MI MI - Francis "Pat" Brown, 17, & Sheldon Miller, 14, fatally shot, Detroit, 3 Jul 1964

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There are many cold case squads and task forces throughout the country. Here are the Cold Case units in Michigan and their points of contact:

Detroit Police Department
Homicide Section/Cold Case
Sgt. Odell Godbold
(313) 596-1644

Kent Metro Cold Case Team (Grand Rapids)
(616) 632-6123

Michigan Attorney General Cold Case Task Force
AGCriminal@michigan.gov

Michigan State Police
Cold Case Task Force
(517) 336-7782

LINK:
Cold Case Squads and Other Organizations
 
Here is a recent article by well known firearms expert Massad Ayoob which describes in detail the Hi Standard Sentinel Revolver, its history, and its operation. Hi Standard produced this revolver in a number of different configurations, including a version that looked like a single action Colt - the popular "cowboy" gun of TV westerns at the time. These Hi Standard revolvers were also made for sale by Sears Roebuck under the trade name J.C. Higgins.


p143-300x195.jpg

The Hi Standard Sentinel Revolver

... Introduced as an inexpensive plinker and woods gun, the High Standard Sentinel .22 revolver was ahead of its time with landmark revolver design features. Perhaps most important, it broke a more than half-century logjam of design stagnation. Unfairly tarnished with a “junk gun” image, it may be the best buy in a used handgun available today.

Shooting the Sentinel

In the hand, your typical Sentinel feels like a J-frame Smith & Wesson with semi-square grip frame, but with more weight forward. The double action trigger pull also resembles the J-frame Smith, with which it shares a coil mainspring and a short-stroke double action trigger pull. This made the DA pull necessarily heavy; a Sentinel may have as much as 12 to 14 pounds pull weight. However, it will be a smooth pull, and that’s the key to good double action shooting. In single action, the Sentinel series always offered a let-off so crisp it was virtually target grade.

The overwhelming majority of these guns are encountered with fixed sights. The rear sight sits in a dovetail that can be drifted for windage adjustment if the shooter is both adroit and gentle with a brass rod and a hammer...

... A swing-out cylinder that worked by pulling forward on the ejector rod was foreign to shooters of the time, though it was later widely copied by such firms as Charter Arms and RG. Unique to these new Sentinels – and uniquely irritating – was the fact that none of them had a spring loaded extractor rod like a Colt, a Smith or even a the swing-out H&R. The shooter would punch out the last nine empties, forget to manually pull the rod back forward, and attempt to close the cylinder. The result was a jarring collision of the protruding ejector star with the left side of the frame....



... These are surprisingly accurate revolvers. They don’t have the gilt-edged precision of your true target revolver, such as the S&W K-22 or the Colt Officer’s Model Match, but they’ll keep pace with the smaller frame S&W .22/32 Kit Gun or Colt’s rare lightweight .22 revolver in the Cobra series. A 2.5-inch group or better is par for the course at 25 yards, shooting off the bench....

LINK:
Gun Review: The Sentinel .22 Revolver Handgun - Gun Digest
 
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The following news story discusses Detroit's "cold cases" and mentions one dating to July 1964. However, it is not the unsolved case of the murder of Pat Brown and Sheldon Miller. Their case is still unsolved, but not mentioned as one being investigated. Hopefully it is now on their radar screen...

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Cold homicide cases: Metro Detroit incidents leave families, investigators questioning

This is suburban Detroit, and police agencies have few cold homicide cases to investigate.

Perhaps because of their rarity, they carry significant weight for the officers handed these as-of-yet-unsolved mysteries.

There are emotional attachments to the cases and the families continuously grieving because they’re not sure what happened.

Cases get colder and tougher to solve as time passes without significant clues. And there’s the turmoil from bodies missing, evidence lacking and crime scenes still to be found.

Crime statisticians warn of a cold case crisis. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the nation has about 250,000 unsolved murders, and the number rises by several thousand each year.

Locally, in western Oakland and Wayne counties, police say they don’t have enough cold cases — or the staffing and money — to warrant full-time cold case teams or full-time cold case investigators like some big metropolitan agencies have. But most agencies review their cold cases at least annually to see if there’s something more they can do.

whopper on its cold case investigation plate – the disappeared and assumed dead former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa.

Hoffa's family told investigators he was scheduled for a 2 p.m. July 30, 1975, meeting at the Machus Red Fox restaurant on Telegraph Road in a building that now houses Andiamo Ristorante.

“The most significant Cold Case would be the Jimmy Hoffa disappearance,” emailed Lt. Paul Schwab of the township’s investigations division. “But we have not reviewed anything in probably over a year.”...

... “No one ever gives up,” said Livonia’s Lt. Charles Lister, the department’s investigative bureau commander. “You always hope for the best. You just never know if some fleeting scrap of information will come forward that makes a case.”

He provided a sheet of paper not entirely covered with the department’s eight cold homicide cases.

July 26, 1964: Dr. William Parsons and his two sisters were found dead in the closet of their Rosedale Gardens home after an apparent robbery.

March 22, 1977: Timothy King, an 11-year-old boy associated with the Oakland County Child Killer, was found dead on Gill Road, south of Eight Mile Road.

Aug. 10, 1984: Ralph Proctor, a retired Teamsters union official, was found fatally shot in his car on Six Mile Road, between Newburgh and Levan roads. According to media reports, police labeled it a professional killing. Proctor was shot three times in the head with a small-caliber gun.

Aug. 13, 1986: Samuel DeLarosa was found dead in a Five Mile Road dumpster. He was beaten to death.

Jan. 14, 1990: Jason Bickel, 22, of Westland, was fatally shot while working as a security guard at GM Delco property on Eckles Road.

Dec. 11, 1994: D’Wan Sims, 4, went missing while shopping with his mother at Wonderland Mall’s Target store.

Dec. 17, 1996: Francisco Portillo, 54, was fatally shot inside his home by someone posing as a delivery person. His wife, Judy, also was shot. She survived.

Jan. 12, 2001: Marlene Ondercin, 48, was fatally stabbed in her Bretton home.

Westland also continues to investigate eight unsolved homicide cases dating back to the 1970s.

“Any time we, as a police agency, reach out to a victim’s family it opens up a painful memory for them,” Police Chief Jeff Jedrusik said. “Every case has its own unique circumstances. Some cases have hit dead ends, while some cases have suspects but not enough evidence to charge.”

Farmington Hills Police Department investigates seven cold homicide cases dating to the mid-1970s. Four detectives and a sergeant try to meet bi-monthly to discuss the cases, but Det. Sgt. Chad Double said old homicide cases remain just part of their overall responsibilities.

Novi police meet every quarter to discuss three cold homicide cases dating back more than two decades.

Milford police have posted details about two unsolved violent deaths: Anne Doroghazi, a 20-year-old strangled and found partially clothed in a ditch near Camp Dearborn in 1981, and Walter Rubel, 50, of Walled Lake found fatally shot in the Proud Lake State Recreation Area in April 1980.

Bloomfield Township has a whopper on its cold case investigation plate – the disappeared and assumed dead former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa.

Hoffa's family told investigators he was scheduled for a 2 p.m. July 30, 1975, meeting at the Machus Red Fox restaurant on Telegraph Road in a building that now houses Andiamo Ristorante.

“The most significant Cold Case would be the Jimmy Hoffa disappearance,” emailed Lt. Paul Schwab of the township’s investigations division. “But we have not reviewed anything in probably over a year.”

Missing persons efforts

Local police officers assigned to cold cases often turn to other officers and agencies for advice. Michigan State Police Lt. Sarah Krebs, a Metro North assistant post commander, is ready to lend an ear and share her experience...

... Michigan State Police calculates there are about 4,000 people missing in Michigan. While some are runaways and parental kidnappings, some missing people are at the heart of cold homicide cases. ...

... Krebs is haunted by many of Michigan’s unsolved murders and missing person's cases including the Oakland County Child Killings involving four child victims and the May 24, 1990, disappearance of Paige Renkoski.

The Okemos woman had dropped off her mother at the Detroit airport in the morning. Her purse and shoes were inside her car discovered still running along Interstate 96 just east of the Fowlerville exit.

“Law enforcement resources are very thin,” Krebs said. “A lot of the cases that have decent solvability to them get put on the backburner way too soon. I do feel that that happens.”...

LINK:
Cold cases: Incidents leave families, investigators questioning
 
Richard said:
I do not know what weapon was used to murder the three victims. Very little information is available on this crime. I have attempted to contact the Livonia Police to see if they can release more information.
Click to expand...

If a .22 revolver was used in the Parsons case, it may point to the same perpetrator, even if a different revolver was used. From statistics I’ve read, a .38 would be the most popular choice at the time, for both criminals and police officers. The .22 has always been popular for hiking, camping and plinking, but not as common for homicides - although there have been some.
 
Warwick1991 said:
If a .22 revolver was used in the Parsons case, it may point to the same perpetrator, even if a different revolver was used. From statistics I’ve read, a .38 would be the most popular choice at the time, for both criminals and police officers. The .22 has always been popular for hiking, camping and plinking, but not as common for homicides - although there have been some.
Click to expand...

What you say is true. I would hope that if a .22 was used, police would have checked it against the bullets found at the scene of the Brown/Miller murders. They did test more than 700 revolvers over the next six months with no matches.

Certainly choosing a larger caliber pistol would give you more muzzle velocity/energy , but criminals don't always use proper logic in their choice of firearms. Some simply use what they can get their hands on, while others don't know much about them. At close range, a .22 can be just as intimidating and just as deadly as a .38 or a .45 and it doesn't make as much noise.

Ballistic forensics can match a firearm to fired bullets found at a crime scene. Criminals know this and they will often discard a murder weapon to avoid being caught with it.

While a criminal might have a preference for a specific caliber or type of weapon, that is not always the case. A Michigan serial killer, Rudy Bladel, used a different firearm for every one of his known murders. He is known to have used a .22 revolver/pistol, two different .357 magnum revolvers, two different 12 gauge shotguns, and a 20 gauge shotgun.
 
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On 7 February 1964, a newly wed couple, John and Joyce Swindle (both age 19) were shot to death for no apparent reason in San Diego, California. Both were shot several times with a final "killing" shot at close range to their heads.

This dougle murder was carried out much in the same manner as as the double murder of Pat Brown and Sheldon Miller only five months later in Detroit.

Could there be a connection?


 
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Note that the following article identifies the cartridges used in the Swindle murder as .22 long rifle hollow point. Which was the same caliber weapon used to kill Pat and Sheldon.

... The Swindles were from Jasper, Alabama. At seventeen years old, Johnny Ray joined the Navy. By the time 1963 was turning to 1964, the sailor's initial enlistment was coming to an end. Johnny Ray decided to re-up. With his re-enlistment bonus in hand, he took his accumulated vacation, went back to Jasper, married his high-school sweetheart, Joyce, and brought her back to San Diego.

Joyce was fascinated by the Pacific Ocean and hence the couple made it a point to go for a walk along the beach every night. By February 5th, less than three weeks after the small wedding in Jasper, Alabama, the newlywed's honeymoon was coming to an end. Johnny Ray had orders to report for duty on the seventh. In particular, the couple would be apart for their first Valentine's day as husband and wife. Likely in recognition of these bittersweet circumstances, Johnny Ray bought Joyce some candy at one of the stores on the path of their nightly stroll. The two made their way to a retaining wall on the beach and began to share the candy as they took in the nighttime beauty of the Pacific Ocean.

Sadly, a gunman hidden in a make-shift sniper's nest put a permanent end to newlywed's hopes and dreams. Both Johnny Ray and Joyce were shot with .22 long-rifle, hollow-point bullets. Once incapacitated, the gunman approached and shot each in the head at point-blank range. Joyce died quickly. Remarkably, Johnny Ray held on two to three hours before succumbing to his wounds...

LINK:

John & Joyce Swindle
 
cass_9988.jpg

The proud Cass Technical High School

Sheldon Miller had been selected for admittance to Cass Technical High School based on his scholastic aptitude and grades.

Although Cass Tech still exists as a school associated with Wayne State University, the old school building is just another abandoned structure in "ghost town" Detroit. Here are some sad photos of what became of that historic school building.

LINK:

Cass Tech High School (old) - Photos gallery — Historic Detroit
 
The most likely pistol used to murder Pat and Sheldon was a Hi Standard Sentinel 9 shot revolver as discussed in previous posts to this thread.

Holsters for various makes and models at the time were leather and made to fit the each specific pistol. The holsters were stamped with a model number and application charts in catalogs indicated what holster went with what gun.

The most popular (perhaps the only) holster maker for the Hi Standard Sentinel was the George Lawrence Company of Portland, Oregon. That company produced a low priced line called "Challenger".

In the case of the Hi Standard Sentinel, the revolver was made in three basic barrel lengths: 4 inches, 5 inches, and 6 inches. The Challenger holsters made specifically for these were 563, 564, and 565 respectively.

I have seen some of these holsters marked on the back "HSS" followed by the numeral 4, 5, or 6 to indicate that it was for the Hi Standard Sentinel of that specific barrel length. Because these holsters were so model specific in design, no other revolver will fit them (usually they are bigger than the Sentinel).

While it is possible that a murder weapon would have been discarded, it is less likely that a holster attached to a belt would be.

If, in the course of a search or arrest, such a holster might have been included in an inventory which could still exist somewhere in a cold case file.

Photos of a Hi Standard Sentinel .22 revolver in a Lawrence Challenger 563 holster.

 
Richard said:
The most likely pistol used to murder Pat and Sheldon was a Hi Standard Sentinel 9 shot revolver as discussed in previous posts to this thread.

Holsters for various makes and models at the time were leather and made to fit the each specific pistol. The holsters were stamped with a model number and application charts in catalogs indicated what holster went with what gun.

The most popular (perhaps the only) holster maker for the Hi Standard Sentinel was the George Lawrence Company of Portland, Oregon. That company produced a low priced line called "Challenger".

In the case of the Hi Standard Sentinel, the revolver was made in three basic barrel lengths: 4 inches, 5 inches, and 6 inches. The Challenger holsters made specifically for these were 563, 564, and 565 respectively.

I have seen some of these holsters marked on the back "HSS" followed by the numeral 4, 5, or 6 to indicate that it was for the Hi Standard Sentinel of that specific barrel length. Because these holsters were so model specific in design, no other revolver will fit them (usually they are bigger than the Sentinel).

While it is possible that a murder weapon would have been discarded, it is less likely that a holster attached to a belt would be.

If, in the course of a search or arrest, such a holster might have been included in an inventory which could still exist somewhere in a cold case file.

Photos of a Hi Standard Sentinel .22 revolver in a Lawrence Challenger 563 holster.

Click to expand...

The holster would be a good lead if one were found. I don’t know when “one size fits many” holsters, usually nylon or canvas, entered the market, but many of those are non-specific to a particular firearm - or fit a range of firearms. With a minimum 4” barrel length for the Sentinel, it is likely the shooter had a holster. Since it was a summer evening, a heavy jacket for concealment is unlikely. The shooter might have had the revolver in some kind of bag..
 
Warwick1991 said:
The holster would be a good lead if one were found. I don’t know when “one size fits many” holsters, usually nylon or canvas, entered the market, but many of those are non-specific to a particular firearm - or fit a range of firearms. With a minimum 4” barrel length for the Sentinel, it is likely the shooter had a holster. Since it was a summer evening, a heavy jacket for concealment is unlikely. The shooter might have had the revolver in some kind of bag..
Click to expand...

What you say is absolutely correct. We do not know if the killer had a holster, but the revolver would have been rather bulky and hard to carry in one's pants pocket, or even in a waistband.

A check of the popular catalog "Gun Digest" for 1965 shows that the Lawrence Company made the Challenger holster and sold it for $4.50. At that time, all or at least most holsters were leather and tailor made to each specific make and model of revolver. The one for the Sentinel was still being made and sold as late as 1972, but disappeared from the market in later years.

Modern holsters can still be found made of leather, but goretex and other materials are much more common now - and each design is made to accom0date a wide range of revolvers or automatic pistols.

Finding such a holster would not be the same as finding a "smoking gun" piece of evidence - but if there was a potential suspect under consideration for other reasons, finding such a specific holster in his possession would be an important piece of circumstantial evidence or at least a clue for investigators to look into.
 
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Initial news reports of the double murder of Pat Brown and Sheldon Miller were that they were shot "execution style". Actually, they were each shot several times by an unknown assailant using a 9 shot .22 revolver. The assailant walked away from them, emptied his revolver of expended shells and one live round, reloaded, and return to fire several more shots into the boys. He shot each boy at close range behind the ear to make certain he had killed them.
 
dotr said:
FWIW this guy from Windsor Ontario caught my eye, imo, speculation.
Mathew Charles Lamb - Wikipedia
''Mathew Charles "Matt" Lamb (5 January 1948 – 7 November 1976) was a Canadian spree killer who, in 1967, avoided Canada's then-mandatory death penalty for capital murder by being found not guilty by reason of insanity. Abandoned by his teenage mother soon after his birth in Windsor, Ontario, Lamb suffered an abusive upbringing at the hands of his step-grandfather, leading him to become emotionally detached from his relatives and peers. He developed violent tendencies that manifested themselves in his physical assault of a police officer at the age of 16 in February 1964, and his engaging in a brief shoot-out with law enforcement ten months later. After this latter incident he spent 14 months, starting in April 1965, at Kingston Penitentiary, a maximum security prison in eastern Ontario.

Seventeen days after his release from jail in June 1966, Lamb took a shotgun from his uncle's house and went on a shooting spree around his East Windsor neighbourhood, killing two strangers and wounding two others''...
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Mathew Charles Lamb


Mathew Charles "Matt" Lamb (5 January 1948 – 7 November 1976) was a Canadian who, in 1967, avoided Canada's death penalty for murder by reason of insanity.

He developed violent tendencies from family abuse in his early years that manifested themselves in his physical assault of a police officer at the age of 16 in February 1964, and his engaging in a brief shoot-out with law enforcement ten months later.

(Note that the murders of Pat Brown and Sheldon Miller in Detroit took place midway between these two assaults committed by Matt Lamb.)

After this latter incident he spent 14 months, starting in April 1965, at Kingston Penitentiary, a maximum security prison in eastern Ontario.

Seventeen days after his release from jail in June 1966, Lamb took a shotgun from his uncle's house and went on a shooting spree around his East Windsor neighborhood, killing two strangers and wounding two others. He was charged with capital murder...

LINK:
Mathew Charles Lamb - Wikipedia
 
Here is a much more detailed report on Mathew Charles Lamb.

It indicates that he was placed for six month in "the House of Concord, a young offenders unit run by the Salvation Army near London, Ontario" following his 10 February 1964 attack on a police man. However, it seems like this was more of a shelter where he could come and go, attend school, and apply for work in the community. In light of other subsequent offenses and developments in his case, it would seem that the stay did not do him much good.

While there is no evidence or indication that he crossed the river to visit Detroit in July 1964, nothing precludes it either. Certainly the many mental and psychiatric evaluations indicate that he was a killer who showed no emotion whatsoever for his victims. He was obsessed with guns and with violence.

LINK:

Mathew Charles Lamb Explained
 
Richard said:
Here is a much more detailed report on Mathew Charles Lamb.

It indicates that he was placed for six month in "the House of Concord, a young offenders unit run by the Salvation Army near London, Ontario" following his 10 February 1964 attack on a police man. However, it seems like this was more of a shelter where he could come and go, attend school, and apply for work in the community. In light of other subsequent offenses and developments in his case, it would seem that the stay did not do him much good.

While there is no evidence or indication that he crossed the river to visit Detroit in July 1964, nothing precludes it either. Certainly the many mental and psychiatric evaluations indicate that he was a killer who showed no emotion whatsoever for his victims. He was obsessed with guns and with violence.

LINK:

Mathew Charles Lamb Explained
Click to expand...
Pleased at the coincidence of this new book release....(Sorry for the unintended bolding)
https://www.amazon.ca/Watching-the-Devil-Dance/dp/1771963255
Nov. 10 2020
51IDe13pvTL._SX316_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

''The unbelievable true story of Canada’s first known spree killer, told by a veteran of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

In June 1966, Matthew Charles Lamb took his uncle’s shotgun and wandered down Ford Blvd in Windsor, Ontario. At the end of the bloody night, two teenagers lay dead, with multiple others injured after an unprovoked shooting spree. In his investigation into Lamb’s story, Will Toffan pieces together the troubled childhood and history of violence that culminated in the young man’s dubious distinction as Canada’s first known spree killer—at which point the story becomes, the author writes “too strange for fiction.” Travelling from the border city streets, to the courtroom, to the Oak Ridge rehabilitation centre, and finally Rhodesia, Watching the Devil Dance is both a thrilling narrative about a shocking true crime and its bizarre aftermath and an insightful analysis of the 1960s criminal justice system.''

 
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