The best part of a reality TV show is that the audience gets to know people they have never met and they suddenly become a part of our lives. Everyone has a backstory and sometimes, it's worse than anyone could have imagined. Season 33 of “The Amazing Race” just finished its premiere episode moments ago and it left everyone speechless when a contestant named Ryan Ferguson opened up about his troubled past.

Ferguson, who entered the show with his best friend Dusty Harris, revealed that he served 10 years in prison for a murder he never committed. Yes, you heard it right. A contestant from this year has spent nearly a decade behind bars for a crime he never committed. The contestant was wrongfully convicted of the murder of 48-year-old Kent Heitholt. The incident happened in 2001 in Columbia, Missouri.


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After spending nearly a decade in prison, all charges against Ferguson were dropped after it was found that one of the accused in the case had lied about Ferguson's involvement. But who was Kent Hetholt? And why was he murdered? Let's delve a little deeper and learn about the scenario.



Who was Kent Heitholt and why was he murdered ?

Kent Heithold worked as a sports editor for the Columbia Daily Tribune and was shifting late on October 31, 2001, as the sports staff had to cover some basketball games. According to a report in the Columbia Daily Tribune, Heitholt was known as an "easy man" who supported and guided his writing staff. The report also suggested that he was considered a "gentle giant" by the entire office.

On that fateful night, Hetholt had a brief conversation with his coworker Michael Boyd in the organization's parking lot between 2:12 a.m. and 2:20 p.m. for a work-related conversation.

After some time he left the office and as soon as he reached near his car in the parking lot, someone attacked him from behind. According to reports, watchman Shawna Orant stepped outside to break a cigarette and two men stood near Heathholt's car. She ran back and called her supervisor. They both saw two people standing near his car and one of them shouted, "Someone's hurt here, man." After shouting the above sentence both the men disappeared and Hetholt was severely beaten with a blunt object and strangled.

Orrant told police he saw the youths, while another watchman, Jerry Trump, said he could not see their faces. For two years, the murder remained unsolved, and in 2003 the local media once again began covering the entire case. Ferguson's name surfaced when one of his classmates, Charles Erikson, read an article about the case that included a sketch of a potential suspect. Erikson thought the sketch resembled his. He and some of his friends informed the police.

During interrogation, Ericsson said that he did not remember the incident at all. During interrogation, he does not know how he killed her. Eventually, he will tell the officers that he and Ferguson robbed Heitholt for money to drink. In March 2004, Erikson and Ferguson were arrested and charged with murder.


Did Ferguson really murder Kent Heitholt?

Years after Ferguson was imprisoned, some discrepancies were noticed in the statements of witnesses. Erikson claimed that prosecutor Kevin Crane forced her to say Ferguson's name and also revealed that he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol when Hetholt was murdered.

Orant, who saw the two men fleeing the parking lot, testified that he had told Crane that the man he had seen on the night of the murder was not Ferguson. However, she claimed that Crane forced her to name Ferguson and when he denied, he began to threaten her. In November 2013, Ferguson's sentence was vacated on the grounds that the prosecution had withheld evidence from the defense team.

He filed suit against the City of Columbia and won $10 million in the same civil rights case.

Introducing himself on "The Amazing Race," Ferguson said he wants to win $1 million in prize money to set up a company that will help people like him who have been wrongfully convicted by the state.