First Alert 4 – The St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office (CAO) will not reopen the 38-year-old rape conviction of Fredrico Lowe-Bey after reviewing his actual innocence claim, the office confirmed. The review was his last legal pathway to prove his innocence.

Lowe-Bey said he received a short letter in prison Tuesday morning from the CAO informing him the office would not move forward with his case. The case was reviewed under the CAO's Conviction Integrity Unit, which looks at claims of actual innocence.

Lowe-Bey was sentenced to 85 years in prison for a south St. Louis rape for which he has always maintained his innocence. The CAO's denial brought a crushing blow to Lowe-Bey and his advocates.

"I couldn't believe it," Lowe-Bey said in a phone call Tuesday from a Bonne Terre, Missouri, prison. "You know, because of the evidence."

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