It's been over 20 years since Ray Krone was released from an Arizona prison after serving 10 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit.
"It's so good to see you," said ABC15's Katie Raml.
"Well, you too, young lady. I'm guessing it's been a long time," Krone responded. "You were part of quite a few of the critical moments, of some of those life-changing moments."
Krone reminisced on the day he took his first steps as a free man.
"That day in Yuma still comes up. I've been fortunate, blessed, and also chosen to have to share my story numerous times in many places, everywhere from D.C. with Congress to the United Nations," said Krone.
His story is one of a wrongful accusation and wrongful conviction, in the brutal murder of Kim Ancona in 1991 in Phoenix.
He was far from her killer.
"I was a six-year Air Force veteran, honorable discharge, top secret clearance, seven years with the US Postal Service. I had no record," said Krone.
Still, he spent three years on death row.
"They say only the worst of the worst go to death row. I went to death row because I wouldn't take a plea bargain. I wouldn't confess to something I didn't do," Krone added.
Bite marks on the victim were wrongly linked to his dental occlusion and Krone became known as "The Snaggletooth Killer." A decade passed before advances in science and DNA testing would become standard. The testing in his case would prove what he always maintained: he was not the killer.
"Ten years, three months and eight days," said Krone.
On April 8, 2002, Krone became the 100th inmate exonerated from death row since capital punishment was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976.
"Thank God for DNA. I'm one of the lucky ones. I was able to, again I was 45, life wasn't over for me when I got out," Krone added.
He moved back to Dover, Pennsylvania, and found work. Eventually, he settled his lawsuit against Maricopa County for $1.4 million, allowing him to achieve a dream that got him through the darker days behind bars.
"That was one of my escape mechanisms to think about when I was inside those walls in that harsh environment, in that oppressive environment, to think about, 'well, I can be free, riding my bike down the road,'" Krone told ABC15 while shopping for a Harley in 2005.
A few bikes later and he's since moved to Tennessee with his partner, Cheryl.
"Eastern Tennessee, right here by the Smoky Mountains. I can see it right out my window right here. There's a lake right behind me that I live on, Douglas Lake," said Krone.
The Smoky Mountains are a far cry from Hollywood where, in 2005, he was selected for the wildly popular show 'Extreme Makeover.'
"They said, 'You know, we can't give you back ten years but we could... we can fix your teeth and certainly take care of your snaggletooth,'" said Krone.
ABC15 was with him for the makeover, but his mission for the transformation was to transform opinions on the death penalty and bring awareness to other wrongful convictions. It's something Krone is still doing today.
"The sad part is...there's Ray Krones in our prisons right now, probably some, for sure they're in Arizona. Can we help them...where they have their day?" said Krone.
He co-founded Witness to Innocence with Sister Helen Prejean.
"We have grown now to be quite substantial we have, and it's the only national organization of death row survivors in America that I know of. It's for people that had a death sentence and later were exonerated," said Krone.
He tells ABC15 he feels thankful for those who stood by him while he was in prison and over these decades he has learned a lot about gratitude and forgiveness.
"Forgiveness is, I learned this from Sister Helen Prejean one time because she said, 'Forgiveness is what you do for yourself. It's not a blessing for other people. It's what you do so you can move on.' They have to live with whatever they do. So, I can forgive all of them actually, the prosecutor, the bite mark expert, even the investigator. They were wrong. They knew it. They pushed this forward. Thankfully, they finally got it right and did get the right person. There's not a question to my innocence. Kenneth Phillips committed that crime and he's serving that sentence not on death row like me, and I'm fine with that," said Krone.
He's also met one of the jurors from his trial and says he's a great friend to this day.
Krone tells ABC15 he really does believe that out of bad can come good and despite the lows, you never know where life will take you.
