GUILTY MI - Roxanne Wood, 30, murdered, Niles Twp, 20 Feb 1987 *arrest in 2022*

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OkieGranny

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http://wsbt.com/news/local/cold-cas...ct-in-26-year-old-murder-casebut-did-he-do-it

Police are convinced they know who killed a 30-year-old Niles woman 26 years ago, but they have not made a single arrest -- because there are still unanswered questions about her case...

Suarez says that evening, Roxanne and her husband were bowling. Roxanne left early. Police believe her husband Terry arrived at their Niles home on Tam-O-Shanter Lane shortly after 1 a.m. Roxanne was lying in a pool of blood... she had been hit over the head with a frying pan, and police say her throat had been slashed... They found no evidence of forced entry or a struggle and no evidence of sexual assault...

"The husband, Terry Wood, has always been the main suspect, the main person of interest in this investigation," says Suarez...

And 26 years after Roxanne's murder, Wood has never been arrested or charged. That is because there was something else found at the crime scene: DNA on Roxanne's body. And that DNA does not belong to Terry Wood or anyone else police have talked to.

"To a defense attorney, it tells you that is your killer. To an investigator, it tells you that is your motive," says Suarez.
Click to expand...
 
90

90

MSP: Arrest made in 1987 cold case (fox17online.com)
Feb 18, 2022 rbbm.
''NILES, Mich. — A suspect has been arrested in connection to a 35-year-old cold case out of Niles Township.

67-year-old Patrick Wayne Gilham was taken into custody in South Bend, Indiana, on Thursday, according to Michigan State Police. They say he’s been charged in the murder of 30-year-old Roxanne Leigh Wood, who was killed in 1987.

We’re told Wood was found dead in her kitchen during the early morning hours of Feb. 20, 1987.''

Michigan State Police make arrest in 1987 murder of Roxanne Leigh Wood (abc57.com)
"The cold case was reopened in 2001, but concluded a year later with no arrests.
In August of 2020, members of the MSP Niles Post Special Investigation Section began looking into the case, reviewed over 3,000 pages of information, conducted additional interviews, and reviewed evidence. That investigation led to Gilham's arrest.
Police released a photo of Gilham from 1987 and are asking the public for any information on any incident, this incident or any other, he may have been involved. If you have any information, please contact MSP Niles Post at 269-683-4411.
Gilham remains in the St. Joseph County Jail awaiting extradition.''
goiEj-1645210959-219210-blog-bc_mug_Patrick-gilham.jpg

ABC57 - Michigan State Police make arrest in 1987 murder investigation | Facebook
^ VIDEO LE PRESS CONFERENCE.
 
Last edited:
Indiana man sentenced in 1987 Berrien County murder, closing cold case (clickondetroit.com)

Man charged 35 years after Roxanne Wood found dead in her Niles Township home

NILES TOWNSHIP, Mich. – An Indiana man has been sentenced to decades in prison in connection with a 1987 murder in Southwestern Michigan, effectively closing what was once a cold case.

Patrick Gilham, 67, has been sentenced to at least 23 years in prison in connection with the slaying of Roxanne Leigh Wood, 30, who was found dead by her husband in their Niles Township home. The husband, Terry Wood, found the woman with her throat cut after the couple had driven separately to go bowling, and Roxanne Wood returned home first...
 
BetteDavisEyes said:
Indiana man sentenced in 1987 Berrien County murder, closing cold case (clickondetroit.com)

Man charged 35 years after Roxanne Wood found dead in her Niles Township home

NILES TOWNSHIP, Mich. – An Indiana man has been sentenced to decades in prison in connection with a 1987 murder in Southwestern Michigan, effectively closing what was once a cold case.

Patrick Gilham, 67, has been sentenced to at least 23 years in prison in connection with the slaying of Roxanne Leigh Wood, 30, who was found dead by her husband in their Niles Township home. The husband, Terry Wood, found the woman with her throat cut after the couple had driven separately to go bowling, and Roxanne Wood returned home first...
Click to expand...

All those years that the husband was the main suspect. Poor guy.

They aren't saying, but we have to assume DNA, you think? I see a new case solved that way almost every day. Love it.
 
Knitty said:
All those years that the husband was the main suspect. Poor guy.

They aren't saying, but we have to assume DNA, you think? I see a new case solved that way almost every day. Love it.
Click to expand...

Apparently, there was no forced entry at the home. She and her husband had been bowling that night, but she left early. He stayed with friends to have drinks after, then came home around 1 am to find her dead in the kitchen. From the link in the post at the top, from the husband's attorney:

"...26 years after Roxanne's murder, Wood has never been arrested or charged. That is because there was something else found at the crime scene: DNA on Roxanne's body. And that DNA does not belong to Terry Wood or anyone else police have talked to.
...
"Police need to know who that DNA belongs to. They need to answer that question of why and where that DNA could have come from, says Suarez. There are theories. In 1994, one of Roxanne's friends told the South Bend Tribune that Roxanne was unhappy in the marriage."

​
 
Just read about this case re: the Yahoo article. Glad it's finally been closed & that they found the perp. - even if it's 35 years later.

There are some questions re: this case, however: Since there were no signs of forced entry at the house, did the victim let the perp in voluntarily - and then did things somehow escalate after that? Or, did she open the door enough so that he forced himself in?! Given that this happened late at night/early in the morning, the first thought would be that he broke in/forced himself in the house. However, it's not clear what happened & it's also not clear if they knew each other before the crime.
 
Western Michigan University students help crack 1987 Berrien County cold case murder (clickondetroit.com)

Man charged 35 years after Roxanne Wood found dead in her Niles Township home

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – A murder out of Southwestern Michigan had gone unsolved for decades -- that is, until a group of Western Michigan University students got involved.

Students partaking in the university’s cold case program helped solve the 1987 murder of 30-year-old Roxanne Wood, who was killed inside her Berrien County home. Wood was found dead by her husband in their Niles Township home one night after the couple had driven separately to go bowling, and Wood returned home first...
 
joe jones said:
Man Sentenced in Michigan Court After Pleading No Contest to Slitting Woman's Throat in Her Kitchen
Click to expand...

For his part, defendant Patrick Wayne Gilham, 67, pleaded no contest last month to second-degree murder for killing Roxanne Leigh Wood, 30, with a plea deal of 23 to 50 years in prison. Though he stopped short of admitting guilt under the law, and though his attorney says he does not remember what happened, Gilham apologized at the hearing on Monday.
Click to expand...

Since he claims to have "forgotten" what happened, no one knows what happened that night or why he chose to attack this poor young woman. Was he stalking her? Was this a random attack? Did he commit violent sexual assaults against other women in the area? Still a lot of unanswered questions. I hope LE eventually learns more.
 
Great episode last night!! investigative genetic genealogist Gabriella Vargas is my new hero - pink hair, tattoos and all.

Her poor husband, under all that suspicion for over thirty years :(
 
Great episode! They really answered a lot of our questions.

I feel so badly for Rock's husband for being a suspect so many years. At least he has some peace now that everyone realizes that he wasn't the killer.
 
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