In this unbelievable story, a man who was on life imprisonment for a crime he knew nothing about has gained his freedom back through a suicide note left by his brother who took his own life.
Freed: Floyd Bledsoe
An innocent man who served 15 years of a life sentence has been released after his brother confessed to rape and murder in a suicide note. The man identified as Floyd Bledsoe, 39, was convicted in 2000 of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated indecent liberties in the death of his 14-year-old sister-in-law Camille Arfmann who was found with four gunshot wounds under a pile of rubbish, the
Mirror reports.
Investigators were fooled after his brother Tom Bledsoe, 41, initially confessed to the murder even before Camille's body was found before recanting and instead, claimed Floyd had done it and then blackmailed him into taking the blame. Floyd was found guilty by a court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Now freed: Floyd Bledsoe hopes to start a new life
But, a twist to the story emerged 15 years later as the guilty man, Tom committed suicide with a confessional note saying: "I had sex with her and killed her".
A second note left read: "Floyd is innocent" and a third gave details of the murder that investigators said only the killer could have known.
"I found out she is 14 and I freaked out," Tom wrote in one of the letters, according to Jefferson County detective Kirk Vernon.
Two months ago lawyers with the Project for Innocence and Post-Conviction Remedies released DNA evidence found on Camille's body most likely came from Tom and not Floyd. Floyd - who has spent a quarter of a century behind bars - has now been released by a judge in Oskaloosa, in Jefferson County, Kansas, after lawyers revealed the new evidence.
"It's been a long time," Floyd said as he was released. "I just want to take everything slow and take it all in."