s2 e1 You’ve got an uncle in the furniture business

In 1974 Harvey Leach was young, handsome, successful and the Chairman of the Board for Joshua Doore furniture. His gruesome gangland style murder was overshadowed by the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa one year later.

His murder remains unsolved.

Additional Reading: Downriver Things

Classic Joshua Doore ad from 1973

Modern Joshua Doore ad from South Africa 2014

Music provided by the talented Luke Superior.

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9 thoughts on “s2 e1 You’ve got an uncle in the furniture business”

  1. I really enjoy the stories on your show but your audio is a little skewed. When you’re speaking it is quite soft so I turn up the speakers, but then any music that is played comes out blasting. It would be great if you could somehow get those on the same level. Right now it’s a lot of turning up to volume to hear you and then hurrying to turn it down when the music starts and is alarmingly loud. But I really do appreciate all the work you put into the stories and the details. Thanks for a great podcast!

    1. Thanks for the feedback Heather. I’m working on balancing the audio, I appreciate you letting me know!!

  2. For what it’s worth…about 6-7 years ago I happened to cross paths with a retired Southfield police detective who had some stories to tell, including about the murder of Harvey Leach. I did enough digging to know that some of his yarns, while entertaining, didn’t seem to have much basis in verifiable fact, but one detail he provided me does fit in with everything known about the murders:

    He said that Leach’s murderer was referred to as “Linoleum Knife Larry”, as Leach’s neck wounds were similar to the wounds found on other homicide victims suspected of being connected to organized crime, and that police had somehow gleaned that these types of wounds were specifically caused by a linoleum knife.

    That said, having looked into Leach’s murder myself, I not only enjoyed the epoxide, but I can appreciate that you really did some digging and got your facts right. You also added some new information that I hadn’t encountered elsewhere. One fact that I don’t think you mentioned (I was driving as I listen and maay have missed it), about which I’ve encountered conflicting information, is the exact location where Leach’s car was recovered. When I looked into this after chatting with the aforementioned Southfield detective 6-7 years ago, the online sources I found indicated that the car was found parked outside a building somewhere down off of Eight Mile Road; more recently, a slew of articles published upon the death of Leonard Schultz all agree his car was found parked outside the Congress Building on Southfield Rd. south of Thirteen Mile.

    https://www.google.com/maps/@42.5140495,-83.223155,3a,75y,319.04h,87.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqOgZRWql2gnaCtj0EFDusg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

    Again—this retired detective had some entertaining yarns to tell about organized crime activity in Oakland County, but unfortunately, I could verify little of what he told me. (Which is probably a good thing.)

    1. What I read says the Congress Building, on Southfield Rd south of 13 Mile. Linoleum Knife Larry sounds like a seriously scary dude. Your retired cop friend sounds like an entertaining gentleman.

      1. For what it’s worth, in looking up Harvey Leach, I turned up another unsolved Michigan homicide believed to be mob-related: Agnes Brush, a bookkeeper with apparent knowledge of a questionable $200K loan made by her employer, was found stabbed to death in 1972.

        I don’t know how much public attention her murder received at the time, but it apparently lingered in the public consciousness long enough to be mentioned, along with Leach’s murder, in a series of 1979 articles in the Detroit News investigating mob ties to Pine Knob. However, it’s not the original articles which turn up in a Google search, but a 1991 Michigan Supreme Court decision which found that the News did not libel the Pine Knob developers. This opinion contains more infomation about the murder of Agnes Brush than I’ve been able to find elsewhere (which still isn’t much): http://www.leagle.com/decision/1991522438Mich84_1519/LOCRICCHIO%20v.%20EVENING%20NEWS%20ASS'N

        Again, I don’t know that you’ve necessarily solicited show topics, but I do like the focus on Michigan cases that never really gained much national media traction, and Agnes Brush certainly qualifies.

        1. I did read about Agnes and her murder, which happened, IIRC, over her lunch hour when she was alone in the office for 20-30 minutes. I’m not sure how much I want to poke at our local crime syndicate. Maybe next year?

          1. Wow–you know more about her than I do. Again–my curiosity stems mostly from how little I was able to find out about her via Google.

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