Every family has a wild story to share, but not everyone can say theirs was a true crime case. TikToker @scotty_doesnt_know777 recently revealed that his uncle was in an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, a mystery documentary TV series.
In the 1970s, his uncle was living in Texas and had been drafted into the Vietnam War. The area where he lived had something called a “three strikes law.”
“Now, if you don’t know what that is, basically if you have been convicted of three serious charges or more, you might get mandatory life in prison,” explained @scotty_doesnt_know777.
“That’s what happened to my uncle. But here’s the thing. His third charge was suspect at best.”
His uncle was accused and rightfully convicted of a marijuana possession charge. His second charge was related to disorderly conduct. But he made an enemy of a cop, who told him that he would get him back someday.
One day, someone robbed a gas station, and the culprit matched the description of @scotty_doesnt_know777’s uncle. He was tall, slim, and had long, brown hair.
However, his uncle wasn’t at the robbery. He was several miles away, working on his motorcycle. He also had multiple witnesses confirm where he was at the time of the robbery.
His mother, his neighbors, and even people he didn’t know too well had seen him outside working on his motorcycle. Still, in the end, he was sentenced to life in prison.
The cop who was investigating the robbery was the same one who vowed to exact revenge on @scotty_doesnt_know777’s uncle.
There was some evidence that suggested the cop had talked to the cashier at the gas station and led the witness to place the blame on @scotty_doesnt_know777’s uncle.
The case went to trial. Multiple witnesses said he was working on his motorcycle when the robbery occurred. He was 20 to 30 miles away at the time.
After he was done tinkering around with his motorcycle, he had planned to watch Battlestar Galactica with a friend.
But because of his criminal history, a cop claiming to see him in the area, and the gas station cashier pinpointing him as the culprit, he was ultimately found guilty. He was in prison from 1979 to 1999.
“While he was in there, he put his time to as good a use as possible,” said @scotty_doesnt_know777. “He would try to take work assignments, and he also earned two master’s degrees…and he got really good at art in there as well.”
To this day, his uncle claims that he didn’t commit the robbery, and @scotty_doesnt_know777 believes him. The prosecutor of the case now agrees that his uncle was innocent.
His uncle is now a completely changed man. A couple of years after getting out of prison, he needed to have some kind of surgery. That’s when he met his wife, who was a nurse. He really liked her, so he asked her out, and they eventually got married.
TikToker @scotty_doesnt_know777 was able to walk his aunt down the aisle for the wedding. In his own way, his uncle got to have his happily ever after.
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By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
