Guilty Until Proven Innocent - Gary Dotson Rewind for DNA Day

Episode 76 - Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Gary Dotson FLASHBACK

Episode description: Falsely convicted at 20, Gary Dotson’s life unraveled until DNA evidence changed history, exposing a shocking lie and a flawed justice system.

The Hook:

[John]

Imagine you're 20 years old, your whole life ahead of you, and suddenly you're accused of a horrific crime by someone you've never met. 

You have an airtight alibi, or so you think, friends and family who swear you're innocent, and yet you're convicted and sentenced to decades in prison. Years later, your accuser admits it was all a lie. But the justice system isn't done with you yet.

[Shaun]

This is the shocking, tumultuous story of Gary Dotson, the first person exonerated by DNA evidence, whose life became a rollercoaster of despair, hope, tragedy, and redemption. 

--- Music - Pause ~8 seconds ---

[Shaun] 

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I’m your host, Shaun. 

[John] 

And I’m your cohost, John. 

This week, we are taking a look back at our most downloaded episode: Guilty Until Proven Innocent, the Story of Gary Dotson. 

April 25 is observed as DNA day in the US and around the world, and we thought this was the perfect time for a flashback episode on Gary. We dug up a couple new articles out of the archives and added a few new interesting details to the story as well. 

We first learned about Gary Dotson when we were covering the disappearance of his first wife, Camille Dardanes Dotson. They were married for about 9 years in the 1980s, and they had one daughter named Ashley.

Camille disappeared several years after they were divorced and after leaving the Chicago area and moving to Las Vegas. Gary is not suspected in Camille’s disappearance, but he was abusive toward Camille and her Daughter Ashley, and nothing we cover here excuses that.

Camille has been missing for more than 30 years, and you can listen to her story at sinspod.co/camille

[Shaun] 

Gary is 68, born in 1957, in a suburb of Chicago called Country Club Hills, and he grew up with his mom Barbara, his 3 sisters, Laura, Debbie, and Gail, and his brother John.

Gary worked at a landscaping company after dropping out of high school, and he had frequent brushes with the law between 1971 and 1977 for things like truancy and underage drinking. The drinking ended up becoming a problem for him that lasted long into adulthood.

[John] 

I think it’s safe to say defining event of his life occurred in 1977 when, at 20 years old, he was accused of rape by a 16-year-old named Cathleen Crowell, a teenager that he had never met before. 

Cathleen was born in Illinois in 1961, and had a rough childhood.  She has said that her mother had mental health and substance abuse issues, mostly alcohol.

Her parents were divorced, and she said that she was neglected by both of them. She had two brothers who were 8 and 10 years older than she was, and her mother often had them take care of her. 

Since they were essentially children themselves, they did a horrible job keeping an eye on her. In one story she told, she said they tied her to a trash can in a park instead of just babysitting her

Her father at one point got engaged, but his fiance did NOT want children and she was extremely nasty to Cathleen and her brothers.

Eventually, her father left her in the care of a woman who Cathleen called her “aunt” for an overnight visit. He called the next day and asked the woman to keep her for a few weeks, then, he asked if she could take Cathleen permanently. Cathleen said that she went to stay for the night, but never ended up leaving.

It wasn't much better for her with her new caretaker.. who had health problems and used Cathleen as her personal Cinderella, making her do chores around the house and preventing her from being in contact with her mother, brother and friends. She was so miserable that she said that she attempted to run away and even attempted suicide on occasion.

[Shaun] 

Finally, and happily for Cathleen, she was sent her to live with the Aunt’s granddaughter and her husband, Bernie and Carol Smith, who Cathleen refers to as her foster family. 

Finally, Cathleen was allowed to have a childhood. She did well in school, had many friends, took honors classes, and began to thrive. She even got a job at Long John Silver’s at the mall in Homewood, a suburb of Chicago, where she lived.

On July 9th, 1977 she finished up working at the restaurant and left around 8:45 pm and was heading across the parking lot to walk home. 

Her account of what happened to her that night is quite detailed. 

She said that as she was walking, a car with three men in it approached her, causing her to jump out of the way and fall. 

Two of the men then jumped out of the car and threw her in the back seat with the other one keeping her in the back

According to her account, they tore her clothing and raped her, and after that, they attempted to carve letters into her stomach using a broken bottle. 

She claims that she fought back scratching her attacker behind the ear before they pushed her out of the car and threw her clothes out after her, driving off into the night.

[John] 

Her account goes on to say that she then got dressed and started walking home, and came across a police officer in his cruiser, who stopped to help. She told the officer what happened in the nearly 2-hour ordeal which took place from 8:45 - 10:45pm.  

The officer brought her to a local hospital where she was examined and evidence was gathered, including her underwear that contained a semen sample. They discovered bruising and trauma in her groin area, as well as scratches on her stomach, and swelling on her head.

Cathleen worked with a police sketch artist for a few days, and on July 15th, 1977 she identified Gary Dotson as her attacker from a photo in a mug shot book, and then later identified him in a lineup at the Homewood police station.

Gary was arrested and released on bail. He ended up losing his landscaping job but in the beginning no members of his family were very worried because they knew Gary was innocent.

[Shaun] 

It makes sense that no one close to him was very worried because he had a solid alibi for the night of the rape.

It was a Saturday night, and Gary had hung out with several friends, drinking beers, watching tv, going to a couple of parties, even eventually sleeping in the back seat of a car while his friends went to a party because he was tired. 

He had 4 of his friends corroborate his alibi. They all told the police that they were hanging out at one of their mother’s houses until around 9 pm, and two others stated they drove Gary home between midnight and 1230am. 

His trial for rape and kidnapping took place in Cook County, Illinois, almost two years later. 

Throughout the case, Cathleen was seen as credible. Her story was very detailed, and her injuries seemed to match with the story she told.

Not everything was a match though… in her composite sketch, she didnt mention a mustache, but according Gary’s mother Barbara (and everyone who knew him), Gary had had his trademark mustache since he was 15 years old. 

[John] 

The prosecution called an “expert” witness named Timothy Dixon from the Illinois Training and Applications Laboratory who testified that the pubic hairs found in Cathleen’s underwear were “macroscopically similar” to Gary’s hair and different than Cathleen’s

He also testified that according to his analysis, only one in 10 men could have been the source of the semen found on Cathleen’s underwear, and Gary Dotson was included in that group.

That “theory” was later debunked and it was proven that nearly 2 in 3 men could have been the source, so this was nowhere near conclusive. 

As for the defense, they strangely did not object to transparently false and misleading testimony offered by Dixon, and little was made about the mustache discrepancy. Apparently per Illinois law, a discrepancy like that can be overlooked.

[Shaun]

Additionally, police never even produced the car in which Cathleen said she had been raped. Her description of the car didn't match any of the cars owned by Gary or the friends he was with that night, and of course his alibi from the night is quite solid.

I also want to say here that even though Cathleen said it was a group of 3 men who had grabbed her, none of Gary’s friends or any other accomplices were identified or charged. 

In the end, Gary was sentenced to two consecutive prison terms.. Between 25 and 50 years.

[John] 

Here’s where things start getting complicated. 

In March of 1985, Cathleen recanted her rape accusation. In fact, she said she was never raped at all, that she made it all up.  

And before I go into this part, I just want to remind everyone that Cathleen was 16 years old when she accused Gary of rape. 

Cathleen explained that she had sex with her boyfriend David Beirne and was terrified of being pregnant and being thrown out of her hfoster family’s home where she was living which provided her a sense of stability she’d never really had before that.

So she was scared that they were going to have a drastic reaction to news of her being pregnant, that she made up this story, ripped her clothes, cut herself with a bottle, and then planned to walk home from work and tell her foster parents everything. 

Her plan never included going to the police or getting the police involved at all. She planned to just lie to her foster parents.

Also, Cathleen wasn’t pregnant, she was just scared she might be. 

When she was pressed about the description she’d given she told police

“I didn’t identify anyone because I didn’t want to identify anyone. In my description of the attacker, I said he had blond hair because the boy I had actually been with was blond. I knew they had taken pubic hair samples for evidence and I thought, “Oh, boy, he’s gotta have blond hair.” 

In my description, I was “detailed” because the more details you give, the harder it is to pick out a specific person. If you’re “general,” almost anybody can fit the description. 

She made the sketch up for the sketch artist as it went along. She really didn’t think they could find her attacker because he didn’t exist. 

She was caught up in her lie, and it just snowballed. When the police brought her a photo of Gary, and said something to her, like “Look again, look real close” she felt compelled to say it was him. 

She said she hoped he had a good alibi.

[Shaun]

This was self-preservation for her. She was terrified her life was over if her lie was discovered

For two years leading up to the trial, Cathleen suppressed her guilt – she’s called herself manipulative and selfish.  

Despite knowing her actions were wrong, her fear of consequences led her to maintain the lie during the trial. Her testimony was rehearsed with help from the prosecutor's office, and she was both embarrassed on the witness stand, and afraid she’d be found out. 

After the trial, Cathleen said she tried to put the whole thing out of her mind, but couldn't forget how numb she had felt when the verdict was read, nor could she forget how Gary cried.

About a year after the trial ended, Cathleen began dating a guy named David Webb who was a senior at her high school. After graduating in 1979, she went on to Junior College, and then she and David moved to New Hampshire and in July of 1981, they got married.  

There is an interesting fact about their wedding that I think really shows that Cathleen had good reason to be concerned about how her foster parents would have treated her if they found out she was having sex at 16 – and if she was pregnant -- 

When Cathleen and David got married they were both 20 years old. Tehy invited Cathleen’s foster parents but they refused to come. The reason they gave was because Cathleen and David had lived together before getting married. 

As they built their new life in New Hampshire, they joined a church, and Cathleen became a born-again Christian, at some point starting to work through her guilt and regrets about Gary

[John] 

When she finally confessed to her pastor Carl Nannini that the rape had not happened, Carl put her in touch with a lawyer named John McLario. 

Cathleen said “All I can say is, I created a monster of a lie and now I am trying to make it right” and His life is worth more than my keeping silent.

McLario got in touch with the Cook County Prosecutors, who had no interest in her recantation. After that, they reached out to the press. They contacted Jim Gibbons who was a local on-air reporter who was VERY interested and broke the story on March 22nd, 1985.

Cathleen went on a media tour, campaigning hard for Gary’s innocence. She spent most of March and April of 1985 sharing her story on TV morning shows and even appearing on Phil Donahue. She gave multiple interviews to newspapers and magazines and people were definitely talking about the case.

On April 24, 1985, Cathleen gave testimony before the US Senate subcommittee on Juvenile Rape Victims, and again apologized and asserted Gary’s innocence. 

She wrote an article published in People Magazine called “Trying to Make it Right” and her photo was on the cover of that issue.

The Chicago Sun-Times had a front-page article on the recantation, but the Chicago Tribune, which at the time was known to be more of a PR outlet for the prosecutor’s office, painted Cathleen in a very unfavorable light, casting doubt on the story and characterizing her as “unstable”

[Shaun]

The Tribune and several other news outlets published stories as part of what I would call a smear campaign against her, designed to hurt her credibility. And a lot of the information in those articles came from people close to her. 

Cathleen’s foster mother and father gave interviews to the Tribune casting doubt on her explanations by bringing up things like the timing of her menstrual cycle or the last time she had sex with her then boyfriend.

Cathleen’s boyfriend at the time, David Bierne, stated they’d had sex many times, and he doubted her claims about her being afraid because it was her “first time.”

Her foster mother, Carol, said that Cathleen got her period 3 days after the rape, and well before she formally identified Gary, implying that Cathleen wouldn’t have had any reason to continue to lie. 

Later in the October 1985 issue of Redbook, Carol gave an interview where told the magazine that she believed that someone did rape Cathleen. 'We don't know if Gary Dotson is the rapist,' she said. 'We just know that something happened that night”

She also said that Cathleen’s personality had changed after she recanted her story. She explained that Cathleen had become unfriendly and suddenly started referring to her foster parents by their first names or as her “guardians’ instead of just as Mom and Dad.  

Carol also said: 'I could tell by the way she was acting on television that she wasn't shy Cathy any more. She was becoming a star and thriving on it. She didn't care who she hurt.”

According to the Tribune, the detailed timeline Cathleen laid out in the article she wrote for People magazine did not match police records. For example, Cathleen claimed she identified Gary from a photo that police had brought to her home, but Carol said that the police never questioned Cathleen at the house. 

Cathleen claimed her testimony during the trial had gone so smoothly because she had studied her statements from the police interviews and practiced with help of the prosecutors, but her foster parents told the Chicago Tribune that Cathleen never did that. 

Carol told Rebook: that Cathleen “blamed everyone for what had happened -- everyone but herself” and said “Cathy has a vivid imagination.” One of her brothers also disputed some of the stories Cathleen shared to the press about their upbringing. 

One of the worst examples of how Cathleen got dragged through the mud came when the Tribune published a claim from “a source close to the investigation” that called Cathleen “unstable” and “calculating, evasive, and manipulative.”

That source was later identified as an assistant state’s attorney who had been involved in the prosecution of Gary Dotson. 

It seems clear that the Cook County Prosecutor's office was probably concerned how they’d look if their star witness recanted her testimony. 

[John] 

When Gary heard about Cathleen recanting he immediately requested a new trial …. he was granted an evidentiary hearing, and released on $100,000 bond. 

The hearing was set for April 11th, 1985.

At that point, Gary was excited. His accuser had recanted her accusation, and it seemed clear that he would be set free, so he started making plans for his post-prison life. 

He even made plans to organize a foundation to help cover legal fees for all the innocent guys in prison. He told the press that he would like to speak to Cathleen once everything was all over – to find out why she’d accused him

“It`s been so long; why six years later? How could she hold it for so long?''

It was the same Judge that presided over the new hearing that had presided over his original trial, Judge Samuels. 

He determined that Cathleen’s testimony at the trial was more credible than her testimony at the evidentiary hearing and ignored several key inconsistencies in her earlier testimony including

• She said her pants got all muddy during the attack, but said she was raped inside the car.
• She said she scratched behind the attacker's ear, but no such injury existed on Dotson
• The mustache inconsistency where she claimed her attacker was clean-shaven but Gary had had a mustache since age 15.

Despite of all that, Samuels revoked the bond, and Gary was sent back to prison. 

When he announced his decision, Gary reportedly slammed his hand on the table in frustration. 

If the judge had just ordered a new trial, there’s no chance Gary would have been convicted because Cathleen wouldn't have testified against him.

In spite of Cathleen’s insistence, and her admission that she had told such an egregious, ugly detailed lie that landed an innocent man in jail… The question remained both in the justice system and in the court of public opinion. Did Gary actually do this? Was Gary a young working class guy that got massively unlucky? Or was he a violent rapist? Was Cathleen a scared virgin or an unstable perjurer? Was Cathleen lying in 1977 or was she lying now in 1985? 

And if she was lying now, what motive would she have?

Years later, Gary reflected on that April 11 hearing and how he had turned to alcohol to cope. 

He said that he "had learned to live a different way for six years." while he was in prison. "Drinking relaxed me, made me more open, made me more confident." He said he had a six-pack for breakfast the morning of April 11, the day of the evidentiary hearing. 

According to his mom, Barbara, Gary experienced extreme depression after he was ordered back to jail in April of 1985. In fact, this depression was so severe, that he was contemplating suicide. 

Barbara told Redbook Magazine that 'Prison authorities announced that Gary was now a celebrity and they needed to protect him from other inmates. But they told me he also needed to be protected from himself.”

Not everyone agreed with Judge Samuels and by that point, Gary Dotson was a household name,  and many people were debating his guilt. 

[Shaun]

It’s clear from the archives that this decision had an immediate backlash and there was a serious public outcry

70,000 people signed a petition demanding that the Governor of Illinois James Thompson release Gary, and calls, faxes, and telegraphs started arriving at the prosecutor's office. They definitely had an effect. 

Jim Thompson was eventually swayed by what the people were saying and he saw Gary Dotson as a way to garner some good publicity. 

Thompson was dealing with bad press after his administration mishandled a serious salmonella outbreak where multiple people died and more than 17,000 got sick. 

He granted Gary a clemency hearing, and he decided that he would preside over the hearing – becoming the first governor to ever do so. 

It’s important to remember that in the mid-80s, cable TV was growing in popularity but it was still pretty young. At the time, CNN was known as “Cable News Network.” CourtTV was not created until 1991. However, the popularity of showing the Claus von Bülow attempted murder trials on TV had gotten high ratings on network tv like NBC and CBS. 

People had replaced watching their daytime soap operas with watching the trial footage instead. The whole thing was an absolute media circus, well before cases you probably have heard about or remember like Casey Anthony or OJ Simpson.

[John] 

Governor Thompson definitely saw this as his chance to get some good nationwide publicity, but at least one columnist for the Chicago Tribune later described him as being the “ringmaster of a media circus. “

More than 150 reporters, both print and broadcast journalists, covered the hearing. CNN broadcast the hearings live and reached 32 million households nationwide.  The local CBS station preempted all its scheduled programming to do a live broadcast of the hearing. 

It is reported that Thompson, a former prosecutor, really put on a performance in front of the cameras and the crowded hearing room. 

He grilled witnesses, discussed the evidence, and caused the audience to gasp when he dramatically held up Cathleen’s stained underwear. 

He also tried to cross-examine Gary making inappropriate jokes about him drinking hooch in prison and at one point asking if he would be “a good boy” if he was released. 

At the end of the 3 day hearing, the Illinois Prison Review Board voted unanimously to deny him his clemency. 

However, Thompson commuted Dotson's sentence to time served… but also made a point to say that Gary’s trial had been fair and that the evidence of his guilt was stronger than ever. 

He did that in an effort to have it both ways — letting Gary out of prison, but also avoiding any admission that the justice system in Illinois had gotten it wrong. 

It wasn’t a pardon or an exoneration – just early parole for Gary. 

[Shaun]

May 12, 1985 – After serving 6 years for a kidnapping and rape that never even happened, Gary was finally out of prison. 

According to the Spokane Chronicle - Gary’s face lit up when he walked into his family’s home – 25 people - friends and family were there to celebrate with him. His brother John said, “I missed him and I love him and I’m glad he’s back.” A sign on the door of the house said “Gary Dotson is innocent and loved and welcomed back home by his family and friends.” 

Gary said he just wanted to sit down and relax; his sister Debbie said he was home and he was happy. 

Cathleen continued her media tour and began making appearances with Gary. The two were popular guests for sure. The TV stations flew Gary in with specially chartered jets and had the two of them shuttled to the studios in limousines. 

Cathleen apologized on the Today show to Gary’s mother, Barbara, and asked for her forgiveness. Gary and Cathleen also appeared on the Today show, telling Jane Pauley that he wasn’t angry with Cathleen, he was just angry and frustrated with the system. 

They were on ABC's Good Morning America, and on the CBS Morning News show.  

In a particularly infamous and inappropriate incident on CBS — Phyllis George ended her interview of Cathleen and Gary by asking them to shake hands. They both offered a weak handshake and then Phyllis asked "How about a hug?" Cathleen and Gary were shocked and they declined. Phyllis later said she didn’t mean to offend anyone. 

According to a 1985 Time Magazine article, this entire ordeal and the way it was portrayed during the tour of the morning shows had become a charade. Under the surface were so many unresolved issues, such as whether or not Cathleen would be charged with perjury and what that might mean for other rape victims who are afraid to come forward for fear of not being believed. 

But also, Time Magazine was critical of Thompson. He could have pardoned Gary, as governor, but in the end, the result of the hearing was that Gary was effectively just on parole – not declared innocent – and there was still doubt hanging over him… in fact, a former cellmate of his claimed that Gary had at one point confessed to having sex with Cathleen that night at a party — but that cellmate failed a lie detector test. Just another bizarre tabloid element of this case. 

Gary was getting offers on turning his life story into a movie– that’s how big this whole media circus was. This is definitely some early true crime history. 

Cathleen even wrote a book called  “Forgive Me” about her life and the accusation and donated all the proceeds from the book to Gary ($17500, or about $52,000 in 2025 dollars)

Gloria Allred, who many may know from representing victims in high profile lawsuits such as those against Anthony Weiner and R. Kelly – had concerns that Cathleen’s recantation would have lasting negative effects on victims being believed in rape cases – she said that she hoped the case "does not demoralize rape victims who feel they may not be believed." 

The MeToo movement didn’t happen until 35 years later, and in the meantime the justice system and the court of public opinion still struggles with issues such as victim blaming and believing accusers – in rape cases and domestic violence cases too. 

[JOHN]

Gary met the woman who would become his first wife – Camille Dardanes — during his clemency hearings.  Camille was following the trial and hearings – as a lot of Americans did, and was interested in meeting Gary, so she came to the hearings and gave him a white flower. 

They started dating once Gary was paroled. Their relationship progressed quickly. Gary proposed to Camille in September of 1985. He cooked Camille a lobster dinner and proposed with champagne and a diamond ring.

Camille said that she never had any doubts about Gary or his innocence. 

Along with everything else Gary did, this engagement was huge national news. There was a blurb about it in Time Magazine. Gary and Camille were celebrities – they appeared together on Good Morning America. 

Life was going great for both of them. They used the money that Cathleen had given Gary from the book sales to start their new life together. They each bought a car, rented an apartment, bought new furniture and eloped in Las Vegas in late 1985. 

However, Gary was struggling with life after prison. He was drinking heavily, and he was still a convicted felon. He was out of work and struggled to find a job while living with the stigma of his conviction and the doubt over his innocence, dealing with being thrown into the limelight, gaining semi-celebrity status.

In the mid-late 1980s, there were quite a few news articles about the couple, their romance, and their future plans. Gary’s life was the subject of water cooler conversations and probably Thanksgiving table conflicts. 

In our research, we found negative articles written about Gary with titles such as “Born To Lose” and editorials written about his life where he was characterized as a “dropout” and a “loser.” 

There were also some really nasty editorial written about Gary where people offered the opinion that he should have his genitals removed or should be sent to chair.

[Shaun] 

Can you imagine what the Reddit threads or comment sections would be like if this happened today?

All of that put pressure on Gary and his relationship with Camille. Gary siad "I was living a nightmare I couldn't escape. I was sick and tired of trying to prove I was innocent, so I crawled into a shell and then I didn't know how to get out of it.” 

They ended up blowing through the money from Cathleen, got evicted and had to move in with Gary’s mom, Barbara, who was still living in the same Chicago suburb. 

In January 1987, Camille and Gary’s daughter, Ashley was born. 

On August 2,1987, Gary and Camille got into a serious physical fight. 

It was a Sunday afternoon, and Gary and Camille took Ashley to the beach to have a picnic, and they drank a 6 pack. They then went to hang out with some friends. That evening, Camille was driving the car home, and the two of them got into an argument. 

Camille stopped the car in the middle of the street.  Gary hit Camille as she tried to get out of the car, then grabbed Ashley and ran away down the street. 

While Camille was chasing him, she saw a police car drive by and flagged it down. She told him that Gary was drunk and that he had threatened to kill their baby and that he had beaten her and ran off with Ashley. 

Thankfully, Gary was found sitting in an alley nearby with Ashley, who was fine. 

John and I want to stress again that there is no excuse for Gary’s behavior, but he was struggling with financial problems, unemployment, alcohol abuse, possibly depression, and dealing with a traumatic experience of being wrongfully incarcerated. 

Gary was arrested and charged with domestic battery, which was particularly serious for him since if he violated his parole, he would be sent back to prison to complete his sentence of 25-50 years. 

He was held without bail before his hearing which was set for August 27. At the heading, Gary testified “I said I’d kill the kid before I let Camille take her away,” and he admitted to drinking a lot that night. 

Camille didnt testify against him, saying that she didn’t want him to go to jail for what happened. 

Even without Camille’s testimony, the Parole Board revoked Gary’s parole on September 4, 1987 and the remaining 16 years on his sentence was reinstated. 

[John] 

On December 24, 1987, Governor Thompson decided to release Gary AGAIN for what he called “One last chance.” 

Remember, as governor, a pardon was always an option. 

[Shaun] 

I find that interesting too. I think we read that Camille had asked the Governor to let him out – since it was Christmas. But just a few days later it was reported in the news that Camille told Gary when he got home that day that she wanted a separation. 

[John] 

Yes, and on December 26, 1987 Gary was arrested again, and charged with two misdemeanors when he got into a fight while drunk with the employees of a sandwich shop. It was his 6th arrest since he had been let out on parole in 1985. 

Luckly for Gary the two employees decided to drop the charges against him, and didn’t say why, but Gary’s attorney said that he was pushed over the edge and began drinking when Camille said she was planning to divorce him.

Even though the charges were dropped, Gary being drunk was a violation of his parole. The Illinois Department of Corrections placed a parole hold on Gary to keep him in jail until his Prisoner Review Board hearing on February 17, 1988.

It turned out that Gary didn’t call his parole officer on December 24 like he was supposed to, so the board found him guilty of a technical parole violation and he was ordered to return to jail just 6 months – he was luckily NOT ordered to complete his full sentence of 25-50 years. 

[Shaun]

In August of 1988, near the end of this 6 month sentence, Gary was involuntarily transferred into a state-run treatment facility for alcohol and substance abuse disorders.  

While he was serving his time for the parole violation, his attorney, Thomas Breen, was hard at work trying to prove Gary’s innocence. 

He’d read about new DNA testing technology that was being compared to the uniqueness of fingerprints, and on January 7, 1988, Breen’s petition for access to Cathleen’s underwear for DNA testing was granted – the AG’s office had no objection, and due to a jurisdictional issue— the final decision was made by, who else, Governor Thompson. 

Based on Thompson’s order - the semen underwent that new type of testing known as PCR-polymerase chain reaction testing. The DNA pulled from the evidence was tested against blood samples provided by Gary, and Cathleen’s boyfriend at the time, David Bierne. 

On August 15, 1988, Edward Blake, a forensic scientist in California, notified the governor, the prosecutors, and Gary’s attorney that the PCR testing had positively excluded Gary and positively included David Bierne as the source of the semen. 

The next day, Breen requested that Governor Thompson grant Gary unconditional clemency based on actual innocence but for some unknown reason, Governor Thompson decided he wasn’t ready to do that. 

At the time, Gary was in the alcohol treatment program, and Thompson stated he wanted assurances that the test results were accurate and he wanted the Prisoner Review Board to weigh in on the decision.

After 9 months of both Gary and his attorney waiting for the Board to make a decision, Gary’s attorney went to the media with the results and filed a new petition for post conviction relief on May 3, 1989. 

On August 14th, 1989 a hearing was held and the judge ruled that the DNA testing results were admissible. The prosecution admitted the error in Gary’s conviction, and joined Gary’s defense attorney Thomas Breen in his motion to vacate the conviction. 

All charges were dropped and the conviction was dismissed. Gary was exonerated of the rape and kidnapping charge, and was free from the challenges of Parole, that were always hanging over his head. 

12 years after Gary was arrested and four years after Cathleen had first recanted her accusation, Gary smiled at his brother and sisters and they jokingly pinched his arm so Gary would know he wasn’t dreaming.  Gary said “It’s over” "it's really over." 

According to a People Magazine article published in August 1989 shortly after his exoneration, Gary was working as a part-time construction worker,  planning to start college that fall, and interested in starting a career in counseling. 

In August 1989 - Gary’s wife, Camile formally filed for divorce → She mentioned Gary’s “Violent and ungovernable temper” But things were not over between them. 

In September 1989, Gary was arrested at Camille’s home for trespassing. According to the Cook County Sheriff, she had given him a key to her apartment because they were working on repairing their relationship

It’s not clear what happened between them. But at some point, Camille asked for the key back, and Gary refused. 

Camille traveled to Las Vegas, presumably to visit her mother and prepare for her eventual move. When she came back to her apartment, she found Gary there, and he refused to leave so she had him arrested for trespassing. 

He posted bail, and on October 6, 1989, the charges were dismissed against Gary because Camille was 9 minutes late to the hearing. 

Camille moved with Ashley to Las Vegas, but disappeared without a trace in September of 1994. 

[John] 

Gary’s Lawyers filed for full pardon from the new Governor George Ryan which was finally granted in in 2002. 

On August 25, 2003, the Illinois Court of Claims awarded Gary $120,300 for his wrongful conviction after his full pardon

In 2002, it was reported that Gary "has led a stable life and has been involved in a stable relationship," "He has not had a drop of alcohol since he joined Alcoholics Anonymous, and he also is the one who raises his daughter."

At this time, Gary was living in the south suburbs of Chicago, but he was unemployed because of a disability requiring a hip replacement. 

Cathleen passed away in 2008 at the age of 46 after a 6-year battle with cancer, leaving behind her husband and their four children. At the time of her death, Gary was reported to be living a quiet life in the Chicago suburbs and trying to stay “under the radar” and wanting to put this behind him.

Gary’s exoneration paved the way for all future cases of DNA being used to exonerate the wrongfully accused. It’s the new standard for establishing guilt or innocence, as well as being a crucial tool to identify criminals as well.

In recognition of DNA Day, we want to just take a moment to mention that according to the Innocence Project — As of April 2025, 614 wrongly convicted people have been exonerated since Gary was based on DNA evidence. 

[Shaun]

Thank you all for joining us as we took another look at Gary’s story, we hope you all found it as captivating as we both did – it’s a piece of true crime history that we think doesn’t get discussed enough. 

We also want to remind you about Camille, Gary’s first wife, who has been missing since 1994 and if you haven’t yet listened to Camille’s story please visit sinspod.co/camille and please be sure to join the FindCamille facebook page and support her family who is still searching for answers. 

Thanks as always for listening & remember what happens here happens everywhere.