MI MI - Julia Niswender, 23, EMU student, Ypsilanti, 10 Dec 2012 - #5

[FindHG]

Thank you all for clarifying the positioning and accessibility of Julia's apartment.
I think it would behoove us to thoroughly example the immediate surrounding area.
IIRC, there are some wearhouse type businesses within visual range of her apartment.
I would be VERY interested in knowing if there were any RSOs working at those businesses at the time of the attack, or living close by.

I remember what you mean, the big tow and dump trucks parked by the tracks behind Julia's apartment, a goth lettered video production or distribution business etc... can't find the pictures, yet. I do recall Trojan mentioning that Julia's car had been ticketed a couple of times or so, parked along those tracks.

hey everyone, im new here.i spent some time awhile back digging into the Bruck and julia cases.

RSBM

:welcome5: name734. Much of what you note appears to have been discussed on the thread. Thank you for joining and providing this compelling summary from where you sit. I hope you continue to pitch in. I'm not certain if your post goes past the TOS (terms of service) on WS. The mods may weigh in. Your concern for resolution of and Justice for Julia is welcome. Thank you.

 

[Trojan1966]

Hi All,
Looking at the post #655 from Forager, the pictures are correct for the location of Julia's apartment. The floor plan of the three bedroom apartment shown is correct except it would be like a "mirror" image. Julia's main door would be to the right side and her room was the farthest from the main door. Yes, her main door was somewhat concealed as it was in a small alcove. I thought I had posted pictures of her apartment quite a while ago. Those pics were from the way it is today as they use it as a "model" to show perspective renters. I am glad to see "new" posts and concerns about this case. Unfortunately, we are approaching 4 years since her murder and I do not have any "new" news to post. I do talk to LE on occasion but there are not any recent updates. It is still an "active" case and being investigated.

 

[FindHG]

The zebra pillow case may have had evidence on it or in it, the killer must've owned it after the Julia's murder, a trophy or evidence, it stands to reason?

 

[lovinlife83]

The zebra pillow case may have had evidence on it or in it, the killer must've owned it after the Julia's murder, a trophy or evidence, it stands to reason?

This may have been covered previously but I can't remember. Was it just the pillowcase missing (the "naked" pillow was still there)?


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[lovinlife83]

Was she smothered with the pillow before being placed at the tub?


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[Deleted member 132804]

This may have been covered previously but I can't remember. Was it just the pillowcase missing (the "naked" pillow was still there)?


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I remember something being said about KT going outside of Julia's apartment, peering into the bathroom window, to get a better take on what was going on in the direct crime scene. Didn't KT mention seeing a wet pillow on the bathroom floor?

 

[Deleted member 132804]

Was she smothered with the pillow before being placed at the tub?


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I think it's possible.

 

[Forager]

This may have been covered previously but I can't remember. Was it just the pillowcase missing (the "naked" pillow was still there)?


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Yes, it was the pillow case, not the pillow that was missing.

"They [LE] later determined a black-and-white zebra-striped pillow case was missing from a pillow and keys to the apartment and Niswender's private bedroom were missing from a lanyard."*

* Darcie Moran 9/2/15, MLive, "Documents detail suspicions of stepfather in Julia Niswender homicide" http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/09/documents_detail_allegations_a.html (That article was posted ages ago, but has lots of important detail).

 

[rosesfromangels]

I'm thinking about the purse; what was the Perp looking for? Keys? Phone? Aside from makeup, that's generally all a woman will keep in her purse. That phone keeps niggling at me. Again, why did the Perp throw it in the tub with her? What did that accomplish?

 

[FindHG]

I'm thinking about the purse; what was the Perp looking for? Keys? Phone? Aside from makeup, that's generally all a woman will keep in her purse. That phone keeps niggling at me. Again, why did the Perp throw it in the tub with her? What did that accomplish?

I get the sense it may have been digital, something to do with the computer shuffle inherit in the case?

 

[rosesfromangels]

I get the sense it may have been digital, something to do with the computer shuffle inherit in the case?

Bingo

 

[Spellbound]

I'm thinking about the purse; what was the Perp looking for? Keys? Phone? Aside from makeup, that's generally all a woman will keep in her purse. That phone keeps niggling at me. Again, why did the Perp throw it in the tub with her? What did that accomplish?

ha! Obviously, you have never seen inside my purse.

 

[black_squirrel]

Yes, it was the pillow case, not the pillow that was missing.

"They [LE] later determined a black-and-white zebra-striped pillow case was missing from a pillow and keys to the apartment and Niswender's private bedroom were missing from a lanyard."*

* Darcie Moran 9/2/15, MLive, "Documents detail suspicions of stepfather in Julia Niswender homicide" http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/09/documents_detail_allegations_a.html (That article was posted ages ago, but has lots of important detail).

Sometimes I think that the missing pillowcase, the purse emptied on the bed etc. was all part of staging the scene. It is almost as if the perpetrator wants the police to think in a certain direction. Anyone that walks in the room immediately will see the gloves in front of the bedroom door and will immediately see that the pillowcase with the characteristic pattern is missing. By spreading the contents of the purse out on the bed (IIRC) the perpetrator also wants to make it clear that he (?) took something from the purse. The lanyard, on the floor I believe, clearly has a key missing. It is almost like the killer wants to make sure that police gets all the hints.

 

[black_squirrel]

I get the sense it may have been digital, something to do with the computer shuffle inherit in the case?

Computer shuffle?

 

[rosesfromangels]

Computer shuffle?

I think they are referring to the devices that were examined by LE

 

[rosesfromangels]

I reread some of the old threads to see if I am missing anything. Anything obvious. There was so much noise and distraction that it was easy to overlook the obvious. Was that the intention all along?

1. WTH is that bathroom rug? Rugs don't disappear. Where do we absolutely know was the last time it was seen, by whom, and do we know definitively who took it? Where was it stored, and who had access to that storage area? If the rug was with other personal items of Julia's, were other personal items taken as well or just the rug?

2. The brazen attack. I am having a hard time getting past the roomates coming and going and this brazen attack committed. Clearly, the loud TV was to cover up sounds, as there have been many posts in reviews of Peninsular place stating the walls were "very thin". Combine that with roomates coming and going. Who commits a crime that risky?!?!

Let's really think about that for a moment. Roomates coming and going and a crime underway. That's a first I think. I think the roomate that came in doesn't know how lucky she is that she didn't suffer a similar fate.

The Brazen departure post crime. Apparently the Perp(s) had no concern for recognition and had their escape well planned. It was said there were alot of kids coming and going getting ready to go home for the holidays. SO...*someone* *must* have seen something. It just didn't register as suspicious at the time. Someone saw something, I am sure of it. Even if it looked like a student leaving on a bicycle...

Why did they take her keys? Were they planning to come back later and look for something else?
Do we know if they took any journals of Julia's?
The computer was left behind, so that doesn't align with my "she had evidence on them" theory It would have been captured on her computer
Was there a second computer she had that was taken?

 

[FindHG]

I reread some of the old threads to see if I am missing anything. Anything obvious. There was so much noise and distraction that it was easy to overlook the obvious. Was that the intention all along?

1. WTH is that bathroom rug? Rugs don't disappear. Where do we absolutely know was the last time it was seen, by whom, and do we know definitively who took it? Where was it stored, and who had access to that storage area? If the rug was with other personal items of Julia's, were other personal items taken as well or just the rug?

2. The brazen attack. I am having a hard time getting past the roomates coming and going and this brazen attack committed. Clearly, the loud TV was to cover up sounds, as there have been many posts in reviews of Peninsular place stating the walls were "very thin". Combine that with roomates coming and going. Who commits a crime that risky?!?!

Let's really think about that for a moment. Roomates coming and going and a crime underway. That's a first I think. I think the roomate that came in doesn't know how lucky she is that she didn't suffer a similar fate.

The Brazen departure post crime. Apparently the Perp(s) had no concern for recognition and had their escape well planned. It was said there were alot of kids coming and going getting ready to go home for the holidays. SO...*someone* *must* have seen something. It just didn't register as suspicious at the time. Someone saw something, I am sure of it. Even if it looked like a student leaving on a bicycle...

Why did they take her keys? Were they planning to come back later and look for something else?
Do we know if they took any journals of Julia's?
The computer was left behind, so that doesn't align with my "she had evidence on them" theory It would have been captured on her computer
Was there a second computer she had that was taken?

Or a flash drive with some incriminating evidence?

IIRC, in LE's description of her room, her school papers had been taken out and strewn, so could it have been a printout of some incriminating thing Julia may have had as well?

What could be an important enough reason that to kill Julia? If computers are involved, it may have been some kind of digital information, product, evidence, or asset?

Could whomever did this have been trying to erase some trail of information that would lead to them? They seem to have planned to do it during an exams weekend for convenience, so able to keep track of her, perhaps?

Trust may have had something to do it with it, given that tweet of Julia's to not trust anyone, it seems.

She was tied, violated, tormented and killed and her mom and POI step dad can't come up with her bathroom rug, or all their computers, credible accounts of the their relationships, and have had to move from town due to JT's reputation as a potential pervert, it seems.

Maybe something to do with controlling the flow of some information that Julia may have been privy to which they did not trust her to keep, as she became more and more independent, or just to control her, ultimately?

Something so illegal and/or profitable that her life meant nothing in comparison from the perp/s point of view.

What could that have been?

 

[Deleted member 132804]

1. WTH is that bathroom rug? Rugs don't disappear. Where do we absolutely know was the last time it was seen, by whom, and do we know definitively who took it? Where was it stored, and who had access to that storage area? If the rug was with other personal items of Julia's, were other personal items taken as well or just the rug?

Honestly, what I cannot understand is (I've probably said this before) how YPD could let the bathroom rug go anywhere but back to the crime lab? The pert. would've stepped on the rug to place Julia in tub, it would seem.

 

[FindHG]

Honestly, what I cannot understand is (I've probably said this before) how YPD could let the bathroom rug go anywhere but back to the crime lab? The perp. would've stepped on the rug to place Julia in tub, it would seem.

Maybe it had been so professional cleaned by the perp, the YPD investigators on the scene deemed it just useless as evidence and left it there.

Looking Glass 517, do you remember if it was ever collected as evidence, then somehow returned to Julia's mom, who was in touch with the detective at the time, IIRC?

 

[black_squirrel]

Honestly, what I cannot understand is (I've probably said this before) how YPD could let the bathroom rug go anywhere but back to the crime lab? The pert. would've stepped on the rug to place Julia in tub, it would seem.

Maybe it had been so professional cleaned by the perp, the YPD investigators on the scene deemed it just useless as evidence and left it there.

Looking Glass 517, do you remember if it was ever collected as evidence, then somehow returned to Julia's mom, who was in touch with the detective at the time, IIRC?

One would think that the rug should have been collected as evidence. I don't think it could have been assessed at the scene that it would be useless. There are two possibilities:

The police failed to collect the rug. Then, years later, they realized that it might be important. So LE made a mistake.

As I understand it, the police does not have records that the rug was ever collected. But perhaps they did, but just mislabeled or misplaced it, or messed up the records in some other way. That would mean they made a mistake.

Either way, there is some level of incompetence of YPD.