ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis man whose murder conviction was overturned sees St. Louis for the first time again after 34 years behind bars.
Just this week, Christopher Dunn was released from prison after he was exonerated of a St. Louis murder conviction in 1991.
Dunn took a tour of downtown St. Louis, seeing the world with a different lens.
After being held for more than 30 years, 5 On Your Side wanted to get his reaction and see the changes through his eyes.
Dunn acknowledged he's a history buff and is fascinated with St. Louis history. While he was away for 34 years, he still kept up with St. Louis news.
Thursday afternoon, it was a chance for him to see the city he loves in action.
As Dunn and his wife Kira walked up on 8th Street, his eyes were fixated on the multi-million dollar Ballpark Village.
"All of this is new, this wasn't here when I left," he shared. "My thoughts... there is a lot of communities in the inner city that could've used this money, and fix vacant buildings and vacant lots."
He admitted the area is beautiful, even calling the establishment next to Busch Stadium a piece of art — but still wished the money could have been invested into other neighborhoods.
"Like I said, they took away from the city. At the end of the day, my heart is with the people of St. Louis," Dunn said. "It's not the economy, it's not with politics, I love St. Louis but it's the people that make it what it is, but if you don't show the same love in the Wells-Goodfellow community or the north side, it don't mean nothing. This right here is a tourist attraction. No tourists go down where I come from. The money, the schools get overlooked."
Dunn pointed out the number of St. Louis Public Schools close in recent years.
"Every school I went to, closed down," he said.
Dunn also noticed the homeless community while walking through the area.
"Since I've been here, I've seen the homeless run rampant downtown. When I left, you couldn't even drop a piece of paper on the ground without being fined for it," he recalled.
As he continued to walk around, he compared the situation as a Marty McFly moment. A nod to the Back to the Future movies.
"Seriously, here is a cell phone. I'm still oblivious to it. I saw my wife work it and I'm amazed. I know it's going to take me a long time to try to understand how to function one. I'm still stuck on quarters and payphones, I'm still stuck catching the bus, instead of MetroLink. When I left, 'The Wizard' Ozzie Smith was doing back flips," Dunn said with a chuckle.
After walking through Ballpark Village, the group drove to Union Station.
As their car pulled up, Dunn looked straight up at the 200-foot high observation wheel.
He took a pass on riding it.
"It took me 34 years to put my feet on the ground of St. Louis," Dunn joked.
In the distance was the new CITYPARK Stadium. Dunn was curious which stadium it was.
"There is only one soccer team in St. Louis, it's the Steamers... I don't know what that is?" he said. "Don't get me wrong it's beautiful, I love St. Louis but I hate the bumpy roads, I hate the bumpy streets!"
He called the entire area beautiful, as the couple walked into Union Station.
"It's good to be home, I missed it," Dunn admitted.
5 On Your Side reporter Justina Coronel asked if he had any advice.
"Honestly there is a lot of life we take for granted. The simple things are underappreciated. Be with your family, spend as much time with them," he shared. "My greatest advice to you, learn something today that you didn't know yesterday, so you can teach someone tomorrow, so they can be an inspiration to the future."
Before leaving, Coronel asked if he had any last thoughts.
He said he hopes St. Louis makes changes in the right direction.
"St. Louis is the first girl I’ve ever known and we neglected her and we took her for granted. Now it’s time to dress it back up," he shared.
Dunn said he'd love to attend college to get his socioeconomics or political science degree.
He explained it will depend on his health and what their family will decide to do.
"I knew my life had a purpose — what that is, I don't know. I'm still trying to find out. But right now I'm going to take it one step at a time. [I want to] live for each day that I have with her and my family, that's all I want," Dunn added.
For now, he's spending time with family and will be moving to California, but said he will come back to visit St. Louis.