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A Comprehensive Timeline of the Murder Cases at the Heart of Netflix's The Innocent Man

Netflix's The Innocent Man Case Facts and Timeline

A Comprehensive Timeline of the Murder Cases at the Heart of Netflix's The Innocent Man

December 23, 2018 by Quinn Keaney

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Arrests and Convictions in the Debbie Carter Case

Spring 1987 — The police asked Carter's mother, Peggy, if she'd sign off on allowing them to exhume her daughter's body. The police said it was because they were reexamining a bloody palm print that was found on the wall of Carter's apartment the morning after she was killed.
May 8, 1987 — Williamson was arrested after telling the police that he had a dream of going to Carter's door, breaking in, and raping and killing her.
September 1987 — Ricky Jo Simmons confessed to her rape and murder, but the police refused to accept his confession.
Spring 1988 — The day before the prosecution would have had to drop the charges against Fritz, an inmate who he was paired with in prison years earlier came forward and said she heard him confess to the murder. The "jailhouse snitch" gave a two-hour taped interview including details about Carter's murder she allegedly heard from Fritz.
April 1988 — During Fritz's trial, an analyst testified that 11 pubic hairs and two head hairs from the crime scene were "consistent" with Fritz's hair. "This means they match," the analyst explained. He also presented highly misleading findings about the semen they examined from the scene.
April 12, 1988 — Fritz was convicted and sentenced to life in prison (he came within one vote of receiving the death penalty). Given how many years had passed between the murder and his trial, Fritz could no longer recall his whereabouts on that night. The district attorney argued that while Williamson masterminded the murder, Fritz was along for the ride.
April 27, 1988 — Williamson's trial started, which included testimony from a woman named Andrea who claimed he broke into her house years before and raped her (she lived near Carter at the time, too).
April 28, 1988 — The jury sentenced Williamson to the death penalty. The district attorney, Bill Peterson, made the case that Williamson got into a fight with Carter at the bar the night of her death, corroborated by eyewitness Gore. However, Williamson refuted this by saying he had an alibi; he said he was home the entire night and that his mom could vouch for his whereabouts. His mother had a receipt from renting movies they watched that night and also an entry in her journal since she kept fastidious notes about her daily life. Despite submitting both to the police, the journal and receipt ended up going mysteriously missing.

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