Collins had given Phillips' friend,also 17, a ride and then made a date with her. The Kingsford, Iron Mountain, Norway, and Dickinson Drug Enforcement team arrested 27-year-old Elliott Trindal of Iron Mountain. And she called her sister, Carrie Nelson, 31, and Nelson's boyfriend, Jody Hutchinson, 42, and they all eventually met up in Germfask, at Aldrich's mother's house. To prepare for the trial, investigators had re-created the chimney block incident. "Ourinvestigation into John Norman Collins remains open," Michigan State Police said in an email to the Free Press, adding that the agency"will continue to evaluate and examine any credible information received.". After The four piled out to investigate, peered into the windows and saw what appeared to be two smoldering bodies in the back seat. So now the prosecutor was down to two defendants, but with enough evidence to proceed to trial. Mantique area residents in Michigans UP are shocked by the murders of three local residents, Jody Hutchinson, 42, Carrie Nelson, 31 ,and Heather Aldrich, 25. The sentences from a federal judge range from 27 months to 15+ years in prison. Harvey, 88, also recalled what he considered an essential aspect of the unsolved cases that many Michiganders have mostly forgotten, thevictim in Salinas, California, that Collins also was suspected of killing. But detective Bob Ball didnt buy it. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Maybe, shes just trying to tell me she misses me, Dowd said. That's when the inmate agreed to his first televisedinterview, perhaps as a ploy to gain public sympathy and support to be transferred to Canada. Crime - UpperMichigansSource.com After his wifes death, Bruce reportedly bragged to Gayle that hed soon have a financial windfall thanks to Judys life insurance policies, which would total $330,000 because of double indemnity clauses. Bruce seemed to blame Judy for her own death because she didnt wear an orange jacket. The police investigation, several hundred pages long, paints a picture of desperate lives even among the splendor of a national forest and relative peace of a small, sleepy town -- of drug addicts living from one fix to the next, and dealers willing to kill if crossed. Paul Girard was found dead near Chief Kawbawgam's grave at Presque Isle Park. Bruce also did some more-typical dumb criminal stuff, like trying to make a premeditated murder look like a hunting accident (Janice Dodson). Somebody took her away and it needs to be solved. The couple married in 1978. The fire had been so fierce it melted the tires off the vehicle. They were all confident that the numerous statements made by the defendants would ensure convictions. Frustration became so intense that residents and even some law enforcement officials were willing to try anything. Youll always be here in my heart, it was signed. She also orchestrated the evidence locker. A Husband Tries Murder, Insurance Fraud, and a Little Forgery(Hunter or Hunted? Forensic Files). When Brunke took the stand Noble asked him about it. Up Next: John Norman Collins changes his story in never-before-published letters. The 2000 Oldsmobile Bravada was almost too small to handle its cargo a dead man and dead woman in the back seat, another woman's body wedged behind that seat. But truthfully, I thought the evidence was a bit light for murder, although his confession put me over the top to say he was guilty. "See, I think, what happened is after I was arrested, the media was willing to accept what the police said.". Thats the last time anyone saw her alive. Some in attendance cried. Both women frequented the university's McKenny Union. Because of the condition of the bodies, the medical examiner could not determine the cause of death. In 1976, Judy met Bruce Moilanen, who came into the world on March 29, 1954, the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Moilanen. About a month later, two teen boys stumbled acrossher corpse in Superior Township on an abandoned farm. On April 16, she woke that morning and found that the temptation of free morphine was too great. Jody Hutchinson had 5 children, two grandchildren, a mother and four siblings. When Cochran was sentenced for the crime, she was already serving a life sentence for the murder and dismemberment of her lover, Chris Regan, after he vanished in 2014 in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I was initially interested in it because I know the area well, but I dont read a lot of murder mysteries or mysteries in general. Taylor would have been 44 this year. Prosecutor William Delhey and Ann Arbor Police Chief Walter Krasny were skeptical of psychic readings. Authorities later uncovered clothingthat belonged to Basom in a nearby farmhouse. According to American Justice, Gayle considered him irritating and kept ignoring him and hoped hed go away.. Bruce also said Judy had threatened to divorce him and he didnt want to split everything. "She would come home to me, sometimes, mostly to rest," said her mother Kellie Roll, 51, at her small home in Germfask Township. It's a place where people from big cities spend quiet summer vacations and families move for a simpler life. Web"The Michigan Murders is the ultimate True Crime classic, unfolding like great mystery fiction while still delivering the powerful charge of real life." He also implied that staff members damaged his word processor and cassette player. "We're not getting the whole picture.". For example, Dearborn has a murder rate of only 2.1 per 100,000 while sharing borders with Detroit (43.5 per 100,000) and Inkster (24.2 per 100,000), some of the highest rates in the state. MARQUETTE A rosary draped around the base of a white cross can be seen along Marquette County Road 492 in Negaunee Township, but another cross lies in the wooded area just beyond the roadway this one marking where a sheriffs deputy discovered the badly decomposed body of 24-year-old Erin Taylor. He referred to himself as a"telepathic detective.". Iron Mountain City Council will meet at 6 p.m. today at Iron Mountain City Hall. It is episode 88 called A Walk in the Woods. Suspected Serial Killer Murdered Lover Authorities had reason to believe the slayings were connected. Californiaand Michigan authorities investigated Phillips' death. We'll kill you." Fleszar and Schell were bothstudents at EMU, living near each other. In the meantime, the authorities took the scene at face value as an accident, believing that an unknown hunters errant bullet killed Judy. Hetold his mother he saw that face before, driving by the house. And like Forensic Files killers Brenda Andrew and George Hansen, Bruce never imagined investigators would look into previous near-deadly accidents that befell the victim. After hundreds of interviews, Marquette City Police Department was able to narrow down a male suspect, but there wasnt enough evidence to charge him. You can find it on Amazon Music (free with Prime). Cordell said he was upstairs at the time, but that Brunke provided specific details of his own murderous activity in the basement. A second cross is placed about 100 yards into the woods off the road. Whats more, as they did their work in the area, they found that they felt dizzy and disorientedturns it out what they had stumbled on was a place that would continue to baffle countless visitors for generations. Somebody took her away and it needs to be solved. Officials decided thatthe show would be recorded instead. Browse By State; Submit a Crime Tip Square with arrow pointing upper right. She writes about Michigan for OIYS. Jamie Agnew, Aunt A book, "The Michigan Murders," about the slayings was published in 1976, and Hollywood started production on a movie,"Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep," in 1977 In Michigan. Collins and afriend drove to California. Police pressure. 7 Disturbing Unsolved Mysteries In Michigan - OnlyInYourState ". WebOn October 22, 1974, the authorities received an anonymous call that Goines and his common-law wife, Shirley Sailor, were dead. Melanie Maxwell has been a picture editor at the Free Press since 2018. Police identified the woman as Joan Elspeth Schell, a 20-year-old EMU student. 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. It just didn't make sense.". Investigators made another connection: Collins also lived near the twovictims. Published: Aug. 12, 2021 at 5:15 PM PDT. "What did Mr. Brunke owe you money for? A former Manistique City Council member, and the father of five, Noble was appointed as the Schoolcraft County prosecutor in 2011, just months out of law school, then elected unopposed to a four-year term. A brother and sister traveling on an old stretch of rural highway in Michigan back in 1990 got cut off by a maniac on the road. Dowd said one thing her friend always looked forward to was turning a quarter of a century, which she missed by just a few months before her life was cut short. These are the types of stories that defy logic and that will have us scratching our heads for ages. Doctors initially thought she had gallbladder problems, but as her condition deteriorated, they prepared to send her by helicopter to a hospital in Marquette. Thursday before she went missing she came over to my house and she said woman, thats what she called me, we have got to talk. But then she got on my computer and never talked, Dowd said. In 1979, about two years after Collins was transferred from the prison in Jackson to the old, fortress-like maximum-security prisonin Marquette, in the remote Upper Peninsula, hetried to escape by tunneling his way out. The murder charges against Brunke were being dropped and he was going to be allowed to plead to obstruction of justice and lying to a police officer, convictions that could have him out of prison in five years or less. It was Jane Mixer, a 23-year-old University of Michigan law student. "And now that's gone too.". Authorities suspected one man, John Norman Collins, killed them. "Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked,", Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. A look at five of Michigan's serial killers and their crimes Her body was found naked on July 13, just days before Beineman's body was uncovered in Michigan. A few days later, Brunke was arrested in Illinois where he had fled after the killings. Would have been nice to retrieve the gun and do ballistics, but the fact that he disposed of the gun played an important part in showing guilt. But along the way, she got her GED and, for a while, held a job at a local casino. SAULT STE. Until next time, cheers. But, when the Leiks came home, they noticed some things weren't quite right. It was significantly different from the others, and the state used new DNA evidence to convictGary Leiterman, who died in the prison system earlier this year. It makes more sense now that they would say things the way that they did.. His dismay at Alrldich's theft of the drugs from his friend Brunke, and his suspicion that all three victims were working with undercover drug enforcement officers, a claim law enforcement dismissed as ludicrous. If I understand the court papers correctly, Bruce actually got some of these employees dismissed in 2011. Today, Bruce is better known as inmate #235252 in Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, Michigan, at security level II. Initially, his transfer application was approved. "It was where we could all go to remember them," said Kellie Roll. Forensic Files gives his job title as insurance adjustor. In 1989, they had a daughter named Elise. He was imprisoned from 1967 until 1971, when President Richard Nixon pardoned him with the understanding that Hoffa would resign from his Teamster presidency. But there was no one to see it except them. When the jury came back with a guilty verdict on Dec. 15, 1993, Judys parents who initially supported Bruce hugged. MIO, Mich. (AP) _ Two brothers have been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing two hunters who disappeared in 1985. All rights reserved. The profile, according to "Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked," a 2016 book on the Collins case, concluded that the murderer was likely a religious man who probably had a traumatic experience in his life and, most ominously, would kill again. Jamie Zambon pleaded not guilty to one felony count of embezzlement between $1,000 and $20,000, according to a clerk from the Delta County circuit court. Creative effort. The Blakes belonged to the Redeemer Free Lutheran Church, and Judys parents, Mary Ann and Dale, operated a business called Dales Service, according to FindaGrave. If youd like to know more about the case, you can find the book The Sweater Letter, later retitled Hunt to Kill, on Amazon. When Mary Fleszar's mutilated body was found on Aug. 7, 1967, it had been brutalized so severely she had to be identified from dental records. "Kelly & Company," a popular WXYZ-TV morning show, intended to broadcast a live conversation with Collins form the Marquette prison. In January 2020, a forensic sketch was released by the Marquette Police Department, regarding a second person of interest in the case. Deputies replaced Beineman's body in the ravine with a J.C. Penney mannequin and waited, expecting the killer to return. Michigan In atwist, it was Collins' uncle, state police Cpl. Investigators say Steven Briggs stole tires and rims from Pomp's Tire Shop and sold them to Joseph Ellis. "Everybody is real mad up here.". Investigators believed that Bruce hid in the woods and shot Judy. While the city with highest number of murders period? A man who was arrested on assault charges had trial today in a Marquette County district courtroom. That was Bruces downfall he was cheap, Bob Ball said. Although Forensic Files says that all the dogs returned home without Judy, the book The Sweater Letter by Dave and Lynn Distel maintains that only Streak came home alone. The Michigan State Court of Appeals has upheld a Delta County Circuit Court decision to dismiss challenges to zoning issues regarding the construction of windfarms in the Garden Peninsula. "I placed a bag over his head and duct taped it around his neck at which time he told me he couldn't breathe, and I said, 'no kidding, dummy.' WebEighth District - Upper Peninsula. A high school senior, Phillips was in Californiaand went missing on June 30, 1969. Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked. But Aldrich would disappear for days at a time, only to return for more drugs. Hooked on drugs in her early teens in rural Newberry by a boyfriend who introduced her to the needle, she dropped out of school and began to have babies, five in all. "I would fix her something to eat, and she'd stay awhile, but then she'd be gone," Roll said. They alsowould forever scar the twin university towns. Theres things that were said and things that were done. Aldrich would later tell a friend that one day in early April she came home and found Brunke with a handgun to his head. INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY TRAVELS TO MICHIGANS UPPER PENINSULA IN PURSUIT OF A SUSPECTED FEMALE SERIAL KILLER IN DEAD NORTH Two-Night Special Premieres Monday, May 28 and Tuesday, May 29 at 9/8c on ID. Dowd first met Taylor at a womens shelter and the two just became fast friends, she said. "It's bad enough, being convicted of one thing that you didn't do," a shackled Collins said. The community was both mesmerized and suspicious about how the case unfolded. Finding out who did it would bring Dowd peace of mind, but she is confident that justice will be served even in the afterlife, she said. She arrived at Taylors home to find the window open and her beloved Siamese cat without food or water, something Taylor would never do, she said. While there has been a sharp increase in drug use in the tiny towns of the UP in recent years, he said, this was a new level of violence. Bruce went off to prison, but has made some attempts to get out on two feet, including an unsuccessful 1996 appeal claiming police shouldnt have interrogated him without counsel. Chester Fleszaralso expressed a glimmer of hope he could put his daughter to rest: The grieving father just wanted to put his teenage daughter's body back together. "How is that they can say this guy wasn't involved? Bruck was dressed like Poison Ivy. Fleszar's case and the cases of five other victims, Joan Schell, Dawn Basom, Maralynn Skelton, Alice Kalom, and Roxie Phillips have remained unsolved for half a century or more, a long time to wait for families seeking justice. The man threatened Martin:"You're dead. "My name is Mary Terese Fleszar, but my family calls me Chee Chee," it says, adding, "It is my hope that through this pictorial history of my lifes adventure you will get to know the real me. On Tuesday, Dowd released a bouquet of balloons each with a different memory for Taylor; some read Erin bear, www.justiceforerintaylor.com and love you always.. Man arrested on drug charges in Houghton County, Sentencing set for Gladstone woman involved in embezzlement case, Michigan Court of Appeals upholds Delta County Circuit court decision regarding wind farms, Michigan court of appeals rules on Marquette County sexual assault case, Man arrested on domestic assault charges in Ishpeming, Lousiana man sentenced for meth charges in Delta County, UPDATE: Menominee County Prosecutor charges sheriff candidate with violation of election law, 2 arrested after Houghton County traffic stop, drugs found, UPDATE: Ishpeming graffiti suspects confess to vandalism, UPDATE: Suspects identified in Houghton County home invasion, Former priest arraigned in Ontonagon County on new CSC charges, Michigan Supreme Court won't hear Cochran appeal, Life sentence for first-degree criminal sexual conduct upheld, Iron Mountain man sentenced on meth-related charges, Iron Mountain man enters plea for drug-related charges, Iron Mountain man arrested on drug charge, Upper Peninsula women drugged, sex trafficked in Lower Michigan, Former Menominee County deputy waives arraignment, UPDATE: Iron Mountain police identify suspects in breaking and entering investigation, UPDATE: Sentencing set for Houghton County man involved in selling drugs. Menominee County Prosecutor Jeffrey T. Rogg has charged 49-year-old Joseph Grinsteiner of Wallace after a report that he was falsely designating himself as the incumbent sheriff in Menominee County. New details are resurfacing in regards to the murder of Paul Girard on Presque Isle, almost 30 years to the date. By this time, the Blakes had taken more of a liking to their son-in-law. Journal photo by Trinity Carey The suspects face was hidden by sunglasses and a partial black mask. He sustained minor injuries both as a passenger in an accident in 1974 and as a driver when he lost control of his own vehicle in 1976. Her feet had been cut offandwere missing her flesh,ravagedby animals. At some point, he worked as a support staff person at General Hospital in Marquette, Michigan. She hoped someday to see her children again, all whom were adopted out to other families. Investigators found pantyhose tied around her neck. Suspect cracks wide open. Police arrived and were able to determine there were three bodies in the Oldsmobile Bravado, two in the back seat and one in the cargo area. It was also odd because multiple witnesses in the investigation told police that Cordell, unemployed and indigent, often owed money to Brunke, an employed homeowner, and not the other way around. Thank you! For this week, I searched for some background on Judy and Bruce Moilanen and checked on where he is today. "I was upset," he told investigators, "I didn't sleep that night. An autopsy found that she had an inflamed heart, possibly because of 10 years of drug abuse. "There was all that evidence. Copyright 2021 WLUC. Brooks Correctional Facility, he claimed an employee retaliated against him for filing a grievance by moving him from a two-prisoner cell to a seven-man open dorm area, which caused mental stress and sleep deprivation. But, partway into filming, residents who supported Collins and thought that he had been falsely accused, started disrupting the movie scenes and making threats. The two men were being held in separate jails, Cordell in Schoolcraft County Jail, and Brunke in Chippewa County jail. Two Upper Peninsula women are back with their families after being involved in an alleged human trafficking situation in the Flint area. Once facing life in prison, he will likely do less than five years, under sentencing guidelines. It was the last day of hunting season and a large party, including Bruce and some of the Blakes, went out looking for deer. Weepy woe. The case seemed solid. It was that horrific crime that eventually inspired one of the scariest movies in recent history, Jeepers Creepers. Its still unsolved and we want it solved, Dowd said. We just want people to remember she was here and now shes not. On the way to buy a hairpiece at Wig's by Joan in Ypsilanti, a witness said Beineman got a ride from a guy on a blue motorcycle. Alleged serial killer tied to Michigan may have killed 9, served This one had been placed on a grave in Denton Cemetery in Van Buren Township. Man charged after Christmas Eve killing at Northern Michigan Today's breaking news and more in your inbox. They tried to set a trap. These people that I thought was weird at the time, but I never suspected them, makes sense. There are photos of her headstone in Saint Joseph Cemetery in Ypsilanti, and a website, MaryFleszar.com, that details moments of her life. The Isle is the Audiochuck Park Predator podcast episode featuring the 1988 murder of Paul Girard in Marquettes Presque Isle Park. In October 2014, a 22-year-old Chelsea Bruck went to a Halloween party in Frenchtown Township. He showed someemotion, however, when asked about his mother. I feel like shes been forgotten, Dowd said. 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. Fleszar, a 19-year-old Eastern Michigan University accounting student, was the first of eight women and girls one as young as 13 whose lives were tragically taken and whose caseshave become known as the Michigan Murders. Watching a couple Forensic Files episodes should tell them that. Multiple breaking and entering complaints are under investigation in Baraga County. Her Facebook page shows a yearning for a life without drugs, big plans to move downstate, a young woman, excited on a Saturday night to be dressed up and going out on the town. Police found one witness who saw Bruce hunting alone near the scene of the shooting. He lashed outand demandedthe governor "do something," because if he didn't U-M was "going to end up an all-boys school.". As details of the killings began to leak out, the initial shock turned into outrage. Within days of the bodies being discovered, a witness told police she had been with Garry Cordell, Brunke's drug salesman and neighbor, when he threw items belonging to the victims in the Manistique River. Deputies from the Houghton County Sheriff's Office arrested a man who was found slumped over in his vehicle Thursday morning. Then, just days after Mixer's body was found, the body of Maralynn Skelton, a 16-year-old girl from Romulus, was uncovered behind a vacant house on Earhart Road, which is also on the outskirts of Ann Arbor. Leik called her nephew toask whetherhe had done any painting. WebPaperback. And lets not forget Ronnie Joe Neal, who told police he just happened to find his victims Cadillac with all her valuables inside and the keys in the ignition. The blood type matched to Beineman. I was a young woman with hopes and dreams for my future. The debt had been paid by the time Cordell was back in court three weeks later to officially plead guilty to the three murders. 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 wit Read allIn 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.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. By then, with all the media attention, his full name John Norman Collins was infamous. Michael Schreiber was arrested June 18 and charged with one count of child sexually abusive activity, three counts of child sexually abusive material possession, three counts of computers using to commit a crime and one count of surveilling unclothed person. She's smiling. Fleszar's surviving relatives including her father, who is now in his 90s declined to speak publicly about the tragedy because they saidit is emotional and with each interview, retelling what happened is like reliving it. At the heart of the killings was a tale of drugs, sex and betrayal. And they are still faced with one haunting question: Did someone get away with murder that day? She got medical treatment and survived. "Look, my daughter was an addict. According to his October testimony, he arrived home that day to find Cordell and Carlson in his home with the three dead bodies. The 2021 podcast episode also notes that Girards family and friends say he was an openly gay man his entire life, but that he wasnt always accepted in the community because of it. A cross rests on the side of Marquette Country Road 492 in Negaunee Township to mark the memorial site of 24-year-old Erin Taylor who was murdered 19 years ago. The prosecutor, who has declined to discuss the case with the Free Press, called all the victims' family members together in early October to say he didn't think he could make the murder charges stick against Brunke without Marietta Carlson's statements and in light of Cordell's new confession. "I was shocked," said Michigan State Police Lt. Tim Sholander, one of the investigators. Local color. Hunting buddies. The relationship was strained from the beginning, with Brunke anxious for it to develop into something "romantic." Thats all for this post. MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - An unsolved murder, that happened in Marquette more than three decades ago, has been featured in a popular true crime podcast. Photo by Cottonbro Studios on Pexels. After Collins was charged, some victims' relativestried to attend the preliminary examination, but, according to news accounts, they were not allowed in. Brunke will be in court Jan. 21 when he will be sentenced to prison on the lesser felonies. Brunke seemed caught off guard by the question, then admitted he owed Cordell the money, but was vague about why, saying Cordell had done chores around his house, including landscaping.It was a peculiar answer, since Brunke's rural home sits on a large lot, unkempt with no sign of landscaping at all. The Ann Arbor Newsreported Chester Fleszar,Mary Fleszar's father,said:If guilty, Collins "must be sick.". Collins' aunt,SandraLeik, discovered a few things missing and out of place. Yetafter a two-year-long investigation, authorities could prove only that Collins killed one woman, the last victim, 18-year-old Karen Sue Beineman. Within a couple of weeks of Judys death, he was gallivanting around on ski trips, and he tried to pick up Judys longtime friend Lee Anne Wysocki Jessop, according to her Forensic Files interview.
