At about 6 a.m. on October 10, 1983, a 15-year-old girl, identified as P.W., left her home in St. Louis, Missouri, to meet a friend and walk to school. When her friend did not arrive at their meeting spot, P.W. decided to walk to another friend’s house. Although it was still dark, P.W. saw a man standing across the street from her friend’s house. When she went to the back yard of the house, the man grabbed her from behind, held a knife to her neck and threatened to cut her head off if she screamed.
He ordered her to walk to the back of the house, removed her underpants and forced her to lie down. He then placed P.W.’s leather jacket over her head and raped her. As he left, he said he had been watching her and that he would get her again if she went to the police.
Despite the threat, the police were called. P.W. was taken to the hospital, where a rape kit was taken. While she was at the hospital, the police showed P.W. hundreds of photographs. She did not make an identification.
Later that day, P.W. was sitting on her porch when she saw 21-year-old Anthony Woods walk past. Woods lived less than two blocks away. P.W. told her cousin, who was sitting with her, that Woods was the man who raped her. Not long after, members of P.W.’s family and some neighbors apprehended Woods and held him until police arrived and arrested him.
P.W. subsequently identified Woods at the police station, although he was shorter and had a lighter complexion than the man she had described at the hospital.
Evidence showed that Woods’s photograph had been among those shown to P.W. at the hospital when she did not make any identification.
In June 1984, Woods went to trial in St. Louis City Circuit Court. P.W. identified him as her attacker. The prosecution alleged that the victim failed to identify Woods from the photographs because he had a different hairstyle and lighter skin tone in his photograph.
A serologist testified that semen had been identified on P.W.'s underwear. Spermatozoa were observed on the vaginal smear. P.W. had blood type A and was a secretor, which meant that her blood type could be detected in her bodily fluids. Only type A was found.
On June 25, 1984, the jury convicted Woods of forcible rape, felonious restraint, and armed criminal action. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
While in prison, Woods twice failed to complete the Missouri sex offender program because the program required him to accept responsibility for his crime. Woods was released on parole on May 12, 2002 and required to register as a convicted sex offender. Six months after his release, Woods contacted his trial attorney, Christelle Adelman-Adler, and asked her to help obtain DNA testing.
The prosecution agreed to DNA testing and persuaded Paternity Testing Corporation (PTC) of Columbia, Missouri, to perform the testing without charge. Because the sample had been degraded, the laboratory performed Y-STR testing. PTC obtained a partial profile that excluded Woods as the source of the spermatozoa. The profile was insufficient to enter into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
Based on the results, Woods’s conviction was vacated on April 21, 2005 and the case was dismissed.
Woods subsequently was awarded $328,500 in compensation from the state of Missouri for his wrongful conviction.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 07-09-2026
