The Michigan Murders by Edward Keyes (January 1976)

Edward Keyes recounts the story of a killers two year reign of terror on the college town of Ypsiplanti, Michigan in his 1976 book titled The Michigan  Murders.

As with the majority of true crime written before the turn of the century, Keyes’ book is very detailed and well-written.

The first half of the book follows in chronological order the killings that occured while the second half shows efforts made by police to capture a killer. 

Their bumfuddled efforts seemed to be getting nowhere, and readers will be shocked at how they essentially fell backwards into evidence that made their case.

And I’ve never been a big fan of books where authors provide fictious names for the criminals and deceased victims – it’s public record, what’s the point? – as Keyes did with the moniker James Armstrong and his victims.

The real  name of the coed killer is John Norman Collins. His victims names are Joann Schell, Jane Mixer, Maralynn Skelton, Dawn Basom, Alice Kalom, Eileen Adams, and Karen Sue Bieneman. The California victim’s name is Roxie Phillips.

This is another difficult book to find as it has been out-of-print so long.  However, if you can snag a copy, it’s well worth reading.

(Find copies at Amazon and eBay)

Updates on John Norman Collins:

In the 1980s, John legally changed his last name to Chapman – his mother’s maiden name.

His mother, long a strong supporter of John, passed away in 1988.