The murder of Leah Freeman
Coquille, Coos County, Oregon · June 28, 2000
A man was convicted of manslaughter in the death of his 15-year-old girlfriend, and the conviction fell apart in 2019 when a court found the state crime lab had never reported an unidentified man's DNA on her shoes, a profile that, as of September 2025, had still not been matched to anyone.
Overview
Leah Freeman, 15, disappeared on June 28, 2000, in Coquille, Oregon. Her boyfriend, Nick McGuffin, had dropped her at a friend's house at about 7 p.m., planning to collect her at nine; according to the friend, the two girls had a fight and Leah decided to walk home alone. Police first treated the case as a possible runaway. A bloody shoe was found in a cemetery near Coquille High School, the other on a dirt road far outside town, and her body was found on August 3, 2000, down an embankment off a country road. McGuffin was the main suspect but nothing came of the first investigation. A reopened inquiry led to his indictment in 2010, and in 2011 a jury acquitted him of murder and convicted him of first-degree manslaughter on a 10-2 vote. In 2019 a judge vacated the conviction because the Oregon State Police crime lab had never reported unidentified male DNA found on both of Leah's shoes, and the district attorney dismissed the case. In 2025 McGuffin received Oregon's first certificate of innocence. No one is charged, and the DNA has not been matched to anyone.
Where it stands
For eight years the Freeman case looked closed. In July 2011 a Coos County jury acquitted her boyfriend, Nick McGuffin, of murder and convicted him of first-degree manslaughter, and on August 1, 2011 he was sentenced to ten years. Then it reopened from the inside. His lawyers showed that the Oregon State Police crime lab had found unidentified male DNA on both of Leah Freeman's shoes around the time of her death and never reported it. On November 29, 2019, Malheur County Circuit Judge Patricia Sullivan ruled that the nondisclosure could have changed the outcome and that his trial lawyers were ineffective. The Oregon Department of Justice declined to appeal, and on December 17, 2019, Coos County District Attorney Paul Frasier said he would not seek a new trial, which required him to dismiss the case. McGuffin, who had served nine years, was released. On August 1, 2025, Marion County Circuit Judge Sean Armstrong granted him Oregon's first certificate of innocence, finding him "innocent of all crimes for which [he] was wrongfully convicted." In September 2025, OPB reported that the state crime lab and the city of Coquille had agreed to pay $9 million and $5 million to settle his civil rights claims, without admitting wrongdoing. A federal appeal by four individual officers produced a Ninth Circuit memorandum on September 9, 2026, which dismissed most of their arguments for lack of jurisdiction and reversed on some individual claims; it did not decide the underlying allegations. OPB reported that the unknown male DNA has not been matched to anyone and named no other suspect. The sources reviewed show no one currently charged, so the case that was once treated as solved is, in the public record, unsolved.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- Nicholas McGuffinTried & acquitted
McGuffin, Freeman's boyfriend at the time, was the main suspect from the start; a grand jury indicted him for murder in 2010. In 2011 a jury acquitted him of murder but convicted him of first-degree manslaughter on a 10-2 vote, and he served nine years of a ten-year sentence. A judge vacated the conviction in November 2019 because the state crime lab had not reported unidentified male DNA found on both of Freeman's shoes, and the district attorney dismissed the case in December 2019. In August 2025 a judge granted him Oregon's first certificate of innocence. He has always said he is innocent.[8]
Sources
- Leah Freeman cold case: high school sweetheart Nicholas McGuffin arrested 10 years after her death
“at the bottom of a steep embankment on the outskirts of her Oregon town”
- Police have suspect in 2000 Oregon teen girl slaying on coast; grand jury review planned
“I'm confident we've identified a suspect in this case.”
- Trial begins in 2000 murder of Coquille teen
“Health problems on his defense team forced the trial to be pushed back.”
- Man gets 10 years, maintains innocence in teen's death
“you're placing an innocent person in jail”
- Oregon Man's Manslaughter Conviction Overturned Due To Undisclosed DNA Evidence
“Review of the results show that unknown male DNA was found on both shoes, not belonging to Petitioner”
- DA will not seek a new trial, dismisses case against McGuffin in Leah Freeman death
“not to pursue a new trial in this case”
- Man whose conviction was overturned in girlfriend's killing files civil rights lawsuit
“no physical evidence or evidence of motive”
- Oregon gives its first ever 'certificate of innocence' for wrongful conviction
“unidentified male DNA evidence that had not been reported by the Oregon State Police crime lab”
- Oregon police, forensics lab actions result in $14 million payout for Coos County man
“controlled by the police, rather than the science”
- Oregon police officers lobby Ninth Circuit for immunity in wrongful conviction case
“garden variety of the he said, she said, varied facts”
- McGuffin v. individual officers, No. 25-2548 et al. (9th Cir. Sept. 9, 2026) (unpublished memorandum)
“We dismiss the majority of Appellants arguments for lack of jurisdiction.”