Delayed Justice

I look at my work here as story telling.  I am not a private investigator, I am not a trained forensic specialist, I am not a sworn officer.  Just a story teller.  So when a mother (two of them, actually) comes to me and tells me why she thinks her son’s death (one classed as a suicide and the other as an accident) is a murder I am NOT equipped to gauge the validity of such a claim.  I can listen to and look at the anecdotal evidence from the family, study the case files when they are available…and still not know.  I am a layman.  If these mothers are correct that would mean, then, that the forensic pathologists and/or the police officers were wrong.  It can’t be two ways at the same time: either it was suicide (self murder), an accident or…homicide (murder by another).

But a part of the story is that in each of these particular cases the family thinks or believes that the death is a murder.  Is it fair to report that?  If the police are right we run the risk of doing them a grave disservice.  One of the realities of working as civil employees is that often they do not have a chance to respond to what they take as unfair shots in the media.  People can say things about them and they often cannot say anything in return (many times for fear of disclosing unreleased details of an investigation), even to clear up ambiguous situations.

But if there is a chance their assessment is incorrect, what of an unrecognized murder?  Police officers…as much as they don’t like to be told they might have missed something…even more hate it even more when a bad guy gets away.  They work for justice, they work for the victim.  I often come back to a conversation with Jim Fairbanks.  He was the lead detective in the initial 1979 investigation into the murder of Janet Chandler.  He sat down in an interview while we were making the film and–urging a fresh look at the case–said “Go back over what I did and see if I missed anything.”   The implication was that the case mattered more than his reputation.  And it was that kind of selfless devotion to justice that resulted in the solving of that crime.

So, here’s the nub of “I can’t have it both ways”:  If I list cases that the families believe are murder and the police/pathologists believe are not I call their investigative work into question.  I hate to do that to people I trust and respect.  But if I do not list the cases and they turn out to be murders–and by not posting them we allow killers to avoid their responsibilities–that’s worse.

If the case turns out to be a non murder, nobody will call with a tip (at least I hope nobody will; that would be a frivolous waste of time and a crime in its own right).  If it turns out to be a murder and the right tip comes in, there is a better chance of justice.

When a family member believes that somebody got away with the murder of their loved one he or she can certainly ask that the case be reexamined.  But when the police do take the time to give the case another look, a review, a reconsideration, the result is often then same.  From the investigator’s point of view, the team did the work right the first time.  And new cases just keep coming through the door.  The work piles up and at a certain point they have to say “enough” when it comes to reviews.  …Or reviews of reviews.

For the families, what then?  Some families despair.  Some go to the media.  Some hire private investigators or consultants.  Others hire psychics.  Some do all the above.  So certain are they that there has been a disruption in the process of justice that they will work for years to make their point.  One of the issues they’ve conveyed is that they feel they are not heard.

There may be a way out of this impasse: The National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children, Inc. (POMC), offers a lot of resources, one of which is their SOS…their Second Opinion Services.  The idea is that qualified people will take another look at the facts of the case.  The operative word here is QUALIFIED…not families and not journalists.  There are two volunteer medical examiners who will review records the families send, according to Bev Warnock, the SOS program coordinator.  They are not investigators who are going to come to the site and try to collect new information, but they offer another and independent review.  They get maybe 100 cases a year, many of them labelled suicides, accidental overdoses or accidents. “Most of the time the cops are right and we have to agree,” says Warnock.  In about five percent of the cases, though, she says, the SOS review will result in a recommendation for reconsideration.  So the exceptions occur.  And even in the cases where the reviews support the findings, “a lot of times we may be able to answer lingering questions.”  Too, the site offers a number of other resources including counseling.  Warnock recommends that no one go through the death of a child without some kind of support.  POMC has a metro Detroit chapter but she was glad to hear that there is an organization that fulfills the support role on the west side of the state, The Conquerors, in Grand Rapids.

Warnock says that even the POMC’s work will not satisfy all parents.  “We have people who will call up upset with us because we didn’t agree with them. …  But even in those cases you have to put yourself in their shoes.  Sometimes that anger is all that’s keeping them going.”

And sometimes they’re right, she notes, and in those cases there is no drive by POMC to affix blame to the investigators:  “That’s the last thing we want to do.  Instead, just fix it.”

That’s exactly the way we feel here at Delayed Justice. Our mission is not to blame.  Instead our mission is to remind people that questions remain about death investigations. Certainly some were accidents, some were suicides, but what about the victims who were murdered?  And what if just one of our postings leads to a re-examination of the case and that new look leads to an arrest?  Does helping that one family make it worth it even if it engenders a little frustration on the part of criminal investigators that I have respected and whose friendship I count as honor?  Would it be worth it to you if the victim were your son or daughter?

So, for now, when these cases come to us, we’ll list them at We Remember and you’ll note them because the cause of death will be “ruled a ___.”  The blank might be “accident” or “suicide” or even something else.  But it serves to indicate that there may be more to this story.  And if somebody knows somethin’….

 

Jacob Lyle Woods

 

This information is from Jacob’s mother, Kathy Johnson, and has been edited:

“On Saturday, March 3, 2007, in the late afternoon, Jacob, [and others] drove to East Lansing to purchase drugs. They purchased what they believed to be ecstasy and acid. They took their drugs and drove back to Grand Rapids stopping at a few stores on the way home,” she wrote.  

Jacob was dropped off at apartment complex, Globe apartments (Globe Apartments, 315 Commerce St. SW, Grand Rapids, MI). Jacob’s roommate and partner for the last 4 ½ years, Stuart Duga [who has since died],
was home. According to another visitor Stuart was very upset with Jacob that evening for doing drugs and was “moody” with both of them. Shortly after 4:30 a.m. Stuart later told Mrs. Johnson that Jacob was lying on the couch covered up with a blanket and Stuart went to bed.

Mrs. Johnson continues: “At approximately 5:27 a.m. the apartment complex video surveillance shows Jacob walking out of his apartment wearing his lounge pants and a T-shirt. The apartment door is closed but not latched. His apartment number was #210 and was on the 2nd floor. At approximately 6 a.m. Jacob’s body was found by a neighbor coming home from work, Jacob was lying on the floor of the atrium on the main floor. Jacob was then only in a T-shirt and underwear; his pants were found later in the lower level parking garage. The neighbor called 911. Stuart stated that he woke up approximately an hour after going to bed and falling asleep, alarmed because Jacob was not in bed. He went out into the apartment and realized that Jacob was not there so he sat down at the computer to see if he could tell where Jacob may have gone. Stuart heard commotion in the hallway, went out to see what was going on and ended up seeing Jacob’s body. Stuart tried CPR with the assistance of the 911 operator.”

Police say their conclusion was that Jacob fell to his death.  “It’s unclear just how far he fell,” said Sgt. Chris Postma.  Sgt. Postma was one of the responding officers who investigated the case.  “His fall could have been from the second or third or even fourth floor railing,” he said.  “He was badly injured.  There was no evidence to suggest to us that his death that it was anything other than an accident.”

Sgt. Postma said that the video does not show the door of Jacob’s apartment but does show part of the hallway and Jacob was seen walking away from the door and was dressed in his pajama bottoms.  He confirms that those pants were later found on the parking level.

The cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries with a contributing factor of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (Ecstasy) toxicity.  The manner of death is listed by forensic pathologist Dr. David Start as accidental.

Jacob’s mother says she believes that something else happened…that he was murdered.

Jacob’s death attracted no media attention.  There was no report in The Grand Rapids Press of the incident.  That’s unusual because there were stories of other accidental deaths in the area during the several days following Jacob’s death.  What we do have is the obituary.

Jacob Woods Obituary, March 7, 2007

It will be 38 years to the day tomorrow that someone or, more likely, someones abducted Maryann Hicks (19) and Barbara Brott (18) from the Canopy Bar in Grand Rapids. The bar was a rough place. One of our sources said it was a hangout for those doing and selling drugs and there was likely other unsavory business. What were the young women doing there? Don’t know. But they met up with someone(s) who either convinced them to leave or who forced them to do so. One of our sources says there are people who remember BEING there then but not not much else. The two missing young women led to police work but all that led to nothing until the young women’s bodies were found July 25 in Muskegon County. Then it was a double homicide spread over two counties and at least two jurisdictions: Grand Rapids and Muskegon County. And for all the work on the cases they remain unsolved.

Maryann’s daughter Judy was only two when her mother was murdered. We sat down over coffee on Saturday. She was blessed with adoptive parents who were wonderful, she said. She and her younger brother ended up in the same family. Their older sister was adopted by parents who took her to Germany–where she still lives. Of course there is more, but the sum and substance is this: Judy hungers to know what happened. And she’s doing everything she can to learn just that. To that end she has compiled a case book. The best part is that Judy is not alone in her quest: she has two friends walking with her, two friends who are encouraging her. They may not succeed, but together they have a chance and they are going to make the most of it. This we know from Mae Teeters: Miracles happen every day. The secret is in recognizing them. And this we know from Russell Kirk: The future is unknowable.

And we’ve seen again and again that justice can be drawn out from chaos and loss. May it be so again. This time for Judy.

Two young woman, 18 and 19, go out for an evening March 10, 1972, in Grand Rapids. They go to the Canopy Bar…and they vanish. Their badly decomposed bodies are found by a dirt biker July 25 of the same year north of Muskegon.

And the case is still wide open. The stories of Barbara Brott and Mayann Hicks came to us in itheir own strange ways, as these cases do. And the contemporaneous news accounts bring up even MORE unremembered cases…at least unremembered by the general public: Barbara Larson murdered near Howard City in 1971, perhaps one of the Heritage Hill murderer’s other victims. And though unnamed, there were the stories of two unidentified young black women whose bodies were found in 1968. Those are just other stories that are floating up through time. And somebody knows something about every one of them.

Again, Karolee Gillman of the Grand Rapids History and Special Collections Department at the Main (formerly Ryerson) Branch of the Grand Rapids Public Library has come to our aid in sussing out these stories. I thank her publicly and profusely. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Karolee.

So, what was the Canopy Bar? Anybody out there know and remember?

We may be hearing more about these two cases.

Douglas B. Darden, III

Douglas Darden, III, struggled with alcohol addiction. He had been imprisioned for DUI and after his release from The Riverside Correctional Facility near Ionia was living at a halfway house during the winter months of 2000.  (He was due for parole release that June.)   His mother, Merle Darden, said he left the halfway house unobserved on March 1, 2000. His body was found two weeks later in a waste-water outflow at 756 Wealthy St. SE. He was discovered by men out fishing in a small boat. One of them said he thought the body was a mannequin. Forensic pathologist Dr. David Start determined the cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning.  And he initially made his determination that manner Darden’s death was suicide. Merle Darden met with Dr. Start and after their discussion he changed the manner of death to “Indeterminate.”  Police maintained they believed Darden’s death was suicide. His mother said she believed it was murder and she said the police did not conduct a thorough serve of the area. Mrs. Darden said she went to the site and recovered some of her son’s possessions that he took with him when he left the halfway house. “I found a sock and a washcloth, two PVC rods, paperwork. His money was gone. Everything else was gone. His duffel bag was never found.” The following story is by Ken Kolker (then with The Grand Rapids Press and now with WOOD TV 8) and is from July 30, 2000. Ken makes the point that Mr. Darden had been addicted to heroin, something his sister Robin says wasn’t true and she is not sure where that come from. She maintains with her late mother that her brother was murdered.

The Grand Rapids Press July 30, 2000, A25

The Grand Rapids Press, July 30, 2000, A29