In 2007, I began covering the effort by Timothy Masters for a new trial in the 1987 murder of Peggy Hettrick, committed when Masters was 15. Until his conviction in 1999, it was Fort Collins, Colo.’s, oldest cold murder. Thanks to the the work of Masters’ attorneys — who later credited the reporting in my series with raising serious questions around the circumstances of his conviction and keeping the case in the public eye — it’s still unsolved today. Due to the preponderance of shoddy police work revealed in the hearings (which included tainting or destroying DNA evidence, tunnel-vision reliance on a preposterous motive, and overlooking a key piece of physical evidence that I personally discovered), Masters’ conviction was overturned and an undoubtedly innocent man finally allowed to walk free. Hettrick’s real murderer has never been brought to justice. Click the thumbnails below for the entire series.

Part 1