DNA Exonerates Two Boys and Finds True Murderer

A convicted sex offender, Floyd Durr, pleaded guilty Monday to the 1998 murder of an 11 year-old girl whose death was originally pinned on two young boys, a 7 year old and an 8 year old.  But DNA evidence has pointed to Durr, already serving a 125-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting other girls.  With his guilty plea, he was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years for the murder and sexual assault of Ryan Harris. Ryan was beaten and sexually molested in July 1998, then dumped in a weedy lot on Chicago's South Side, where she was found dead the next day. Authorities initially said the two boys, then 7 and 8, confessed to the crime. It took almost a month before testing on the girl's clothing showed the boys couldn't have been responsible. DNA tests later led prosecutors to Durr. Story. . . [Mark Godsey]