Columbia Police Department
Kent Heitholt's body was found next to his car in the parking lot of the Columbia Daily Tribune. The newspaper's sports editor was last seen by his colleagues shortly after 2 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2001. He was severely beaten with a blunt object, but the cause of death was strangulation.
Columbia Daily Tribune
Kent Heitholt was the sports editor of the Columbia Tribune. Known by colleagues as a hard working and friendly man, he left behind a wife and two teenage children.
Columbia Daily Tribune
Colleague Rus Baer describes Kent Heitholt, shown, as a "big, bubbly, friendly bear of a man." At about 6'5" and 300 lbs., he was hardly an easy target for a mugging.
Columbia Police Department
Kent Heitholt was strangled with his own belt. The leather snapped, leaving the buckle and a fragment of the belt at the crime scene. The rest of the belt was never recovered. The crime scene left police stymied for more than two years before they arrested Charles Erickson and Ryan Ferguson.
Columbia Police Department
Police discovered bloody shoe prints leading away from the crime scene. The prints could not be positively matched to either Charles Erickson or Ryan Ferguson.
Columbia Police Department
Police discovered several unidentified fingerprints on Kent Heitholt's car. The prints could not be matched to the victim or either of the suspects, Charles Erickson and Ryan Ferguson.
Columbia Police Department
The Columbia Police Department released a composite sketch based on interviews with Shawna Ornt, a janitor who saw two young men in the parking lot, one of whom she got a clear look at when he spoke to her before walking off.
Columbia Police Department
Charles "Chuck" Erickson's booking photo, taken at the Boone County Jail after his arrest on March 10, 2004. Erickson confessed to the crime immediately, but seemed confused about the details.
Columbia Police Department
Ryan Ferguson's booking photo, taken at the Boone County Jail after his arrest on March 10, 2004. Ferguson maintained his innocence from the moment he was arrested.
Columbia Daily Tribune
Ryan Ferguson reacts to the jury's decision on Oct. 21, 2005, to convict him of second-degree murder and first-degree robbery. Several weeks later, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Ferguson family
Ryan Ferguson with his father, Bill, taken during a family visit at Jefferson City Correctional Center. "The day that Ryan walks out of prison I'm going to feel as a father that I have done my job."
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