The true story of the Ypsilanti Ripper's reign of terror
THE
MICHIGAN MURDERS
BY EDWARD KEYES
Coauthor of The French Connection
“The Michigan Murders has a rightful place on the true crime bookshelf alongside
Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood,’ Vincent Bugliosi’s ‘Helter Skelter,’
and Norman Mailer’s ’The Executioner’s Song.’ "
~ MARDI LINK, TRUE CRIME AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST
The Michigan Murders is now available for feature film and miniseries production
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edward Keyes
Edward M. Keyes (1927–2002) was born in the Germantown section of Manhattan and raised in Bronx, NY. After an army stint, he graduated from Fordham University, where he wrote for the newspaper and was a lefty pitcher for their baseball team with his neighborhood pal Vin Scully and others in the 1930s and ‘40s. He continued writing for more than forty years, first as a newspaper reporter, columnist, and editor for small-town New York dailies, and later as a staff writer for such magazines as Look and Quick. His articles appeared in Sports Illustrated, Cosmopolitan, True, American Weekly, Inc. Magazine, and TV Guide, among others, and later in a syndicated newspaper column which he co-wrote with famed trial lawyer Melvin Belli.
Moonlighting in the 1950’s Keyes also coauthored “My Own Particular Screwball” with Al Schact, the Brooklyn-born Clown Prince of Baseball. In the late ‘60s he collaborated with author Robin Moore on the bestselling thriller “The French Connection,” soon afterwards adapted into the Academy Award–winning film of the same name. After The French Connection he authored the Edgar Award–nominated and New York Times–bestselling true crime book “The Michigan Murders.” Later came “Double Dare,” a suspense thriller set in New York City based on the true story of an undercover police informant torn between the mob and the feds, and later “Cocoanut Grove,” a minute-by-minute account of the infamous fire that destroyed Boston’s Cocoanut Grove nightclub in November 1942.
Keyes and wife Eileen raised eight children (Stephen, Dara, Edward, Terry, Kennen, Jeanine, Lisa, Thomas) in and around New York City. He spent his final years retired in San Diego, California, passing away at age 75.
Excerpt of a radio interview with author Ed Keyes after receiving the Edgar Allan Poe Award by the Mystery Writers of America for The Michigan Murders.
THE STORY
THE TRUE STORY OF THE YPSILANTI RIPPER'S REIGN OF TERROR
In 1967, during the time of peace, free love, and hitchhiking, nineteen-year-old Mary Terese Fleszar was last seen alive walking home to her apartment in Ypsilanti, Michigan. One month later, her naked body—stabbed over thirty times and missing both feet and a forearm—was discovered, partially buried, on an abandoned farm. A year later, the body of twenty-year-old Joan Schell was found, similarly violated. Southeastern Michigan was terrorized by something it had never experienced before: a serial killer. Over the next two years, five more bodies were uncovered around Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan. All the victims were tortured and mutilated. All were female students.
After multiple failed investigations, a chance sighting finally led to a suspect. On the surface, John Norman Collins was an all-American boy—a fraternity member studying elementary education at Eastern Michigan University. But Collins wasn’t all that he seemed. His female friends described him as aggressive and short tempered. And in August 1970, Collins, the “Ypsilanti Ripper,” was arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole.
REVIEWS
“One of America’s first serial murder cases … He was getting away with all of them, until he screwed up that one little detail.”
William F. Delhey, Washtenaw County District Attorney
“I was a teenager the first time I read The Michigan Murders. Bright, ambitious, and pretty young women, many only teenagers, were disappearing from sidewalks, footpaths, student centers, parties, and dances, only to turn up days or weeks later, the victims of unimaginable violence. … Keyes not only turned me into an avid true crime reader, he probably had a lot to do with my decision to go to journalism school, that job as a police reporter, and, ultimately, my own work as a true crime writer. … By necessity, police investigations have to proceed logically, balancing detail with opinion. And the hardest, and most unexpected lesson [for police]: Have empathy for the killer. … [Keyes] continues to teach me about true crime reporting every time I reread his book. The Michigan Murders has a rightful place on the true crime bookshelf alongside Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood,’ Vincent Bugliosi’s ‘Helter Skelter,’ Ann Rule’s ’The Stranger Beside Me,’ and Norman Mailer’s ’The Executioner’s Song.’ ”
- Mardi Link, true crime author and journalist
“The Michigan Murders is the ultimate True Crime classic, unfolding like great mystery fiction while still delivering the powerful charge of real life.”
Jamie Agnew, owner, Aunt Agatha’s Mystery Bookshop
“True crime devotees won’t want to miss this one!”
Publishers Weekly
“This factual account of each murder, through the conviction of the killer, has all the excitement of a first-rate work of fiction, and is told straight, without the usual sociological jargon. Keyes collaborated with Robin Moore on The French Connection; The Michigan Murders is his first solo effort, and it is a good one.”
The Miami Herald