2 charged with killing hunters missing 18 years
Anne Warfield
2 charged with killing hunters missing 18 years
Associated Press
Published May 16, 2003
DETROIT -- Two brothers have been charged with murder in the case of
two hunters missing for 18 years, the state attorney general said
Thursday.
Raymond Duvall Jr. and Donald Duvall, arraigned Wednesday in Oscoda
County, are accused in the deaths of Brian Ognjan of St. Clair Shores
and David Tyll of Troy.
Asked why charges were being brought now, Atty. Gen. Mike Cox said
only that the case had accelerated in the last two months as a result
of work by the Michigan State Police and subpoenas issued by his
office.
In November 1985, Ognjan and Tyll, both 27 at the time, told family
members they were going to Tyll's family cabin near White Cloud to
hunt for deer.
But they never purchased hunting licenses or arrived at the cabin.
Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0305160314may16,1,598924.story?coll=chi%2Dnewsnationworld%2Dhed
--
Anne Warfield
indigoace at goodsol period com
http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
Mark Fenster
> Weird. Anybody heard anything about this one?
>
> 2 charged with killing hunters missing 18 years
>
> Associated Press
> Published May 16, 2003
>
Anne,
No, I had not heard of it...if the allegations below are true, the
Duvall brothers have been trouble for years...
Fenster
***********************************
Murder charges filed as Mich. mystery unravels
2 brothers held in '85 hunter slayings
May 16, 2003
BY HUGH MCDIARMID JR. AND MARYANNE GEORGE
[Detroit]FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Two brothers from the backwoods of northern Michigan beat two suburban
Detroit hunters to death outside a Mio tavern in 1985, then bragged of
cutting the bodies apart and feeding them to pigs, according to murder
warrants released Thursday by state prosecutors.
Raymond (Junior) Duvall, 52, of the South Branch area and his brother
Donald (Coco) Duvall, 51, of Monroe were each arraigned on two
first-degree murder charges late Wednesday and are being held without
bond in the Montmorency County Jail.
They are accused of killing Brian Ognjan, a mechanic from St. Clair
Shores, and Ognjan's chilhood buddy, David Tyll, a machinist from
Troy. The pair, then both 27, had departed metro Detroit for the Tyll
family cabin near White Cloud (at least a 3-hour drive from Mio) on
Nov. 22, 1985, but didn't return. The Ford Bronco they were driving
was never found.
At Raymond Duvall's home in Monroe on Thursday, a man in the driveway
said he had no comment. Later, someone at the home returned a
reporter's phone call and asked that the family not be bothered.
The disappearance generated massive publicity and involved dozens of
police agencies in the mid-1980s. The case was haunting in a state
where the hunting culture is pervasive, and for years afterward
hunters during the 2-week November firearms deer season were urged to
look for the Bronco. More than 700,000 people buy Michigan
deer-hunting licenses each year.
Tips in the case slowed to a trickle over the years, but new testimony
from witnesses cracked the 18-year logjam earlier this year, state
Attorney General Mike Cox said.
Appearing with the parents of the missing men at a Detroit news
conference Thursday, Cox said the state has a solid case against the
brothers, butsuggested there may never be enough evidence to charge
three other men who are believed to have participated in the beating.
He said investigators have physical evidence to bolster eyewitness
accounts linking the Duvalls to the killing, but did not say what the
evidence is.
He declined to speculate on rumors about a motive for the men's
apparent killings, which have ranged from drunken confrontations
fueled by machismo to robbery or showdowns over a woman. Prosecutors
will provide a motive during the trial, he said. In a quavering voice,
Tyll's mother, Cathy Tyll, read a short statement at Thursday's news
conference. She praised police and said her son's 12 brothers and
sisters will never forget him.
"It's been a long time, but maybe this is the beginning of the end,"
she said.
State Police Detective Sgt. Robert Lesneski said investigators are not
releasing the names of most witnesses in the case because of threats
against them. At least one is receiving police protection, he said.
People close to the investigation who asked not to be identified said
the Duvall brothers have been the focus of the investigation for
years, but many potential witnesses feared retribution from the family
that includes at least five brothers.
At one time, most of the brothers lived in the Mio area, but some have
moved to Monroe, police said.
A May 21 preliminary examination is scheduled before 81st District
Judge Allen Yenior in District Court in Tawas City.
According to Cox and details from information in the arrest warrant,
the fatal weekend unfolded like this:
Tyll and Ognjan told their families they were headed to the Tyll's
family cabin for the weekend on Friday, Nov. 22. They never reached
the cabin, but instead were spotted drinking in Walker's bar in Mio
that night.
It's unclear where they spent the night, but they returned for
breakfast at Walker's in the morning.
The next sighting was in Linker's Lounge, a bar just west of Mio,
where the two hunters were visibly intoxicated and offending some of
the customers, according to a barmaid cited in the warrant. The woman
noticed the Duvall brothers and an unidentified man intently watched
the pair play pool, according to the warrant.
"The witness believed that . . . because of the known reputation of
the Duvall brothers for violent behavior, there was going to be
trouble," the warrant reads.
Later, the brothers and their companion were joined by two other men.
Shortly before midnight, the witness told police, there was a
commotion outside.
In the headlights of a vehicle, the witness said, she saw the two
brothers punching, kicking and clubbing Ognjan with a bat or metal rod
"until Brian Ognjan lay unmoving on the ground." Tyll ran off but two
men gave chase, caught him and beat him to death in the same manner,
she said.
The men tossed the bodies in the back of the 1980 Ford Bronco the
hunters had been driving and drove away in the Bronco and their own
cars, said the witness.
According to the warrant, the Bronco was later seen by a girlfriend of
Donald Duvall, who told police that she heard Raymond Duvall shout to
a third brother, Randy Duvall: "Get rid of that (expletive) truck
before you get us all in trouble!"
Finally, the warrant states that in a 1987 Duvall family gathering at
a bar in Wixom, two witnesses overheard the two Duvall brothers make a
chilling admission: that they had dismembered the bodies and fed them
to pigs, possibly pigs that authorities say the family kept on a small
farm near Mio.
Seymour Schwartz, an attorney hired by the Duvall family to represent
the men, was driving to see them Thursday night and said he wasn't
familiar with the details of the case.
"My understanding is every few years this comes up and the State
Police investigate the Duvall brothers and don't bring charges," he
said. "I won't know much more until I can talk to them."
At Walker's Bar and Bowling Alley on Thursday, little has changed from
the time Ognjan and Tyll saw it in 1985. Owners Paul and Bev Pasternak
live upstairs.
Brenda Ballard, the Pasternaks' daughter, disputes the State Police
time line, saying Tyll and Ognjan were seen in the bar Saturday night,
not Friday, and again on Sunday at about noon, the weekend they
disappered.
On Saturday, they were playing pool with a man named Coke because he
wore oversized eyeglasses with thick lenses that resembled the glass
of a Coke bottle, she said.
"Coke was the kind of guy you kept your eye on because he could be
trouble," Ballard said.
She said they also spent time talking with Dave Welch, a retired
construction worker from Curran near Mio. Welch said he talked to the
victims at the bar on the Saturday night.
At one point the conversation took a strange turn, Welch said
Thursday.
"What puzzles me is that David said: 'Wouldn't it be nice to up and
disappear,' " Welch said.
Tyll told Welch he wanted to go to the Bahamas for the winter.
"You'll have a better chance of disappearing if you go to Alaska," he
said he told them.
He said he told police of the conversation in 1985 and 1986.
The men's families have never bought that theory.
Neither have police.
Oscoda County Sheriff Michael Larrison said the men's pictures have
hung on the walls of the 10-officer department for 18 years.
"I look at those pictures every day," said Larrison, who was a
detective at the time they disappeared. "I'm personally very thankful
that maybe this will give the families peace."
Contact HUGH McDIARMID JR. at 248-586-2611 or
mcdia...@freepress.com. Staff writers Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki and
Niraj Warikoo contributed to this report.
Mark Fenster
>
> 2 charged with killing hunters missing 18 years
>
> Associated Press
> Published May 16, 2003
>
> DETROIT -- Two brothers have been charged with murder in the case of
> two hunters missing for 18 years, the state attorney general said
> Thursday.
A small "legal process" article specifying how police were able to get
additional information from reluctant witnesses in the missing
hunter's murder case.
Fenster
********************************************
SUBPOENAS ISSUED (Detroit Free Press 05/16/2003)
A six year old state law allowing the use of investigative subpoenas
was credited by police and prosecutors as a tool that helped compel
reluctant witnesses to provide more information against the defendants
in the missing hunters' murder case.
The subpoena, called a "poor man's grand jury" by state Attorney
General Mike Cox, forces witnesses to answer questions under oath
about criminal investigations. A judge must issue the subpoena.
Cox said investigative subpoenas helped get new testimony in the
missing hunters' case over the course of the past several months.
He declined to say how many people were subpoenaed.
By Hugh McDiarmid Jr.
Anne Warfield
Fenster) wrote:
[snip]
>In the headlights of a vehicle, the witness said, she saw the two
>brothers punching, kicking and clubbing Ognjan with a bat or metal rod
>"until Brian Ognjan lay unmoving on the ground." Tyll ran off but two
>men gave chase, caught him and beat him to death in the same manner,
>she said.
>
>The men tossed the bodies in the back of the 1980 Ford Bronco the
>hunters had been driving and drove away in the Bronco and their own
>cars, said the witness.
>
>According to the warrant, the Bronco was later seen by a girlfriend of
>Donald Duvall, who told police that she heard Raymond Duvall shout to
>a third brother, Randy Duvall: "Get rid of that (expletive) truck
>before you get us all in trouble!"
>
>Finally, the warrant states that in a 1987 Duvall family gathering at
>a bar in Wixom, two witnesses overheard the two Duvall brothers make a
>chilling admission: that they had dismembered the bodies and fed them
>to pigs, possibly pigs that authorities say the family kept on a small
>farm near Mio.
Oh Jesus, that's horrible. Thanks for finding this, Mark.
Man. My dad goes hunting, my brothers & step-brothers go hunting: I
hope none of them every runs into anything like this!
annein...@attbi.com
Fenster) wrote:
>indi...@aolxxx.com (Anne Warfield) wrote in message news:<3ec90f04...@news.earthlink.net>...
>> Weird. Anybody heard anything about this one?
>>
>> 2 charged with killing hunters missing 18 years
>>
>> Associated Press
>> Published May 16, 2003
>>
>
>Murder charges filed as Mich. mystery unravels
>2 brothers held in '85 hunter slayings
>
>May 16, 2003
>
>BY HUGH MCDIARMID JR. AND MARYANNE GEORGE
>[Detroit]FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
>
>Two brothers from the backwoods of northern Michigan beat two suburban
>Detroit hunters to death outside a Mio tavern in 1985, then bragged of
>cutting the bodies apart and feeding them to pigs, according to murder
>warrants released Thursday by state prosecutors.
<snip>
>
>According to Cox and details from information in the arrest warrant,
>the fatal weekend unfolded like this:
>
>Tyll and Ognjan told their families they were headed to the Tyll's
>family cabin for the weekend on Friday, Nov. 22. They never reached
>the cabin, but instead were spotted drinking in Walker's bar in Mio
>that night.
>
>It's unclear where they spent the night, but they returned for
>breakfast at Walker's in the morning.
>
>The next sighting was in Linker's Lounge, a bar just west of Mio,
>where the two hunters were visibly intoxicated and offending some of
>the customers, according to a barmaid cited in the warrant. The woman
>noticed the Duvall brothers and an unidentified man intently watched
>the pair play pool, according to the warrant.
Okay this I am curious about. How were they offending people? And I
wonder if somehow the Duvalls believed Tyll and Ognjan were gay and
thought they were either being hit upn or just thouyght they would get
rid of two queers?
anne in chicago
anne in chicago - Adoptive Mom to The BLTS
stargazer
"Anne Warfield" <indi...@aolxxx.com> wrote in message
news:3ec77408....@news.earthlink.net...
It certainly is horrible, something one thinks of more in the backwoods of
Applachia or soemthing, gives me the creeps.
stargazer
Jagdeep Cruellruby
"stargazer" <star...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:oLkxa.55667$cg.3...@fe10.atl2.webusenet.com...
*****Sounds like deliverance country, doesn't it. JC
Mark Fenster
Anne in Chicago,
I don't think we know any answers to your questions until the trial.
From the article...
Prosecutors will provide a motive during the trial, he said.
Fenster
stargazer
"Jagdeep Cruellruby" <jonesi...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3ec5fb3a$0$14139$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
That's exactly what I thought of when reading the senario. Certainly
doesn't make one feel like they'd like to travel though those parts, 'eh?
stargazer
Patty
disappearance.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8031946&BRD=988&PAG=461&dept_id=141265&rfi=6""
From the Macom Daily:
Ognjan and Tyll's disappearance spawned local and national attention.
The movie "Missing Reward," starring actor Stacey Keach reenacted the
disappearance, and the television show "Unsolved Mysteries" considered
a segment, but committed only to airing a brief synopsis. The
disappearance also was a common annual media story as hunting season
approached each fall.
Despite years of speculation and police tips, the missing men's bodies
and Tyll's truck, a 1980 Ford Bronco, were never found.
Cox attributed breaks in the case two months ago that helped solidify
the theory the Duvalls were involved, but wouldn't discuss what those
breaks were. He did state his belief that his department's increased
use of investigative subpoenas -- court orders requiring those who
don't wish to talk to be questioned under oath before a judge -- did
prove helpful.
Cox didn't discuss who was subpoenaed to talk. But the state's
criminal complaint reiterates witness testimony about the beatings as
well as statements made by Donald Duvall's ex-girlfriend Connie
Sundburg. She allegedly told investigators that a third Duvall
brother, Randy, was seen after the beatings driving Tyll's truck
before he was told by Raymond Duvall Jr. to get rid of it.