FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM)– After spending multiple years in jail charged with capital murder Rico Cohn was released July 1.
Rico Cohn’s attorney, Tony Pirani with the Nolan Caddelll Reynolds Law Firm, said his client has been innocent since day one of the investigation into the death of Nina Ingram in 2006.
5NEWS spoke with Cohn from his family's home in Tennessee only weeks after he was released from jail.
“It was a very scary feeling, knowing you are being arrested for something you did not do,” Cohn said.
Cohn was released from jail after spending 1,121 days at the Washington County Detention Center awaiting trial after he was charged with capital murder in 2012. Washington County Prosecutor Matt Durrett dropped the charge after he said a key witness in the case died during surgery.
“It was very stressful being locked up for something you did not do and knew nothing about,” Cohn said.
In 2006, police found the body of Nina Ingram, 21, in her Fayetteville apartment. Investigators said Ingram, a student at Northwest Arkansas Community College, was strangled. In 2012, police arrested Cohn and he was charged with capital murder.
“I feel like a bunch of injustice has been done," Cohn said. "Someone said some false things about me that are nowhere near true, and a bunch of lines got crossed.”
Cohn said he believes a jury would have found him not guilty at the trial, but was overjoyed to be released from jail before then.
“It is the best feeling in the world," he said. "I cried."
Since he was charged with capital murder Cohn could have been put to death if he was found guilty.
“It was a very scary feeling. And, some nights I could not sleep,” Cohn said. “I had restless nights thinking about everything, knowing that there is a chance that [I] may not see [my] family ever again.”
Now, Cohn is in Tennessee living with family.
“Right now, I am trying to find a job and try to move on with my life and get my life back together,” Cohn said.
Cohn said he believed he served time for a crime someone else committed, which is why he hopes Nina Ingram’s family will one day get justice.
“I constantly got their family in my prayers,” Cohn said. “And I pray everything does come to an end.”
5NEWS also spoke to Nina Ingram’s mother, Judy, who said she is trying to return to a life of privacy, but is planning to start a foundation in her daughter's name.
Judy Ingram said she still believes Cohn is the man responsible for her daughter's death and he will one day pay for the crime. Ingram said she still wants justice for her daughter and is asking anyone who may have information about the death to contact police.
Prosecutor Durrett has also told 5NEWS in the past that no one else is considered a suspect in Ingram's death.