DNA Evidence Frees 2nd Man

Thomas Winslow Was Convicted In Rape, Murder Of 68-Year-Old Woman

October 20, 2008

KETV.com-Omaha, NE

Thomas Winslow, the second man convicted in the rape and murder of a woman 19 years ago, was released from prison Friday after DNA evidence cast doubt on his conviction.

His co-defendant, Joseph White, was the first man in Nebraska to be released from prison on proof of DNA evidence.

Winslow will finish paper work in Gage County, Neb., and then head to Omaha, where he'll be discharged from the Omaha Correctional Center. Winslow said the ruling was a longtime coming.

In a statement, Winslow said that law enforcement had told him physical evidence and testimony proved his guilt, though he had no memory of committing the crimes of which he was accused.

He said he had spent many years in prison actually believing he was guilty. "Unless someone has been accused of a crime as terrible as what happened to Mrs. Wilson and are told repeatedly by the police and the prosecutor that they have the evidence that will put them in the electric chair, you simply cannot understand the fear and the pressure I was experiencing," Winslow wrote. "

Winslow, along with Joseph White, was convicted in the rape and murder of 68-year-old Helen Wilson.

DNA evidence also could not place six other co-defendants at the crime scene. It did point to a third person, whom authorities are still seeking.

"That evidence clearly shows there was a third individual involved," said Gage County attorney Randy Ritnour on Wednesday. "That cast doubt on the testimony of everybody who testified in White's trial, because none of them mentioned this particular individual."