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The murder of Lynda White has a lot of similarity to the murder of Mary Terese Fleszar, a 19 year old student at Eastern Michigan University, who was the first of a series known as "the Michigan Coed Murders".
Mary Fleszar was last seen alive on the evening of July 9, 1967, by a neighbor walking towards her Ypsilanti apartment. This neighbor twice observed a young man in a blue-grey Chevrolet slow to a halt beside Fleszar and begin talking to her: each time, Fleszar had shook her head and walked away from the car.
Her nude body was found by two 15-year-old boys on an abandoned farm at Superior Township on August 7, and was formally identified via dental records the following day.
The corpse was badly decomposed, although the pathologist who examined Fleszar's remains was able to determine the young woman had been stabbed approximately 30 times in the chest and abdomen with a knife or other sharp object, that her feet had been severed just above the ankle, the thumb and sections of the fingers of one hand were missing, and that one forearm had been severed from her body (these severed appendages were never found). Despite the advanced state of decomposition, the pathologist was also able to locate multiple lineal abrasions upon the victim's chest and torso, indicating that Fleszar had been extensively beaten before her death. Although police theorized that Fleszar had been raped, the advanced state of decomposition of the corpse had erased any conclusive evidence of sexual assault.
A detailed examination of the crime scene revealed that the body had been moved three times throughout the month it had lain undiscovered: initially, the body had lain upon a pile of bottles and cans obscured from view by elder trees, before being dragged five feet from this location into a field, where it had remained exposed throughout much of the time it had lain undiscovered. Shortly before the body was discovered, the murderer had again returned to the body and moved the body a further three feet.
Two days after the remains had been identified as those of Mary Fleszar, a young man claiming to be a friend of the Fleszar family arrived at the funeral home holding Fleszar's body prior to her scheduled burial. This individual had asked for permission to take a photograph of the body as it lay in the coffin as a keepsake for her parents. When informed his request was impossible, the young man had replied: "You mean you can't fix her up enough so I could just get one picture of her?" Sternly informed a second time he would not be allowed to view the body, the young man had wordlessly exited the funeral home.
The receptionist could not offer any clear description of the man beyond that he was a handsome young white male with dark hair, that he had driven a blue-grey Chevrolet, and that he had not been carrying a camera.
Although not convicted of this murder, the prime suspect is John Norman Collins, who was convicted of the 1969 murder of 18 year old Karen Sue Beineman, also an Eastern Michigan University student.
In 1967, Collins, a Canadian by birth with family in Ontario, drove a blue and gray 1958 DeSoto.
All of the Michigan Murder victims' bodies were found in remote rural areas, and were not buried.
LINKS:
MI - MI - JOHN NORMAN COLLINS Co-Ed Murders 1967-69, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti
https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/Michigan_murders
Mary Fleszar was last seen alive on the evening of July 9, 1967, by a neighbor walking towards her Ypsilanti apartment. This neighbor twice observed a young man in a blue-grey Chevrolet slow to a halt beside Fleszar and begin talking to her: each time, Fleszar had shook her head and walked away from the car.
Her nude body was found by two 15-year-old boys on an abandoned farm at Superior Township on August 7, and was formally identified via dental records the following day.
The corpse was badly decomposed, although the pathologist who examined Fleszar's remains was able to determine the young woman had been stabbed approximately 30 times in the chest and abdomen with a knife or other sharp object, that her feet had been severed just above the ankle, the thumb and sections of the fingers of one hand were missing, and that one forearm had been severed from her body (these severed appendages were never found). Despite the advanced state of decomposition, the pathologist was also able to locate multiple lineal abrasions upon the victim's chest and torso, indicating that Fleszar had been extensively beaten before her death. Although police theorized that Fleszar had been raped, the advanced state of decomposition of the corpse had erased any conclusive evidence of sexual assault.
A detailed examination of the crime scene revealed that the body had been moved three times throughout the month it had lain undiscovered: initially, the body had lain upon a pile of bottles and cans obscured from view by elder trees, before being dragged five feet from this location into a field, where it had remained exposed throughout much of the time it had lain undiscovered. Shortly before the body was discovered, the murderer had again returned to the body and moved the body a further three feet.
Two days after the remains had been identified as those of Mary Fleszar, a young man claiming to be a friend of the Fleszar family arrived at the funeral home holding Fleszar's body prior to her scheduled burial. This individual had asked for permission to take a photograph of the body as it lay in the coffin as a keepsake for her parents. When informed his request was impossible, the young man had replied: "You mean you can't fix her up enough so I could just get one picture of her?" Sternly informed a second time he would not be allowed to view the body, the young man had wordlessly exited the funeral home.
The receptionist could not offer any clear description of the man beyond that he was a handsome young white male with dark hair, that he had driven a blue-grey Chevrolet, and that he had not been carrying a camera.
Although not convicted of this murder, the prime suspect is John Norman Collins, who was convicted of the 1969 murder of 18 year old Karen Sue Beineman, also an Eastern Michigan University student.
In 1967, Collins, a Canadian by birth with family in Ontario, drove a blue and gray 1958 DeSoto.
All of the Michigan Murder victims' bodies were found in remote rural areas, and were not buried.
LINKS:
MI - MI - JOHN NORMAN COLLINS Co-Ed Murders 1967-69, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti
https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/Michigan_murders
