[24] Blood spatterings and churned soil close to the crime scene indicated she had been beaten close to where her body was discovered, and that she may have attempted to escape her attacker. [162] Although Collins had claimed to police that he had been with his mother in the Detroit suburb of Center Line on the weekend of Schell's disappearance, police had never sought to verify his alibi.[24]. But they also found something unusual, more than 500 short clipped blonde hairs. He is currently in Marquette Branch Prison at Marquette, Michigan. Police had noted (and would continue to note) common denominators in the physical characteristics of the victims, and the manner in which they died: all of the victims had been brunette Caucasians; each (excluding Mixer) had been the recipient of extensive violence inflicted with a blunt and/or bladed instrument prior to her murder; each of the victims' bodies had been found within a 15-mile radius of Washtenaw County; and each victim (excluding Mixer) had received knife wounds to the neck. But Bundshuh who has a tattoo on his arm that says, unus veritas, Latin for "one truth" noted that throughout their conversations,Collins seemed to have a lot of rehearsed answers, as if he had been thinking aboutwhat to say for years. Her body would be discovered two days later near an abandoned farmhouse on North Territorial Road. [106] Collins had later returned to Michigan alone in his vehicle; Manuel would later be located in Arizona following Collins' arrest. His mother worked as a waitress and told John and his siblings that their father had abandoned them. John Norman Collins eventually found his way into a Washtenaw County, Michigan, courtroom. In the 1970 trial, Joan Goshe, the owner of Wig's by Joan in Ypsilanti, testified that she saw Collins and Beineman the Eastern Michigan University coed from Grand Rapids outside the shop. Collins has been locked up for 50 years - but that doesn't erase the pain. [42], Little physical evidence existed beyond eyewitness descriptions and forensic reports. 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. In the spring of 1969, he is connected to two murders, a 23-year-old Michigan law student named Jane Louise Mixer, and a 16-year-old Romulus High School student named Maralynn Skelton who was last seen alive hitchhiking in Ann Arbor. ", Collins introducedBeineman and Davis and offeredBeineman the option of riding home on his bike with him or going in the car with Davis. Despite exuding confidence, evidence was overwhelming. The mail lady did a "double-take", every time she put their mail in! [91] Some acquaintances noted Collins' politeness around women, while others described him as lascivious and bad-tempered. The perpetrator, John Norman Chapman (then known as John Norman Collins) was arrested one week after the final murder. [n 4], The defense contended that although the murder of Beineman was a "vicious, sadistic attack" which had degraded her body "almost beyond human comprehension,"[102] the prosecution's case that Collins was the perpetrator of the crime was a weak one at best. And I'm with you we should NEVER forget that something like that Can & DID happen here. On August 18, investigators announced that all significant leads had been exhausted, and that the number of officers assigned to investigate the case had been reduced. Make your donation to WEMU todayto keep your community NPR station thriving. I have two things to say: I think they [the jury] conscientiously tried to give me a fair trial. Watch where you walk, tell people where you are going, when youre coming back, have pepper spray on your key chain, and don't go to people's houses/take rides with people that you just met. I remember her telling us how shocked the aunt was at the arrest and how hard she found it to believe that her nephew was involved. A low-maintenance backyard with irrigation is the perfect place to relax and entertain guests. When the killer had not been found in two years, the public outcry was became intense. [34] However, the dramatic increase in savagery exhibited against the victim and the fact that Skelton was a known drug user, dealer and occasional police informant[38] as opposed to a university student[24] led some junior investigators to speculate her murder may have been drug-related. Davis pointedto the laundry room. I was only 5 and 6 yrs old when the murders happened so never heard about them.. She had been strangled. Enjoy dual pane vinyl windows, high 9' ceilings top & bottom floors, a spacious loft 10' x 10' that can be used as a bedroom or game room, a 10' x 5' Harry Potter closet previously used as an office, hand-carved lightly distressed maple hardwood flooring-Ponto . he was in the same building as me interesting is now because I just moved to ypsi and live four blocks from where he did. Eric Schroeder, 54, said inextensive interviews with the Free Press. In 2011, asearch of Collins' cell uncovered shards of metal, one of which was shaved to a point. Until he was an adult, Chapman said, hedidn't know the full extent of the accusations against Collins. Onone visit, the detectives brought Collins photosof his beloved motorcycle. (Chapman holds. [76] In his opening statement to the jury on July 20, Delhey outlined the prosecution's contention that the evidence to be presented would form a clear pattern indicating that Collins had been in the company of Karen Sue Beineman at the time she was last seen alive by Mrs. Joan Goshe and her assistant; that he had taken her to the home of his own uncle, where he had tortured and beaten the girl before strangling her to death at this location; and that he had then discarded her body, before attempting to persuade his roommate to provide him with a false alibi. [72], Beineman had died of strangulation, although the pathologist noted the blunt force injuries inflicted to her skull and brain had been so extensive they would likely have proven fatal. "He reveals himself by what he doesn't say, as much as by what he says,"Fournier said of Collins. Now, 40 years later, I find that a close, (unnamed), old girlfriend of mine was one of the last people to speak to Karen alive. About 20 minutes later, Harvey said, Collins'attorney arrived and consulted with his client, who, by then, had time to calm down andregain his composure. ", THE EVIDENCE LOCKER: What police discovered at 7 Michigan murder crime scenes, CHAPTER 1: Never-before-published letters, interviews offer clues in infamous Michigan murders, CHAPTER 2: Murders of Michigan women still unsolved 50 years later but cops had eye on 1 man. They were all shot, strangled, stabbed or subjected to terrible acts. I said 'would you look at these pictures for me' and she said sure. [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. [96], The basement of Sgt. The Inside was really old and spooky, like still 1870's. The man they led away, John Norman Collins, could not have been further removed from the public image of a killer he was a 22-year-old Eastern Michigan education student, former football . Evidence fromJoan Schell, 20, of Plymouth and Maralynn Skelton, 16, of Romulus, hasyet to be tested, the detectives said. "just watched video with my wife who lived across the street at 614 emmet she said she wiil get intouch with you with some very scarry stories nice job kimmer". [125][110] He was tried in Ann Arbor, before Judge John Conlin. Sex Slayer Could be Anyone! He gave her a ride to the wig shop, and thenshe rodewith Collins tohis uncle's house to feed the dog. The circumstances surrounding this case prevented me from getting a fair trial. Christensen further stated that although partial fingerprints had been discovered in the basement of the Leik family,[133] no full fingerprints had been discovered in the basement which had not belonged to any Leik family member. It also fits with previously reported information: Awitness said he owned a .22 and bloodwas found in his car. "That was tough on Leik. The testimony of Joan Goshe was further supported by Patricia Spaulding, who testified as to having observed Collins for between three and four minutes as he had waited for Beineman to return to his motorcycle. The physical and circumstantial evidence linking Collins to this particular murder was stronger than any of the six outstanding murders then linked to him in Michigan, and authorities in Monterey did file several motions to extradite Collins to California to stand trial for Phillips' murder in 1970 and 1971. "I would 'NEVER'hurt a CHILDEVER!!!" One of the personal items missing from Fleszar's body was an Expo 67 Canadian silver dollar she is known to have worn around her neck; this item was discovered in Collins' dresser when police conducted a search of his room. Goshe then observed Beineman climb onto the motorcycle before the young man with whom she had accepted the ride drove away. [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. Collins ends the lettersayingit is the first time he had written down his account of events, and if "I had it to do all over again I'd probably take a different route. She was never seen alive again. Thanks for the reply. Author Greg Fournier later wrote a book about the killings. [149][n 5], Upon receipt of the guilty verdict against their client, Collins' defense attorneys announced their intention to appeal upon the grounds of "tainted identification and the change of venue question." Her birthday was on Christmas, and she sought toget into U-M's graduate school for social work. 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. It would seem unlikely he didn't know Mary. They had set up a task force at an old seminary. The DNA evidence, combined with what Collins said in his prisoninterviews with detectives and what he wrote in never-before-published letters to his second cousin in Canada,refocused attention on Collins as a suspectin some of the unsolved cases. That would change the next day. Roxie Ann Phillips (17): June 30, 1969 (California), 7. Thetyped,single-spaced letters Collins wrote to his cousin are sprinkled with words in all caps, perhaps for emphasis, andidiosyncratically misspelled words. He was then sentenced to serve a term of life imprisonment with hard labor, in solitary confinement, at Southern Michigan Prison. The same afternoon police searched the Leik family's basement, Collins was confronted with evidence thus far gained and deduced. This spokesman indicated the reasoning being that, as Collins had already received a life sentence in Michigan, the case therefore was undeserving of "priority attention" by California authorities, in part due to the fact Collins would be returned to Michigan to serve his sentence if convicted. ", Collins writeshe "got her shorts off, BUTT, no further,"and he "did not have intercourse with her." Go back and read Part One here:Michigan Murders: 50 years ago, terror reigned in Ypsilanti, Continue reading Part Three here:Michigan Murders: Close calls, haunting roads - life after a suspected serial killer is arrested, This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Best wishes! [5] [119], In November, Ryan, in an effort to determine the most effective defense strategy, persuaded Collins to undergo a private and independent polygraph test. They took him at his word. It was a travesty of justice that took place in this courtroom. "They took the car apart and they found under one of the seats, a swatch of fabric, I think was about the size of a dime. He cleaned the sink andwashed his face. [138], On August 8, Collins' attorneys introduced a renowned neutron analyst named Dr. Robert Jervis in an effort to discredit the earlier testimony of the forensic experts who had testified on behalf of the prosecution. Prior to his passing sentence, Judge Conlin asked Collins if he wished to address the court before mandatory life sentencing was imposed. Following Collins' arrest, a section of a red-and-white belt bearing the same distinctive floral pattern was found in the trailer he and Manuel had towed to Salinas on June 21. 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. Thank you for doing this.I read a book called Michigan Murders, I think, in 1977 and I was shocked this happened.This really gives visuals to the descriptions the book gave and its interesting & sad to see where they were found, where they were last seen, where all the locations were.To this day, some 33 years after reading the book, it still haunts me. [127], The prosecutors at Collins' trial, William Delhey and Booker Williams, opted to charge Collins only with the murder of Karen Sue Beineman, with the state contending that she had been murdered by Collins in the basement of the Leik household. The detectives said they tracked Davis to New York but were never able to interviewhim. Collins then offers a similar account, but in more detail, that he gave the detectives. This is part two of our Michigan Murders series. I understand they still have DNA, perhaps if the local press would get off this guys back and allow fairness to take place you might find out the culprit was someone else. She worked alongside Witsil and Maxwell interviewing key figures into the investigation of the Michigan Murders cold case to produce a documentary video and portraits. [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. ", Collins writes he knew he "couldn't leave her in my uncle's basement" because "he was a State Trooper for God's sake." [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. Throughout their vacation, Collins had been temporarily residing in the Leik family's Ypsilanti home, having been granted sole access to the house in order that he could feed their German shepherd. Collins also writesstate police saw him in prison because they foundhis semen was inside Kalom. [3], All the victims of the Michigan Murderer were young women between the ages of 13 and 21 who were abducted, raped, beaten and murderedtypically by stabbing or strangulationwith their bodies occasionally mutilated after death before being discarded within a 15-mile radius of Washtenaw County. The girl gave him a picture, which he put in a photo lineup and went to the chocolate shop to look for the employee. 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. Triad Animal torture Yes. "I will ALWAYS Love her! But they were striking. [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. Great Job! 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. In response to questions as to her personal character, Goshe further conceded she had previously lied under oath on two occasions (one instance of which was unrelated to the trial). My name is Sheri I live in Salem twp not far from the Michigan murders.. A couple of yrs ago I was told by the Librarian at Salem to read this book. Non-commercial, fact based reporting is made possible by your financial support. Hetook her there, waited for her and then, they ended up at his uncles house. Collins, now known as John Chapman, proclaims his innocence to this day. beautiful ceramic fountain, and enjoying your concrete round gas fire pit. [23] Prior to enrolling at Eastern Michigan University in the fall of 1966, he had been an honor student and football co-captain at his high school.[89]. A sorority house, quiet student rentals, family homes, downtown businesses, and isolated tracts of land still stand, hidden in plain sight, as a reminder of the lives cut short during a time of Terror in Ypsilanti. Handsome and clean-cut, he graduated from a. Arnold Davis also informed police Collins had been in the company of victim Alice Kalom on the evening of her disappearance. 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. 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. I remember the day they began to extract evidence from Collins apartment and car just down the streetvery, very spooky Geez! [71] As had been the case with previous victims, her killer had placed a section of cloth in her throat to muffle her screams throughout her torture. When questioned Collins claimed that he was with his mother at the time in Centerline, MI and it was probably just a case of mistaken identity. On August 3, two Washtenaw County detectives traveled to Salinas Police Department to review information and determine whether a connection existed between Phillips' murder and those which Collins was suspected of committing in Michigan. A killer is on the loose, five women in southeast Michigan are dead, and a sixthis missing. But as Leik walked into the basement, he found a mess of the hair and there was blood on the basement floor. By '69, he was a senior at Eastern Michigan University, studying to be a teacher. Investigators had long suspected John Norman Collins of killing young women and girls in the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor areas in the late1960s. Disappeard: July 18, 1967. they didn't clean well enough??!! "[156], At the time of his 1970 conviction, a grand jury indictment against Collins remained outstanding in relation to the June 1969 murder of Roxie Ann Phillips in Monterey County, California. New evidence in 2005 resulted in the conviction of Gary Earl Leiterman for one of the murders attributed to John Norman Collins, the murder of law student Karen Mixer. At the time of his arrest, hishigh school girlfriend, Burnadetta Hudak, describedCollins aspolitewith "manners galore," opening the door for a ladyand standing when a woman or older personentered the room. Convicted of one The Michigan Murders, a series of killings that terrorized southeastern Michigan for two years, but is believed to have committed all. "In my mind," the detectivesaid, "the Kalom case is solved.". When Davis returned home, he told Collins he went to a partyandhad an accident in his car. Another individual would be convicted of the murder of Jane Mixer in 2005. Kalom, who graduated from the University of Michigan not long before she was killed, was described as a "wholesome-looking girl" with "a vivid imagination." So sad. The failed sting caused Harvey substantialpublic embarrassment, and bringing it up again, Harvey said, was Collins' way of mocking him, as if heweresaying: "Ha. "Her and the daughter both had miniskirts on and with the boots, all the way up, and long, dangly earrings. MATURE CONTENT WARNING: This story contains descriptions of gruesome crime scenes. [75], The 47th and final witness to appear for the prosecution at Collins' trial was a University of California chemistry professor named Dr. Vincent P. Guinn, who testified on August 5 as to his conclusions that the hair samples retrieved from Beineman's panties bore "a remarkable similarity" to those retrieved from the Leik household and that, upon statistical calculations he had begun the previous month, the odds of erroneous matching of the hair samples earlier testified to by Walter Holz were quite low. In the few days he was in southern California, 17-year-old Roxie Phillips disappeared. [69] Upon questioning both of Beineman's roommates, police were informed that she (Beineman) had last been seen shortly after noon on her way to a downtown wig shop. 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. (He said) 'take him back to jail.' The seven. By July 24, every cop in Washtenaw County was issued a Be On the Lookout (BOLO) for the bike and biker. "We've never met," said Chapman, 47, of Mississauga, Canada, near Toronto. Although this officer attempted to radio this sighting to his colleagues, the rain had rendered his radio inoperable. While DNA matched in Kalom's case, no DNA was found on evidence connected to Basom of Ypsilanti or Fleszar, 19, of Willis. Bundshuh recalled during interviews with the Free Pressat his Adrian home. Less than three hours later, Kolbe reported her roommate missing after failing to receive any contact. *SHUDDER!*. Karen had left to walk to a wig shop in downtown Ypsilanti, yet she arrived on the back of a motorcycle. It was July 23rd, 1969. The first two witnesses to testify were Beineman's two roommates; each of whom discussed Beineman's character, and her movements on the day of her disappearance. A medical examination revealed Beineman had been extensively beaten about the face and body, with some lacerations inflicted being so severe sections of skin had been removed, exposing subcutaneous tissues. In September 1988, Chapman agreed to participate in a live interview conducted by the. My name is C and I have been doing some research about the co ed killer. [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]). Investigators noted strong similarities between this murder and previous killings attributed to the Michigan Murderer, including the fact that a garter belt had been tied around Skelton's neck[35] and her clothes and shoes had been neatly placed beside her body. John Norman Collins, now known as John Norman Chapman, continues to maintain his innocence despite this evidence and having been convicted by a jury of his peers. [130], Three days after both counsels had begun introducing witnesses, Joan Goshe was called to testify on behalf of the prosecution. On August 17, 1970, John Normans Collins was found guilty by a jury. She had last been seen on July 1 with John Norman Collins. Beineman's body was replaced with that of a tailor's mannequin, and the gully surrounding this mannequin monitored by undercover officers. The jury did not take its task lightly, but, I think things were blown out of proportion. I also know someone who was a graduate student working on a project with Alice at the time she disappeared--she was absolutely horrified to find out that she had been murdered. [18], Schell hailed from Plymouth and had recently moved into a house on Emmet Street in Ypsilanti; she was last seen by her roommate, Susan Kolbe, at a Washtenaw Avenue bus stop on the evening of June 30. Chapman's theory: Collins wasunhappy with his mother's marriage choices, blamed her for taking him away from his father, and took out his hatred for his mom on women like her: attractive, brunette, smart, independent and who rejected him. [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. 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. Beineman, she said, went in the store,purchased a brown hairpiece, and left with Collins on his motorcycle. Next, they went to "a really PRETTY SPOT that was on the outskirts of campus," which "led to sex.". Then famed psychic Peter Hurkos was hired to use his skills to find the killer or lead to new clues. While waiting on Beineman on the day she disappeared, a Wig shop manager had gotten an decent look at as she road away with a man on a Triumph 650 Bonneville motorcycle. Instead, theyput the body in the trunk,rolled it into a ravine, and returned to the house to clean up. [70], Three days after the disappearance of Beineman, her nude body was discovered face-down in a wooded gully alongside the Huron River parkway. Karen had been tortured before her death, beaten on the head, had been strangled to death and dumped, naked, off Riverside Drive. Collins was subsequently taken into police custody but denied any involvement whatsoever in the killing. Furthermore, Collins' lawyers argued issues such as the admissibility of testimony relating to the microscopic analysis of hair samples presented at his trial, and the denial of defense motions to suppress prosecution witnesses testifying against their client. Delhey also stated the prosecution's intent to prove that Collins had had sole access to his uncle's home and basement on the afternoon of Beineman's disappearance, and although he had made concerted efforts to remove physical evidence from the crime scene, blood samples recovered from this location were a match for the blood type of the victim. In an email to the Free Press sent this week, Collins maintainshe is innocent. ", After her last prison visit, Chapman said, his aunt told the rest of the family her son confessed to killingBeineman,and aftershe died, left instructions in her will to give Collins nothing "for reasons that John is all too well aware of. Moreover, this search had also uncovered small bloodstains in nine areas of the basement. [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. Her body was found two days later in a field. "He suggested they had met within a day or so before she was murdered, and they had gone out scrambling on a motorcycle," Bundshuh said. 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). Copyright 11826 Caminito Rihely. [50] She had been accompanied part of the way by a friend named Earl Kidd, who informed police he and Basom had parted company at a desolate road just five blocks from her home,[51] where Basom had begun walking alone alongside railroad tracks toward her home. 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.
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