MI MI - David Cole, 16, & Timothy Fowler, 17, Lenawee County, 10 May 1982

Crime Stoppers is asking for help with this 1982 case. If anyone has any thoughts or wants to look deeper, please do whatever you can. Thank you.


http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2016/06/1982_fatal_fire.html#incart_river_home_pop
Decades after two teens burned to death, officials still hope for information

The double murder of David Cole and Timothy Fowler in the small Lenawee County town in 1982 haunted the town.

LENAWEE COUNTY, MI — More than 30 years ago, two 17-year-old boys were locked inside a bathroom and burned alive in a Lenawee County farmhouse.


David Ray Cole and Timothy Paul Fowler's May 10, 1982, deaths were ruled a homicide and their case remains unsolved.

Now, Crime Stoppers seek tips in the case as they report police believe there are people in Lenawee and Monroe counties who "have knowledge of who is responsible."

Lenawee County Sheriff's Capt. Jeff Ewald said during a phone interview that a detective has been assigned to the case and has been working on it a couple of months.

He said the family had been in contact with the department, but that there were no new leads or evidence to report.

The captain said since the case was pre-computer, it required the detective to computerize and go over everything again. Ewald said he has made a lot of contact regarding the case.
Police ruled David, who lived in the 5118 Pieh Highway residence, and Timothy were herded into the bathroom of the rural farmhouse and locked inside.

"Gasoline was splashed in front of the bathroom door and set afire," a March 20, 1983 Citizen Patriot article reads. "Ordered into the windowless bathroom by their assailants, the boys soon realized their danger as smoke seeped under the door, the room's only exit. One tried to survive by filling the bathtub with water.
"His body was found with the fiberglass tub melted around him."

A five-gallon gasoline can, kept in the barn, was found along with the bodies of the boys in the rubble from the home.

This is from a small town in the southeastern part of Michigan.
David Cole lived at the Pieh Rd. address in Blissfield, Michigan. Deerfield (where both boys went to school) is just north of Blissfield.

http://nbc24.com/news/local/officials-continue-to-ask-for-tips-in-1982-fatal-deerfield-fire-case

Cole's parents (mother and stepfather) were out of town at the time. Both were in street clothes, possibly awake when fire started. Fire was ruled arson, and means of death as homicide.

You can contact the following:

• Call (517) 266-6161 or (877) 276-8477
• Text your tip to 274637: start your tip with "Lenawee"
• Email your tip at www.tipsubmit.com

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I found this all a bit confusing regarding locations. If anyone has better info, correct me if I may be wrong.

Cole lived at Pieh Hwy. in Blissfield (farmhouse burned)
Both attended Deerfield Schools
It is possible this involved a disagreement with kids from Petersburg.

These are three small towns in SE Michigan farm country, very close together. It seems highly likely (to me) that someone knows or suspects someone. Rather amazing (again, to me) that if more than one person was involved nothing has turned up by now.

There has been rumors of who it was and it is my understanding they were questioned but nothing ever came about it. They may have been "seeing" a couple of girls from Petersburg/Summerfield school.

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It is strange, the way the school districts are, we had people that had a Deerfield address attend Summerfield in Petersburg. I didn't realize they both went to Dundee, I thought they went to Deerfield. I'll have to double check that again

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I think it is OK to post the Justice for Tim Fowler and David Cole FB page. (Mod, please remove if not allowed)

https://www.facebook.com/timfowlerdavidcole/

dmc43613 said:

It is strange, the way the school districts are, we had people that had a Deerfield address attend Summerfield in Petersburg. I didn't realize they both went to Dundee, I thought they went to Deerfield. I'll have to double check that again

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Click to expand...

Either I typed it out of habit or auto correct turned Deerfield into Dundee. It was my mistake, dmc. Thanks for catching it so I could edit. It is fixed now. Both boys attended Deerfield.

I would assume that more than one person was involved so maybe it's time to put out that police "are close" and offer a deal to the first one to come forward. You hate to see this one person get off easy but two convictions out of three is better than no convictions ever.

I would love to know what it was that got the 3 original questioned "off" so to speak.

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How far away was the mother/step father? I know the article said out of town visiting someone sick. Where, how far?

The parents were out of town in West Virginia.

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So...the gasoline can was from the barn. Now granted, it's not terribly unusual to find a gas can in a barn for tractors and what not. But either the Perp(s) knew the lay of that farm, or didn't premeditate and came upon the gas can. I suggest it was the former.

It was not coincidence that this happened while the parents were away. Who else besides the boys and the parents (of both) knew the farm owners would be away?

Kids do a lot of talking and it is possible many of their friends knew the parents were out of town. From the first article in the opening post:

The two best friends were staying at David's mother and stepfather's home while they were in West Virginia visiting a sick relative.
"I'd told him I'd just as soon Tim not stay," Sandra Hall, David's mother, told the Citizen Patriot at the time, "but if David wanted to stay at Tim's, it was OK just as long he came back to turn on the lights and feed the animals."

Were they at David's house to spend the night, or just to feed the animals? Who would have known they were there?

A couple of things, these 2 small towns, Deerfield and Petersburg, it would not surprise me that everyone knew the parents were out of town. From what I have heard these 2 boys had talked or something to 2 girls from Petersburg at a party or after a ball game or something. These girls had boyfriends from Petersburg and their boyfriends plus another boy from Petersburg was questioned about the fire but there apparently wasnt enough evidence or what have you to make an arrest or follow up on.

I think people know who it was but it's been recycled through the rumor mill for years no one "knows" anything, just what they heard.

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Kids do a lot of talking and it is possible many of their friends knew the parents were out of town. From the first article in the opening post:

The two best friends were staying at David's mother and stepfather's home while they were in West Virginia visiting a sick relative.
"I'd told him I'd just as soon Tim not stay," Sandra Hall, David's mother, told the Citizen Patriot at the time, "but if David wanted to stay at Tim's, it was OK just as long he came back to turn on the lights and feed the animals."

Were they at David's house to spend the night, or just to feed the animals? Who would have known they were there?

And why was the mother concerned about Tim staying while they were away? Was Tim the type to get in trouble, or she just didn't want a kid staying at her home while she was away?

Teenagers from another town were questioned and are the unofficial POI's from what I can gather.
Under what circumstances would someone be so enraged that they would burn two people alive...a particularly torturous and gruesome death. What could have two teens done to enrage to this degree?
Date someone's girl? Nah...that would result in a man to man fist fight. Maybe a beat down. But to burn alive? Did these boys force themselves on some girl, or something like that? Molest someone's kid brother?
I am NOT saying these boys did anything horrible like this....I am just searching for some sort of theory as to why someone would burn them alive! Dating someone's girl (the possible motive that has been expressed), does not add up to me. Had to be more. Much more.

These boys that died were in the tenth grade, heck probably barely driving. I cannot imagine they did anything like that, but you're right Roses, a pretty heinous act over a couple girls.

I get a feeling this wasn't premeditated but escalated and they wanted to scare the boys. These 2 towns had always been sort of rival towns, not sure if it's still like that but it was a big deal back then.

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