DELAWARE COUNY - It's been nearly 100 years since his execution, but the family of one Pennsylvania boy are still maintaining his innocence.
Alexander McClay Williams was a 16-year-old student at Glen Mills School in Delaware County when he was accused of murdering 33-year-old Vida Robare.Robare, a "house matron" at the school, was stabbed 47 times with an ice pick in a case that made headlines across the country.
Williams, who was doing chores unsupervised at the time of the murder, confessed to the crime three times without an attorney or parent present, according to reports.
He was arrested on October 10, 1930, and executed 243 days later on June 8, 1931. To this day, Williams remains the youngest person executed in Pennsylvania."I feel like the state of Pennsylvania murdered him," said Williams' niece Osceola Purdue.It is believed that the teen was wrongly accused and coerced to confess; and now the case heads back to court with new details that could clear his name."This guilty verdict was decided before the case even began," said Sam Lemon, the great-grandson of Williams' trial attorney.