MI MI- William Parsons, 70 & sisters, Hilda, 80, & Monica "Lenore", 68, murdered, Livonia, 23 July 1964

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Their Rosedale Gardens, Livonia, Michigan home 24 July 1964.


William Finlay Parsons, 70, murdered 26 July 1964 in Livonia, MI
BIRTH 17 Aug 1892
George Town, George Town, Cayman Islands
DEATH 24 July 1964 (aged 71)
Livonia, Wayne County, Michigan, USA
BURIAL
Riverside Cemetery
Plymouth, Wayne County, Michigan, USA
PLOT block I lot 208

Hilda Irene Parsons Whitright
BIRTH 22 Mar 1884
George Town, George Town, Cayman Islands
DEATH 23 July 1964 (aged 80)
Livonia, Wayne County, Michigan, USA
BURIAL
Riverside Cemetery
Plymouth, Wayne County, Michigan, USA Show Map
PLOT Block I Lot 208

Monica Lenore “Lenore” Parsons
BIRTH 20 Dec 1895
George Town, George Town, Cayman Islands
DEATH 23 July 1964 (aged 68)
Livonia, Wayne County, Michigan, USA
BURIAL
Riverside Cemetery
Plymouth, Wayne County, Michigan, USA
PLOT block I lot 208

Case summary:

William Parsons, age 70, along with his sisters, Hilda Irene Parsons Whitright, 80, and Monica Lenore Parsons, 68 were found murdered in a closet in their home in Rosedale Gardens, Livonia, MI on July 26, 1964. Possibly following after a robbery.

No one was ever identified as a suspect and the mystery of their deaths has never been solved. It is a cold case under investigation by Detroit Metropolitan Police.

LINKS:

William Finlay Parsons (1892-1964) - Find A Grave...

Cold cases: Incidents leave families, investigators questioning
 
It seems an even worse crime, opining here, to live a life and then be murdered out of it. I feel that Justice will be dealt the murderer/s whether we know it or not, in this life or not. Poor victims.
 
I wish that there was more information available about this multiple murder. Perhaps microfilm records of the Detroit News or Detroit Free Press would have something. Unfortunately, this crime occurred at the start of a newspaper strike which shut down those two papers for four months until about 22 November 1964.
 
The place where this multiple murder took place was located in the southern part of Livonia. It is in the center of a square bordered by Plymouth Rd. to the north, Merriman Rd. on the east, Joy Rd. on the south, and Farmington Rd. on the west.

Here is a description and history of the area:

The Rosedale Gardens Historic District (locally known as Old Rosedale Gardens) is a historic district located on eight streets, from Arden Street to Hubbard Street, between Plymouth Road and West Chicago Street in Livonia, Michigan. The district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010...

History
Rosedale Gardens was platted by the Shelden Land Company in the 1920s. The company modeled the development on Rosedale Park in Detroit. The first house in Rosedale Gardens was the Harsha house, built in 1925; the house was occupied in January 1926. These houses were wood structures.

A total of 61 houses were built in in 1926, and by 1929, 121 homes had been constructed. I addition, a small grocery opened in 1926, a school on 1927, and Rosedale Gardens Presbyterian Church in 1928.

When the Great Depression hit, construction stopped for a time; the developer bricked over existing homes, and continued with brick construction when building resumed later in the 1930s. About 250 homes were built in 1935-41, until World War II again intervened. Another housing boom occurred after the war, and by 1948 the original part of Rosedale Gardens contained 428 houses. Additional lots were platted, and homes built, through into the 1960s.

Description
The Rosedale Gardens Historic District is a residential neighborhood, encompassing approximately 1/4 square miles, containing about 570 houses, primarily from between 1925 and 1960. Houses are located along eight parallel streets running north–south. The streets are narrow and without curves, and lined with a collection of mature trees. Lots lining the streets are 40 feet wide and run 120 to 145 feet deep, and houses tend to be relatively modest in size, typically in the range of 1000 to 2000 square feet and one or two stories.

The neighborhood is distinctive because, unlike nearly all of the surrounding neighborhoods, pre-World War II houses predominate, with 428 of the 570 total built before the war. Many of the oldest houses are wooden, although brick-faced houses predominate in the neighborhood. Architectural styles are typically Colonials and English cottages, with some newer ranch houses intermingled...

LINK:

Rosedale Gardens Historic District - Wikipedia
 
Possibly one reason why this case was not well publicised and well known is that it occurred on 26 July 1964, at a time that both major Detroit newspapers were closed due to a strike.

During the duration of the strike (22 July - 22 November 1964) there was an interim newspaper published called the Detroit Daily Press. It ran for 122 days, during which time it became the fifth largest U.S. daily. It is possible that it contained stories relating to the murders, but it might not have been up and running by 26 July.

There are some microfilm (not on line) copies of the Detroit Daily Press held by a few libraries which might contain more information.

Other than the brief mention of this triple murder in a recent press release about the Detroit cold case squad (which only mentions the name of one victim), there does not seem to be much information on this crime released to the public.

LINK:
About The Detroit daily press. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1964-1964 « Chronicling America « Library of Congress
 
dotr said:
Wondering if each of the households in the separate murder cases, usually had the newspaper delivered?
Click to expand...

My earlier posts regarding newspapers was in regard to my attempt to learn more about these two murders. The killing of Pat and Sheldon was covered in great detail by both the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press (then two competing papers but later merged). Their murders occurred very late in the evening (around 10:30 PM) on 3 July 1964. The next day papers had the story on page one, and articles appeared in the papers over the next couple of weeks.

Then came a major newspaper strike which shut down both newspapers from 22 July to 22 November 1964. The Parsons murders occurred on 26 July 1964 at the very start of the newspaper strike, and so if there was any coverage it would have been only in smaller papers not affected by the strike.

I have confirmed that both of these multiple murders remain unsolved. What seems to connect them are the very close time frame of only three weeks between them and only seven miles in distance. Both involved cold blooded, senseless killings of unarmed innocent persons with little or no discernable motives. Both crimes were committed in Wayne County, Michigan - However, each was in a different police jurisdiction. The Brown/Miller murders occurred in Northwest Detroit while the Parsons Murders occurred in Livonia, just to the Southwest.

It would seem that the murders of Pat Brown and Sheldon Miller were a very random/chance occurrence in an open public area, while the Parsons murders took place inside their private residence. Knowing more about the nature of the Parsons killings and about their personal connections and relationships might provide clues which could link and possibly help solve the two cases.
 
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Thanks for the additional information. Still nothing to say exactly how they were killed, but it looks like they were actually murdered some three or more days before they were found.

Who ever killed them, somehow managed to evade or neutralize their German Shepherd guard dog.

Interesting stories from 1949, fifteen years earlier which describe a conspiracy of four men attempting to blackmail Dr. Parsons. Did the charges result in long prison sentences for any of them? Revenge for a prison sentence might be a motive for murder, but 15 years is a long time to wait.
 
Catmommy said:
Perhaps it was someone the dog was familiar with
Click to expand...

That is a possibility. It would at least mean that the killer(s) somehow made it into the house/clinic in a non-intrusive way. Since the home was also a doctors' office/clinic, patients would have been allowed in without the dog being present to bother them. Perhaps they kept the dog in a separate area or room of the house.

Clearly the dog was upset and on high alert when police arrived several days after the murders had occurred. Police claimed to have given the dog 15 tranquilizers without effect and finally killed it in their attempt to enter the house.

The condition of the house being ransacked might indicate that the killers were seeking drugs or perhaps medical records. No indication what - if anything - was missing. The dog most certainly would have been making noise hearing all of the ransacking taking place.
 
Here's the second part of the Detroit Free Press article.

It says the preliminary post-mortem exam showed the three victims died from suffocation. The women were fully clothed. William was shirtless, but otherwise dressed. The women were lying on the floor of the closet and the brother was in a sitting position on top of them.

Dr. Parsons had been seen talking to a man in a gold colored car in the days before the murder. Neighbors didn't recognize the man.
 

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Peter Jacobs, body builder from a 1947 magazine cover.

Peter Jacobs, 32, of Detroit, Michigan, had been arrested and charged (in January 1949) with extorting money from Dr. William Parsons in 1948 and 1949. The scheme involved forged documents alleging that Dr. Parsons had treated Jacobs' wife with medical procedures or practices which caused her to be hospitalized.

Jacobs was charged in a separate 1949 blackmailing scheme along with three other men:

Robert Markland, 21, of Laurenceburg, Indiana

Ernest Betke, 21, of Fessenden, North Dakota

Eddie Hill, 28, of Detroit, Michigan

In serving arrest warrants on Jacobs, police discovered $20,000 in stolen auto parts at Jacobs' home. Presumably, this led to further legal charges against him.

According to Eddie Hill, Jacobs was the ring leader of the 1949 extortion attempt, and he told police that Jacobs had ordered him (Hill) to beat Dr. Parsons when they got the money from him. Jacobs therefore included physical force and injury in his plans.

In July 1964, Peter Jacobs certainly may have felt that Dr. Parsons had set him up in the past. Might he have been trying, again, to extort money from Parsons? Or might he have been looking for revenge of some sort?

To subdue and suffocate three people, would indicate a person - or persons - of considerable strength.

LINKS:

Clipping from Detroit Free Press - Newspapers.com

more extortion - Newspapers.com
 
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I do not know what became of Peter Jacobs, or his partners in crime; Eddie Hill and Robert Markland.

Ernest Betke died in 1956 at the age of 29:

Ernest E Betke
CPL 363 AIR SERVICE GP AA
WORLD WAR II
BIRTH 10 Apr 1927
North Dakota, USA
DEATH 29 Jul 1956 (aged 29)
BURIAL
Hillside Cemetery
Fessenden, Wells County, North Dakota, USA
PLOT Section 2 Row 3

LINK:
Ernest E Betke (1927-1956) - Find A Grave...
 
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