Failure of Justice: A Brutal Murder, An Obsessed Cop, Six Wrongful Convictions

Feb. 5, 1985 marked one of the coldest nights on record that winter in the small Nebraska town of Beatrice. That evening, tenants in one downtown three-story apartment building hunkered down for a night of restful sleep. The next day, they were horrified as police cars lined along their otherwise peaceful street. The police found Helen Wilson, a widow in her late sixties, bound, raped and slain inside apartment Unit 4.

The local Beatrice police force made a gallant effort to identify the ki...