GUILTY MI - Michael Leon Curry, 51, charged with murder in 1986 strangulation, Bangor, Mar 2019

[cybervampira]

Man allegedly confessed four times after woman's 1986 slaying | Daily Mail Online

A man who allegedly confessed four times to killing a nurse three decades ago in Michigan and wrote on Facebook that he had never killed anyone who didn't deserve it has only just been arrested over the cold case slaying.



Michael Leon Curry, 51, - who dubbed himself the 'Night Stalker' - was charged a week ago with murder in the 1986 strangulation of 59-year-old Wilda Wilkinson in her Bangor home.



A state police investigator testified this month that Curry had confessed four times in the late 1980s to breaking into Wilkinson's home and strangling her but he was never charged.



The police testimony that was given to obtain Curry's recent arrest warrant was only released last week.

Curry was first named as a suspect when Wilkinson's daughter found the nurse dead in her home in on July 29, 1986 when she failed to show up for her shift at the local hospital.

Authorities declined to press charges against him because they said they didn't have enough evidence.

Bangor Police Detective Sergeant Kyle Gorham told the court this month that Curry had actually confessed to a cellmate, confessed in interviews with police and even wrote a letter to a detective admitting his involvement between 1986 and 1989.

Posted Confession Brings Arrest in 1986 Slaying

Man Arrested in Cold Case Killing Years After Allegedly Confessing 4 Different Times

The many confessions of accused cold case killer

 

[YESorNO]

Charge dropped against man arrested in 1986 murder

May 04, 2019

"PAW PAW, Mich. (WOOD) — A murder charge against a man recently arrested for the 1986 killing of a Van Buren County woman has been dismissed, records show.

Michigan court records indicate the decision to drop the charge against Michael Leon Curry came on April 26.

Curry had been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his former neighbor, 59-year-old Wilda Wilkinson. Wilkinson's daughter discovered her body in her Bangor home in July 1986. Wilkinson had been strangled.

Curry confessed shortly after the killing to a man in jail and in writing. He also confessed to police, saying he strangled her during a burglary.

However, investigators say he reneged everything when they gave him a polygraph test, and Curry knew few facts of the case.

Retired Detective Sgt. Dana Averill told 24 Hour News 8 they thought Curry was “just screwing with us basically.”

Averill also said they thought they had better suspects in the case...."

Charge dropped against man arrested in 1986 murder
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Charges dismissed in cold case murder

 

[PastTense]

"New partial DNA tests have led authorities to a man in Florida prison, accused of a decade-old cold case murder in Van Buren County.

49-year-old Robert Waite is facing charges for the death of Wilda Wilkinson of Bangor back in 1986.

Wilkinson was reportedly found strangled to death at her home on Alexander Street during an apparent break-in, but after a lengthy investigation, her case went unsolved.

Now Michigan State Police have identified Waite as the suspected killer after using new DNA technology."
Florida inmate charged with 1986 Bangor murder

 

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Robert Waite, 50, was flown to Michigan on Nov. 19, 2019, to face open murder charges in connection to the 1986 killing of Wilda Wilkinson of Bangor.

Police said Wilkinson was found strangled to death at her home on Alexander Street during a break-in. The case went unsolved after a lengthy investigation.

Florida inmate extradited in connection with 1986 Van Buren County cold case homicide

 

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Waite has been in a Florida prison since 2008 on an unrelated kidnapping and sexual battery conviction, according to Florida Department of Corrections online records. He is set to be released on those charges in 2034.

Waite remains in the Van Buren County Jail. He is set to appear in South Haven court for a probable cause conference at 1 p.m. Nov. 27.

Wilkinson is survived by her two daughters and two sons, who were in continuous contact with investigators throughout the investigation, according to MSP.
Man brought to Michigan to face charges in 1986 murder

 

[byo]

Man sentenced to 25-60 years in prison for strangling Bangor woman to death in 1986

VAN BUREN COUNTY, MI — Robert Waite was 16 years old in July 1986, when he strangled Wilda Wilkinson to death in her Bangor home.

Years after the case went cold, on Aug. 25, Waite, now 50, pleaded guilty to the killing.

He was sentenced Monday, Oct. 19, in Van Buren County Circuit Court to serve between 25 and 60 years in prison for one count of homicide-felony murder as a juvenile defendant. . . .