I lived in a town where a fairly prominent business owner was suspected of hiring a hit man to kill his estranged wife and make it look like a sex crime. He was never charged but was the only named P O I.
When I moved to to that town people referred to him as "that wife-killer". A member of Law Enforcement explained the situation to me in terms that left no doubt he was guilty and only a cowardly DA was keeping justice from being served.
The POI acted a lot like DR, he was interrogated many times by the local police and three FBI and never Lawyered Up. He went to the local paper and gave a detailed interview and he wrote to several elected representatives. He denied his involvement to anyone who would listen and eventually went about his business knowing that many folks would assume he was guilty. It was assumed that Guilty people world act that way. His business suffered but he was able to keep it running.
At least ten years later, DNA became available. It was a match of a Serial Killer that had been operating throughout the state but has yet to be identified.
Local Law Enforcement and the local newspaper played up the Serial Killer angle but never mentioned that a POI was now vindicated.
I realized that there was not only a rush to judgement with insufficient evidence but there were lots of false rumors circulating, including rumors coming from the Law Enforcement Community. I think people wanted a definite answer rather than an ongoing mystery and everyone slept a little better believing this was an isolated incident and there was no danger to anyone else.
