Davontae DeShon Sanford is an American Exoneree who was wrongfully convicted for the murder of four people know as the "Runyon Street Slayings".

Born and raised in the state of Michigan, he grew up in the city of Detroit. He was raised by his mother, Taminko Sanford-Timon, and has a sibling named DeShon Sanford.

He attended Osborne High School as a freshman.

On September, 2017, Davontae somehow found his way in an investigation concerning the murder of four people at his neighbor's house.

That day, he went outside in his pajamas to see what was going on.

The police lights and yellow police tape in the neighborhood made a curious boy out of Davontae.

A K-9 officer wandered off sniffing for clues came up to Davontae at the park adjacent to the crime scene, and it led the cops to question a shivering 14-year old.

Due to the mental health condition of Davontae he told the cops that he knew some

of the killers and named some of the kids that he knew in the neighborhood.

The police decided to arrive hours later in the early morning to get his grandmother to sign off and allowing Davontae to answer questions at the police station.

Without any of his adult guardians, he answered questions posed by the police.

The interrogators did not choose to record the first session.

Hours after dropping off Davontae at his home, they come back for more questioning claiming that he knows more than what he is letting on.

After hours and hours of questioning, the police got Davontae to confess to the murders.

Davontae, under pressure, said that he and three friends went to his neighbor's house to rob them and ended up shooting them.

He added that they threw the guns out in the yard as they were running away.

According to the details by police officers, it appears that Devontae even drew a diagram of the murder scene and marks exactly where each victim was shot.

Davontae was sentenced from 37 to 90 years in prison after he made a confession under pressure.

His lawyer at the time, Robert Slameka, who's license has since been suspended, recommended that Davontae should plead guilty as that is his only option.

Davontae's family was in shock.

They were advised to do the plea, so at the time, they did it thinking it was the best choice for Davontae.

16 days after, about less than a month after he was convicted for the murders, a professional hitman confessed that he went on a killing spree of 12 people.

The killings also include the "Runyon Street Slayings" that Davontae was convicted of.

Smothers tells detectives he used an AK-47 in shooting at least three people on Runyon Street.

His gives a description in graphic extraordinarily and accurate detail of the 12 murders that he committed.

Smothers lead the police to the AK-47 assault rifle he used to commit the murders, and draws his own diagram of the crime scene: It's a perfect match too.

Smothers admits he did not come out and confessed he was the killer because he had empathy for Davontae, but because he wanted to take responsibility.

He didn't want to be on the run or get killed while being a father of recent born baby, who at the time was three months old.

Vincent Smothers is offered a plea deal: eight counts of second-degree murder with a sentence of 50 to 100 years.

But shockingly, Wayne County prosecutors never charged him with the four murders on Runyon Street, maintaining Davontae Sanford is the real killer.

In a sworn affidavit, Smothers tells Innocence Clinic: "I shot and killed four people at 19741 Runyon Street.... I cannot emphasize strongly enough that Davontae Sanford was not involved....

Davontae Sanford is being wrongly incarcerated for crimes that I know he did not commit."

After Smothers came out as the killer, Davontae changed his confession and said that he made the whole thing up, and that he made up the story.

He would be in prison for the next eight years of his life inside of Ionia Correctional Facility.

A disturbing video surfaced online showing Davontae being subdued in his cell by several guards in protective gear.

Michigan prison officials maintain Davontae was suicidal, and guards were holding him down for his own protection.

Michigan State Police to launched their own investigation and immediately notice something suspicious about a key piece of evidence: the sketch of the crime scene that former Detroit Deputy Chief James Tolbert testified Davontae drew all by himself.

Turns out Davontae didn't draw it after all.

Deputy Chief Tolbert contradicts his original sworn testimony, saying he thinks he drew the house.

With that key piece of evidence now thrown out, state prosecutors finally reverse Davontae's conviction.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy dropped the second-degree murder charges against Sanford due to former Detroit Police commander James Tolbert, who later

became Flint’s police chief, sketched a diagram of the Runyon Street crime scene and then lied about it in court, saying Sanford had drawn it.

After the findings, Davontae was released from prison sometime on June, 2016.

On September, 2017, Davontae's attorney, Bill Goodman, filed a federal lawsuit

claiming Detroit police tricked Sanford into confessing to the killings.

On the evening of September 23rd, 2017, Davontae was taken to the hospital after being shot in the leg.

He was at a party, or gathering, on the East Side of Detroit when a gun man opened fire.

There is an ongoing investigation about the shooting.

He is half-blind in one eye, and throughout his early life, he received a special needs education.

Sanford has filed a lawsuit last week against the city and two officers involved in his case seeking punitive and compensatory damages.

He is currently in a relationship and lives in the East Area of Detroit.