CHARGES FILED IN 1981 MURDER CASE
Annie4007
VICTIM'S FAMILY HAPPY CARBONDALE POLICE NEVER GAVE UP AFTER 23 YEARS
CARBONDALE [Thu Sep 30 2004]-- After 23 years, the man who allegedly
killed Susan Schumake may finally be brought to justice.
The Carbondale Police Department announced Thursday they have arrested
a suspect in the 1981 murder. His name will be released at a press
conference this afternoon.
For Schumake's family, the ordeal has been nothing short of a
nightmare. Since Susan's death, her father has died and her mother has
suffered a stroke. Her mother, brother and sister have endured false
hope that their loved one's murder would be solved, and they have seen
those hopes dashed when DNA evidence eliminated the best suspect the
police had.
Now, that very same physical evidence may be what turns the tide and
ends the tragic mystery.
John Schumake, Susan Schumake's brother, said police told him last
week they arrested a suspect in Michigan. He said a DNA profile on the
new suspect will be used as evidence when the case against him is
brought to trial.
"In the past, I've been very critical of the Carbondale Police
Department," John Schumake said. "But I have to say in a lot of ways I
was wrong. They really stuck with it. We really appreciate Sgt. Paul
Echols -- he was with it from the very beginning."
Schumake said he is also grateful to the Michigan police who
cooperated and communicated so well with the Carbondale police,
including surveillance of the 45-year-old suspect as Echols was on his
way with a court order for a DNA sample.
"(Echols) arrested the guy on my dad's birthday -- which he didn't
know at the time," Schumake said.
Schumake said he was told the suspect was a man who had dropped a
satchel near the place where Susan Schumake's body was found. Some of
the items had his name on them. At that time, using DNA as evidence
wasn't a possibility, and the man was allowed to fade from the
picture.
"Echols kept pursuing every angle, and it paid off," Schumake said.
"But we know there still has to be a trial, and that makes us a little
tense."
The unsolved case had become a personal odyssey for Echols. He was
barely involved in the initial investigation in Schumake's murder. At
that time, he was a rookie with the department.
However, when he became involved in the forensics side of police work
in 1992, the unsolved case stared him in the face every time he
entered the evidence room at the police department.
In a recent interview with The Southern Illinoisan in which he
discussed crime scene investigative techniques, he referred to Susan
Schumake as a "beautiful girl," and said he had great sympathy for her
family.
The Schumake case, he said, was one he continued to work at, using new
technology to glean new information from old evidence.
"We've developed fingerprints on things in this (evidence) box that
we'd already processed," he said.
Advances in technology were used to develop a DNA profile from seminal
fluid collected after the crime.
Two years ago, Echols was involved in exhuming deceased convicted
serial killer John Paul Phillips, at that time the strongest suspect
in the Schumake case. Phillips' right femur bone was taken to the
state police DNA lab in Springfield for a analysis.
The profile developed was compared to the profile of Schumake's killer
-- and the police department and the family were back to square one
when DNA evidence eliminated Phillips as a murder suspect.
He had been considered a strong suspect because, while he was serving
a prison sentence in Menard Correctional Center in Chester, he bragged
to a fellow inmate about killing three other women in the Carbondale
area. It is also known he was working on construction at SIUC at the
time and near where Schumake's body was found.
Phillips eventually was convicted of one of the murders he'd
boastfully claimed. He died of a heart attack in prison in 1993 while
serving his sentence for the murder.
When Phillips was eliminated as a suspect, Echols continued to develop
other suspects.
Carbondale Police Chief Steve Odum confirmed Echols has been the
driving force behind the development, investigation and arrest of this
new suspect, saying he "kept at it." He said investigators at the time
may have been too focused on Phillips and may have not developed some
of the evidence Echols was later able to use.
John Schumake said one of the good things to come from this case is
the cooperation of multiple police departments and across state lines.
He said he hopes cases such as this one will help spur interest in DNA
studies and improved data-basing for law enforcement.
More information, including the identity of the suspect, will be
revealed later today.
Anne Warfield
>http://www.southernillinoisan.com/rednews/2004/10/01/build/top/TOP001.html
>
>VICTIM'S FAMILY HAPPY CARBONDALE POLICE NEVER GAVE UP AFTER 23 YEARS
>
>CARBONDALE [Thu Sep 30 2004]-- After 23 years, the man who allegedly
>killed Susan Schumake may finally be brought to justice.
>
>The Carbondale Police Department announced Thursday they have arrested
>a suspect in the 1981 murder. His name will be released at a press
>conference this afternoon.
He's named in the article below from the Chicago Tribune--
Man charged in slaying of SIU student
Evidence crops up from 1981 killing
By Liam Ford and Karen Mellen, Tribune staff reporters. Liam Ford
reported from Carbondale and Karen Mellen from Chicago
Published October 2, 2004
CARBONDALE -- Based on new evidence, a 45-year-old Michigan man who
worked at an apartment complex near Southern Illinois University has
been charged with the 1981 murder of a student who hailed from Chicago
Heights, prosecutors said Friday.
Daniel Woloson of Brownstown Township, Mich., was on parole for a
burglary conviction for two months when he allegedly murdered
21-year-old Susan Schumake, who was found strangled and raped in
August 1981, authorities said.
Police were unable to make an arrest then, even though they had
suspects, including Woloson, who had a maintenance job at an apartment
complex just east of the murder scene. Over time, police focused on
John Paul Phillips, a convicted murderer on Death Row who died of a
heart attack in 1993 at Menard Correctional Center.
But authorities exhumed Phillips' body in 2001, and DNA tests
eliminated him as a suspect, said Jackson County State's Atty. Mike
Wepsiec.
Police then refocused on Woloson, and police agencies in Michigan and
Illinois found his older-model Ford Tempo in the Detroit region in
March. Evidence was taken and later analyzed, and Woloson was arrested
in Michigan last month, police said.
Wepsiec would not comment on the evidence, but Schumake's brother told
the Tribune that cigarette butts were taken and DNA tests were done.
Schumake's relatives credit the persistent work of Carbondale police
Sgt. Paul Echols in solving the case. To humanize the case, a relative
said, Echols gave other officers a photo showing Susan Schumake with
her father.
Detective Lt. Richard Hayward of the Michigan State Police received a
copy of that photo, and he said many officers felt a personal
connection to the case.
"It seemed like a solid lead worth pursuing," he said.
Under statutes in place at the time of the murder, Woloson could face
20 to 40 years in prison, but prosecutors could ask for natural life
or the death penalty.
Woloson spent time in Illinois prisons for separate theft and burglary
convictions from Sangamon County, said a spokeswoman for the Illinois
Department of Corrections. He was sentenced for a burglary charge on
Sept. 24, 1979, and was paroled in June 1981.
He was taken back into custody Nov. 23, 1981--three months after
Schumake's slaying--on a parole violation, but was released Dec. 2,
1981. His parole ended in April 1983, and an official said corrections
had no further contact with him. Wepsiec said Woloson returned to
Michigan in the early 1980s.
But the Schumake murder "has been on the mind of southern Illinoisans
for more than two decades," Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole said Friday.
Southern Illinois University built a pedestrian bridge over U.S.
Highway 51, near the site of the murder, partly because of safety
concerns by women's groups, and named it the Susan Schumake Memorial
Overpass.
Julie Claussen, a student at SIU at the time of the murder, said 1981
was a difficult time because another woman, Joan Wetherall, was also
raped and murdered that year (Phillips later was convicted of that
murder). She said other sexual assaults appeared to be the work of a
serial rapist.
Copyright Š 2004, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0410020122oct02,1,4809133.story?coll=chi-news-hed
--
Anne Warfield
indigoace at goodsol period com
http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
Annie4007
> On 1 Oct 2004 09:33:21 -0700, anni...@yahoo.com (Annie4007) wrote:
>
> >http://www.southernillinoisan.com/rednews/2004/10/01/build/top/TOP001.html
> >
> >VICTIM'S FAMILY HAPPY CARBONDALE POLICE NEVER GAVE UP AFTER 23 YEARS
> >
> >CARBONDALE [Thu Sep 30 2004]-- After 23 years, the man who allegedly
> >killed Susan Schumake may finally be brought to justice.
> >
> >The Carbondale Police Department announced Thursday they have arrested
> >a suspect in the 1981 murder. His name will be released at a press
> >conference this afternoon.
>
>
> He's named in the article below from the Chicago Tribune--
>
> Man charged in slaying of SIU student
> Evidence crops up from 1981 killing
>
> By Liam Ford and Karen Mellen, Tribune staff reporters. Liam Ford
> reported from Carbondale and Karen Mellen from Chicago
> Published October 2, 2004
>
> CARBONDALE -- Based on new evidence, a 45-year-old Michigan man who
> worked at an apartment complex near Southern Illinois University has
> been charged with the 1981 murder of a student who hailed from Chicago
> Heights, prosecutors said Friday.
>
> Daniel Woloson of Brownstown Township, Mich., was on parole for a
> burglary conviction for two months when he allegedly murdered
> 21-year-old Susan Schumake, who was found strangled and raped in
> August 1981, authorities said.
>
Thanks for the update, Anne.
