BUENA VISTA, Colo. -- A man convicted of murder despite a lack of physical evidence tying him to the crime says he feels like he's in the Twilight Zone, now that a special prosecutor has said he should be released.

Timothy Masters is serving a life sentence in Buena Vista.

Special Prosecutor Don Quick said Friday that new analysis of DNA evidence points to a suspect other than Masters in the death of Peggy Hettrick, whose body was found in Fort Collins in 1987. Quick plans to recommend at a court hearing Tuesday that Masters be released.

Masters was expected to be brought from the prison in Buena Visa to Fort Collins on Monday, according to his family who spoke to the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

Masters' attorneys have argued that documents that could have helped his defense were not provided to his trial attorneys. The Weld County district attorney already is investigating allegations of police misconduct in the case.

Linda Wheeler, a former Fort Collins investigator who worked on the Masters case, told 7NEWS, "I don't think there was anything malicious."

"They didn't go out with the intention of putting an innocent person in jail," Wheeler said. "That was never anyone’s intention."

In 1999, Wheeler along with several other detectives felt Masters was their suspect. But as the investigation unfolded, Wheeler said she changed her mind.

"I really felt at that point that I had an innocent man looking back at me," said Wheeler.

After Masters was convicted, and while Wheeler was working for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, she worked with Masters’ defense attorneys to prove his innocence.

"I always felt like I was the lone ranger until this point," said Wheeler. "That I was the only one who ever thought he was innocent."

But in January of 2007, Wheeler and Masters’ defense attorneys obtained evidence from Hettrick’s clothing for DNA tests in a small laboratory in the Netherlands.

According to David Wymore, Masters’ attorney, the tests detected sweat cells lodged in the victim’s clothing.

The test proved Masters’ DNA was not on Hettrick’s clothing.

"We didn't know whose it was, but we knew we had male DNA and it was not Tim Masters," said Wheeler. "This was huge, but you've got to think, you can't get too tunnel visioned."

"We can't jump to conclusions that that is what happened to this case and why an innocent man went to jail," said Wheeler.

Additional testing showed the DNA on Hettrick’s clothing belongs to Hettrick’s ex-boyfriend.

"Now we have to find out, why is that there," said Wheeler. "Why is that there on multiple places, on multiple clothing that she was wearing that night? That is suspicious."

Click here to review stories from the Fort Collins Coloradoan in the Masters Case, going back to the original murder.