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Matt Livers, a mentally retarded man, confessed to murdering his uncle and aunt after 18 hours of police questioning.  He also implicated his cousin, Nick Sampson.  The victims were Wayne and Sharmon Stock, who were found shot to death in their home.  Livers knew a few facts about the crime that he learned from relatives, but was unable to provide many details about it without being spoon-fed them by police.

Less than two months after Livers and Sampson were arrested, two Wisconsin teens, Gregory Fenster, 19, and his girlfriend, Jessica Reid, 17, were caught with evidence that they engaged in a multi-state crime spree of farmhouse burglaries and car thefts.  A ring left behind in the Stock's car was identified as having come from one of their burglaries.  The teens then confessed to the murders of the Stocks and were charged.  However, authorities did not drop charges against Livers and Sampson.  Instead, they clung to the idea that Livers and Sampson recruited the teens to kill the Stocks.  The teens at one point adopted this theory after police insisted they were lying.  However, physical evidence soon made this theory untenable and charges against Sampson were dropped on Oct 6.  Charges against Livers were dropped on Dec 4, after the state's own expert agreed with the defense expert that Livers was mentally retarded, vulnerable to police tactics, and that his confession was almost certainly false.  (TruthInJustice)  [2/07]

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