Mary Terese Fleszar was last seen alive the evening of July 9, 1967. [120] Three weeks after the examination, at a meeting with the family in Judge Conlin's chambers, Ryan summarized its tentative conclusions and suggested a "diminished capacity" plea for an insanity defense. [139], Dr. Jervis' conclusions were supported by a private consultant named Auseklis Perkons, and a Massachusetts-based Director of Forensic Research named Samuel Golub. [9] Her nude body was found by two 15-year-old boys on an abandoned farm at Superior Township on August 7, and was formally identified via dental records the following day. Fournierwho now lives in Santee, California,nearSan Diego added he also wasnever able to talk to Davis, but is convinced Collins is 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. 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. 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. Loretta Chapman, an American, then moved with her three children across the Detroit River. [20], Despite tracing and eliminating more than 150 registered owners of red-and-black vehicles in the state of Michigan, and establishing the alibis of numerous individuals whose physical features bore a likeness to the composite drawing of the driver the police had obtained from Kolbe, all investigative lines of inquiry into the murder of Joan Schell failed to bear fruit. The Michigan Attorney General and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office confirmed no litigation is in the works, and to prosecute the cases, investigators would need more evidence. Almost one year later on July 6, 1968, student Joan Schell was found dead in Ann Arbor with 47 stab wounds. "[93] before angrily walking out of her apartment. These motions were repeatedly contested by Collins' attorney, Neil Fink, who opposed and successfully delayed his client's extradition upon the grounds of due process. It didn't take a scientist to figure out what transpired. The same afternoon police searched the Leik family's basement, Collins was confronted with evidence thus far gained and deduced. Found: August 7, 1967. [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. [55][63], By the spring of 1969, public outcry regarding the murders committed by the individual dubbed by the press as the Michigan Murderer and the Co-Ed Killer was increasing, particularly among the student population of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Clothed only in a white blouse and bra, which had been pushed around her neck, she had been repeatedly stabbed in the chest and genitals,[45] had received multiple slash wounds across the breasts, buttocks and stomach,[46] then strangled to death with a two-foot length electrical flex still knotted around her neck. The first known victim linked to the Michigan Murderer was a 19-year-old Eastern Michigan University accounting student named Mary Terese Fleszar,[8] who was last seen alive on the evening of July 9, 1967, by a neighbor walking towards her Ypsilanti apartment. [96], The basement of Sgt. Fournier said his frat brothers learned that the hard way when he was thrown out because of theft. 25070 southfield rd, southfield michigan hood ornament bird john norman collins uncle's house [133] In addition, Mrs. Sandra Leik testified to Collins being given a key to the family home in order that he could feed the family's German shepherd. She had been raped, then stabbed 25 times with a knife estimated to have measured four inches in length. Chapman said he is convinced of his cousin'sguilt, and in his last letters,hewas"confessing by not really confessing. [88], Police had already established that Collins was a known motorcycle enthusiast[89] who owned several motorcycles, including a blue Triumph Bonneville. It wasn't enough evidence for the state police to recommend new charges, butit was enough to convinceBundshuh. A veteran Detroit journalist, she joined the Free Press in 2012. Though he was only charged with this final murder, he is considered responsible for six othersincluding that of Mary Terese Fleszar. 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. Moreover, a psychologist retained by the defense had testified as such on April 20, 1970. One eyewitness reported seeing the girl minutes thereafter, at approximately 7:35, although her movements thereafter were never verified. 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. In an email to the Free Press sent this week, Collins maintainshe is innocent. The detectives said they tracked Davis to New York but were never able to interviewhim. To expand on their allegations that certain defense witnesses had been subjected to police harassment, and that eyewitness accounts had been flawed, defense attorney Joseph Louisell subjected Sheriff Harvey to a 45-minute cross-examination as to his contact with the two eyewitnesses prior to completion of this composite drawing. More often than not, we continue on our, On this edition of 89.1 WEMUS "Hidden In Plain Sight," our own Lisa Barry takes you to a west side Ann Arbor shoe store that first opened downtown in, Being a mom is hard, regardless of who you are or what your background may be. 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. As for Alice Kalom, who disappeared after a party in Ann Arbor, she got on a motorcycle. 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. [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. Copyright 11826 Caminito Rihely. Beineman, she said, went in the store,purchased a brown hairpiece, and left with Collins on his motorcycle. [125][110] He was tried in Ann Arbor, before Judge John Conlin. Both letters begin,"Hello John, =: )," and Collins ends one calling Chapman "the Best Little Brother ever! The assistant DA was a friend of my Dad's! Hewent to Central Michigan University, thentransferred to Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. She had received extensive skull and brain injuries which had been inflicted with a blunt instrument, had been forced to ingest a caustic substance,[58] and her neck, shoulders, nipples and breasts had been burned with the same caustic agent. His female friends described him as aggressive and short tempered. [162] Nonetheless, the decision of the prosecution at his 1970 trial was to try Collins solely with the murder of Karen Sue Beineman. 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. [151] This first appeal was formally rejected on October 24, 1972. Great Job! He also triesto discredit his cousin for disclosing his private letters,suggesting what he wrote ismostly fiction. "He had several fraternity brothers that rented an apartment there," Fournier said. (I said) 'the polygraph is sitting over here'. Although earlier attempts to enforce news blackouts as to the discovery of Basom and Kalom had proven unsuccessful,[60] on this occasion, police successfully ordered a news blackout relating to the discovery of this latest victim. [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. Her fully clothed body, covered with her own raincoat and with a copy of the novel Catch-22 placed by her side, was found the following morning atop a grave in Denton Cemetery in Van Buren Township. 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. I am adding your comment to the story.My friend Ray who grew up near Gale rd confirmed your facts. [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. You need help desperately. "Was he still going to deny everything?". Collins has been locked up for 50 years - but that doesn't erase the pain. Arnold Davis also informed police Collins had been in the company of victim Alice Kalom on the evening of her disappearance. In rebuttal to the testimony of Dr. Golub, the defense recalled Dr. Walter Holz on August 12 to testify as to the samples he had himself taken to Dr. Golub for identification; Dr. Holz affirmed that he had taken twenty magnified photographic slides of samples retrieved from Beineman's panties to Dr. Golub's laboratory for analysis, and that they had contained numerous man-made fibrous materials. From his second floor window he would have been able to see the very women he chose as some of his victims. 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. A vacationing Leik had entrusted Collins to watch over his house while he was away. Through interviewing acquaintances of Phillips, investigators established that she had been introduced to the individual she had referred to as "John from Michigan" through a 17-year-old friend named Nancy Ann Albrecht, who informed police she had herself become acquainted with Collins on June 29, and that she had mentioned her friend (Phillips) to Collins on this date. Has it been 40 years?!? But they were striking. Moreover, this search had also uncovered small bloodstains in nine areas of the basement. Evaluation of individual will and moral restraints within society, written by Collins while enrolled at Eastern Michigan University. ", Collins and Beineman chatted, and then they "started making out. Collins and Schell had alighted from Davis's car together, and he (Davis) had not seen his roommate for almost three hours before Collins had returned to their apartment, alone, referring to Schell as a "bitch" and claiming he had "dropped her [Schell] off" in Ann Arbor after being unable to obtain the sexual encounter he had hoped to achieve with her. The Inside was really old and spooky, like still 1870's. Chapman said he and his cousin had been writing to each other since 1982 when Chapmanwas 10. [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 town collectively went into shock," Fournier said. Samples recovered from both locations would prove to be a precise match. She chose the car. Shortly before the body was discovered, the murderer had again returned to the body, which he had moved a further three feet.[13]. 7 months agoIt really hammers down the point that you need to watch yourself. Hurkos proved to be of little help and soon the police had yet another body on their hands, student Karen Sue Bieneman. LOL!! The abandoned farm was south of Geddes, east side of Leforge at the top of the hill. By '69, he was a senior at Eastern Michigan University, studying to be a teacher. And here's California - and they've got a better case than us, and they've got the death penalty," Sheriff Harvey said. They focused on Kalom, who, like Mixer, also was shot; Basom, the youngest of the cases,and Mary Fleszar, the first woman slain. 2023 FOX Television Stations, Michigan Murders: 50 years ago, terror reigned in Ypsilanti, Michigan Murders: Close calls, haunting roads - life after a suspected serial killer is arrested, The heaviest snow is behind us heading into the weekend, Snow storm shuts down Detroit Metro Airport, Power outages hit Metro Detroit hard as winter storm pounds area, WATCH - Jennifer Hammond talks with Detroit Titans guard Antoine Davis after coming up just short of the NCAA all-time scoring record, 65-year-old woman killed in double shooting on Detroit's west side, Suspect still wanted after brutal beating of victims after they shoveled his snow last winter in Detroit, Wayne County woman wins $1 million after 'random urge' to buy Michigan Lottery ticket, General Motors laying off 500 white collar positions, Police: Wayne County Morgue employee broke into homes of the deceased. "Okay John, let me give you a little prelude to the 'STORY'that ended with me in here for the past 45 yrs. John Norman Collins, who was dubbed the "Ypsilanti Ripper," continued his spree until his arrest in 1969, just seven days after killing Karen Sue Beineman. [70], Three days after the disappearance of Beineman, her nude body was discovered face-down in a wooded gully alongside the Huron River parkway. The family took his surname. 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. [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. He says he wasn't allowed to keepPolaroid photos of his late mother. He tries to give his cousin a glimpse of prison life. 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. [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. His nephew had stayed at the home: John Norman Collins. Collins also says he metKalom at an Ann Arbor bar and made a date for Saturday morning to go for a motorcycle ride. Living with Mom, and then moved into the basement of his uncle's house. Collins claimed he never killed anyone and he even agreed to take a polygraph test. 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. Location: Near an old farmhouse in a field in Superior Township, two miles north of Ypsilanti. Leik's home was subjected to an intense forensic examination. 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. [19], Kolbe later stated she had attempted to dissuade Schell from entering this vehicle, but that Schell had opted to accept the driver's offer, promising to call her roommate to assure her of her safety once she reached her boyfriend's Ann Arbor residence. Although police theorized that Fleszar had been raped, the advanced state of decomposition of the corpse had erased any conclusive evidence of sexual assault. [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.