Delayed Justice

The last entry for this year and there’s something to cheer : the We Remember section is up and running.  Fine tuning is required: we need to learn how to use this tool that our smart web guy has developed, but it’s straightforward, logical, and wonderful.  Thank you.  And Melissa and I can now turn to gathering and cataloging those who have been robbed of their lives and whose murders are at present unsolved.  You have to know that we believe each and every one of these murders can be laid bare…explained, revealed completely, solved, reported.  In some cases, those who committed the murders can still be called to account for their crimes.  Let it be so.

So, send us the cases that are dear to you, send us contacts…look at the We Remember section and let’s get on with it.

Oh, and a Happy New Year.  May it be your best so far.

This is a hard time of year for many folks.  I’m one of them, but I don’t know that I have any excuse.  I don’t find much to celebrate in the Christmas season.  It’s all just too much.  This year, for the first time in probably half a decade, I have been able to play for the Salvation Army once again.  A truly gifted pianist, Becca, and I have an arrangement with both the Sally and the wonderful nearby food store.  We go and play.  Usually patrons put in folding money.  Normally I jokingly say that we’re not good but we’re loud.  In truth, we’re good, although my chops are holding up a little less well than her fingers.  So, we’re at it again tomorrow morning.

This afternoon we had a gathering of the delayedjusice.com film team with our video shooter and editor.  We’re figuring ways that might allow us to take the films for the next level.  Often this comes down to money and it might in this case, too, but with our interests, dedication and talents I’d think we’d find a way.  We came up with a couple of ideas including a “pay for play” option that would allow subscribers to view, week by week, the footage we’ve gather in whatever case we’re working on.  Are there enough crime enthusiasts to allow this to float the production boat?

And we’re waiting for the We Remember section to light up.  Day by day.  We take it all day by day.

I have finished the film Jump Back, Honey about poet Herb Martin.  We have a Dayton premier Jan. 16, so I’m hoping that done is really done.  With editing you’re never quite sure.  We’re developing a website to go with the film.  There’s a lot of work yet to be done.  I’m hoping that over Christmas I can get a whole lot more done.

I send you my best wishes for YOUR holiday season…Christmas, Hanukkah, and all the rest.  I pray you safety and peace.

Mary Denise Lands walked away from her apartment at Waldon Pond Town Homes, #7, 1200 Arm Street in Marshall, MI, at approximately 10 p.m. on the snowy evening of Friday, March 12, 2004. Mary was dressed in light-weight blue medical scrub pants with a “Sponge Bob” print scrub shirt, soft slip-on athletic shoes with no heel back, and her favorite winter brown leather bomber jacket. This was the report of her fiancé, Chris Pratt. Forty-four hours after she allegedly went missing he called her mother and father in California to ask if they had heard from Mary. The family then notified the Marshall Police Department.

MJVH

Debra was last seen by relatives around 8 p.m. on the evening of December 23, 1987 in Zeeland, Ottawa County, MI.  Her husband, Rock, who was working second shift at Sintered Metal Products in Zeeland, called her and told her he was going to a Christmas party after work. When he arrived home he found all of the lights on in the house and an open sliding door that led to the back yard. He called his father, Hardee Wilson, to help search and eventually Rock found Debra’s body fully clothed next to a trailer about 120 feet from their house at about 5:30 a.m., December 24, 1987. There were no signs of forced entry, and police said they could not determine if she had been forced or carried to the location where her body was found. Neither robbery nor sexual assault appeared to be a motive.

Return Ottawa County Sheriff Gary Rosema indicated in a Dec. 2016 interview that the case had been solved, that Mrs. Wilson’s killer was David Oudemolen, and that Oudemolen died before he could be charged. You can read, view, and listen to more about it here and in subsequent posts.
MJVH/DBS

Grand Rapids Press, December 24, 1987

Grand Rapids Press, December 24, 1987

Grand Rapids Press, December 25, 1987

Grand Rapids Press, December 27, 1987

Grand Rapids Press, December 31, 1987

Bonita Oom went missing in the early morning hours of September 4, 1986, after leaving her residence near the corner of Knapp St. and Coit Ave. in the city of Grand Rapids, MI. Her body was discovered on September 7, 1986 off of Pickerel Dr. near Ramsdell Dr. in Kent County’s Cannon Township.

MJVH

Robin Wellso was last seen leaving the Intersection Bar in the early morning hours of December 29, 1984. Her body was discovered on December 31, 1984, in 400 block of Charles St. in the City of Grand Rapids. Here are the accounts at the of time her murder from The Grand Rapids Press.  You may click on any of the images to enlarge it:

The Grand Rapids Press, Dec. 31, 1984

The Grand Rapids Press, January 1, 1985

The Grand Rapids Press, January 1, 1985, jump

The Grand Rapids Press, January 3, 1985

The Grand Rapids Press, January 6, 1985

The Grand Rapids Press, January 6, 1985, jump

The Grand Rapids Press, January 6, 1985, jump

If you have any information regarding the homicide of Robin Wellso, please contact Silent Observer 616-774-2345 or 866-774-2345.

MJVH

Don Dietz, a 66-year-old man who lived near the Ionia State Game Area in Saranac, was last seen on September 8, 2007, after leaving a Meijer’s in Ionia. He was known as the “Bicycle Man” around town because he rode his bike everywhere. Gene Dietz, Don’s brother, reported he received a phone call from the Lake Michigan Credit Union on September 20, 2007, nearly two weeks after Don went missing. The credit union reported someone trying to withdraw a large amount of money from Don’s account. Don’s brothers have reported other suspicious behavior, including an unidentified woman in a vehicle with a stolen or improperly registered license plate staking out his former residence. In addition, a woman who cut Don’s hair the week before he went missing claims Don was very upset about an encounter with someone who wanted him to invest his money.
On December 13, 2007, Rami Idbal Saba from Lowell, MI, was taken into federal custody on charges of mail fraud, bank fraud, and identity theft. He is accused of using Dietz’s personal information to try and access his account in September 2007 at the Lake Michigan Credit Union. He is not charged in the disappearance of Don Dietz. A trial date was set for September, 2008 in U.S. District Court.

There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to Dietz’s finding.

UPDATE: January 30, 2009

Prosecutors in Philadelphia, PA, indicted Raogo Ouedraogo, alleging he assisted Rami Saba in a plan to “kidnap and incapacitate their victim, Donald L. Dietz, assume his identity and to illegally obtain money.”

MJVH

Shakara Carter, 33 years old, was found along the side of a road in southwest Grand Rapids, MI, on March 16, 2007. She had been strangled. Shortly before her death Shakara testified against Scott Payne in Kent County, who was later convicted as a serial rapist.

Crime Junkie has put together a podcast relating to the case. You can stream it here.

Mixed feelings about the announcement in Hollywood, FL, of the murderer of Adam Walsh.  On the one hand, it’s so good to have some kind of resolution.  On the other, it’s not conclusive.  Not positive.  But nearly so.  Enough so that John Walsh was able to say that “it’s not about closure.  It’s about justice.”  Amen.  And he urged the families of other victims whose perpetrators have never been caught to keep their hope alive.  I believe there is no such thing as a false hope.  There are disappointed hopes, delayed hopes, dashed hopes, unlikely hopes…but hope by its very nature can never be false.

Last night in the Grand Rapids Press there was an In Memoriam piece for Lativa Johnson, an eight-year-old who was killed in Grand Rapids in 1993 by someone who let off a shotgun blast through the bathroom window.  This certainly will be one for We Remember.

Prayer?  Of course.  Please.