COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) A South Carolina judge on Friday threw out murder charges filed this year against a father and a stepmother, saying there was no new evidence they killed their 5-year-old child in 1989.

Circuit Judge Roger Young ruled the original detective in the case changed his interpretations of the evidence and with more than 20 witnesses either dead or unable to testify in the 35-year-old case, the couple couldnt put up a fair defense and question witnesses who claimed they made incriminating statements.

The judge barred prosecutors from ever charging the couple again. The boys father said Friday by wrongly focusing on them at the start they could never properly grieve and the real killer likely will never be known.

I feel like they did a very poor case from the beginning, said Victor Turner, father of 5-year-old Justin Turner. Im glad that its over with but now we really wont ever know too much. All I wanted was to get the person who did this.

Justin Turner was found dead in a cabinet in a camper behind his Berkeley County home in March 1989. He had been strangled.