Kirk Noble Bloodsworth Case Chronology

July 1984 -- The body of 9-year-old Dawn Hamilton is found in a wooded area near the Fontana Village apartments.

August 1984 -- Police arrest and charge Kirk Noble Bloodsworth, a burly former waterman from Cambridge.

March 1985 -- A jury convicts Bloodsworth of Dawn Hamilton's murder. Baltimore County Judge J. William Hinkel sentences Bloodsworth to death.

July 1986 -- The Maryland Court of Appeals, overturns Bloodsworth's conviction, saying prosecutors withheld evidence about another suspect.

April 1987 -- A second jury convicts Bloodsworth of murder. He is sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

April 1992 -- At the request of Bloodsworth's attorney, Baltimore County prosecutors agree to release evidence from Bloodsworth's trial -- panties, a shirt and a stick -- for sophisticated DNA testing.

May 1993 -- A California lab reports that a semen stain on the victim's panties cannot have come from Bloodsworth.

June 25, 1993 -- The FBI, conducting its own test, agrees the semen found on the panties could not have come from Bloodsworth.

June 28, 1993 -- Kirk Bloodsworth walks out of the House of Correction in Jessup, a free man.