MI MI - JOHN NORMAN COLLINS Co-Ed Murders 1967-69, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti

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There is some discussion on the case of an unidentified young woman (see Lompoc Jane Doe) found on 6 August 1969 which mentions both John Collins and his partner, Andrew Manuel. While Collins was in Michigan at the estimated time of her death, Manuel was in California at that very time and most likely had traveled through the area of her murder while enroute from Salinas, California to Phoenix, Arizona.
 
JOHN NORMAN COLLINS Image Date: 2/14/2014

ProfileImage.aspx

MDOC Number: 126833
SID Number: 0638739H
Name: JOHN NORMAN COLLINS
Racial Identification: White
Gender: Male
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 224 lbs.
Date of Birth: 06/17/1947 (71)
 
Andrew Julian Manuel, Jr.


Accompanied John Norman Collins to California and back to Lansing Michigan. Fled Michigan on 26 July 1969 upon Collins's arrest for the murder of Karen Sue Beineman.
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1969+-+Page+244-1.jpg

John Collins (left) and room mate Arnold Davis circa 1968.
 
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Michigan Coed Murders Victims, including Roxie Phillips killed in Salinas, CA,
1967 - 1969. Click on photos to enlarge.

It is generally believed by law enforcement investigators that John Norman Collins was responsible for their deaths, although he was only convicted of murdering Karen Sue Beineman on 23 July 1969.

It is possible that there were more victims, and also possible that Collins had assistance from others.
 
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Richard said:
c315f86dbc5556a89cc6ed0e69805488.jpg


Michigan Coed Murders Victims, including Roxie Phillips killed in Salinas, CA,
1967 - 1969. Click on photos to enlarge.

It is generally believed by law enforcement investigators that John Norman Collins was responsible for their deaths, although he was only convicted of murdering Karen Sue Beineman on 23 July 1969.

It is possible that there were more victims, and also possible that Collins had assistance from others.
Click to expand...

I'd be willing to bet money that John Norman Collins is the perp in the case of Sheila Jean Collins.

Sheila Collins

She was picked up by an unknown male in Ames, Iowa in Jan. 1968, when John Norman Collins was active and in the midst of his killing spree. The killer found her via a ride-board - an M.O. JNC had used. Her body was staged in a way JNC had staged bodies. Her clothing knotted around her neck - JNC M.O. She was last seen getting into a blue car:

A Story Yet To Be Told: Murder of Sheila Jean Collins 1968 - Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases

A blue car was reported in at least two cases involving JNC.

Were was JNC in Jan. 1968? Was he on break at Eastern Michigan? Did he travel to Ames, IA? JNC was in the Theta Chi frat at Eastern Michigan. There was (and still is) a Theta Chi frat house in Ames, just a few blocks from where Sheila was picked up. Was JNC on Friday 1/26/68 in town on a weekend road-trip to Ames? Was he at the Theta Chi house in Ames that weekend? Did he stop by the trip-board in the student union (just a short distance from the Theta Chi house) to see if he could find an unsuspecting target?

JNC had killed in a road-trip to California. Did he also kill on a road-trip to Iowa? Did he kill Sheila Jean Collins? Sure looks like a distinct possibility to me.
 
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itsrak said:
I'd be willing to bet money that John Norman Collins is the perp in the case of Sheila Jean Collins.

Sheila Collins
She was picked up by an unknown male in Ames, Iowa in Jan. 1968, when John Norman Collins was active and in the midst of his killing spree. The killer found her via a ride-board - an M.O. JNC had used. Her body was staged in a way JNC had staged bodies. Her clothing knotted around her neck - JNC M.O. She was last seen getting into a blue car:...
... JNC had killed in a road-trip to California. Did he also kill on a road-trip to Iowa? Did he kill Sheila Jean Collins? Sure looks like a distinct possibility to me.
Click to expand...

It is a good possibility. Sheila's murder occurred exactly half way between the first and second Michigan Co-ed murders which are generally believed to have been committed by John Norman Collins. Those two murders occurred in July 1967 and July 1968.

Collins did most likely kill Roxie Phillips in California in June 1969, so yes, it was something that he might have done on an earlier "road trip".

Link:

Michigan Murders - Wikipedia
 
Richard said:
It is a good possibility. Sheila's murder occurred exactly half way between the first and second Michigan Co-ed murders which are generally believed to have been committed by John Norman Collins. Those two murders occurred in July 1967 and July 1968.

Collins did most likely kill Roxie Phillips in California in June 1969, so yes, it was something that he might have done on an earlier "road trip".

Link:

Michigan Murders - Wikipedia
Click to expand...
Yeah. Right time frame whilst JNC was active. Sort of senseless, opportunistic, brutal killing he perpetrated. Right colored car. Body staged in exposed manner. Body staged so as to be found. Body left in rural location. Bondage. Brunette. Co-ed. Ride-board pick up. History of killing 'on the road'.

And check out the quote below from this website maintained by a private investigator who has worked the Sheila Jean Collins case for many years: A Story Yet To Be Told: Murder of Sheila Jean Collins 1968 - Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases

"Also humbling has been the collaboration and assistance provided by Michigan State Police Detectives Eric Schroeder and David Eddy, who maintain a case file on the (Sheila) Collins case because of its similarity to a 1969 homicide in their own state."

Sounds like I wasn't first person to make the connection between the Sheila Jean Collins case and that freak John Norman Collins.

And one other thing. After five murders had been committed and thought to all have been committed by a single killer, a barn that was the site of at least one of the killings was burned down by an arsonist. Shortly thereafter, some unknown person symbolically left 5 flowers at the site. Some presumed it was the killer, taunting. But it turns out the Mixer (I think) killing was eventually attributed to a different killer. So the killer might have left only 4 flowers. Ah, but the Sheila Jean Collins murder, which would have been the second, would have made 5...
 
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The murder of Sheila Collins has one very critical similarity to the murder of Jane Mixer: both murders were set up by a perpetrator offering a ride on a campus Ride Board. (Ride Boards were common on campuses at the time people who need rides and people with cars who wanted riders to help pay for gas could meet up). I am not aware of any other predators used such a tactic but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were others. Linking the Collins and Mixer murders is complicated by the fact that someone else was convicted of her murder. That case has its own controversies. Gary Leiterman was convicted of Mixer’s murder based on a DNA match but are reasons there could have been contamination. It is a very interesting case; well worth checking out.

I am not aware that either either Leiterman or Collins had any ties to Iowa or owned a small blue care at the time. I wonder if that has been checked out.
 
kemo said:
The murder of Sheila Collins has one very critical similarity to the murder of Jane Mixer: both murders were set up by a perpetrator offering a ride on a campus Ride Board. (Ride Boards were common on campuses at the time people who need rides and people with cars who wanted riders to help pay for gas could meet up). I am not aware of any other predators used such a tactic but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were others. Linking the Collins and Mixer murders is complicated by the fact that someone else was convicted of her murder. That case has its own controversies. Gary Leiterman was convicted of Mixer’s murder based on a DNA match but are reasons there could have been contamination. It is a very interesting case; well worth checking out.

I am not aware that either either Leiterman or Collins had any ties to Iowa or owned a small blue care at the time. I wonder if that has been checked out.
Click to expand...
A second similarity is that both bodies were staged in a sexual manner and so as to be found. Both were strangled with nylon. Both had coat placed over body. Both had tops pulled up. Belongings were placed nearby in both cases. Gary Earl Leiterman may well be the perp in both cases. He was a traveling pharmaceutical sales rep at the time.
 
What complicates matters more regarding murders of young women and girls in that time frame is that there were indeed more than one killer committing them.

Eileen Adams of Toledo, Ohio was abducted, tortured, and murdered and her body bound and covered in a rug was dumped in Michigan near U.S. 23 - just south of the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti crime scenes.

At the time, some investigators thought that it was related to the other murders, but Michigan State Police never officially/publically connected it to them. Many things did seem to suggest a connection. It was not until recent years that Robert Bowman was arrested and convicted of Eileen's murder.

There were a few other such cases as well where a young woman was murdered in the same time frame and geographical area, but other men, not connected with Collins, were arrested and convicted of the murders.

Also, Collins had some close friends who may have been involved with him in committing some of these murders, although none were convicted. It is possible that they could have been acting with him or separately.
 
Richard said:
What complicates matters more regarding murders of young women and girls in that time frame is that there were indeed more than one killer committing them.

Eileen Adams of Toledo, Ohio was abducted, tortured, and murdered and her body bound and covered in a rug was dumped in Michigan near U.S. 23 - just south of the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti crime scenes.

At the time, some investigators thought that it was related to the other murders, but Michigan State Police never officially/publically connected it to them. Many things did seem to suggest a connection. It was not until recent years that Robert Bowman was arrested and convicted of Eileen's murder.

There were a few other such cases as well where a young woman was murdered in the same time frame and geographical area, but other men, not connected with Collins, were arrested and convicted of the murders.

Also, Collins had some close friends who may have been involved with him in committing some of these murders, although none were convicted. It is possible that they could have been acting with him or separately.
Click to expand...
Wow. '67 was the Summer of Love. Shoulda called it the Summer of Abduct, Rape, Torture, Mutilate and Kill. So many weirdos running around. Take Leiterman - investigators found that he had made Polaroids of the young female foreign exchange student staying with he and his wife - unconscious, likely drugged, posed nude. Perv for sure.
 
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During the time of the Ann Arbor Co-Ed murders, a young woman who was attending the University of Michigan, Margaret Phillips was murdered. Some thought at the time that her murder was connected to the others, but soon a recently released convict named Ernest Bishop was arrested and charged with her murder.

For a period of time in 1969 Bishop and Collins were held in the same jail awaiting their separate trials.

It was noted that several murders involved the use of a .22 pistol. Margaret Phillips and Jane Mixer were both killed with such a weapon, although both murders were solved and men other than Collins (and apparently with no connection to him) were convicted.

It was stated by some witnesses who knew Collins that he had possessed a .22 revolver at some point, but it was never found.

Michigan State Police considered Collins a person of interest at one point in the (as yet) unsolved murder of the Robison family, who were all killed with a .22. and or .25 rifle/pistol.

Collins knew and attended college with Richard C. Robison, Jr. as early as 1966 when they roomed together at freshman orientation.

The only members of the Robison family NOT shot with a .22 were the father and daughter Susan, who were bludgeoned to death with a hammer.

Mother, Shirley, was found nude from the waist down, and her body staged in a manner similar to some of the Ann Arbor Co-Ed murder victims.

See the below link to the Websleuths thread/topic of the Robison murders.

LINK:
MI - MI - Richard, 42, & Shirley Robison, 40, & 4 children, Good Hart, 25 June 1968
 
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There were a number of attacks on young women in Michigan in the late 1960's. Some of those cases were solved early on, and some have only recently been solved. Others remain unsolved.

A look back at some of those solved cases might provide possible links to some of the unsolved ones.

One such "solved" case was that of the abduction, rape, and attempted murder of Mrs. Sally Heaton, age 31 on 23 October 1968. She was abducted by two men: Dennis Pearson (age 26) and Nelson Eddie Weaver (28).

Sally Heaton was shot four times. Once in the hand, once through the neck and twice in the head. She was buried under hay in a field northwest of Chicago, but was still alive and made it to the highway where she was found by a passing motorist.

Her two assailants were captured in November 1968 and tried separately. Dennis Pearson was convicted and sentenced to between 100 and 125 years in prison, where he still resides. He will be up for parole in 2030 when he will be 88 years old.

pub_showfront.asp
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C01441 - PEARSON, DENNIS
Parent Institution: VIENNA CORRECTIONAL CENTER
Offender Status: IN CUSTODY
Location: VIENNA





LINK:
Illinois Department of Corrections - Inmate Search

Pearson represented himself during his trial and later appealed the court's finding of guilt. The following link is the decision of the appellate court which includes many gruesome facts brought out in the trial.

LINK:
People v. Pearson

His partner, Nelson Eddie Weaver was tried separately. He died in 2008:
View Nelson Weaver's Obituary on BattleCreekEnquirer.com and share memories
 

John Norman Collins, Circa 1969
Michigan Murderer
 
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