Kalamazoo Dismembered Body: It's Travis Lane and Police Know Who Killed Him
Maggie
Dismembered body identified
(Kalamazoo, January 29, 2004, 6:12 p.m.) Police say they have now identified
the man found dismemebered in a wooded area in Kalamazoo and say they know who
killed him.
Police tell 24 Hour News 8 they are looking for 21-year-old Jeremy Ryan Russell
of Kalamazoo. Officers say he is the prime suspect in the case and warrants
have been issued for his arrest.
Russell, who is considered armed and dangerous, is wanted for the murder of
21-year-old Travis Lane who has been missing since January 14. Lane's
dismembered body was found in a wooded area behind businesses on Westnedge
Avenue in January 17. The body was in such bad shape that police were unable to
identify the body until test results recently came back.
Police believe Russell is in Florida driving in Lane's gray 2000 Jeep Grand
Cherokee that now has the Florida license plate X18-AQW.
If you have any information, call Kalamazoo police or Silent Observer at
269-343-2100.
Maggie
"Here’s a quick note from the estate of the late Senator Strom Thurmond –
Happy Kwanzaa!" -- Jay Leno
Hester888Mofet
<snip>
>Police tell 24 Hour News 8 they are looking for 21-year-old Jeremy Ryan
>Russell
>of Kalamazoo. Officers say he is the prime suspect in the case and warrants
>have been issued for his arrest.
<snip>
Any word on whether this guy was a friend of the victim?
Hester Mofet
Maggie
***He was--they went to high school together. Here's the latest from the
Kalamazoo Gazette:
Man's body identified; ex-classmate sought
Friday, January 30, 2004
By Rex Hall Jr.
rh...@kalamazoogazette.com 388-7784
A 21-year-old Kalamazoo man who police say has fled to Florida was charged
Thursday with killing a former high school classmate whose body was
dismembered.
An arrest warrant for murder was issued Thursday against Jeremy Ryan Russell,
21, in the death of Travis Lane, a 21-year-old Kalamazoo Township man who had
been missing from his home since Jan. 14.
Police confirmed Thursday it was Lane's body that was found Jan. 17 by police
in a wooded area near South Westnedge Avenue. The head and hands had been
removed from the body, according to a Kalamazoo man who was among those who
found the body.
Police said Thursday that the missing body parts have not been found.
Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Chief Dan Weston said Russell and Lane
attended high school together and "were familiar with one another."
No motive has been established in the slaying, police said.
"We'd like to ask (Russell) that question ourselves," said Weston, who was
flanked at the Thursday afternoon press conference by Kalamazoo Township Police
Chief Tim Bourgeois and Kalamazoo County Sheriff Mike Anderson.
He said the investigation was a joint effort by the three agencies, along with
the FBI and Michigan State Police.
Police were able to establish Russell as a suspect in the case through the
discovery of a latent fingerprint, said Weston, who declined to say where the
fingerprint was found.
Weston said Russell fled the Kalamazoo area in Lane's gray 2000 Jeep Grand
Cherokee shortly after Lane was killed.
Police were able to track Russell to Florida because he applied for a new
vehicle registration there and fitted the Jeep with the Florida license plate
X18AQW, Weston said, adding that Russell possesses and has been using Lane's
ID.
Authorities say they believe that Russell is, or has been, in the Miami area
and is armed with a .40-caliber handgun. Investigators from the FBI and law
enforcement agencies in Florida are working to locate him, Weston said.
Russell was already wanted by police on warrants for probation violations,
Weston said. Court records indicate that the 21-year-old was no stranger to the
Kalamazoo County court system.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree home invasion in November 2000
in the city of Kalamazoo. He was sentenced by Judge Richard Ryan Lamb in March
2001 to a year in jail and three years of probation and was ordered to pay
$1,556 in restitution.
The order also permitted Russell to be released into the Kalamazoo Probation
Enhancement Program after serving 90 days in the county jail.
Bourgeois said Russell also had a prior domestic-violence conviction.
No one answered the door Thursday evening at the home of Russell's parents, who
live on Duke Street in Kalamazoo.
Neighbors who knew Russell were shocked that he was a suspect in the Lane
homicide.
"I can't see him doing that," said a neighbor who asked not to be named. "I
knew he had trouble in the past, but not murder."
She had more contact with Russell's younger siblings, who played with her
children, but said she never felt uncomfortable around him.
"I would think he's with someone who's influencing him," she said. "(Murder) is
too hard-core for him."
Mike Boucher, who lives down the street from the Russells, said he knew Russell
several years ago when he was 13 and played on a neighborhood soccer team
Boucher and Russell's father coached. Boucher said he hasn't seen Russell in
several years.
"When he was younger he was real friendly and liked to have a lot of fun,"
Boucher said. "It's hard to imagine, knowing him as a kid, if he turned out to
do something like this."
Authorities said Thursday the final identification of Lane came late Wednesday
through DNA analysis from the State Crime Lab in Lansing.
Lane's uncle, Matt Pattison, said Thursday that family members learned
Wednesday that the body was that of Lane. He said he and his other siblings
have been by the side of their sister, Judy Lane, every day for the past two
weeks as she awaited news about her son.
"It's been hell," Pattison said. "Travis was a good kid. He loved his family
and his brothers and sister and his dad. And especially his mother."
Pattison said Lane, who worked as a designer at a downtown architectural firm,
had plans to attend college in Florida and dreamed of drawing animation for
Walt Disney.
He said family members are hopeful that Russell will be located soon and
arrested.
"They hope and pray," Pattison said.
Gazette reporters Lynn Turner and Cedric Ricks contributed to this story.
Hester888Mofet
Interesting that he dumped the body less than a half mile from his parents'
home.
Hester Mofet