Ex-sailor finally feels free; name cleared 20 years after rape conviction

Eric Wilson was one of Norfolk Four, blamed for Michelle Moore-Bosko's murder

SAN ANTONIO – A Navy veteran convicted of rape 20 years ago finally has his name cleared for good.

South Texan Eric Wilson is one of the Norfolk Four, convicted after the rape and murder of Michelle Moore-Bosko in 1997 in Norfolk, Virgina. Wilson was convicted of raping Moore-Bosko, while Derek Tice, Danial Williams and Joseph J. Dick were convicted of murder. 

The four men and their supporters say they confessed to the crimes after being threatened and coerced by detectives during questioning. Scientific evidence has never tied any of them to the crime and all of their stories never matched up, or matched evidence at the scene. 

Shortly after, Omar Ballard's DNA was tied to the scene and he admitted to committing the rape and murder alone. Still, no one else was pardoned or deemed innocent. 

The men fought for nearly two decades to prove their innocence, the governor of Virginia granted the Norfolk Four absolute pardons Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Wilson sat down for an interview with KSAT on the first full day he said he's truly felt free.

Sitting comfortably on his South Texas property, Wilson's mind rewinds 20 years to a night that would steal half of his life. He was 21 years old, and had been working a Navy shift since 3:45 that morning. When he was called to the Norfolk police station, he went immediately. 

At the time, Wilson thought detectives were questioning him about fellow Navy sailor Danial Williams who had been arrested in connection to Michelle Moore-Bosko's murder. 

"I figured it has something to do with him and I was going because his wife, who was a friend of mine, had told me he wasn't there, that he was with her when it happened. She couldn't give her testimony because she'd passed away since then," he explained. "So I went to go tell them that."

Then he said the questioning became scary. 

"They threw down a picture of the victim's body. I think that's when it started. That was very off-putting," Wilson said. "By the end of it, I had been badgered into telling them I'd done something I'd had nothing to do with."

He said all these years later, he can still feel the fear the lead detective instilled in him. That detective is now serving federal time for extortion in other cases.

"The detectives the whole time said, 'We don't think you killed her. We don't think you killed her.' So that's what I said. If they had been pushing, 'You killed her," I would have said that too," he said.

When asked if they were that persuasive, without hesitation he said, "Yes. That's just the techniques they have. Thankfully, because of my case they're not allowed to do a lot of that stuff anymore. My tape is even used in training of what not to do."

Even though Wilson's DNA was not at the scene, he was convicted of raping Moore-Bosko and sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison. He served the whole sentence, while groups across the nation joined the fight to clear the names of the Norfolk Four. 

In 2009, Gov. Tim Kaine granted conditional pardons to the three members of the Norfolk Four who had been convicted of murder and were still in prison. Tice, Williams and Dick were set free but that conditional pardon did not exonerate them and did not even mention Wilson, who was already out of prison. 

“I was disappointed he didn't do what was right but I was glad that these guys weren't going to have to go through it anymore,” Wilson said. 

He talked about a feeling of being trapped since he was arrested 20 years ago. 

"I haven't been free yet," Wilson said. "There's always been that weight over my head this whole time. Even after I actually got out of the system, I'm still in the system."

Anyone who knows Wilson knows his least favorite day of the year is his birthday. 

"I hate it because my birthday always means I have to go through the embarrassment of going to the police station and registering," he said.  

He has had trouble picking his kids up at school or participating in their extracurricular activities. 

After two decades, that is now over. Vindication came Tuesday in the form of an absolute pardon from Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Once those pardon papers are in Wilson's hand, his conviction is wiped away and he will never have to register as a sex offender again.

"Won't have to be humiliated every year, I actually get to adopt my oldest son now. We were told not to even try because of this. I can take a more active role in boy scouts now. I'm an Eagle Scout," he said. "I get a passport! I can own a gun."

The small things freedom allows never seem so big, unless they had been taken away. 

When Wilson thinks of other things taken away, he things of Michelle Moore-Bosko. He’s been told her family still believes everyone who was convicted had a part in the crime. 

"I understand where they're coming from. Throughout the whole ordeal, they had the police telling them this is the guy who did it, and we're going to get him, and he wasn't alone and we're going to get them too. Then they finally found the one who actually did it. I understand them completely and they will probably never believe that we didn't do it just because that's what they held onto for so long. I don't bear them any ill will," Wilson said. 

When ask if he bears anyone ill will at this point, he paused to think.

"That's hard," he said. "I don't think so, no, not anymore. Everyone throughout this case that conspired to hurt us has either proven it was so distasteful they couldn't do their job anymore, or they got caught and are serving a penance of their own."

Now that his exhausting fight for freedom is over, he plans to move forward, as hard as that may be. The words "absolute pardon" may be powerful but they haven't erased years of pain.

"I don't go anywhere alone. Ever," Wilson said.

"In case he needs an alibi for something," his wife, Misty, said, holding his hand. "And I don't think that's ever going to go away."

"It's not ever going to go away," Wilson said. "That's just a part of who I am now. I've got to have someone with me, because before it was just a normal day. It wasn't anything special for me, and then a year later they were asking me, what were you doing a year ago?"

He still has nightmares about what has happened in his past, but the week's news has awakened a sense that his future might be up to him, after all.


About the Author:

Courtney Friedman anchors KSAT’s weekend evening shows and reports during the week. Her ongoing Loving in Fear series confronts Bexar County’s domestic violence epidemic. She joined KSAT in 2014 and is proud to call the SA and South Texas community home. She came to San Antonio from KYTX CBS 19 in Tyler, where she also anchored & reported.