[40], Following the March 24 murder of Maralynn Skelton, police from the five separate jurisdictions where the murderer had abducted or disposed of the bodies of his victims formally combined resources in an effort to compare information and identify the perpetrator. AMOS . [110] Several of Phillips' personal possessions would later be found strewn along State Route 68.[111][112]. [152], Between 1972 and 1976, Collins appealed his murder conviction on four further occasions; citing contentions that the Michigan Murders had received extensive media publicity in Washtenaw County, and that five separate motions for change of venue had been submitted by the defense counsel (two of which had been filed throughout the actual jury selection process) upon the grounds of pretrial publicity minimizing any chance of obtaining an unbiased jury in Washtenaw County. She was last seen alive outside a drive-in restaurant on Washtenaw Avenue two days before her body was discovered (although autopsy reports indicated Skelton had died between 24 and 36 hours before her body was discovered). Both a journalist and a documentary filmmaker chase the story of a murder and its prime suspect. [144] The jury then retired to consider their verdict, and would deliberate for over 27 hours over a period of three days, with an additional five-and-a-half hours devoted to their re-reading portions of testimony, before announcing they had reached their verdict. When asked to formally identify the individual upon whose motorcycle she had observed waiting outside her shop,[84] Goshe pointed directly at John Norman Collins. He's I think he's putting him in the trunk," the concerned caller said of the apparent kidnapping. "[116][n 3], A formal indictment would later be served against Collins for the first-degree murder of Roxie Ann Phillips in April 1970, although the evidence surrounding this indictment was ordered to be sealed until after the trial of Collins for the murder of Karen Sue Beineman had concluded. In the cold, isolated world of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Police Chief Laura Frizzo launches an investigation into the disappearance of Chris Regan, never expecting to come face to face with a possible serial killer. Her roommate became concerned when she did not return that night and notified police the next day. Serial's new true-crime podcast, The Coldest Case in Laramie, revisits a 1985 murder. [58], The victim was identified the following day[59] as a 21-year-old University of Michigan graduate student named Alice Elizabeth Kalom, who had disappeared shortly after midnight on the morning of June 8. On October 14, Judge Conlin rejected defense motions to dismiss the case, or suppress any evidence obtained; ruling Collins' arrest had been on the reasonable grounds he had committed a felony. He killed five children ranging between 6 and 11 years old. [68], Mindful of the fact the killer had evidently returned to sites of his previous murders to move the bodies, possibly in a sexual ritual, police theorized he may also attempt to return to this latest crime scene. Prosecutors said she used sex to lure Regan to her home, where her husband lay in wait to shoot him. [31] Investigators called to the crime scene noted a dramatic increase in the savagery exhibited against the victim, with one investigator describing the injuries inflicted upon the victim as being the worst he had seen in 30 years of police work. Even Michigan's beautiful north is safe from crime, as two of the cases spotlight cases from the Upper Peninsula. The first motion by Collins' attorneys, contending denial of defense motions to move the trial outside of Washtenaw County and the prejudice of prosecution witnesses, was filed with the Michigan Court of Appeals on December 14, 1970. Although never tried for the murders of Fleszar, Schell, Skelton, Basom, Kalom or Phillips, physical and circumstantial evidence exists in each case indicating that Collins had indeed committed these murders. Collins' attorneys also alleged these alibi witnesses had been subjected to police harassment, that the tests conducted upon the hair samples found upon Beineman's panties were unreliable, and that Collins' uncle, Sgt. [34], These injuries had been inflicted after the victim had been extensively beaten and tortured: her killer had placed a section of her own shirt into her trachea to muffle her screams as she received extensive blunt force trauma to the face, head and body,[34] including several deep lacerations believed to have been inflicted with a leather strap. Another individual would be convicted of the murder of Jane Mixer in 2005. As such, he may have become acquainted with Basom throughout the time he frequented his girlfriend. [84] He held a part-time job as an inspector at a firm which manufactured drum brakes,[66] and was currently majoring in elementary education at Eastern Michigan University. [32] A subsequent autopsy revealed the victim had died of numerous fractures covering one-third of her skull and one side of her face,[33] all of which had been inflicted with a heavy blunt instrument. What Lies Beyond. Upon tracing Collins' movements in relation to the dates of the disappearance and murder of the seven murder victims linked to the Michigan Murderer (which then included Jane Mixer), police discovered that, on June 21,[105] Collins and his roommate, Andrew Manuel, had traveled to Monterey in Collins' Oldsmobile Cutlass, which the pair used to tow a camper-trailer they had rented under false names, and had paid for with a stolen check, for the vacation. Following her identification of a photograph of Collins, police further questioned the proprietor of the wig shop in which Beineman had last been seen alive, asking her to identify the man she had seen with Beineman in a police lineup. The corpse was badly decomposed, although the pathologist who examined Fleszar's remains was able to determine she had been stabbed approximately 30 times in the chest and abdomen with a knife or other sharp object, that her feet had been severed just above the ankle, the thumb and sections of the fingers of one hand were missing, and that one forearm had been severed from her body (these severed appendages were never found). [125][110] He was tried in Ann Arbor, before Judge John Conlin. Everyone from average citizens to celebrities like the Kardashians was invested in the case of Anthony, who was on trial for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. MOUNT PLEASANT, MI The 2012 murder of 24-year-old Rebekah Gay and the confessed murderer, a neighbor and pastor at a nearby church, will be featured on a television documentary set to air . [123] Judge Conlin set a trial date of June 1. Prosecutor William F. Delhey agreed to a proviso that the test be conducted off the record and its results remain confidential. Michigan Department of Corrections. Leik's home was subjected to an intense forensic examination. Citing Collins' then-ongoing appeals against his convictions in the state of Michigan as the cause, and their likely resubmittal should any of his Michigan appeals be successful. Two months after Schell's murder, police inquiries produced two further eyewitnesses who stated they had observed Schell walking with a young man along Emmet Street on the evening she disappeared. [130], Three days after both counsels had begun introducing witnesses, Joan Goshe was called to testify on behalf of the prosecution. Furthermore, Goshe had identified a photograph shown to her of Collins as being the man she had seen with Beineman. On July 31, the prosecution introduced two forensic witnesses to testify regarding the physical evidence indicating the victim had been killed inside the Leik family home. This psychologist had been adamant that Collins' trial should be held outside Washtenaw County, and this motion had likewise been reserved. The perpetrator, John Norman Chapman (then known as John Norman Collins) was arrested one week after the final murder. [139], Dr. Jervis' conclusions were supported by a private consultant named Auseklis Perkons, and a Massachusetts-based Director of Forensic Research named Samuel Golub. [49] Sales of tear gas, knives, and security locks increased,[64] hitchhiking became a rarity among students, and the reward offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer increased to $42,000 (the equivalent of about $341,046 as of 2023[update]). In September 1988, Chapman agreed to participate in a live interview conducted by the. [43] These factors led police to publicly conclude the same perpetrator was responsible for at least three of the murders thus far committed. For 13 months between 1976 and 1977, a still unknown culprit referred to as the Oakland County Child Killer murdered at least two boys and two girls in communities surrounding Detroit. [137] On this date, Collins was formally sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. [97], The hairs found upon Beineman's panties and those recovered from the basement of the Leik home were subjected to a detailed forensic neutron analysis[98] to determine whether they had sourced from the same individuals. DePue assaulted his wife in front of their three children and then took her away. [74]), The forensic examination of Beineman's body further revealed she had been raped prior to her murder, and that her torn panties had been forcefully placed inside her vagina; these panties revealed the presence of human semen and 509[75] human hair clippings measuring less than three-eights of an inch upon the material. Photo: Michigan Department of Corrections. Both women had agreed this composite drawing was accurate, and only disagreed as to the structure of the suspect's chin. The prosecution was therefore limited to questioning Davis with regards to whether the contents of this box included women's clothing and jewelry, without specifically describing any particular item. [12], Almost one year later, on July 5, 1968, the partially decomposed, mutilated body of a 20-year-old art student named Joan Elspeth Schell[15] was found by construction workers on an Ann Arbor roadside. The same day, the head of the state police crime laboratory, Sgt. [66] Having led investigators to the precise location where each of the victims' bodies had been discovered, Hurkos also revealed details of the murders to investigators which had not been released to the press. [54]), Less than two months after the murder of Dawn Basom, on June 9, three teenage boys discovered a partially nude body of a young woman in a field close to an abandoned farmhouse on North Territorial Road. [60] She was last seen walking home towards her apartment on Thompson Street, having attended a friend's party. Went to a family gathering and my dad told me this story about my cousin who I had never met and couldn't believe it. [81] Reportedly, Beineman herself insisted Goshe observe the man with whom she had accepted a ride, stating that she had made two foolish errors in her life: purchasing a wig; and accepting a ride from a stranger,[82] before stating: "I've got to be either the bravest or the dumbest girl alive, because I've just accepted a ride from this guy." Sex Slayer Could be Anyone! Each ruling stated no evidence existed to suggest extensive publicity had interfered with pretrial or trial proceedings, and that police had not broken any protocol in showing two eyewitnesses photographs of Collins prior to his arrest and their being asked to identify him in a police lineup. [24], On March 20, 1969,[24] a 23-year-old University of Michigan law student named Jane Louise Mixer disappeared after posting a note on a college bulletin board seeking a lift across the state to her hometown of Muskegon,[25] where she had intended to inform her family of her engagement and imminent move to New York City. At around 5 p.m. on December 24th, 2019, in Swartz Creek, Michigan a suburb about 20 minutes southwest of Flint Kevin Bacon, a 25-year-old hairdresser . The first witness to testify was the head of the Michigan Health Department's Crime Detective Laboratory, Walter Holz, who testified as to the human hair clippings found inside Karen Sue Beineman's panties being an exact match to those recovered from the basement of Sgt. THE MICHIGAN MURDERS Never-before-published letters, interviews offer clues in infamous Michigan murders Eight women and girls were slain in the late 1960s. Manuel was extensively questioned as to his potential involvement in both Phillips' murder and those committed in Michigan which investigators had linked to Collins, and agreed to submit to a polygraph test. [145], On August 19, 1970, John Norman Collins was unanimously found guilty of the first-degree murder of Karen Sue Beineman. Barlow testified as to the fact that although Beineman had been deceased for almost 72 hours, her body had only lain in the location where she was found for 24 hours before discovery.[74]. Alex Murdaugh was at the center of this trial. (Lake County Sheriff's Office) (WJBK) - A new documentary is shedding light on the victims of an alleged serial killer who authorities say injected her husband with a lethal dose of heroin and. The circumstances surrounding this case prevented me from getting a fair trial. [107] Albrecht described this individual, whose surname she did not know, as being 5 ft 11 in tall, clean-cut, with dark brown hair and who had described himself as an Eastern Michigan University senior with aspirations to become a teacher. These two witnesses were followed by the individual who had found her body on July 26, and the medical examiner called to the crime scene, Dr. Craig Barlow. [161] He had further informed his roommate he had agreed to drive Schell from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti the following day. Upon recommendation from his lawyers, Collins chose not to testify in his own defense. In this cross-examination, Sheriff Harvey admitted to having driven Mrs. Goshe and her assistant to East Lansing to view the updated composite drawing of the suspect in Beineman's murder, and that he had shown photographs of various suspects, including Collins, to Goshe prior to her formally identifying Collins in a lineup. Investigators determined the knife was consistent with the weapon used to stab Kalom. Making a Murderer: Part 2 (Trailer) Making a Murderer (Podcast 2) . The seven women he killed between 1967 and 1969, most in and around Ypsilanti, became known as "the Michigan Murders." Some people call him Michigan's Ted. Browse more videos. In a final address to the jury on August 14, Judge Conlin informed the panel they had two choices in the verdict they could render: Guilty of first-degree murder, or not guilty. "[155] This appeal motion was partly upheld upon the basis that Dr. Guinn's testimony relating to probabilities was based upon on the statistical probability of another prosecution expert, and therefore, this part of his testimony was impermissible. By July 23, 1969, panic is in the hot, muggy, southeast Michigan air. [86] Upon their return from their vacation, Leik's wife, Sandra, had noted numerous paint marks covering the floor of the family basement, and that several itemsincluding a bottle of ammonia, a box of laundry detergent, and a canister of black spray paintwere missing from the household. She was convicted in Michigan and sentenced to life in prison for Regan's murder in May 2016. For example, in the case of Mary Fleszar, investigators discovered that at the time of her disappearance, Collins had worked part-time in the Eastern Michigan University administration unit, and that his office had been located directly opposite the hallway from the office where Fleszar had herself worked. Between 1976 and 1977, the sleepy suburbs of Oakland County, Michigan, were invaded by a demonic presence. [165] Moreover, a sweater found in Collins' closet was found to contain 22 pubic hairs which had not originated from Collins or any of the seven Michigan victims. In a brief final argument on behalf of the prosecution, Booker Williams re-emphasized the physical and circumstantial evidence against Collins, before accusing the defense attorneys of attempting to sow doubt in, particularly, the forensic evidence presented by the prosecution. Documentary Crime In the cold, isolated world of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Police Chief Laura Frizzo launches an investigation into the disappearance of Chris Regan, never expecting to come face to face with a possible serial killer. Three women, including one from Flint make the list, along with two former police officers. [107], Phillips' nude, battered body had been found in a ravine in Carmel Highlands on July 13,[108] with the belt belonging to her culotte dress knotted around her neck. 20 hours ago. S.C. attorney Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison for murder of wife, son. Details: On November 21, 1985, childhood friends David Tyll and Brian Ognjan left their homes to go hunting near David's family cabin in White Cloud, Michigan. We've assembled a list of 15 documentaries that focus on some of Michigan's worst human beings - Murderers. In response to questioning from prosecution attorneys, Goshe described how, on the afternoon of her disappearance, Beineman had informed her she had accepted a lift home from the man waiting outside the wig shop. In the fall of 1987, a teenage boy's unexpected disappearance opened a community's eyes to a sadistic killer who was closer to home than anyone in the quiet town of Harrison, Michigan ever expected. A seasoned journalist with The New York Times, Barker is now also the . The documentary will follow the families, detectives, and author J. Reuben Appelman as they examine some of the most compelling suspects, as well as leads like the child pornography ring that was. [47], One week after the murder of Dawn Basom, a detective conducting a routine examination of this farmhouse basement discovered a scrap of cloth from Basom's blouse, plus an earring later determined to belong to Maralynn Skelton. A little Googling and up popped an intriguing case: Jeff Titus, a former Marine and police officer, imprisoned for nearly two decades for the murder of two hunters in Michigan that the original. The following day, following a consultation with opposing counsels, Judge John Conlin allowed Davis to testify as to having observed Collins hurriedly remove a laundry box containing women's clothing and jewelry from his apartment and place this box in the trunk of his car two days prior to his arrest. [46], The orange mohair sweater belonging to Basom was found in a deserted farmhouse just 100 yards from the desolate road on which her body had been placed after her murder. Famed documentary filmmaker Errol Morris takes true crime reenactments to the next level by casting Hollywood actors in Wormwood, his Netflix docuseries that examines the government's attempts to cover up CIA experiments with LSD in the 1950s. They played cards, hunted, and enjoyed the outdoors together. When Mathewson questioned Collins on July 25 as to his movements two days earlier, he admitted that on the date in question he had been riding his Triumph Bonneville in the vicinity, and that he had stopped to converse with a former girlfriend of his while doing so (the point at which Mathewson had observed him). [131], Although subject to intense cross-examination by defense attorney Neil Fink as to the credibility of her testimony, Goshe remained insistent in her identification of John Norman Collins as being the individual who had waited for Karen Sue Beineman to return to his motorcycle. See production, box office & company info. [92][n 2]. Although forensic experts would deduce later that morning that the stains covered by the black paint had actually been varnish stains, one of the investigators discovered numerous hair clippingsmany measuring less than three-eights of an inchbeside the family washing machine. [3] Although Schell had been dead for several days, her entire lower body was in a remarkably preserved condition, whereas her head, shoulders and breasts were in an advanced state of decomposition, leading the pathologist to conclude her body had been stored in a naturally cool environment, but with the upper third of her body exposed to natural heat. Davis informed police he had long suspected Collins had murdered Schell, but had been too afraid to report his suspicions. Initially, police took him at his word, and did not seek to verify his alibi. [28][n 1], Four days after the discovery of Mixer's body, on March 25, a surveyor discovered the nude, mutilated body of a teenage girl lying upon a blue jacket behind a vacant house on a remote, rural section of Earhart Road,[30] just a few hundred yards from where the body of Joan Schell had been discovered eight months previously. Each motion filed had been reserved or, in the final instance, denied. [27], Despite the fact Mixer had not been subjected to a sexual assault, the fact her tights had been lowered to expose her thighs and sanitary napkin suggested a sexual motive behind the murder,[27] and although the victim had not been beaten, stabbed or mutilated, her student status, the tying of a garment around her neck, and the proximity of her abduction and murder led investigators to tentatively link her murder to those of Fleszar and Schell. As the Ruelas and Mixer cases had been processed in the same, List of serial killers by number of victims, List of serial killers in the United States, legislatively abolished the death penalty, "Inmate Information Details: Collins, John Norman", "Who Killed these Girls? The following day, Washtenaw County Sheriff Douglas Harvey testified as to the discovery of Beineman's body, her subsequent autopsy, and his obtaining an updated composite drawing of the suspect with whom Beineman had last been seen alive from Mrs. Joan Goshe and her assistant, Patricia Spaulding. Reverend Robert Pelley, his wife Dawn, and Dawn's daughters Janel and Jolene were shot at close range with. [121][122], In January 1970, Neil Fink and Joseph Louisell, partners at one of Detroit's highest-priced law firms, agreed to take over Collins' defense. [48], Investigators found no definite evidence Basom had been subjected to a sexual assault prior to her murder. [106] Collins had later returned to Michigan alone in his vehicle; Manuel would later be located in Arizona following Collins' arrest. The increase in frequency in which the killer was striking throughout the spring and summer of 1969coupled with the fact most victims had been connected to the University of Michigan or Eastern Michigan University, suggesting the killer may be a fellow studentfurther compounded the concerns of female students. Above, storm clouds over downtown Laramie, Wyo., on Aug. 13, 2022. The Oakland County Child Killer ( OCCK) is the name given to the perpetrator (s) responsible for the serial killings of at least four children in Oakland County, Michigan, United States, between 1976 and 1977. The timing of these four witnesses' recollections as to when Collins had actually entered the motorcycle shop varied slightly, although consensus among three of these men was that he had entered the premises as they were eating lunch, which they typically did anytime between 1 and 2p.m.[138], Upon cross-examination, the time factor of these witnesses as to when they had actually seen Collins expanded to between noon and 2p.m. Two of these employees had signed statements affirming the time Collins had entered their premises was approximately 2p.m., although one of these witnesses stated he had been repeatedly harassed by an Ann Arbor Police Sergeant as to the actual time he had seen Collins. He did not die of COVID-19; prison officials did not release his cause . Although neither eyewitness was certain, both believed this student to be John Norman Collins: a student at Eastern Michigan University majoring in elementary education,[20] who lived directly across the street from Schell at 619 Emmet,[23] and whose physical features bore a likeness to the composite drawing police had generated of the driver of the vehicle Schell had entered. In response to defense questioning, Sgt. Autopsy results were completed Wednesday for the victims, reports Correspondent Christine Behrens of CBS affiliate WWMT-TV in Kalamazoo, Mich. Had this violation of the county prosecutor's order not taken place, Collins may not have realized how seriously he was considered a suspect at that stage, and thus may not have disposed of the physical evidence which would have assisted in linking him to other killings linked to the Michigan Murders. David Leik. [67] Although this information proved to be of little help throughout the actual manhunt, Hurkos also predicted that this individual would shortly strike one final time. In Kim Barker's memory, the city of Laramie, Wyo. [16] In addition, her throat had been slashed, and her miniskirt then tied around her neck. The 55-year-old participated in a new documentary on Investigation Discovery titled "Dead North, . The injuries described by Collins were consistent with those inflicted upon the victims which had not been disclosed to the news media, and David Leik would inform investigators that he had not disclosed any information regarding the Michigan Murders to his nephew. [132] (The prosecution had initially intended to question Davis in detail as to each of the contents of this laundry box upon the grounds that the contents Davis had previously described to investigators may include Beineman's missing cut-off blue jeans; however, Collins' attorneys successfully objected to this motion upon the grounds that Collins was solely on trial for the murder of Karen Sue Beineman, and this testimony could suggest a link to the six other victims of the Michigan Murders then linked to the same perpetrator. The Michigan Murders were a series of highly publicized killings of young women committed between 1967 and 1969 in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area of Southeastern Michigan by an individual known as the Ypsilanti Ripper, the Michigan Murderer, and the Co-Ed Killer. Details: David Tyll and Brian Ognjan, both twenty-seven, had been best friends since they were in Boy Scouts together. [114] No hard evidence would ever arise suggesting his involvement in any murders, and the Washtenaw County prosecutor's office would publicly announce on December 18 their satisfaction that Manuel had "no knowledge of the murders. [109] She had been strangled to death and, as with several Michigan victims linked to Collins, one earring was missing. [159] At the time of the announcement of this decision, preliminary legal maneuvers between Michigan and California authorities had been ongoing to extradite Collins to Monterey County to face trial for Phillips' murder.[160]. As Davis opened the door for his roommate to leave the apartment, he observed that the contents of this box included a woman's purple shoe, rolled-up jean-like material, and a burlap purse. [47] A handkerchief found stuffed in her mouth had likely been placed there to muffle her cries throughout her torture, and her murderer had placed her body in a location where rapid discovery was assured. In the case of Joan Elspeth Schell, two separate witness accounts had placed the victim both entering a car with three men on the night of her disappearance, and walking alone in the company of a man believed to be John Collins later that evening. [88], Evidence of culpability in remaining cases. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for this final murder attributed to the Michigan Murderer on August 19, 1970,[4] and is currently incarcerated at G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility. Defense attorneys Neil Fink and Joseph Louisell, in their opening statement, labeled the eyewitnesses' identification of both Collins and his motorcycle as flawed and unreliable, and stated their intentions to introduce several witnesses who would provide an alibi for their client in the early afternoon hours the prosecution contended Karen Sue Beineman had been abducted and murdered.