The Innocent Man

“In the bedroom, Rogers noticed what appeared to be a small bloodstain near the bottom of the south wall, just above the baseboard and close to an electrical outlet. Later, after the body was removed, he asked Officer Rick Carson to cut out a four-inch square section of the Sheetrock and preserve the bloody print.” 

This mark turns out to be a partial handprint, and one of the most important pieces of evidence in the murder trial. A first analysis shows that it does not belong to Debbie, so it must belong to the killer. Three years later, under pressure from the Ada police, a second expert will re-examine the print and claim that it matched Debbie’s hand after all, freeing the police to pursue suspects whose palms did not match the print.

“Annette’s lifelong inability to say no to her little brother came back to haunt her as he constantly wheedled money out of her for clothes and girls.” 

When Ron was born, Annette loved to babysit her little brother. But as they both grew older and it became clear that Ron needed a lot of help to survive in the world, Annette become more like an actual mother to him, always ensuring that his basic needs were being met and treating him with near-infinite patience.

"According to an early police report, Fritz was ‘a suspect or at least an acquaintance of a suspect in the Carter murder case.’" 

The police believed that the murder could not have been committed by one person acting alone, and they had already decided on Ron as a suspect. Since Dennis Fritz was one of Ron's few known friends, he became, in the police department's eye, the most likely accomplice, though he had no other connection to the crime.