The Central Park Five, as the boys became known, later went back on their confessions, saying they had been coerced into giving false statements. Still, they were found guilty in their 1990 trials and went on to serve years-long sentences in prison. It wasn't until 2002 that Matias Reyes, a murderer and serial rapist who was serving a life sentence for a different crime, confessed to being the actual perpetrator of the Central Park Jogger rape. DNA evidence backed up his confession, and the Central Park Five were exonerated.

In 2003, three of the five wrongly accused men (Antron, Raymond, and Kevin) sued the city of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress. Eleven years later, after Mayor Bill de Blasio took office, they received a total settlement of $41 million — but Linda continued to defend the initial outcome of the trials.


A study published online Thursday by the Bulletin of the World Health Organization found that 376 million new cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, and syphilis developed among people between the ages of 15-49 in 2016. Some of the cases may be multiple infections at the same time or re-infections among the same people. The infections are curable with medicines, but people don't become immune after being treated.

Because the infections can cause people to develop lesions in their genitals, they increase the risk of developing HIV, the sexually transmitted infection that causes AIDS, and that was not assessed as part of the study.