MI Barbara Larson, 25 who was bludgeoned to death on November 1971 in her trailer home near Howard City, MI.

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exploremore

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Does anyone have information regarding Mrs. Barbara Larson? Her maiden name was Barbara Bird. She was newly married and was home alone when the murder happened. Someone broke into her trailer home and bludgeoned her to death with a bookend. The husband was at work at this time and later discovered her when he came home. The murder happened in November of 1971 near Howard City, MI.

I was given information that could potentially help with this case, but I want to compare my info with actual news articles from the time. I would also love to hear anything that this community may know about this case. Here is the only news article that I was able to find on her...
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18 Nov 1971 — Barbara Larson of Howard City and has no one else in custody at this time. Mrs. Barnwell 25, was beaten to death in her trailer Home tuesday ...


There's this snippet that doesn't seem to make sense, and on the page the low vision seems impossible to read.
There's a link for a free trial to get better vision.
 
TootsieFootsie said:
18 Nov 1971 — Barbara Larson of Howard City and has no one else in custody at this time. Mrs. Barnwell 25, was beaten to death in her trailer Home tuesday ...


There's this snippet that doesn't seem to make sense, and on the page the low vision seems impossible to read.
There's a link for a free trial to get better vision.
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Awesome! Thanks for finding this! I plan on going to a local library to see if they have this newspaper archived. The auto text feature is a bit off, but here's what it says...

"Free suspect in brutal slaying Stanton up Montcalm county sheriff Thomas barn Well said today he has released a suspect in the brutal slaying of mrs. Barbara Larson of Howard City and has no one else in custody at this time. Mrs. Barnwell 25, was beaten to death in her trailer Home tuesday. Her battered body was found by her husband Ron Ald on his return from work. A Bookend found near the body was believed to have been the death instrument. The sheriff said he released the suspect whose identity was not revealed after he took a lie Detector test wednesday at Howard City. Or. And mrs. Larson both employed by a grand rapids pub Lishing firm had been married Only since sept. 20."
 
June 23, 1978 part 1


975 Slaying Suspect Held A Grand Rapids man was arrested near a rural Van Buren County community Thursday on a warrant charging him with first degree murder in the 1975 slaving of a former Covert woman in Grand Rapids. ' State police at South Haven and Grand Rapids police said Gerald Payne, 23, was taken into custody at a house he was visiting on 56th Street south of County Road 388, near Grand Junction. Grand Junction is about eight miles east of South Haven near the Van Buren-AUegan county line. Payne is charged in the death of Linda King, a psychiatric social worker at the South Kent Mental Health clinic who was found brutally stabbed to death in her Grand Rapids apartment on Dec. 9, 1975. She was 24. -The death was one of seven murders involving young women and in Grand Rapids and known as the "Hill murders." Det. Sgt John Robinson of the Grand Rapids police department said, however, be would "bet his badge" the King slaying was not related to the others. Miss King was stabbed repeatedly in the chest and her blouse had been pushed up around her neck. Officers said however she had not been molested as the other women. Grand Rapids police said Payne at one time was a suitor of Miss King's younger sister, Patricia, and knew the victim because of the relationship. Robinson said the warrant for Payne's arrest was issued Wednesday and came after a "lucky break" in the case. He declined to elaborate on what the break involved. Associated Press reported that officers said the warrant was issued after an unidentified woman agreed to testify despite her fear of reprisal. Robinson said Payne had been a suspect from the beginning and that he understood Payne was suffering bom terminal cancer. According to Robinson, Payne was arrested at a house (See back page, sec. 1, cal. () the has to ' at at 18,
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Wow! Thank you guys so much! This is very helpful! The info from the first two articles definitely match up with the information that was given to me. From the other articles it looks like Gerald Payne was suspected to have killed Barbara, but it was never proven correct? The other murders were in Grand Rapids, but Howard City (where Barbara was killed) is about 45min from there. It looks like there are similarities in the other murders that point to Payne, but not concrete evidence that he was involved in Barbara's murder.
 
exploremore said:
Wow! Thank you guys so much! This is very helpful! The info from the first two articles definitely match up with the information that was given to me. From the other articles it looks like Gerald Payne was suspected to have killed Barbara, but it was never proven correct? The other murders were in Grand Rapids, but Howard City (where Barbara was killed) is about 45min from there. It looks like there are similarities in the other murders that point to Payne, but not concrete evidence that he was involved in Barbara's murder.
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Welcome to Websleuths exploremore! Thank you for joining us. If you have information that may be useful to Law Enforcement in relation to any crime even a cold case can you please keep the information confidential and contact local law enforcement or Crime Stoppers USA.

The Howard City Police Department has merged with the Montcalm County Sheriff’s Department. The contact details are at this link: Police Services | The Village Of Howard City, Michigan

Crime Stoppers USA can be contacted anonymously by dialling **TIPS on a cell phone from any U.S state and you will be connected to the local Crime Stoppers branch. Crime Stoppers USA can also be contacted by phone at 1.800.222.TIPS

Thank you exploremore and to all the members here who have been helpful in providing information to assist you.
 
gregjrichards said:
Welcome to Websleuths exploremore! Thank you for joining us. If you have information that may be useful to Law Enforcement in relation to any crime even a cold case can you please keep the information confidential and contact local law enforcement or Crime Stoppers USA.

The Howard City Police Department has merged with the Montcalm County Sheriff’s Department. The contact details are at this link: Police Services | The Village Of Howard City, Michigan

Crime Stoppers USA can be contacted anonymously by dialling **TIPS on a cell phone from any U.S state and you will be connected to the local Crime Stoppers branch. Crime Stoppers USA can also be contacted by phone at 1.800.222.TIPS

Thank you exploremore and to all the members here who have been helpful in providing information to assist you.
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Thank you! I appreciate the concern and the resources you provided. The community of this forum has blown away my expectations. Thanks again :)
 
Gmprentice said:
Did you get any more info yet?
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I was unable to connect with the family members. My calls were never replied to. I did connect with the detective who is covering the case. The case was recently given to him. I haven't talked with him in a while to see if theres an update, but I'm planning on contacting him again soon.
 
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