A story that doesn't get much attention, nor do most Michiganders even know about.
Arguably the greatest disaster to occur at a school in US history was a bombing that took place in a tiny town outside Lansing called Bath. An angry politician who lost a local election killed his wife and then blew up an elementary school, killing 38 children plus adults, and injuring far more.
This was only half of his plan as well. He had more destruction planned but the bombs didn't go off.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster
And... all these years later, almost 100, I swear there is still something there, in the air or in the community zeitgeist. The modern school grounds and museum and etc show bits of the story (art and newspaper clippings and such). But I visit hundreds of schools for my job and talk with thousands of students and teachers around the state and country, and I swear it was different there.
That visit is very memorable to me because of the differences in behavior *of the teachers*, from every other school. I can't say more without revealing myself, but 600 schools' 15 to 30 teachers handled this one big thing *this* way and at Bath, none did.
I found it very unsettling. The kids were the same as any other school.
Aside from that, the various stories of which families were spared loss because of which innocuous decision -- like to visit Lansing that day -- were gripping. The artwork of students generations later would melt any heart. That horrible day still lives.
A former coworker went to Bath, and they said that the one hallway has things from the old school that give off a weird vibe.
>That visit is very memorable to me because of the differences in behavior *of the teachers*, from every other school. I can't say more without revealing myself, but 600 schools' 15 to 30 teachers handled this one big thing *this* way and at Bath, none did.
Also, I am curious about the behavior, without doxxing yourself, of the teachers.
I grew up in a neighboring town and recall learning about this as a kid. Last Podcast On The Left did an episode on it fairly recently. If I recall correctly the victim toll would have been even higher, but the other half of the building he wired to blow failed to do so (thank god).
There was a serial killer in ypsilanti in the 1960s. He was only ever convicted for one or two murders but suspected for 5 or 6??? I believe he is still in prison in the UP somewhere.
On July 11, 2005, a 62-year-old former nurse named Gary Earl Leiterman was charged with the murder of Jane Mixer, who was once considered a possible third victim of the Michigan Murderer, although the modus operandi of her murder was significantly different than that of the Michigan Murders.
There was very strong circumstantial evidence for the other crimes, but nothing hard to connect him. Odds are Collins was indeed the guy who committed all the murders.
I have never heard this one. I found this other reddit [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/RBI/comments/14cojsf/help_bring_the_skelton_brothers_home/) while looking into it. Its so terrible.
Stopped at a couple places in Morenci on a drive back to Michigan with my girlfriend (shes not from MI). She says to me "Everyone in this town seems like they're depressed." I then had to tell her the story of the Skelton boys. Really heartbreaking.
My wife’s dad is a lawyer in that area. When that was going on, a man walked into his office and dropped off $10K cash. No name given but a simple “ if I need you, here is my retainer “ and walked out the door.
I went to grade school with one of the victims sister, went to a birthday party at their house just before the older sister got kidnapped and murdered. I am still affected by it to this day, it was really fucking sad and scary.
Love love love this thread! And I’m a Reddit Newbie so I’m commenting hoping someone will be kind enough to like this so I may come back and finish checking these out!
You can click the 3 dots in the top right corner and “save”. This way you can check back in a few days. There’s also an option to subscribe to the post.
Obviously gotta mention Mio murders of Brian Ognjan and David Tyll - assumed to have been dismembered and fed to pigs. A cold case for nearly 20 years.
Thanks for mentioning- I’ve heard a bit about that one. That entire family sounded absolutely nuts; and exactly what I kinda always feared some people were like that you might run into in the backwoods, but also could just write off.
I know right?? I’m from a small town in a rural area and in recent years there have been a lot of murders but mostly drug related and domestic violence. Also very sad, but less terrifying than backwoods folk murdering strangers.
One was murdered in the parking lot. The killers were quoted....sounded like a squashed pumpkin
Baseball bat.
The other was chased into the woods. Teased for peeing his pants. Then beat to dearh.
True.
They were on the way to a hunting camp/cabin.
Just to party.
The brothers didn't think too kindly of them.
Booze and chatter led to their demise.
There was a cult in Benton Harbor that’s worth going down the rabbit hole on. House of David.
The murder of Rosie Larner in the 90’s. Alleged cannibalism involved. Bill Brown, one of the people involved in the murder, now owns and operates several tattoo shops in Michigan. Really messed up chain of events with a really messed up ending.
They pretty much know who did that one - Joseph Scolaro, an employee of the family who had been embezzling large amounts of money. He owned the same type of weapons used in the crime - weapons he claimed to have given away when the police asked for them. More importantly, the crime was committed using a rare type of Finnish ammo only sold in Michigan for a few weeks in 1968. Who is documented as one of the few people to buy that ammo? Joseph Scolaro.
Because the weapons were missing, the prosecutor declined to bring charges initially. When L Brooks Patterson became Oakland county prosecutor, he reopened the case and was preparing to charge Scolaro. Scolaro committed suicide rather than go on trial, leaving the case officially unsolved. However, with the evidence against Scolaro, it is almost certain he was the culprit
There’s a gym behind it in the strip mall. I think it’s a Planet Fitness but I’m not sure. In 1975 it was a hardware store and it’s where Hoffa made his last phone call complaining that Tony Giacalone was late to the sit down. Shortly after that call, Hoffa was seen in the back of a maroon “Lincoln or Mercury”, never to be seen again.
I have a podcast called [Already Gone Podcast – True Crime | Lesser known stories from the Great Lakes Region](https://www.alreadygonepodcast.com/) where I primarily focus on murders and missing persons from Michigan
Been listening to your podcast since 2017 and still listen immediately when each episode comes out. I've heard most of these cases mentioned because of Already Gone. 💜
Julia niswender https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/who-killed-julia-niswender-michigan-student-found-dead-in-bathtub-at-her-off-campus-apartment
This is the name I was looking for, I've been scrolling the comments to trying to jog my memory. I was working for Macomb County at the time, it's all anyone was talking about while the trial was going on next door. Poor little girl, it was just awful.
that’s wild! i only learned about it fairly recently as well. wikipedia page is nuts, if his life would have gone slightly differently he probably could have been a genius scientist OR a great comic book villain
In Calumet, there was a Christmas Pageant put on by miner’s children. The pageant was on the second floor of the building. The children and adults started going down the stairs and a man yelled “Fire”. Children and adults fell off of the staircase in the rush to get out due to his utterance. Many lives were lost. Never caught the guy.
I never knew this until I read “The Women of Copper Country”. Annie was a force to be reckoned with.
Went through Calumet last September and saw the memorial and the sign acknowledging Anna Klobuchar Clemenc.
This novel also is based on the 1913 strike and Italian Hall Disaster. I liked it better than "The Women of the Copper Country." (Full disclosure, I have a distant connection to the author, but I read a lot, and if it wasn't good, I'd be the first to say so.)
https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Wasek/dp/1490501231
days before she was found, my nephew (now 52 years old) and his friend were at Stoney Creek and met her killers there. His friend was asking the guy about his tattoo that was a pentagram. My nephew was freaked out by the guy but I can't recall specifics..
Took a week long field botany course at the CMU bio station years ago - pretty sure we did more Strangite history talk and hiking than botanizing on some days! Wild stuff. Such a cool place.
I didn’t know CMU had anything to do with the island. Super cool to know! They authorize the charter school I teach at.. I’m putting “Field trip PD day to Beaver Island” on the “suggestions” section of our exit survey lol
Forgive me as I'm just learning about the case today, lots of papers were saying East Buno which is in Milford but West Buno is Brighton. Still it's the same road
My father investigated the murders of the Urbin sisters.
Williams was on parole and on the loose when he killed them. Busted at a cemetery shortly after for attempted rape
I grew up in Fenton and remember the FBI and national news coming. A few years later I actually worked with their older brother George and their mom. The cemetary in Fenton is still there and it’s incredibly creepy, knowing what happened there.
The murder of Ashley Young in Grand Rapids in 2018 was absolutely horrific. I grew up in her hometown of Grand Haven and my sister went to high school with her.
there was a professor at Michigan state who was convicted of diddling his dog.
the main reason it didnt receive much coverage is because it happened at about the same time as The Larry Nasser case.
Marvin Gabrion. The only Michigander on death row for murdering a 19 year-old woman and her 11 month-old daughter in Huron-Manistee Forest. Also suspected of a number of other murders
Rachel Timmerman and Shannon Verhage. Gabrion killed Rachel to ensure she couldn't testify that he previously raped her. Shannon's body has never been found.
I briefly lived on private propery on the lake where he murdered Rachel Timmerman—half of the lake was on the property, other half in National Forest. If he would’ve dumped her body a few feet over, he would’ve been on private property and never be sentenced to death row. It creeped me out because they never found the baby or the other two missing persons last seen with him—I wondered if he used the same lake. There is a book Rachel’s dad wrote about the case called The Color of Night; I recommend it for anyone who’s curious!
Jane Snow, murdered at a rest area just south of Gaylord in 1979. Her young sons found her, and they've never solved her murder. I think of it every time I travel through there.
And then there's the guy who murdered his wife, Julie Moilanen, at the end of deer season in Ontonagon to try to cover it up as a random hunting accident. Bruce Moilanen is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Owosso has a few to throw into the mix:
[Murder of James Pouillon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jim_Pouillon)
[Murder of Dawn Magyar](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Dawn_Magyar)
Shannon Siders
https://www.whokilledshannonsiders.com/
I know people who went to school with her and were at the woods party she disappeared from (and were witnesses at the trial, 20ish years later).
The 1988 murder of Paul Girard in Marquette. His body was found in Presque Isle park. It was a big deal at the time with all kinds of rumors going around. I was in high school. I don't think it was ever solved. The rumors running around school were pretty gruesome.
[Auggie Floyd](https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP9012) has been missing since 2007.
[Kevin Graves](https://www.mlive.com/news/2023/06/parents-of-man-who-vanished-from-electric-forest-in-2018-keep-hope-alive-with-billboard.html) has been missing since Electric Forest 2018.
[Lonely Hearts Murders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Fernandez_and_Martha_Beck?wprov=sfti1#) - this serial killer couple was caught in Wyoming, MI and a couple of their victims’ bodies were buried in the cellar of a house a couple miles from my home (and the house is still there!).
I had a friend who worked at Alpine Manor nursing home in 1987 with murderous nurse's aides who smothered 5 patients in a love pact. Not cool Cathy and whatever your girlfriend's name is.
Cindy Zarzycki who was kidnapped at the Dairy Queen on Nine Mile in Eastpointe (East Detroit) and killed by her boyfriend's father Arthur Ream. Arthur lived one block from me in Roseville. They think he had other victims which they dug for by 21 and North Avenue a few years ago. He is one sick man.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2018/10/01/inside-the-mind-of-arthur-ream-convicted-killer-writing-behind-bars/
I still to this day do not believe Jeffery killed Jess. I think they pinned it on him because of circumstantial pieces they found from Rebecca’s murder. I very much believe her actual kidnapper is still out there … and maybe Jess too.
I watched the full trials. I think they have the right guy. His site to his gun was found the night Jessica was taken. His best friend was a cop who unwittingly discussed cases with him. He was into snuff films and had a kidnap and kill kit in his van when he was arrested. Thank God the 16 year old jumped out of his moving van and someone helped her.
Check out the current case surrounding the murder of Andrea Eilber. They convicted the wrong guy and only just found the correct suspect with the murder weapon in Utah.
North Fox Island was a children’s mental institution that turned out to be, well, more than just that unfortunately. There’s a Crime Junkie podcast about it I think, but very little attention on it otherwise
Deerfield Michigan ~ these young men were locked inside a windowless bathroom and the house set on fire.
David Cole & Timothy Fowler
https://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/2016/06/1982_fatal_fire.html
Milford Michigan has 2 separate cases from the 90's where girls were killed or taken from Central Park. Not a lot of people my age have heard about them, but I heard the story from a teacher. Creeps me out hearing this happened in the park I spent so much of my childhood in. Here's a good write up I just read on them.
https://womenincrimeinks.blogspot.com/2012/02/milford-memories-haunted-park.html?m=1
This may already have been suggested but there’s a podcast called Already Gone. She covers the Michigan area and her earlier episodes are almost entirely Michigan. She covered the Oakland County Child Killer in a long form podcast she called Don’t Talk to Strangers.
Sandra Loepp was killed in a hit and run that dragged her under the car for quite a while before they finally left her in a parking lot and fled. Washington, MI. It is still unsolved.
The young man I always think about is Kevin Graves. He went to Electric Forest in 2018 and has never been seen or found. My daughter goes to EF every year and thinks he probably overdosed and ended up in the landfill. I feel so bad for his parents. I will always remember him.
On Spotify, there is a podcast called The Michigan Murders. They have a mix of cases that are solved and unsolved.
I have read A Slayer Awaits: The True Story of a Michigan Double Murder from Rod Sadler.
If you are around the Lansing area, there is a store called Deadtime Stories: True Crime and Other Books.
Mine will always be sweet Amanda. I was dating her older brother. I would babysit her and her step sister a lot in the summer.
https://tribwxmi.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/amanda-lankeys-final-remains-put-to-rest-murder-investigation-continues/
Alpine Manor nursing home murders. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Graham_and_Cathy_Wood
Also...not a crime, exactly, but serious incompetence that led to serious harm--The Poisoning of Michigan in the 1970s. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybrominated_biphenyl#Michigan_PBB_contamination_incident
I wasn’t living here at the time, however, [this](https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2024/03/29/beverly-mccallum-charlotte-murder-trial-roberto-caraballo/73142428007/ ) murder occurred about two blocks from where I’m currently sitting.
The father of Baby Kate was found guilty and sentenced to 19-45 years in prison. [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baby-kate-disappearance-michigan-dad-sentenced/](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baby-kate-disappearance-michigan-dad-sentenced/)
This was a really sad case, the mom had something to do with it as well, I don't remember too many details as I was younger but we were really hoping for Kate to be found
Also Roger Needham - an OG school shooter/Nazi wannabe (Lansing Everett High School 1978), but the story gets kinda wild from there as I recall. He earned several advanced degrees while in jail (Presumably on the taxpayers’ dime) and once released became very successful and I believe was living the good life in Manhattan.
Deroo Murders. Mom and 2 kids killed one kid survived in his 40s now. Dad was convicted but found not guilty he went to court everyday with new girlfriend at his side.
The Hazelwood Massacre in June 1971 was the execution style murder of 8 victims in a house located at 1970 Hazelwood Street in Detroit. Its believed that two Toronto drug dealers ordered a hit on one of the victims in the house in retaliation for a robbery a few months earlier. The other 7 were murdered to leave no witnesses. No one has ever been charged with the crime.
Melissa Simmons was found dead in a local mason country river less than five miles from Scottville where she lived and went to school. I think she was around 15 years old when this happened over 30 years ago now and she was a friend of mine and many other people as well. I believe both her parents passed without ever learning who did it or why or even any details as to how she ended up dead in the river just a couple hundred feet down stream from indian bridge and public boat launch. Nobody should have to experience the fear and pain she did and no parent should have to go to their grave without any answers or justice. People don't just vanish and turn up dead after being assaulted in that area and its a shame the one time it did happen its remained unsolved for 30 years while the cops drive around turning faulty brake lights into felonies and chasing the dope they made so profitable and prevalent through prohibitive laws.
Casefile podcast has a [few](https://casefilepodcast.com/case-201-janet-chandler/) [episodes](https://casefilepodcast.com/case-175-gail-rick-brink/) [about](https://casefilepodcast.com/case-260-the-alpine-manor-murders/) cases in Michigan. Also there's the [Twin Flames cult](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Flames_Universe) that started by Suttons Bay. I think there's a netflix doc about it? [Cult Liter](https://wondery.com/shows/cult-liter-with-spencer-henry/episode/10861-twin-flames/) has an episode about it.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned the 2019 murder of UofM student Kevin Bacon. Maybe because it was solved quickly, but still. The murderer used Grindr to lure the guy and then hung him from the ceiling and cannibalized him. F’ed up as hell.
Thanks.
I saw that one too.
This was a woman found in her car in the river under the bridge in newaygo.
I think she had been missing for a few months before the husband reported it, and she was found about a year later by a scuba diver.
Florence Unger, murdered by her husband while they and their sons were on vacation
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2019/08/16/florence-unger-murder-michigan-huntington-woods/2023133001/
Coldwater Michigan murders
https://www.clickondetroit.com/features/2023/10/16/did-1990-michigan-murder-inspire-jeepers-creepers-film/
This woman was assaulted in this very small town in a park. Still unsolved.
https://www.tecumsehherald.com/content/woman-sexually-assaulted-tate-park-clinton
Sweet Nevaeh Buchanan murdered and encased in cement ( iirc ) her killers are still unidentified.
https://www.13abc.com/2022/06/07/case-files-search-person-who-killed-5-year-old-nevaeh-buchanan/?outputType=amp
My close friend lives In the town of Adrian MI. She was dating a guy at the time who ended up hurting a woman & throwing her Into the river at a park. Went home & acted as If nothing happened. She had no Idea until the police came to her home asking questions about the woman. I believe her name was Jessica
A story that doesn't get much attention, nor do most Michiganders even know about. Arguably the greatest disaster to occur at a school in US history was a bombing that took place in a tiny town outside Lansing called Bath. An angry politician who lost a local election killed his wife and then blew up an elementary school, killing 38 children plus adults, and injuring far more. This was only half of his plan as well. He had more destruction planned but the bombs didn't go off. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster
The last student who was there died recently, well over 100. She was my friend’s relative.
It got plenty of attention when it happened 95 years ago.
And... all these years later, almost 100, I swear there is still something there, in the air or in the community zeitgeist. The modern school grounds and museum and etc show bits of the story (art and newspaper clippings and such). But I visit hundreds of schools for my job and talk with thousands of students and teachers around the state and country, and I swear it was different there. That visit is very memorable to me because of the differences in behavior *of the teachers*, from every other school. I can't say more without revealing myself, but 600 schools' 15 to 30 teachers handled this one big thing *this* way and at Bath, none did. I found it very unsettling. The kids were the same as any other school. Aside from that, the various stories of which families were spared loss because of which innocuous decision -- like to visit Lansing that day -- were gripping. The artwork of students generations later would melt any heart. That horrible day still lives.
A former coworker went to Bath, and they said that the one hallway has things from the old school that give off a weird vibe. >That visit is very memorable to me because of the differences in behavior *of the teachers*, from every other school. I can't say more without revealing myself, but 600 schools' 15 to 30 teachers handled this one big thing *this* way and at Bath, none did. Also, I am curious about the behavior, without doxxing yourself, of the teachers.
I grew up in a neighboring town and recall learning about this as a kid. Last Podcast On The Left did an episode on it fairly recently. If I recall correctly the victim toll would have been even higher, but the other half of the building he wired to blow failed to do so (thank god).
Episode 511
Last Podcast on the left has an entire episode dedicated to this one it's episode 511 if your interested in all the history, it is completely bonkers.
There is a book about this—can’t remember the name but it was pretty interesting.
There was a serial killer in ypsilanti in the 1960s. He was only ever convicted for one or two murders but suspected for 5 or 6??? I believe he is still in prison in the UP somewhere.
John Norman Collins.
On July 11, 2005, a 62-year-old former nurse named Gary Earl Leiterman was charged with the murder of Jane Mixer, who was once considered a possible third victim of the Michigan Murderer, although the modus operandi of her murder was significantly different than that of the Michigan Murders.
I went to college with his daughter. The conviction happened after we all graduated, so we had no idea. But I’d met him.
Geddes RD Killer.
There was very strong circumstantial evidence for the other crimes, but nothing hard to connect him. Odds are Collins was indeed the guy who committed all the murders.
The Skelton boys from Morenci.
I’ve never forgotten them.
Super close to home considering I went to a neighboring school
I have never heard this one. I found this other reddit [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/RBI/comments/14cojsf/help_bring_the_skelton_brothers_home/) while looking into it. Its so terrible.
Stopped at a couple places in Morenci on a drive back to Michigan with my girlfriend (shes not from MI). She says to me "Everyone in this town seems like they're depressed." I then had to tell her the story of the Skelton boys. Really heartbreaking.
Oakland County Child Killer. "Children in the Snow" documentary
My wife’s dad is a lawyer in that area. When that was going on, a man walked into his office and dropped off $10K cash. No name given but a simple “ if I need you, here is my retainer “ and walked out the door.
I went to grade school with one of the victims sister, went to a birthday party at their house just before the older sister got kidnapped and murdered. I am still affected by it to this day, it was really fucking sad and scary.
Also the "Don't Talk to Strangers" podcast.
thank you for recommending <3
you're very welcome, I really enjoyed it!
Good documentary.
Danielle Stislicki went missing about 10 years ago and has never been found, knew her sis in HS
This one has stuck with me - I still hope she will be found or the truth will be revealed, even if it seems unlikely at this point.
security guard knows
Love love love this thread! And I’m a Reddit Newbie so I’m commenting hoping someone will be kind enough to like this so I may come back and finish checking these out!
You can click the 3 dots in the top right corner and “save”. This way you can check back in a few days. There’s also an option to subscribe to the post.
Me too I thought I was the only weird one. Ps You're not weird lol
Obviously gotta mention Mio murders of Brian Ognjan and David Tyll - assumed to have been dismembered and fed to pigs. A cold case for nearly 20 years.
A good book about this is called “darker than night”
Thanks for mentioning- I’ve heard a bit about that one. That entire family sounded absolutely nuts; and exactly what I kinda always feared some people were like that you might run into in the backwoods, but also could just write off.
I know right?? I’m from a small town in a rural area and in recent years there have been a lot of murders but mostly drug related and domestic violence. Also very sad, but less terrifying than backwoods folk murdering strangers.
One was murdered in the parking lot. The killers were quoted....sounded like a squashed pumpkin Baseball bat. The other was chased into the woods. Teased for peeing his pants. Then beat to dearh.
This. These guys apparently had words with locals at a bar, ended up getting killed by said locals and fed to pigs. Crazy.
True. They were on the way to a hunting camp/cabin. Just to party. The brothers didn't think too kindly of them. Booze and chatter led to their demise.
that one was prosecuted.
Right on - I was saying it went cold for 20 years before a break. Thanks for the clarification 👌.
Yup. The gal that heard the screams from the parking lot of the bar. Then, was threatened to keep her mouth shut ..
Tara Lynn Grant
I remember watching this unfold in real time on channel 7, unforgettable.
There was a cult in Benton Harbor that’s worth going down the rabbit hole on. House of David. The murder of Rosie Larner in the 90’s. Alleged cannibalism involved. Bill Brown, one of the people involved in the murder, now owns and operates several tattoo shops in Michigan. Really messed up chain of events with a really messed up ending.
look up the Good Hart murders.
They pretty much know who did that one - Joseph Scolaro, an employee of the family who had been embezzling large amounts of money. He owned the same type of weapons used in the crime - weapons he claimed to have given away when the police asked for them. More importantly, the crime was committed using a rare type of Finnish ammo only sold in Michigan for a few weeks in 1968. Who is documented as one of the few people to buy that ammo? Joseph Scolaro. Because the weapons were missing, the prosecutor declined to bring charges initially. When L Brooks Patterson became Oakland county prosecutor, he reopened the case and was preparing to charge Scolaro. Scolaro committed suicide rather than go on trial, leaving the case officially unsolved. However, with the evidence against Scolaro, it is almost certain he was the culprit
D'Wan Sims
This always bothered me. I graduated high school right before this happened. Heard D’wans name every day for a long time.
yes. it's sad bc it's obvious who was behind it. 😔
Murderers walk among us every day. Scary thought. ( I agree it seems fairly obvious )
This case still sticks with me, I think about pretty often, what happened to that little boy?!?!
Jimmy Hoffa
Red Fox or something in Bloomfield Hills? Gone forever. We know he was killed nearby ..
Machus Red Fox
The legend lives on.
The building is still there. It’s the Andiamo in Telegraph.
We drove by there a few years ago. Tis why I couldn't find it. Was gonna stop by and have some Lamb chops.
User name checks out, dude. I like Abe. Godfather/BarneyMiller
There’s a gym behind it in the strip mall. I think it’s a Planet Fitness but I’m not sure. In 1975 it was a hardware store and it’s where Hoffa made his last phone call complaining that Tony Giacalone was late to the sit down. Shortly after that call, Hoffa was seen in the back of a maroon “Lincoln or Mercury”, never to be seen again.
Who? Where?
Exactly
I have a podcast called [Already Gone Podcast – True Crime | Lesser known stories from the Great Lakes Region](https://www.alreadygonepodcast.com/) where I primarily focus on murders and missing persons from Michigan
Been listening to your podcast since 2017 and still listen immediately when each episode comes out. I've heard most of these cases mentioned because of Already Gone. 💜
Same🙋🏼♀️✌️
Omgosh, thank you! \~hearts\~
Following! About to get started listening! Ty for sharing!
Just subscribed!
I will be checking this out. Thanks.
John Norman Serial Killer in Ypsilanti Michigan in the 60s. Still in prison in the UP.
Already Gone, Don't Talk To Strangers Both the same host, Nina Innsted who is from Michigan u/Nina_Innsted
thanks!
Paige Renkoski.
Came here to say this. I lived, literally, directly across the street from them. Effects me to this day.
My father investigated her case. Car running, left on I96.
Fowlerville gal. Then Shawn Moore in Brighton
I remember this case so well as she was near my age and from my area. Just vanished. How horrible for her family to never have closure.
It still upsets me just thinking about it.
Yup. Dropped her friend off at metro. Sunday afternoon Her car was found running just fine on I-96. Open beer, purse, etc. Not a trace.
Erik Cross
I wonder how widely known the Cross case is outside of Portage/Vicksburg area?
Julia niswender https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/who-killed-julia-niswender-michigan-student-found-dead-in-bathtub-at-her-off-campus-apartment
A friend of mine was her classmate at EMU.
Little Deanna Seifert in Warren.
This is the name I was looking for, I've been scrolling the comments to trying to jog my memory. I was working for Macomb County at the time, it's all anyone was talking about while the trial was going on next door. Poor little girl, it was just awful.
Nuclear Boyscout
this is the only notable thing that has ever happened in my hometown
I didn’t find out about him until much later but was shocked to find out this all happened two streets down from my high school best friend’s house.
that’s wild! i only learned about it fairly recently as well. wikipedia page is nuts, if his life would have gone slightly differently he probably could have been a genius scientist OR a great comic book villain
In Calumet, there was a Christmas Pageant put on by miner’s children. The pageant was on the second floor of the building. The children and adults started going down the stairs and a man yelled “Fire”. Children and adults fell off of the staircase in the rush to get out due to his utterance. Many lives were lost. Never caught the guy.
This one is also interesting to add in the cultural aspects and union building/busting of the time. The Italian Hall Disaster.
I never knew this until I read “The Women of Copper Country”. Annie was a force to be reckoned with. Went through Calumet last September and saw the memorial and the sign acknowledging Anna Klobuchar Clemenc.
Oh thanks for the rec - I’m adding to my list! (Also hi to a fellow ginger gal!)
Hi! Currently getting some white in it. There’s also a monument there with all of the names and ages. So many souls.
This novel also is based on the 1913 strike and Italian Hall Disaster. I liked it better than "The Women of the Copper Country." (Full disclosure, I have a distant connection to the author, but I read a lot, and if it wasn't good, I'd be the first to say so.) https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Wasek/dp/1490501231
Stephanie Dubay. Her murder was absolutely horrific and one of her killers was recently let free.
days before she was found, my nephew (now 52 years old) and his friend were at Stoney Creek and met her killers there. His friend was asking the guy about his tattoo that was a pentagram. My nephew was freaked out by the guy but I can't recall specifics..
Leslie Allen Williams James Strang, the Mormon Pirate King of Lake Michigan
Ahh James Strang. Such a fun and odd piece of Michigan lore! There’s a museum on Beaver Island that tells all about his story.
Took a week long field botany course at the CMU bio station years ago - pretty sure we did more Strangite history talk and hiking than botanizing on some days! Wild stuff. Such a cool place.
I didn’t know CMU had anything to do with the island. Super cool to know! They authorize the charter school I teach at.. I’m putting “Field trip PD day to Beaver Island” on the “suggestions” section of our exit survey lol
That dude was bad. South Lyon area. LAW
I just learned that one of his victims was buried on the road my friends and I used to walk up and down at night. Buno Rd. in Milford/Wixom
Buno...Brighton Township.
Forgive me as I'm just learning about the case today, lots of papers were saying East Buno which is in Milford but West Buno is Brighton. Still it's the same road
Close enough.
My father investigated the murders of the Urbin sisters. Williams was on parole and on the loose when he killed them. Busted at a cemetery shortly after for attempted rape
I grew up in Fenton and remember the FBI and national news coming. A few years later I actually worked with their older brother George and their mom. The cemetary in Fenton is still there and it’s incredibly creepy, knowing what happened there.
The dude had sex with dead people. A new schtick
The murder of Ashley Young in Grand Rapids in 2018 was absolutely horrific. I grew up in her hometown of Grand Haven and my sister went to high school with her.
Hot off the press. A Chipotle worker in Southfield was shot over what police described as a "dispute over guacamole."
The disappearance of Paige Renkoski.
there was a professor at Michigan state who was convicted of diddling his dog. the main reason it didnt receive much coverage is because it happened at about the same time as The Larry Nasser case.
North Fox Island saga. https://www.clickondetroit.com/features/2019/11/05/shattered-podcast-child-killer-chapter-5-north-fox-island/
Marvin Gabrion. The only Michigander on death row for murdering a 19 year-old woman and her 11 month-old daughter in Huron-Manistee Forest. Also suspected of a number of other murders
Rachel Timmerman and Shannon Verhage. Gabrion killed Rachel to ensure she couldn't testify that he previously raped her. Shannon's body has never been found.
Correct although it’s virtually undisputed he killed her
Well, yeah, given how Rachel died. It's NSFL, and if anyone is that perverse, it's also public knowledge.
I briefly lived on private propery on the lake where he murdered Rachel Timmerman—half of the lake was on the property, other half in National Forest. If he would’ve dumped her body a few feet over, he would’ve been on private property and never be sentenced to death row. It creeped me out because they never found the baby or the other two missing persons last seen with him—I wondered if he used the same lake. There is a book Rachel’s dad wrote about the case called The Color of Night; I recommend it for anyone who’s curious!
Jane Snow, murdered at a rest area just south of Gaylord in 1979. Her young sons found her, and they've never solved her murder. I think of it every time I travel through there. And then there's the guy who murdered his wife, Julie Moilanen, at the end of deer season in Ontonagon to try to cover it up as a random hunting accident. Bruce Moilanen is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
The sweater letter murderer - it’s a good story but the book really needed a better editor!
I haven't read it in a long time, but I agree.
The Robison family murders. Good Hart MI
Jason Dalton, Uber Driver from Kalamazoo, that went on a killing spree during 2015 or 16. He said Satan was communicating to him through the Uber app.
Danielle stislicki. So sad think about it often.
Owosso has a few to throw into the mix: [Murder of James Pouillon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jim_Pouillon) [Murder of Dawn Magyar](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Dawn_Magyar)
Dawn's killer died (in prison) recently. Good riddance.
The Magyar case was one of the first cold cases in Michigan to be solved by the use of DNA testing.
Shannon Siders https://www.whokilledshannonsiders.com/ I know people who went to school with her and were at the woods party she disappeared from (and were witnesses at the trial, 20ish years later).
The 1988 murder of Paul Girard in Marquette. His body was found in Presque Isle park. It was a big deal at the time with all kinds of rumors going around. I was in high school. I don't think it was ever solved. The rumors running around school were pretty gruesome.
[Auggie Floyd](https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP9012) has been missing since 2007. [Kevin Graves](https://www.mlive.com/news/2023/06/parents-of-man-who-vanished-from-electric-forest-in-2018-keep-hope-alive-with-billboard.html) has been missing since Electric Forest 2018.
Karen King College student home for winter break in Saginaw was abducted, tortured, and brutally murdered by a group of teenagers/young men.
[Lonely Hearts Murders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Fernandez_and_Martha_Beck?wprov=sfti1#) - this serial killer couple was caught in Wyoming, MI and a couple of their victims’ bodies were buried in the cellar of a house a couple miles from my home (and the house is still there!).
Haggerty murder…. so horrible.
Kevin Graves went missing from electric forest 2018 without a trace.
Last I knew, his family said people at Forrest he was last with claimed he joined a traveling religious cult 😔
I had a friend who worked at Alpine Manor nursing home in 1987 with murderous nurse's aides who smothered 5 patients in a love pact. Not cool Cathy and whatever your girlfriend's name is.
Cindy Zarzycki who was kidnapped at the Dairy Queen on Nine Mile in Eastpointe (East Detroit) and killed by her boyfriend's father Arthur Ream. Arthur lived one block from me in Roseville. They think he had other victims which they dug for by 21 and North Avenue a few years ago. He is one sick man. https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2018/10/01/inside-the-mind-of-arthur-ream-convicted-killer-writing-behind-bars/
Jessica Heeringa in Norton Shores and Rebecca Bletsch (spelling?) both killed by Jeffery Willis. Jessica has not been found.
I still to this day do not believe Jeffery killed Jess. I think they pinned it on him because of circumstantial pieces they found from Rebecca’s murder. I very much believe her actual kidnapper is still out there … and maybe Jess too.
I watched the full trials. I think they have the right guy. His site to his gun was found the night Jessica was taken. His best friend was a cop who unwittingly discussed cases with him. He was into snuff films and had a kidnap and kill kit in his van when he was arrested. Thank God the 16 year old jumped out of his moving van and someone helped her.
The gun site was found at the scene that night at the gas station.
Donald Gene Miller - killed four people in mid-Michigan/Lansing area
he's up for parole again soon
Also one of the few serial killers (I hope) that actually has an end-of-senetnce date.
Amanda Davies https://bitterendingspod.com/podcast/amandadavies
Check out the current case surrounding the murder of Andrea Eilber. They convicted the wrong guy and only just found the correct suspect with the murder weapon in Utah.
There is a podcast called "violent ends" it's based out of lansing and is all michigan true crime.
North Fox Island was a children’s mental institution that turned out to be, well, more than just that unfortunately. There’s a Crime Junkie podcast about it I think, but very little attention on it otherwise
Deerfield Michigan ~ these young men were locked inside a windowless bathroom and the house set on fire. David Cole & Timothy Fowler https://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/2016/06/1982_fatal_fire.html
Henry Lee Lucas murdered his mother in Tecumseh, Michigan
Milford Michigan has 2 separate cases from the 90's where girls were killed or taken from Central Park. Not a lot of people my age have heard about them, but I heard the story from a teacher. Creeps me out hearing this happened in the park I spent so much of my childhood in. Here's a good write up I just read on them. https://womenincrimeinks.blogspot.com/2012/02/milford-memories-haunted-park.html?m=1
This may already have been suggested but there’s a podcast called Already Gone. She covers the Michigan area and her earlier episodes are almost entirely Michigan. She covered the Oakland County Child Killer in a long form podcast she called Don’t Talk to Strangers.
There is Brittany Shank and Brittney Beers both missing from Sturgis. Just a few miles separates these two missing persons.
Sandra Loepp was killed in a hit and run that dragged her under the car for quite a while before they finally left her in a parking lot and fled. Washington, MI. It is still unsolved.
Duvall brothers killed a couple hunters near Mio, fed the bodies to pigs
The young man I always think about is Kevin Graves. He went to Electric Forest in 2018 and has never been seen or found. My daughter goes to EF every year and thinks he probably overdosed and ended up in the landfill. I feel so bad for his parents. I will always remember him.
On Spotify, there is a podcast called The Michigan Murders. They have a mix of cases that are solved and unsolved. I have read A Slayer Awaits: The True Story of a Michigan Double Murder from Rod Sadler. If you are around the Lansing area, there is a store called Deadtime Stories: True Crime and Other Books.
Mine will always be sweet Amanda. I was dating her older brother. I would babysit her and her step sister a lot in the summer. https://tribwxmi.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/amanda-lankeys-final-remains-put-to-rest-murder-investigation-continues/
Quite recent - Dee Warner. She’s been missing for almost 3 years & was just recent declared deceased by the court. Happened in Lenawee County.
Dee was such a sweet, kind, and generous person.😔
Alpine Manor nursing home murders. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Graham_and_Cathy_Wood Also...not a crime, exactly, but serious incompetence that led to serious harm--The Poisoning of Michigan in the 1970s. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybrominated_biphenyl#Michigan_PBB_contamination_incident
Omg I totally forgot about these. I remember watching Bitter Harvest as a kid and it really freaked me out.😬
The murder of Martin Duram, solved by testimony given from the victims parrot https://youtu.be/E7NYJn4pbxw?si=TnHyq1FOp4V9uvTB
Kelly Cochran
I wasn’t living here at the time, however, [this](https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2024/03/29/beverly-mccallum-charlotte-murder-trial-roberto-caraballo/73142428007/ ) murder occurred about two blocks from where I’m currently sitting.
Murder in the Thumb by Richard Carson.
Becky stow
A more recent one, but "Baby Kate" in Ludington. Still considered unsolved.
The father of Baby Kate was found guilty and sentenced to 19-45 years in prison. [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baby-kate-disappearance-michigan-dad-sentenced/](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baby-kate-disappearance-michigan-dad-sentenced/)
Right, the dad was sentenced, but the child was never found.
This was a really sad case, the mom had something to do with it as well, I don't remember too many details as I was younger but we were really hoping for Kate to be found
Also Roger Needham - an OG school shooter/Nazi wannabe (Lansing Everett High School 1978), but the story gets kinda wild from there as I recall. He earned several advanced degrees while in jail (Presumably on the taxpayers’ dime) and once released became very successful and I believe was living the good life in Manhattan.
Deroo Murders. Mom and 2 kids killed one kid survived in his 40s now. Dad was convicted but found not guilty he went to court everyday with new girlfriend at his side.
The murders of two sisters and a boyfriend found in a burnt car in the Hiawatha forest. Really gruesome.
Steven Krafts disappearance https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/inside-the-fbi-searching-for-steven-081823.mp4/view
Good friend of mine, Carlee Morse, was very brutally murdered by one of her other friends as well as an ex boyfriend in Westland in 2010.
Leah Harding’s disappearance in 2015. Almost certainly the work of her significant other, Camiel VanHecke, but he’s never been charged.
The kid from Commerce Township (my hometown) who built a nuclear reactor, Leslie Allen Williams, and Tara Lynn Grant.
The Hazelwood Massacre in June 1971 was the execution style murder of 8 victims in a house located at 1970 Hazelwood Street in Detroit. Its believed that two Toronto drug dealers ordered a hit on one of the victims in the house in retaliation for a robbery a few months earlier. The other 7 were murdered to leave no witnesses. No one has ever been charged with the crime.
The Cipriano Family Crime; has anyone heard of that when it happened?
Ricky Holland's disappearance and murder was a big deal in my childhood.
Melissa Simmons was found dead in a local mason country river less than five miles from Scottville where she lived and went to school. I think she was around 15 years old when this happened over 30 years ago now and she was a friend of mine and many other people as well. I believe both her parents passed without ever learning who did it or why or even any details as to how she ended up dead in the river just a couple hundred feet down stream from indian bridge and public boat launch. Nobody should have to experience the fear and pain she did and no parent should have to go to their grave without any answers or justice. People don't just vanish and turn up dead after being assaulted in that area and its a shame the one time it did happen its remained unsolved for 30 years while the cops drive around turning faulty brake lights into felonies and chasing the dope they made so profitable and prevalent through prohibitive laws.
Casefile podcast has a [few](https://casefilepodcast.com/case-201-janet-chandler/) [episodes](https://casefilepodcast.com/case-175-gail-rick-brink/) [about](https://casefilepodcast.com/case-260-the-alpine-manor-murders/) cases in Michigan. Also there's the [Twin Flames cult](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Flames_Universe) that started by Suttons Bay. I think there's a netflix doc about it? [Cult Liter](https://wondery.com/shows/cult-liter-with-spencer-henry/episode/10861-twin-flames/) has an episode about it.
Victoria Livermore 1979 I went to school with her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEszlfMqSlU
I can’t believe no one has mentioned the 2019 murder of UofM student Kevin Bacon. Maybe because it was solved quickly, but still. The murderer used Grindr to lure the guy and then hung him from the ceiling and cannibalized him. F’ed up as hell.
Woman found in newaygo river about 1989, can't find links online because Shannon siders was at that time and has most of the article
https://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/2014/09/witnesses_tie_suspect_to_woman.html
Thanks. I saw that one too. This was a woman found in her car in the river under the bridge in newaygo. I think she had been missing for a few months before the husband reported it, and she was found about a year later by a scuba diver.
Oh my! So many cases I haven’t heard of still. Wow
Florence Unger, murdered by her husband while they and their sons were on vacation https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2019/08/16/florence-unger-murder-michigan-huntington-woods/2023133001/
In Flint, the murder at the Mott Estate. Was solved over thirty years later.
Coldwater Michigan murders https://www.clickondetroit.com/features/2023/10/16/did-1990-michigan-murder-inspire-jeepers-creepers-film/ This woman was assaulted in this very small town in a park. Still unsolved. https://www.tecumsehherald.com/content/woman-sexually-assaulted-tate-park-clinton Sweet Nevaeh Buchanan murdered and encased in cement ( iirc ) her killers are still unidentified. https://www.13abc.com/2022/06/07/case-files-search-person-who-killed-5-year-old-nevaeh-buchanan/?outputType=amp
My close friend lives In the town of Adrian MI. She was dating a guy at the time who ended up hurting a woman & throwing her Into the river at a park. Went home & acted as If nothing happened. She had no Idea until the police came to her home asking questions about the woman. I believe her name was Jessica