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Beineman, she said, went in the store,purchased a brown hairpiece, and left with Collins on his motorcycle. Following Collins' arrest, a section of a red-and-white belt bearing the same distinctive floral pattern was found in the trailer he and Manuel had towed to Salinas on June 21. The seven. Each testified on August 6. I wasn't until our LAST VISIT together that I told her the WHOLE STORY. [46], The orange mohair sweater belonging to Basom was found in a deserted farmhouse just 100 yards from the desolate road on which her body had been placed after her murder. Moreover, a psychologist retained by the defense had testified as such on April 20, 1970. Butback then, Harvey, 88, saidthere was no DNA profiling and just not enough clues for charges. The following evening, Davis observed Collins emerging from his bedroom carrying a box partially covered by a blanket. Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked Paperback - August 1, 2016 by Gregory A. Fournier (Author) 236 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle $6.95 Read with Our Free App Audiobook $0.00 Free with your Audible trial Paperback $22.95 12 Used from $12.59 15 New from $16.50 Audio CD $30.54 2 New from $28.44 At the request of Michigan authorities, Phillips' body was exhumed in Oregon in order that pubic hair samples could be obtained from her for comparison with those found upon Collins' sweater: The pubic hairs upon Collins' sweater proved to be a precise match to those obtained from Phillips' body, and investigators believe they may have transferred from her body to Collins' sweater as she was carried to the location in which her body was discarded. Investigators noted strong similarities between this murder and previous killings attributed to the Michigan Murderer, including the fact that a garter belt had been tied around Skelton's neck[35] and her clothes and shoes had been neatly placed beside her body. In one of the prison interviews, Schroeder saidCollins confirmed he picked up Beineman on her way to the shop. But Bundshuh who has a tattoo on his arm that says, unus veritas, Latin for "one truth" noted that throughout their conversations,Collins seemed to have a lot of rehearsed answers, as if he had been thinking aboutwhat to say for years. The prosecution was therefore limited to questioning Davis with regards to whether the contents of this box included women's clothing and jewelry, without specifically describing any particular item. John Norman Collins "The Co-Ed Killer Information researched and summarized by Jami Lyle, Justin Hanky, & Rex Harrison Department of Psychology . 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. [92][n 2]. [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). Prosecutor William F. Delhey agreed to a proviso that the test be conducted off the record and its results remain confidential. 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. She came up missing on July 23, 1969, and was discovered a few days later, strangled and beaten to death. The driver had been aged around 20 and clean-cut with short, dark, side-parted hair. As we now know, police make mega mistakes and prosecutors have major egos and will NEVER EVER admit to being wrong. [157], The state of California postponed their requests to extradite Collins to face charges relating to Phillips' murder in June 1971. After hearing six hours of testimony from nine prosecution witnesses, Judge Edward Deake ruled that probable cause had been established, and Collins was formally ordered to stand trial for Beineman's murder.[73]. 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. 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. [137] On this date, Collins was formally sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. Goshe recalled Beineman visiting her store to purchase a $20 headpiece in the early afternoon of July 23. [41] By early April, each of these law enforcement agencies had collectively assigned 20 investigators to work exclusively upon the four homicides. [163], When Kalom's body was found, a distinctive boot print on her skirt was found to be a perfect match to a boot Collins had owned, and although Collins had evidently cleaned his car in an effort to destroy evidence prior to his arrest, investigators would find bloodstains in this vehicle and upon a raincoat he owned which were determined to match Kalom's blood type. I didn't even know his name at the time," Larry said. It was July 23rd, 1969. John Collins grew up in Center Line, north of Detroit. [126], Initial jury selection began on this date, and would continue until July 9. 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. Collins also wrote two letters in 2013 that gave specific accounts of how two of the victims Kalom and Beineman died, and his involvement with them. Collins took Beinemans lifeless body to a gully off Riverside near the Huron River in Ann Arbor. The rented trailer in which Collins and Manuel had traveled to California was located on August 1 in Monterey County, behind the home of Andrew Manuel's grandfather. I was only 5 and 6 yrs old when the murders happened so never heard about them.. [44], At 6:30a.m. on April 16, the body of a 13-year-old schoolgirl named Dawn Louise Basom was found beside a desolate road in Ypsilanti. 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. It's one thing,Chapman said, Collins can take with him to the grave. He was then sentenced to serve a term of life imprisonment with hard labor, in solitary confinement, at Southern Michigan Prison. Its even harder for those who may not have the support they need.In our, Hidden In Plain Sight: Pedaling To Greater Independence, Hidden In Plain Sight: Ann Arbor Family Shoe Business Covering Feet With Care & Comfort For 75 Years, Hidden In Plain Sight: Support For New Moms And Young Adults Just Around The Corner In Ypsilanti. Sowhen DNA matching Collins turned up on Alice Kalom's clothing, it was significant. I remember being quite scared myself at the time and I still think of those girls as I pass the landmarks involved in the case. 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. "He was probably 20 or 30 pounds heavier that I was. Collins also writesstate police saw him in prison because they foundhis semen was inside Kalom. 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. ". [49], Basom had last been seen alive at 7:30p.m. the previous evening, walking home from a friend's house located barely a mile from her own home. Thank You for this wonderful site. "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.". [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. They focused on Kalom, who, like Mixer, also was shot; Basom, the youngest of the cases,and Mary Fleszar, the first woman slain. Three days later it was discovered, and this set a strange sequence of events into effect that would eventually lead to the capture of who many had dubbed the "Ypsilanti Ripper.". My mother was a student at EMU then and knew John's aunt. My friend admonished her telling her that it was too dangerous to ride with a strange man. [88], Evidence of culpability in remaining cases. Living with Mom, and then moved into the basement of his uncle's house. All-American boy John Norman Collins was arrested, tried, and convicted of the strangulation . The tiny hairs in Karen's underwear were a fit to the hairs in the basement. Davis "told me that he tried to make a move on her and she resisted," Collinswrites. Evaluation of individual will and moral restraints within society, written by Collins while enrolled at Eastern Michigan University. I also know someone who was a graduate student working on a project with Alice at the time she disappeared--she was absolutely horrified to find out that she had been murdered. He once told a girl that he had strangled a cat with a clothesline. In response to defense questioning, Sgt. 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. The event took place quietly this fall, after editors searched for the right cover art and writers for the new prologue and epilogue. JOHN NORMAN COLLINS Born in Windsor, Canada in 1947, John Norman Collins was the youngest of 3 children. [128], The two primary questions before the jury, Delhey stated, would be the accuracy of eyewitnesses who would be called to testify and, ultimately, whether the more than 500 hair samples found upon Beineman's panties matched the hair clippings later recovered from the basement of Collins' uncle. The physical and circumstantial evidence linking Collins to this particular murder was stronger than any of the six outstanding murders then linked to him in Michigan, and authorities in Monterey did file several motions to extradite Collins to California to stand trial for Phillips' murder in 1970 and 1971. "He said he kept trying and she said she was going to call the police and he SNAPPED and choked her. A forensic examination of this trailer revealed it had been completely wiped of fingerprints. "Butwhat you want him to do is admit things that you can investigate. Evidently, despite Collins' protestations of innocence and denials of even knowing Karen Sue Beineman, she had been in the basement of Collins' uncle at the time of, shortly before, or shortly after her murder.[68]. ", "I started talking to him like a father would talk to his son," Harvey recalled, telling Collins:"Youve got a serious problem, son, and weve got a good case. [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. It sentstate police looking atthe other unsolved cases. "My parents never told me anything about the crimes.". Manuel was extensively questioned as to his potential involvement in both Phillips' murder and those committed in Michigan which investigators had linked to Collins, and agreed to submit to a polygraph test. Upon conducting a search of the basement of this farmhouse, investigators discovered a further garment of her clothing, a length of electrical flex of the same type used to strangle the victim, and fresh human bloodstains, indicating this location as being the site of Basom's murder. This psychologist had been adamant that Collins' trial should be held outside Washtenaw County, and this motion had likewise been reserved. Fournierwho now lives in Santee, California,nearSan Diego added he also wasnever able to talk to Davis, but is convinced Collins is guilty. I finished reading the book "Michigan Murders" today and am looking at the Internet for more information. [161] He had further informed his roommate he had agreed to drive Schell from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti the following day. He is known for being a Criminal. During the trial, Collins sat more relaxed than before: He smiled at attorneys, his mother, and his family. [137], Five independent witnesses were called to testify on behalf of the defense as to Collins' whereabouts on the dates Karen Sue Beineman had disappeared and her body had been found. 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. Larry was still a senior in college and, though he may not have known his name, he recognized his face. 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. 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. The victim had received multiple slash and stab wounds to the body (including two stab wounds which had pierced her heart),[55] and a gunshot wound to the forehead before her neck had been cut through to the spine. [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. I said 'would you look at these pictures for me' and she said sure. On the surface, John Norman Collins was an all-American boya fraternity member studying elementary education at Eastern Michigan University. After those two letters,they quit writing. [39] Nonetheless, Ann Arbor Police Chief Walter Krasny formally linked Skelton's murder to the series. She told him she had a boyfriend in Center Line. John Norman Collins is a suspect connected to seven young women's vicious and heinous murders. The same afternoon police searched the Leik family's basement, Collins was confronted with evidence thus far gained and deduced. 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. Found: August 7, 1967. Randy/Jerry--C'mon! Although police theorized that Fleszar had been raped, the advanced state of decomposition of the corpse had erased any conclusive evidence of sexual assault. In the few days he was in southern California, 17-year-old Roxie Phillips disappeared. 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. Next, they went to "a really PRETTY SPOT that was on the outskirts of campus," which "led to sex.". It was the same pattern, same floral pattern, and save weave of dress. Collins ends the lettersayingit is the first time he had written down his account of events, and if "I had it to do all over again I'd probably take a different route. I grew up in Ypsilanti although I was not even born at this time my grandmother had sixteen kids born and raised in Ypsilanti so i have heard about it. [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. I was in Ypsi when all this was happening. [34] However, the dramatic increase in savagery exhibited against the victim and the fact that Skelton was a known drug user, dealer and occasional police informant[38] as opposed to a university student[24] led some junior investigators to speculate her murder may have been drug-related. Chapman said he is convinced of his cousin'sguilt, and in his last letters,hewas"confessing by not really confessing. 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. 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. She was a Kind & Loving person to all that knew her." The corpse was badly decomposed, although the pathologist who examined Fleszar's remains was able to determine she had been stabbed approximately 30 times in the chest and abdomen with a knife or other sharp object, that her feet had been severed just above the ankle, the thumb and sections of the fingers of one hand were missing, and that one forearm had been severed from her body (these severed appendages were never found). She laughed it off, but said he looked frighteningly serious. Investigators also ascertained Collins had either been acquainted with most of the victims, had currently or previously lived close to their place of residence, or had likely established possible prior contact prior to their murders. [75], The 47th and final witness to appear for the prosecution at Collins' trial was a University of California chemistry professor named Dr. Vincent P. Guinn, who testified on August 5 as to his conclusions that the hair samples retrieved from Beineman's panties bore "a remarkable similarity" to those retrieved from the Leik household and that, upon statistical calculations he had begun the previous month, the odds of erroneous matching of the hair samples earlier testified to by Walter Holz were quite low. Davis put thepanties which, from Collins' account, had his DNA on them inside Beineman's body. Four of these witnesses were employees of a motorcycle sales firm which Collins had visited on the afternoon of Beineman's disappearance. It wasn't enough evidence for the state police to recommend new charges, butit was enough to convinceBundshuh. 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. And,Schroeder said, when they mentioned Dawn Basom, the 13-year-old victim killed in 1969,it touched a nerve. The evidence that sealed Collins' fate came from a home owned by a Michigan State Trooper. "This is what I knew deep down in my heart, and I felt so good knowing, without question, this is our guy.". Reading this book should be required for all college students, especially females. 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. [24] Blood spatterings and churned soil close to the crime scene indicated she had been beaten close to where her body was discovered, and that she may have attempted to escape her attacker. The jury did not take its task lightly, but, I think things were blown out of proportion. [91] Some acquaintances noted Collins' politeness around women, while others described him as lascivious and bad-tempered. The address has been changed to "College Place" to try to thwart groupies, but at the end of the name list on the Mailbox, we put "John Norman Collins" as a joke. He also had a new story to tell them about Beineman.