In 1985, twenty-four-year-old Byron Halsey was living in Plainfield, New Jersey, with his girlfriend and her two young children. One night, while the adults were out, the children disappeared and were later found sexually assaulted and murdered in the building’s basement.

​

Police quickly focused on Halsey. Over forty hours, they interrogated him for more than thirty, using intimidation, false polygraph results, and fabricated evidence. Halsey, who had a sixth-grade education and significant learning disabilities, eventually broke down and signed a blank sheet of paper that officers later turned into a confession.

​

Despite no direct evidence linking him to the murders, the confession led to his conviction and two consecutive life sentences.

​

In 2007, DNA testing identified Halsey’s former neighbor, Clifton Hall, as the actual perpetrator. Hall was already imprisoned for multiple sexual assaults.

Halsey was exonerated after spending twenty-two years behind bars, more than half of which he estimated he spent in solitary confinement.