MI MI - Connie Kaye Crossland Corunna, 15, Shiawassee Co, 3 July 1963

[Brotherfudz]

This is a very old cold case that I’ve found very few details about. All my info comes from a few newspaper articles and a questionable website.
Connie was described as wanting to do things on her own dancing, swimming and going places (seems like a normal teenager). Her mother had stated that she wasn't overly strict and that Connie was well cared for. Connies problems began a year or so before she went missing (not sure what her “problems” were, besides being a chronic runaway, though she eventually ended up at The Jackson County Juvenile Home) At the time she was in eighth grade a year behind for her age at Corunna Junior High School and relatives stated “she didn’t care for school.”
She was found Thursday July 18th beaten and strangled in a brook in Lake Orion, Oakland County by a 10 foot long 1/2 inch Manila rope which was knotted twice and wrapped 6 times around her neck. She was from Corunna, Mi but had recently been missing since July 3rd when she and two other girls had escaped from the Jackson County Juvenile Home.
That’s pretty much all the info I’ve found on her. I’ve read online that a woman stated her father was Connies killer and that when he had died himself the authorities notified Connie’s family that her killer had died. Not sure how true any of this info is though. Anyone with any other info?

 

[Brotherfudz]

Article with photo

 

[Midge Montana]

Interesting. I always look at Michigan cases.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Brotherfudz]

I’m from Michigan, am always intrigued by local cases as well

 

[Brotherfudz]

Anyone else with any info on this case?

 

[Brotherfudz]

Bump

 

[Richard]

Connie K Crossland
Birth 1948
Death 1963
Shiawassee County, Michigan, USA
Burial
Oak Hill Cemetery
Owosso, Shiawassee County, Michigan, USA

LINK:

Connie K Crossland (1948-1963) - Find A Grave...

 

[Richard]

Corunna Girl's Murder (from a 1964 newspaper article)

Authorities are attempting to connect the 1963 slaying of 14-year-old Connie Crossland of Corunna with Carl F. Foster of Pontiac who has admitted to slaying a girl friend and who police say was to be charged with his first wife's murder today.

Connie's body was discovered about dawn, July 18, 1963 in the shallow waters of Paint Creek southeast of Lake Orion. She had been missing for two and a half weeks after running away from the Jackson County Juvenile Home with two other girls - both of whom were apprehended shortly afterward.

Attention of police was called to the Crossland murder by Dr. Richard E. Olsen, St. Joseph Hospital Pathologist who performed autopsies on all three victims and noticed "certain similarities" which he thought warranted investigation.

In both murders of the Crossland girl and Foster's first wife, Angela Foster, an attempt had been made to make it appear that the victims had committed suicide by hanging themselves.

"In 30 years as a pathologist, I have only known two cases where a killer tried to cover the crime by making it appear the victims had committed suicide by hanging," Dr. Olsen said. "When both of these cases come within less than a year, you can't help but wonder."

Previously, Oakland County police hadn't disclosed that Connie's slayer had attempted to make it appear she had killed herself. Her body was found beneath the bridge with a 30 foot length of rope attached to a loop around her neck. Her skull had been fractured behind her right ear.

The evidence makes it appear that the killer hit Connie on the head, tied the rope around her neck and tried to leave her hanging from the bridge, Dr. Olsen explained.

Then the killer dropped her while trying to tie the rope to the bridge, he added. This explained why Connie's death was due partly to strangulation and partly to drowning.

Foster has denied knowing the Crossland girl, Oakland County police said.

After Connie's slaying it was disclosed that she had been frequenting Royal Oak and Birmingham Drive-ins after running away from the Juvenile home. The last trace police had of her was when a Birmingham boy said he saw her get into a white Pontiac Bonneville convertible with two young men a few hours before her body was found.

Oakland County deputies are checking information that Foster was driving a borrowed car of similar description, although not a convertible, a few days before the murder. But it is believed that he returned it prior to the slaying.

Foster, a 29-year-old auto worker is in Oakland County Jail, beginning a 10 - 15 year prison term after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the slaying of Penelope Susan Crook, a 20-year-old divorcee last December. Foster was originally charged with first degree murder but was allowed to enter a guilty plea to the lesser charge.

After completion of the first murder case, police got permission of relatives to exhume Mrs. Foster's body to determine if she was slain. Her death a year ago had been considered a suicide. The 25-year-old mother of three had been found hanging from a water pipe in the basement of her Pontiac home but the autopsy showed that she had been strangled by hand and not by hanging. A coroner's jury ruled that Mrs. Foster's death was murder.

LINK:

www.retrokimmer.com/2018/06/will-dna-finally-discover-oakland.html

 

[Richard]

More information on Penelope Susan (Reno) Crook, mentioned in the above article:

Born in Pontiac, Michigan, USA on Jun 26, 1944 to Merton Deloid Reno and June Mae Stephenson. Penelope Susan Reno married Richard A. Lynch and had 1 child. She passed away on Dec 12, 1964 in Pontiac, Michigan, USA.

Relatives of Penelope Susan Reno
Parents
Merton Deloid Reno 1920 - 1996
June Mae Stephenson 1926 - 1968

Spouse(s)
Richard A. Lynch 1941 - 2010
Maurice Harry Crook 1942 - 1990

 

[Richard]

There is today a "Paint Creek Trail" near Lake Orion for hikers to enjoy. Looking at the photos, one might find it hard to imagine a remote place where Connie's body was left and not found for two and a half weeks. The link below includes a map, but I do not know the exact place where Connie was killed and left.

LINK:

Welcome to the Paint Creek Trail! - Paint Creek Trail

 

[Richard]

... I’ve read online that a woman stated her father was Connies killer and that when he had died himself the authorities notified Connie’s family that her killer had died. Not sure how true any of this info is though. Anyone with any other info?

I don't believe that this case is considered solved by Michigan LE. I could not find any evidence that anyone was ever arrested or charged for Connie's murder.

Although the woman mentioned in the on-line blog claims that her father murdered Connie, she also believes him to be the killer of her grandfather, the Zodiac serial killer, and airplane hijacker D.W. Cooper. When considered in its entirety, a certain element of doubt about her claim exists.

 

[Laughing]

I don't believe that this case is considered solved by Michigan LE. I could not find any evidence that anyone was ever arrested or charged for Connie's murder.

Although the woman mentioned in the on-line blog claims that her father murdered Connie, she also believes him to be the killer of her grandfather, the Zodiac serial killer, and airplane hijacker D.W. Cooper. When considered in its entirety, a certain element of doubt about her claim exists.

BBM

A man outstanding in his own field?

 

[Brotherfudz]

Connie K Crossland
Birth 1948
Death 1963
Shiawassee County, Michigan, USA
Burial
Oak Hill Cemetery
Owosso, Shiawassee County, Michigan, USA

LINK:

Connie K Crossland (1948-1963) - Find A Grave...

Thank you so much for all this new info!

 

[Richard]

One thing that I notice in reading this case is the wide geographic range Connie seems to have traveled, involving several Michigan Counties. She was from Shiawassee County, placed in a Juvenile Home in Jackson County, and would have traveled through a few other counties to arrive in Oakland County - where she was murdered.

 

[Brotherfudz]

Read in an article they wanted to question him in the murder of Barbara Gaca, 7 as well

 

[Richard]

Read in an article they wanted to question him in the murder of Barbara Gaca, 7 as well

Barbara was abducted and murdered in March 1955. If the potential suspect you are referring to was Carl Foster, then he would have been only 21 at the time.

 

[Richard]

Connie Kaye Crossland
BIRTH 1948
DEATH 1963 (aged 14–15)
Shiawassee County, Michigan, USA
BURIAL
Oak Hill Cemetery
Owosso, Shiawassee County, Michigan, USA

 

[Richard]

Coincidentally, exactly a year after Connie was murdered, on 3 July 1964, two boys: Francis Patrick Brown, 17 and Sheldon Miller, 14 were shot to death in a school playfield in Northwest Detroit, Michigan. Their murders remain unsolved.

LINK:
MI - Francis "Pat" Brown, 17, and Sheldon Miller, 14, Shot to death 3 July 1964, Detroit, MI

 

[Richard]

Bumping...

 

[Richard]

It would be very interesting to know what became of Carl F. Foster of Pontiac. In the article quoted above, he had allegedly confessed "manslaughter" in the death of his girl friend, Penelope Susan (Reno) Crook, but he was also a suspect in the death of his wife, Angela Foster. The coroner suspected that he was also responsible for Connie Kaye Crossland's murder because of similarities to that of Angela Foster.

How long did Carl F. Foster spend in prison? Was he ever tried for the other two murders mentioned above? How many others did he kill?

Where is he now?