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[56] She had also been raped, although the pathologist was unable to determine whether this act had occurred before or after death. Letters, interviews reveal dark side. [87] When Mathewson showed these photographs to both Goshe and her assistant, Patricia Spaulding, both women were adamant the man in the photographs was the same individual with whom Beineman had last been seen alive. Investigators had established that each victim had been menstruating at the time of her death, and had theorized this may be a factor in the sexual violence exhibited upon the victims. Almost one year later on July 6, 1968, student Joan Schell was found dead in Ann Arbor with 47 stab wounds. Still, in interviews with detectives,Collins described meetingKalom, 21, of Portage, and taking her on a motorcycle-riding date just before she was slain. 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. This summer, as Bundshuh prepared to retire, he gathered the more-than-50-year-old files that he had become familiar with so he could ship them to the Michigan State Police headquarters in Dimondale so the state candigitize them. Thank You for this wonderful site. News articles described John Collinsas a square-jawed,"handsomeAll-American who seemed to be leading a textbook college career." And John picked her up and he had a nice carthat was his mother's car," Fournier said. He tries to give his cousin a glimpse of prison life. [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. He writeshe ran into Beineman, "she SMILED AT ME and WAVED her hand." John Norman Collins: Michigan murder suspect's letters, interviews [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. "We fooled around a little more and I ejaculated on her panties. "Roxie is walking down the street, mailed a letter a block away from her house. [147] In response, Collins rose from his chair and made the following speech:[148]. Hetook her there, waited for her and then, they ended up at his uncles house. At his uncle's house, they went downstairs. Michigan Murders - Wikipedia Still, in the police interviews and the letters, Collins steered clear of outrightconfessing to killing anyone, and in his email to the Free Press last week, he claims he has been exploited and wronged that in a way, he isthe victim. Following the state's closing argument, both Neil Fink and Joseph Louisell delivered separate closing arguments on behalf of the defense, describing Collins as a "young victim of circumstances" and dismissing much of the evidence presented as "fuzzy allegations," with Louisell being particularly scornful as to the testimony of Walter Holz, to whose conclusions, he asserted, the prosecution hinged its entire case. Hidden In Plain Sight: Terror In Ypsilanti | WEMU-FM Investigators determined the knife was consistent with the weapon used to stab Kalom. All-American boy John Norman Collins was . Although Washtenaw County Sheriff Douglas Harvey conceded at a press conference that same month that investigators had little physical evidence to act upon and that the perpetrator had yet to make a serious error, he was adamant about the fact the murderer was still at large was due to pure luck, and not for lack of police effort. The following evening, Davis observed Collins emerging from his bedroom carrying a box partially covered by a blanket. It wasn't enough evidence for the state police to recommend new charges, butit was enough to convinceBundshuh. Bundshuhadded that the new information, along with the DNA match, supported that Collins was the "perpetrator in that case." "I was on patrol the afternoon of the 23rd of July, and turned the corner down by Sill Hall on the campus and there was John Collins. Collins writes that Davis had a "twin brother" with a car fitting the description of the vehiclea witness saw giving anothervictim, Joan Schell, a ride in. Her body was found two days later in a field. Collins' uncle, State Police Sergeant David Leik, had been on vacation with his family at the time of Beineman's disappearance, and had only returned home on July 29three days after the discovery of her body. A Midnight Jogger John Norman Collins: The Co-Ed Killer Crime Library 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. I don't think there was ever a farmhouse or barn in the area you referenced. The assistant DA was a friend of my Dad's! 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 Collins then offers a similar account, but in more detail, that he gave the detectives. Roxie Ann Phillips (17): June 30, 1969 (California), 7. Living with Mom, and then moved into the basement of his uncle's house. [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. If you missed part one, stop reading right now and go to part one here. 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 . Corporal David Leik had just returned from vacation when he noticed things were amiss in the basement. [158] Just six months later, in January 1972, Monterey County District Attorney William Curtis formally announced, via a spokesman, the intention of California authorities to waive all extradition proceedings against Collins for Phillips' murder. August 1: Collins is arraigned on murder. [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. Glass particles found within this basement were of a similar consistency to those found upon the soles of Basom's shoes. ", "Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked,", Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. And I'm with you we should NEVER forget that something like that Can & DID happen here. One of the men in the car Schell had entered was Collins' roommate, Arnold Davis, who later informed police the girl had indeed entered the car he had been driving, but that Collins had insisted he give Schell the lift she was seeking to Ann Arbor in his own car. She said they stopped for a moment and he asked her "What would you say if I told you I was the coed killer?" [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." the ironic thing of this is that my mother was very close friends with one of the girls maybe you should talk to her some time, I work with Doug Harvey's grand son Joe whom claims his gradpa solved this case is this not true and he was a botched job ? 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. The email, detectives said, is characteristic of Collins, full of denials and rationalizations. [61][62] Investigators had publicly claimed prior to Kalom's murder they were satisfied that the third victim initially linked to the Michigan Murderer, Jane Mixer, had been killed by a separate perpetrator; the fact Kalom had also received a gunshot wound to the head led investigators to reconsider the possibility Mixer may have been murdered by the same perpetrator. Right after Alice Kalom was killed in June '69, Collins and a friends took a road trip to Salinas, California. He comes out and said 'take him back to jail.' Fournierwho now lives in Santee, California,nearSan Diego added he also wasnever able to talk to Davis, but is convinced Collins is guilty. The jury did not take its task lightly, but, I think things were blown out of proportion. [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. That seems tocorrelatewith a memory Collins describes in his longletters. Instead, theyput the body in the trunk,rolled it into a ravine, and returned to the house to clean up. After those two letters,they quit writing. Maryann Struman is Freep Now director at the Detroit Free Press and project leader. Everything matched the belt and that swatch, which connected the two," Fournier said. 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? Having compared case notes, investigators in both California and Michigan agreed enough similarities existed between the murder of Roxie Ann Phillips and the Michigan Murders to establish a definite connection between the cases,[113] and on August 5, this connection was formally announced. Both women had agreed this composite drawing was accurate, and only disagreed as to the structure of the suspect's chin. [65], At the request of an Ann Arbor citizen's community, a Dutch psychic named Peter Hurkos traveled to Washtenaw County on July 21, to generate a psychic profile of the murderer. I said 'would you look at these pictures for me' and she said sure. Thank you to Gregory A. Fournier, author of "Terror in Ypsilanti," for taking us on this tour, and photographer Lisa Powers for documenting our work. [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. Collins was "six feet . because it didn't happen as you would think it did,"Collins wrote to his cousin, setting him up for a lengthy explanation that revealed he had lied for years. At a second hearing in September, Collins refused to enter a plea; Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge John Conlin ordered a plea of not guilty entered on his behalf. When confronted with this finding, Collins reportedly denied any knowledge of the existence of this item and insisted it had never been in his room; he had apparently neglected to dispose of this item as he had the personal possessions of other victims two days prior to his arrest. As we now know, police make mega mistakes and prosecutors have major egos and will NEVER EVER admit to being wrong. When I was first arrested my Mother asked me if I had done this and I told her 'NO' and she never asked me about it again. 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. [88] Later that evening, Collins informed Davis he had simply decided to "get rid of" the box and its contents. Investigators didnt know it then, but this was the beginning of a series of murders attributed to John Norman Collins. Questioned by police, Collins flatly denied even knowing Schell, and insisted he had spent the weekend of June 2930 with his mother at her house in the Detroit suburb of Center Line, and had not returned to Ypsilanti until the morning of July 1. By that point, Larry had been brought in to share what he had with Michigan State Police, the Washtenaw County Sheriff, and other agencies. 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. Between the summers of 1967 through 1969, before the term serial killer was coined, a predatory killer stalked the campuses of Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan seeking prey until he made the arrogant mistake of killing his last victim in the basement of his uncle's home. We have been known to play those kinds of PRANKS on each other in the Fraternity.". In September 1988, Chapman agreed to participate in a live interview conducted by the. He gave her a ride to the wig shop, and thenshe rodewith Collins tohis uncle's house to feed the dog. The owner of the wig shop, Joan Goeshe, and her assistant stepped out to watch the young girl on the bike. Wikizero - Michigan Murders JOHN NORMAN COLLINS Born in - American Crime Stories | Facebook Karen disappeared and was killed when Leik and his family were on vacation, but the home wasn't empty. "The town collectively went into shock," Fournier said. Memeory is fuzzy it might have been you that let me read it. The detectives said they tracked Davis to New York but were never able to interviewhim. 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. Collins adds:"I like to believe that I still have some 'INTEGRITY.' Has it been 40 years?!? According to Davis, he had heard Collins and Kalom arguing behind closed doors, before Kalom had run out of his (Collins') apartment, with Collins chasing after her. In 1970, John Collins was tried for the murder of Karen Beineman. "He reveals himself by what he doesn't say, as much as by what he says,"Fournier said of Collins. Three days later it was discovered, and this set a strange sequence of events into effect that would eventually lead to the capture of who many had dubbed the "Ypsilanti Ripper.". Upon conducting a search of the basement of this farmhouse, investigators discovered a further garment of her clothing, a length of electrical flex of the same type used to strangle the victim, and fresh human bloodstains, indicating this location as being the site of Basom's murder. She also orchestrated the evidence locker. dear retrokimmer & brother, I dearly love that you did this memorial to the poor victims of that sadistic monster,My father & I were going to do this very thing, but Then I got very badly injured,and couldn't finish our memorial, (there;s next year) fine job thank you for remembering the girls !!!!! A vacationing Leik had entrusted Collins to watch over his house while he was away. Although this officer attempted to radio this sighting to his colleagues, the rain had rendered his radio inoperable. [57] Sections of her clothing were scattered around her body, although one of her shoes was missing. 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 3 Bedroom, 2.5 Bathroom, 2 story condo in a highly sought community RIVERVIEW Courts. 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. Some peoples facts are not so good but you did a nice job!!! [153], His lawyers further argued that, at an evidentiary hearing in April 1970, shortly before jury selection had begun, Collins' indictment for the California murder of Roxie Ann Phillips had likewise received extensive media coverage in Washtenaw Countyfurther reducing the chances of potential jurors being unbiased. On the day Karen disappeared, Larry said John was sitting on a motorcycle, flirting with pretty college girls. Living with Mom, and then moved into the basement of his uncle's house. The driver had been aged around 20 and clean-cut with short, dark, side-parted hair. The first victim, Mary Fleszar was last seen being cut off by a guy in a shiny car just a block from Collins' room. 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. "It all began the day before I met Karen B. 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. Wow, Kim, this does bring back memories. John Norman Collins was born on the 17th of June, 1947. [161] He had further informed his roommate he had agreed to drive Schell from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti the following day. Frank Witsil is a staff writer at the Detroit Free Press. This is the only murder for which Collins would ever stand trial. [49], Basom had last been seen alive at 7:30p.m. the previous evening, walking home from a friend's house located barely a mile from her own home. All had been killed and then dumped on back roads. In 1969.my family had a coney island in Annarbor.across from the Michigan theater..we all remember it well.I read the book and took the same tour.but at that time the old farm house was still standing.my brother and I went there late at night, and we walked the property.when U drive up the short driveway..when U reach leavel.that's were the lilac plums were placed togather..one extra flower to indicate there is an other death comming soon ! Handsome and clean-cut, he graduated from a. Goshe then observed Beineman climb onto the motorcycle before the young man with whom she had accepted the ride drove away. However, they acknowledged, DNA did lead to a plea ina nearly30-year-old murder of a Californiateen. Collinsassertshis innocence by saying that if the sheriff had caught the killer the night of the stakeout, "I wouldn't be here now.". She had last been seen on July 1 with John Norman Collins. Collins was ready to confess, but without a witness, the former sheriff said itmight not stick. Collins, Chapman recalled, give him explicit, sexually graphicinstructions on what to do with a girl, including suggestions that some women "like it rough.". Their lease expressly forbade any "painting" or tampering with the Basement. 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. Instead, Collins said he lent Davis, who was having car trouble, his keys and he went to Ann Arbor. How about a private finished attached 2-car garage with overhead storage! John Norman Collins is a suspect connected to seven young women's vicious and heinous murders. In the case of California victim Roxie Ann Phillips, police had discovered that, prior to her murder, the victim had told a close friend she had met an Eastern Michigan University student named John, who owned a silver Oldsmobile Cutlass and several motorcycles; her nude, strangled body was found discarded in a patch of poison oak on July 13,[164] with the distinctive red-and-white floral patterned belt from her culotte dress knotted around her neck. [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. Ryan further stated at this hearing he was "undecided" as to whether the upcoming trial be held away from the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti district due to pretrial publicity, and this final motion was held in abeyance until an impartial jury could be selected. [109] Upon questioning Manuel's grandfather, investigators were informed that his grandson and one John Collins had temporarily resided in the trailerwhich they had hired from an Ypsilanti rental firmbetween June and July, before both men had abandoned the trailer and (he believed) returned to Michigan. [118] At this hearing, Collins' court-appointed attorney, Richard Ryan, challenged the validity of the physical evidence and the credibility of the circumstantial evidence before formally requesting the case against his client be dismissed and the evidence seized from his rooming house and vehicle suppressed upon the grounds Collins had not consented to a police search of his property. On top of that, Collins, in two 2013 letters to his cousinJohn Chapman, revealed inhis own words what he said "really happened" all those years ago, confirming details from the cases and recanting his claim that he never knew his victim. [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." It was July 23rd, 1969. As for the youngest victim, 13-year-old Dawn Basom, he was connected to her too: he had friends that lived in the apartment building near Dawn's home. Greg takes us next to the last place 13-year-old Dawn Louise Basom from Ypsilanti was seen alive. I lived on Leforge at the time and know the area well. He lured women into his clutches by exploiting a common practice at the time, women hitchhiking or arranging rides with strangers to get from Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor and beyond. It sentstate police looking atthe other unsolved cases. Between the summers of 1967 through 1969, before the term serial killer was coined, a predatory killer stalked the campuses of Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan seeking prey until he made the arrogant mistake of killing his last victim in the basement of his uncle's home. The first letter, dated Oct. 22, Collins says he has much to reveal and doesn't "know where to begin." 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. Larry thought he was onto something and, when he found Collins getting ready to put a new license plate on a Triumph bike behind the house, he got nervous. Then we googled the address and the Michigan Murders popped up. Collins has been locked up for 50 years - but that doesn't erase the pain. Four of these witnesses were employees of a motorcycle sales firm which Collins had visited on the afternoon of Beineman's disappearance. He spent five months reporting on the state police investigation;reviewing books on John Norman Collins and serial killers; interviewing dozens of detectives, witnesses, experts and others connected with the case; and sifting through hundreds of archived newspaper articles, police photos and records and court documents. ", After 10 p.m., he claims an upset-looking Davis said he "needed to talk to me.". Davis had reported this incident to police, and later handed them the knife Collins had allegedly asked him to hide. They focused on Kalom, who, like Mixer, also was shot; Basom, the youngest of the cases,and Mary Fleszar, the first woman slain. 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. Beineman's body was replaced with that of a tailor's mannequin, and the gully surrounding this mannequin monitored by undercover officers. 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. [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. PDF John Norman Collins - Murderpedia