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The Case of Ryan Ferguson
📻 Episode #559
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Jan 29, 2026
About This Episode
Ryan Ferguson was a 17-year-old high school student when Kent Heitholt, a sportswriter for the Columbia Daily Tribune, was found beaten and strangled in Missouri. Heitholt's murder went unsolved for two years until police received a tip that a man named Charles Erickson could not remember the evening of the murder and had told a…
Case Record — verified as of November 6, 2026
Ryan Ferguson — Boone County Circuit Court, MO. Convicted Dec 5, 2005, 2nd-degree murder + robbery; 40 years. EXONERATED — vacated Nov 5, 2013 (Brady grounds); released Nov 12, 2013. NRE Case 11452. (This site previously mislabelled him Still Imprisoned — corrected.)
The Case
Ryan Ferguson was a 17-year-old high school student when Kent Heitholt, a sportswriter for the Columbia Daily Tribune, was found beaten and strangled in Missouri. Heitholt's murder went unsolved for two years until police received a tip that a man named Charles Erickson could not remember the evening of the murder and had told a friend that he thought he may have been involved. Erickson, who had spent that fateful evening partying with Ryan Ferguson, was interrogated by police and despite initially seeming to have no memory of the night of the murder, eventually confessed and implicated Ryan as well. Police offered Erickson a plea deal in exchange for testimony against Ryan at his trial in 2005. Despite the lack of any physical evidence tying Ryan Ferguson to the crime, he was convicted of second-degree murder and robbery and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:06:40“Speaker 4: So let's go back to that. Because the sports reporter, Speaker 4: ken Heidholt was murdered in a very brutal manner. He Speaker 4: was beaten to death with a tire iron or something Speaker 4: like that. I don't you know if they even know Speaker 4: to this day, but it was a heavy metal object”
00:25:07“Speaker 3: taking advantage of these people and uh, and they're doing Speaker 3: it to the end to take another human being's life. Speaker 3: And so it's you lose all faith in humanity, you Speaker 3: lose all hope and humanity. And I mean that was Speaker 3: the turning point for me. I fundamentally hated people outside”
00:42:56“Speaker 3: Right a family member, right the person that you support, Speaker 3: and then get involved and start spreading awareness to your Speaker 3: friends and family. Tell them about the case, have them Speaker 3: read the case, and start talking to your local politicians. Speaker 6: Write them letters, make phone calls.”
Listen to the Episode
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← #558 Antoine Day #560 Vanessa Gathers →
Also on the podcast: #31 Brian Ferguson · #37 Ryan Ferguson