Lynn Dejac, was an American woman born in Buffalo, New York.
On the evening of February 13, 1993, Lynn Dejac had a heated argument in a bar with her then boyfriend after she discovered he had hired a private investigator to monitor her.
When she came back the following day, she met the naked and lifeless body of her 13-year-old daughter, Crystallynn Girard. Autopsy showed she was strangled, she also had some level of cocaine in her system.
She was taken into custody and accused of second degree murder. There was no physical evidence or forensic study that tied her to the crime. The only two evidence against her were her boyfriend, Dennis Donohue who testified against her after he was promised immunity and an ex-convict, Wayne Hudson who claimed she confessed to him.
Image: Lynn, Donohue and Crystallynn Girard
She was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
13 years later, while examining three other unsolved but similar cases, detectives were quick to tie the crime to Donohue. The four women were killed in the same pattern, they had contact with Donohue, and their bodies were found naked on their beds. DNA test was requested and it was proven Donohue’s DNA was at the crime scene.
Lynn Dejac is the first woman ever to be exonerated of murder charges on the basis of DNA profiling.