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In fact, the motorcycle he picked up Karen on was cobbled together stolen parts. [52] (The farmhouse itself was destroyed in an act of arson on May 13; when the fire was extinguished, five clipped lilacs[53] were found arranged in an even row across the driveway to the building, leading investigators to theorize they had been placed there by the murderer to symbolize each victim. A killer is on the loose, five women in southeast Michigan are dead, and a sixthis missing. Collins then offers a similar account, but in more detail, that he gave the detectives. On July 31, the prosecution introduced two forensic witnesses to testify regarding the physical evidence indicating the victim had been killed inside the Leik family home. The man who put the cuffs on JNC!!!). When Mathewson questioned Collins on July 25 as to his movements two days earlier, he admitted that on the date in question he had been riding his Triumph Bonneville in the vicinity, and that he had stopped to converse with a former girlfriend of his while doing so (the point at which Mathewson had observed him). Not something a mom wants to think about.". bathroom tub shower and dual sink vanity all heated by Tankless water heater! [57] Sections of her clothing were scattered around her body, although one of her shoes was missing. Before Collins left the Golden State, he saw a doctor for a case of poison oak. he was in the same building as me interesting is now because I just moved to ypsi and live four blocks from where he did. CHAPTER 3: 'Handsome' EMU student was unlikely serial killer suspect. The letter was mailed so they knew she got that far. 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. 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. [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. I lived on Leforge at the time and know the area well. Hurkos proved to be of little help and soon the police had yet another body on their hands, student Karen Sue Bieneman. 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. "We were trying to figure out not just on the Kalom casebut all the cases was, was he to the point he wanted to talk?" 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 . Bundshuhadded that the new information, along with the DNA match, supported that Collins was the "perpetrator in that case." Despite the advanced state of decomposition, the pathologist was also able to locate multiple lineal abrasions upon the victim's chest and torso,[10] indicating that Fleszar had been extensively beaten before her death. [17], The lack of blood beneath or near the corpse, plus the testimony of eyewitnesses, led investigators to determine Schell's body had lain in its present location for less than 24 hours. [132] Mrs. Leik also testified to having cut her children's hair in her basement two days prior to embarking on a vacation with her family, and that when they had returned home, she had noticed that several items from her basement had been moved, that she had discovered a wet, soiled cloth containing hair aside a laundry tub, and that other itemsincluding a nearly-full bottle of ammoniawere missing.[76]. She had been raped, then stabbed 25 times with a knife estimated to have measured four inches in length. [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. Instead, Collins said he lent Davis, who was having car trouble, his keys and he went to Ann Arbor. 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. 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. Initially, police took him at his word, and did not seek to verify his alibi. He also triesto discredit his cousin for disclosing his private letters,suggesting what he wrote ismostly fiction. [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. This individual had asked for permission to take a photograph of the body as it lay in the coffin as a keepsake for her parents. Age: 19 year-old. 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. 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. He says he wasn't allowed to keepPolaroid photos of his late mother. Each ruling stated no evidence existed to suggest extensive publicity had interfered with pretrial or trial proceedings, and that police had not broken any protocol in showing two eyewitnesses photographs of Collins prior to his arrest and their being asked to identify him in a police lineup. A 3 Bedroom, 2.5 Bathroom, 2 story condo in a highly sought community RIVERVIEW Courts. Later that day, having received initial laboratory reports indicating the hair samples recovered from Beineman's panties matched those discovered in Leik's basement, and that the bloodstains recovered from this location were of the same type as hers,[99] Collins was arrested and his apartment and vehicles thoroughly searched. On the day Karen disappeared, Larry said John was sitting on a motorcycle, flirting with pretty college girls. Three days prior to Collins' July 30 arrest, in direct breach of a Washtenaw County Prosecutor order,[167] two young Ann Arbor detectives had arrived at the Emmet Street apartment Collins shared with his roommate to question him as to the circumstantial evidence then-obtained against him. You can't change the past, BUTT, you can HOPE for a better future.". And John picked her up and he had a nice carthat was his mother's car," Fournier said. A woman police officer mentioned her name to someone and that someone "dropped the dime" on Maralynn. He also had a new story to tell them about Beineman. The circumstantial evidence linking Collins to Schell's abduction and murder was stronger than that of any other Michigan victim linked to him, and police would formally announce this fact within days of his arrest. Beineman's body was replaced with that of a tailor's mannequin, and the gully surrounding this mannequin monitored by undercover officers. [60] She was last seen walking home towards her apartment on Thompson Street, having attended a friend's party. Moreover, if Collins believes he was wrongly accused, he can request a review. The testimony of Joan Goshe was further supported by Patricia Spaulding, who testified as to having observed Collins for between three and four minutes as he had waited for Beineman to return to his motorcycle. The failed sting caused Harvey substantialpublic embarrassment, and bringing it up again, Harvey said, was Collins' way of mocking him, as if heweresaying: "Ha. She also orchestrated the evidence locker. Triad Animal torture Yes. [96], The basement of Sgt. Butback then, Harvey, 88, saidthere was no DNA profiling and just not enough clues for charges. Clothing found near the body was identified as belonging to Mary by her parents. The abandoned farm was south of Geddes, east side of Leforge at the top of the hill. [109] She had been strangled to death and, as with several Michigan victims linked to Collins, one earring was missing. How about a private finished attached 2-car garage with overhead storage! But, again, there were marital problems, and the coupledivorced. I spent one year in Marquette and knew john. The first witness to testify was the head of the Michigan Health Department's Crime Detective Laboratory, Walter Holz, who testified as to the human hair clippings found inside Karen Sue Beineman's panties being an exact match to those recovered from the basement of Sgt. [12], Almost one year later, on July 5, 1968, the partially decomposed, mutilated body of a 20-year-old art student named Joan Elspeth Schell[15] was found by construction workers on an Ann Arbor roadside. "They said she was in the basement having lunch so I went down there and talked with her. Prior to his passing sentence, Judge Conlin asked Collins if he wished to address the court before mandatory life sentencing was imposed. [88], Police had already established that Collins was a known motorcycle enthusiast[89] who owned several motorcycles, including a blue Triumph Bonneville. [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. Hurkos accurately predicted that the murderer was a strongly built white male under 25 years of age, who had been born outside the United States, and who rode a motorcycle. Although this officer attempted to radio this sighting to his colleagues, the rain had rendered his radio inoperable. Since reading this book I have been assumed by every aspect of what happen.. John Norman Collins (John Norman Chapman) an American serial killer who is a suspect in The Michigan Murders, a series of highly publicized killings of young women committed between 1967 and 1969. They stood out," Sheriff Harvey said. Melanie Maxwell has been a picture editor at the Free Press since 2018. [126], Initial jury selection began on this date, and would continue until July 9. She was a Kind & Loving person to all that knew her." [76] These hair clippings were predominantly blond, and as such did not belong to the victim, whose own hair color had been dark brown. Collins rented a room on the second floor of a Ypsilanti building on Emmet Street. In this lineup, Goshe positively identified the man she had seen with Karen Sue Beineman as John Norman Collins. Two people saw Roxie get in the car. I remember the last victim was murdered just 3 BLOCKS from my house!!!! From what I read, the city and officials were so quick to get this solved (perhaps their donuts were getting cold) that they failed to look at anyone else. 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. Non-commercial, fact based reporting is made possible by your financial support. [88] Later that evening, Collins informed Davis he had simply decided to "get rid of" the box and its contents. A state prosecutor charged Collins with the first-degree premeditated murder of 18-year-old Karen Sue Beineman, a student at Eastern Michigan University. 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. "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. At that point, Karen was only missing. "Mary worked at the university. His mother attended every single day of the trial. 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. At the time of his arrest, hishigh school girlfriend, Burnadetta Hudak, describedCollins aspolitewith "manners galore," opening the door for a ladyand standing when a woman or older personentered the room. "He had several fraternity brothers that rented an apartment there," Fournier said. [124], The trial of John Norman Collins for the murder of Karen Sue Beineman began in the Washtenaw County Court Building on June 2, 1970. 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. 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. This neighbor twice observed a young man in a blue-grey Chevrolet slow to a halt beside Fleszar and begin talking to her: each time, Fleszar had shaken her head and walked away from the car. Sherry and Mike (my bro and sis) went down to babysit some kids whose parents who'd rented the house afterwards, and actually saw the bloodstains!!! [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. Perkons testified as to his belief that the hair samples retrieved from Beineman's panties were of a "different origin" than the hair samples retrieved from the Leiks' basement,[140] whereas Golub stated that because he had found only one single fiber upon the victim's panties, the likelihood of her undergarments accumulating these hairs from a basement was extremely remote. "I looked at her for a moment. Evidence fromJoan Schell, 20, of Plymouth and Maralynn Skelton, 16, of Romulus, hasyet to be tested, the detectives said. " Collins writes he figured Davis just"made a mess" at the house. In a new twist just this week,Collins revised his story yet again. 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. [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. Your site is great and detailed really nice.In 2003 I actually live in the house right behind Mary Flezlar appartment we never understood why we always heard females crying and yelling. "This source that I have says he saw Alice on the back of Collins' motorcycle, driving away," Fournier said. Then-Gov. Author Greg Fournier later wrote a book about the killings. 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. 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. He writeshe ran into Beineman, "she SMILED AT ME and WAVED her hand." Collins had returned to their shared apartment shortly thereafter and asked Davis to hide a knife for him. They had set up a task force at an old seminary. The apartments have a perfect view of Dawn's home. To go down into his basement and say 'whoa, something's different here'," Sheriff Harvey said. Glass particles found within this basement were of a similar consistency to those found upon the soles of Basom's shoes. [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. 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 ? If you missed part one, stop reading right now and go to part one here. Frank Witsil is a staff writer at the Detroit Free Press. I was on the prison yard with him in 1986, we played basketball, and hand ball he maintained his innocence he is well kept, clean, neat, sober and yet at the same time he was not someone to be under estimated "The Michigan Coed Murders", as they came to be called, began with Eastern Michigan student Mary Flezlar on July 10, 1967. And to your new HOME! That seems tocorrelatewith a memory Collins describes in his longletters. He planned to become a teacher. News articles described John Collinsas a square-jawed,"handsomeAll-American who seemed to be leading a textbook college career." Samples recovered from both locations would prove to be a precise match. (He said) 'take him back to jail.' A vacationing Leik had entrusted Collins to watch over his house while he was away. Each motion filed had been reserved or, in the final instance, denied. Social work, she wrote in her application, would help her better understand social relationships. But, the dog, Prince, had a "NOT SO FRIENDLY STREAK," and Collins warnedBeineman he would bite her and to "STAY BACK. Corporal David Leik had just returned from vacation when he noticed things were amiss in the basement. Randy/Jerry--C'mon! The killer had taken too big of a risk with Beineman however. Butin 2005, when DNA and other evidenceconvicted Gary Leitermanof killing 23-year-old Jane Mixer, itcleared Collins of suspicion in that case. 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. John Norman Collins is a suspect connected to seven young women's vicious and heinous murders. Hewent to Central Michigan University, thentransferred to Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. Both roadmap the journey of the book and John Norman Collins, who was convicted of one of the murders and linked to six of them, in the years after the original 1976 publication date. Norman Collins (1967-1969) aka "The Michigan Murderer" was a 30-year old resident of Ypsilanti, Michigan, and he killed 7 female students at Eastern Michigan University using a variety of methods -- guns, knives, blunt instruments, strangulation. The same day, the head of the state police crime laboratory, Sgt. Thank you for spending the time and effort to upload your videos and photos. [165] Moreover, a sweater found in Collins' closet was found to contain 22 pubic hairs which had not originated from Collins or any of the seven Michigan victims. [137] On this date, Collins was formally sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. [83], Although Goshe would initiallyand incorrectlydescribe the motorcycle as being possibly a Honda 350 model,[84] when police questioned Carol Wieczerca, a clerk in the store adjacent to the wig shop, Wieczerca was able to state that the model of the motorcycle was actually a Triumph. [68], Mindful of the fact the killer had evidently returned to sites of his previous murders to move the bodies, possibly in a sexual ritual, police theorized he may also attempt to return to this latest crime scene. I have two things to say: I think they [the jury] conscientiously tried to give me a fair trial. Later, Arnie Davis, Collins' roommate, showed up. It sentstate police looking atthe other unsolved cases. [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. [114] No hard evidence would ever arise suggesting his involvement in any murders, and the Washtenaw County prosecutor's office would publicly announce on December 18 their satisfaction that Manuel had "no knowledge of the murders. A low-maintenance backyard with irrigation is the perfect place to relax and entertain guests. The first victim, Mary Fleszar, disappeared in July 1967. "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.". [121] Mrs. Collins reportedly remortgaged her home to secure their services. [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). 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. On August 18, investigators announced that all significant leads had been exhausted, and that the number of officers assigned to investigate the case had been reduced. He was held without bond. In the case of victims Mary Fleszar and Joan Schell, investigators were able to establish he had been a neighbor of both women,[94] and that at the time of Fleszar's disappearance, Collins had actually worked in an office at the Eastern Michigan University located directly opposite the hallway from the office where Fleszar had herself worked. Instead, theyput the body in the trunk,rolled it into a ravine, and returned to the house to clean up. It seemed,Schroeder said, as if Collins was describing what "he had done himself. 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. Sowhen DNA matching Collins turned up on Alice Kalom's clothing, it was significant. Then we googled the address and the Michigan Murders popped up. Two days after the remains had been identified as those of Mary Fleszar, a young man claiming to be a friend of the Fleszar family arrived at the funeral home holding Fleszar's body prior to her scheduled burial. Precisely what caused his parents Richard and Loretta to split up is unclear. Collins details his discomfort at being locked up in the Washtenaw County jail before his trialand his steadfast refusalto "allow them to BREAK ME. [97], The hairs found upon Beineman's panties and those recovered from the basement of the Leik home were subjected to a detailed forensic neutron analysis[98] to determine whether they had sourced from the same individuals. 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.