Chad sought assistance from the Innocence Project in 2003. Through the collaborative efforts of the Innocence Projects of New York and Florida, and attorneys at Holland and Knight, Chad was subsequently granted court-ordered DNA testing. This testing on crucial items in the case demonstrated that debris under Tina Heins’ fingernails, a pubic hair found on her body and, most recently, semen found on her bed sheets came from the same still-unknown perpetrator. None of the evidence matched Chad or Tina’s husband, Jeremy. In fact there was no biological trace of Chad Hein’s presence anywhere in Tina’s bedroom (where she was murdered), including on her body or on the sheets. Neither Mr. Heins’ body nor clothing carried any evidence, even microscopic, of having committed this crime.

The Judge granted Heins a new trial and the state decided not to prosecute him again.

News articles on the case are assembled here.