OH OH - Michael Klitch, 12, Grandview Heights, 28 June 1971

[solofiddle]

In the first tennis court picture, in the back right, you can see the backboard wall where Michael was practicing tennis by himself. It is the same today as it was back then. He probably hit a ball over the fence and walked out the gate to get the bell. The railroad tracks are just a bit behind that wall, so I suspect that is where he was captured and taken away.

 

[Satch]

In the first tennis court picture, in the back right, you can see the backboard wall where Michael was practicing tennis by himself. It is the same today as it was back then. He probably hit a ball over the fence and walked out the gate to get the bell. The railroad tracks are just a bit behind that wall, so I suspect that is where he was captured and taken away.

I never thought of that! Good possibility. What about the "Special Ball" that his Dad bought for him a few feet from the gate?

Satch

 

[BUCKEYE1971]

I am brand new here...this case is what brought me to WS. I live in Hilliard which is pretty close to GH. The maps and pictures you see from today look NOTHING like things did in 1971. Columbus and its suburbs have exploded as has the freeway system. I have some things on my mind with this:
1) 33( Dublin Rd, Riverside Dr) is very close to this area and at that time the probable route the abductor would have to go to get to Africa Rd. This is about 25-30 miles and at that time a much "quieter " drive than it would be now where that area and this area are booming. There wasn't even a close freeway access ramp to get to 71 at that time. Not sure what exit you would use off of 71 even to get to Africa but TODAY that is Polaris Pkwy and very developed area. When I was little we used to go to the zoo which is about halfway from here to Africa rd and it felt like eternity because NOTHING was around it and it was two lanes. The point is....the person that did this absolutely had a specific plan to hide this body in a place that was soon to be under water. The Alum Creek area was just about to be developed to water at that time and while that area had not yet been excavated it was certainly not populated but with a few sparse homes still left standing. VERY rural. This person knew exactly where they were going and knew of that tool shack and didn't just stumble upon it. It would be interesting to know that connection-- how they knew to go there....
2) There is not much I could hear at this point that would lead me to believe this is a random or a serial killer. 26 stab wounds is WAY over the top for a 12 year old boy. This was rage, anger, passion, personal. To convince me that some crime of opportunity happened and this poor boy was taken and then stabbed that many times just at random is very far fetched for me. Doesn't mean it isn't the case, but for me that doesn't seem plausible at all.
3) Play this scene out in your head...now try to explain how randomly a stranger was able to get Michael, a tennis racket, a bag with the rest of the balls and everything else all into the car if Michael doesn't know him/her. Let's think about this...he's 12...he can swing and fight back and although not strong, this makes him cumbersome being wiggly and moving. So, now add in that the stranger must have a weapon in one hand...somehow all this happens and he grabs all other belonging except ONE tennis ball? This is highly unlikely. Too many things with Michael for one person to grab and go like that brandishing a weapon.
4) If Michael was supposed to go swimming after the tennis practice, where are the swim shorts he would need to change into? He certainly isn't going swimming in a sweater and shorts? So were they in the bag? where did they end up? Did his mother bring his change of clothes? There are holes in the story with leaving a note. Why would he have to leave a note with his mother and was it noted that he usually did but didn't that day if his mother already knew to come pick him up at the tennis courts to go to swim club at 330? The note thing rings odd to me as does the fact that if he was just going to practice tennis at a municipal court( not country club) that everybody thought it completely acceptable he was wearing a sweater( possible vest) in 95 degree heat. You don't need to go dressed to hit a ball up against a wall for an hour and especially not in that heat. Are we for CERTAIN that is what he had on? Do the kids that saw him verify that? ( I wish we could see that interview with those neighbor kids).
5) I feel very strongly that the family absolutely had this person in their lives one way or another. This was someone well known to Michael and he got in the car with them for whatever reason. I don't think this person even had to say, " something happened to your dad" HOWEVER, this is obviously before cell phones and if Michael is expecting his mother to come get him at 330 he isn't getting in a car with someone before then without being able to tell his mom he won't be there, so this person had to know how to get around that by saying simply, " I am supposed to get you to the pool, your mom is running late..." or something along those lines. That, unfortunately, means this person is very close to the family possibly. This version to me is far more likely than a serial killer, or a random stranger with an opportunity. Those neighbor kids are the biggest source of information on this.

I did read somewhere on this thread that a neighbor that was a bit scary had commit suicide a few years later and I have often wondered if there is any connection there.

My heart breaks that this 12 year old boy hasn't received the justice he deserves.

 

[Satch]

I am brand new here...this case is what brought me to WS. I live in Hilliard which is pretty close to GH. The maps and pictures you see from today look NOTHING like things did in 1971. Columbus and its suburbs have exploded as has the freeway system. I have some things on my mind with this:

1) 33( Dublin Rd, Riverside Dr) is very close to this area and at that time the probable route the abductor would have to go to get to Africa Rd. This is about 25-30 miles and at that time a much "quieter " drive than it would be now where that area and this area are booming. There wasn't even a close freeway access ramp to get to 71 at that time. Not sure what exit you would use off of 71 even to get to Africa but TODAY that is Polaris Pkwy and very developed area. When I was little we used to go to the zoo which is about halfway from here to Africa rd and it felt like eternity because NOTHING was around it and it was two lanes. The point is....the person that did this absolutely had a specific plan to hide this body in a place that was soon to be under water. The Alum Creek area was just about to be developed to water at that time and while that area had not yet been excavated it was certainly not populated but with a few sparse homes still left standing. VERY rural. This person knew exactly where they were going and knew of that tool shack and didn't just stumble upon it. It would be interesting to know that connection-- how they knew to go there....

2) There is not much I could hear at this point that would lead me to believe this is a random or a serial killer. 26 stab wounds is WAY over the top for a 12 year old boy. This was rage, anger, passion, personal. To convince me that some crime of opportunity happened and this poor boy was taken and then stabbed that many times just at random is very far fetched for me. Doesn't mean it isn't the case, but for me that doesn't seem plausible at all.

3) Play this scene out in your head...now try to explain how randomly a stranger was able to get Michael, a tennis racket, a bag with the rest of the balls and everything else all into the car if Michael doesn't know him/her. Let's think about this...he's 12...he can swing and fight back and although not strong, this makes him cumbersome being wiggly and moving. So, now add in that the stranger must have a weapon in one hand...somehow all this happens and he grabs all other belonging except ONE tennis ball? This is highly unlikely. Too many things with Michael for one person to grab and go like that brandishing a weapon.

4) If Michael was supposed to go swimming after the tennis practice, where are the swim shorts he would need to change into? He certainly isn't going swimming in a sweater and shorts? So were they in the bag? where did they end up? Did his mother bring his change of clothes? There are holes in the story with leaving a note. Why would he have to leave a note with his mother and was it noted that he usually did but didn't that day if his mother already knew to come pick him up at the tennis courts to go to swim club at 330? The note thing rings odd to me as does the fact that if he was just going to practice tennis at a municipal court( not country club) that everybody thought it completely acceptable he was wearing a sweater( possible vest) in 95 degree heat. You don't need to go dressed to hit a ball up against a wall for an hour and especially not in that heat. Are we for CERTAIN that is what he had on? Do the kids that saw him verify that? ( I wish we could see that interview with those neighbor kids).

5) I feel very strongly that the family absolutely had this person in their lives one way or another. This was someone well known to Michael and he got in the car with them for whatever reason. I don't think this person even had to say, " something happened to your dad" HOWEVER, this is obviously before cell phones and if Michael is expecting his mother to come get him at 330 he isn't getting in a car with someone before then without being able to tell his mom he won't be there, so this person had to know how to get around that by saying simply, " I am supposed to get you to the pool, your mom is running late..." or something along those lines. That, unfortunately, means this person is very close to the family possibly. This version to me is far more likely than a serial killer, or a random stranger with an opportunity. Those neighbor kids are the biggest source of information on this.

I did read somewhere on this thread that a neighbor that was a bit scary had commit suicide a few years later and I have often wondered if there is any connection there.

My heart breaks that this 12 year old boy hasn't received the justice he deserves.

100% agree with everything here! This case will haunt my for the rest of my life!

This was NOT some random stranger abduction. This was someone close to the family that was out to get revenge. Examples might be as I stated in an above post:

1.) Killer or Killer's family had a beef with the Klitch family that was severe. Killer's family or killer knew that Mike's Mom turned down killer's family member for a school board position. Or killer's family or killer, was rejected by Mike's Dad for a position at the club. Or Mike saw something that he wasn't supposed to see relating to the killer or killer's family and was killed to be silenced. Or Killer had a son who played in Mike's tennis tournaments, hated Mike winning all the time, and sought to "get rid of him."

2.) This person knew EXACTLY what he/she was doing and had a plan, He/she was also likely from the Marble Cliff area. An area associated with high-income people, so probably had the means to pull off this horror. Get twenty five miles out of town, in his sick mind. "Who's gonna know? I'll just tell my own family I'll be gone for a couple hours. " Killer thinking, "Well, we will never had to deal with Mike Klitch anymore." This person really had intense hate in his mind.

Some questions for Buckeye 1971:

Love the details of this post! It makes me think that Mike could have gone willingly and that the level of (false) trust was gained very quickly:

1.) Do you think conversation got violent right away? Like after getting Mike in the car? Or was there escalation to that point that turned violent?

2.) The closest accuracy I can find today is a relation to the tennis court pictures above, which are fairly recent according to Google.

3.) Mike's note, despite telling his mother that he planned to play tennis that day is confusing, unless it was just the time in the note that he wanted her to pick her up at the court.

4.) Who plays tennis in a long sweater in 95 degree heat? with potential heat indexes close to 100 degrees? His clothing choice needs further investigation. That's just weird.

5.) I used to think that maybe Mike was supposed to meet someone at the court and maybe they were supposed to go someplace. But than, I say no, cuz Mike was close to his family, and truthful, good student too, and would not have told his mother to pick him up after only ninety minutes of practice.

6.) Interview the kids with whom he talked to outside the church to see what they remember? You'll get a big lead in this case!

7.) A surveillance camera at the court could have likely solved this case!

Satch

 

[BUCKEYE1971]

IN BOLD and underlined are my thoughts on your questions...I can't stop thinking about this case mostly b/c it is so close to our home and I had NO idea about it until just recently. This crime happened just 4 days after I was born.....

100% agree with everything here! This case will haunt my for the rest of my life!

This was NOT some random stranger abduction. This was someone close to the family that was out to get revenge. Examples might be as I stated in an above post:

1.) Killer or Killer's family had a beef with the Klitch family that was severe. Killer's family or killer knew that Mike's Mom turned down killer's family member for a school board position. Or killer's family or killer, was rejected by Mike's Dad for a position at the club. Or Mike saw something that he wasn't supposed to see relating to the killer or killer's family and was killed to be silenced. Or Killer had a son who played in Mike's tennis tournaments, hated Mike winning all the time, and sought to "get rid of him."

2.) This person knew EXACTLY what he/she was doing and had a plan, He/she was also likely from the Marble Cliff area. An area associated with high-income people, so probably had the means to pull off this horror. Get twenty five miles out of town, in his sick mind. "Who's gonna know? I'll just tell my own family I'll be gone for a couple hours. " Killer thinking, "Well, we will never had to deal with Mike Klitch anymore." This person really had intense hate in his mind.

Some questions for Buckeye 1971:

Love the details of this post! It makes me think that Mike could have gone willingly and that the level of (false) trust was gained very quickly:

1.) Do you think conversation got violent right away? Like after getting Mike in the car? Or was there escalation to that point that turned violent?
I actually don't! I feel like Michael was actually taken to someone's house he knew fairly well and killed there. The butcher knife to me is the key. That would be kept in someone's kitchen and is more likely it was there that it happened than a "crime of opportunity" with someone that drives around with a butcher knife in their car just in case....Again, the person knew Michael and brought him to a home is my instinct. I think he went willingly. I think there was no struggle. I think he didn't know until it was actually happening what was going to take place. A conversation did happen- and I think it was the abductor telling him why he was being punished but there was no big scene in taking him and no argument right away.

2.) The closest accuracy I can find today is a relation to the tennis court pictures above, which are fairly recent according to Google.
I have a good friend that agreed to go with me...we are going to walk a couple of routes from the house to the tennis courts. It seems an awfully long walk in a sweater on that day in the hottest part of the afternoon son. I will grab some photos of the area and the walk.

3.) Mike's note, despite telling his mother that he planned to play tennis that day is confusing, unless it was just the time in the note that he wanted her to pick her up at the court.
From what I understand there was NO note left and the mother claims this was odd as he normally leaves a note. Again, I am just trying to understand then how she knew where he was and how he knew what time to be picked up. Did he tell a sibling instead? The siblings were in the car with her from all accounts? Did HE EVEN KNOW SHE WAS COMING AT 330? So many holes in this account and it makes the account of the day suspicious to me.

4.) Who plays tennis in a long sweater in 95 degree heat? with potential heat indexes close to 100 degrees? His clothing choice needs further investigation. That's just weird.
ABSOLUTELY AGREE and to me this is actually the craziest part that nobody from that day found that strange. He was NOT going to a country club..he was going to municipal court that is public, isn't private to hit balls and could have gone in a t shirt and shorts ( even swim shorts for that matter) . The clothes he had been described as wearing were in a different place than the body( a trash bin nearby) but I can't find an account that says if his body was naked. Why would you dispose of the clothes in a trash bin then go to a tool shed with the body to burn it? why not burn them all? Even if the clothes werent on the body...why would you leave them in another place? I am not 100% convinced those were the clothes he had on to start with...I wonder if this incident happened and those clothes were just clothes that were in his bag from another time he played at a tournament? May be a stretch but this is where those kids come into play...I want to know exactly what that conversation was and what he really was wearing!

5.) I used to think that maybe Mike was supposed to meet someone at the court and maybe they were supposed to go someplace. But than, I say no, cuz Mike was close to his family, and truthful, good student too, and would not have told his mother to pick him up after only ninety minutes of practice.
I still think this could be true. He could have just not mentioned who he was supposed to practice with ...and the note still is the sore thumb for me!! It would make far more sense that he may dress that way to be practicing with someone he respects and is trying to impress( an adult) that he knows thought. I also think there may be a little more the parents do know that the police may know that the public doesnt. The events as we can see them(unless I am missing a lot) don't add up.

6.) Interview the kids with whom he talked to outside the church to see what they remember? You'll get a big lead in this case!
The kids are the answer to this puzzle and I find it very odd we can't find more about what they saw in interviews-- this is why I believe the police have more information that isn't public. Were they waiting and hoping and holding information that only the killer would know so if any leads came in they could red flag them? I don't know-- I just do know those kids probably had a ton of information that could be helpful.

7.) A surveillance camera at the court could have likely solved this case!
Isn't it funny though that it seems more often than not in these cases the cameras were malfunctioning at the time of crimes or accidentally recorded over the footage needed? Sometimes I wonder about those cameras, but YES this could have been the answer if he truly did make it to the tennis courts!
Satch

 

[Satch]

IN BOLD and underlined are my thoughts on your questions...I can't stop thinking about this case mostly b/c it is so close to our home and I had NO idea about it until just recently. This crime happened just 4 days after I was born.....

Why would the "Special" tennis ball be left behind though?

Satch

 

[Satch]

3.) "Mike's note, despite telling his mother that he planned to play tennis that day is confusing, unless it was just the time in the note that he wanted her to pick her up at the court.
From what I understand there was NO note left and the mother claims this was odd as he normally leaves a note. Again, I am just trying to understand then how she knew where he was and how he knew what time to be picked up. Did he tell a sibling instead? The siblings were in the car with her from all accounts? Did HE EVEN KNOW SHE WAS COMING AT 330? So many holes in this account and it makes the account of the day suspicious to me."

*************************
My research recollects that rather than leave a note, Mike had mentioned to his Mother earlier in the day that he was going to the tennis court to "Practice his serve" for an upcoming tournament, and he asked her to pick him up about 3:30 and than Mrs. Klitch was going to take Mike and his two other siblings to the pool to go swimming. Mike also had a youth baseball game later that evening. Joan also had a school board meeting later that day. She went home, and realized that Mike wasn't home yet. (Today, a missing child like this would probably set off alarm bells. But times were different back in 1971.) None of the other family members had seen him. When Joan came home from her school board meeting and Mike still wasn't there, the family called police.

Satch

 

[BUCKEYE1971]

Why would the "Special" tennis ball be left behind though?

Satch

So from what I understand, it wasn't one ball that was special, it was the brand or kind of ball that was unique and he had more than one-- probably plenty of canisters considering his father was also a tennis pro and a coach at one time so they were probably a personal favorite and something he shared with his son. The fact one ball was left behind indicates to me potentially it was early on when he arrived at the court when he left and that was most likely the ONLY ball he had been using. He wasn't there very long even if he did use more than one ball to only have ONE left. I think this little window of time today would be a bigger clue than it was back then.

 

[BUCKEYE1971]

So that answers a question-- if he was going to practice his serve he most likely would use multiple balls and that board to just keep serving...he wouldn't have had to meet anyone....I didn't know he was for sure going to just practice his serve!

 

[doublestop]

A couple of thoughts...if the maid could see him playing tennis alone, so could any resident of the high rise. Were they interviewed? Perhaps someone saw his chance to grab a kid from the viewpoint of the high rise? Also, I wonder if Mike dropped the special brand ball on purpose, as a clue to his dad that he'd been there and left unwillingly?

 

[BUCKEYE1971]

Sorry if I keep posting and am being a pain.....

I need to know who posted the archives and scans of the CJ and Dispatch articles so I can give credit to my thoughts from that reading-- I just finished reading all the articles and it cleared a few things up;
1) The note- The mother is not talking about Michael leaving her a note when he initially leaves-- she DOES know he is going to practice tennis, where he will be and to be picked up at 330pm. When she is mentioning him not leaving a note it is in reference to the fact if he came home instead of being picked up and wasn't where he should be after her school board meeting he would have left a note. The fact he didn't was why she knew something was off and him not being there at 330 was not because he left to do something else with a change of plans. Remember back then kids honestly could be gone for the entire day and parents didn't have quite the concern they do know. I don't think it's odd that she went to the board meeting when he wasn't there-- she most likely assumed he walked someplace else.
2) WHY ISN'T THIS A BIGGER DEAL:

Citizen Journal, Wednesday July 14, 1971
" One Grandview business man whose name was found on bankslips near the tool shed where the body was found has been cleared. "
The police quote is: " He had hired an elderly man to clean his garage and the old fellow unwittingly dumped the trash in that gravel pit"

WAIT...WHAAAAT? The "elderly fellow UNWITTINGLY" drove 30 miles and accidentally discarded garbage from this grandview business guy's home in the exact location Michael's body and belongings were found??????? Two different people in the same week fell upon this rural shack 35 miles from Grandview and used it to dump garbage.....off the hook....

And later in the Dispatch on Monday July 19, 1971:
" Authorities are going on the theorey that even if the youth was not sexually assualted, the crime was probably sexually motivated and are following up on leads on homosexuals"

Oy vey........so I wonder how that investigation went and where they started? Looking for homosexuals? How about not discounted the middle aged, middle to upper class, most likely heterosexual business man with his bank slips at the CRIME SCENE???? Who is this guy?

I am starting to feel very strongly that today, even without cell phones and GPS this case would have been solved a lot sooner because the lens in which it would be looked through would be more open to the fact it could be one of their own. ( not a "deviant" ).

Sorry for the ramblings....This one hits home for me a little more than others....

 

[BUCKEYE1971]

A couple of thoughts...if the maid could see him playing tennis alone, so could any resident of the high rise. Were they interviewed? Perhaps someone saw his chance to grab a kid from the viewpoint of the high rise? Also, I wonder if Mike dropped the special brand ball on purpose, as a clue to his dad that he'd been there and left unwillingly?

I have wondered the same thing about the apartments--I do wonder who else could see from that angle!!!

 

[Satch]

Sorry if I keep posting and am being a pain.....

I need to know who posted the archives and scans of the CJ and Dispatch articles so I can give credit to my thoughts from that reading-- I just finished reading all the articles and it cleared a few things up;
1) The note- The mother is not talking about Michael leaving her a note when he initially leaves-- she DOES know he is going to practice tennis, where he will be and to be picked up at 330pm. When she is mentioning him not leaving a note it is in reference to the fact if he came home instead of being picked up and wasn't where he should be after her school board meeting he would have left a note. The fact he didn't was why she knew something was off and him not being there at 330 was not because he left to do something else with a change of plans. Remember back then kids honestly could be gone for the entire day and parents didn't have quite the concern they do know. I don't think it's odd that she went to the board meeting when he wasn't there-- she most likely assumed he walked someplace else.
2) WHY ISN'T THIS A BIGGER DEAL:

Citizen Journal, Wednesday July 14, 1971
" One Grandview business man whose name was found on bankslips near the tool shed where the body was found has been cleared. "
The police quote is: " He had hired an elderly man to clean his garage and the old fellow unwittingly dumped the trash in that gravel pit"

WAIT...WHAAAAT? The "elderly fellow UNWITTINGLY" drove 30 miles and accidentally discarded garbage from this grandview business guy's home in the exact location Michael's body and belongings were found??????? Two different people in the same week fell upon this rural shack 35 miles from Grandview and used it to dump garbage.....off the hook....

And later in the Dispatch on Monday July 19, 1971:
" Authorities are going on the theorey that even if the youth was not sexually assualted, the crime was probably sexually motivated and are following up on leads on homosexuals"

Oy vey........so I wonder how that investigation went and where they started? Looking for homosexuals? How about not discounted the middle aged, middle to upper class, most likely heterosexual business man with his bank slips at the CRIME SCENE???? Who is this guy?

I am starting to feel very strongly that today, even without cell phones and GPS this case would have been solved a lot sooner because the lens in which it would be looked through would be more open to the fact it could be one of their own. ( not a "deviant" ).

Sorry for the ramblings....This one hits home for me a little more than others....

OMG!!! This is the first I have heard of this! About the elderly man's behavior.

Satch

 

[Satch]

2) WHY ISN'T THIS A BIGGER DEAL:

Citizen Journal, Wednesday July 14, 1971
" One Grandview business man whose name was found on bankslips near the tool shed where the body was found has been cleared. "
The police quote is: " He had hired an elderly man to clean his garage and the old fellow unwittingly dumped the trash in that gravel pit"

WAIT...WHAAAAT? The "elderly fellow UNWITTINGLY" drove 30 miles and accidentally discarded garbage from this grandview business guy's home in the exact location Michael's body and belongings were found??????? Two different people in the same week fell upon this rural shack 35 miles from Grandview and used it to dump garbage.....off the hook....

This is HUGE!

Satch

 

[Stella]

These things suggest to me this was one or more older kids that did this. Whether a thrill kill or done on purpose, it just seems too clumsy for an adult. A grown-up wouldn't use anything as cumbersome and unwieldy as a butcher knife. That is the sort of weapon a kid would use to terrorize the victim, as in "the bigger, the better". An adult wouldn't use lighter fluid to burn a body; they would use gasoline. And why even burn the body? That sounds like scared teens in a hurry to be done and gone. A grown-up wouldn't want the body found and most likely would've buried him or disposed of him in a fashion where he would never be found.

 

[Satch]

In studying the case with others,

We believe now that Mike did NOT get into a car, but willingly took a shortcut home through a wooded area that takes a few minutes less. He willingly went into the home of a person that he knew. (it is likely that the businessman's receipts found at the dumping bin are related to the suspect in this case) and or the old man either know who was involved, or were involved. Mike was likely molested in the home of this person where they had a vicious argument.

Mike threatened to tell what happened to him to his parents. His perpetrator knew the family, and their strong respected influence in the community and killed Mike to silence him, permanently. This person knew the area and the location of the shack. Get out of town, get the body in a bag or sack in the trunk of his car, knowing that the shack would soon be underwater and that in the eyes of the perpetrator, he had committed the "perfect" crime.

This was not a "professional killing" or "some sex pervert." But very likely related to the person who's name was found on those receipts found in the trash bin where Mike's body was found. You DNA those lighter fluid cans with those receipts found in the dumping bin, I'll bet that more than likely they will match, and that is Mike Klitch's killer.

Satch

 

[solofiddle]

This doesn’t make sense to me. Why do you think he was going home when he was supposed to have been picked up at the tennis courts by his mother? There is no short cut through any woods that would have saved him any time between his home and the tennis courts.

 

[nerosleuth]

Bumping this thread today in the memory of Mike.

 

[Satch]

This doesn’t make sense to me. Why do you think he was going home when he was supposed to have been picked up at the tennis courts by his mother? There is no short cut through any woods that would have saved him any time between his home and the tennis courts.

Not being from the area now, or at the time period, I would not know of a shortcut. Someone close to the case from the area contacted me and , said that you could trek through the woods, as opposed to using the sidewalk in a shorter period of time. This is a synopsis of what I was told: (From someone who lives in the area.) I have removed the username for privacy respect:

********************************************************************

"The route by sidewalk from Michael's home to the courts is about a mile and we walked the sidewalk way and it takes about 18-21 minutes depending on stopping to cross for traffic. Seeing as this was a Monday in summer there would be little traffic on those roads so let's just say about a 20 minute walk. He met those kids at 230 at the church area and chatted it up. Now that church truly takes up about a block of neighborhood so what I would like to know is if they truly met in FRONT of the church or around the corner--- reason being is it changes the route he probably took. My husband is convinced he did NOT go by sidewalk and instead may have taken a route straight by the church down a road through a yard that...connects right to the railroad track -- and that track is in a fully wooded area and is a straight shot to the tennis courts and cuts the walk time to 10-13 minutes we are guessing as we walked parallel to it and didn't walk through the woods. Lots has changed since then-- there is a wall and the road has been widened and it is a lot harder to get to the tracks I would imagine, but it could be a possibility."

**********************************************************************

Now back to my view. Why did Mike not wait for his Mother, if this theory is correct? He was really hot, and wanted to take this "shortcut" through the woods to maybe even get to the house of someone he knew and falsely trusted. Something bad happened at this house, a big argument happened, or Mike saw something at the home, or the guy did something to him at his home, Mike is told to "shut up about this." But refuses and threatens to tell his parents. The killer, knowing the reputation of the Klitch family and the high status they had within the community, knows very well he is going to be caught if Mike lives to tell about this. Yes, Mike could have been molested, so the killer has to kill him and get out of town, dumping the body far enough away from the community and in water, or the shed, which the killer knew would soon be a lake.

Those businessman receipts found in the dumping bin with Mike's clothes, glasses, and tennis racket are a direct or indirect link to Mike's killer. And if the "old man" mentioned above isn't directly involved, he could very well know who did this,

If you believe that Mike got into a car of a stranger or someone he knew, IMO the part about how and why he was killed at this person's home, or the killer's disposal of the body does not change, at least how I see this case.

Satch

 

[Satch]

My questions/thoughts

1.) Based on what we know about the businessman's receipts that were found in the dumping bin along with Mike's belongings why won't, or what would it take for LE to reopen this case? I read that the charcoal lighter fluid cans were found near the shed where Mike's body was found and were reportedly turned over to the FBI.

2.) The "Old Man" whom the businessman helped clean out the garage is certainly dead by now. I wish we could find out who the businessman and old man were.

3.) It is interesting that if the businessman was cleared, why wouldn't LE name him, or even mention where he lives? Somebody knows who did this, and IMO does not want the truth of who killed Mike Klitch to be known.

Satch