Delayed Justice

The unidentified man has been dead for more than ten years now.  The anniversary of his murder was likely the overnight of May 7-8, 2002.  His body — in a footlocker — was carried out into a little wood near a blueberry field off Winans Street south of Grand Haven and north of Holland.  There he was doused with gasoline and set alight.

From the discovery of his body the morning of May 8, 2002, until today he has remained unidentified.  Deputies and detectives with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s department followed hundreds of leads, not one of which has led to the identification of this small man.  And, according to Sheriff Gary Rosema, that identification is crucial.  He says once he and his team knows who was murdered, they will be better able able to solve the crime.

Videographer Phil Blauw and I made this film while I was still teaching at Hope College.  That was in 2005, and we did so at the request of the sheriff’s office.  I didn’t know it then, but that would be my next to last year at Hope.

And, in the film I talk about working with Phil and our students.  They helped.  They really helped.  …As did the students in the Janet Chandler film.  I tend to think I had the very best students in all the world, and I miss teaching them.

Earlier this year I approached WGVU TV about putting the Shannon Siders film on the air.  Programmer Ed Spier did so and was willing to consider other films, too.  This is one of those films.  I had hoped that it might fall on the tenth anniversary date, but things worked out this way…it will be on at 2 a.m. Tuesday morning, June 19th.  That’s a perfect time…you don’t want kids watching this.  Oh, it’s grisly.  I made the choice to show what was left of Jack after his burning.  And I’ve been asked why.  With most of our murder films you have the surviving family to give context, to carry the emotional load of loss and grief.  Aside from the detectives who care about Jack and what happened here, there is no emotional attachment.  The view of the body is simply what one or several humans did to another: a hot fire with cold indifference.

If and when Jack is identified I will not be eager for his family to see those pictures.  But until then, they serve as a reminder of the kind of people we’re looking for.  Yeah, they need to be separated from the rest of us by bars and walls.

Police Sketch

The film has been watchable at this website for a couple of years now, but having it on television, even at 2 a.m., might be what’s needed.

Marlon Thomas was last seen aline leaving his home in the 2700 block of Hidden Arbor Court, Memphis, TN, June 16,  2010, at about noon.  He didin’t show up for either of the two jobs he worked and his car was found but he wasn’t in or near the car.  He was declared a missing person.

His body was found Feb. 16, 2011, in the Frayser area of  Whitney Avenue and Harvester Lane by a TDOT survey crew.  The skeletal remains were positively identified as those of Marlon Thomas Feb. 23, 2011.