FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Joyous family members are preparing to welcome Tim Masters home from prison after special prosecutors said they would ask a judge to overturn his murder conviction and life sentence.

Masters, 35, is expected to be set free on a personal recognizance bond on Tuesday.

Special prosecutor Don Quick said last week that DNA evidence pointed to someone else in the 1987 slaying of Peggy Hettrick in Fort Collins. Quick said he will ask a judge to set aside Master's 1999 conviction and vacate his sentence.

Masters conviction came on circumstantial evidence -- there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime.

"We're so thrilled," said Masters' aunt, Betty Schneider. "We just love this kid, and we're glad he's coming home."

During an interview Monday night with the Fort Collins Coloradoan, Masters said "I’m looking forward to getting rid of this costume jewelry," speaking of his steel ankle cuffs. "The most important thing is to see my whole family and not have a DOC guard say 'time’s up,'" he said.

Schneider said family members were fixing meals, getting a special cake and buying him clothes.

She said prison workers at the Buena Vista Correctional Complex threw a party for Masters Friday after Quick announced his decision.

"Isn't that amazing?" she said.

"I still can't quite believe it," said Masters' uncle John Masters. "But I also feel sad for that poor girl's family. Can you imagine what they are going through? They have to start over from scratch."

"He's got a good head on him," said John Masters. "He knows what is coming down, he knows it is going to be difficult to come out here because of all the changes."

Masters challenged his conviction as unfair, and Quick has acknowledged that the original defense team didn't get all the information it should have received.

Masters told the Rocky Mountain News on Sunday that he was still trying to absorb the news.

"It's not completely sunk in yet," he said in a telephone interview. "Hopefully, it will feel real really soon."

Masters said he was packing family photos and other belongings but was leaving behind his television, his coffee pot and his Department of Corrections-issued clothes.

"I don't need any of that on the street and I don't need any DOC clothes," he said.

After years in prison for a murder he insists he didn't commit, Masters said he has "a little bit of excess baggage." He stopped short of saying anything specific about investigators who believed he was guilty and about prosecutors who took the case to the trial.

"You can pretty much imagine how I feel toward them," he said.

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Larimer County prosecutors will decide whether to drop the case or refile charges against Masters.

Surprisingly, Masters' family still has faith in the justice system. "We do have some flaws, but by god, we do have one of the best," said John Masters.

Meanwhile, the Weld County district attorney's office will look at alleged police misconduct in the original Masters investigation.

Prosecutors will examine possible perjury and wiretapping by the Fort Collins police after Larimer County District Attorney Larry Abrahamson requested their help.