11 replies to this topic

[midwestmom]

http://www.detnews.c...0362/1409/METRO



Friday, October 31, 2008
27 years later, missing teen's cousin presses for answers
Christine Ferretti / The Detroit News

CANTON TOWNSHIP -- When Kim Marie Larrow left the Stroh's Ice Cream parlor on Sheldon Road nearly 30 years ago, she was planning to meet up with friends to hang out in Hines Park.

She never showed and nobody seemed to care.

A chronic runaway who liked to hitchhike and hang with a tough, party crowd, the 15-year-old wasn't reported missing for several days after she vanished in the summer of 1981, and her mother refused to cooperate with investigators.

There are no new leads or evidence, but a cousin and former Toledo police officer, Robert Cooper, has re-energized the investigation, hoping to solve Canton's only remaining cold case. And Larrow's half-sister hopes the efforts stir some memories in the case.

"This kid, she had a life. She existed and then the next day she wasn't there. It was (as) if nobody cared," said Larrow's half-sister Andrea Stadwick, 47, who lives in Florida.

"No efforts were made. No posters were up. No telephone calls. All I want to do is let people know that she existed because nothing was done for her."

Cooper has gone national, teaming up with Crime Stoppers, offering a $1,000 cash reward for fresh leads in the case.

"We will not forget her. This little girl doesn't deserve to be abandoned," said Cooper, 47, of Lambertville, Mich., just north of Toledo. "I hate to imagine she's in a shallow grave somewhere or on a morgue table as a Jane Doe and no one is looking for her."

The investigation has always had its obstacles -- not one successful lead, DNA evidence was rarely used in the 1980s and township police had limited resources.

"Twenty-some years ago, cases were handled and investigation techniques were different," said Canton Police Sgt. Deb Newsome. "It was originally handled as a runaway complaint. If a person didn't want to be found and family wasn't pounding on the door, cases had a tendency to close."

The most chilling hurdle though, family and authorities claim, was the lack of initiative from Larrow's mother, who waited days to report the girl missing and has refused to cooperate with investigators or submit DNA.

The mother, Lucy Larrow, who lives in Arizona, could not be reached for comment Thursday. A relative at her home who answered calls from The Detroit News said "we don't talk about that much, it's too painful." Larrow's father is deceased.

Kim Larrow disappeared in June. She was 15 and had just moved from her father's home in Monroe County to stay with her mother on Beaufort Drive in Canton.

Police said she was last seen visiting a friend at a Stroh's Ice Cream parlor that at the time was on Sheldon Road. Larrow, whom Cooper said ran with a crowd allegedly into drinking and drug use, made plans to meet friends at Haggerty Field in Hines Park, a "party spot" in the 1980s for young adults.

She never made it.

Officers searched her mother's former residence and cadaver dogs scoured the area in Hines where she was known to hang out, but no credible tips ever came in, police said.

After that, family didn't pursue it and the case went cold.

"This would have never happened if there was a caring, decent human being she could have called mother or father that would have made an effort the day she went missing and never stopped," Stadwick said. "It just takes one person ... somebody that knows something, all they have to do is tell me where she is. The least I can do for my sister is have her memorialized."

Cooper said he urged Canton police to delve back into the case in July 2007.

By September that year, he and other relatives submitted DNA samples to the University of North Texas Health Science Center to match them against a national database of unidentified remains. From here, he hopes police will help him organize a township group to search and pass out fliers.

Over the last year, investigators have been attempting to make contact with former cops, friends and family members. It's proved challenging as some have moved, died or changed names by marriage.

Newsome said skewed memories, deaths and lack of dental records are all dead ends that have the department back at square one.

"We're following up on any leads ... hoping we find new witnesses who do remember something," she said.

"Any time you have a missing person like this, it is concerning. We have an obligation to exhaust all of our efforts for the family and for the case. Something happened to this young lady and we're going to exhaust all possible efforts we have available until there is nothing more we can do."

Cooper said he's hoping for closure.

"I think we're looking for a body. I'm treating it like that," Cooper said.

"Police are still ... seeking a missing person. Maybe she's under another name, maybe she hit her head and became a different person -- we don't know."

How to help

Call: Crime Stoppers at (800) SPEAK UP
Donate: The Crime Stoppers, Kim Larrow reward fund, 10900 Harper, Detroit, MI 48213 or call (313) 922-5000

[midwestmom]

http://www.missingki...earchLang=en_US

KIM MARIE LARROW 
Case Type: Non Family Abduction
DOB: Dec 17, 1965
Sex: Female
Missing Date: Jun 8, 1981
Race: White
Height:  5'5" (165 cm)
Missing City: CANTON
Weight:  125 lbs (57 kg)
Missing State :  MI
Hair Color: Blonde
Missing Country: United States
Eye Color: Blue

Circumstances: Kim was last seen on the evening of June 8, 1981 at an ice cream parlor near Sheldon Road and Ann Arbor Road in Canton, Michigan. She has not been seen or heard from since.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (Detroit, Michigan) 1-313-965-2323

[Jenn]

http://www.hometownl...NEWS03/90304030

Canton police hoping to solve cold case with exhumed body

BY TONY BRUSCATO • OBSERVER STAFF WRITER • March 4, 2009

With the urging of Canton Township police, Monroe County authorities have exhumed the body of an unidentified young woman to whose body washed up along the Lake Erie shoreline in Monroe 27 years ago.

Canton police want to learn if the body — wearing only a plaid shirt and a cord wrapped around her neck — is that of 15-year-old Kim Marie Larrow, a recurring runaway who was last seen alive at the Stroh’s Ice Cream shop on Sheldon Road in June 1981.

“A cousin contacted us with information he saw about technology being used to specifically identify DNA on Jane and John Does throughout the country, and he wanted to see if Kim Larrow could be part of the project,” said Canton Police Detective Kenneth Robinson, who received the case file in August 2007. “There was never anything to get DNA from, so with the case on the books we wanted to try it.”

Robinson contacted Monroe County authorities, who still had an unsolved murder on their hands.

“There’s a discrepancy between the ages as our medical examiner said the body is between 20- to 28-years-old,” said Jeff Pauli, Monroe County Sheriff’s detective. “The dates are intriguing because she was found five months after being reported missing. So, maybe it could be.”

The body was exhumed Tuesday and DNA extracted. Pauli said it’s being sent to the University of North Texas to be processed, and a clay model of the woman’s face will be reconstructed to what it may have looked like in 1981.

“The physical characteristics are similar, and she (Larrow) does have a connection to Monroe County,” said Robinson. “That’s where her father lived (Dundee) and where she was staying before she went missing.”

Larrow had been visiting with her mother in Canton for about a week before she disappeared.

“Her mother now lives out of state,” he said. “The last time we attempted to contact her she didn’t want to talk to us. Her father is deceased.”

Robinson said they may have information about the DNA in about a month. He said the case is both exciting and frustrating.

“It’s exciting because of the challenge to put together pieces of the puzzle from so many years ago,” Robinson said. “It’s frustrating because you make advances and then hit a wall and get stuck with no place to go.”

[midwestmom]

http://www.toledobla...38/0/BUSINESS07

Body might be Michigan teen
Canton girl missing since 1981

By MARK REITER
BLADE STAFF Writer
Article published March 05, 2009

LaSALLE - Michigan authorities hope to learn in about a month whether the body exhumed from a LaSalle Township cemetery is that of a 15-year-old girl who vanished 28 years ago from Canton, Mich.

The cold-case investigation into the disappearance of Kim Larrow took Monroe County sheriff's detectives to Roselawn Memorial Park Tuesday for the exhumation of an unidentified murdered woman who washed up on the Lake Erie shoreline in 1982.

The sheriff's office is working with Canton police to connect the remains of the victim to the Larrow girl, a chronic runaway who had recently moved from her father's home in Dundee, Mich., to live with her mother.

Detective Jeff Pauli of the sheriff's office said the body of the Jane Doe was exhumed at the request of Canton police for DNA extraction and 3-D facial reconstruction, two criminal-science investigative tools that were years away when the remains were buried.

"At the time, we didn't have the DNA and other technology that we have available to us today," Detective Pauli said.

The detective said positive confirmation through testing of DNA samples from Larrow's relatives could take about a month.

The Larrow girl, who now would be 43, disappeared June 8, 1981, after leaving her mother's home to buy ice cream.

According to a national missing persons Web site, she was last seen at an ice cream parlor near

Sheldon Road and Ann Arbor Road in Canton.

"She went to visit the shop with friends about 6 p.m. and never came back," said Canton police Sgt. Mark Gajeski.

The woman buried in the cemetery in LaSalle Township was found March 31, 1982, near the Monroe Power Plant owned by DTE Energy. An autopsy determined she'd been strangled.

The missing teen was described as 5 feet, 5 inches tall with brown eyes and strawberry blond hair, a contrast to the murdered Jane Doe, who had blue eyes and brown hair and was three inches shorter. Also, investigators estimated her age at 20 to 28.

[Jenn]

http://www.detnews.c... of Canton teen

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Body not likely that of Canton teen

Bones and teeth are from someone 20 to 30 years old, probably not those of girl missing since 1981.

Christine Ferretti / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- A body extracted from a Monroe County cemetery last month is likely not that of a Canton teenager who went missing nearly 30 years ago, officials said Friday.

Investigators said an analysis of the unidentified woman's bones and teeth reveal she was probably between the ages of 20 and 30, older than the missing girl.

Canton police urged Monroe County officials to resurrect the decades-old cold case, hoping the unidentified body could be 15-year-old Kim Marie Larrow, a chronic runaway who went missing from a Stroh's Ice Cream parlor in the summer of 1981.

Both Larrow and the unidentified woman -- whose half-naked body washed up on the shoreline of Lake Erie in 1982 with a cord wrapped around her neck -- had a similar build, height and hairstyle. The cases emerged around the same time and Larrow had just relocated to Canton from Monroe County when she disappeared.

The woman's body was buried in La Salle Township's Roselawn Cemetery in April 1982, about a month after fingerprints, dental records and fliers didn't bring answers.

Larrow's family members were dismayed and relieved Friday to find out the body probably isn't hers.

"We'd sure love to know what happened to Kim, but when you hear about how this body came to its end you hope it's not your sister," said Larrow's half-brother Brandon Headley, 46, of Ann Arbor. "There is some relief in knowing maybe she didn't come to an awful demise."

Michigan State Police Trooper Sarah Krebs said a final ruling will take at least three months as DNA samples are evaluated by the University of North Texas.

In the meantime, State Police will release a 3-D facial reconstruction Monday to solicit clues about the woman's identity.

"If she's not Kim, she's definitely somebody else," Krebs said. "Hopefully, somebody remembers ... we can get her identified and solve the homicide."

Larrow's family isn't giving up hope. They are offering a $2,000 reward through Crime Stoppers for new leads.

And her cousin Robert Cooper said he's staying connected with relatives, police and missing-persons Web sites to keep the investigation going.

[midwestmom]

http://detnews.com/a...ruggle-for-hope

Loved ones wait, wonder
Families of missing kids struggle for hope
George Hunter and Christine Ferretti / The Detroit News
Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Canton Township --

Lucy Larrow has stopped praying for her daughter to come home.

"I buried her," Larrow said of the child she hasn't seen in 28 years.

On the afternoon of June 8, 1981, 15-year-old Kim Larrow left her Canton Township home to visit a friend. She's been missing ever since.

"For years, I kept hoping she'd show up, but after about 15 years, I gave up and stopped thinking of her as being alive," Lucy Larrow said. "It's easier now to some degree."

Most missing children eventually return home safely. Others, including 5-year-old murder victim Nevaeh Buchanan, meet a grislier fate.

But for some families of missing children, the news, good or bad, never comes.

"I think that has to be the hardest part -- not knowing one way or the other what happened," Larrow said.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children lists 39 open cases in Michigan, 13 from Wayne, Oakland or Macomb counties. Four Metro Detroit children were listed as runaways, while three were abducted by family members.

That leaves six Metro Detroit families grasping for answers.

"It's like those families of Vietnam vets who are missing in action: Some give up hope, and others still believe they're alive. But there's no way to know for sure," said attorney Shawn Patrick Smith, who represents Nilufa Begum, the mother of Tangena Hussain. Tangena was 2 years old when she disappeared from a Detroit gas station in October.

Despite the lack of progress in that case, Begum holds out hope that her daughter is alive, Smith said -- although he said she was so haunted by the case that she recently moved back to her native Bangladesh.

"She had to get away," Smith said of Begum. "It was killing her to be around here, where there are constant reminders of Tangena. Being in the same apartment where Tangena used to play, and being constantly reminded of her -- it became too much. She was severely depressed, so going back to Bangladesh was probably the best thing for her right now."

'At least she's home now'

Jennifer Buchanan knows how Begum feels. Her daughter, Nevaeh, was missing for two weeks before her body was found June 4 buried in a shallow grave on the bank of the River Raisin.

"When the police found her, it was obviously tough," Buchanan said. "But it was even harder when I didn't know where she was: whether someone was hurting her, or if she was scared. So after they found her, there was a little bit of closure, even though the killers still haven't been found.

"At least now I know where she's at, and I know nobody can hurt her. I'd have rather she come home alive than dead, but at least she's home now. She's in heaven."

Buchanan said her plight is worsened because people have suggested she knows more than she's telling about her daughter's disappearance and murder.

Dwanna Jackson knows what Buchanan is going through.

Jackson also heard from people who suspected she wasn't telling the truth after her son, D'Wan Sims, disappeared from Wonderland Mall in Livonia on Dec. 11, 1994. She said the years since then have been "very tough."

"You've got to try to stay positive," said Jackson, 40, who moved to Durham, N.C., last year. "Everyone was convinced I had something to do with (her son's disappearance), and that makes it a little bit harder than it already is."

Unlike Larrow, Jackson holds out hope that her son will return home safely.

"I haven't given up," she said. "When it's time for him to come back home, he'll come home. If he was deceased, I think someone would have found a body by now. I feel someone has him and is taking good care of him.

"When D'Wan finds me, everything will be all right. I still have family in Detroit, and when he does come home, they'll be waiting with open arms."

A constant reminder

Jackson said she keeps photos of D'Wan on her bathroom mirror and on her car's dashboard.

"I look at his face when I brush my teeth every morning, and whenever I get into my car," she said. "He's everywhere."

Although Lucy Larrow has given up hope that Kim will return home, other relatives continue to pray she's alive.

Although things have slowed in recent months after Kim Larrow's case was turned over to a new detective, Robert Cooper doesn't regret the two years he's dedicated to finding his missing cousin.

Cooper, 47, of Milan pressed cops to re-energize the search and put up a $2,000 reward for credible tips.

"It's a lot of elations and then big letdowns, but it's worth it," said Cooper, a former Toledo police officer.

"It's the voice for Kim. No matter how frustrating it gets, no matter how sad it gets or happy, the bottom line is, it's worth everything and every effort."

Cooper had advice for others who are agonizing over a missing child.

"I encourage them to keep fighting on," he said. "I have not given up hope."

[Lori Davis]

http://www.monroenew...EWS01/702179987
Identity of body unknown
by Ray Kisonas , last modified February 17. 2010 11:01AM

It was believed the identity of the person whose body was exhumed from a Monroe County grave was a Madison Heights woman reportedly last seen along I-75 near the state line almost three decades ago.

But it's not her.

Police said Carolyn Martin fit the description of the Jane Doe in the grave, whose body washed ashore near the Monroe Power Plant in 1982. The timeframe and location were similar and both had chips in the same tooth.

But the DNA did not match. Michigan State Police Trooper Sarah Krebs, a forensic artist based in Detroit, created a facial reconstruction of Jane Doe using the skull retrieved from the grave.

"Physically, they look so much alike," Trooper Krebs said Tuesday. "It's mind-boggling that it's not her."

DNA was retrieved from the remains of the unidentified murder victim whose body was exhumed from Roselawn Memorial Park, LaSalle, in March. Test results were released recently and they did not match anyone in the system at the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas.

"It's still Jane Doe," said Detective Sgt. Heath Velliquette of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. "We're back to square one."

The exhumation occurred when family members of Kim Larrow, a Dundee teen missing for many years, asked that her case be reopened. But the body in the grave was not Kim's. Police determined that Jane Doe was older and the facial reconstruction revealed they didn't look like each other.

Kim was 15 years old when she disappeared in June, 1981, in Canton where she lived after moving from her father's home in Dundee. She made plans with a friend to meet at Hines Park but Kim never showed and was never seen again.

Nine months after she disappeared, a body washed ashore in Monroe. The partially nude victim was strangled to death but officials never identified her. Last March, police exhumed the body and later circulated a photo of the reconstructed face. They received a tip that it might be Ms. Martin, who disappeared with her toddler son after they were let out of a vehicle along I-75 near Ohio.

Trooper Krebs said Ms. Martin and her boyfriend were involved in a paternity suit regarding their young son. She said they reportedly reconciled and decided to move to Texas where the boyfriend was supposed to have a job waiting for him.

On the way south on I-75, Ms. Martin reportedly changed her mind and did not want to leave Michigan. Trooper Krebs said her boyfriend allegedly gave her $4,000 and dropped her and her son off along I-75 in Monroe County. Mother and son were never seen again.
Seven months after that incident, Jane Doe washed ashore. But now DNA has determined it wasn't Ms. Martin either.

"Everything lined up," Trooper Krebs said. "We thought it was going to be her. But it wasn't."

Although the woman in the Roselawn grave remains Jane Doe, police officials said other avenues for DNA searches are being pursued. Sheriff's Detective Jeff Pauli said the case will remain open and there still is a possibility the victim will be identified one day.
Detective Pauli said he received numerous tips from Colorado, New York, Canada and elsewhere when Jane Doe's photograph was distributed last year. It also was featured on "America's Most Wanted."

"It's not a hopeless case, but it is frustrating," Detective Pauli said. "We want to get her identified."

[Deborah]

Kim is still missing.

 

NamUs Profile

https://www.findthem.../cases/2547/45/

[Deborah]

Anyone with information on Kim's location Contact:

 

Federal Bureau of Investigation (Detroit, Michigan) 1-313-965-2323