After a decades-long fight, Bryan Hooper Sr. has been released from a Minnesota prison after serving 27 years for a murder he did not commit.
His ordeal started on April 15, 1998, when the body of 77-year-old Ann Prazniak was discovered in her apartment in Minneapolis. She had been asphyxiated, and her corpse was bound in packaging tape around her mouth, nose, wrists, ankles, and head.
The culprit wrapped the body in garbage bags, blankets, and bedding before placing it inside a cardboard box decorated with Christmas lights. She was stored in her bedroom closet, where she was found about two weeks to a month later, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Between the time when the victim was murdered and when the authorities discovered her body, many people had gone in and out of the apartment, which was used for drug use and prostitution. Hooper, who was 27 years old at the time, admitted to having been in Prazniak’s apartment but denied any involvement in the murder.
Investigators found his fingerprints on two sandwich baggies and a beer can in the living room. However, there was no DNA or other physical evidence linking him to the crime. The prosecution’s case relied primarily on eyewitness testimony — especially from a young lady named Chalaka Young. Her fingerprints were found on tape similar to that used to bind Prazniak’s body. She initially denied knowledge of the crime during three separate interviews.
🇺🇸 Bryan Hooper Sr., a Minnesota father, has been freed after 27 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.
— Newstropy (@_newstropy) September 5, 2025
His conviction was overturned after Chalaka Young — the state’s star witness in 1998 — confessed she was the real killer. pic.twitter.com/tlTGaPD6la
However, when police officers threatened to charge her for the murders, she changed her story, claiming that she acted as a lookout while Hooper killed Prozniak. She said she helped him wrap the body with tape before hiding it. Young also claimed Hooper threatened to harm her if she did not remain quiet.
Young was facing unrelated charges. But she received a reduced sentence in exchange for her cooperation.
Four other witnesses, including jailhouse informants, testified that Hooper had made incriminating statements after the crime. However, their testimonies were suspect because they contradicted one another. Also, they were offered cash and leniency in their cases for testifying against Hooper.
Nevertheless, a jury convicted Hooper on three counts: Premeditated murder, felony murder while committing a burglary, and felony murder while committing kidnapping. The judge sentenced him to three concurrent life terms, with the possibility of release after 30 years.
An innocent man in Minnesota has finally been released from prison after 27 YEARS behind bars for a murder he DIDN'T commit. Bryan Hooper Sr. was wrongfully convicted in 1998. The woman who testified against him recanted her testimony and admitted to the murder. pic.twitter.com/3t6rYLRlrV
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) September 5, 2025
From the very beginning, Hooper maintained his innocence. He insisted he played no role in Prazniak’s death and pointed to Young as the likely perpetrator.
Over the next two decades, the four additional witnesses recanted their testimonies, claiming they had been coerced or incentivized to lie. Hooper filed five petitions for post-conviction relief based on the witnesses' withdrawal of their testimonies. However, each of these filings was rejected.
However, everything changed in July 2025 when Young, who is serving an eight-year sentence in Georgia for aggravated assault, wrote a handwritten confession admitting she had committed the murder. “I am not okay any longer with [an] innocent man sitting in prison for a crime he did not commit," she wrote. Young also confessed to a Minneapolis Police Department sergeant over the phone.
The Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) took up Hooper’s case, filing a petition to vacate his convicttion.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and GNIP announced on Thursday that Hooper had been exonerated. Judge Marta Chou stated that Hooper’s conviction “was tainted by false evidence and that without this false testimony, the jury might have reached a different conclusion.”
GNIP Legal Director and Hooper’s attorney Jim Mayer said, “We are grateful that both the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and now the Court have recognized what Bryan Hooper and his family have maintained for nearly three decades: Bryan Hooper is innocent.”