GUILTY MI - Janet Chandler, 23, raped & murdered, Holland, 31 Jan 1979

[hoppyfrog]

From Holland, Nichigan:

Holland Police will hold a press conference Wednesday morning at the Holland Police Department, where they are expected to release details on a suspect in the 1979 murder of Janet Chandler.

Chandler was a 23-year-old Hope College student when police say she was abducted from the then Blue Mill Inn on US 31 and 16th Street in Holland, around 1am. Chandler worked the overnight shift, and nearly 24 hours later, police say, a snow plow driver discovered her unclothed body in a wooded area off I-196, seven miles south of South Haven.

At the time police had no suspects, and the investigation went cold until 2003, when a Hope College professor, Dr. David Schock did a documentary on the case. Shock was teaching student reporters how to work with police in conducting an investigation.

The documentary helped re-open the case and led to the creation of the Holland Police "cold case" team. The team was comprised of investigators from both Holland and State Police and was devoted to solving the Chandler murder.

More at:

http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4469537

 

[hoppyfrog]

http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4469537

On Wednesday, police and Attorney General Mike Cox said 66-year-old Robert Michael Lynch of Three Oaks sexually assaulted and killed Chandler. He was arraigned on three counts of first-degree murder.

Lynch was a security worker and was staying at the Blue Mill Inn because he was hired to provide security for a local labor dispute.

He was denied bond and is being held at the Ottawa County Jail.

Police think some other people may be connected to the murder as well.

Hoppy

 

[hoppyfrog]

Michigan State Police detective David Van Lopik testified about how the crime occurred. On the night Janet Chandler was abducted in 1979, Lynch and several other people lured her away from the Blue Mill Inn where she was working.

They told Chandler they were throwing a surprise party for her. The men blindfolded Chandler, taped her mouth and escorted her to a waiting vehicle.

She was taken to a home behind a chemical plant where the assailants were employed as security guards. The detective said, in the home, Chandler was stripped and sexually assaulted by several security guards, including Lynch, who is the only one charged so far.

Chandler was then choked with a belt. When Janet was dead, the detective testified, that Lynch told the others. The men then cleaned Chandler's body and put her in Lynch's car. Lynch then drove her to Covert Township near South Haven and put her body near a tree.

Van Lopik said police were able to corroborate Lynch's account of the crime with accounts from other security guards. Police say other people may be charged in connection with the incident.

http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4483189

 

[mysteriew]

In 1979, Janet Chandler was working in as a clerk in a motel where Wackenhut security guards were staying while they provided security for a chemical plant that was on strike.
Allegedly, two of those guards invited her to a suprise party held by the guards, and then they put a blindfold on her and taped her mouth and took her to the party.
There she was allegedly assaulted and then choked with a belt, before being discarded alongside the road under a tree.
Robert Lynch has been charged with her murder and is allegedly is cooperating with the investigation. Prosecutor are not saying how many others were involved. Other suspects are being sought. http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1139586343306390.xml&coll=8

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1139586809306280.xml&coll=6

 

[hoppyfrog]

http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5429609

Two men have been arrested in West Virginia in connection with the murder 27 years ago of Janet Chandler in Holland [Michigan].
Our affiliate in Charleston, WSAZ, reports James Nelson, 59, was arrested by Michigan State Police in Rand, WV, near Charleston on Monday. Nelson is being held in the South Central Regional Jail.

Also arrested in West Virginia for his alleged role in the case is 49-year-old Freddie Parker.

more at link

 

[hoppyfrog]

http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5429609

24 Hour News 8 learned late Tuesday night of a third arrest in the murder of Janet Chandler.

48-year-old Laurie Ann Swank of Nescopeck, Pennsylvania was taken into custody Tuesday. Swank reportedly works at a hospital in the area and was arrested in her scrubs. Swank, charged with a number of counts of murder, was 21 years old at the time of the 1979 crime.

more at link

 

[Beyond Belief]

HOLLAND, Mich. (AP) -- Twenty-seven years after a hotel desk clerk's body was found in a wooded area, authorities have arrested five people, including the victim's former roommate and boss, the attorney general said Wednesday.

Authorities would not say what led to the arrests in four states this week, but did disclose the a man charged in the case earlier this year had been talking with investigators. The first arrest in February came after a college documentary on the case brought out witnesses.

The six suspects are accused of kidnapping Janet Chandler as she worked the night shift at the Blue Mill Inn on Jan. 31, 1979, said Attorney General Mike Cox.

He said the 23-year-old Hope College student was taken to a house where she was beaten, raped and strangled. A day later, a snowplow driver discovered her body about 35 miles south of Holland.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/1/1979_KILLING?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

 

[Elberethe]

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004934019

Those arrested this week are identified as James Cleophas "Bubba" Nelson, 59, of Rand, W.Va.; Arthur Carlton "Carl" Paiva, 54, of Muskegon; Freddie Bass Parker, 49, of Powellton, W.Va.; Laurie Ann Swank, 48, of Nescopeck, Pa.; and Anthony Eugene Williams, 55, of Boscobel, Wis.

Holland police Chief John A. Kruithoff told the AP that all five were taken into custody in their hometowns. Like Lynch, the five new suspects were arrested on warrants that charged each of them with three counts of first-degree murder.

Each person is charged with "premeditated murder and committing a murder during the commission of two other felonies." In this case the two other felonies included kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct.

 

[Elberethe]

http://www.dailyitem.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060921/NEWS/609210325

More at link including picture of Swank

LANSING, Mich. — A Nescopeck woman arrested this week for her alleged role in a 1979 killing in Michigan was a nurse's assistant at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, a hospital spokesman said Wednesday.

Ms. Swank is the daughter of local businessman Wilbur “Red” Swank and Montour County Commissioner Bernice Swank.

It is alleged that at the time of Ms. Chandler's murder, Nelson, Paiva, Parker, and Williams were employed as security guards on assignment at a local labor strike. Nelson, Parker and Williams were temporarily residing at the Blue Mill Inn, while Paiva lived in a corporate guest house near the site of the strike.

Ms. Swank worked as a night-shift supervisor at the hotel and is accused of "enticing and encouraging the men to do what they did," Mr. Cox said.

Ms. Chandler was assaulted and slain at the guest house, then her body was dumped near the highway, police said.

Asked whether Mr. Lynch, who goes on trial in January, implicated the others after his arrest, Mr. Kruithoff said, "He was talking to us."

As for a motive, the Ottawa County prosecutor Frantz would say only that each suspect had "a common drive to brutalize Janet Chandler."

 

[Elberethe]

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1158843302209720.xml&coll=6&thispage=1

HOLLAND -- As their anger and jealousy mounted toward the pretty night clerk at the Blue Mill Inn, a group of security guards living there plotted to "teach her a lesson," court documents show.

"It was known by most, if not all, that Janet was not going to be coming back," Michigan State Police Detective David VanLopik said of the planning among guards, their female friends and Chandler's female work supervisor.

VanLopik's 10-page affidavit exposes a world of seedy sexual exploits at the Blue Mill Inn that culminated in the calculated killing of the 23-year-old Hope College student on Jan. 31, 1979.

Police however, claim Paiva and other guards were among those at a "planning session" at the Blue Mill Inn office on U.S. 31. There they allegedly hatched a scheme to abduct Chandler from the inn, take her to a guest house on Chemtron property, and gang-rape and kill her. Swank, Chandler's supervisor, is accused of being an instigator.

According to the affidavit, Chandler was "intimate" with some of the Wackenhut Security guards who were staying at the inn while working at the strike-bound Chemtron Corp. in nearby Holland Township. In fact, several guards had relationships with inn employees and female Chemtron employees that were "non-monogamous," the affidavit states.

"It has been learned that in the process of these relationships, there grew intense anger and jealousy toward Janet Chandler, by the guards, which also was driven by other females who were associated with this group of security guards," according to the court document

The allegations here are as shocking and disturbing as ever I have seen," state Attorney General Mike Cox said Wednesday at a press conference to announce the five additional arrests. "Her boss participated by inciting and encouraging the men to do what they did to 'teach her a lesson.' This was a murder motivated by jealousy, envy and just plain meanness."

Swank lived with Chandler at a house on Holland's north side, but was not a Hope College student. She allegedly verbally berated Chandler as she was sexually assaulted and physically beaten with a belt, according to the affidavit.

The 23-year-old was repeatedly raped and choked with a belt by numerous guards, the affidavit said.

"Laurie Swank has admitted to investigators she was present at the guest house during the incident and that she verbally assaulted Janet as she was being beaten and raped," according to the affidavit. "Laurie admitted that she knew Janet was going to be killed and was present when Janet died."

Lynch was choking Chandler with a belt when she died, according to the affidavit.

Threats against anyone who talked about the murder kept the slaying a mystery for decades as the guards scattered to other states, police say.

Much more at link .. need to give zip code and year of birth to register (no other info required).

 

[Elberethe]

http://www.mlive.com/grgallery/gall..._gallery.cgi/mlive/view_gallery.ata?g_id=4013

Photo gallery of suspects in case.

 

[Elberethe]

http://www.mlive.com/images/news/s_060921_chandler.jpg

Janet Chandler

 

[Elberethe]

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1158843323209720.xml&coll=6

Suspect Profile: Laurie Swank (more at link)

She is a mother, a nursing assistant and a good neighbor in the small town of Nescopeck, Pa.

Now, police say Laurie Ann Swank was an instigator in a slaying nearly three decades ago.

Swank's mother said she is reeling from the arrest of her daughter in the 1979 Janet Chandler slaying.

 

[Elberethe]

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1158843925241790.xml&coll=6

Suspect Profile: Anthony Robert Eugene Williams (more at link)

Anthony Robert Eugene Williams, one of six suspects in the Janet Chandler murder, was living in a small town in Wisconsin, but he hadn't done much to avoid police.

In fact, he has a long criminal history.

Williams, 55, was 28 when Chandler was killed in 1979.

 

[Elberethe]

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1158843918241790.xml&coll=6&thispage=1

Suspect Profile: Arthur Paiva (more at link)

The 54-year-old divorced father of two sits in an Allegan County Jail cell facing a mandatory life sentence if he is convicted of his alleged part in the sex assault and slaying of 23-year-old Janet Chandler in his Holland-area guest house in 1979.

The suspect said in a jailhouse interview that he had nothing to do with the crime. He even claims to have attended Chandler's funeral.

"I think someone has it in for me," he said. "I can't believe that everyone that was supposedly there would say I was there. But someone must have."

Some suspects, according to a Holland District Court arrest affidavit, specifically recall Paiva at the home.

The man most people called "Carl" settled in Muskegon -- the same city where Chandler's parents live -- working a series of low-wage jobs while nursing a 26-year methadone habit. The only statement he made at his arraignment was to beg the judge to get his daily dose.

 

[Elberethe]

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1158843907241790.xml&coll=6

Suspect Profile: Freddie Parker (more at link)

GRAND RAPIDS -- Every day after school, the 7-year-old grandson of Freddie Parker wants to go see his "Paw Paw."

Nobody knows what to tell him.

"That's my dad. ... I gotta believe he didn't do it. He told me he didn't do it," Jason Parker said Wednesday.

His father, who left Kentucky at 7 or 8, spent most of his life in Powellton, where 20 percent of the 2,000 residents live below the poverty line. He had worked as a technician at the hospital in Charleston, until he suffered a severe workplace injury and went on disability.

For 26 years, he served as a volunteer firefighter and was an emergency-medical technician for the ambulance service.

 

[Elberethe]

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1158843914241790.xml&coll=6

Suspect Profile: James Nelson (more at link)

Before his arrest, Nelson lived in Rand, W.Va., a small, rural town outside Charleston.

Despite Nelson's imprisonment three decades ago in an abduction, friends and relatives cannot imagine he would kill anyone.

If neighbor kids misbehaved, he wasn't afraid to tell them to straighten up, said his cousin, Higginbotham Cosby. Cosby told the Charleston Daily Mail that Nelson was a "pillar of the community."

Friends wonder whether Nelson's sons, now staying with relatives, will be OK.

"He was always right there with them," Bryan Smith said. "He took them to school, and done everything with them. He's got a daughter and two autistic boys, and he's a real good dad."

 

[Elberethe]

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1158843903241790.xml&coll=6

Suspect Profile: Robert Lynch (more at link)

The 67-year-old Lynch had a handyman business and has three adult children with his wife, Melanie.

 

[kwatson696]

Suspect profile: LaurieSwank


Thursday, September 21, 2006 By Ken Kolker
The Grand Rapids Press
She is a mother, a nursing assistant and a good neighbor in the small town of Nescopeck, Pa.

Now, police say Laurie Ann Swank was an instigator in a slaying nearly three decades ago.

Swank's mother said she is reeling from the arrest of her daughter in the 1979 Janet Chandler slaying.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1158843323209720.xml&coll=6

He said the murder was motivated by "jealousy, envy and just plain meanness

Wow....what a shame..

 

[hoppyfrog]

Elberethe:

Thanks for posting all that info. I saw it this a.m. at mlive.com and was going to post it later. Glad you did though...that was a lot of work!

The story has now made it onto cnn.com, and here's the link:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/09/21/1979.killing.ap/index.html

For more than a quarter century, the brutal sex slaying of Hope College student and hotel clerk Janet Chandler baffled law enforcement officials.
As the case grew colder with each passing year, it became less likely that whoever was responsible would be brought to justice.

Then, a few years ago, a film class at Hope produced a documentary about the unsolved mystery that sparked new interest in the case. After the film aired on a Grand Rapids television station in January 2004, investigators started getting tips again.

more at link