that was loved by everyone >> reporter: kent heitholt's paper the "tribune" put the story to bed, perhs for good. >> ihink everybody will feel someelief now that it's er. >> reporr: but ryan's family felt theolar opposite of relief. the inlgent sister who sneed him into the bar wstled with debilitating remor. of course i feel ve guilty because, not only was he down there becausof me, but i also got him into a bar under a. so it just looks really bad. >> reporter: and ryan's parents slippeinto a world in whic li did not make sense all. >> you almost feelike you're stepping back from yoursel >> yeah. >> and you're watching other people, yourself, ing through this because it can'really be your life. it can't be you gointhrough

this. but no one in this case was about to give up. ryan's dad fights to prove his nocence and finds a tness with a new story >> and i said, so e person you w, was that ryan ferguson? she goes no, that s not. [ male announcer ] nomatter what city you're playing tomorrow. [ coughs ] ♪ [ male announr ] you can't let a cold keep you up tonight. vicks nyquil -- powerl nighttime 6-symptom cold & flu relief. ♪

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it had all hapned so fast, verdict, butow a convicted >> 40 years. >> rorter: life was on hd for his stunned family. >> the whole thi is just so scary to me thathis could actuallyappen to someone. >> reporter:ow do you get over a thing li that? i mean -- >> y don't get over it. you get busy. that's what we did. we'rnot over it. we're just bus >> reporter: busy fr that day forth, trying to prove what s plainly obvious to them, that ryan wasnnocent. his dad bi was certain there was eviden out there. if onlhe could find it. onlittle piece of information could break the whole case. >> iwould make a big difference. >> repter: it was after

nighttime that bill ferguson wandered tough columbia's downtown returning to the area ere the murder happened, puzzling out clues what ithere about this pla at tells you your son didn't it? >> well, it's not so much this place, it's what happened at this place. the bar closedt 1:30. >> reporter: why would ryaand chuccommit a murder and robby after 2:00 a.m. too back to a bar that had been cled for an hour? and there was something else that kept gging at bill, that 91call the night of the murder. >> we need someone here athe columb daily tribune. only the me janitor identified ryan. what abouthe woman on the 911 tape. she testified,oo, but on the stand e wasn't asked to point ouryan. >> i became very suspious. m saying, wait a secd. she's the witness. >> reporter: bill tracked her down. anhere was the kind of bingo bill was lookingor. >> and i said, sthe person you saw, the person you drew the coosite of, was that ryan ferguson? she goes no, that s not.

i saidwas it chuck erickson? no, it w not. >> reporter: she was sure of that. >> she was absolutely sure. >> reporter: what's more she told the prosecutor this years earlier before the trial. th that new informatn, ryan filed an appeal, and his dad was hopeful. >> we ju knew if we could ever get in the courtroom and present the idence, ryan will beound innocent. >> reporter: but as th fergusons is were about find out, f the first but not lt time, overturning murder convtion is a very diffilt thing to do. the appeal was denie that new store free the janitor deemed not credible. but give up? no. even when they ran throu their life sings, even when a ra of legal appeals went nowhere. >> every time they come back and they deny any moti or they deny any appeal, it's just my thought, you've justaken another two or three years of my

life for nhing. >> reporter: and still, nearly four decades to . if you have to serve that, you come out a senior cizen if you're sti alive. >> unftunately. but at the end of the day,ou never know what's going to happen. >> reporr: well, you don't, do you? just when ryan seemed to be almost out of options altogether, an aorney named kathleen zellner agreed to take a look at the case. she met wi ryan. d decided to take it on. pro bono. >> nothing ias riveting at thiswhen the trial's bee lost, everything's bn lost and you' got somebody that's innocent. like the ultimate challenge, i think. reporter: what made you think this person defitely is nocent? >> it was reallyyan. itas really my interaction with him. >> reporr: zeller in has won the release of 15 men wronully convicted of murder anrape, buthis? she had never seen anything like it. because in this strange case, she thought, thereere two

innocent menryan and chuck, his accuser, a confused young man but not a killer. what was put on at thitrial was a completely fabricated case, and the reason it worked was becausthe jury could not understa why someone would confess to a crime they didn't mmit and then take a 25-year sentence. >> rorter: and the verdict rendered by jury of one's peers carries tremendous weight. its almost sacred in t legal system. to overtn ryan's conviction, zellner woulhave to find new informatn that the jurors could not have heard or show that the prosecuon of the case was not fair. she hajust begun investigating when a gift arved. the sort of thing an attorney caonly dream about. it was a letter not to her, to ryan. >> i get this letter and it's from charlesrickson. i'm like what could this possibly say?

>> reporter: oh, nowhis, this coulchange everything. just mbe not in the way anyone expeed. coming up -- >> i lied and said i rembered things i didn't remember. >> chuckrickson is back on t stand, but he's t the only one who's changed s story. >> i like to ask forgivess from ryan anhis family. [ pilot ] weather conditions aren't nearly as nice

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> ryan ferguson had en

behind bars for five years. put there after chuck erickson told a tale of murder, said they killed man together e halloween night. this condemning, finger-stabbing cusation in court was the last time ryan had seenr heard a single word from his former friend. so it was a shock the day th letter arrived in the prison mail roofrom chuck. >> basicly just says, send a attorney and d't tell anyone you're doi it. >> reporte send an attorney to him? >> yeah. >> rorter: that was in 2009. as luck uld have it kathleen zeer in had just signed on to e case. she went to see him and he haed her a written statement. oh, my god, he's retelling the story but ryan's not the killer. >> reporter: he read his new veion of events on cama. >> i made up whai said about ryan being on top of the vtim. >> reporter: are you sayin today that you are theole

murderer of kent heiolt? >> that's correct, yes. >> reporter: it must have been a great day for yo >> it was, but know how much work it is to undo these things. to me was the first step. >>eporter: and it was puzzling, too, zelln was ablute absolutely convced that neither chuck nor ryan was near the murr. she d ryan believed that chuck wastill confused. >> so e reality that he doesn't know what happened that night, and he's trying to put thesthings together. reporter: did that change everything? not really. the atrney did more resear, interviewed other witnesses, filed papeork. two years went by. and then in the spng of 2012, a hearing was called. ryan's dadhysically carried bos of documents into e courthse. attorney kathln zellner and her team huddled at a nearby hotel prepare. >> ms. zellner? your honor, we're he after many years >> reporter: the next morning

his lawyer prented several pieces of evidence not heard before, like this story from a girl w saw ryan and chuck drive off at 1:30, jt as ryan had always claimed. >> and did you actually see them drive ay? >> yes. >> reporter: but theore of the case was right here, chuck erickson, now face-to-face with ry for the first time since the trial. >> his testimony that he made up during therial took my life, and you kn, it's crazy to believe that his testimony now could give my life back. >> rorter: in that taped statement backn the prison, chuck said quitelearly that he, not ryan, killed kent heitholt. was that the sry he would tell today? >> do you rember killing mr. heitholt? >> no. >> reporter: ahe spoke it became perfely clear his story had chand again. now chuck was sang he had no memory aall of what he and

ryan did on halloween night. blacked out after drinking too much. and more importa, he never did remember. >> i lied and id i remembered things i didn't remember, and said he did stuff that i don't remember him doing or me doing. >> reporter: how cane not know? committing or not committing a murder, how can you not know that? >> that is a very baffling thing to myself and everyone, i think. he was asleethat night, and i dropped m off at home. reporter: so what tmake of the chge? well, ryan's side had always believed chuck was innocent, too. his original conssion a false one now in court, zellner argued that whehe confessed and implated ryan chuck was a confused young manarroting inrmation an overzealo interrogator f him. just one example, thmurder weapon. >> he's pullinup on the belt. >> repter: so confident dung

the trial was a belt, but during his interrogation he seemed thave no idea. so they told him. >> i know i ink it was a shirt or something. >> i know it wasn't a shirt. >> maybe aungee cord or something om his car. i don't see y he'd have a rope in his car. >> we kn for a fact that his lt was ripped off ofis pants and he was strangled wh a belt >> really? >>id you see something in rye yans's hand maybe a buee cord? >> i don't know. >> reporter:nd when his memory continued to be foy? >> you better start thinking very clearly. >> okay. >> bause it's you that ion thishopping block. >> reporter: why did you play that little piece of interrogation? >> because ishows the tremendo pressure he was under. when charles erickn is explaining, i don't ve a memory of this. he's like i don't nt to hear any of that. you're going to ve memory of it. i'm going to telyou what the

memory is. he was right in hiface. >> i was blacked out. >> reporter: now on thstand chuck said he wantedo take it all back. >> i don't want to die, you know, knowing that i did the wrong thing. >>eporter: ryan's attoey knew, of course, that chk and his ever-evolving ory might be hard to believe,o she had one more card ready to play. >> would you state - >> reporter: quite literal. >> jer trump. >> reporte the trump card. remember that night janitor at the newspaper the man who pointed an accusing finger during his 200trial, jerry trump? >> yes. >> reporter: now zellner asked trump a simpleuestion, how in heaven's name was he able to colusively identify ryan as the young man he said he saw in a dark unlit parking lot years earlier and heret came. a startling accusation. jerry trumsaid he was just ing what he thought e precutor wanted him to do. >> he sa, we're fairly sure we have the two gs that killed mr. heitholt.

and we need you to identify em. >> reporter: a so trump said he lie >> andhen you pointed to rn ferguson in the courtroom and you said, th's the person you saat the "columbia tribune" parking lot,as that true or false? >> it was false. so are you testifyi with the understaing that by telling this testimony you could be charged wh perjury? >> yes, i am. >> do you anticipate or want ything for doing thi >> yes. i'd like to have forveness from ryan. and his family. >> reporter: ryan's attorn had no further questns. let the emotion hang in the air. and then it was the state's turn. did the assistanattorney general mit an error, send erybody including ryan home?

>> what you will see is the evolving lies. >> reporter: no, the state sod by theriginal prosecution, categorically denied jerry trump's claims and challenged chuck ericon on the stand. >> you're saying you he a willingness toay anything you need to say to get rn out? at the time i did. do i expect you toelieve it? no, i n't expect you to believe it. >> reporter: who would the judge believe? ryan went backo prison and waited. one month, two, four, six months counted from his ce. hehought about his grandparents in florida, allowed himself to hope he'd see them soon. and thent was halloween agai 2012. the 11th anniversary of kent heitholt's mder. a guard came to see ryan his lawyer was on the phe. >>hey called me back there, you have an attorney phone call. so i figured. >>eporter: attorney phone call? >> yes. >> reporter: this could it? >> ts could be it. >> reporte right then what was it like? >> i didn't even rlly think.

just had to put one foot ahead of the other. and then i got on the phone wi my attorney and the rst thing she says is i got a bit of bad news. and basicay i didn't hear ything after that. coming up -- >> it was the most difficult thing i ever heard. >> for ryan, terrible blow. >> he s at the end of the road. it was almost over for him. >> but team ryan decides to go for a legal hail mary pass. would it work? i got education benefits. i work at walmart. i'm a pharcist. les associate. i manage produce. i work in logistics. there's more to walmart th you think. vo: opportunity. that's the realalmart.

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ryan ferguson walked prison hallwaysith a lighter step afr his lawyers presend what he believed was a compelling case for overturning his murde conviction. >> ryan ferguson iactually innocent. >> reporter: and tn months ter, he was called to the prison pho and kathleen zellr broke the news. the appeal was died. time once again stood still. >> dastating really because everything that yocare about, everhing you believed in everything you love has been

taken from you foro reason. >> a judge has died convicted killer ryan fergon a new trial. >> reporte and in the same way he found out his s had been arrested for murder, bill ferguson learned ryan'fate from a reporr. >> and she ss, i just want to know if you want to make a commenon judge green's ruling. and i'm thinking, what? what rulg? and she goes, well, you ow, he just -- oh, my god, you don't knowdo you? i don't know. and -- >> yes. >> finally i got hold of mdad. and he w trying to hold it together, but ev his voice cracked, you know. and that was the worst sound i'vever heard in my life. it was the most difficulthing i ever heard. >> reporter: and tn you were locked down? >> yeah. just at that moment you el so

empty and so alone and hopeles you ow. >> reporte and why? in his ruling, t judge said chuck erickson was cpletely fabricating the stors he told at the hearing, and while the judge did believe jerry trump, he said that his lieas immaterial, not enough to overrn the guilty verdic there any point wheyou thought this ain't going to happen? >> after the witnesses recanted d the court said it wasn't enough, i got very ccerned. so i felt like it was a life and death situatn. >> reporter: oneore legal mauver to try, a habeas petition filed in a higher court, the missouri court of appeals. zellner knewt was a long shot. the st majority of these fail. >> he was at the end of the road, last gasp. it was almost over for him. >> reporter: so she did it, filed the paperwork. 154 pages it. and waited. and inside the state prison,

ry ferguson had learned not to expect anythg. are you allowing yourself to imagine, you know, next we, next month, next year what i'll on the outside? that's a long way away right now. >> reporter: but outside the walls far away from the courts and the viual world, something funny was happening. support for ryan was growing. friends and family and complete strangers from around the world we posting messages anphotos demandg free ryan ferguson. an online petition to free him gathered signatures by the thousas. then, just this pasteptember, a glimmer of he. ryan had been granted a hearing. >> the honorable court of appeals. >> reporter: his lawr had just 15 minut to tell ryan's stor to a panel of three judges abo the witnesses who said they lied, the mistakes by the prosecution, and the crime sne that told a tale of innocence.

>> mr. ferguson and mr. erkson were excluded from the phycal evidce. >> is this big day for you? >> a big day fors, a big day for ryan. reporter: this time ryan's dad deded he wasn't going to sit around andait for the judges to rule. he set off on a road trip to share his unshakable faith in his son. >> and they found the a did t match him at all. >> reporter: in a car emblazoned with his son's face and ose same two words "free ryan county then one cold vember morning the fergusons learneit was decision day no courtroomhis time. the news camin the most modera of way, hovering over a computer screen, bill and leslie togeer, logged on to the appeals urt website. >> we were doing t same thing, refresh, refresh. then it flashed up on the screen and just for a split second i saw "rn".

comi up -- the news ryan and his family ha been waiting for for so long >> man, i'm just trying not to have a heart attac >> and the rnion he's been dreaming of. and coming uwednesday on "dateline"- we are frantic, calling, all her friendare calling. >> it was hard enough whenikki went missing. this was so much worse. it came over the tv that a body had beefound. and we just knew that itad to be her. i' never forget that as long as live. >> had her troubd past caught upith her? or was it somethg even darker? >> how did she change? >> she became more sexual wi people. >> loved by so many -- >> nikki was sunshine. >> who wanted her dead? >> he thought he was somewhat of a player >> did imake him a killer? >> "datelinewednesday at 10:00, 9:00 centl. life's unfgettable moments

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ry ferguson's parents huddled overhe computer, couldn't quiteet the webpage to settle down >> seemed like an eternity. ing it up, bring it up, where is it? >> reporter: thesuddenly here it was. and it was stuing. the news for the first time in their family's dece-long saga was good, as good asood could be. >> it was amazin amazing to reathat. >> reporter: ryan ferguson's conviction washrown out by the court. citing a ptern of evidence withld by the prosecution, ferguson's conviction, said the judges, all e judges, is not a verdict rthy of either judial or public confidence. >> we've been thinng about it and dreamingbout it for 9 1/2 ars. reporter: in prison ryan got word to ll his attorney kathleen zellner. >> man, i'm just trying noto have a heart attack. >> reporter:he told him the courhad overturned his guilty verdt. what feeling comes over yowhen you hear tt? >> it was just pure relief.

and that's all i cou feel at that moment was justyou know, thank goodnesshis is finally over. >> reporr: but of course, it wasn't completely er. doesn't work that way. ry ryan's conviction was thrown out but the way the law works, the prosecutor could rearrest m, charge him with murder and t him agn. until the prosecutor decided whether to charge him orot, ry had to stay in pris and wa. here he was no longer a felon but still behind bar co on, sit down, let's talk. while he waite we waited with him. the state's decision, let him go or not, was due this very y, tuesday, any minute, any hour. >> on a high one minute, then u're just really fearful the next mine. it's a rler coaster really. >> reporter: we posed for

pictures, joked around ait. like the guns. ryan, knowinthat any second now the decision might come down, and thenur allotted time was up. they led him bacto his cell and not much more than an hour later, this, from a one-sentence press releas the attorney genel's office will not retry pursue further acti against ryan ferson at this time. >> it was unbelievable. >> reporte kathleen zellner rushed to the prison, but ey were separated bglass. she sn't allowed in to tk to him. and didn't know. she scribbled ov a piece of blue paper, held it up to the window. "it is ove" >> hwas transformed as a person just those few seconds. >> reporter: ryan's parents arrived to scoop him up and take him home, but were prevented from entering the prison grounds. >> i told you never lieve anything unt ryan is actually in the car. >> reporter: but was it really

finally over? inside the prison ere ryan had put on street clhes, he was abruptly told take them of th put him back in the orange jumpit and shackles, loaded him in the van, drove him to the boone county jai >> felt like this is beyond beli this is happening. >> reporter: ryan, terrified, feared he was to be arrested again. >> nobody knew what they were doing. i think everyone was trying to do the righthing, but everyone s worried about procedure. >> reporter: eventually the authorities stightened things out and it happened,t ended, 12 yea and 12 days after that halloween moon. it was tru and finally over. an rode to freedom in the ryanmobile, the car s father had driven all around th country to bring attention to

his cause. in just a few hours, ryan had come out of the prison cell and now confronted the packed hall and came offike a practiced politician. >> thank you. >> reporter: awarehat others weren't so lucky. >> to get chargewith a crime u didn't commit is iredibly easy and you can lose your life very fast, but to get out of prison it takes an army, as you can see. an incredible grp of individuals, family, fends. >> reporter: by his side, his girlfriend, his mother and his father bill, witho whom none of this ever cou have or would have happened. >> you know, i just have the most amazing family. i love you guys so much. >> reporter: hisister who helped theittle brother sneak into the bar 12 yes ago was

away, couldn't bhere. untisuddenly, there she was. and the world class laer -- >> ts is how i knew. >> reporter: who, recognizing an injustice, offered twork for free. >> i knew he was innocent. so my firm spent over 3,000 hours, hired experts and spent a million dollars. it was the best million dollars i ev spent. er. it was great. we'd do it again. >> reporter: there is still unfinished business in this story. the family of kent heitholmay ha fewer answers now than ten years ago, and callshe latest developments painful. the fergusons have offered a $10,000 reward f tips in the case. >> we hope the heitholt family

will get thenformation they needo move forward in their lives. >> rorter: ryan's familylso vowed to help freehuck erkson, the man whose testony put him behind bars in first place. but for the mont, ryan has some adjustingo do. freedom is sweet. >> the pillows are really big and fluf, i'm not used to that. >> reporter: but as everyone knows, it isn't always straightfoard. >> since this morning i started getting stressed out abo a few things which is kind of strange to me because, you kw. >> rorter: stressed out out what? i don't know. it's a whole different life. it's a whole lot to get ed to. you got to figure ouyour way arou this world. because i know what to do in prison. i know where to be a when to do thing out here it's a complely different environment. and got to find my way essentially. reporter: one more ing to . as he launched his brand new life. visit the andparents in

florida he feared he'd never see again. >> this is so range. >> reporr: and so we arranged this. >> oh, my god. >> how's it going? i love you. >> i love you, man, how you been? >>'m fine. >> oh, good. hug mom. >>t's been a long time, hasn't it >> too lg. >> let me look at you. >> reporter: and then this morninthe sun rose over th sea. anryan ferguson breathed in the oceaair, felt the world open around him, toued his feet to the wa sand. and life began anew. >> to freedom. a great family. that's all for ts edition of "dateline." we'll be back again wednesday at 10:00, 9:00 central.

and ll see you tomorrow on "today." i'm lester ht. for all of us atbc news, good nigh all: ♪ tonight i'm gonna kiss her ♪ tonight ght here on the rive♪ ♪ iceold beer everybods here tonight ♪ ♪ ice-cold beer ♪ everybody's here tonigh - [singing high note] [laughter] - wow, that was so bad, you guys. - i think i thw up in my mouth little. - we probably ared all of the fh away. - - [laughs]thw up - i never catch anythi anyway. - what, two beautiful women don't rate? - you kiddg me? pretty thi like you, you're not even a keer. should toss you in right now. - [squeals] [both lahing] - so i'm gonna get some me beer. - okay. - [chuckles] - that's gd.