Six years later, Fergusons fight murder charge

This is the last of a four-part series about Kent Heitholt, his death and the trial of Ryan Ferguson, who was convicted of the murder. This issue focuses on the trial and the evidence in the case. A special edition of the Maneater podcast about the series

By Roseann Moring

Published Nov. 9, 2007

Kent Heitholt's murder was the only unsolved murder in Columbia when police received reports that a young man was telling friends he had committed it.

They brought the man, Chuck Erickson, who was 17 years old at the time of the murder, into the police station, and he told police he thought he and a friend, Ryan Ferguson, had committed the crime.

On March 10, 2001, almost 2 1/2 years after the murder was committed, Ferguson was arrested in Kansas City, Mo., and brought to Columbia, where he insisted he was innocent.

Ferguson was in Boone County Jail until his trial in October 2005. After the weeklong trial, he was convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree robbery.

Since the conviction, Ferguson's family has campaigned for his release from jail. They have said the evidence clearly supports Ferguson's innocence.

Heitholt was murdered on Nov. 1, 2001. Erickson and Ferguson, who attended Rock Bridge High School, had been to a club called By George's that night. Erickson said the two teenagers left the bar hoping to rob someone in order to gain more money for alcohol. They killed Heitholt and went back to the bar, he said.

Ferguson said his older sister, Kelly Ferguson, got them access into the bar, but Erickson was taken home afterward.

Heitholt was the sports editor of the Columbia Daily Tribune at the time of his murder. He logged off his computer at 2:08 a.m., said goodbye to his coworkers and left. He also fed a stray cat, as evidenced by the cat food outside the Tribune building.

At one point, Heitholt's coworker Michael Boyd came outside and had a brief conversation with Heitholt.

Shawna Ornt, a woman who cleaned the Tribune building, testified at Ryan Ferguson's trial and said she saw two young white males come out from behind Heitholt's car. She said someone called for help, and the two boys ran off.

She described one of the perpetrators as about 6 feet tall, blond and in his early 20s. Erickson testified he was that person. He also testified at the time of the murder that he was about 5 feet, 6 inches. He has dark brown hair.

Jerry Trump, who came outside after Ornt, said he recognized Ryan Ferguson as one of the two boys.

Erickson said after the crime he and Ferguson ran back to By George's, stopping at the stop light of Providence Road and Locust Street. He said an acquaintance, Dallas Mallory, was stopped southbound at the light, and Erickson told Mallory what they had done.

Ferguson has maintained his innocence, and after his conviction, he said he almost immediately started looking to the appeal.

"I want to prove my innocence and crying's not going to do that," he said. "Crying's going to leave me in here for 40 years."

Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm and prosecutor Kevin Crane both said they are certain Ferguson is guilty.

Bill Ferguson, Ryan Ferguson's father, said the evidence against his son's conviction is so overwhelming that he hopes he will be acquitted in an upcoming hearing.

The Fergusons also obtained a December 2004 affidavit from Dallas Mallory, who said he had been at The Blue Note on Ninth Street on the night of Oct. 31, 2001, and that he had not seen Erickson or Ferguson. Mallory also said he did not have a car or a driver's license at that time.

A police report dated March 2004 stated Mallory said he saw Erickson that night, and Mallory said Erickson did say he and Ferguson had "beat someone down."

Erickson said he used a tire tool to beat Heitholt, but the tire tool has not been found. Police did recover the car Ferguson was driving that night, but the tire tool in it was not used to beat the victim.

Heitholt's belt buckle was found at the scene, but the rest of the belt, which was used to strangle Heitholt, has not been recovered.

Police searched Erickson and Ferguson's houses and found nothing that linked either of the two to the crime.

Bill Ferguson also obtained an affidavit from Mike Schook, the bouncer at By George's on the night in question. Schook said the policy of By George's was to turn on the lights around 12:50 a.m. The building would be cleared by about 1:30.

After the patrons left, he said he would stay and clean up trash, but he would never stay after 2:15 a.m. He said in the affidavit that this included Oct 31, 2001.

At the trial, Kris Canada, the bartender of By George's testified he did not think the bar had ever closed after 1:30.

The time frame would make it impossible for the boys to have gone back to the bar after Heitholt's murder, which occurred between 2:08 a.m. and 2:26 a.m.

Bill Ferguson said he blames what he sees as a grave miscarriage of justice on mishandling by the Columbia Police Department, Crane and Ferguson's attorney Charlie Rodgers. One of his main complaints is about the department's handling of the interrogations of both young men, especially Erickson.

According to police reports and videos of the interrogations, Erickson repeatedly told police he could not remember or wasn't sure if he had committed the crime. CPD detective John Short told Erickson he had revealed details only the perpetrator would know.

At one point in an interview the Fergusons put on YouTube.com, the detective asks Erickson what Ryan Ferguson used to strangle the victim. Erickson suggests a shirt, a bungee cord and a rope. The detective then tells Erickson that Heitholt had been strangled with a belt.

Boehm said he has reviewed the investigation, and all the interrogation techniques used were common, acceptable methods.

Bill Ferguson said because the police gave Erickson crime details, it made him appear guilty, especially in the trial when he said he clearly remembered the crime.

Bill Ferguson said because Columbia is a small town, CPD is less experienced than other police departments at solving homicides.

Boehm said CPD has not had an unsolved murder in its recent history.

"I would put our record against anyone's," Boehm said.

Boehm said he could not comment on specific details of the case because the verdict is under appeal.

Bill Ferguson said Crane, who is now a judge, used the Ferguson case to further his political career. He also said Crane made false statements about several pieces of evidence, including a hair found in Heitholt's hand.

The people who examined Heitholt's body testified they found a hair in a bag that they placed around Heitholt's hand at the crime scene. The hair did not belong to Heitholt, Ryan Ferguson or Erickson.

Crane said he had previously claimed there was a hair.

"There's no evidence that hair was ever in his hand," Crane said in his closing statements. "And there was no evidence that it was bloody."

Bill Ferguson said his son's former lawyer, Charlie Rogers, was not familiar with the crime scene or the evidence. For example, the map he brought as evidence was not current enough to show important features.

Rogers said he couldn't comment on claims that he made mistakes during the trial because he might be asked to testify in an appeal.

Ryan Ferguson has appealed his case all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court. His next step will be to file a post-conviction motion, which will allow him to present new evidence and argue to a judge about errors his attorney made. He said he will file papers for an attorney this month. The attorney will then file papers for that hearing.

Until then, Ferguson said he will read, exercise and follow MU football from his cell.