Alicia Wade

8-year-old girl was plucked from her bedroom by Albert Raymond Carder Jr., a known sex offender active in the area. Carder took the girl to a nearby field and raped her. He told her to be quiet or he would kill her. Then he brought her back. Alicia told all this to authorities the next day, after her injuries were discovered.

Authorities thought she was lying to protect her father. Alicia was taken from her family and placed in foster care. Her therapist, her social worker and even a Juvenile Court judge pushed the girl to tell a "more believable" story. In time, she accused her dad, Jim Wade.

Authorities pursued the case against Wade even though they knew Carder had attacked five other girls in the same neighborhood at about the same time. They had prosecuted Carder, winning convictions and a 25-year prison sentence. With Wade's trial in the offing, defense attorney Michael McGlinn asked to have Alicia's night clothes tested for evidence. Semen stains, overlooked by police investigators, were discovered. Testing on the stains excluded Wade as the source of the semen. The testing pointed instead to Carder. Charges against Wade were dropped and Alicia was returned home.