Florida 1994 Cold Case SOLVED - Innocent Man Freed After 13 Years, Real Killer Found

In April 1994, 20-year-old Tina Heins returned home from a late shift in Jacksonville, Florida. Tina was pregnant and newly married. Hours later, she was found murdered inside her apartment. Her husband was away on Navy duty that night. His 19-year-old brother, Chad Heins, said he had been sleeping on the couch only a short distance away. Investigators soon focused on Chad. He was arrested, convicted of Tina’s murder and sent to prison. For years, the case appeared to be over. But evidence recovered from Tina’s apartment told a different story. After spending roughly 13 years in custody, Chad Heins was exonerated, leaving investigators with the question they thought had already been answered: who killed Tina? The investigation remained open for decades. Then a new approach to evidence collected in 1994 led investigators toward someone who had been surprisingly close to Tina and her husband. In 2025, authorities arrested Michael Shane Ziegler and charged him with first-degree murder and sexual battery in connection with Tina Heins’ death. Ziegler has pleaded not guilty. He has not been convicted, and the case remains pending. This true crime documentary follows the murder of Tina Heins, the wrongful conviction and exoneration of Chad Heins, and the extraordinary turn that brought investigators to another suspect more than three decades after Tina was killed. Subscribe to Root of Crime for carefully researched cold cases, unsolved murders and cases reopened decades after the crime. #TrueCrime #ColdCase #TinaHeins