The unthinkable happened to Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, two brothers from North Carolina. In 1983, they were wrongly accused and convicted of a murder they did not commit and sentenced to life in prison.

However, new DNA evidence was introduced in the case this week and the two brothers were released from prison on Wednesday. The judge on the case overturned their conviction.

The now 50 year old McCollum and 46 year old Brown are free men as they walked out of Central Prison in Raleigh, NC, and Maury Correctional Institution outside of Greenville, NC, respectively.

Over the years, McCollum and Brown, who are half brothers, have always maintained their innocents in the rape and murder of the little 11 year old girl in question. Her body was found in a near some beer cans and cigarette butts.

“I just thank God that I’m out of this place,” McCollum told reporters gathered outside. “I knew one day that I was going to be blessed to get out of prison, I just didn’t know when that time was going to be.”

The first thing McCollum did when he walked out of prison was hug his mother, Priscilla McCollum, whom he hasn’t been able to hug in over three decades.

“We have not touched our son Henry in over 30 years,” said Priscilla McCollum, McCollum’s stepmother, who recalled putting her hands to the glass that separated them when they visited. “We are so grateful that it’s over.”

Over the years, McCollum and Brown, who are half brothers, have always maintained their innocents in the rape and murder of the little 11 year old girl in question. Her body was found in a near some beer cans and cigarette butts.

The DNA evidence that came forward was linked to a man named Roscoe Artis. Fortunately, Artis was already serving time in a North Carolina prison on an unrelated crime, but has set the two brothers free.

McCollum and Brown were convicted based on their confessions. However, after many hours of interrogation and the brutality of many police forces in this country, it is no wonder the men said they committed the crime. It had to be tormenting. 

“I just made up a story and gave it to them. My mind was focused on getting out of that police station,” McCollum told the News & Observer last week as he sat on death row.

Nevertheless, the DNA evidence is in and the two men are free to try and pick up the pieces of their life. It has to be a great feeling to be free, but a frustrating one to know that 30 years of your life was given to an institution for a murder and crime you did not commit.