CHARLOTTLE, Mich. – Michigan parole boards may soon have more power thanks to lawmakers. Brian Goldsmith tells us how a new bill, just passed by the Senate, will give victims and families of a Michigan serial killer some relief.
“He’s bleeding out, he’s got stab wounds in his neck and in his chest,” said Dave Bankhead the first responding officer at the Gilbert home in the late 1970s.
It reads like a murder mystery, but it’s a true story. “He said this guy’s a monster and should not get out,
“He stabbed her 17 times,” said Sadler (in an inference to a murder committed by Don Miller). Rod Sadler wrote the book called “Killing Women” and talked about it at the Charlotte Library this past weekend.
At first someone thought it was a “ritualistic killing by someone,” said Sadler. The author is talking about the serial killer who admitted, killing four East Lansing women in the late 70’s.
“And the connection, so he cut off her hands to get the handcuffs back,” said Sadler. Sadler is tired of worrying that Don Miller will get out of prison.
But Angela Witwer is doing something about it. “This was very close to my heart, and I’ve had other people in my family be victims of very brutal crimes,” said Angela Witwer, Rep. D-Delta Township.
State representative Witwer sponsored one of two bills currently in the Michigan legislature. It would give the parole board the power to delay a prisoner’s parole hearing up to five years.
“He has to be considered but when you look at the totality of the circumstances of this individual, he’s not one who should receive parole.” said Eaton County Prosecutor Douglas Lloyd.
The serial killer is scheduled to be released in 2031, but this spring will be the second year in a row the parole board has to consider letting him out early.
Douglas Lloyd is an Eaton County prosecutor, he says all that does is re-victimize the victims. “why are we re-traumatizing these victims and these victims families, said Lloyd with him being consider for parole every year?”
If the bills pass, it will give the victims and their families a little more time between parole hearings. “Well just, just to get it out that more people, everybody can write to the parole board you know, that they’re not realizing that this man could be out you know in our midst, you know with in our lifetime,” said Kim Cramer, of Charlotte.
In the meantime, Rod Sadler will continue to speak about the serial killer who shouldn’t get parole anytime soon. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is expected to sign the bill.