Dana Henry was wrongly accused in Wesselman's rape and murder in 1985 in Glen Ellyn, and said the allegation changed his life forever.
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He calls it the darkest period of his life, even though he was never charged and had never even met Wesselman. Henry said he's never been the same since being named a prime suspect 30 years ago.
"I've had two settings over the last 30 years -- angry and depressed," Henry said.
At one point, Henry said investigators stripped his clothes off and put him in a jail cell until he agreed to give a blood and saliva sample for DNA testing. He said police never told him why he was a suspect, but his mother's backyard was about 100 yards from where Wesselman's body was discovered.
"They never read me my rights so I guess I never had any," Henry said.
He said he spent about $50,000 on lawyers and ended up losing his house. He now lives in LaSalle County, but said the cloud of suspicion has cost him relationships with friends and even family.
"He's been through hell," said his former neighbor, Bridget Scully King.
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Henry was in court on Tuesday to see Michael Jones, 64, be sentenced in the Wesselman's murder.
He hoped it would bring closure. It did not.
"I just want what I lost back," Henry said.
WEB EXTRA: State's Attorney Bob Berlin on how investigators cracked the case
States Attorney Bob Berlin discusses cold-case Kathy Wesselman murder
Wesselman, a popular freshman at Glenbard South High School, had left home in July 1985 to go to a nearby grocery store. Investigators found her partially nude body in a field nearby. She had been stabbed at least eight times and had a shoelace tied around her neck.