BLUMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A 16-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped, and killed 43 years ago in Michigan, and nobody could find answers. Now, the man responsible has been identified.
Disappearance of Sheri Jo Elliott
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Sheri Jo Elliott, 16, was reported missing on Nov. 16, 1983, when she didn’t return home from school in Flint.
Elliott was last seen waiting for the bus. Police and residents spent days searching the area.
Four days after her disappearance, Elliott’s body was found along a rural road in Blumfield Township, Michigan.
Police said Elliott had been shot multiple times and sexually assaulted.
The case went cold because of the limited forensic technology available at the time, police said.
Investigation reopened, suspect identified
In 2023, Michigan State Police detectives reopened the case and took another look at the evidence.
Alongside the MSP Forensic Science Division and Othram Labs, investigators used forensic-grade genome sequencing to develop a profile of an unidentified person they believed to be responsible for Elliott’s death.
That ultimately led them to focus on Roni Collins, 75, of Grand Blanc.
Roni Collins dies by suicide
Before investigators could get a voluntary DNA sample from Collins, he died by suicide in January 2026, they said.
DNA collected during his autopsy was analyzed. It matched the evidence recovered from Elliott in 1983, identifying him as the person responsible, according to authorities.
“Although Collins will not face prosecution, detectives believe the identification provides long-awaited answers to Elliott’s family and the community,” Michigan State Police Third District said in a social media post.
Western Michigan University Cold Case Program students helped with the case by reorganizing and digitizing decades of investigative material, police said.