Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Ypsilanti Ripper” - John Norman Collins

Episode Date: May 6, 2019

By 1967, he seemed to be a well-adjusted college student in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But the real reason for John Norman Collins' confidence lay far from the local college campus. Rather, in an abandoned farmhouse deep in the woods, where he could visit his victims again and again, admiring his handiwork. Sponsors! Pair of Thieves - Get 20% off your first order when you go to PairOfThieves.com/KILLERS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. Stars twinkle above a small college campus. On the street outside the student union, a woman hurries to the bus stop, arriving just after the last bus departs.

She shakes her head and starts fishing coins from her purse for the payphone. Just as she's about to call her roommate, an old car pulls up. A handsome, dark-haired man rolls down the window. Does she need a ride? Maybe missing the bus isn't so bad after all. But what starts out as a friendly conversation quickly becomes uncomfortable. The man quotes a Bible verse to scold her for having her ears pierced. Then he asks if she's menstruating. By now, they're on a dark, rural backroad she doesn't recognize. she isn't even sure whether they're headed in the right direction. Suddenly, the driver slams on the brakes.

Before the woman can react, she feels the cold metal of a pistol pressed to her forehead. He doesn't shoot. The girl realizes he has a much longer evening in mind. I'm Greg Poulson. This is serial killers on the Pardcast Network. Every Monday, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're going to peel back the layers behind the terrible crimes committed by John Norman Collins, known as the Coed Killer.

Not to be confused with Edmund Kemper, a serial killer also known as the Coed Killer. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. At Parcast, we're grateful for you, our listeners. You allow us to do what we love. Let us know how we're doing. Reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. And if you enjoy today's episode, the best way to help us is to leave a five-star review, wherever you're listening.

It really does help. We also now have merchandise. Head to parkast.com slash merch for more information. John Norman Collins likely killed at least seven people in Michigan between 1967 and 1969. He's best known for abducting young women from college campuses and subjecting them to horrific torture, sometimes. for days. This week will cover John's early life, first murders, and the rising panic in his small Michigan town as police struggled to track him down. Next week will cover his final murders and the culmination of the investigation that led to his capture in 1969. John Norman Collins was born

John Norman Chapman in Windsor, Canada on June 17, 1947. He had two older siblings, Jerry and Gail Chapman. Right after John was born, his father, Richard Chapman, abandoned the family. His mother, Loretta, struggled to raise three young children on her own and supported her family by taking a string of odd jobs. After a year, she met an older man whose name is not known. They married quickly. Loretta's new husband was an abusive alcoholic. He spent long hours at local bars and beat Loretta and her children when he came home, including two-year-old John. Once, after becoming furious with Loretta while in the car, John's stepfather grabbed two-year-old John out of his mother's hands and threw the baby hard into the back seat. About a year later, when confronted at gunpoint, John's stepfather grabbed three-year-old John and attempted to use him as a human shield.

It's worth noting that John's stepfather had intentionally picked a fight before the man pulled out his gun. The abuse continued for another year, while Loretta secretly saved money. By the time John was four years old in 1951, Loretta left her husband and fled to Detroit with her children. Almost immediately after moving, she met William Collins, a large gruff man who helped her adjust to the new city. The two married a couple of months later. The family's new life started off happy, but the good times didn't last long. William too became abusive and took to drinking late into the night. Loretta and William would sometimes go out drinking together,

leaving her three children in the car alone for hours while they hopped from bar to bar. That made three father figures who had abandoned or abused John and his siblings. John's mother Loretta was a victim of a cycle of abuse that can be nearly impossible to escape. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. In addition to physical abuse, Loretta suffered emotional degradation in all of her relationships. Darlene Lancer, a family therapist, writes, Emotional abuse is insidious and slowly eats away at your confidence and self-esteem.

The effects are long-term and can take even longer to recover from than blatant violence. After years of abuse, Loretta's self-esteem was lowered to the point where she may not have felt worthy of a healthy relationship. Lanser continues, quote, abuse triggers feelings of shame and fears of both more abuse and abandonment in the victim. End quote. Abusers often cultivate strong feelings of dependency and isolation in their victims, which leads to victims becoming afraid to leave the relationships. Exhausted and short on money.

Loretta did her best to keep the relationship. with their newest husband going. William even eventually adopted John and his siblings, changing their last names to Collins. Perhaps as a result of this abuse, John grew into a nervous young boy. He wet the bed often, drawing the ire of William, and had to wear diapers into his early school years.

He showed signs of pent-up aggression as well. He once strangled a stray cat with the clothesline. Torturing animals is one of the most commonly known early indicators of future violent behavior. Dr. Gail Melson, a researcher on child development, writes, when a child of any age shows intentional cruelty toward animals that is repeated, severe and without remorse, this should be taken very seriously. Childhood animal abuse is linked to other forms of violence and psychopathology. John certainly didn't show any remorse and actually boasted about the incident to other students at his elementary school.

When early signs of emotional trouble like this go untreated, it can have long-lasting consequences. When counselors at several federal penitentiaries evaluated inmates for levels of aggression, they found that 70% of the most violent prisoners had serious and repeated animal abuse in their childhood histories, as compared to 6% of non-aggressive prisoners in the same facilities. That goes to show the potential damage that emotional and physical abuse can impart on, children, especially when the children have a series of abusive father figures as role models. John's life remained chaotic into his elementary school years. Loretta stayed with William until John was nine years old in 1956. After she divorced once again, Loretta took a job as a waitress

and attempted to provide some measure of stability to the lives of her children. Getting away from William did a lot to reduce John's anxiety. Over the next few years, he became more social and By the time John was in high school, he was popular and well-known around the community as a wholesome, friendly young man. Every Sunday, John attended Catholic Mass with his family. He maintained good grades at school and was well liked by his teachers, but his darker side would still occasionally rear its head. Around this time, he took to secretly starting small fires around his home.

While outwardly vivacious and sociable, in one-on-one relationships with women, he could be moody and bizarre. His high school girlfriends later described him as a strange mix between sexually aggressive and puritanical. He would occasionally fly off the handle, exclusively at women, without any provocation. Once during a school dance, John scolded a girl and quoted the Sixth Commandment, Honor Thy Father and Mother when she danced too provocatively for his liking. In the same year, a girl who dated John in high school called him a bondage freak, for its aggressive sexual preferences. But despite flashes of pent-up anger, John maintained the appearance of a charming, all-American boy.

He was the captain of his high school football team, a pitcher on varsity baseball, and maintained good grades. In 1965, at age 18, John graduated high school and started to attend nearby Eastern Michigan University, majoring in education. He told his family and friends he wanted to be a teacher. He did well during his first semester, but when he became a member of the Theta Chi fraternity in the spring, his grades started to slip.

Then a professor accused him of cheating on a test, and John was reprimanded by the dean. Around this time, he met a fellow student named Andrew Manuel, and the two started committing petty thefts together. Andrew's philosophy of taking whatever he wanted appealed to John, and the idea of possibly getting caught thrilled him. As the months wore on, the two grew bolder and bolder. They stole everything, from wallets and jewelry to test dancers and food.

Eventually, John was caught stealing money from his fraternity brothers and was expelled from the Theta Kai house. His startling lack of remorse and casual attitude toward theft was revealed in a later college English paper, where he wrote, If a person wants something, he alone is the deciding factor of whether or not to take it, regardless of what society thinks may be right or wrong. This might-makes-right mindset has been adopted by many psychopathic serial killers. For example, Richard Ramirez, the famous Nightstalker, wrote, quote, I am beyond good and evil. I don't believe in the hypocritical, moralistic dogma of this so-called civilized society,

end quote. By claiming that they're above the rules of society, these killers are really just trying to justify their own selfish desires. And often these justifications are made after the fact, or while they plan to commit a crime, in order to mask their true narcissistic motives. In John's case, he showed he meant what he said in 1966 when he caught his pregnant sister in bed with a man who was not her baby's father. He flew into a violent rage and lunged at the man.

He beat the man unconscious and screamed at his. his sister, calling her a whore and a tramp. Then he hit his sister several times until she bled. But the incident was hushed up around town, and John was never charged for the assault. After that, John's relationship with his sister was obviously strained, but he maintained a close relationship with his mother, Loretta. Meanwhile, he continued to struggle at Eastern Michigan University through the rest of 1966, both academically and in terms of his personal life. On campus, he had a string of short-term relationships with women in his classes, who later had stories about him similar to those of his high school girlfriends.

At first, he came off as charming and confident. But as the relationships progressed, they said he became testy, sexually demanding, and had strong ideas about female purity. He never had a long-term girlfriend. John hated women with pierced ears because, in his words, the women had left holes that defiled their bodies. He was also disgusted by the thought of women menstruating. Once, after a girlfriend informed him she was on her period,

he left her apartment in a fury. He told her she was disgusting, stormed out and didn't contact her for days afterward. His rage toward women grew throughout his time at school. He grew more controlling with his girlfriends and became agitated if he felt they were being too friendly around other men. Sometimes John's girlfriends worried he was on the verge of a full-blown explosion. It was just a matter of time. That time finally came on July 9, 1967, when John met 19-year-old Mary Flesher.

Mary was a fellow Eastern Michigan student studying accounting. She was a thin, attractive woman who was working her way through school as an administrative assistant. John spotted Mary while he drove around campus that night. She was going for a walk alone near her apartment complex. He drove up beside her. A man who was sitting on his porch that night later told police he saw a blue car driven by a young man pull up alongside Mary. The man claimed Mary and the driver spoke briefly before Mary shook her head emphatically. According to the onlooker, the car drove away after that, but pulled back around at least twice more.

each time the pair talked briefly and Mary refused whatever the man asked for. After the third time, the car peeled out and sped away. Mary continued her walk and turned a corner out of sight of the man on the porch. The man didn't see the blue car or Mary again after that. Police later determined that this was likely the last time anyone other than John saw Mary Flesher alive. Mary's roommate reported her missing the following morning after she didn't show. up for work. Mary's parents were frantic, but police advised patience. It wasn't out of the ordinary for college students to go on spontaneous trips or steal away with their girlfriends

or boyfriends for a few days without informing their parents. But Mary's parents insisted she wasn't the type of person to leave town without warning. Besides, she had left her car and all her clothes in the apartment. In the end, the police didn't budge, and her parents had no choice but to wait. After Mary had been missing for 72 hours, police finally put out a missing person's advisory. For Mary's father, this was already too late. He didn't know where the feeling came from, but while he looked at a picture of Mary in his living room, he was suddenly struck with a chilling certainty that his daughter was dead.

He stared at the picture for a long time that night, unable to shake the horrifying thought. Police did their best to piece together Mary's movements on the night of July 9th, but there was frustratingly little to go on. In addition to the man on his porch, they spoke to a campus police officer who had seen Mary walking away from her apartment complex, but hadn't seen the blue car. With no sign of Mary, Detective Lieutenant Vern Howard was assigned to the case. He examined Mary's car and apartment and interviewed her friends, but could find no clues as to where she might have gone.

After she had been missing a week, he took to walking along the banks of the nearby Huron River during his off-duty hours, searching for signs of Mary's orange polka dot sundress. It wasn't until two months later on August 7, 1967, that her body was finally found. In the early morning, two teenagers working on a farm, a few miles north of the EMU campus, heard a car door slam in the direction of an adjoining field. Curious as to why anyone else would be out there so early, the boys decided to investigate. When they arrived at the field, the car had gone, but there were tire tracks leading into the underbrush near a disused farmhouse. The boys followed the tracks until they began to smell

something rotten. Right next to their feet, covered by some tall grass, was the corpse of something unrecognizable. The boys were horrified. They couldn't tell exactly what they were the they had found, but didn't dare take a closer look. They called the police, who arrived a short time later, fully expecting to find an old animal carcass. Instead, what they found was the badly decomposed body of Mary Flesher. Next, John waits as a police investigation unfolds. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points.

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John Norman Collins committed his first murder after abducting 19-year-old fellow student, Mary Flesher. The autopsy found that Mary had been beaten severely and stabbed approximately 30 times in the chest. One arm was missing, along with all five fingers from the opposite hand. Her feet had been sawed off at the ankles, and the bones of her legs had been crushed. The advanced state of decomposition made it difficult to determine additional information about her murder. murder. But evidence at the crime scene revealed more. Based on scraps of clothing and tracks left around the farmhouse where Mary was found, police determined that her body had been moved

at least three times during the month it had remained undiscovered. Detective Howard was distraught. He was a veteran officer with nearly 25 years on the force, but he also had a 20-year-old daughter. Though he had already expected the worst, he could barely face the flesh or family. He was more determined than ever to catch the person responsible, not just for the safety of the town, but for his own family as well. John Norman Collins watched the news on August 7th with agitation. Police had finally found the remains of his first victim, just minutes after he had finished dumping her body. He'd barely had a chance to drive off before a couple of teenagers appeared in his rearview mirror, snooping around the scene. He was terrified at authorities might find

something leading back to him. But after a couple of days with no police visit, John relaxed. He replayed the murder in his mind over and over. It was a rush he had never felt before. He had finally found an outlet for his pent-up anger. He was a little surprised to find he felt no remorse, only a desire to relive the murder over and over again. Dr. Joni E. Johnston, a forensic psychologist, writes, A serial murderer might fantasize about killing for years, commit the first kill during a period of stress, and feel an emotional release or high during the crime.

With this release of John's tension, he experienced a euphoria he had never felt before. He couldn't help wishing he had a trophy for his morbid triumph. John knew what he wanted to do, but also knew it was an unnecessary risk. After a day of indecision, he finally decided He needed to see Mary one last time. On the early morning of August 10, 1967, John arrived at more funeral home in Ipsilanti, Michigan,

a few hours before Mary's funeral was scheduled to take place. He told a funeral home employee that he was a friend of the Flesher family and asked if he could see her body. When the employee told him it would be impossible, John replied, quote, one picture of her? End quote. The employee again told John no. John left the funeral home in a huff and drove away.

The employee noticed John drove a blue car and reported the incident to police. Unfortunately, the employee was unable to provide a clear description of John and couldn't be sure of the car's model, so authorities still had little to go on and no physical evidence. Back at his apartment near the eastern Michigan campus, John chastised himself. He knew he had taken a big risk going to the funeral home, and all for nothing. He told himself he needed to be careful and keep his violent lust in check. He decided from then on to satisfy himself with his memories of Mary's murder and to refrain from killing again. Almost a year passed with John managing to stave off his urge to kill.

He took a clerical job at the student union and did his best to improve his lackluster grades. But by June of 1968, the memories of his first victim had grown hazy. He found himself again getting angry at society and the women around him. He longed to kill again and was confident enough that by now the heat of the police investigation of his first murder had died down. The town of Ipsalante had returned to its naturally peaceful, and quiet state. No notable violent crimes occurred in the town following Mary's murder, and women once again felt safe to walk the streets at night. On one of these nights, June 30th, 1968, a 20-year-old art student at EMU named Joan Shell headed to a campus bus stop. She intended

to take the bus to Ann Arbor to visit her friend, but arrived at the stop after the bus had departed. She decided to hitchhike instead. Her room, Susan Colby, who had escorted her to the bus stop, tried to dissuade her. But Joan was determined to visit her friend that night. Besides, it was only a 15-minute drive. One of the first vehicles to pass was a red and black Pontiac Bonneville with three young men inside. Some other students leaving the student union at the time saw Joan get in the Pontiac with the three men, despite Susan's protests. Joan promised Susan she would call as soon as she arrived in Ann Arbor. So Susan waited and waited and waited, slowly panicking at their apartment for three hours

before she finally decided to call the police. The police told Susan to be patient and to call again in the morning if she still hadn't heard from Joan. At 7.38 a.m., Susan made the second call. Police filed the report and interviewed Susan to find out what she knew. It had been dark, but she had seen the driver of the Pontiac. He was in his early 20s, handsome, about six feet tall, and was wearing a green EMU shirt. Joan disappeared only a few blocks away from where Mary Flesher had gone missing a year before, and detectives noticed the similarities.

Joan, too, was petite, brunette, and pretty. But they refrained from jumping to conclusions, especially since Joan's father had a suspicion of his own. He accused Joan's boyfriend, Dale Schultz, of convincing Joan to run. run away with him. Dale was a rebellious boy, one year younger than Joan. He was known for being a burnout. He had dropped out of high school and was arrested for breaking and entering a year earlier. The judge agreed to let the charges drop if Dale enlisted in the Army for a three-year stint. In the year since, Dale had already gone AWOL twice, both times to visit Joan. Needless to say, her parents did not approve. Police contacted the Army base in Fort Gordon,

Georgia, where Dale was supposed to be in training. The provost of the base informed authorities that Dale had been absent without official leave since June 29th, one day before Joan went missing. Dale's family had not heard from him since he went AWOL, and none of Joan's friends knew much about him. Police gave the Ipsilani press permission to run a story about Joan, hoping someone might call in with information after seeing her picture on the paper. That night, a tearful day. Dale called Jones' parents. He told them he had no idea where Joan was and begged for them to believe him. Jones' father asked where he was, but Dale hung up in response.

Jones' father was shaken up. Based on the anguish in Dale's voice, he believed that the boy also had no idea where Joan was. He called the police and told them what Dale had said. Two days later, on July 5, 1968, construction workers in Ann Arbor were taking a when they began to smell something dead. The stench was so powerful that within minutes all the workers halted their work to find the source. After a few minutes of searching, they found what they were looking for. It was the body of Joan Shell, dumped on the side of the nearby road.

Almost immediately after police got the call from the construction workers, they received another call from Dale Schultz. After going AWOL from the Army and a week of hiding from police, Dale turned himself in and was interrogated on July 5, 1968. He was nervous and emotional. Police demanded an account of his recent whereabouts and strongly suspected him of killing Joan. Dale confessed that he had been planning to meet Joan in Ann Arbor at her friend's apartment on the night of her disappearance. He had been with Joan's friend for the entire night, waiting for and worrying about Joan. Jones' friend had not told police that she had been waiting with Dale that night to protect him from punishment for going AWOL.

Police confirmed his story and told him they had found a body matching Jones' description earlier that day. Dale broke down and had to be helped out of the police station. The autopsy confirmed that the body was Jones. She had been raped, beaten, and stabbed 25 times with a long knife. Her death was estimated to have taken. place two to four days before July 5th, and the state of the body suggested that her corpse had been stored somewhere cool and dry prior to being dumped on the side of the road. With Dale's alibi confirmed, police turned their attention to the construction workers who had

found the body, but they too all had solid alibis for the night of Jones' disappearance. Once again, police were left with few leads, besides the vague description Jones' roommate gave of the driver of the red and black Pontiac. John Norman Collins watched the news nervously in the days following July 5th, but managed to keep himself calmer than in the days after his first murder. He could hardly believe he had pulled it off again.

He had worked hard to improve on his previous mistakes. His murder of Joan was less unhinged. He had stabbed her fewer times and beaten her less. He had also not tried to dismember her corpse, finding during his first try that he couldn't do it properly without better tools. To discourage his twisted desire to see her mangled body again, he dumped Jones' corpse in a more public place. He had planned for every eventuality he could imagine.

These details showcased the attention John put into preparing for his crimes. According to a classification created by the groundbreaking FBI profiler, Roy Hazelwood, John would be considered an organized killer. Dr. Scott Bonn writes, Organized criminals, according to the classification scheme, are antisocial, often psychopathic, but no right from wrong, are not insane and show no remorse.

John tended to meticulously plan as murders. He waited long periods between his early killings and always avoided being seen by witnesses. He was extremely organized. For the most part, his planning paid off. Police found no usable physical evidence at the scenes of Mary and Jones' deaths. Despite the fact that John had abducted his victims on or near a busy college campus, nobody had any suspicions about the handsome John Norman Collins.

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Now back to the story. Police pounded the pavement in the weeks following Joan Shell's death in July 1968. Based on descriptions from witnesses, they produced a composite sketch of the driver who picked her up on the night she went missing. Detectives then attempted to match the sketch with owners of Red Pontiacs near the EMU campus. Despite their best efforts, everyone who matched the criteria had alibis for the night of June 30, 1968. After a month, the case remained open, but the number of officers working on it was reduced. Then, in September 1968, the police found two new witnesses who remembered seeing a girl who matched Jones' description with a male student. Neither of the witnesses could say for sure because it had been dark, but they thought the man was John Norman Collins.

There were inconsistencies in the witnesses' stories. One placed the pair on the street near Jones' apartment at 9.30 p.m. While the other insisted it had been 11.30 p.m. They also both seemed reluctant to get John in trouble. Both witnesses said they were probably mistaken, but the man had more or less looked like John. John was anxious when he saw two police officers outside his door, but he wasn't unprepared.

Ever since he had dumped Jones' body, he had rehearsed his story inside and out. He took a moment to compose himself before opening the door with a warm smile. Police found the tall 21-year-old to be as charming as anything. He seemed extremely confused by the detective's questions, but answered them directly and without reservation. John told them he had never met Joan and that he'd been out of town on the weekend that she had disappeared.

He claimed he had been visiting his mother in the nearby town of Centerline. When asked about his car, John showed them his old DeSoto and a new motorcycle. He said he didn't know anyone with a red and black Pontiac. Police believed him for the most part, but were left with lingering doubts. It was almost as if he was trying a little too hard to seem cool and confident while it was being questioned. After further inquiry, the detectives learned John's uncle was Sergeant David Lake, a respected officer in the Ann Arbor Police Force. Sergeant Lake vouched for his nephew, and so police abandoned the lead without confirming John's alibi.

Still, John's last words echoed in the head of one of the detectives who questioned him. I hope you catch that guy. That guy? Police weren't even sure that the murders of Mary Flesher and Joan Schell were connected, though they were similar. The detective put the thought out of his mind. After all, they had no reason to suspect John, aside from some. some less than reliable witnesses. Following the visit from the police,

John was more nervous than ever. He still cultivated a relaxed and likable outward persona, but inside, a storm was raging. He told himself to be calm and patient. He promised himself he was done killing. It was too risky, and he had already been through two near misses. He was 21, and in the midst of his senior year. He could make it through school and start a new life as an elementary school teacher.

But even as he told himself he wouldn't kill again, John knew he wouldn't be able to stop. He was in too deep. The murders had given him an outlet for his rage and hatred that he couldn't find anywhere else. What concerned him more was his growing appetite for violence. He was having to exert more and more effort to keep himself from going out at night and finding more victims. Criminologist Dr. Scott Bonn writes, quote, After committing their first murder,

novice serial killers generally become obsessed with the need to kill. Some serial killers become bored with their original fantasy once they have actualized it, so they escalate to more elaborate or violent fantasies in an obsessive, addictive pursuit

of a more orgasmic high, end quote. Despite inward misgivings, John did his best to keep his worst desires at bay. He kept quiet again for nearly a year. By March 1969, John was a quaking volcano of rage. He snapped at friends and family over the most trivial things and became increasingly withdrawn.

He went out less and dropped some of the wholesome veneer he had worked so hard to maintain. And then, he saw an opportunity he couldn't resist. On March 18, 1969, a 23-year-old student at the University of Michigan named Jane Mixer put a note on a bulletin board at the student union. She needed a ride to Muskegon, the small town where her parents lived, about three hours from the university. To her pleasant surprise, the ad was answered almost immediately by a good-looking, dark-haired boy who called himself David Hanson. She told David she needed to visit her parents to tell them that she was planning to move to New York and marry her boyfriend. David told her he was driving out that way anyway and would be happy for the company.

They set off a couple of nights later on March 20th. She had no idea she was really agreeing to go on a road trip with John Norman Collins, the Michigan murderer. This time, John was determined to do the deed quickly. He had beaten and sexually assaulted his last two victims, but he no longer wanted to take the risk of leaving behind physical evidence. He wanted to get it over with so he could return to his normal life. He hoped that by killing Jane, he could move on, or at least fight back his urges for another year.

To suit his new murder method, John procured a 22-caliber pistol. On the way to Muskegan, around midnight, he pulled over to the side of the road and demanded Jane get out of the car at gunpoint. He shot her twice and strangled her with a nylon stocking. Next, he shoved her body in his trunk and drove to Denton Township, a few miles east of Ipsilante, where he dumped the body in a cemetery. The body was found the next morning by a woman who lived nearby. The autopsy determined that the girl had not been sexually assaulted, but her tights had been lowered to her ankles, and her legs were spread, prominently displaying her tampon.

Despite the differences between Jane's murder and the two previous unsolved cases, the location led investigators to tentatively connect the three together. Unfortunately for police, John had once again escaped the notice of any potential witnesses. Her boyfriend knew she was getting a ride to Muskegon, but had neglected to ask who she was riding with, and even if he had, John, ever organized, had given Jane a fake name. Locals around Denton Township hadn't seen much suspicious activity on the night of March 20th either. The woman who discovered the body said she saw a white station wagon parked near the cemetery late at night, but didn't know the make of the car and hadn't seen anyone inside.

Some teenagers also told police they had seen a station wagon at an unknown time during the night, but swore it was green, not white. Police searched Jane's dorm room and found an appointment in her calendar for 6.30 p.m. on the night she disappeared. The name David Hansen was written next to the time, and the address for a David Hansen was underlined in her phone book. The address was for a fraternity house, a block away from her dorm.

Police raided the frat house during a party on the night of March 21, 1969. After the police shut down the party, they were told that David wasn't at the house. He was performing in a play at the True Blood Theater on campus. After further inquiry, a fraternity brother said that the house had gotten a call from a woman the previous night looking for David. She claimed he had promised her a ride to Muskegon, but was 30 minutes late to meet her. Police perked up at this information, but their hopes were quickly dashed again. The brother explained that she must have had the wrong day.

David Hansen. He was performing in the play every night that week. The alibi was confirmed soon after. Police were at another dead end. Meanwhile, John Norman Collins paced frantically around his apartment. He was rapidly approaching the end of his rope. It hadn't worked. After killing Jane Mixer, he still felt the same unbounded rage. The gun, the speed of it all, it hadn't been enough. He still wanted to hit something. to hurt someone else. He wouldn't be able to keep his desires in check for another week, much less another year. He knew now his twisted urge for violence wasn't going to go away with time.

It was only going to get worse. John only waited three days after killing Jane Mixer before striking again, and viciously. He picked up 16-year-old high school student Marilyn Skelton outside of a drive-in restaurant in Ann Arbor on March 22nd, 1969. Marilyn was hitchhiking. She was young, but had gotten into using hard drugs and even selling them. Local police had used her as an informant a couple of times when they needed information about the local drug activity. When Marilyn's body was found three days later, it was in a worse state than any of the previous Michigan murderers' victims.

One investigator who had worked for the police department for 30 years described the scene as the worst he had to be. ever seen. The autopsy revealed that Marilyn had been beaten severely with a heavy blunt instrument in the face and chest. Her shirt had been stuffed into her throat to silence her screams. There were marks on her lower body that investigators determined were from a leather belt. Signs on her wrists and ankles suggested she had been tied up. Worst of all, it was clear she had been raped, using a branch from a nearby tree. The marked increase. The marked increase in in savagery was shocking to detectives. Initially, they suspected the murder had been committed by a new culprit.

With Marilyn's criminal history, including an arrest only a month prior for selling drugs to other high school students, authorities reasoned the murder might be drug-related or committed at the hands of one of her customers. But initial investigations proved that prospect unlikely. After interviewing Marilyn's boyfriend and her known associates, police determined they all had verifiable alibis. In addition, all of them agreed to take voluntary polygraph tests and passed. None of them, it seemed, had any information about her murder. Once again at a loss, police turned to the public for help. They created a special hotline

where the public could call in with tips relating to the murder of Maryland or any of the other three unsolved cases. Within a week, they had 800 tips. Most were unhelpful, but a few provided more information about Marilyn's whereabouts in the hours before her murder. She had been spotted at a house party and out shopping alone the day before. The most common tip speculated about the motive behind her death. Many callers passed along the rumor that her murder was retaliation by other drug dealers because they had gotten wind of her role as a police informant. This seemed unlikely to police. Marilyn was a small-time dealer and didn't provide any direct information which led to arrests or police action. No stone was left unturned, though, and investigators thoroughly

explored each lead. In the backs of their minds, some officers were starting to get worried. The increase in brutality made the police feel the situation was reaching a crisis point. Meanwhile, the atmosphere around Ipsilante was steadily deteriorating. Four young women had been murdered in the past 21 months. What had started as nervous whispers, was developing into citywide panic. Women refused to go outside after dark without a group of chaperones, and the Michigan murder tip line

continued to buzz night and day with new callers. The media further encouraged the frenzy by repeatedly calling on police to catch the co-ed killer, as he was now being called. John watched the reaction with interest, but not excitement. He had no desire to become notorious,

nor did he want to take, on any unnecessary risk. His only motivation now was to kill. Next week, we'll continue to delve into John's brutal killing spree and the many attempts by police to catch him. John would soon cement himself as one of the most brutal and infamous serial killers in American history. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. If you want to listen to any previous episodes of serial killers, you can find them on Apple Podcasts, Tune in, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify, or in our website, Parchast.com. Spelled P-A-R-C-A-S-T.com.

If you like what you hear, please leave a five-star review, or tell us what you think on social media. We're on Facebook and Instagram as at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. It seems simple, but it really helps our show. Join us next Monday as we continue delving into the twisted psyche of John Norman Collins. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler, is a production of Cutler Media and part of the Parcast Network. It is produced by Max and Ron Cutler,

sound design by Dick Schroeder, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro and Paul Mahler. Additional production assistance by Carly Madden and Maggie Admeyer. This episode was written by Terrell Wells. Serial Killers stars Greg Paulson and Vanessa Richardson. Blood Trails is a true crime podcast born in the outdoors, where the terrain is unforgiving, the evidence is scarce, and the truth gets buried under brush and silence. I simply thought it was a sleeping bag, and there was a full of blood. Somebody somewhere knows something.

I'm Jordan Sillers. Season 2 is out now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcast.

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