THERE has been a major update in two cold cases from 1983 as two men are connected to the murders after the wrong man was sent to prison for 37 years.
Robert DuBoise, 56, has been exonerated for the rape and murder of two woman after new DNA evidence has linked the crimes to two other already convicted felons – Amos Robinson, 58, and Abron Scott, 57.
In 1983, Robinson and Scott allegedly went on a rape and murder spree, with one of the victims, Barbara Grams, only being 19 years old, according to officials.
Grams’ body was found beaten behind a dental office in Tampa Heights, Florida on August 18, 1983.
Shortly before allegedly committing this crime, Robinson and Scott raped and killed Linda Lansen, 41.
Her body was found beaten with a gunshot wound to the head in the bushes, sometime in July of 1983 in Town and Country.
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Linda Sheffield, Lansen’s niece said: “These two men not only robbed me, but they robbed a 7-year-old little girl of her mother.
“When they’re initially murdered, the shock is there, but 39 years later the shock is no longer there.”
“But the void stays, and the pain stays and the crying stays. It doesn’t go away,” she said.
Robinson and Scott are also subjects of more cold cases in the Tampa Bay area from the same time period, according to Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren.
In 2018 Warren’s office created a Conviction Review Unit which lead to the exoneration of DuBoise two years later.
“Our investigation found DNA evidence that established Robert did not murder Barbara Grams; however, that DNA evidence did provide new leads and launched a fresh investigation,” Warren said.
Investigators took a DNA sample from the scene and when it didn’t match DuBoise, they ran it through a national database of DNA samples from convicted felons, which led them to Robinson and Scott.
According to The Florida Innocence Project, there wasn’t any physical or circumstantial evidence that had linked DuBoise to the crime, at the time of his trial.
A jailhouse informant falsely testified that DuBoise had confessed to the crime during his time in custody, according to the nonprofit.
“I am sad for the families who have waited so long to get true closure,” DuBoise told CNN on Friday.
“I spent 37 years imprisoned for a crime I was totally innocent.
“This is what happens when the police focus on the wrong person, make up evidence to fit their theory and don’t investigate to find the truth.
“Lives are ruined and communities are less safe,” he said.
The two felons are already serving life sentences for a murder they committed during October of 1983 in Pinellas County.
