A case of mistaken identity cost an Indianapolis man his freedom and much more. He ended up behind bars after learning police had a warrant for his arrest for trying to kill another man.
This case of mistaken identity not only involved two men who look alike, but who also have the very same name.
Eyewitness News interviewed 24-year-old Keith Wilson behind bars at the Marion County Jail. That's where he insisted he did not do the crimes he's accused of.
Last April, attack victim Stanley Williams identified Wilson from a photo line-up as one of three people who tried to kill him. Williams also identified a woman named Destiny Bellamy, who he says cut him so badly with a knife that doctors had to perform two emergency surgeries to save him.
"I definitely remember her. Once her brother shot the gun in the ground, that broke her momentum because she probably would have kept on hacking," said Williams.
Shortly after his surgeries, a detective showed Williams a spreadsheet of suspects. Williams identified Destiny Bellamy and Keith Wilson as his attackers.
Williams initially named Keith Wilson as the man who fired a gun at him three times but missed.
"He shot the gun. He stuck the gun in my side," said Williams.
That's something that Wilson adamantly denies.
"To be honest with you, I have never shot a gun in my life. I have never carried a gun. I don't have a gun permit. I don't have a gun, never shot a gun, nothing," said Wilson.
Wilson faced charges of attempted murder and possession of explosive devices, among other charges, in connection with the brutal attack on April 15th inside a home at 25th and N. Sherman Ave. But Wilson only learned about being named in the attack seven months later. Warrants for his arrest surfaced during a background as he applied for full time work at Amazon.
Wilson turned himself in Thanksgiving eve, hoping to clear up what he thought was a simple misunderstanding. Instead, he went to jail.
"No one came out to my home to even see if he done this. They didn't care. They just pinned it on him," said Carmella Monie, Wilson's mother.
Wilson's mother turned to Eyewitness News for help. Although Williams picked out her son Keith Wilson, our investigation uncovered a different Keith Wilson who may be responsible. Sources also tell Eyewitness News investigators found Bellamy's fingerprint on a homemade bomb used at Williams' house.
Here's what happened when we showed Stanley Williams the same photograph of Keith Wilson investigators showed him in April:
"This is just not him, though. I would not want to see someone innocent go to prison, especially the charges that they are looking at," he said.
Based on the investigation by Eyewitness News, a judge ordered the misidentified Keith Wilson released from jail.
"I honestly didn't know what day of the week it was or what time it was. It was very stressful," said Wilson.
Eventually his family surrounded him with hugs and kisses. And because of those two weeks behind bars for crimes he did not commit, "he lost a possible job, he's been away from his daughter, he has been away from me," said Monie.
