Families of missing and murdered people who have been waiting for answers, sometimes for decades, are seeing a new push for results.
Michigan State Police said they have around 200 open cold cases at any given time, and with September being National Cold Case month, they’re working to get these cases the attention they deserve.
Recommended Videos
There is a lot of interest in true crime right now and Michigan State Police are trying to take advantage of that interest by launching a website to highlight some cold cases.
The website only has 11 cases so far, but Michigan State Police said they’re planning on adding more.
MSP Detective Sergeant Larry Rothman said the cases were hand-picked by detectives and that they reached out to family members to make sure they want their loved one’s cases listed.
“Our big focus is victim-centered and everything that we do, we wanna put the victim and the victim’s family first and foremost,” Detective Sergeant Larry Rothman with Michigan State Police said.
---> Find more Michigan Cold Case coverage here.
Ruth Postif
Ruth Postif was was 17 years old when she disappeared on October 18, 1973.
She left her Dearborn home to drive to the mall. Two days after she vanished, her vehicle was found in a wooded area between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. More than 200 volunteers helped search for her.
Her body was found more than three weeks later by a hunter in a muddy field 20 miles West of her home.
She had been stabbed to death.
Mary Alice Ellicott
Mary Alice Ellicott was last seen between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. on October 11, 1981, leaving the Polar Bear restaurant (now Thompson’s Bar & Grill) in Saline Township.
Her body was found nearly two weeks later in a grassy field about one and a half miles from the restaurant.
She was well-known at the bar. She had quit a job as a bartender there a week earlier, according to the Associated Press.
Her death was ruled a homicide.
Alcona Dam Jane Doe
This woman was found dead on October 26, 1994. She still hasn’t been identified.
Her remains were found by a hunter on Bamfield Road, near the Alcona Dam. The dam is just outside the town of Glennie, Michigan. Police estimate that she died one to four years before her remains were found.
She’s described as a white woman estimated to have been between 30 to 50 years old. She was 5′ or 5′4′' tall. Her hair was brown and may have had a red tint. There is a distinct gap between the two upper front teeth and evidence of missing and/or pulled teeth.
She had a fracture to her left arm just above the elbow that would have happened years before she died. The broken bone in her arm may have been the result of a car crash. She also had evidence of injuries to the spinal column in the upper and lower thoracic region.
All 11 cases listed on MSP website
Here are links to all 11 cold cases listed on the Michigan State Police cold case website:
These people, these cases, they haven’t been forgotten. Part of the help MSP is getting comes from college students and interns who donate their time by digitizing case files.
“They’re able to help organize those cases which many of which are still in bankers boxes and filing cabinets here and there. So, that’s a heavy lift,” Rothman said.
If you have information about a cold case or you want your loved ones case listed, you can reach out to Michigan State Police through a form on the cold case website or by emailing them at MSP-ColdCase@michigan.gov.
