An Ohio prison inmate admits he lied about witnessing a murder in Clay County four years ago.
The story Paul Borreson told investigators about a drug deal gone bad in south Moorhead just didn't add up, said Detective Bryan Green.
Borreson, 48, admitted the claim was false. He told authorities he was on medication while in jail and didn't know what he was talking about, Sheriff Bill Bergquist said.
Clay County is not pursuing charges of making a false report, he said.
Last winter, Borreson told officials in Ohio's Montgomery County, where he had been arrested on unrelated charges, about a murder he claimed to have witnessed south of Moorhead in 2000.
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He repeated the story in February to Green, who traveled to Montgomery County to interview him.
Borreson claimed he and a woman, Amy Martin, went to a local bar and picked up a man who told them he could find some drugs.
The three picked up a second man, who provided drugs. When the first man wasn't satisfied with the quality of the drugs, he killed the second man in the back seat of Borreson's car.
Borreson was never able to show Green on a map where the victim's body was buried.
Authorities planned to bring Borreson to Clay County this month to show them the location.
Borreson is serving the final month of a six-month sentence for grand theft.
Borreson made a similar claim to a police department in Virginia that also turned out to be false, Bergquist said.
Green, who spent two weeks investigating the claim, said he had suspicions about Borreson's story.
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"We thought maybe it could be a nut, but we had to follow through," he said.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Amy Dalrymple at (701) 241-5590
