Identified! MI - Oakland Co., two bodies found along I-75, Apr'08 - Terry Holbin & Ronnie Tripp

INDEPENDENCE TOWNSHIP -- The Oakland County Sheriff's Office is investigating what appears to be the execution of two males after their bodies were discovered today on I-75 near south of M-15 just 35 feet from the expressway.

"One appears to have a gun shot to the skull and one appears to have a phone cord around the throat," said Sheriff Michael Bouchard, noting it looks like "some kind of execution" based on preliminary investigations. A belt was also found near the hand of one body leading investigators to believe he could have been bound.

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The Sheriff's Office is working with other police agencies on combing through missing person reports for any possible clues.

Anyone with information is asked to call (888) 887-6146.

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INDEPENDENCE TOWNSHIP -- Family members of two men, identified by police as potential homicide victims after two men were found dead along I-75 Tuesday, said they hadn't seen or spoken to them in years.

It's been about 10 years since family members said they last saw Ronnie R. Tripp and it's been nearly two years since Terry Lee Holbin was in contact with his siblings.

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However, items at the scene lead investigators to believe the bodies could have been those of Terry Lee Holbin and Tripp, said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard. He would not specify what was found.

Police believe the Holbin, 60, and Tripp, about 54, may have been friends who lived together.

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What police do know is that when the two men were found dead April 1, Holbin had a telephone cord wrapped around his neck and wrists and a single gunshot wound to the head.

A few feet away, Tripp lay dead in the scrub with a single gunshot to the chest.

Police have ruled out any possibility of a murder-suicide.

After the bodies were found, police sent out an alert on Holbin's red 1999 Chevrolet Silverado pickup.

That, too, was found last month, in the impound yard at the Flint Police Department.

Officers had found the truck in November, torched at the end of a two-track path leading deep into Forest Park on the north side of Flint, but they had no way of knowing its owner had been killed.

"It had been there for quite some time," said Miller, adding that nothing useful was found in what was left of the pickup.

Miller said police know the pair were killed in late October 2006, but he said they are not releasing the information that pinpoints that time.

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