Delayed Justice

Beverly McCallum faced her accusers and Judge Kelly Morton in 56A District Court, Eaton County. Her arraignment today resulted in charges of first degree murder and molestation of a body. Alysia Sophios was in the courtroom and said that the judge heard from Gord DeVries, the discovered of the body of Roberto Caraballo, forensic pathologist Stephen Cohle, and Chris McMillan, one of the admitted participants in the crime, who witnessed the assault and gave out on Ms. McCallum’s part in the planning and execution of the murder.Much more to come.

I have almost nothing on this case. I THINK it is under the jurisdiction of the Grand Rapids Police Department, 616 456 3380. There was a recent television report from Channels 9 & 10 on her murder.

The murderer of Shelley Speet Mills (stabbed to death in 1970) has skirted justice for yet another year. Oh, gosh. What will it take? A confession? A true report that the killer may have relayed to someone else? I do not know but I pray it happens.

A few days ago I noted that the website was blowing up at the “We Remember” node for Shakara Carter. Yes, we have her listed, but the file is very thin. There are some podcasters who had done a ton of work on the case. More, I think they have done a very fine job in talking the story. The podcast? Crime Junkie.

1996. Sharon Kay Hammack was found murdered. This according to John Tunison of mlive: “Her body was found by a truck driver, who discovered her wrapped in a cloth and dumped along 76th Street SE, near Kraft and Broadmoor avenues in Caledonia Township. She had been strangled.

“She also had been stabbed twice in the head.”

And now, thanks to DNA and a whole lot of hard work, Garry Dean Artman, 64, an over-the-road trucker, has been charged with her murder. Artman was most recently based in Florida but he lived in Grand Rapids in the mid-90s when at least a dozen local women, including Hammack, were found dead in Kent, Muskegon, and Ottawa counties.

He was arrested down south and has been extradited and arraigned. One of my favorite reporters, Susan Samples of WOOD TV, filed this report.

I am more than dilatory getting this posted.

In other actions, Beverly McCallum, accused of leading the assault on Roberto Caraballo in Charlotte, MI, in 2002, will be facing her preliminary hearing in Eaton County District Court Sept. 20. Our friend Alysia Sofios will be in court and I’ll ask her for an update.