Cold Case Files - Killer on Campus

Episode Date: February 2, 2021

In the spring of 1969, Jane Mixer becomes one of several young women murdered around the University of Michigan. Police think there may be a serial killer, but does Jane fit the pattern? And years later, how does the DNA of a 4-year-old end up found on Jane's body? Check out our great sponsors: ManCrates: Get 15% off orders over $99 at ManCrates.com/coldcase  TalkSpace: Get $100 off of your first month when you use code COLDCASE at Talkspace.com - or download the app! Total Wireless: Get an unlimited talk, text and data plan for $25 per month. 1 gig at high speed, then 2G. Terms and conditions at totalwireless.com  NetSuite: Let NetSuite show you how they’ll benefit your business with a FREE Product Tour at NetSuite.com/ccf  Madison Reed: Find your perfect shade at Madison-Reed.com and get 10% off plus FREE SHIPPING on your first Color Kit with code CCF!

Thank you for listening to this Podcast One production, available on Apple Podcasts and Podcast One. Do amazing with Total Wireless. Get an unlimited talk, text, and data plan for $25 a month. One gig at high speed, then 2G. Total Wireless. Do amazing. A month equals 30 days. Terms and conditions at TotalWireless.com. On March 21, 1969, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Detective Sergeant Don Bennett received a call about a murder. This case was different, though.

The victim was found in a location most commonly associated with the end of an investigation, not the beginning. In this case, a young woman's body was found lying on top of a grave at a local cemetery. When I got here that morning with the fellas from our crime scene crew, we saw that there was a heel print and then from that heel print leading kind of into the cemetery were some scuff marks, some drag marks. Not very deep or distinct, but you could see them. Beyond the drag marks, there was a body lying in front of this headstone that says William Downing Sr.

One third of all murder cases in America remain open. Each one is called a cold case, and only 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare cases. From A&E, this is Cold Case Files, the podcast. The body of a woman was found on top of a grave. She'd been shot twice in the head. Next to her body was a suitcase and a pile of women's clothing, and she'd been covered by a towel.

Detective Sergeant Bennett describes the crime scene. Just a warning, his description is a little graphic. Her face was bloody. Blood had run down the left side of her face and had dried. Beside the blood, dried blood on her face, it was very obvious there was a silk stocking tied very tightly around her neck, like a garrote that she'd probably been strangled with. The fact that her garments were pulled up exposing her genitalia

would tell you that maybe there might have been an attempt at assault or rape. We didn't know at the time. The victim's body was taken to the morgue where it was tested for evidence, including any biological evidence that might indicate sexual assault, but they didn't find any. They were able to identify the victim. Her name was Jane Mixer. Jane was one of the 37 female law students at the University of Michigan out of a class of 420. She'd been reported missing the day before. Detective Ken Krause joins the investigation, and he starts by visiting the university. He focuses on what's referred to as the law quad, a subsection of the school where the law students tend to gather.

He finds some evidence pretty quickly in what could be described as the 1969 version of Craigslist. This is Detective Krause. This is known as a ride board, and students here that are looking for a ride to a particular place in the country can come in here and they can fill out a slip and place it in the slot where they want to go to. Jane had done just that. She had requested a ride to Muskegon, Michigan, her home.

Jane's friends, who described her as intelligent and passionate, weren't able to give a description of the man who offered her a ride home. The detectives continued their investigation and found what they felt like was another lead in the phone booth in the basement of the law school. This is Detective Krause again. There was a phone book found by one of the phone booths that on it had the words

Mixer Muskegon written. And we kind of think that whoever probably called or had wrote that on the book. It was some of the only evidence we had, really, of maybe identifying a suspect. Investigators submitted the phone book for a handwriting analysis, an accepted practice at the time, though currently viewed with an increased amount of skepticism. Detectives turned their attention to Jane Storm, hoping for a lead. What they find is another phone book. This one has a checkmark next to the name David Johnson. The reason that I would say she was calling David Johnson was to get her ride to Muskegon. The connection was the note on the ride board and a response by him to her for a ride to Muskegon. The detectives call the number and talk to David Johnson.

He denies offering Jane Mixer a ride home on the evening she was killed. He has a pretty good alibi. He was performing in a play. David Johnson is a fairly common name, but the police contacted all of the men of that name in the phone book. Ultimately, none of them were good suspects. Do amazing with Total Wireless.

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one victim of a potential serial killer. It turns out that in 1969, Ann Arbor, Michigan, had been the location of several murders. Jane was the third young woman to be found dead near the university. Detective Ken Taylor, a Michigan State Police officer, notes that the location wasn't the only thing that the victims had in common. Although she was shot, she still had the pantyhose wrapped around her neck. So, of course, that was what happened to the prior one. So, of course, that would sort of lead you to believe it was the same person. In March, Jane had been the third woman killed.

But by midsummer, there were seven unsolved murders in the area surrounding the University of Michigan. Marianne George, now a crime reporter, was a student at the university during this time period. She describes what the atmosphere was like. It just permeated everybody's subconscious. You know, walking at night, you'd be looking over your shoulder. I used to ride my bicycle instead of walking because I could move faster. But it was very scary. Six months after Jane's murder, there were still no leads on her case. There was, however, an arrest and a conviction in the case of one of the other victims.

Karen Biedemann had been strangled to death by a man named John Norman Collins, who was later arrested and convicted of her murder. A lot of speculation surrounds John Norman Collins still to this day. Was he responsible for more than just the single murder he was convicted of? The police aren't convinced, but they're also out of leads. After Collins was arrested, eventually you run out of information or things to track down. It never really went, I'd say, to a dead file,

but it was very inactive. I guess that's what you'd call it. Jane Mixer's case stayed what Detective Krause referred to as inactive for 30 years. It was only revisited once DNA science was advanced enough to potentially provide some answers. That's when Detective Eric Schroeder and Detective Denise Powell took on the case. It was widely believed that John Norman Collins was the perpetrator, even though he'd never been charged. The detectives, with advanced science now available, investigated the possibility.

This is Detective Powell. One of the first things is let's compare it to John Norman Collins and see if it matches. Items from the evidence box, like the towel covering Jane Mixer's body and the pantyhose she had been wearing, were sent to the crime lab in Lansing. Detective Schroeder was especially hopeful that the pantyhose would provide some insight. We felt quite strongly that the offender's DNA could have been embedded into the weave of that due to the fact that he obviously had to pick her up to transport her. DNA analyst Steve Milligan received the evidence and began his examination. He started by shining a blue light over the evidence to help identify substances not visible to the eye.

The blue light works, and he finds something. There were four areas on the nylon pantyhose from Jane Mixer. Visibly, you could see that there was a stain present in the mesh of the nylon. Milligan thinks the stains are likely mucus or sweat transferred from the killer's hands while he carried Jane's body. He isolates the stains and then extracts the DNA. Three of the stains gave a full profile. They were the same profile, so they had the same types. They indicated the presence of a male donor. Milligan makes another discovery,

a spot of blood that had been found on Jane's hand. The investigators previously had made the assumption that it was Jane's own blood, but they were wrong. After testing the spot of blood, it was determined that it belonged to a man. And, in an unexpected twist, it was also determined that it didn't belong to the same man as the DNA on the pantyhose. There was no information other than we had two distinct profiles of two different male donors associated with the items of evidence

that came from Jane Mixer. In order to confirm or deny a 30-year-old's suspicion that John Norman Collins had murdered Jane Mixer, they compared both DNA profiles against that of Collins. One of the first things is let's compare it to John Norman Collins and see if it matches. They compared his DNA and it was not a match. You know, that basically left us with, if he didn't do it, then who did? Now more than ever, it's vital to take care of your mental health. And with Valentine's Day approaching,

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for murdering his own mother. We thought, well, this is outstanding. We've got someone who's in prison for a violent crime. So we got all excited about that for about 20 seconds. John David Rulis was born in 1964, and Jane Mixer was murdered in 1969. It's obvious pretty quick that he was only four years old and eight months. At the time, Jane Mixer was murdered. Surprised would be somewhat of an understatement, I think. Instead of the answers detectives were hoping for,

the DNA testing had raised more questions. Like, how did the blood of a four-year-old come to be on the hand of a murder victim? The detectives went to visit John David Rulis in prison, hoping to find some answers. Rulis's memories from his childhood are hazy. He describes his mom as transient and mentions that she frequently gave him cough syrup as a sedative. He does have one memory that is of particular interest to police. He described a time that he woke up in the night and went out to the garage where he saw and heard a car running.

The incident which I'm referring to is the death. out to the garage where he saw and heard a car running. I remember my uncle had a gun. I remember dealing with a lot of holes through his hands. And there were feet. And there was a lot of blood. And I say a lot of blood. I mean, profusely, a lot of blood. The detectives turn to the uncle, implicated by a hazy childhood memory. But it doesn't appear to be a lead. After extensive questioning and a voluntary DNA swab,

the investigators determine that there's no relationship between Rulis' uncle and Jane Mixer's murder. Not only are investigators no closer to finding answers about Jane Mixer's killer, they now have a new question. How did a little boy's blood make its way to Jane's hand? In November of 2004, two years after the DNA profiles had been entered into the database,

another match was found to a second man. This time, it matched the DNA found on the pantyhose. The man's name was Gary Lederman. And, of course, police immediately went to talk with him. Do you have any reason why we'd be here? Not at all. I thought whenever I saw that there was some problem with somebody in the neighborhood or something. I mean, help me here.

Help me, I mean, I'm totally reaching out to you here, but I don't remember her specifically. I don't remember the face. I can remember having, on one or two occasions, a sexual encounter with women that I met at bars. The DNA, where it's at, how it is, directly puts you there. You didn't meet her in a bar. I have nothing to do with this girl and her being killed and left here. I have nothing to do with that.

Well, science says otherwise, and that's the bottom line. I can't admit to something that I say we have to. The police felt that by talking with Lederman, they were giving him a chance to explain an innocent reason that his DNA might have been found on Jane. What this interview did for us was tell us that there is no innocent explanation for his DNA to be on her. And I feel like we covered every base we could in this interview.

This case is hard for me to accept. Is science really the bottom line in a case where at least one obvious error had already been made? I can't say for sure, but I can tell you what happened next. Gary Lederman was arrested and charged with first degree murder. The prosecutor, Steve Hiller, had to overcome the challenge of explaining why the blood of John David Rulis, who remember was only four years old at the time of the murder, had been found on the victim's hand. Well, it was something that needed to be explained.

It was something that needed to be investigated to find out if there was a problem. That was the responsible thing to do. One possible explanation could be cross-contamination of the samples, meaning somehow a substance collected from one case came in contact with a substance collected from one case came in contact with the substance from another. Jeff Nye, the DNA analyst, strongly rejected this theory. We were pretty defensive, I'd say. We are so cautious on how we process everything in the laboratory. Despite Nye's denial, some hard-to-refute information came to light.

The evidence from the murder case in which John David Rulis was found guilty was in the crime lab at the same time as the evidence from Jane Mixer's case. I was asked to investigate the two cases together to determine if there was any crossing of paths between the two cases in the laboratory. So basically what I would do is come to the file room and grab all the files associated with each case. The state argued that because the two cases were processed by two different analysts at two different workstations, cross-contamination was highly unlikely. They're stored on opposite sides of the property room, and all the evidence that comes to the laboratory are sealed, so there's no issue there on the fact that they came unsealed and DNA just magically crossed from one side of the room to the other.

They couldn't, however, explain the presence of Rulis' DNA. The defense attorney, Gary Gabry, did not share the state's confidence in the lab testing. It appeared to him that there were two options. Either the state had contaminated the evidence, or they hadn't. If the evidence wasn't contaminated, then there was an unexplained gap in the state's case. From my perspective, the defense was sitting in a good position with either argument, that you can't rely on the lab if there's contamination,

and they can't prove beyond a reasonable doubt, given the evidence that they have left, that my client was guilty. The trial goes to a jury, and Marianne George, the crime reporter that attended the University of Michigan at the same time as Jane, is assigned to cover the case. I mean, that kind of detail, it just broke my heart. Because here was this beautiful girl who just got robbed in a most violent way. I mean, still, I might have known her on campus. The state focused its case on the DNA from the defendant that was found on the victim's pantyhose. They were consistent with him having lifted her out of the vehicle, putting his hand underneath her legs, dropping

saliva or sweat or perhaps even tears onto the top of her thigh as he's doing that. The defense also focused on DNA, but not that of the defendant. They focused on the unexplained match between blood on the victim's hand and a four-year-old boy. Where did that come from? How did that get there? How does that connect to Gary Leiterman? How does Gary Leiterman connect to Jane Mixer?

How does the origin of the blood, a person by the name of John Rulas, connect to Jane Mixer or Gary Leiterman? They could answer none of those questions. The attorneys made their arguments, both believing that DNA was the key. That's something that's been lost to history. But it doesn't change the fact that Gary Leiterman's DNA was on Jane Mixer's pantyhose. Now, he just wants to brush this off, saying those answers are lost in history. Well, those answers are evidence.

And that's what's so troubling about this case. The trial lasted two weeks, and the jury deliberated for five hours. The main point of disagreement was how to handle the John Roulas blood drop, if it was his. That was Steve Keston, one of the members of the jury, that, in this case, found Gary

Lederman guilty. Wasn't the jury concerned about the DNA mix-up in the lab? I personally don't think so. I think that that was Jane Mixer's blood. My personal opinion is that there may have been a mix-up in the lab, and that's how that drop of blood was associated with John Rulost. A mix-up in a lab involving DNA might be a red flag to some of us, but not to this jury and not to Steve Keston.

The DNA evidence is so compelling that it's hard to overcome. I'm fairly certain that we made the right decision and that Gary Leidman was guilty of this crime. With the jury fairly certain of Gary Leiderman's guilt and without an explanation of the faulty DNA findings, he was sentenced to life without parole. Still to this day, Gary maintains his innocence, but so far he's been unsuccessful with his appeals. Cold Case Files, the podcast, is hosted by Brooke Giddings, produced by McKamey Lynn, Scott Brody, and Steve Delamater. Our executive producer is Ted Butler. We're distributed by Podcast One. The TV series, Cold Case Files,

was produced by Curtis Productions and hosted by the esteemed Bill Curtis. Check out more Cold Case Files at aetv.com and by downloading the A&E app.