NEW YORK -- Almost four years after DNA evidence pointed to other killers, Queens prosecutors Thursday dropped murder charges against a woman who claimed she had falsely confessed to murder, WNBC.com's Jonathan Dienst reported exclusively.

The woman, 31-year-old Lourdes Torres, is an illegal immigrant from Mexico with a very low IQ and was duped into confessing by detectives, according to her defense attorney.

"Lourdes Torres is illiterate. After 18 hours in police custody she agreed to a tale of murder which is just not true," said defense attorney Edward Sapone.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown told NewsChannel 4 that the bottom line is that while the system moved slowly, the right thing was done.

In an interview from Riker's Island Penitentiary, Torres told NewsChannel 4 that she believed detectives when they promised her freedom in exchange for giving a written confession to the fatal stabbing of her lover, 49-year-old Romeo Acuna, in his Jackson Heights apartment in September 2002.

"They told me if I signed the paper, they were going to take me out of jail," said Torres. "I did not kill him. I'm innocent. I wasn't even in the apartment when that occurred."

District Attorney Brown defended the work of the police, saying, "I am satisfied that there was no coercion in this case."

Sapone said there were signs early on that her confession was shaky.

An autopsy showed that Acuna suffered "20 sharp injuries of the head, torso and extremities."

However in her confession, Lourdes said she stabbed him "possibly more than two times."

The confession said the attack was in the kitchen. Acuna's blood was found in other rooms.

Then in February 2003, the city's medical examiner found that "a mixture of male DNA is present." The blood of a mystery man was mixed in with Acuna's spilled blood. The DNA of a second unknown man was also in Acuna's blood.

"So two men killed this victim -- not Lourdes Torres," said Sapone.

Torres was jailed four years and two months awaiting trial. The average stay in city jails is 45 days. Records indicate that her case kept being postponed -- 44 adjournments in three years. One criminal justice expert said she waited too long for justice.

"This particular case is an extreme case of justice being delayed and taking way too long, and it is an outrage against the woman involved," said Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York.

The two detectives who took Torres' written confession have since retired. The legal aid lawyer who handled her case for the first three years could not be reached for comment.

"In the end, the Queens District Attorney's Office did what was right, and justice was done. It just took a little time," said Sapone.

While Torres no longer faces murder charges, she is not free. She came to the United States illegally, so it's expected that she will be deported to Mexico.

However, she has some friends back home. She had no money for a private lawyer, but the Mexican government stepped in a year ago and paid for the defense that Thursday helped clear her.