The Murder Game (Michigan, Notorious USA) Read online

  Table of Contents

  From the Notorious USA Team

  Notorious Michigan FOREWORD

  SENSATIONAL YOOPER MURDERS

  SLAUGHTER IN JACKSON

  STRANGENESS AS EVIDENCE

  MALIGNANT RESENTMENT

  BROTHERS IN HARMS

  THE COED MURDERS

  THE BABYSITTER

  LONELY HEARTS

  FIRST STEP ON A DARK ROAD

  THE TIDE GOES OUT

  THE ANN ARBOR HOSPITAL MURDERS

  MENTAL TWIST

  THREE LEVELS BELOW DELIVERANCE

  THE MURDER GAME

  VENGEANCE

  PUPPY LOVE REJECTED

  FATAL ATTRACTION

  PHOTO ARCHIVE

  From New York Times Bestselling Author

  Katherine Ramsland

  PRAISE FOR KATHERINE RAMSLAND

  "Katherine Ramsland has made many valuable contributions to the fields of forensic psychology, crime analysis and criminal justice as exemplified in her books The Human Predator and The Mind of a Murderer among others. It is rare to find someone with the breadth and depth of knowledge that Dr. Ramsland commands, even more so for such an individual to also be a gifted teacher and a wise and compassionate human being."

  —Former FBI profiler, Gregg McCrary

  “Ramsland’s books are incisive and thorough, and demonstrate a depth of knowledge not only about criminal behavior, but about human behavior as well. She has the rare ability to explain complex phenomena in simple terms.”

  —Dr. Louis Schlesinger, professor of forensic psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

  “Dr. Ramsland has the ability to comprehend complex issues, analyze them meticulously, and express her opinions and conclusions in a completely objective manner.”

  —Cyril Wecht, Past President, American Academy of Forensic Sciences

  The Unknown Darkness

  “This is a must-read for true crime fans. A beautifully written expert analysis of high profile killers.”

  —Ann Rule, New York Times bestselling true crime author

  “One of the most immensely readable and gripping accounts of serial murder I have ever read.”

  —Colin Wilson, bestselling author of Serial Killers

  The Forensic Science of CSI

  “With the mind of a true investigator, Ramsland demystifies the world of forensics with authentic and vivid detail.”

  —John Douglas, Former FBI profiler and BSU chief

  “Fascinating...a must for anyone who wonders how the real crime solvers do it.”

  —Michael Palmer, New York Times bestselling medical novelist

  Piercing the Darkness: Undercover with Vampires in America Today

  “A riveting read, a model of engaged journalism.”

  —Publisher’s Weekly

  Inside the Minds of Serial Killers

  “In the area of psychological research on serial killers, Dr. Katherine Ramsland has distinguished herself as a unique thinker with a fascinating approach to case analysis. Anyone who takes this subject seriously should read this book.”

  —Robert K. Ressler, Former FBI profiler

  Inside the Minds of Healthcare Serial Killers

  “Timely and riveting…”

  —Beatrice Yorker, Dean, College of Healthcare and Human Services, Cal State, LA

  Beating the Devil's Game

  "Once again Katherine Ramsland has brilliantly captured the insights and drama of some fascinating cases."

  —Dr. Henry C. Lee

  The Real Life of a Forensic Scientist

  “…strongly recommended for every practitioner, student, and devotee of this exciting profession.”

  —Dr. Cyril Wecht, past president of American Academy of Forensic Sciences

  “A must read for the CSI crowd.”

  —Dr. Michael Baden, former chief medical examiner, NYC

  Ghost: Investigating the Other Side

  “The best book of its kind I’ve ever read.”

  —Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author

  “Ramsland is a master of foreboding.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  Snap! Seizing our Aha! Moments

  "Both motivational and informative, Snap is a treat to read! Katherine Ramsland will singlehandedly increase the number of bright ideas to be born in the coming decade!"

  —Shelley Carson, author, Your Creative Brain

  I've always said intuition is the highest form of knowledge. SNAP shows me why I might be right. This is a fascinating exploration of the mind when it's in hyperdrive, as illuminating as it is fun to read. Ms. Ramsland reveals the science and psychology of the aha! moment in vivid detail, with intriguing examples, while being wise enough to leave room for the consideration of a mystical element to human consciousness. Highly recommended."

  —Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author

  “Of course, someone who had so much insight into the human mind – who had worked as a therapist, who had a graduate degree in clinical psychology – would be able not only to explain the troubled mind, but would also be able to explore what’s best and smartest about the way we think.

  —Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Deborah Blum, Author of The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

  The Heat Seekers

  “Katherine Ramsland is a marvelous novelist, who approaches her subject with chilling, fascinating inner knowledge. The Heat Seekers is a gem.”

  —Whitley Strieber, New York Times bestselling novelist

  KATHERINE RAMSLAND began her career as a writer with Prism of the Night: A Biography of Anne Rice. She had a bestseller with The Vampire Companion. Since then, she has published 40 books and over 1,000 articles, reviews and short stories. From ghosts to vampires to serial killers, she has taken on a variety of dark subjects. She holds graduate degrees in forensic psychology, clinical psychology, criminal justice, and philosophy. Currently, she teaches forensic psychology and criminal justice at DeSales University. She speaks internationally about forensic psychology, forensic science, and serial murder, and has appeared on numerous documentaries, as well as such programs as The Today Show, 20/20, 48 Hours, NPR, Coast to Coast, Montel Williams, Larry King Live and E! True Hollywood.

  GREGG OLSEN is the New York Times bestselling author of eighteen books, true crime and fiction, including Fear Collector, A Twisted Faith, Starvation Heights, Abandoned Prayers, If Loving You Is Wrong and a dozen others. His book Envy was Washington State’s selection at the National Book Festival in 2012.

  THE MURDER GAME

  Katherine Ramsland

  Copyright 2014 by Katherine Ramsland and Gregg Olsen

  All Rights Reserved

  Book Cover Design by BEAUTeBOOK

  Map by Brad Arnesen

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the authors.

  Published by Notorious USA

  From the Notorious USA Team

  WELCOME TO THE LATEST INSTALLMENT IN THE New York Times bestselling series of stories about America’s most notorious criminals.

  That’s right. No matter where you live, you’re in the middle of Notorious USA.

  For this edition, Notorious USA, Michigan, Katherine Ramsland takes on the famous and not so famous cases that still haunt the state. Katherine is one of the best in the business and here she takes readers on a journey through darkness with insight and clarity. This is one of my personal favorites in the annals of Notori
ous USA. I hope you agree!

  Don’t miss Bodies of Evidence, Notorious USA’s first box set and New York Times bestselling collection about the criminals from our neck of the woods (the Pacific Northwest). Like all of our collection, Bodies of Evidence is available as an eBook on most formats, as well as in paperback and as an audio book.

  Your crime scribe,

  Gregg Olsen

  Notorious

  Michigan

  FOREWORD

  YOU KNOW YOU’RE FROM MICHIGAN if you point to a spot on the palm of your right hand to show where on the “mitten” you live or angle that hand, thumb up, to show it on the “rabbit.” You know the difference between a Yooper and a Loper, and you can drive 80 miles per hour through two feet of snow (passing on the right). You eat rather than wear a pastie, and you acknowledge the mosquito as the state bird.

  I’m a Loper, and because I’m from “below the bridge” that connects the two parts of Michigan, people in the Upper Peninsula (Yoopers) call me a troll. I’ve followed crimes in my home state since my youth, with particular attention to our bloodbaths and serial killers. Many people don’t know that Michigan holds the record for victim toll from a schoolyard massacres.

  I’ve always wanted to write a crime book about Michigan. I grew up near Ann Arbor (“A2”), and the more I’ve immersed in true crime narratives, the more surprised I am by how many notorious criminals have passed through A2 in some shape or form. “Devil in the White City” H. H. Holmes went to medical school at the University of Michigan, where Unabomber Ted Kaczynski got his Ph.D. in mathematics and the notorious Leopold and Loeb attended classes. John List, who slaughtered his entire family in New Jersey and became a prominent success story for America’s Most Wanted, also attended this university.

  Ted Bundy stopped in A2 briefly while on the run from a Colorado jail. He toasted the new year of 1978 and watched a Rose Bowl game before deciding that A2 was too cold and too expensive. He stole a car and headed to Florida. John Norman Collins, convicted of one co-ed murder in the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area, is unofficially linked to several others. Someone still unknown overdosed at least ten patients in the city’s VA hospital, and the “Sunday Morning Slasher,” believed to be Carl “Coral” Eugene Watts, killed three women in Ann Arbor, where Watts had once been evaluated for “dangerousness.”

  In fact, Watts made history in serial killer lore. After fatally stabbing two women in Detroit, Watts fled to Texas. He was arrested there for burglary and aggravated assault. But Texas had ten unsolved murders that bore similar circumstances to those in Michigan, so officials cast their eye on Watts. He made a deal to confess, adding two in Michigan, in exchange for immunity. They agreed – to their later regret. In a legal quirk for early release, Watts was set to become the first confessed serial killer to be freed. But then a witness came forward in the murder of Helen Dutcher, so a Michigan jury convicted Watts, keeping him in prison. Whew!

  I had my own collection of Michigan true crime, but while out in a boat on one of the Wolverine State’s many lakes, I asked my companions about crimes they recalled. This gave me more tales that I hadn’t heard. We’ll start with three from the U. P.

  SENSATIONAL YOOPER MURDERS

  IN 1913 IN CALUMET’S ITALIAN HALL, over 500 children attended a Christmas party, and many were on the second floor awaiting Santa’s attention. Then someone yelled “Fire!” People panicked.

  Adults and children ran together for the only staircase to the ground floor. It soon got crowded. The first people to reach the exit got out, but a throng pushed against the door and clogged the opening. People still descending the stairs smashed into those below them, suffocating or trampling some underfoot. The shrieks of children filled the air. Within minutes, bodies piled up, extending thirty feet up the staircase.

  The place was a madhouse of chaos, as people searched for ways to get out. A few stopped to help others, but there was nothing they could do for those already dead. Some of these Samaritans were injured as well.

  Seventy-three people died on that terrible day. Sixty-two were children. No one knows who called out “fire,” but no evidence of fire was found. It seemed nothing short of an evil act. If it was a prank, it was a very poor one. Now the town had to collect the dead.

  Suspicion arose that the alarm had been aimed at strikebreakers, who’d recently made it difficult for striking miners to force owners to improve their working conditions. Yet several people claimed that they’d seen a man raise the alarm who was wearing a button for “Citizens Alliance” (local businessmen trying to help settle the strike). This seemed inconsistent with CA’s purpose, so it was assumed that a striker might have used the button to throw false blame on the alliance to discredit them. Or punish them.

  Yet there might have been another motive. The owner of the saloon on the first floor had rushed to help people on the staircase. When he returned, he found his till empty and much of the liquor gone. Perhaps an opportunist had seen him leave or perhaps the shout about a fire had been a set-up for robbery.

  The festivities, intended to bring a bright spot to a dismal season for the impoverished miners, became one of the greatest tragedies in Michigan’s history. The burials took place right after Christmas. The person responsible was never identified.

  AN UNUSUAL INSANITY DEFENSE IN MARQUETTE COUNTY COURT in 1952 became quite famous. Thanks to a Jimmy Stewart movie, people still know about it today.

  This tale began when Charlotte Peterson came home one evening with a torn skirt and no panties. She claimed that the local Big Bay tavern owner, Mike Chenoweth, had raped her. Her husband, Coleman, made her swear on a rosary that she was telling the truth. She said that Chenoweth had offered her a ride home from the tavern and had pulled over and forced himself on her. She offered her disheveled clothing and facial bruises as proof.

  Already insanely possessive, Peterson armed himself with his handgun and marched directly to the Lumberjack Tavern, about a quarter mile from his home. In front of numerous witnesses, he walked up to Chenoweth, raised his gun, and shot him. He then walked out. Peterson was quickly arrested. He said he didn’t recall the shooting, but since his gun was empty, he believed he must have done it.

  John Voelker, a former district attorney who was depressed over having been voted out of office, was eager to defend Peterson. It seemed an impossible case to win, but he was determined to prove himself against the man who’d successfully campaigned for his job, Edmund Thomas. For Voelker, this case was about showing the voters who the best attorney was. They’d see how wrong they were.

  Although there was no evidence that Charlotte had actually been raped, and plenty of witnesses had seen her comporting herself in an “unladylike” manner at the tavern for several hours (this apparently just meant that she’d removed her shoes to play pool), the point was whether her husband had believed her. If he had, then blind rage could have driven him to do something about it.

  Thomas teamed up with a Lansing-based assistant attorney general, Irving Beattie, which gave Voelker the chance to turn the case into a small town vs. big city competition, as well as a U.P. vs. L.P. conflict. He knew this would give him an edge with the locals on the jury.

  In the opulent Marquette County Courthouse, the prosecutors offered their reconstruction of events: Peterson had done it, there was no doubt, and on the walk between his trailer and the tavern, he’d had time to consider what he was doing. Thus, his act could only be construed as first-degree, premeditated murder.

  Voelker conceded that Peterson had killed Chenoweth, but insisted that he’d had an “irresistible impulse” resulting from temporary insanity and a memory blackout. In other words, Peterson had not had the presence of mind to be able to stop himself. It had been an act of blind rage.

  Let’s take a moment to review this concept. The legal system recognizes that responsibility for committing a crime depends on two things: actus reus, or evidence that the accused was able to engage in the act (and did), and mens rea, the mental state r
equired to have intended to commit an act and foreseen its consequences. The standard for determining criminal responsibility varies by state, but in the context of a trial, insanity is not a diagnostic concept. It is a legal concept related to, but not synonymous with, severe mental illness.

  As confusing as it might seem, one can be psychotic but be judged sane because he or she understood that the act was wrong when doing it. One can also be judged temporarily insane while having no mental illness. In some states, defendants can give evidence of reduced mental ability without having to claim insanity. They can say they did not purposely or knowingly commit the crime, or that they could not have meaningfully premeditated it, and this could win a lesser verdict and sentence. People acting under duress might also be excused.

  Let’s add one more twist: In homicide cases in some states, extreme emotional disturbance might be claimed for a possible reduced charge to manslaughter. Four things must be proven: 1) that the provocation would cause a reasonable person to violently react, 2) the provocation actually caused the reaction, 3) there was no time for a reasonable person to cool off between the provoking act and the reaction, and 4) the defendant did not cool off. In situations such as the discovery of something suddenly enraging, such as adultery or someone molesting your child, reasonable people might act before thinking.

  It all comes down to what a reasonable person might do. In other words, in the Peterson case, an “irresistible impulse” defense was risky, given how much time he’d had to reconsider what he was doing.

  Despite the evidence, the jury acquitted Peterson. Two doctors who had no training in psychology or psychiatry pronounced him currently sane and therefore safe. In other words, he’d been in the grip of temporary insanity or irresistible impulse on the night of the murder, but now he was fine. He would not be incarcerated anywhere, not even a mental institution.