Cold case finally closed

Final unsolved murder case on campus closed with identification of murderer

The last remaining unsolved murder at MSU has been solved. Marie Ann Jackson, whose body was found in an isolated wooded area of MSU property near College Road on Nov. 21, 1970, had been lying in the woods for up to four days before her body was found. She had been strangled.

Now, 38 years later, members of the MSU police homicide task force have confirmed that DNA and tissue analysis match Carl Finch, an acquaintance of Jackson’s. Finch, an Eaton Rapids resident, committed suicide in Florida in 1997.

MSU police Det. Andrea Beasinger, who has been working with the task force on the case for 3 1/2 years, said advances in technology had a substantial role in helping solve the case.

“It gives us a lot more tools to use to deal with cases, particularly ones where technology wasn’t available,” Beasinger said.

The effect of the last unsolved case closing has a particular impact on families of victims, Beasinger said.

“For family members of someone who was murdered, it gives them hope that the cases that their loved ones were involved in are cases that can be solved,” she said.

Jackon’s body was found about 40 yards from a small trail that, at the time, was referred to as “lover’s lane.” Jackson, whose autopsies confirmed she was a victim of a sexual assault, was found naked by a deer hunter.

Jackson, who was 19 years old at the time of her death, was a waitress at a local drive-in restaurant and a 1970 graduate of Everett High School in Lansing.

Taylor Johnston, a professor of crop and soil sciences who has been teaching at MSU since 1968, said he is glad that Jackson’s case, as well as all of MSU’s unsolved murders, have come to a close.

“We didn’t have the technology then that we have now,” Johnston said. “It’s wonderful we can do things like DNA analysis.”

The environment on campus is not that different now than it was when Johnston was here in the ’70s, he said.

“I think people are more aware than they once were,” Johnston said. “But we always need to be careful, wherever we are.”

East Lansing Mayor Vic Loomis, a 1972 MSU graduate, said because homicide is uncommon on campus, he remembers hearing about Jackon’s death 38 years ago.

“Back then, you could walk across campus by yourself and feel safe,” Loomis said. “But we still tried to walk with someone.”

With a case as old as Jackson’s, police take the files out and review them every few years in an effort to see if there is any new information or sources available, MSU police Chief Jim Dunlap said.

About 15 or 16 DNA profiles were sent to private labs to search for matches from the crime scene.

Getting the results back from tests can take weeks or months, Dunlap said.

“There were a lot of times where (officers) were actively involved in the crime, and other times where they just had to wait,” he said.

Tony Abruzzo, an MSU alumnus who was on campus at the time of Jackson’s murder, said although the case occurred while he was attending MSU, he did not feel unsafe.

“Myself and my friends at the time, we never felt uncomfortable,” he said. “Times were different then, but it was still a pretty safe place to be.”

The MSU police find a way to take money out of the budget to do DNA tests to solve crimes like Jackson’s, Dunlap said. For most cases, the MSU police use the Michigan State Police crime lab to test DNA and tissue samples.

“You just have to make allowances for it,” he said. “The rest we’re able to do with existing resources.”

Homicides on MSU property remain a relatively infrequent occurrence, Dunlap said. Exact numbers of how many homicides there have been on campus since Jackson’s are unknown, he said.

Felony rates are down on campus, Dunlap said. From 1997-2007, felonies have decreased 54 percent. Felonies in this case include rape, homicide, robberies, sexual assaults and burglaries.

While there are still a number of rural areas at MSU, many are monitored by officers on a regular basis or are fenced off.

Dunlap said that when a case goes on as long as Jackson’s, different members of the department will be assigned to do a follow-up on the case every few years.

“The good part about it is usually if you transfer from one group to another that looks at those, they have people around that did previous reviews,” he said. “It’s a different set of eyes.”

Jackson’s case is not the first case from the 1970s to be solved recently. Last fall, a case against Gary Mason, a man who stabbed a fellow MSU student 34 years ago, also was brought to a close by MSU police efforts.

“This has been a pretty significant fiscal year for us,” Dunlap said. “In the end, you are still able to bring some sort of closure to families.”

Published on Wednesday, August 6, 2008