Bill Clutter is a licensed private investigator who began his career in 1985 working as a law office investigator for Springfield criminal defense attorney Michael Metnick. During that time he was part of the defense team that helped free Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez in the infamous Nicarico case, which lead to the arrest of police and prosecutors in the case that became known as "The DuPage 7". After that case ended, he began the post-conviction investigation that led to the exoneration of death row inmate Randy Steidl, who upon his release in 2004 began advocating for the abolition of the death penalty in New Mexico, Illinois and Connecticut as a spokesperson for Witness to Innocence.

In 2001, Bill founded the Illinois Innocence Project. In January 2013, Bill formed a new national organization called Investigating Innocence after joining the Camm defense team. The core of this organization is made up of private investigators committed to working to free the innocent. There are nearly 70 Innocence Projects throughout the US that hire private investigators.