On June 1, 1990, 24 year old Connie Royce went to the Hayloft Bar in Mt Clemens, Michigan. She was on a date with a new guy, Greg, and Greg’s friend, “Brad” tagged along.
About 11pm, while Greg was in the restroom, Connie fled the bar, carrying her shoes. She left her handbag behind. Connie would never be seen again.
On a Sunny day in July 2016, 31 year old Alexandra “Ally” Brueger was out for a 10 mile run in the community near the home she shared with her parents in Rose Township, Michigan. The quiet afternoon was shattered by four blasts from a shotgun, the last shot reaching it’s mark, striking Ally Brueger and ending her life. Her case remains unsolved. #Murder #Michigan #Unsolved #Shotgun
In 1951, Toronto Maple Leaf player, 24 year old Bill Barilko scored the game winning goal in overtime during the last game of the Stanley Cup Finals. He flung himself across the ice, tucking a quick backhand over the shoulder of the Montreal goalie, giving the Leafs their fourth Stanley Cup win in five years.
A few months later, Barilko disappeared, taking the Leafs winning streak with him. The Leafs would not win another cup until 1962, within weeks of Barilko’s return home.
On January 3, 2018 Justin Holt returned home after visiting with his brother. He made it inside the house because his shoes, glasses and cigarettes were found there. Justin Holt has never been seen again.
August, 1981 27-year-old Cynthia Jane Miller of Beckley West Virginia is shot to death in her home just hours before her wedding. Who murdered her? Why has the case gone unsolved for so long?
Her slaying wasn’t the only violent death in Beckley that year.
Raleigh County Magistrate Nancy Sparks McMillan was murdered in her home, just one block away from where Miller resided, in December, 1981.
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Yearbook photo of Cynthia Jane Miller
Nancy Starks McMillan was murdered in December 1981
On December 7, 1995 13 year old Barbara Barnes left her Euclid St apartment in Steubenville Ohio on her way to school. She never arrived. Her body would be found two months later, 40 miles away in Pennsylvania. Her killer has never been caught.
Episode 106 – Memorial Day weekend, 1994. Sixteen year old Jody Lynn Brant leaves her home in Gwinnett County Georgia to make the 12 hour drive north to Oakland County Michigan.
Jody Brant, age 16, 1994.
She’s planning to spend the long weekend with her cousins in the Pontiac area. Jody never arrives and days later, her car is found torched in a remote part of Monroe County Michigan.
If you have information about Jody’s case, please contact the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department.
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On August 16, 1987 Northwest Airlines Flight 255, traveling from Detroit Metropolitan Airport to Phoenix Arizona crashed 14 seconds after take off.
At the time of the accident, it was the second deadliest crash in US aviation history. Here is the story of the flight, her passengers and why this tragedy was avoidable.
aftermath
Four year old Cecilia Cichan would survive the crash, but her parents and brother were not as fortunate.
In July of 1993 15 year old Becky Stowe disappeared from her friends house near Niles, Michigan. While law enforcement, her family and the community searched for her, a teenage boy, a “friend” of Becky’s, knew the truth.
On the morning of December 26, 1991 Bernice Gray dropped her toddler daughter off at day care and headed for work. Gray didn’t arrive at work, and wouldn’t be seen again. Days later her bloodstained car was found abandoned in Detroit.
Bernice Gray was last seen on December 26, 1991 in St. Clair Shores, Michigan.
It would take a decade for the man responsible for her disappearance and murder to be brought to justice.
On a warm August night in 2010, 15 year old Carlee Jade Morse of Westland stepped out of her apartment to speak with a friend. She would never be seen alive again.
Justin Yoshikawa and Nick Cottrell are currently in prison for her murder, but no sign of the missing teenager has ever been found.
Carlee Morse, just weeks before she vanished.
Special thanks to Westland Police for their assistance in creating this episode. If you have information as to the whereabouts of Carlee Morse’s body, please contact them at 734-722-9600
Much of my childhood was spent in and around the little town of Berkley, Michigan. My uncle was Berkley High School, class of ’65. One of his classmates was Byron Hoffmeister. I’d heard him mention Hoffmeister over the years, what a “bad guy” he was, but until I dug into this episode, I had no idea.
Join us as we explore the life and many crimes of Berkley’s own Byron Hoffmeister.
yearbook photo of Hoffmeister
The 1968 plea deal that allowed Hoffmeister to be out on the streets by 1971
Labor Day weekend of 1979, the body of Monica Hockey is discovered by the side of the road in Clarkston, Michigan. She’s been beaten, stabbed and her killers attempted to break both of her legs.
A murder so disturbing, so violent, that prosecutors lobby for the return of the death penalty.
On Monday November 23, 1987 the bodies of Gail and Ricky Brink are discovered in their Holland Township (Michigan) home. Twenty two year old Gail and 29 year old Ricky were each shot multiple times, likely in the small hours of Sunday November 22.
Ricky and Gail in 1987
It will take 25 years for their killer to be brought to justice.
In April of 1974 two prisoners walked away from the Magnum Prison Farm near Marquette Michigan. They embarked on a 55 hour crime spree that involved kidnapping, robbery and murder. The spree culminated in the deaths of three people, including Troy Michigan Police Officer Martin “Marty” Chivas.
Episode includes an interview with Troy Mayor Dane Slater, who worked with Martin Chivas in 1974.
In March, 1982 someone entered the Paulson family home in a rural part of Allendale Township, Michigan. Using a .22 caliber weapon he shot and killed all five members of the family, then set the house on fire.
The killer, Maris Karklins, would not be captured until July 1982 when he fatally shot his mother in the Karlklins family home.
Andris Karklins, the younger brother of Maris was a talented guitarist who was on tour at the time of the slayings.
Don’t talk to Strangers – The Oakland County Child Murders is a limited run podcast focused on eight child murders that took place in and around south Oakland County between January 1, 1976 and March 16, 1977. Four of these murders appear to be the work of an as yet unidentified serial killer known as the Oakland County Child Killer.
On November 12, 2013 Chelsea Small was working at the Advance America store in Taylor, Michigan. During a robbery she was shot twice and her killer made off with $200 in cash. Despite video and images of the killer, he remains at large.
30 year old Chelsea Small left behind two children.
On June 8, 2012 Lisa Marie Knight met up with her former husband, Lloyd Frey, they had plans to visit their youngest child.
The visit never happened. Lisa made a 10:30p phone call to a friend, and then she vanished.
Lisa Knight, 2012 – note the chest tattoo.
Det/Sgt Harshberger of the Michigan State Police is in charge of Lisa’s case and he’s determined to locate Lisa and bring those responsible for her disappearance to justice.
If you have any information on Lisa’s disappearance you’re asked to call Michigan State Police Alpena Post at 989-354-4101.
In 1971 Ralph Dean Templeton, known as “Dean” decided to leave his life in Flint, Michigan behind. He set out on a cross country journey in his unsuccessful bid to become the 38th president of the United States.
The candidate in 1972
In January of 1975 Templeton was murdered, shot and left on the side of the road in rural Washington.
Templeton’s grave marker is all that remains from his efforts.
In this bonus “mini-sode” we discuss the dig for the bodies of up to seven women happening in northern Macomb County. The life and crimes of convicted murderer Arthur Ream, touch on the Oakland County Child Killer and review the cases of missing women from the metro area that could be uncovered in the search.
On a sunny, summer Saturday in 1990 all hell broke lose inside the Osco Store in South Bend Indiana. The store was robbed, leaving three dead and a mystery that lasted more than a decade before former employee, Charles Allen, was put on trial.
Was Allen responsible for the horrific robbery/murder? Or did South Bend police develop tunnel vision? Families would wait more than 10 years for an arrest and trial.
On Earth Day (April 22) 1990, 17 year old Chris Temple went with friends for a bonfire at Rose Lake Research Area in Bath Township Michigan. Around 9 p.m. Chris walked away from the bonfire, never to be seen again. In the almost 30 years since he vanished, there have been rumors, stories and speculation, but no evidence leading to the whereabouts of Chris Temple.
Content warning – murder, sexual assault, harm to animals.
In 1987 Barbara Blackstone was 30 years old, happily married and enjoying a successful career as a high school teacher. Someone snatched her from her home, murdered her and dumped her body in the woods. Also that summer, two other young women were murdered and left in the woods, 18 year old Angela Hackl and 29 year old Linda Nachreiner.
While arrests were made in Hackl and Nachreiner’s cases, no charges were ever brought forward in Blackstone’s case.
On a spring day in 1996 Debra Iverson disappeared from Birmingham, Michigan after leaving a doctor’s appointment. Leaving her husband, family and two young sons behind.
When her body was discovered the next morning, strangled in her vehicle in a remote lot near Stoney Creek Metro Park, all eyes turned to her husband. It would be seven months without a single lead before the case broke open.
A young couple, desperate for money kidnapped Iverson, but the money wasn’t enough. Anitra Coomer and McConnell Adams would be sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing her.
Between September of 2009 and December of 2018 ten women have vanished from Flint and the surrounding area. While some of these cases have limited information available, I’ve tried to put as much out there as possible in the hope that they can find their way back home.
This episode was created because in November of 2017 the partial remains of two women were found in Broome Park. MLive story
Between 1981 and 1983 three young women, aged 20, 16 and 19 were murdered. The first victim was left in a ditch in western Oakland County, the final two bodies concealed in wooded areas of Livingston County.
Today we cover the unresolved murders of Anne Marie Doroghazi, Kimberly Louiselle and Christina Castiglione.
In 1847 Michigan became the first English speaking territory in the world to abolish the death penalty.
In 2002 Marvin Gabrion was sentenced to death for the murder of Rachel Timmerman in Newaygo County, Michigan.
This story starts in the early part of the 1800’s, visits Michigan’s last execution in 1938 and asks the heartbreaking question, where is Rachel Timmerman’s 11 month old daughter?
One of the last photos of Rachel and her daughter, Shannon.
The morning of May 3, 1992 Ted and Gina Hollman left their 21 year old son, Eddie Hollman, at the house while they attended Sunday services at Sacred Heart Church in Dearborn.
When they return, Gina discovers the body of her son on the floor in the basement. Who murdered Eddie Hollman and why? He had no enemies and no legal troubles.
Eddie with his father, Ted, circa 1991.
If you have information about the murder of Eddie Hollman, please contact Detective Sergeant Pawlus of the Dearborn Heights Police Department at 313 277 6770
Donnie Martin III, is a hard-working young man from a good family. Donnie was battling addiction and his family fears that his demons put him in a dangerous situation. Donnie Martin was last seen midday on Thursday August 3, 2017.
Twenty-year-old Deborah Polinsky was murdered in her Port Sheldon Township home in July of 1977.
Her case was aggressively pursued and investigated, but no arrests were made Today, detectives from the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department continue to work her case and see your assistance in learning the truth behind her murder.
Deb Polinsky is missed by her family, including her many nieces and nephews.
October 1994, bow hunters in a remote area of Alcona County Michigan discover human remains. In the last 23 years her remains have been tested against the DNA of dozens of missing persons, including Laura Lee Alber who was last seen in Lansing, Michigan in 1990.
What Alcona County Doe may have looked like.
Despite improvements in forensic testing, the victim is identified only as Alcona County Doe. This is the last episode of 2017 and the first time that Already Gone has explored a case involving unidentified remains.
During this episode we discuss the NAMUS program and the work being done by the Alcona County Sheriff to give a name to this victim.
Special thanks to Alcona County Sheriff’s Deputy Nathanael Leeseburg for the interview.
Thanks also to Tim Flutur and Luke Superior for their musical contributions to this and other episodes.
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As the year winds down we perk things up with a True Crime Broad Cast, interviewing Michigan author Karen Dybis about her new book: The Witch of Delray: Rose Veres & Detroit’s Infamous 1930s Murder Mystery.
We also talk history, landmarks and Detroit. I hope you’ll join us.
22 year old Kelly Nolan would disappear after a night out with friends in Madison, Wisconsin. Her remains would be discovered July 9 in a remote wooded area south of town.
Includes an interview with Joel DeSpain of the Madison Police department.
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January 8, 1982 Thomas Randolph and his wife Sharron enjoy a meal at their favorite Chinese restaurant in Southfield.
The couple is assaulted after leaving the restaurant, leaving Thomas injured and his wife dead. It’s an 18 year journey to solving the murder, with an ending that no one saw coming.
