Six people were convicted of a murder they didn't even remember. Now a county owes them $28 million
If they had raped and killed an elderly woman, wouldn't they recall the details? A police psychologist told them it was possible. Some believed him.
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For years, a group of outcasts in Beatrice, Nebraska, were convinced they had raped and suffocated an elderly woman named Helen Wilson one night in February 1985, even though they couldn't remember any of it.
That was only what they had been told by the detectives and the police psychologist at the Gage County Sheriff's Office. At first, it was befuddling: Why couldn't they recall any details about the killing? None of the six suspects could even remember being in the woman's apartment that night. But that was okay, the police assured the group: They had simply repressed the traumatizing memories.