SPRINGFIELD-   A 20 year old murder case could soon be re-opened.
   18-year-old Melissa Koontz’s body was found near her hometown of Waverly in the summer of 1989. She had been raped and stabbed to death.
     Five people were sent to prison; two are still serving life sentences, Gary Edgington and Tom McMillen. Edgington confessed but McMillen has maintained his innocence.  It’s a plea that was finally heard by the Downstate Innocence Project. They’re asking to take a second look at the case in hopes of proving McMillen is innocent.
   “He was convicted based on a mentally retarded individual who claimed to be an eyewitness to the murder. None of what [that individual] said matched the crime scene,” says Bill Clutter with the Innocence Project.
   Clutter plans on using new technology called Touch DNA to identify the perpetrators the night of Koontz’s murder. The Project is working with county officials to take another look at the underwear Koontz had been wearing. Clutter says whoever grabbed the clothing would have left traces of their DNA behind from a single finger print. And even though it’s been more than 20 years, Clutter says the results will still be accurate.
   The project hopes to get approval in the coming weeks.