Rodney Lincoln embraces his daughters after being freed in 2018.

Donate Now!

Help us free the innocent

Donate

Former Indiana State trooper David Camm freed in 2013.

Tax-Exempt Organization

Investigating Innocence is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) entity and promotes its mission through advocacy, public education. Contributions to Investigating Innocence are tax-deductible.

Read more

Jonathan Fleming embraces PI Bob Rahn after being freed in 2014."

PIs Become a Member Today!

Robert Rahn and Kim Anklin, New York City Private Investigators and Co-Regional Directors and members of Investigating Innocence, recently helped exonerate Jonathan Fleming who served 24 years in prison.

Join Now

Mission Statement

Investigating Innocence is a not-for-profit organization that provides investigative support to indigent inmates, lawyers and Innocence Projects throughout the United States who seek to prove post-conviction claims of actual innocence.

Search

Who killed Melissa Koontz?

Melissa Koontz

$25,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the real killer or killers

The Crime:

On June 24, 1989, at 10:06 p.m., 19-year-old Melisa Koontz left work at Cub Foods where she worked as a cashier on the Southwest edge of Springfield, Illinois. Her decomposed body was found a week later July 1, 1989, laying face-up in a cornfield approximately 1.5 miles away. She had been stabbed multiple times.

Multiple witnesses observed a suspicious young white male lurking in the employee parking lot around the time Melisa exited the store.

Less than an hour later, at 10:50 p.m., her vehicle, a black Ford Escort hatchback, was discovered abandoned on the Waverly Blacktop Road, a rural country road that led to her parent’s home in Waverly, IL, approximately 15.2 miles from Cub Foods.

There was circumstantial evidence of a sexual assault. The buttons of the victim’s shirt were torn off and the clasp of her bra was broken. Her skirt had been rolled up. DNA testing on the bra and shirt have identified a partial male DNA profile eliminating Tom McMillen as the source.

If you have information that leads to the identification of the real killer or killers of Melissa Koontz, please share this with Investigating Innocence. If you provide an item of DNA that matches the profile that was recovered from the bra leading to the arrest of the actual perpetrator, you can receive a $25,000 reward.


Send Lead

Our Featured Cases

THE CASE OF TOM MCMILLEN


THE CASE OF CHRIS VAUGHN

Image
Free Chris Vaughn Download to use as Facebook profile picture

Our Latest Exoneration

Image

David Camm - October 24, 2013 Verdict: NOT GUILTY!