Wrong Man

At just 16 years old, Evaristo Junior Salas was tried as an adult and imprisoned for 33 years for the murder of 24-year-old Jose Arreola, who was gunned down in his truck in front of his girlfriend and newborn baby. Local police couldn't find the killer and the case went cold until a criminal informant identified Salas. For over two decades, Salas has insisted that he is innocent and that the justice system railroaded him. To uncover the truth, a team of leading investigators and legal minds join forces to investigate Salas' claims of wrongful conviction. They travel to the scene of the crime—a small farming town with a history of gang violence—to track down witnesses, examine forensic evidence, and chase leads that the local police never followed up on. Just when the state's case is starting to unravel, a visit to meet Salas in prison throws the whole investigation into question. The Wrong Man team will have to dig deeper to find out if the system really got the wrong man.

After a setback investigating the Evaristo Salas case when the primary eyewitness refused to talk, investigators Ira Todd and Joe Kennedy return to Sunnyside, Washington to meet with the lead detective, retired Sunnyside Detective Sergeant Jim Rivard. Rivard tells them how Salas first came to his attention as a suspect when a criminal informant just happened to see photos of Evaristo on Rivard's desk. Ira and Joe think something is up with Rivard's story so they hone in on the criminal informant for more information, however, Rivard is not keen on them talking to him. The informant finally comes forward with his side of the story - and the team is shocked by what they learn.

On the morning of July 16, 1996, owner Bertha Tardy and three of her employees were murdered execution-style inside her furniture store in the quiet town of Winona, Mississippi. All four died of gunshot wounds to the head. Twenty-six-year-old Curtis Flowers became a suspect almost immediately when investigators learned that he'd been fired from the store days earlier. No murder weapon was ever found, but a gunshot residue test conducted on that day revealed one particle on Curtis' right hand. Flowers was arrested and went on to become one of the most tried defendants in history with the same District Attorney presiding for 21 years over a total of six trials and overturned verdicts. Now he faces a possible 7th trial while he continues to maintain his innocence.

Investigators Charlie Saums, Ira Todd and Joe Kennedy are on the ground in Winona, Mississippi, re-investigating the Curtis Flowers case. Flowers is convicted of a quadruple homicide for which he maintains his innocence. The investigators turn the spotlight on the state's investigation, as they start to realize that the police and prosecution may not have been as thorough as they should have. District Attorney Doug Evans has prosecuted Curtis in all six trials. In spite of repeated attempts to reach Evans, he refuses to be interviewed, pending a state Supreme Court decision, and a possible seventh trial. The investigators take to the streets, trying to learn what they can about how the prosecution was conducted.

Angie Dodge was found brutally murdered in her Idaho Falls apartment, stabbed multiple times, sexually assaulted and ejaculated upon postmortem. After six months without leads, the police thought they got a break when a friend of Angie's was arrested for rape at knifepoint. They questioned his friends, including Christopher Tapp, who they grilled for 28 hours. The grueling interrogation and leading questions led Tapp to confess to the crime. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. Tapp claims he's innocent. Videotapes of Tapp's confession show his story varying wildly from interrogation to interrogation, until finally he confesses. The Wrong Man team engages former LA County homicide detective, Danny Smith, to take a crack at the case. Even the victim's mother no longer believes Tapp murdered her daughter. Her own search produced new leads and persons of interest that Danny examines while conducting his own investigation to try and find the real killer.

Ira Todd and Joe Kennedy land in Idaho Falls to help local investigator Danny Smith look into a case of coerced confession. After viewing videotapes of Chris' confession, even Carol Dodge believes the wrong man, Christopher Tapp, is in prison for her daughter's murder. She's spent two decades investigating the case, looking for the killer whose DNA matches what was found at the crime scene. Ira, Joe and Danny conduct a neighborhood canvass around the house where Angie was killed. Although it yields few leads, our investigators approach several persons of interest who potentially had contact with Angie. They are able to acquire DNA samples and have them tested to see if they have a match to the crime scene DNA. Meanwhile, attorneys and advocates for Tapp are preparing for two hearings that could lead to his release. Then a couple of weeks before the hearings are scheduled to take place, the prosecution offers Tapp a deal.