In 1988, twenty-two-year-old Christopher Ochoa was living in Austin, Texas, working at a pizza restaurant when a manager at another location was raped and murdered. A few weeks later, Ochoa and his roommate visited the crime scene to pay their respects. Even though there was no evidence linking them to the crime, detectives found their visit suspicious and brought both men in for questioning.

​

What followed was a grueling interrogation that stretched over twenty-four hours across two days. Officers screamed at Ochoa, slammed doors and fists on the table, and threw a chair at his head. They got in his face, denied him access to a lawyer, and falsely told him he had failed a polygraph test. They showed him graphic autopsy photos and threatened him with the death penalty—jabbing his arm to demonstrate where a lethal injection needle would go. They warned he would never see his family again, and by the end of the second day, they threatened him with jailhouse rape.

​

Terrified and unable to think clearly, Ochoa finally confessed. He later pleaded guilty, was sentenced to life in prison, and spent twelve years behind bars.

​

In 1996, the real perpetrator, Achim Marino, confessed to the crime. In 2021, after DNA testing of evidence confirmed Marino's guilt, Ochoa was cleared of the crime.