MI MI - Deborah Polinsky, 20, Holland, 23 July 1977

Because of my interest in the Aundria Bowman disappearance, I've been looking at other unsolved cold cases out of the Holland Michigan area.

I found the story of this 1977 unsolved murder of Deborah Lynn Polinsky on the Delayed Justice website.

http://www.delayedjustice.com/?p=85



I could not find a thread for her case, so I am starting one.

Another interesting bit of information is that 10 years after this murder, on Christmas eve of 1987, Debra Wilson was murdered at her home at 4159 144th Ave. in Holland Township (right around the corner and about 2 miles from Polinsky's home). Like Polinsky, she was also stabbed multiple times, and was home alone when she was attacked. Her husband was at a christmas party held by his employer. It appears that she was attacked inside her home, and she fled outside into her back yard, where she died of her wounds.

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/article/20130218/News/302189869

I have wondered if these two crimes are connected.

While in Michigan last week, I took a few photos of Deborah Polinsky's home where she was murdered.

Compared to the photo in the newspaper article, it doesn't appear to have changed much in the 37 years since the murder.

But as you can see, the house is very isolated on a rural road. There are very few homes on that stretch even now.

Thank you for starting this thread. I was a coworker of Deb's at De Pree Pharmaceuticals. It's always haunted me that they've never solved this case.

CarlK90245 said:

While in Michigan last week, I took a few photos of Deborah Polinsky's home where she was murdered.

Compared to the photo in the newspaper article, it doesn't appear to have changed much in the 37 years since the murder.

But as you can see, the house is very isolated on a rural road. There are very few homes on that stretch even now.

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Beautiful but gives me the heevie-jeevies...since I have seen too many Unsolved Mysteries or read of cases that happened in isolated areas.

msmaver said:

Thank you for starting this thread. I was a coworker of Deb's at De Pree Pharmaceuticals. It's always haunted me that they've never solved this case.

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Thanks for joining, and for chiming in, msmaver. Do you remember if there were any coworkers at DePree who seemed capable of this, or who showed an unusual interest in Deborah?

If so, of course I'm not asking you to name names here.

Was sexual assault present in either case?

Based on the newspaper article, it seems that there was a sexual assault in the Polinsky murder.

I don't think there was a sexual assault in the Wilson case; however, she fled into her back yard before being stabbed to death. So that may have hindered what otherwise would have been a sexual assault.

Scant info available is thee anywhere that describes the crime, better?

RichKelly said:

Scant info available is thee anywhere that describes the crime, better?

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Nothing beyond the Holland Sentinel article and the blog post on the Delayed Justice site. There were a few other brief articles in other local newspapers around that time asking the public for information, but they didn't offer any more information than what was provided in the Holland Sentinel article.

There were also several murders of young women in the Grand Rapids area in the early 70's. Lamont Marshall was convicted of one of the murders and another knife attack in which the victim survived, but they weren't able to connect him to the others.

A 19-year old newlywed named Shelly Speet Mills (who BTW grew up in Holland, Michigan) was also murdered in her Grand Rapids home in September 1970 under similar circumstances (i.e., stabbed multiple times while she was alone in home). Her murder also remains unsolved.

A tiny blurb about the Polinsky murder

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4Y1aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KUoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3680,2193042

I came across this article, and think it's worth mentioning.

In 1991, Wesley Jon Brink, then 34, was convicted of a murder he committed in May, 1980.

Brink is from Holland Twp; the murder occurred in Blendon Twp., Ottawa County, MI.

Virginia Bricker, who was 33 at the time of her death, was raped and stabbed over 30 times in her home.

Brink was identified by fingerprints found in the Bricker home. This article doesn't mention a semen or DNA match.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3wxQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=o1UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2337,2543349

bessie said:

I came across this article, and think it's worth mentioning.

In 1991, Wesley Jon Brink, then 34, was convicted of a murder he committed in May, 1980.

Brink is from Holland Twp; the murder occurred in Blendon Twp., Ottawa County, MI.

Virginia Bricker, who was 33 at the time of her death, was raped and stabbed over 30 times in her home.

Brink was identified by fingerprints found in the Bricker home. This article doesn't mention a semen or DNA match.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3wxQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=o1UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2337,2543349

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Here's Wesley John Brink's mugshot:


http://mdocweb.state.mi.us/OTIS2/otis2profile.aspx?mdocNumber=217142

Wild Bill Hickok fan club anyone ??

LOL Except for the pasty white complexion. If he looked that bad in a mugshot, I can't imagine how he aged out in prison.

I doubt it was like a fine wine Bess

This murder happened in May of 1980. I was 12 years old at the time. I was living with my Mom and step Dad in a rented farm house in Hudsonville Mi. A few miles from where the victim lived. Being 12, I was scared shitless to say the least. The kids of the victim went to the same school as my sister and I.

The killer raped and stabbed the victim, Virginia Bricker, 30 times. From what my mother told me from articles from the local news paper, he cut her nipples off. The murder happened during the day while her husband was at work and her kids at school.
I also heard the he had met her at a diner where she worked. From what the papers said, she reminded him of his ex wife.

Fast forward about 8 years, I can't remember the exact year, but my Mom was divorced from my step Dad and relocated to Holland Mi. She struggled with finances, so she would rent out her basement which she had finished as an apartment.
She had rented it to a guy that was an over the road trucker. He use to hang out in a biker bar in town. One night while he was at the bar, a woman approached him and tried to hire him as a hit man to kill her husband. The woman, along with her husband, owned Mr. Turkey products, which is or was headquartered in Holland. Being a Good Samaritan, he went to the police and ended up wearing a wire for the police. He later testified against her at her trial.
In going to the police, and wearing a wire, they finger printed him. When his prints were compared to prints from cold cases, his thumb print came back as a match for a bloody thumb print left at the scene of the Virginia Bricker rape and murder from May 1980.
His name is Wesley (Wes) Jon Brink. I had met him several times when visiting my mother. Seemed normal enough to me. She said he was always on time with the rent.

She did say that one time she swears that she heard a gun shot coming from the basement.

PS, that's not Wesleys mug shot, thats a more current prison photo.

Looking at the 77 and the today photos of the house. That upstairs window appears to be opened. Depending on how close that tree is to the house, the one on the left side, the killer could have climbed it and got onto the roof and entered the home through that top window and exited the same way. Being a summers evening I would not be surprised if she had it open since there was no air conditioning in the home at the time. If we don't know her whereabouts on Saturday night I would guess she was killed around 1 4 am Sunday morning. She had been renting the home for about a year according to the article.

I would like to know whom rented the place to her. And whom helped her with any maintenace issues. Such as mowing the grass, any repairs inside or outside the home etc? She may have not known her killer directly, but whom ever killed her I would bet knew she was living there alone and probably had been inside the house at some point in time over the year she lived there.

• July 26, 1977 Deborah Lynn Polinsky, 20, stabbed to death at her Port Sheldon Township home. Polinsky's battered, nude body was found in her bedroom, discovered by a coworker after she failed to show up at her job at De Pree Chemical. No weapon was found.

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http://www.hollandsentinel.com/article/20130218/News/302189869

According to the newspaper article (pictures in OP) Deborah was sexually assaulted. Did they recover DNA from the assailant? I know this was probably before forensic evidence was collected.

Did the home appear to be broken into?

Did someone other than Polinsky have a key to the house? Perhaps her landlord.

Who was the coworker who found her? It is strange that the coworker went straight to her house, especially because it does look like it's basically in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't look like it's on it's way anywhere.

Did Polinsky know her nearest neighbors?

From the Delayed Justice article:

http://www.delayedjustice.com/?p=85

Deborah attended Holland Public Schools and at the time of her death she worked at DuPree Chemical. She was described as someone who kept to herself. She was last seen around 9 p.m. on Saturday night, July 23, 1977. When she didn’t show up for work on Monday morning, July 25, 1977, and hadn’t notified anyone, a co-worker became concerned and went to Deborah’s house to check on her around noon on Tuesday, July 26, 1977. The stereo and lights were on when the co-worker arrived, and Deborah’s nude body was found in an upstairs bedroom. There were no signs of a sexual assault. A boyfriend of Deborah’s was taken into custody as a suspect for a short time, but then released.
Holland Sentinel, Wednesday July, 27, 1977, page 1 (click on the image to enlarge it).

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Why does the newspaper article say there were signs of sexual assault and this piece says the opposite? Weeeeird.