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Missing and Unknown Bodies Found in Allegan County |
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Missing and Unknown Bodies Found in Allegan County |
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GLENN - The identity of the body of a man, washed up on the lake shore here last week, has yet to be determined, sheriff's officers report. The man was believed to have been between 40 and 50 years old and Coroner William Ten Brink, Hamilton, estimated the body had been in the water for two or three weeks. He was described as being about 5 feet, 5 1/2 inches tall, weighing about 150 pounds, wearing brown shoes, shorts, a T-shirt and sports shirt Efforts are being made to identify him through artificial dentures. The body of Edward, the son of Mr. Benjamin Dyer, was found on the 17th, by Mr. James Taylor, opposite Widow Lowe's place near this Village. He had been in the water ever since the 5th of April. The recovery of the body of youn Dyer is greatly relieved the anxiety of his father and relatives who had searched the river for weeks in quest of the body. Kalamazoo River was local resident The county sheriff's office is losing hope that the body of a black woman found in the Kalamazoo River was that of a local person. "We're trying to remain optimistic, but we're becoming worried that she's rom farther away." Detective Sergeant Robert Sutka said Monday. Sutka said the woman's fingerprints have been sent out by computer statewide in hopes of a match. He said he's also sent bulletins to every police department in the state. "We are expanding search," he said. The woman's decomposing body was found in the river on April 28 by a fisherman. It snagged on other river debris at the bend in the river accessible only by one-lane dirt roads, near the intersection of 47th Street and 127the Avenue, in Heath Township. The woman was murdered, police said, but are not revealing how they determined that. "The medical examiner ruled it homicide," Sutka said, although he was not able to determine the exact cause of death. Based on his knowledge of how bodies act in water, Sutka said the woman was probably dumped into the river within a half-mile of where she was discovered. Decomposing bodies become buoyant, and the rising of the river due to rain and wind probably brought it to the surface, Sutka said. Police estimate the woman could have been in the water since the fall of 1992. The body is described at that of a black woman, between 5 feet, 4 inches tall. The received major jaw surgery during her life, including two screws and a plate. Whe also bears the tatoo of dollar sign on her left arm. No identity yet on body from river There have been no new developments in the case of a woman's body found in the Kalamazoo River in Heath Township on April 28, according to Allegan County sheriff's detectives. The body of a black woman between 30 and 40 years old, about 5 feet, 4 inches tall, was found near the intersection of 47th Street and 127th Avenue, a rural area served only by one-lane roads. Police said the woman was murdered, but did not reveal how they determined that. The woman received major jaw surgery during her life and bears a tatoo of a dollar sign on her left arm. Police believe she could have been in the water since the fall of 1992. Police have expanded their search for the woman's identity beyond the local area. They think her body could have been dumped in the river in the fall of 1992. An autopsy to determine the identification of a person who died in a Tuesday night blaze was scheduled for Wednesday morning, according to Allegan County Sheriff's deputies. Authorities said the Allegan Fire Department responded to a house fire at 11:35 p.m. Tuesday on 34th Street, south of Babylon Road in Allegan Township. Upon arrival, the one storey structure was totally engulfed in flames. Deputies said a body was found inside the dwelling after further investigation. Results of the autopsy, which were not available at press time, would determine the identification and also a possible cause of the fire, a sheriff's spokeperson said. LEE TWP - Searchers found a body dead for 12 years in a wooded area Monday, July 10. Police are treating the case as a homicide. New developments prompted investigators to reopen the 1988 missing-person case four months ago. Information from one of three suspects led searchers to the burial site. The body has not yet been positively identified, but investigators believe it to be Charles Paul Miller. Forensic pathologist Joyce DeJounge will perform an autopsy at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. Miller, 22 at the time, of Bangor, disappeard from Van Buren County Sept. 14, 1988. By that year's end investigators believe Miller had been murdered. They had three male suspects but lacked physical evidence. The suspects, all now in jail for unrelated offences, were known associates, of Miller in narcotics use and trafficking. Police believe Miller was shot to death over a narcotids debt. Members of the Michigan State Police Laboratory, the Allegan County Medical Examiner's office and the Michigan State University Antrhoplogy Department excavated the remains. |
HAMILTON - The Allegan County Sherrif's department today is faced with a murder mystery. The identity of the victim is unknown. The identity of the slayer or slayers is unknown. The time of the murder is unknown. How the victim was slain is unknown. What is known is this: The victim was a white female. She was 17 to 18 years old. She was killed sometime within the last two years. The girl was dumped face down into a shallow grave, underneath a pine tree, approximately two miles southwest of Hamilton. The killer or killers may have returned a few days before Thanksgiving Day this year on Nov. 22. On that date two Holland hunters found a freshly dug hole. On top of the overturned dirt was a white nylon slip. Piled atop the slip were several bones. Allegan County Detective Clayton S. John said the hunters apparently found the partially opened grave within five hours after it had been dug up. St. John said it had rained earlier Nov. 22. The hunters found the bones late in the afternoon. The bones and dirt were not wet indicating they had been dug up after the rain stopped. The bones were sent to experts at the University of Michigan who said the girl had been buried within the last two years. The condition of some of the broken and sawed bones indicated the victim had met with a violent death. The skull and several other bones are missing. In addition to the bones found by the hunters additional digging by St. John uncovered leg and foot bones. The position of the bones and other facts showed that the bones had not been reburied at this site but the victim had been placed in the grave under 18 inches of dirt a few feet from a towering pine tree. The grave site is in a desolate area criss-crossed by narrow winding dirt roads. The grave was in back of a pine tree 90 feet from one of these roads. Rusting tin cans and bottles nearby indicated the area had frequently been used as a dumping ground. St. John said the slip, thus far, is the ony solid clue they have which might lead to the identity of the girl. He described the slip as white, expensive with four rows of lace at the bottom. A few scraps of wool and some metal clips and hooks were the only other items found. Allegan authorities asked residents to contact them if they have any information on a missing teenage girl within the last two years. Deputies admitted the killer had quite a head start on them. But the file on the girl's murder will remain open until closed. There is no statue of limitation on murder in Michigan. A body was found on the Lake Shore on Sunday last, on which was a considerable sum of money. The name on the vest was "P. Behermann." It may have been lost from one of the wrecks of the Kalamazoo River vessels last fall, as the clothes were rotten and the body considerably decomposed. There may be some widow in your neighborhood who would be able to recognize this body as that of her husband. The money has not been claimed. A human skeleten, possibly that of an Indian, was unearthed about 18 inches below the ground surface at Gun lake at the edge of Allegan county last Tuesday when workers started digging a hole for a septic tank, according to Sheriff Louis Johnson. Mrs. LeRoy Hale of Gun lake reported the skeleton resembled that of a woman or girl. Upon closer inspection, the sheriff found that the jaw was small, similar to a woman's bone structure, but that the teeth were too large to have been a woman's. Finding that the territory had once been Indian burial grounds, the probability arose that the skeleton was that of an Indian. From general observation, the skeleton had been buried for a long time. The bones were partially deteriorated, and while the skull was being inspected, the teeth in the lower jaw fell out. Consultation with an 87-year-old man, born and raised in the territory, failed to reveal any information about a missing person or any strange deaths, Johnson said. At first the workers dug past the object, then one of them unearthed the skull. Some of the other bones were found nearby. The skull has been sent to Lansing to determine the length of burial, the sex, and the nationality, he asserted. |
A German named Hendricks was found drowned on Wednesday last week at the Mouth of the Kalamazoo River. He was reported to have been under the influence of liquor at the time. On the 26th inst., a woman was found missing at Manlius, and it is thought she has drowned herself, as she had heretofore threatened to so so. Cause,- disappointment in love. The River, at the Manlius bridge, was dragged for two days; and the body was found on Monday. Sheriff Louis A. Johnson The body of the unfortunate young woman drowned in Manlius last winter has been found. A Coroner's inquest returned a verdict of "drowned." WERE TWO MEN DROWNED? Allegan Gazette, Saturday, September 2, 1905 One of the saddest of accidents happened to one of our most respected citizens and summer a visitor last Friday that has happened for many years. Last Friday morning Chas. Shriver, a fisherman living at the mouth of the river, at 5:30 o'clock in the morning, left with his sailboat to set some nets. He was accompanied by Julius A. Lense, a gentleman from Chicago who has for several years spent his summer vacation here. They were seen going out by several persons, Mr. Shriver tending the sails and Mr. Lense attending the rudder. The boat was seen about ten o'clock about six miles out, by several persons, but after that time it is not known that either the boat or its occupants have been seen since. About one o'clock the family began to grow anxious as it was past the usual hour for return; but as there was not much sea on the lake no great anxiety was felt, till about three o'clock, when searching parties were sent out on the coast. The tug "Pup" with three other boats were gotten which patroled the lake all night but with no success. The life-saving stations at Holland and South Haven, and the large boats out of Holland, were requested to throw their search-lights along the beach on the way to Chicago, but with no discovery of anything until Saturday at about two o'clock P.M., when Alex Shriver when about twelve miles from South Haven found the fishboxes and foot-board of the ill-fated craft floating in the lake. A strict lookout is being kept, but at the present writing nothing has been heard or seen of either the two supposed drowned men. The body of a man, probably about fifty-five or sixty years old, was found near the Pine creek dam in Otsego township last Sunday. It was so badly decomposed that identification was impossible. coroner Gorden was summoned and he and Undertaker Cole of Otsego took charge of the body and buried it in the Otsego cemetery. The man was about five feet ten inches tall, weight about 175 pounds, of sandy complexion, and bald on the crown of his head. He wore the clothes of a laboring mand which were plain but very good. In his pockets were two boxes of tobacco, a pipe, a one-dollar bill, fifty-two cents in coins, and receipts that perhaps will eventually determine his identity. One of these was from the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance company of Detroit and wa made out to Edward Murray of Claremore, Oklahoma. It was an old receipt, dated June. 1914. A carefare receipt from the Michigan Railway company showed that on July 30 this man traveled from Battle Creek to Finley, a small station on that road. There was also in the pockets an unused ticket from Battle Creek to Cantonment station. Coroner Gorden has sent notices to various places and hopes to establish the identity of the man. |
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Last Updated on 10/15/2020
By Lynn Matt