Story highlights Mark Maxson served more than 2 decades in prison

New DNA testing helped clear him of Lindsey Murdock's killing

Osborne Wade is now charged in the boy's death

Chicago (CNN) In 1992, a little boy was found dead in a vacant garage, buried under a pile of trash and debris. His family's last memory of 6-year-old Lindsey Murdock? The first-grader was eating Tootsie Rolls on his grandmother's front porch, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Mark Maxson of Chicago was convicted and sentenced to life for the killing. But after serving more than two decades in prison, Maxson became a free man this week when his conviction was vacated.

A convicted killer, 42-year-old Osborne Wade, was charged with the crime Tuesday once Maxson's conviction was thrown out.

Osborne Wade

Maxson, now 55, is the 15th man in Illinois whose conviction has been vacated after reinvestigations by Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez's Conviction Integrity Unit, formed in 2012.

Maxson had confessed to the killing, but maintained he was coerced. One of Maxson's attorneys, Elliot Zinger, says Maxson refused to sign his confession and insisted on writing into the confession that he provided hair and blood voluntarily multiple times to clear his name.

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