40 YEARS MICHIGAN COED MURDERS PART 2

Karen Sue Beineman, 18, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was an EMU freshman attending summer classes. She had just sent a note to her parents assuring them she was being careful, but then accepted a ride on a motorcycle from a man she did not know. She was last seen on July 23, 1969, leaving a wig shop to go with him, and was found, strangled, in a ravine off Riverside Drive near Huron River Drive in Ann Arbor. Her face was badly battered and she was nude. She had been killed elsewhere. She was the last victim before Collins was caught, and it was the evidence found on her that led to his conviction.

Riverside at Chalmers is where Karen Sue Beineman was found. This road is just outside of town but it appears very remote in the photographs. It was very risky for the killer maneuvering around with a body so close to the city limits.

 JNC top right corner

Look at the density of the swamp brush across the street from the ravine and creek. It was impossible for a stakeout to be located here. But it seemed like a good idea at the time. The walkie talkies made too much noise. The mosquitoes were torturing the sheriffs, humidity and rain were all hampering the stake out.

They have a little bridge with this railing. It is very creepy looking down at that creek bed. Such a beautiful natural setting. Such a horrific thing for the residents to find.

The Karen Sue Beineman case lead to the arrest and conviction of John Norman Collins. Forensics and hair fragments came through in the end.

The former Wig shop on Washington St. Just across from the old Art One theater. This is a narrow street and wouldn't be a big stretch for a bystander to clearly see a person driving off on a motorcycle.

This is the former JJ Cycle where John Norman hung out.

From a RK Reader:

Collins used to hang out at JJ Cycle on Ecorse road. He was there one time, I thought he worked there, and I asked him questions about a Hodaka dirtbike on the sales floor that I wanted but could never afford as a 12-13 year old kid. But I used to go up there a lot to sit on the bikes, grab brochures, etc. as it was only a couple of blocks from my house. After talking to him at J.J's, I saw him once at Roy's Squeeze Inn (drive in restaurant) , and at W.T. Grant's (discount store) and we waved to each other...

When Collins picked up Karen Sue Beineman, the women who worked in the Wig Shop on Washington street misidentified the bike as a 450 Honda. According to the Michigan Murders book by Edward Keyes, one of the women had been motorcycle shopping with her husband the previous weekend, looking at Hondas. The reason the bike stuck out in her mind was as she thought, the bike she identified had a square rear view mirror. Collins Triumph had a round rear view mirror.

Bike Like Collins road...

The police, Ypsi press, Ann Arbor news and Detroit TV stations ran pictures of a 450 Honda identical to my Dad's bike. Dad was hassled A LOT in the following weeks by the police, even being run off the road by a Washtenaw County Sheriff. Collins actually was riding a 650 Triumph Bonneville similar to the 900 Bonnie I ride now. He also had another Triumph, 2 Bultacos, and a green 69 Olds Cutlass 442, possibly all stolen...

READ MORE ON JOHN NORMAN COLLINS

Thanks Ted and Jason

BRIDGET RILEY AND OP ART

Bridget Riley is the fantastic 1960s era British Artist best know for her optically vibrant and visually tension evoking paintings known as "OP ART" Ms Riley was the Ultimate 1960's Mod Pop Artist.

Flashback to 1964. In the United States, we were still reeling from the assassination of our President, escalating the Civil Rights movement, being "invaded" by British pop/rock music and, in general, pretty much done with notions of achieving idyllic lifestyles (despite that which was touted in the 1950s). Given the circumstances, it was a perfect time for a new artistic movement to burst on the scene.

In October of 1964, in an article describing this new style of art, Time Magazine coined the phrase "Optical Art" (or "Op Art", as it's more commonly known). The term referenced the fact that Op Art is comprised of illusion, and often appears - to the human eye - to be moving or breathing due to its precise, mathematically-based composition.

After (and because of) a major 1965 exhibition of Op Art entitled The Responsive Eye, the public became enraptured with the movement. As a result, one began to see Op Art showing up everywhere: in print and television advertising, as LP album art and as a fashion motif in clothing and interior decoration. I so wish I had had been old enough to have seen that exhibit. I did get to see the History Of Rock Poster Art this past SEptember at the Flint Institute of Art and you can see my story on the HERE

In fact when I first began the Retro: Kimmer blog last November 3 I found a photo representative of the Retro Kimmer girl and this image was definitely influenced by Ms Riley's Art... see for your self.

Don't know who the model is but I loved this image and then I asked (begged) my daughter to draw an image to use in it's place as my logo and Lesley drew this:

Which I photo-shopped into my logo and badge image...

Anyhoo back to Ms Riley:

Riley’s vibrant optical pattern paintings, which she painted in the 1960s, were hugely popular and become a hallmark of the period. As your eyes explore the picture to the left, can you continue to see momentary afterimages (white dots) that cause a slight flickering effect?

Riley works meticulously, carefully mixing her colors to achieve the exact hue and intensity she desires. She explores color interaction first in small gouache color studies, then moving to full-size paper-ad-gouache designs (as in the photo at right). The large-scale canvases are then marked up and painted entirely by hand — first in acrylics, then in oil.

What a fantastic RETRO artist! She created a genre for the entire 1960s generation.

BRIDGET RILEY OP ART HERE

Thank you Heather Harris!

THE MICHIGAN COED MURDERS 40 YEARS LATER

It all started when I mentioned to my youngest brother JR that my stories on John Norman Collins still get a lot of traffic for almost a year now. Searching the internet for anything new, we discovered that there was barely anything newer than the 1980s. Most of the key players have passed away. There are 2 videos and a 5 part interview from Kelly and Company. We decided that we would take RK readers on a little photographic tour of the crucial sites related to this case.

This is really spooky... IT seemed thst every site we encountered had lone female joggers running by. This young woman stopped for my camera and we exchanged pleasantries as she ran by. I thought to myself... she would never be running down the country road alone if she knew what had taken place here nearly 40 years ago.

This is a very busy intersection in front of McKinney student union at Eastern Michigan University. Joan Schell was last seen here getting into a late model red and white car with 3 young guys. Tha car pulled around the back side of the Union and Ms Schell was never seen alive again. A guy was sitting on the front porch of this old house and saw Joan get into that red and white car.

Joan was standing in the front and to the far left of this building. From the time I was about 9 years old my grandmother owned a cool house nearby and I would run over here to buy cool EMU stuff from the bookstore in the basement. My grandmother's house was right behind the Water Tower here is a picture of the house now. Back in 1967 is was white with a white stone porch.

Below is what John Norman Collins' Uncle house looks like now. It is almost unrecognizable. I think I would have torn the house down and built a new. Creepy even though it looks pretty and has a very large 2 story addition on it.

After John Norman Collins was identified by the Wig store manager on Washington St. and forensics on hair fragments that were found on Beineman's underwear which matched with hair fragments found in the basement of Collins' Uncle's home.

Collins' Uncle a State Police Officer, noticed that there were a lot of redwood paint blotches on his basement floor that weren't there before he and his family went on a short trip and left John to watch their home.

Below is the approximate locate of where youngest victim Dawn Basom was found out in the open along Gale Rd. Odd as I was shooting this picture I ran into the lone woman jogging

Gale at Vreeland Rd is where 13 yr old Dawn Basom was found lying on the side of the Rd in plain sight. She appeared to have been dragged in closer to the road so someone would spot her. No one will ever know why.

Kim you have the location for Dawn Basom's murder site wrong. I lived on Leforge at the time and know the area well. The abandoned farm was south of Geddes, east side of Leforge at the top of the hill. I don't think there was ever a farmhouse or barn in the area you referenced. Here's a link to a news photo that shows it...

READ PART TWO

Sheriff Doug Harvey/Dawn Basom

CRIME LIBRARY

"The Michigan Coed Murders", as they came to be called, began with Eastern Michigan student Mary Flezlar on July 10, 1967. Her body was later found with multiple stab wounds, and more grotesquely, no hands or feet on August 7. Almost one year later on July 6, 1968, student Joan Schell was found dead in Ann Arbor with 47 stab wounds. She had last been seen on July 1 with John Norman Collins. When questioned Collins claimed that he was with his mother at the time in Centerline, MI and it was probably just a case of mistaken identity. They took him at his word.

That same month, on the 26th, 16-year-old Maralynn Skelton was also found dead, beaten and bludgeoned extensively. About three weeks later Dawn Basom, just 13, was found dead after disappearing the previous evening. She had been strangled. University of Michigan graduate Alice Kalom was next, found in a field with her throat cut, stab wounds, and a gunshot to the head. When the killer had not been found in two years, the public outcry was became intense.

Then famed psychic Peter Hurkos was hired to use his skills to find the killer or lead to new clues. Hurkos proved to be of little help and soon the police had yet another body on their hands, student Karen Sue Bieneman. She came up missing on July 23, 1969, and was discovered a few days later, strangled and beaten to death.

The killer had taken too big of a risk with Beineman however. While waiting on Beineman on the day she disappeared, a Wig shop manager had gotten an decent look at as she road away with a man on a Triumph 650 Bonneville motorcycle. Collins was subsequently taken into police custody but denied any involvement whatsoever in the killing.

During the investigators were told that Collins was considered oversexed and tended to harass women past the point of normal behavior. A list of women came forward all claiming to have dated or double dated with John Norman Collins. He must have been a very busy man with all the dates he went on.

Collins went to trial and on August 19, 1970, was found guilty and sent to prison for life with hard labor.John Norma will mark his 40 th year of incarceration in 2010. He is currently in Marquette Branch Prison at Marquette, Michigan.

SOCIETY'S CHILD: JANIS IAN

Ms Ian's Official Website is HERE LAST FM is HERE

Society's Child was a really radical song in the 1960's It's lyrics were written by a 13 year old girl for one and she talks openly about an interracila love affair between a white girl and an African American boy. The subject of the song ultimately gives in to the pressure of her family not allowing her to date outside her (kind).

In the 1960's interracial dating was a huge taboo and often ruined the lives of both parties. Parents hated it on both sides and often the kids were labeled for their entire high school tenure. Growing up in a automotive factory town definitely put fear into a young girl who considered interracial dating. You would never know if you would be verbally or physically be assaulted by eith side of the equation.

Now 4o years later interracial dating is common place on TV, in the Movies, and in public places everywhere in the US. Janis Ian was very brave to write this song let alone record it herself at such a young age.

Here is a bit of Bio Society's Child and Ms Ian:

This song is about an interracial romance. Janis was living in an all-black neighborhood in East Orange, NJ, where she was one of 5 white kids in the school. She explains: "I saw it from both ends. I was seeing it from the end of all the civil rights stuff on the television and radio, of white parents being incensed when their daughters would date black men, and I saw it around me when black parents were worried about their sons or daughters dating white girls or boys. I don't think I knew where I was going when I started it, but when I hit the second line, 'face is clean and shining black as night,' it was obvious where the song was going."

Janis: "I don't think I made a conscious decision to have the girl cop out in the end, it just seemed like that would be the logical thing at my age, because how can you buck school and society and your parents, and make yourself an outcast forever."

Janis didn't write this about a particular person: "My parents were the complete opposite of the parents in the song. They wouldn't have cared if I married a Martian, as long as I was happy... I felt bad for my Dad because everyone assumed he was a racist."

This was about the 10th song Janis wrote. Her first was a song called "Hair Of Spun Gold," which was published in Broadside when she turned 13. Broadside was an underground magazine that published Folk songs by artists like Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger before they hit the mainstream. They invited her to sing it at one of their periodic shows they put on in Greenwich Village, where it got a huge reaction. Broadside kept asking Janis back, and "Society's Child" became one of the songs that became part of these performances.

TIME MAGAZINE:

Janis Ian's initiation into rock 'n' roll was early and dramatic. In 1966, at the age of 15, she recorded Society's Child, a song she'd written about an interracial romance. It raced up the charts and caused an immediate firestorm. Ian soon became pals with some of the era's greatest musical stars, including Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.

While she was fortunate not to meet their fates — both died of drug overdoses — Ian had her own tumultuous life. She attempted suicide, went broke, survived an abusive marriage, wrote and performed another megahit, At Seventeen, and became a lesbian activist. Ian, 57, recounts this and more in her new memoir, Society's Child

RETROKIMMER'S HOMES IN THE 1960S

This is 202 N Summit St in Ypsilanti Michigan. My grandmother (Nanna) bought this home and turned it into a convalescence home. Nanna kept patients in many of the downstairs bedrooms and rented the upstairs rooms to female EMU students. This house had a huge basement with a dirt floor and a greenhouse with windows that were visible on south side.

See the weird trellis stuff on the south side now? That used to be the glass windows in the ceiling of the greenhouse. This lovely old home was converted to students apartments back in the 70's and appears to be fairly maintained. We used to try not to step on those glass windows as we were terrified we'd fall through to the creepy basement.

202 had a big front porch and we hung out on it a lot. My mother told me we watched a tornada go by from that porch in the early 60's. In the 1980's a former worker of Nanna's told my sister that as a little child I came in the kitchen with a shoe box and left it on the table and went back outside. She heard a noise then noticed the box moving on the table. Opening the lid (big mistake) 5 pigeons flew into the room. Guess I must have baited them with crackers and then stuck them in the shoe box. About age 3 I think...

Here is 617 Emmett St on Eastern Michigan University's Campus. We lived here briefly and gratefully before the notorious John Norman Collins movied into 619 Emmett St. JR and Kimmer went here and noticing the door was off the hinges RK had to go inside and see this old haunt. Going in there were a ton of kids inside cleaning the place. Asked them if they minded me taking a peek at my personal "retro" history. They obliged me and I took a little tour of it. Didn't feel confortable shooting inside the house.

Here is 306 N Normal St we hung out with right behind the famous Ted's Campus Drugs. We loved Ted and he was so sweet to us kids that loved buying the cool stuff he had in the store. I loved bvuying Peanuts (Snoopy) paperback books and Mad Magazines here. He has a soda fountain lunch counter in the back with a couple of wooden booths I think. Ted's faces West Cross St. which in the 60's had the coolest business to hang out in. The Clothes Horse, Ding's Pizza, and the College Pharmacu were all haunts of ours. Ding's had these little pizza's for 5o cents my cousin Leslie and I used to love going down there. We also bought penny candy from Abbey's market.

HARRY BENNETTS CASTLE

Retrokimmer and her brother JR went to visit Harry Bennett's Castle Sunday and we shot the front view. It is very lovely now. Nowhere on the property did we spy any lions or tigers...

Here is a great post I found on the Henry Ford Heritage Blog

Inspired by the reported splendor of the 11th century Mongolian summer capital, and composed after an admitted “opium induced” dream, this first line of Samuel Taylor Colerige's great romantic poem Kubla Khan has, in modern times, become a metaphor for both great power and grand opulence. Orson Welles used the stanza in setting the mood for his 1941 classic Citizen Kane, referring to his main character, Charles Foster Kane (aka William Randolph Hearst), as “America's Kubla Khan”.

High above Ann Arbor, Michigan's beautiful Huron River, stands the personal Xanadu of a man who could cynically be called Henry Ford's own Kubla Khan (or Genghis Khan, as many of those who knew him might have agreed). An opulent yet schizophrenic structure whose composition seems the result of paranoia rather than opioid, so reminiscent of the Wellesian melodrama, that on entering one may expect to hear the word “ rosebud “ reverberate throughout its halls.

The home that Ford's personal mercenary called his “Castle” exists today as one remaining monument to the controversial character that was Harry Bennett.

It was thanks to Ford historian Dr. David L. Lewis and the extreme graciousness of the Castle's current owners, Felecia and Dr. Aneel Karnani, that HFHA members were allowed a once in a lifetime tour of the Bennett sanctum. After meeting at the Henry Ford Estate, 100 members were transported about 30 miles to the Geddes Road site; traveling both by car and via the Dearborn Trolley, the latter piloted by HFE volunteer Otto Grau.

Upon arrival, the group received copies of two past Detroit Free Press articles, authored by Dr. Lewis, which profiled the castle and Dr. Lewis’ 1974 interview with Harry Bennett. The Karnani’s were presented with two volumes of Dr. Lewis’ Ford Country, a copy of his definitive biography The Public Image of Henry Ford and a reprint of Bennett’s own tome We Never Called Him Henry. After a question and answer period, in which the Karnani’s spoke of what it is like to live in such a home, tour participants were allowed to freely explore all the inner nooks and crannies of the house that Bennett built.

Harry Bennett purchased the 154-acre (now reduced to 8.6 acres) site in 1929. The man most feared for his ruthless treatment of Ford employees had reason to find refuge behind the gates of this fortress-like estate. Towers, tunnels, spiral staircases, “switch” steps, secret doors, hidden rooms and many other unique security features were incorporated into its design, all to protect the Lord of the manner from “well wishers”, union men and Detroit gangsters. Dr. Lewis has written that Henry Ford and Harry Bennett “designed the mansion with the enthusiasm of boys building a robber lair or pirate’s nest”. Since Ford was involved in the project, no expense was spared.

The architecture of the first floor seems to reflect Bennett’s artistic bent (in his youth he had studied art at the Detroit Fine Arts Academy). Arched hardwood doors, marble accents and vaulted ornamental plaster ceilings provide the perfect setting for the current owner’s collection of Indian art. Bennett’s “secret room” is now easily accessed through a normal doorway, eliminating the need to enter via the hidden fireplace door. A stunning feature is a black tiled, art deco bath complete with “porthole” window. A sweeping staircase climbs to the second floor within a castle-like tower. On the rail of a roof deck an original security spotlight rests in place.

Down in the basement, HFHA members found a bar and billiard room styled after an English Pub, an area where Bennett often conducted “Ford “ business. Another room is reminiscent of an underworld catacomb. Most unique, a tiled Roman bath carefully hidden beyond a sliding cabinet. For those members who dared, an exciting, yet somewhat claustrophobic, experience, was a stroll through the seemingly endless, and unlit, under ground tunnel. This ran from the hidden bath to the outbuilding that house Bennett’s infamous lion and tiger dens. A branch of this tunnel leads to an extremely tight spiral staircase, which ascends to the top of the home’s guntower.

A tour of the grounds revealed the small house Bennett built for his mother, the remnants of the pool house, and the overgrown ruins of a miniature village built for the enjoyment of the Bennett daughters.

The Bennett Castle lives up to its reputation as one of the most bizarre mansions in Michigan. An intimate reflection of the man Dr. Lewis, has described as Henry Ford's most trusted - and toughest - lieutenant. During his day, few outsiders were made privy to its hidden features. The Henry Ford Heritage Association would again like to thank the Karnani’s for allowing us such a rare peak. One would doubt that Kubla Bennett would have been so accommodating.

Tunnel under Harry's Castle

In one of Henry Ford II first acts, he walked down to Bennett's basement office and told Bennett his services were no longer required. Tough talking Bennett got in a parting shot by telling Ford, "You're taking over a billion dollar company that you haven't contributed a thing to." That afternoon, Bennett burned all of his company records.

The bizarre and ruthless Bennett era was finally over and later, when Henry Ford II recalled the firing he said., "I went to him (Bennett) with my guard up. I was sure he was going to blow my head off. Well, now Harry is back on the streets were he started."

Read more about Harry....
NEW* Video Tour of the Castle!
Castle Photos From 1984
Harry Bennett's Lodge HERE
Harry Bennett's Cabin HERE
The Rise and Fall of Harry Bennett HERE

VANESSA: VICTOR SKREBNESKI PHOTOGRAPHY

Tonight my friend Heather Harris (Fast Film) the ultra smooth rock photographer from Hollywood commented on the gorgeous photograph taken of Vanessa Redgrave. The original photograph was taken by Victor Skrebneski for the film Isadora (Duncan) starring the very beautiful Ms Redgrave. Incredibly fabulous fashion photographer for over 50 years and I just now learned about Mr. Skrebneski.

Chicago-based photographer Victor Skrebneski is known for his high-styled and glamorous fashion and advertising photography, for sensuous and sculptural nude studies, and for casually elegant portraits of friends and the famous. This photograph of Vanessa Redgrave is typical of the dynamic style Skrebneski employs for his black-and-white portraits.

Born in 1929, Victor Skrebneski attended The School of The Art Institute of Chicago (1943) and the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago (1947-49). Perhaps most famous for his commercial work for the cosmetic company Estee Lauder, Skrebneski has also photographed for Town & Country and Fitness magazines, and for Chanel, Grosvenor Furs, Kohler, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, and Saks Fifth Avenue, among many other clients. His photographs are exhibited and collected widely; a fifty-year retrospective of his work was organized by The Museum of Contemporary Photography in 1999.

Read more about him HERE Thank you so much HH!

Vanessa Redgrave starred in the film biography of the free-spirited modern interpretive dancer Isadora Duncan. Trained in classical dance, Duncan shattered the traditional conformities in her art and her personal life. The film begins at the end of her life as she recalls the past while dictating her memoirs to her male secretary. Her uninhibited sexuality and insistence on personalfreedom and expression shocked more conservative and narrow-minded patrons and audiences.

She brought in elements of classic Greek dance during the height of the jazz age and had children in and out of wedlock. Married to sewing-machine heir Paris Singer (JasonRobards) and the Russian poet Sergei Essenin(Ivan Tchenko), her life was a rollercoaster ride ofsuccess and tragic failures.

Two of her children drowned when her chauffeur left the car unattended and the vehicle plunged into a river. Duncan lived by her own rules, often shunned by the very people who had so passionately embraced her pioneering efforts in dance,women's liberation and free thinking. Redgrave was nominated for an Oscar for her performance.

Thank you Heather for sending me the info on this fantastic artist.