a dna sample was obtained from phillips bone marrow. it did not match the dna from the crime scene. i called and spoke with susan s mother, and she was very disappointed. but you know, i tried to assure her that we would continue to go forward and try to identify the suspect. i was angry at the time, because i felt we had closure, it was done with. and there was more bad news. the dna did not match anyone in the statewide database of known criminal offenders. if the killer wasn t phillips or anyone who committed a felony before the dna database was created, then who was it? you know, where do we go from here? and the obvious answer is, let s dig back into the case and let s see who else was a suspect in those days. who else can we get a dna standard from? let s just keep going until we run out of suspects.
ecales was convinced he was closing in on susan schumake s killer but only dna could fruv a prove it and the suspect wasn t willing to provide it. so michigan state police decided they would take it in a completely legal manner. they decided to have surveillance on him. so we could identify him or eliminate him. it wasn t easy since he worked in an autoparts salvage yard, only other employees could get close to him without rousing suspicion. then police learned that he recently sold his car and they knew he smoked cigarettes, so they traced the car to the new owner. they asked about cigarette buts in the ash tray and he said
file, so they requested the state exhume his body. a dna sample was taken from his bone marrow. it did not match the dna from the crime scene. i spoke with susan s mother and she was very disappointed and i tried to control her that we would go forward. we thought it was over. and it didn t match the state wide data base of well known killers. if it wasn t fims or anyone who committed the murder before the dna data base was committed. then who was it? the obvious answer was let s dig back in the case and see who else was a suspect in those days and who else can we get a dna standard from and let s keep
that backpack and i knew it was true. so, he was arrested and forced to provide an additional dna suspect. and that left no doubt he was the source of the dna on susan schumake. they cannot fathom a reason for susan schumake s murder. they believe he saw her walking alone on the dirt path and decided to attack her. it was late in the day, no one heard or saw anything. he left behind his dna, then took her yellow backpack, stole $10 from her purse, dumped it in the creak, then dropped his bag with a pharmacy prescription in it not far away. it s the randomness that s so frightening, she wasn t selected. she just happened to be in the
gone. the next day, with still no word from susan, the police were notified. that night, officers noticed some trampled vegetation near a dirt foot path students used to walk from one side of the campus to the other. as he walked into the weeds a little deeper with a flashlight and all of at once, he saw susan s body. this was something that really undid us. this was obviously a horrible thing and i immediately started crying. it was a very terrible moment for me. it appeared that susan had been beaten, strangled and sexually assaulted. police assumed the crime occurred just after she left the radio station between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m., which meant she was abducted and attacked in broad