It's said that everyone has a doppelganger. Richard Jones' doppelganger has been discovered and is the reason Jones was set free after 17 years in prison.
Jailed for mugging a woman at a Wal Mart, Jones appealed his case multiple times over the years. No physical evidence, no DNA and no fingerprints to pin the crime on him, he was sentenced to 19 years. A photo lineup with eye witnesses put him behind bars. Until now.
It’s unclear what the other man was locked up for, and Jones never saw his doppelganger. But he told two legal interns assigned to his case about the rumors, according to Alice Craig, one of Jones’ lawyers.
The interns brought the message back to their superiors at the Midwest Innocence Project and the Paul E. Wilson Defender Project, who dug further into the case.
It turned out that not only did the other man bear an uncanny resemblance to Jones, he also lived closer to the site of the crime.
Jones’ doppelganger, Ricky Amos, used to live with his mother in Kansas City, Kansas, near the address of the incident, Craig said. Jones lived across the state line in Kansas City, Mo.
“When I saw that picture, it made sense to me,” said Jones, who has denied committing the robbery, to the Star.
“Either you’re going to think [we’re] the same person, or you’re going to be like, ‘Man, these guys, they look so much alike.’ ”