Police: Motive for homicide still under investigation

Investigators are still searching for a motive in a three-week-old homicide case in which one MSU student and three other people were killed.

Katherine Brown, 18, who was an agribusiness management sophomore, was killed Sept. 29 in a quadruple homicide. Jeremy Zimmer, 20, who was dating Brown; his mother Sharmaine Zimmer, 53; and his brother Tyler Zimmer, 17, also were killed.

The Zimmers were shot, and Brown was killed by blunt force trauma before the Zimmers’ home was set on fire. The fire was set to cover up the homicide, Ottawa County sheriff’s Lt. Mark Bennett said.

Investigators spent the weekend going through tips and evidence, Bennett said.

“This is an extraordinary investigation because of the number of victims,” he said. “There’s still a lot of evidence to be gone through.”

Jim and Margie Wahlfield ate dinner at the Zimmer home Sept. 28. They were the last people to see the Zimmers and Brown alive.

The Wahlfields arrived at the family’s home at about 6:30 p.m. Sharmaine Zimmer had cooked a turkey that night, and the couple ate dinner while their daughter attended a class across the street, Jim Wahlfield said.

“Everybody was very happy,” he said. “There was nothing out of the ordinary.”

Margie Wahlfield was one of Sharmaine Zimmer’s best friends, and the couple had met Brown a few times before Sept. 28. They were teasing Brown and Jeremy Zimmer for not taking care of their dishes, Jim Wahlfield said.

After dinner, Brown and Jeremy Zimmer went upstairs, and Tyler Zimmer went to sleep downstairs. Sharmaine Zimmer talked to the Wahlfields until they left the house at 8:45 p.m., Jim Wahlfield said.

Brown sent a series of text messages to her MSU roommate, hospitality business sophomore Claire Stevenson, at about 9:30 p.m. Sept. 28. Brown told Stevenson in the messages she would return to MSU the next day.

The text messages were Stevenson’s last conversation with Brown.

The fire was reported at about 12:45 a.m. Sept. 29.

Stevenson declined to comment any further about the evening’s events.

As the investigation moves forward, Brown’s friends are coping with the reality of her death. They have been sharing stories about her and collecting photos for a bulletin board in her memory, said Jenny Doby, a genomics and molecular genetics sophomore and Brown’s neighbor in the dorm.

“It’s not any easier,” she said. “It’s a lot easier to be around people that knew Katherine and that understand.”

The Zimmer family had very little money, and everyone loved them, Jim Wahlfield said.

“I just don’t understand why anyone would do this. None of it makes any sense to us,” he said. “It blows my mind because they didn’t have any enemies. Everybody loved them.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office at (616) 738-4687 or Silent Observer at (800) 825-0221.

Published on Sunday, October 12, 2008