Christopher Conway is accused of raping and killing his infant daughter in 2017

He claims he is innocent and his brothers have created a website

Prosecutors say they have a strong case and the website changes nothing

His trial is set for November

The premature twins fought to survive.

Adeline and her twin sister spent six weeks in incubators in a newborn intensive care unit before finally going home to Clarksville, Tennessee, in little, pink helmets to help mold their tiny, weak heads.

Their mother and father gave them medicine, attention and physical therapy as the infants began to thrive.

But within months, their family would be shattered.

At 8 months old, before ever taking her first steps, Adeline was found with a cord wrapped around her neck. Her twin will grow up without the sister who shared a womb and many precious photos. And their father, Army medic Christopher Conway, is locked away, charged with raping and strangling a daughter he says he lost in a tragic accident.

As the case inches closer to trial, many in Conway's family are going to great lengths to prove he’s innocent, a victim just like the baby he says he will always love.

But others, including some relatives of the twins, are now as convinced as prosecutors that the confession Conway gave police tells the true story.

Accident or 'atrocity'?

Chris Conway, who was raised in Alab said anyone who could rape and murder an infant would be a monster. He says he's just a father with bad luck whose only fault was not making sure his babies were safe as they slept in their cribs with cords from the window blinds dangling nearby.

"Anyone who could commit such atrocities as I am accused of deserves to be punished to the full extent of the law," he recently wrote in a correspondence interview with The Leaf-Chronicle from the Montgomery (Tennessee) County Jail.

His two brothers and parents have created a website, chrisconwaysjustification.com, laying out portions of evidence they claim prove he's innocent. There are sections of autopsy reports they say prove no sexual assault happened.

But other parts are left out. Even the defense team's own experts say more information could change their findings.

And there are many, many more letters from Conway, pining for the family he lost, blaming police and prosecutors for not listening to his initial denials and, he says, for convincing him that he had no choice but to confess so his wife wouldn't lose their other daughter.

"Last night, or this morning, I dreamed that the three people I love most in this world were taken away, and then I woke up and it was true," he wrote in one letter. "Even good dreams make me sad when I wake up and I’m in jail."

But jail is exactly where Conway belongs, according to Clarksville Police detectives and Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Lund, who is prosecuting the case.

She has reviewed the website and said nothing she has found there has changed her mind.

"We are still moving forward with our case," she said last week. "I think their website shows you what they want you to see."

Wife filed for divorce after indictment

Even if Conway were released from jail, the life he writes about wanting back is lost to him forever.

One daughter is gone. The other will grow up without her twin sister.

The wife he married when she graduated from high school filed for divorce in January 2018, shortly after a grand jury indicted him on charges of felony murder, aggravated rape of a child, and aggravated child abuse.

Emily Conway could not be reached for comment, but according to court records, she is suing him for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences," and if he doesn't agree, contends he is "guilty of inappropriate marital conduct." She is also asking that her maiden name be restored.

Chris Conway responded to the filing in pencil, saying he disagrees with her grounds for divorce, and there are no irreconcilable differences "because the parties have been afforded no opportunity to reconcile or even communicate since before (the separation) due to ongoing investigation."

He asks that no divorce be granted until the criminal case is resolved and they can attend marriage counseling.

Family members who asked not to be named said some of those who at first stood by him have changed their minds after seeing the evidence, and now they want to see him held accountable.

Mother and grandmother mourn

Charlotte Conway, who gave birth to Chris in 1995, is convinced that her son is innocent, and she wants the world to know it.

Raised in Grand Bay, Alabama, near Mobile, Chris Conway joined the Army to serve his country and provide for the family he so desperately wanted, she told The Leaf-Chronicle. He and his wife planned a pregnancy after moving to Clarksville and their excitement only doubled when they found out they would have two babies.

"He was actually out in the field when Emily called him and told him that it was twins," she said. "They were so excited."

The babies had to be delivered early by emergency cesarean section, and she arrived at the Nashville hospital about an hour after they were born. The family watched them in an incubator as their bodies grew, until they could survive outside the clear walls of their incubators.

"There was nothing like the first time we held them," Charlotte Conway said, crying as she relived what should be happy memories.

She said the "proud daddy" had even begun planning their first birthday party months ahead of time. But when the day that marked their birth rolled around, he was in jail. Now it's only the twin sister's special day. Her father has missed her first and second birthdays, and he could miss them all. (The Leaf-Chronicle is not including her name.)

In the time he did have with the girls, the family made many trips — to Alabama to see their grandparents, great-grandma, uncles and extended family. To Fall Creek Falls, where family members joined Chris and Emily for hikes with the girls in backpacks. That was just one month before Adeline died.

The weekend leading up to the baby's death, Chris and Emily Conway went to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains for a weekend getaway, not knowing it would be the last time they would be together as a family.

"She had just started crawling that weekend, grabbing things," Charlotte Conway said.

The morning that changed everything

According to the Conways and authorities, the infants were bathed and put to bed at about 8 p.m. on Nov. 13, 2017.

Emily Conway woke up at 4 a.m. and fixed breakfast for her husband before going back to bed. Chris Conway had to return to Fort Campbell that day after their brief vacation.

Emily then woke up again, as usual, around 7 a.m. and went to feed the girls.

Adeline was motionless, a cord wrapped around her neck in her crib. Emily called 911 and performed CPR until an ambulance arrived. The paramedics took over and rushed Adeline to Tennova Healthcare, but within an hour, all hopes of revival were gone.

Clarksville Police were called. Chris Conway was called. Questions emerged as little Adeline's body was taken away for an autopsy.

Portions of what was found during that autopsy are posted on the Conways' webpage, but other parts are not.

Charlotte Conway said the doctor who did the autopsy was in the company of a police officer who was steering him to make conclusions. She said the medical examiner was biased, so the family sent the autopsy to their own expert. Portions of that report are also posted.

Ultimately, the case was ruled a homicide, and on Nov. 15, 2017, Chris Conway was charged.

A father accused

Part of the reason for Conway's arrest is because he confessed, according to investigators who testified as his preliminary hearing.

But Charlotte Conway said her son was coerced and that a psychiatric exam just released by the family shows that because of his young age (he was 22), the stress he was under and the duration of the questioning, he could have made a false confession.

Authorities said they believe the confession and that Conway was never coerced. They said the "20 hours" of questioning the family talks about includes time Conway spent resting or sleeping between questioning.

The family posted videos on the website of three times Conway denied hurting his daughter, but they did not include the part where he confesses.

Charlotte Conway said the family decided not to show the confession without also posting everything that led up to it, and that would be too many hours for people to watch.

The website has amassed a number of supporters. The District Attorney's office has received many letters, including form letters from the website, supporting Conway.

He said he has received almost 1,000 cards or letters from supporters in his hometown in Alabama, Clarksville and other parts of the country.

Those letters may lift his spirits, but authorities said the case is solid and set for trial in November. The Conways said the state is determined to kill Chris, but Lund said she has not even filed paperwork necessary to seek the death penalty.

Charlotte Conway just wants her son set free. She said she has not been allowed to see her surviving granddaughter.

"I hope justice prevails and I don't lose him," she said. "It's devastating to lose him and his wife and both of my grandbabies. They're my family. They were just ripped from us because of a tragic accident."

TIMELINE: What happened leading up to and surrounding the incident

Q&A WITH CHRIS CONWAY: What he regrets about the morning his daughter died

Reach Reporter Stephanie Ingersoll at singersoll@theleafchronicle.com or 931-245-0267 and on Twitter @StephLeaf