Craig Melvin Voiceover the murder happened in seconds. One was coming straight for me and jim with a gun leveled at us. Ive never ran so fast in my life. Craig Melvin Voiceover the truth took decades. I said, you know what . Give me a lie detector test. I never believed it for one minute, never. Craig Melvin Voiceover did someone have it all wrong . Were innocent men in prison for a murder they did not commit . A 22year mystery until facebook helped Old Friends find Each Other and justice. Could you ever imagine you would actually cause such a thing . Not in A Million years. Craig Melvin Voiceover together, they uncovered an almost unbelievable truth. It all made sense. None of us knew what happened that night. This all made sense. Somebody seen it. Somebody knew. All rise. Craig Melvin Voiceover now, they just had to get someone to believe them. Oh, my god. Were losing. Oh, my god. Were winning. Oh, my god. Were losing. Well face whatever has to come. This was it. This was it, for sure. Hello and welcome to dateline. It started with a party, high School Seniors celebrating The End of the School Year and new beginnings. But before the night was through, One Man would be dead and two others could not know it then but they would be facing a decadeslong battle to prove their innocence. Heres Keith Morrison with graduation night. Keith Morrison Voiceover in the suburbs outside detroit, michigan, in the summer of 2009, a divorced mother of three named Mary Evans was poking around in one of her favorite places, facebook. You can look up what everyones Up To. Where are they at today . Are they successful . Are they did they take the wrong path . Keith Morrison Voiceover dear mary, no idea that a little innocent poking into her own past would dredge up a shocking truth long buried. Oh, i was stunned. It was it was unbelievable. Keith Morrison Voiceover and a Nightmares Worth of terrors. I could have been killed that day. Keith Morrison Voiceover and would bring together an unlikely band of friends, old and new, in a fight to right a terrible wrong. And then a miracle happened. Keith Morrison Voiceover but no, in 2009, it was just an ordinary Summer Day. No sign of providence anywhere, just mary reminiscing about the old days and friends long since gone away. And well, you know how it is, a person wonders. Not such an uncommon thing among people who grew up, as mary did, in Northeast Detroit. When i moved in, it was actually a nice neighborhood. And then it changed. Oh, it definitely changed. Keith morrison yeah. Mary evans it started going really downhill. Keith Morrison Voiceover but that particular Summer Day, mary was in a mood to remember the good times, good friends. And on facebook, there was something called the Northeast Detroit alumni group. So what did you do in this group on facebook . Well, that was all about is being in touch with longlost friends, people from the neighborhood. Keith Morrison Voiceover including a couple of brothers, Old Friends from the neighborhood who, she remembered with a twinge, did not turn out so well. Tommy and ray highers went to prison, in fact, for murder. Mary followed the Case Way back then, in 1987, remembers just how she felt when they were found guilty. I was shocked. You know, i was shocked to hear that. I thought, no way. Didnt sound like them to you . No. Keith Morrison Voiceover anyway, there she was, thinking about them again, fondly. So she wrote a line about missing them whenever she hears a certain song on the radio. And then she sighed and pushed the send button. And look out. People might have trouble believing that such a simple thing as a posting on facebook could make whole worlds change. A lot of people ask, well, what was it . What did you do . What happened . I says, all i did was put one sentence. Keith morrison yeah. Just one sentence. Keith Morrison Voiceover so she did. And 500 miles away in the suburbs of washington, dc Keith Morrison what are you doing on facebook . Just wasting time, like a lot of people do. [laughs] Keith Morrison Voiceover Kevin Zieleniewski grew up in detroit, too, but was now an international Trade Attorney in dc. He and mary didnt know Each Other, werent even facebook friends, for that matter. But both belonged to that Northeast Detroit group, which is why that very same Summer Day in 2009, he just happened to see Marys Post about those boys in prison for murder. That said something to the effect that Tommy And Raymond highers are in prison for life. Every time i hear miss you by the stones, i think of those guys. Did you know those two guys . No, i didnt know them. Keith Morrison Voiceover which, by all rights, should have been The End of it. But something in that post tripped a wire deep in the crater of kevins memory. That name, highers, hed heard it before. He was sure of it, in connection with a murder Case Way back in the late 80s. And that memory lit up another one clear as day, the indelible memory of a bizarre story a College Roommate told him one night in 93 or so. He could hardly believe it then. But now, when he saw Marys Post . No, couldnt be. Were those old stories somehow connected . Maybe mary could tell him. I sent back to her, they wouldnt happen to be in prison for killing old Man Bob . And she got back and said, yes, they are in prison for killing old Man Bob. Keith Morrison Voiceover old Man Bob was robert karey, well known fence, loan shark, Drug Dealer, murdered at the Back Door of his east Detroit Home in the summer of 1987. Kevin was already on the computer that day in 2009, so he pulled up the Michigan Department of corrections website, saw pictures of Tommy And Ray highers, confirmed they were in Prison Doing Life Without Parole for the murder of old Man Bob. It was then it hit him, like a brick in the face. Something about those pictures was very, very wrong. Only one thing to do kevin picked up the phone and called that old College Roommate, a man he hadnt seen for at least a decade, this man, John Hielscher. He said it was about old Man Bob. And i just started freaking out like, im not doing it. Im not doing any of this. How come . Scared. I felt scared. Keith Morrison Voiceover but if he was scared now, oh, just wait. Marys little post and the connections it pulled up in Kevins Brain had just made John Hielscher part of a team he wasnt sure he wanted to belong to. And the next move was his. As a band of Friends Sets out on a journey to find justice, they first need to find out what really happened the night old Man Bob was murdered. Coming up. I got halfway through this and just went my god. When dateline continues. My late fatherinlaw lit up a room, but his vision dimmed with age. He had amd. I didnt know it then, but it can progress to ga, an advanced form of the disease. 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A womans simple Facebook Post about Old Friends now in prison for life was read by a detroit native turned Dc Lawyer who got curious, looked up their pictures and Couldnt Sleep really at the beginning, just thinking about it. And wondering what you should do. Yeah, wondering what to do about it. Keith Morrison Voiceover what he did was call his old College Roommate, John Hielscher, The Man Who, way back in 1993, told him a story about the murder of old Man Bob. Keith morrison Tell Me Why you called John Hielscher. To see if he remembered telling me the story he told me back all those years about the night that old Man Bob was killed. And he did remember. And he did. He remembered it exactly on the phone as he did when he first told me the story. Keith Morrison Voiceover the story . That John Hielscher had been there when old Man Bob was killed, had seen things and never talked to police. And now . Once kevin looked at the pictures of the highers brothers, he understood clear as day that Johns Story could expose a terrible injustice if it was ever revealed, that is. So kevin stewed about it for a bit, talked to his wife and took her advice. We had no hesitation that, you know, we should do something with this. You know, youre a lawyer. You know what to do with it, and just go ahead and do it. You know, its the right thing to do. Keith Morrison Voiceover so he boarded a plane for detroit on his own dime. And john faced down his fears and both met with the lawyer who represented those imprisoned brothers. We met at a restaurant in Grosse Pointe, and we talked to the lawyer. And he didnt seem like he believed me too much. And i said, you know what . Give me a lie detector test. Ill take the test, and then well go from there. If you dont believe me, lets do this right now. Ok. So a couple of weeks later, we ended up taking a lie detector test. Keith Morrison Voiceover and . The polygrapher detected John Hielscher was being truthful. He passed with flying colors. And then nothing. Neither kevin nor john heard anything more from that lawyer. I just thought it got dropped, you know . Kind of, you know, wishing now, oh, good. Its not going to come back. Thats it. Keith Morrison Voiceover and that would have been The End of it, most likely, had it not been for her. Over on the other side of detroit, Though John and Kevin Couldnt possibly have known it, was a private investigator who, truth be told, had just about given up on the case of the highers brothers. We werent getting anywhere. Keith Morrison Voiceover Private Eye Julianne Cuneo had agreed to work the case for a fraction of her usual fee when the Highers Family begged her to find evidence of the boys innocence. She tended to agree with them. But in her long search, she had been unable to find anyone or any facts that could challenge the story about old Man Bobs murder that was told at the trial, which was this bob was home, and it was a friday night. Hes getting a lot of phone calls. Theres a Guy Sitting in the kitchen weighing out bags of weed. People are calling and saying, hey, im going to be over. Heres what im going to want. Mostly people come to the Back Door. Keith Morrison Voiceover an eyewitness to it all was sitting in his car out on the street. We built this animation to illustrate what he later told the police. Julianne cuneo about 9 30 an Omni Or Horizon light in color pulled up out front of his house, and two guys got out and walked up the driveway to the Back Door. And he hears shots fired. And shortly thereafter, he sees some guys hoofing down the driveway. They get back in the Omni Horizon and drive off. Keith morrison so this guy, the witness says, must have been them. Julianne cuneo right. Everybody assumes that the people running down the driveway shot him, yes. Keith Morrison Voiceover the dealer, known as old Man Bob, was dead of a single Gunshot Wound to the chest. Detectives looked high and low for that getaway car. No luck. So the cops canvassed the usual suspects, and bingo. A Jailhouse Informant named a possible shooter, Neighborhood Kid named Tommy Highers. And what do you know . Tommy knew old Man Bob, owed him money, used drugs, even tOld Friends he was going to visit bob that night. They prepared a lineup. But when they showed the pictures to that eyewitness, he didnt pick out tommy. He pointed to tommys brother, ray. Told police he was positive, 100 sure ray was one of the young men running down the driveway and hopping in the car after the murder. So both brothers were arrested and tried and convicted. And sitting in the courtroom, the aunt who had loved them all their lives was devastated. I cant even imagine why they got life without parole, even. Without parole . Keith Morrison Voiceover this is Aunt Jan hirth. It was very hopeless. It was very hopeless. Did you believe that they would have done never. I never believed it for one minute. Keith Morrison Voiceover the family stuck by Tommy And Ray as the men watched their 20s and then their 30s come and go in state prison. And now here they were in their mid40s, still telling anybody and everybody, including us, that they did not kill old Man Bob. I just walked with the faith, and i was just like, this is not The End. Keith Morrison Voiceover the brothers had turned down any and all plea deals, determined instead to clear their names. They joined every prison program, took every class they could to improve themselves. We schooled ourselves. We always took any kind of programs they had to offer. Both of yo . Yeah, absolutely. Worked every day and just held our heads up. Keith Morrison Voiceover but to prove their innocence, they needed some solid new evidence. And by 2009, after 22 years, even their family had about given up on that. Had you actually gotten to the stage where you thought, well, theyre just theyll be there for the rest of their lives, nothing we can do about it . I did. To be honest, i did. Keith Morrison Voiceover and so, too, did the Private Eye. Julianne cuneo stopped working the case, or tried to. But tommy kept on calling. Id be like, you cant keep calling me. Then one day, i picked up the phone, and it was tommy again. And i just didnt have anything to do. I said, fine, fine. This was purely to get tommy off my back. I thought i was going to do a couple of things, and id be done again. Yeah. Yeah. I can get tommy out of my life. Keith Morrison Voiceover so she picked up the phone, called tommys lawyer, who sent her a copy of the affidavit, the sworn story told by Guess Who . That old College Roommate of kevins, John Hielscher, The One who claimed he was there at old Man Bobs when the murder took place. And when the Private Eye read that i got halfway through this thing and just went, holy [bleep]. Like, oh, my god Craig Melvin Voiceover coming up, a close encounter with killers. Im dead. Thats the first thing that came to my head. Hes going to shoot me. Craig Melvin Voiceover but are they the same Men Spending Life In Prison for murder . When dateline continues. Rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. But im protected pause with arexvy. Arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower Respiratory Disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. Rsv can be serious for those over 60, including those with asthma, diabetes, copd and certain other conditions. But im protected. Arexvy is proven to be over 82 effective in preventing lower Respiratory Disease from rsv and over 94 effective in those with these health conditions. Arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. 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