Police say Darryl Hunt, man exonerated in North Carolina murder case, committed suicide
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Police say Darryl Hunt, a man who was exonerated of the murder of a Winston-Salem newspaper editor, committed suicide.
Officers received a call early Sunday of a person believed to be dead inside a car on University Parkway, near the Wake Forest University campus.
Officers found a man identified as Hunt unresponsive inside the car. In a news release Wednesday, police said "Physical evidence found inside the vehicle, as well as other investigative findings thus far, is indicative of Darryl Hunt having suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound."
At his original trial, Hunt was convicted of first-degree murder and barely escaped getting the death penalty. The conviction was overturned, and he was tried again in Catawba County in 1990, and again he was convicted.
After 19 years in prison, Hunt was exonerated in February 2004 after DNA evidence led police to Willard Brown, who confessed to the killing.
