MI MI - GARY LEITERMAN, killed Jane Mixer, 1969, suspect in other murders

[NewMom2003]

I'm so glad to see this thread about Jane Mixer. I saw the 48 Hours episode Saturday night and I had so many questions afterwards. There are things mentioned here that weren't mentioned on the show. I found it strange that, according to 48 Hours, Leiterman's DNA was in the system because of forging prescriptions. I thought there had to be something else besides that for them to have taken a DNA sample from him. After reading these posts, I now know about the pictures of the foreign exchange student. Why didn't 48 Hours show that?

As far as the DNA of the little boy ... I find that really weird. My gut feeling is there in fact was a mix up at the lab. I just can't picture any way for him (at age 4 1/2) to fit into this.

In all probability, Leiterman is probably Jane's killer, but I would hate for him to be let off on a technicality. They should re-test all of the samples through an independent lab just to make absolutely certain.

Originally posted by mysteriew: But jurors won't hear how Leiterman allegedly bragged of having a vial of a substance that could render a woman unconscious. And they won't hear of a recent conviction for producing child sexually abusive material: two Polaroid photographs of a 16-year-old foreign exchange student partially nude and appearing to be unconscious, which police found during a search of his Gobles home last year.

Does it say where the foreign exchange student was from? The reason I ask is Leiterman's wife and children appeared to be from Asian/Korean descent. I hope these pictures had nothing to do with them. It just gives me the creeps.

 

[mysteriew]

I wondered how big the blood spot was from that other guy. When I first heard about the blood spot, I wondered if Leiterman and Jane may have stopped at a gas station or something. And if maybe the guy that the spot tested out to, was possibly there and had a nosebleed. Many boys get them regularly. My son does, and when they first start sometimes they squirt. She could have been standing in line with him, or handed him a kleenex or something. If she was already sensing a problem and feeling tension about Leiterman she may have been distracted enough not to notice the blood spot, may have been killed soon after. Pretty bizarre I know, but strange cooincidences have been known to happen.

 

[shadowangel]

Going by the pictures from 48 Hours, the spot was about nickel-size and round. What I found odd (again, just going by the crime-scene photos on the show) Jane's hand was tilted, but the spot had not ran (it was a fairly solid round spot). It appeared to me as though someone had spilt one (decent-size) drop of blood on her hand, before she had been moved to the cemetary.

Just my opinion from what I saw. But it wasn't just a small or microscopic spot. For all I know, it may have been placed there just for the purpose of confusing things. However, I too lean toward a mistake in the lab.

 

[scandi]

Good Morning,

Re: the sample of blood from her hand and retesting. I think that if they retest this swab or glass plate it is on now {name of that escapes me ? LOL}, they should also test all the blood samples from Rughers {sp}. If it got switched somehow, then it was put back into the right file. So the swab that turned out to be Rughers had already been switched and was put into the Leiterman file. If this is true, then there will be a Leiterman swab in the Rughers file, right. Only makes sense to me. They both had blood swabs for testing!


[color-crimson]Scandi[/color]

 

[eve]

I am so glad to find this thread! I saw the episode and am from Kalamazoo, Mich., too, so remember the co-ed cases.

I really believe the 4-year old's DNA was NOT present at the Mixer crime scene. Too coincidental that the lab processed the grown-up 4 year old's blood in the lab at the same time the Leiterman case was being processed. The only reason the possible lab mix-up wasn't acknowledged or pursued is because it could taint the other DNA evidence in the case.

So, whose blood was it? An accomplice? It was about the size of a nickel or dime and a perfect droplet -- not smeared or anything. Someone mentioned a nosebleed, in fact, it reminded me of the drops of blood I see when my daughter gets nosebleeds occasionally.

I was so curious about how they connected up Leiterman's DNA in the first place. I thought they said he had no criminal history (I must have missed the info about the forged prescriptions) but I kept telling my husband he had to have done something they weren't mentioning for his DNA to be on file.

The weirdest thing about the show to me personally was that the woman they interviewed who was his friend or neighbor in Gobles who vouched for his character was the mother of a girl I played with when I was little! I visited them in Gobles! That was a real shocker!

Eve

 

[shadowangel]

I am so glad to find this thread! I saw the episode and am from Kalamazoo, Mich., too, so remember the co-ed cases.

I really believe the 4-year old's DNA was NOT present at the Mixer crime scene. Too coincidental that the lab processed the grown-up 4 year old's blood in the lab at the same time the Leiterman case was being processed. The only reason the possible lab mix-up wasn't acknowledged or pursued is because it could taint the other DNA evidence in the case.

So, whose blood was it? An accomplice? It was about the size of a nickel or dime and a perfect droplet -- not smeared or anything. Someone mentioned a nosebleed, in fact, it reminded me of the drops of blood I see when my daughter gets nosebleeds occasionally.

I was so curious about how they connected up Leiterman's DNA in the first place. I thought they said he had no criminal history (I must have missed the info about the forged prescriptions) but I kept telling my husband he had to have done something they weren't mentioning for his DNA to be on file.

The weirdest thing about the show to me personally was that the woman they interviewed who was his friend or neighbor in Gobles who vouched for his character was the mother of a girl I played with when I was little! I visited them in Gobles! That was a real shocker!

Eve

I tend to agree about the blood on her hand. It may have been her's--I'm not thinking the sample was tainted, but that somehow the samples got switched---mislabelled or something. Regardless of anyone's thoughts on the infallibility-or the lack thereof-the human factor always has to be considered. The tester dind't get enough sleep because the baby was sick, the husband forgot the mortgage payment, the girlfriend is cheating---Mistakes happen. Until the samples are re-tested by an outside lab, and re-verified, there will always be serious questions.
Its a small world, they say---This guy seemed very good at hiding his personal perversions.

 

[kemo]

Jane Mixer was once believed to be one of the victims John Collins who's string of sex related murders in Michigan in the late 1960's gained him the notoriety of being the first high profile serial killer of the age of mass media.

Her case was always a bit "different" and when a Michigan Cold Case detective ran DNA testing on some biological material found on her body against the Michigan DNA database that was being expanded to include a record of all convicted felons in the state, he got not one but two "hits".

One of the "hits" was deemed the result of some sort of error because it was pretty much impossible that the donner had been involved in the crime. The other donner could not be ruled out, and in spite of the lack of any other real evidence, was convicted of the murder and has been incarcerated for ten years.

The jury was obviously impressed by the DNA evidence and Michigan Law Enforcements insistence that what ever errors resulted in the one "impossible" DNA match did not effect the reliability of the Match to Gary Leiterman.

Although the use of a DNA match when there were serious problems with the handling of the forensic evidence is problematic, particularly when there is no no other real evidence, there is reason to believe that Gary Leiterman had some dark sexual proclivities that could have led him to murder thirty years earlier.

The nuances and uncertainties of this expose one serious reality of criminal justice: there is always going to be some doubt.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/elmer-fudd-killer-article-1.266919

 

[Ibiz]

Does any of these Michigan Murders seem to have anything in common?

Jane Mixer - March 20, 1969
Kimberly Louiselle - March 20, 1982
Kellie Brownlee - May 20, 1982
Christina Castiglione - March 19, 1983

 

[LadyL]

what time was Christina's? if the time is possibly off, then maybe it actually occurred on the 20th of the month like the other three

Does any of these Michigan Murders seem to have anything in common?

Jane Mixer - March 20, 1969
Kimberly Louiselle - March 20, 1982
Kellie Brownlee - May 20, 1982
Christina Castiglione - March 19, 1983

 

[Ibiz]

what time was Christina's? if the time is possibly off, then maybe it actually occurred on the 20th of the month like the other three

Christina was last seen at about 8:30 p.m March 19th, hitchhiking on 5 Mile Road about a mile west of Telegraph in Redford Twp.

Kimberly was last seen hitchhiking about a mile east of Christina one year earlier. Because of where their bodies were found in two different wooded locations, it would seem that their murderer would have been a hunter.

 

[Richard]

Here is a link to a Michigan Appeals Court ruling which contains a long brief concerning the Jane Mixer case:

http://www.murderpedia.org/male.L/images/leiterman_gary/leiterman.pdf

 

[Richard]

Here is a rather long, but interesting story about Leiterman, written in 2013:

Gary Leiterman Profile

 

[JulianaMoon]

You know, now that you mention it- the bragging about the vial of a drug, and the child sex *advertiser censored* wasn't mentioned in the 48 hrs story. They did mention that prior to his conviction for Jane's murder he didn't have any criminal history, but they didn't mention his later conviction. I wonder why?

Could the little boy also be a victim of a sex crime by GL? ? Where is this boy now?

 

[Ibiz]

Could the little boy also be a victim of a sex crime by GL? ? Where is this boy now?

From what I have read; there dosen't seem to be a connection between the boy "John David Ruelas" and GL. Ruelas was convicted of murdering his mother in 2004 and sent to prison.

 

[kemo]

I have gone over everything I can find on this case and I have come around to the belief that Leiterman is innocent of the murder of Jane Mixer.

There was at least two places on the pantyhose Mixer had been wearing the night of her murder that DNA was found that belonged to Gary Leiterman and came from a liquid source such as sweat or saliva. ( there was no evidence that Mixer was sexually assaulted). This is undeniable and it is pretty compelling evidence but there is a problem with it: there was also a drop blood on her body that belong to a convicted murder named John Ruelas; who was age 4 at the time and had no other ties to Mixer or Leiterman. It has never been established exactly how Ruelas’s blood got there. Michigan Crime Lab administration has never admitted that there was any contamination and at the trial, it was left as an open mystery. The prosecution made a case for the claim that however the Ruelas DNA got there, there was no way the Leiterman DNA got there through contamination.

There is one salient fact that must be considered: during the 30 day period when the various tests were performed on the Mixer evidence at the Michigan Crime Lab, a sample of Leiterman’s saliva and Ruelas’ blood was also processed at he same Lab. No matter how strongly anyone can argue that contamination would have been impossible, I think it is most likely that the Ruelas blood was contamination and if there as some contamination, there could easily be more.

There is more reason to question the conviction. Originally, Mixter was believed to be a victim of known serial killer John Collins but he was never charged with the crime and Mixter’s murder was a little different from the others. One link between the murder and Collins is “ interesting”: the name that was used by the murderer to get Mixer to share a ride with him was” David Johnson”. David Johnson was the name of John Collins’s roommate at the time. That would have been a common name and we can expect a murderer to use a common name as an alias but there would have been thousands of other possible names to use. How likely would it be for a murderer to pick an alias that just happened to be the same as the roommate of the guy who would later be suspected of the crime? There is no reason to believe Leiterman and Collins knew of each other before Collins’ arrest. This is just too much of a coincidence.

The big problem Leiterman has working against him is that it appears he does have a history of drugging a sixteen year old exchange students a d taking a picture of her with her genitalia exposed. Not really evidence in the Mixter case but definitely evidence of “character issues”. It doesn’t make him a sympathetic victim.

The upshot of this case is, I believe, is that Leiterman is innocent of the murder. It is possible that the prosecution genuinely believed him guilty. There is also the possibility that the integrity of the Michigan Crime Lab was on the line and there was fear that either dropping the charges against Leiterman or losing the case because the jury suspected contamination would open a can of worms. Other crime labs have had “ problems” and courts have reversed convictions and thrown out evidence in hundreds if not thousands of cases because the labs that processed the evidence had lost their credibility.

 

[Ookpik]

Looks like Leiterman has passed away: View Gary Leiterman's Obituary on Mlive.com and share memories

 

[Richard]

Leiterman, Gary Earl passed away on July 4, 2019 at the age of 76.

Gary was born on Sept. 11, 1942 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He married Solly Nicolas on August 19, 1977. He is preceded in death by his parents, Nicholas Leiterman and Ruth and Martin Vila.

Gary is survived by his wife Solly, children, Darwin (Jeannie) Leiterman, Olive (Dharwin) Yanilla, grandchildren, Jaden, Ian, Nicolas, Micah, Gavin, Amellia and DJ, brothers, Matt (Sue) Vila and Timothy Leiterman, nieces, May (Michael) Mosquera and Laura (Todd) Rawson, nephew, Tony Vila, as well as several cousins.

A special memorial service will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 20, 2019 at the St. Ambrose Catholic Church (1628 E G Avenue, Parchment, MI 49004).

Published in Kalamazoo Gazette on July 14, 2019

 

[Richard]

Leiterman has been dead for almost a year now. So many unanswered questions.

 

[Chris_Halkides]

I use the Leiterman case to teach about forensic DNA contamination and the association fallacy (see this link). The DNA in the Leiterman case is similar the case of Jane Durrua who was murdered in 1968. The case was cold, but then there was an apparent DNA match many years later. When the analysts went back to check their lab notes, they found that they had been working on an unrelated case on the same date as the Durrua case, and the DNA from the unrelated case had contaminated the clothing from the Durrua case. This information comes from an essay by Professor William Thompson.

 

[Chris_Halkides]

I found a link where Gary Leiterman discussed how he found the two polaroid photographs (I now see that someone else has already linked to it). I have no opinion on whether or not he is telling the truth, and it prompts the question of who else might have taken them (I seem to recall someone's saying that it was another student). The link has some good background information on Mr. Leiterman.