Eerie evidence leads to the release of 'Railroad Spike Killer' David Lee Myers from prison after his mother is found dead with stones in her body

A man who spent three decades on death row for killing a young mother with a railroad spike has been released from prison.

David Lee Myers, known as the Railroad Nail Killer, is currently under house arrest while awaiting a new trial for the 1988 murder of 18-year-old Amanda Jo Maher.

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After serving 29 years in prison, Myers had his murder conviction overturned and was granted a retrial after new DNA evidence was found at the crime scene.

Maher, the mother of an eight-month-old girl, was found “barely alive” near abandoned railroad tracks in Xenia, Ohio, in August 1988, according to court documents.

She was found with a railroad nail in her temple and three stones in her vagina.

After being flown to a nearby hospital, Maher died of severe traumatic brain injury due to the thorn in her forehead and an attempted strangulation.

Myers was arrested the next day because he was the last person to see her alive. At that point, he was already on probation for sexual assault.

According to police, Myers and Maher were seen leaving a bar together the night of her death after Maher's boyfriend was arrested for disorderly conduct.

Myers told Maher's boyfriend and a police officer that he would take care of her and make sure she got home safely.

He was arrested the day after Maher's murder, but it took years for him to be convicted.

In 1996, Myers was sentenced to death for the murder. He spent the last 29 years on death row until new evidence was found.

NEW DNA

Earlier this year, Myers' lawyers filed a motion to overturn the death sentence after new DNA was discovered on the railroad spike and one of the rocks in Maher's body.

A cigarette butt collected at the crime scene also contained new DNA from an unidentified man.

Visiting judge Jonathan Hein overturned the conviction and sentence and granted 60-year-old Myers a new trial.

Released under house arrest

Myers left the courthouse on Monday on bail, under house arrest and 24-hour GPS monitoring.

Hein told Myers that he expected him to “rise to the situation and not rub his face in it.”

According to the local newspaper Xenia Daily Gazette, Myers' defense attorney Elizabeth Smith told the judge that he was not a flight risk because he did not have a driver's license or any money.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Smith said.

“He poses no threat to public safety. He is presumed innocent.”

“WHY TAKE THE RISK?”

The judge's decision was controversial, as many believe Myers should have remained in prison.

“We disagree with the court's decision to release Myers on bail,” said District Attorney David Hayes.

Sarah Sparkman, Maher's daughter, who was only eight months old when she died, asked the judge not to release Myers.

“Why take the risk? I've experienced emotional and psychological turmoil my entire life because of my mother's death,” Sparkman said, according to local Cox Media Group affiliate WHIO.

She told the outlet that the decision brought up complicated emotions surrounding her mother's death.

“I never thought I'd be here. This is strange. We have a man in prison and his family probably has more hope than at any time in the last 36 years,” Sparkman said.

“I feel more lost than ever in the last 36 years.”

The case will have to be heard again in court in November.