Asger Risom
A police typo missing a single underscore in a Skyrim-inspired username sent an innocent Canadian man to prison for 18 months for a crime he didn’t commit.
A single missed keystroke on a police keyboard was enough to shatter an innocent man’s life. When investigators in Wisconsin began pursuing a suspect in an online child exploitation case in 2018, their target was using a Kik messenger account referencing the iconic “Fus Ro Dah” Dragon Shout from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Authorities sent a subpoena to Kik to unmask the user, but made a catastrophic typo in their request—setting off a nightmare that took years to undo.
A fatal missing character
As detailed in a recent Dexerto article, the actual perpetrator’s account was named “fus__ro_dah” with a double underscore. However, the subpoena sent to Kik listed “fus_ro_dah”—a single-underscore handle that belonged to Brandon Klayme of Halifax, Canada. Kik complied with the flawed request, handing over Klayme’s personal information and prompting Nova Scotia police to raid his home in February 2020 and seize his devices.
Despite finding zero evidence linking Klayme to the victim and no proof he had even logged into Kik during the timeframe in question, prosecutors pushed forward. In 2024, the Skyrim fan was convicted on 3 charges tied to the case. He received an 18-month prison sentence and served every single day of the term.
The missing character went unnoticed by police, prosecutors, and the original defense team throughout the entire trial. The error only came to light when appellate lawyer Zeb Brown reviewed the original subpoena while preparing an appeal, instantly revealing that the court had jailed the wrong person.
Exonerated by the court of appeal
On July 23, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal officially overturned all convictions and acquitted Klayme of every charge. The panel noted that Klayme was factually innocent and should never have been charged, let alone convicted. The court expressed disbelief that the correct username data had been available in the evidence files all along, yet went completely ignored during the initial trial.
Klayme described how a subtle administrative mistake stripped away 1.5 years of his freedom for a crime he had no connection to. Having now completed his full sentence, it remains unclear whether he will pursue formal financial compensation from authorities for the devastating judicial failure.
