David Burroughs Wins Overturned Murder Conviction 8 Months After Son Matthew Is Found Alive
Updated
Updated · TIME · Jun 18
David Burroughs Wins Overturned Murder Conviction 8 Months After Son Matthew Is Found Alive
2 articles · Updated · TIME · Jun 18
Summary
Eight months after Matthew Burroughs was recovered alive, David Burroughs’ life sentence for his son’s murder is overturned and the case’s true story begins spreading publicly.
A Six Flags photo showing Matthew alive triggered David’s prison escape and reopened the case, which ultimately proved the child found dead in his bed was Martin Bischoff, not Matthew.
Hayden Payne had killed Martin, planted the body, and raised the real Matthew as Theo for 5 years after wrongly believing the boy was his biological son.
The original conviction had rested on a bloodied baseball bat, a neighbor’s false testimony, and David’s history of sleep terrors, with the witness later tied to a revenge plot against David’s father.
In the aftermath, Rachel publishes her account as a book, Matthew is still recovering his memories, and the family reunites while mourning David’s father Lenny.