DNA Evidence and Suicide-Note Confession Free Kansas Man after 15 years

A

Midwest Innocence Project

client was exonerated and released Tuesday after prosecutors dismissed all charges against him.

Floyd Bledsoe, 39, was convicted in 2000 of the rape and murder of his wife’s 14-year-old sister, Camille Arfmann. His brother Tom initially confessed to the crime, led the police to the girl’s body and turned over the murder weapon but later recanted, claiming Floyd was the perpetrator. No evidence tied Floyd to the crime other than his brother’s testimony. Floyd was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison

In October, the Midwest Innocence Project and the University of Kansas’ Project for Innocence filed a motion for a new trial for Floyd based on DNA evidence from the girl’s rape kit which excluded Floyd and included Tom. Shortly thereafter, Tom took his own life, leaving behind three suicide notes and voice messages confessing to the crime and insisting his brother had nothing to do with it. In the notes, Tom claimed that the prosecutor at the time encouraged him to change his story and implicate his brother.

Floyd was at a loss for words on Tuesday after Jefferson County District Court Judge Gary Nafziger ordered his release.

“I can’t change the past,” he told

KCTV News

. “I’m just glad this day is here.”

Read more about Bledsoe’s case

here

.