She told him she had a boyfriend in Center Line. 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. [125][110] He was tried in Ann Arbor, before Judge John Conlin. After a couple of pages, he hints at more. Sheri, I grew up in Farmington and in 1978 Timmy King the last victim of the Oakland county child killer was found a mile from my home SO yes I understand how life was scary MY world stopped that day of my innocents Im still haunted by that.. She researched the key suspects past, dug through hundreds of evidence photos and newspaper clippings and worked with Witsil to uncover new details in the cases. Davis had reported this incident to police, and later handed them the knife Collins had allegedly asked him to hide. Has it been 40 years?!? Through interviewing a recent girlfriend of Collins, investigators also learned that she had lived in an apartment complex directly across the road from the home of Dawn Basom, and that, throughout their courtship, Collins had been a regular visitor to her apartment. "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. "[93] before angrily walking out of her apartment. A veteran Detroit journalist, she joined the Free Press in 2012. Wow, Kim, this does bring back memories. Kennard Christensen, testified as to the results of forensic tests conducted in the Leik family basement: the results of these tests confirmed evidence of bloodstains in four separate areas. (He said) 'take him back to jail.' John Norman Collins, aka the Coed Killer,was convicted of one murder in the series of seven linked murders that occurred between 1967-1969 in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area, involving young women from two college campuses. She had last been seen on July 1 with John Norman Collins. Hurkos proved to be of little help and soon the police had yet another body on their hands, student Karen Sue Bieneman. Everything matched the belt and that swatch, which connected the two," Fournier said. The receptionist could not offer any clear description of the man beyond that he was a handsome young white male with dark hair, that he had driven a blue-grey Chevrolet, and that he had not been carrying a camera. [126], Initial jury selection began on this date, and would continue until July 9. Her body was found on an abandoned farm in Superior Township just about one month later. "[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. "They said she was in the basement having lunch so I went down there and talked with her. Then we googled the address and the Michigan Murders popped up. Although Collins emphatically protested his innocence and insisted the eyewitnesses' identification of him had been an error, he refused to return to the police station to take a polygraph test. He's believed to be the last person to see the first victim alive. He told me that he tried to get her into his car, BUTT, he couldn't because of the dog barking in the driveway. Both women had agreed this composite drawing was accurate, and only disagreed as to the structure of the suspect's chin. I am adding your comment to the story.My friend Ray who grew up near Gale rd confirmed your facts. You can't change the past, BUTT, you can HOPE for a better future.". 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. 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. When asked to formally identify the individual upon whose motorcycle she had observed waiting outside her shop,[84] Goshe pointed directly at John Norman Collins. Maryann Struman is Freep Now director at the Detroit Free Press and project leader. Next, they went to "a really PRETTY SPOT that was on the outskirts of campus," which "led to sex.". Collins adds Davis admitted to going back toBeineman's body the night the sheriff's deputies had it andquietly tried to set a trap for the killer by replacing it with a mannequin, which matches police accounts of the failed sting. [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]. Collins "was arrested based on a tip provided by his uncle" (Ejk), who was a Michigan State Trooper. He is known for being a Criminal. This psychologist had been adamant that Collins' trial should be held outside Washtenaw County, and this motion had likewise been reserved. I remember the last victim was murdered just 3 BLOCKS from my house!!!! Samples recovered from both locations would prove to be a precise match. Although police theorized that Fleszar had been raped, the advanced state of decomposition of the corpse had erased any conclusive evidence of sexual assault. [84], On July 27, Arnold Davis testified as to his being in the company of Collins throughout the late afternoon and evening of July 23, 1969 (hours after Beineman had last been seen alive). So sadmy twins are at EMU and they were home this weekend and asked me if I knew anything about the serial killer. The following day, Washtenaw County Sheriff Douglas Harvey testified as to the discovery of Beineman's body, her subsequent autopsy, and his obtaining an updated composite drawing of the suspect with whom Beineman had last been seen alive from Mrs. Joan Goshe and her assistant, Patricia Spaulding. "And nobody wanted to say anything to anybody because it was very obvious by that time that there was a serial killer working this area.". Collins, now known as John Chapman, proclaims his innocence to this day. 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. So sad. Bundshuhadded that the new information, along with the DNA match, supported that Collins was the "perpetrator in that case." Collins was subsequently taken into police custody but denied any involvement whatsoever in the killing. Collins ends his email, with a request: "You can say whatever you want about me" butleave "my Dear Mother" out. [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. Folklore! [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. [43] These factors led police to publicly conclude the same perpetrator was responsible for at least three of the murders thus far committed. [144] The jury then retired to consider their verdict, and would deliberate for over 27 hours over a period of three days, with an additional five-and-a-half hours devoted to their re-reading portions of testimony, before announcing they had reached their verdict. [73] (The blunt instrument used to inflict these injuries to Beineman's skull and brain was never found. Investigators had long suspected John Norman Collins of killing young women and girls in the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor areas in the late1960s. I knew he was guilty as sin,' " Harveyrecalled thinking when he read Collins' own words. 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. [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. Aside from being the last person seen with Karen and living directly across the street from Joan Schell, there was more to link John Collins to the murders. That would change the next day. [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. Corporal David Leik had just returned from vacation when he noticed things were amiss in the basement. The email, detectives said, is characteristic of Collins, full of denials and rationalizations. 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. University of Michigan graduate Alice Kalom was next, found in a field with her throat cut, stab wounds, and a gunshot to the head. And I'm with you we should NEVER forget that something like that Can & DID happen here. Following her identification of a photograph of Collins, police further questioned the proprietor of the wig shop in which Beineman had last been seen alive, asking her to identify the man she had seen with Beineman in a police lineup. Collins addsFournier's scheme prompted him to think: "TWO can play this 'GAME!' The apartments have a perfect view of Dawn's home. And to your new HOME! That car matched a car registered to his mother. Anyways, in this sad state of affairs vigilance and protection is key. "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. Collins, Chapman recalled, give him explicit, sexually graphicinstructions on what to do with a girl, including suggestions that some women "like it rough.". [159] At the time of the announcement of this decision, preliminary legal maneuvers between Michigan and California authorities had been ongoing to extradite Collins to Monterey County to face trial for Phillips' murder.[160]. "That was tough on Leik. Kim you have the location for Dawn Basom's murder site wrong. Greg Fournier who attended EMU and wrote a book,"Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked,"and blog, Fornology.com spent years gathering informationwith his researcher Ryan Place. My brother and I, walk down the rickety steps down the basement as it explained in the book.with the cobble stone walls.let me tell you, something came over me it's hard to explain.but I cried uncontrollablyI will never forget that night ! 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. [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. Sex Slayer Could be Anyone! [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 killer, a charismatic, athletic E.M.U. Before they left for vacation, Leik's wife gave his kids haircuts in the basement. Victims like Mary Terese Fleszar, a 19-year-old EMU accounting major and Joan Elspetch Schell, a 20-year-old art student.Collins was a student at EMU majoring in elementary education. [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. 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. In an effort to discredit Goshe's testimony, Fink diverted questioning as to the model of motorcycle she had seen outside her shop, to which Goshe conceded her initial belief as to the model being a Honda 350 was inaccurate. 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. On August 17, 1970, John Normans Collins was found guilty by a jury. 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. [137] On this date, Collins was formally sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. ", Collins and Beineman chatted, and then they "started making out. Each item had been deliberately placed in this location, indicating that the murderer had returned to the scene of the crime and that the two homicides were definitely linked. [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. Disappeard: July 18, 1967. Jim Bundshuh the 53-year-old detective whosename rhymes with gumshoe andgoes by the nickname Bunny because it's easier to remember said heinterviewedCollinsthree times. Enjoy your days sitting under the private pergola, listening to the elegant turquoise 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. There was a moment,though, Harvey recalled, he thought Collins would confess. The abandoned farm was south of Geddes, east side of Leforge at the top of the hill. [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. ICK!!! On August 17, 1970, John Normans Collins was found guilty. Questioning of Leik's neighbors yielded additional circumstantial evidence: one neighbor, Marjorie Barnes, recalled having witnessed Collins leaving his uncle's home with a deluxe laundry detergent box prior to the Leik family returning from their vacation; another neighbor informed investigators she had heard the muffled screams of a young female emanating from the Leik household on the evening of Beineman's disappearance. Collins was arrested, tried, and convicted to a life sentence for Beinemans murder. And Collins loved motorcycles a detail that later would come up at trialand decades later in the prison interviews with detectives. He remembered something from the day before. Not something a mom wants to think about.". 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 . The clippings were swept into neat piles when they left. 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. [142] Prosecuting attorney William Delhey argued first, recounting the evidence the state had presented and Collins' conscious efforts to destroy physical evidence at the Leik household before telling the jury that their collective application of common sense could only dictate a guilty verdict.[143]. Pretty weird at the time how close they came to catching him at different times. Two people saw Roxie get in the car. Several of these wounds had punctured her lungs, liver and carotid artery, with one additional wound inflicted behind her left ear fracturing her skull. That house still has a bad feeling to it, when I go by it!!! A vacationing Leik had entrusted Collins to watch over his house while he was away. Since reading this book I have been assumed by every aspect of what happen.. Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked Beineman's body was replaced with that of a tailor's mannequin, and the gully surrounding this mannequin monitored by undercover officers. She was last seen alive outside a drive-in restaurant on Washtenaw Avenue two days before her body was discovered (although autopsy reports indicated Skelton had died between 24 and 36 hours before her body was discovered). 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. "In my mind," the detectivesaid, "the Kalom case is solved.". 7 months agoIt really hammers down the point that you need to watch yourself. [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. "My parents never told me anything about the crimes.". 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. Found as a mass of rotting flesh. Just basicallyfraternity rivals and that.". The family took his surname. Goshe recalled Beineman visiting her store to purchase a $20 headpiece in the early afternoon of July 23. 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. He has ordered to life without parole in prison. 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. 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. [49] Many female students opted to arm themselves with knives, with others adopting a "buddy system" whereby they would refuse to walk anywhere unless in the company of a trusted male friend or at least three other girls. John Norman Collins committed the "Michigan Murders" as it was named by media and locals, between 1967 and 1969, during this period of time he committed eight murders of women ranging from 13 to 23 years old. 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. On this weeks "Hidden in Plain Sight,"WEMUs Patrick Campion meets up with Terror in Ypsilanti author Gregory Fournier to take us on a tour of some of the sites and sounds associated with the Michigan Murderer who preyed on Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti co-eds for two years. . She was never seen alive again. ", In 30 years of letters, Chapman said, Collins exhibited a domineering personality, expressed misogynistic views, and seemed to have "underlying anger toward his mother. Welcome to 11826 Caminito Rihely 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. Karen had been tortured before her death, beaten on the head, had been strangled to death and dumped, naked, off Riverside Drive. Schell had intended to travel to Ann Arbor to visit her boyfriend, and her roommate had accompanied her to the bus stop. they didn't clean well enough??!! [121] Mrs. Collins reportedly remortgaged her home to secure their services. [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. Collins was ready to confess, but without a witness, the former sheriff said itmight not stick. Her body was later found with multiple stab wounds, and more grotesquely, no hands or feet on August 7. [15], In early August, investigators were contacted by their counterparts in Salinas, California[102] who stated they had reason to believe a Michigan individual named John may be responsible for the June 30 death of a 17-year-old girl named Roxie Ann Phillips.[103]. But Collins was a bit bigger than Larry. That seems tocorrelatewith a memory Collins describes in his longletters. His nephew, John Norman Collins, had been watching the house. [146] He remained impassive upon hearing the jury foreman announce the verdict, although many spectators gasped audibly,[102] and his mother and sister left the courtroom in tears. [89] At a press conference relating to the arrest and charge of Collins in relation to the last of the Michigan Murders held on this date, Police Superintendent Frederick Davids revealed that Collins had been a suspect in the Beineman case from the very day she had disappeared, and that these suspicions had heightened following their forensic examination of David Leik's basement; furthermore, surveillance of Collins had been initiated on July 26, following the submission of a report compiled by Patrolman Larry Mathewson detailing the positive eyewitness identification he had obtained, and he had been formally arrested upon an open charge on the evening prior to his arraignment.
