Man convicted in grisly killing says confession forced

Clifton Yarborough, one of the eight men convicted in the murder of Catherine Fuller nearly 30 years ago, told a D.C. judge on Monday he was abused and coerced into confessing to one of the city’s most horrific killings. Yarborough, then 16, said D.C. police detectives threw him around, threatened him and held his face over a flushing toilet. One detective ripped two tank top T-shirts off his own chest in anger and told Yarborough he was going to kill the teen if he didn’t tell them what happened. They coached him for two hours before they brought him into another room for a taped confession.

“I was scared so I pretty much was going to do whatever [the detectives] wanted me to do at the time,” Yarborough testified.