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| John Norman Collins |
In the late 1960's the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti area of Michigan was terrorized by a series of murders of young attractive college girls.
These Crimes were committed with an unspeakable level of violence toward the victims. This was before the modern serial killer had emerged, making these crimes all the more shocking for their time.
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| The search for Dawn Basom |
The strangest part of all was the person accused of committing this series of murders, a 23 year old college student named, John Norman Collins.
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| The Liek house |
Collins was what one would call the "All American Boy" and would even escort his young aunt shopping so she would be safe from the danger of this psychopathic killer.
John Norman Collins was born in
Ontario, Canada on June 17th 1947.
He attended a Catholic High School called St. Clements.
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| Search for Dawn Basom |
He was an honor student, he was considered to be an excellent athlete lettering in three sports. He was the schools star pitcher, Tri-captain of the baseball team. He was captain of the football team.
Most people described him as quiet, polite, and respectful.
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| Collins after his arrest |
Most females described him as attractive although one former girlfriend said he was always angry.
Collins had brutally attacked his sister when he came home to find her with her boyfriend having sex. Both the boyfriend and his sister ended up being hospitalized.
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| Search for Dawn Basom |
Collins also was committing a series of home burglaries. He was also burglarizing his place of employment with his friend , Tony Monte. Collins had worked for a major automotive company.
At one point Collins and Monte stole a trailer and drove to northern California. Suddenly young girls began missing there too.
He began attending Easter Michigan University in 1966.
He belonged to the Theta Chi Fraternity, but was asked to leave after funds were discovered to be missing and they suspected Collins.
In Collins Sophomore year,
his grades began to fail, and he
no longer showed much interest
in sports or education.
This is about the time the murders first began. The first being Mary Flesar - 19.
Flesar was considered to be a very quiet and hard working person , who was putting herself through college. She had excellent grades and a job at the college library.
One night while walking home , Flesar had been accosted several times by a young man driving a silver colored car. This was witnessed by a neighbor.
As it turned out, Collins had a silver vehicle.
The next Day Mary Flesar was missing.
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| Search for Dawn Basom |
Her remains were discovered near an abandoned farm house by two teenage boys on the outskirts of Ann Arbor.
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| Karen Sue Bieneman |
It was a full year before there was another incident and at first the police felt there was no connection between the two .
Seven murders were connected to Collins -
Joan Schell
Jane Mixer
Marylynn Skelton
Dawn Basom
Karen Sue Bienema
Mary Flesar
and one other
One strange thing about the murder's was that several of the victims were having their period.
Collins on several occasion's had mentioned how much this "discussed''
him.
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| Niel Fink and Joseph Louisel Collins Attorney's |
There were some who felt Collins was not involved in all the cases because of different M/O.s
Collins came to the attention of the authorities due to his practice of cruising for females on one of his four bikes.
It was not uncommon for Collins to ask women randomly to "model" for him and also to try to pick up women he did not know . Collins later said this was a game he liked to play .
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| Peter Hurkos |
At one point a Psychic was brought into the investigation - Peter Hurkos . Hurkos had worked on the Boston Strangler case and had provided some impressive leads.
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| Collins After the arrest |
Hurkos felt that there was more than one killer and as it turned out he was right although it would take over 30 years to prove this.
In 2005 Gary Karl Leiteman was convicted of the murder of Jane Mixer on DNA evidence.
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| Collins in Prison |
The Leiteman case cast a certain amount of doubt about Collins involvement in the murders even though it had been years since he was convicted.
Even with all the press coverage, Collins was only convicted of one of the murders,
Karen Sue Beineman.
Collins had given her a ride to a wig shop on his Triumph and the ladies working there identified him. Also a stationary store employee identified him.
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| After his Arrest |
Supposedly forensic evidence was found at his uncle's house, who was a State Trooper. Dan Leik and his family had been on vacation with Collins taking care of their home.
Upon returning the Leiks found blood stains in their basement and other items out of place. Liek called his station and a team was sent out to investigate. It turned out to be blood in their wash area.
It was Collins own Uncle, Dan Leik who turned Collins in .
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| Collins today |
Collins was convicted of the Bieneman murder and was sentenced to life in prison. He is incarcerated
at Jackson Prison in Michigan. To this day he maintains his innocence.
by
Kenneth Lafler
Interesting Facts About the Case -
Collins was also suspected in several other murder cases through out the country. Several in Texas, one in California where the evidence was overwhelming against Collins.
It seemed that where ever Collins went bodies were found.
There were several murders of a horrific nature in Maine. The M/O matched Collins perfectly.
Peter Hurkos gave some very close leads as to a younger man in college wearing a stripped T shirt. As it turned out Collins was usually wearing a stripped athletic shirt.
Collins at one point had actually escaped Jackson Prison but was soon apprehended.
Once again Collins vehemently claims he is innocent and felt that a book called the Michigan Murders and all the press coverage were what caused him to be convicted.
On a program called Kelly and Company, Collins was interviewed. When asked if he knew what he knows now about the brutality of the American prison system would he have run. Collins answer was
" Hell Yes".
Sources-
The Michigan Murders by Bob Keyes - A reporter on the scene the entire time the murders were taking place.
Mass Murder Americans Growing Menace - Gene Levin. Levin is considered one of the leading experts on serial crimes.
The Crime Library. com-excellent source for true crime articles
Who ever fights Monsters - by - Robert Ressler - A retired FBI Profiler who worked on cases going back to the Zodiac Killings . Ressler Coined the term Serial Killer.
Ken Lafler
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