Joaquin Varela allegedly confessed to a quadruple murder he had nothing to do with, contributing to his and three relatives' wrongful convictions
Joaquin Varela and three members of his family — Rogelio Arroyo, Isauro Sanchez, and Ignacio Varela — were convicted in 1982 of a quadruple murder on the near northwest side of Chicago they did not commit. After intense questioning, Varela, age 16, made a statement that police claimed was tantamount to a confession. Told by Spanish-speaking interrogators that his friends had placed him at the scene of the crime, he allegedly replied: “Si ellos dicen yo estuve alla, ellos estuvieron al tambien entonces.” (“If they say I was there, then they must have been there too.”) For details see Rogelio Arroyo
