On April 19, 1989, everything changed for New York City teenagers Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise. That night, a young female jogger would be brutally beaten and raped in Central Park — and they would ultimately become wrongful suspects of the investigation.
The "Central Park Five," as these boys became known, are the subject of Netflix's hit true crime-based miniseries, When They See Us. Created by esteemed director Ava Duvernay (Selma, 13th), the series aims to tell the story of the boys' wrongful incarcerations from their perspectives — the perspectives that were so rarely seen during the media storm that surrounded their trials and convictions.
When They See Us examines the role that the suspects' races played in their incrimination (all five were black or Latino), and the effect that the wrongful convictions had on them and their families. "My goal was to humanize boys, and now men, who are widely regarded as criminals," Ava told CBS News of the series. "And in doing that, to invite the audience to re-interrogate everyone that they define as a criminal ... I'm asking the question to everyone, 'What do you see when you see black boys?'"
All four episodes premiered on Netflix on May 31, and to great reception: When They See Us had been watched by more than 23 million accounts as of June 25, and now, it's up for 16 awards at the 2019 Emmys on Sunday. So, before you dive in to the poignant Netflix series, here's a look back at everything we know about the real-life Central Park Five.
The Night It All Happened
On the evening of April 19, 1989, a group of 30 or so black and Latino teenagers entered Manhattan's Central Park near Harlem. They began causing trouble, throwing rocks at passing cabs and generally creating mischief. Some of the boys' behavior eventually escalated to assaulting and robbing runners and cyclists, and their attacks would quickly become widely publicized.
Meanwhile, a 28-year-old white investment banker named Trisha Meili had also entered the park, going for a jog near where the boys began their destructive trek. Some four hours later, police were called when her body was found in a ravine: She had been brutally beaten, raped, and left for dead, suffering from a fractured skull and extreme loss of blood.
Immediately, police assumed the young men wreaking havoc in Central Park that night were also responsible for the assault against Trisha (who would become publicly known as "The Central Park Jogger"). By the time she was found, they had already apprehended two boys who they believed to be part of the group, and they later brought in two more for questioning. Those boys were Antron, Kevin, Raymond, and Yusef.
Korey, a fifth boy, simply accompanied his friend Yusef to the station before being pulled into the interrogation himself.
False Confessions
Trisha had been so badly beaten and lost so much blood that night that her doctors believed there was no way she would survive. She would go on to be in a coma for 12 days before coming to — and when she did regain consciousness, she would have no memory of the attack.
Meanwhile, at the police precinct, the five teenage boys were being interrogated. Their questioning went on for hours and hours, and the boys would later allege that they were threatened and coerced into confessing to the rape and assault of Trisha, as well as implicating each other's guilt in the crime. (In reality, only two of the teens actually knew each other at the time.) By the end of their lengthy interrogations, four of the five boys had signed written confessions. The fifth — Yusef — had allegedly made verbal admissions to the investigator.
Going to Trial
Immediately upon receiving legal representation, all five boys retracted the statements they had made to the police, saying they had been bullied and intimidated into falsely confessing. DNA evidence also failed to connect any of the boys to Trisha's rape. Unfortunately, however, this made no difference when the Central Park Five went to court.
Antron McCray arrives at court for his 1990 trial in the Central Park Jogger rape case.
During the first trial in August 1990, Yusef, Antron, and Raymond were acquitted of attempted murder but convicted of rape, assault, robbery, and riot. At the time of their alleged crimes, Yusef and Antron were 15 and Raymond was 14, and they each received the maximum sentence possible for boys of their age: five to 10 years in a youth correctional facility.
Korey Wise stands at his 1990 trial in the Central Park jogger rape case.
In the second trial, which ended in December 1990, Kevin was convicted of attempted murder, rape, assault, and robbery while Korey was convicted of sexual abuse, assault, and riot. Kevin was 14 and Korey was 16 when the crimes occurred, and they were sentenced to five to 10 years and five to 15 years, respectively.
Finding the True Perpetrator
Although she still had no memory of the attack, Trisha went on to make a long but miraculously full recovery from her horrific injuries. She wrote a book called I Am the Central Park Jogger, which was released in 2003, and became a motivational speaker and advocate for victims of sexual assault.
Meanwhile, the boys fulfilled their prison sentences and continued to live with these widely publicized charges attached to their names. But then, the unthinkable happened: In 2002, convicted murderer and serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to being the lone attacker in the assault of the Central Park Jogger. He was able to provide details that only the perpetrator of the crime would know, and DNA testing found he was a match for the rape. The statute of limitations for the crime had passed at this point, however, so Matias could not be charged.
With this new information, then-District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau recommended all five boys — now men — be vacated of all of their charges, meaning their convictions would now be entirely void. And so, on December 19, 2002, Antron, Kevin, Yusef, Raymond, and Korey were vindicated.
Where the Central Park Five Are Today
Of course, clearing these charges from their names didn't give the Central Park Five their youths back. So, in 2003, Kevin, Raymond, and Antron filed a lawsuit against the city of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress. It took more than a decade of battling with the city's lawyers and the election of a new New York City mayor — Bill de Blasio — but the case was eventually settled for $41 million, with Korey receiving $12.2 million and the other four men receiving $7.1 million each.
Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam pose with director Ava Duvernay at the premiere of When They See Us.
Then, in 2015, Raymond reached out to director Ava Duvernay via Twitter, asking her if she would ever consider making the Central Park Five's story into a movie. At that point, When They See Us was born.
Just before its national premiere, Antron, Kevin, Yusef, Raymond, and Korey watched the new Netflix series together for the first time. As Ava describes it to CBS News, it was an emotional experience for all involved: "I've had a lot of beautiful things happen in my career," she said. "But there's nothing like sitting behind them, those five men in a small screening room, watching them watch a story we spent four years to make. They wept, I wept. They cheered, they held hands."
You can watch When They See Us on Netflix now.
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Heather Finn
Content Strategy Editor
Heather Finn is the content strategy editor at Good Housekeeping, where she heads up the brand's social media strategy and covers entertainment news on everything from ABC's 'The Good Doctor' to Netflix's latest true crime documentaries.
