Park death not linked to alleged serial killer
Repo...@uni.com
Grand
Rapids Press newspaper:
Park death not linked to alleged serial killer Meanwhile, the
18-year-old
victim's mom says she has a "funny feeling" the killer was someone her
daughter
knew.
Tuesday, May, 25, 1999
By Doug Guthrie
The Grand Rapids Press
The last time the body of a young woman was found at Highland Park on
Grand
Rapids' Northeast Side, police joined a nationwide manhunt for a
suspected
serial killer.
James Allen Kinney remains at large and wanted for the slaying and rape
of a
20-year-old woman in Washington.
He is wanted for questioning in connection with murders in other states
as
well.
He also remains a suspect in the 1997 slaying in Grand Rapids of
22-year-old
Billie Jo Watson, but investigators are not linking him to the weekend
strangulation
and stabbing death of Jessica Ann Ledford, 18.
"I have no reason to believe he is back in town," said William Nowicki,
the
Grand Rapids police investigator assigned to both the Ledford and Watson
cases.
Ledford's body was found Sunday morning, partially clothed, on a grassy
slope
from College Avenue NE at the park's west boundary.
An autopsy performed at Spectrum Health East by Dr. Stephen Cohle, chief
Kent
County forensic pathologist, showed she died from "manual
strangulation," or
choking. She also suffered stab wounds to her back.
Laboratory tests that could help determine whether Ledford was sexually
assaulted are pending.
Watson had been strangled and sexually assaulted. Both women had
reportedly
been walking near or in the park late at night.
Kinney, then 50, had been a resident of the Creston Heights area until
shortly
after Watson's death. A Vietnam veteran, Kinney is believed to have
traveled
the country since the 1980s, checking in and out of veteran's
facilities.
He came to Grand Rapids in 1996, checking into the veteran's clinic at
Grand
Rapids Home for Veterans, 3000 Monroe Ave. NE, according to police. He
remains
on the FBI's fugitive task force wanted list, but his whereabouts are
unknown.
Investigators also have said Kinney's victims suffered mutilation of a
ritualistic sexual nature before or after he hid their bodies. Although
police
have said the condition of Watson's body helped forge the link to
Kinney, there
is no such evidence in the Ledford case.
Capt. Kevin Belk said Kinney may be a long shot as a suspect in Watson's
death.
"We have the obvious connection that he was here and he is wanted for
similar
crimes elsewhere," Belk said. "We are not excluding any of the
possibilities,
but we don't want to jump to any conclusions."
What police do not have is anything that places Kinney at the scene of
Watson's
death. Through scientific examination of personal belongings Kinney left
behind
in Grand Rapids, crime laboratory technicians in Washington have matched
Kinney's DNA to evidence recovered from the scene of a murder there. No
such
match has been made here.
Belk said detectives Monday continued to interview Ledford's friends and
family
about the last time they saw her. Police also asked for help from anyone
who
may have seen her in or near the park late Saturday or early Sunday.
Belk said Ledford also may have met with people on Michigan Street
sometime
during the night -- a suspicion shared by Ledford's mom.
"I have a funny feeling it was someone she knew," Kristi VanBronkHorst
said.
"She knew so many people. She was friends with everyone. She looked at
people
differently than the rest of us. She saw the person underneath."
Visitation for Ledford will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today at
Cook
Funeral Home's Grandville Chapel at 4235 Prairie Ave. SW. Services will
be at 3
p.m. Wednesday at First Assembly of God's Lighthouse Chapel, 2100 44th
St. SW.
An additional visitation will be one hour before the funeral at the
chapel.
Ledford's mom said she will attend graduation exercises at 7 p.m. today
at
Creston High School, where her daughter was to receive a general
equivalency
degree.
VanBronkHorst said a friend will wear the cap and gown Ledford had
intended to
wear and will accept the diploma on her daughter's behalf.