Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse and sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.
A teenage football star who was wrongly accused and then convicted of assaulting two young boys has fortunately been exonerated.
Greg Kelley has now spoken out in a new interview and praised his high school sweetheart for staying by his side while he spent 1,153 days in prison.
He and Gaebri Anderson ended up marrying in 2020 when he was eventually released from prison and his case was investigated.
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The couple, both now 30, live in a sprawling farmhouse with their young daughter, Summer Rae, who is 17 months old.
It's a world away from the horror he found himself incorrectly caught up in back in 2013, when he was arrested following the accusations of two young boys.
Greg Kelley's wrongful arrest
Then 18-year-old Greg Kelley found himself in Williamson County Jail, in Austin, Texas, after he was falsely accused of the horrific crime.
At the time, Kelley, who had secured a football scholarship to the University of Texas at San Antonio, moved in with a friend's family as his mother had a brain tumor, and his father was recovering from a stroke.
The McCarty family ran an in-home daycare for children, and he lived there with fellow football player Johnathan McCarty.
But in 2013, his world was turned upside down when he was charged with super-aggravated sexual assault against two four-year-old boys in the daycare.
Greg always insisted he was innocent, and called his then-girlfriend, who was in the grocery store at the time.
Gaebri told PEOPLE that she 'blacked out' when she heard the news, saying: "I didn’t even comprehend what was happening, and I thought it would clear up so fast."
According to a Showtime documentary series about the case, titled Outcry, one of the four-year-old boys told his mom that Greg had molested him.
A mistaken identity
However, it transpired that Greg had moved out of the home a month before the attack was said to have taken place.
“From the first day, in my heart, I knew he didn’t do this,” Gaebri told the New York Post. "It was crazy. I had friends since I was a baby who were saying, ‘I can’t believe you are sticking by him'".
In a lawsuit later filed by Greg after his wrongful conviction, he alleged that a police officer, Sergeant Christopher Dailey, falsified the date that he moved out of the home in order to bring charges against him.
Two weeks after the first accusation, police claimed a second four-year-old boy made similar allegations against Greg.
According to the documentary, it later emerged that the first two times the second boy was interviewed by a counsellor, he denied any abuse. It was only during a third interview with a detective that the boy reported an assault.
Kelley’s original defense attorney, Patricia Cummings, failed to bring up the fact that there was a striking resemblance between Greg and team mate Johnathan McCarty, who also lived in the home.
A judge later said Cummings had a conflict of interest, as she had represented members of the McCarty family previously.
McCarty was never charged with the molestation accusations, but was later imprisoned for four years for other sexual offences, according to the Daily Mail. He was never charged in relation to this specific case, though Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick confirmed that McCarty was, at one time, a suspect.
Enduring love
“I fell in love with him while he was incarcerated. We broke up for seven days, and it didn’t feel right," Gaebri says.
While in prison, Greg learned to draw, with Gaebi recalling: "He would make me elaborate homemade cards and love letters that were eight pages long.
"They were so beautiful. The physical was taken away from us. Imagine not being able to kiss or hug the person you love. We had to fall in love with each other’s hearts through these letters.”
He still keeps a box of her love letters now that he's free.
Greg was eventually released in 2017 on bond while the case was investigated again due to claims it was mishandled.
It wasn't until November 6, 2019, that he finally received the news that he was exonerated of all wrongdoing, and just days later he proposed to Gaebri.
Compensation
Following his exoneration, Greg filed a civil case against the city of Cedar Park and two police officials.
He was eventually awarded a $500,000 settlement, in addition to $258,000 and a monthly payment of around $1,200, awarded by state law.
He went on to buy a three-acre property for his mom, to say thank you to her for supporting him and selling her home to pay his legal fees.
Gaebi says despite everything, it was all worth it: “In some ways, I am very grateful for everything, because it did make us stronger. I don’t know if we would be together if all that didn’t happen.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues or want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
Jen Thomas