2 North Carolina brothers still wait for justice after being wrongfully charged in 1983 Red Springs rape, murder of 11-year-old
RED SPRINGS, N.C. (WTVD) -- Two half brothers who were held for more than 30 years for a murder they did not commit are still waiting for justice years after their release.
Henry McCollum was 19 years old when he became a suspect in the gruesome murder and rape of an 11-year-old in Red Springs. His half brother. Leon Brown, was 15 at the time.
Interrogation began on Sept. 28, 1983 around 9:30 p.m. and lasted past 1:30 a.m. By sunrise, the two were charged with the rape and murder of the 11-year-old.
What happened in the police station has haunted McCollum and Brown for years. In 2014, after nearly 31 years in prison, the two were exonerated on the basis of DNA evidence.
The brothers' story is the focus of a civil rights lawsuit that has been through the courts since 2015. The legal team argues investigators coerced the brothers' confessions, fabricated evidence and violated due process.
The News and Observer's Andrew Carter has the story.
