New Suspect Charged in Decades Old Murder After Wrongfully Convicted Man Set Free

Just one day after a man wrongfully convicted in the murder of a 6-year-old boy was freed from prison, authorities have charged a new suspect in the brutal slaying more than 20 years later.

Osborne Wade, 42, was charged Wednesday with first degree murder in the August 1992 killing of 6-year-old Lindsey Murdock on Chicago's Far South Side, according to a release from the Cook County State's Attorney's office.

Lindsey's body was found in an abandoned garage in the 107th block of South State Street on August 30, 1992, one day after his family reported him missing, authorities said.

He had suffered injuries all over his body, officials said, including 13 stab wounds to the back of the head, as well as a collapsed lung and traumatic wounds indicating sexual assault. 

During their investigation, police learned that Lindsey was seen at a liquor store nearby with a 31-year-old man, later identfied as Mark Maxson. 

Maxson, now 55, confessed to the murder and had been in prison for more than 20 years until he was exonerated based on DNA evidence that cleared his name, and implicated Wade in the gruesome crime. 

Ordered in June 2015, DNA testing of blood stains on the victim's clothing did not match the victim or Maxson's profiles, authorities said. It was later determined that the results revealed an association with Wade, who was previously sentenced to 22 years in prison in 1997 for the 1994 stabbing murder of a family member.

Maxson said Tuesday upon his release that he had been coerced into confessing to the murder by detectives working under notorious then-Chicago Police Commander John Burge, who was later sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison on obstruction of justice and perjury charges in 2011. 

“I probably would’ve done anything to get out of that position,” Maxson said.

Elliot Zinger, Maxson’s attorney, said there was always something wrong with the case.

“There was someone else’s blood on the child, there was someone else’s pubic hair on the child, that doesn’t happen by accident” Zinger said.

But even after all he’s been through, Maxson says he still thinks it’s a person’s responsibility to report what they see to the authorities.

“I can’t change what happened,” he said. “But, my fight is, is to stop it from happening again."

Tuesday night, Maxson celebrated his first hours of freedom with dinner at Lawry’s The Prime Rib with Zinger and well-known former Chicago convict Wallace “Gator” Bradley, who said he’s convinced Maxson will successfully restart his live.

“No doubt in my mind, 'cause I’m going to be working with him,” Bradley said. 

"On behalf of the Cook County criminal justice system, we offer apologies to Mark Maxson and his family for this horrific ordeal as well as sympathies to the family members of Lindsey Murdock who have endured an exceptionally difficult and painful journey towards justice in the senseless and heinous murder of their beloved child," Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said in a statement.

"This case reminds us in a very painful way that we must continue to put our best proactive efforts toward the investigation of wrongful convictions and do everything that we possibly can to correct the mistakes of the past," she added.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit, which has been operating for 3 years, has vacated 15 wrongful convictions so far, police say.

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