PAROLEE IS CHARGED IN SLAYING OF COURIER
Detroit Free Press (MI)
May 14, 1987
Author: BRIAN FLANIGAN and GEORGEA KOVANIS , e Press Staff Writers
Estimated printed pages: 3

A West Virginia prison parolee, who authorities believe has fled to the East Coast with a 16-year-old runaway and their infant son, was charged Wednesday with murdering an oil company courier who collected cash from Oakland County gas stations.

Jerry Strickland, 25, of Hagerstown, Md., also was charged with kidnapping and robbing the slaying victim, Elmer DeBoer, 38, of Waterford Township, according to a criminal warrant signed by Magistrate John McGrath of 51st District Court in Waterford Township.

DeBoer, whose job involved carrying large amounts of cash for Leemon Oil Co. of Novi, also had been a Free Press carrier since 1972.

His body was found Tuesday afternoon in a clearing in Rose Township, a day after his abandoned company car was discovered at a service station where he collected money in Waterford, 20 miles away. DeBoer is believed to have been carrying $8,000 to $10,000 when he was abducted Monday, said Lt. Richard Finkbeiner of the Waterford police.

Investigators said Strickland's girlfriend, Melissa Munday, a Maryland runaway who had lied about her age and worked at the gas station where DeBoer's car was found, knew he carried more money than usual on Mondays because no pickups are made on Sundays.

Finkbeiner said police would seek criminal charges against Munday in a few days.

Strickland is white, 5-feet-11, weighs 210 pounds, has blond hair and blue eyes and should be considered armed and dangerous, police said. Munday is white and has black hair.

Police believe they are driving a 1976 two-tone blue Ford pickup truck with a camper top or a 1986 blue Chevrolet Camaro.

"This whole thing is unbelievable," said James Doll, a Free Press circulation supervisor who knew DeBoer. "He was a real nice man who never missed a day."

Strickland and Munday, who are from towns 35 miles apart in the Cumberland Gap area of the Appalachian Mountains, came to Michigan last August from Centerville, Va., federal investigators said. Munday, claiming to be 19 and using the name Melissa Strickland, went to work as a cashier at the Union 76 station on Dixie Highway near Andersonville Road in Waterford, police said.

DeBoer, a large, friendly man, had worked for Leemon for seven years and was robbed several months ago. He was reported missing about 10:30 a.m. Monday when his car was found at the deserted Union 76 station by an employe, police said. Munday was the attendant scheduled to be on duty at the time.

THE BODY was found about 1 p.m. Tuesday by some teenagers on their way to a fishing spot. It was in a clearing near a marshy, heavily wooded area about 20 feet from a lake near the intersection of Rose Center Road and Fish Lake Road, state police at the Brighton Post said.

Residents who live nearby told investigators they heard gunshots about 11 a.m. Monday, the state police spokesman said.

Finkbeiner said DeBoer, the father of three daughters, died of gunshot wounds to the head that were fired "probably from a distance of within three feet."

Later Tuesday, investigators found that a Springfield Township apartment where Strickland and Munday were living with their three-month-old son, Jamie, had been deserted.

A spokeswoman for the West Virginia Department of Corrections said Strickland was sentenced on Jan. 1, 1984, to a one-to-10- year prison term after being convicted of grand larceny and "worthless checks."

Strickland was paroled on Jan. 9, 1985, and dropped out of sight soon after that, the spokeswoman said.

DeBoer is survived by his wife, Mary; three daughters, Patricia, Susan and Ann; two brothers, and three sisters. Visitation will be from 3-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Friday at Donelson-Johns Funeral Home, 5391 Highland Road, Waterford Township.

A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home. Burial will be at Crescent Hills Cemetery, Waterford Township.

****
Map PAUL SOUTAR
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: NWS
Page: 1A;
Index Terms: HOMICIDE; KIDNAPPING; JERRY STRICKLAND; PRISON; VIRGINIA; MARYLAND
Copyright (c) 1987 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8701240117

TEEN LINKED TO MURDER IS RUNAWAY
Detroit Free Press (MI)
May 15, 1987
Author: GEORGEA KOVANIS Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2

A teenage mother believed by police to be on the run with her baby and the infant's father, a federal fugitive charged with murder in Oakland County, left her home in rural Maryland to be with the man more than a year ago, her father said Thursday.

Robert Munday of Boonsboro, Md., said he last heard from his daughter Melissa in a letter that arrived around Mother's Day 1986 in which she said "not to worry about her . . . that she was only 15 and knew we wouldn't let her have this man as a lover and that she had run off with him."

The man, Jerry Strickland, a 25-year-old prison parolee from Hagerstown, Md., was named in a federal fugitive warrant Thursday, authorizing the FBI to join in the search for him on charges of murdering an oil company courier who picked up cash from a Waterford Township station where Melissa Munday worked.

Waterford Police Detective Don Bailey said police would seek a warrant today for Melissa Munday, probably on a murder charge, and "try to get a waiver to try her as an adult."

Munday, 16, used the name Melissa Strickland and lied about her age when she was hired by the service station, police said. Munday, who kept a picture of her three-month-old baby, Jamie, in a back room at the station, was on duty when the courier, Elmer DeBoer, 38, was due to make his pickup Monday morning.

DeBoer's company car was found at the station, which had been left unattended, police said. His body was discovered Tuesday about 20 miles away in a marshy area of Rose Township. He was shot in the head, police said.

Bailey said Jerry Strickland was last seen in the area Monday afternoon when he put a down payment of about $1,000 on a used blue truck at Lucky Auto Sales in Pontiac.

Munday and Strickland are from towns 35 miles apart in western Maryland near the West Virginia line.

****
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: NWS
Page: 4A;
Index Terms: BIOGRAPHY; JUVENILE; HOMICIDE; MELISSA MUNDAY; AGE; MELISSA; STRICKLAND
Copyright (c) 1987 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8701240304

MOST-WANTED LIST INCLUDES \ KILLING SUSPECT, PRISON ESCAPEE
Detroit Free Press (MI)
August 25, 1987
Author: DAWSON BELL Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2

A convicted police killer who escaped from prison July 4 and a man charged in the robbery, kidnap and murder of a Pontiac man May 11 are the two newest additions to a Michigan State Police list of the state's ten most wanted fugitives.

Kenneth Oliver, 47, who killed a state police trooper in 1973, escaped from the Southern Michigan Prison at Jackson with two other inmates. Both of his companions have been recaptured.

Jerry Strickland, 25, has been sought since the shooting death of a 38-year-old service station money courier who disappeared while on his rounds in Waterford Township.

Both men are named in federal fugitive warrants and are being sought by the FBI, local authorities and the State Police fugitive team.

Oliver's movements since he parted company with fellow escapees Daryle Bowman and Joseph Collins in Pittsburgh July 5 are unknown, FBI spokesman John Anthony said Monday. Oliver is believed to be with his wife, Marilyn Balcolm, Anthony said. A white Chrysler that Balcolm rented remains missing, he said.

Strickland, a former West Virginia prison inmate, may be traveling with his 16-year-old girlfriend, Melissa Munday, and their infant son, police said.

Waterford Police Detective Dale Bailey said a 1976 two-tone blue Ford pickup truck Strickland bought shortly before the killing has not been found.

Anyone who has information about the whereabouts of Oliver or Strickland should call the Michigan State Police Fugitive Team at 525-2560 anytime.

CUTLINE

Strickland

Oliver

****
Photo
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: NWS
Page: 4A;
Index Terms: RANKING; HOTLINE; ESCAPE; HOMICIDE; PRISON; NAMELIST
Copyright (c) 1987 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8702100419

TV'S 'MYSTERIES' LEADS POLICE TO FUGITIVE COUPLE
Detroit Free Press (MI)
February 7, 1988
Author: Free Press Staff and Associated Press
Estimated printed pages: 2

MOSES LAKE, Wash. -- A fugitive couple, wanted in a Waterford Township robbery and killing, watched themselves featured Friday night on the television show "Unsolved Mysteries." Neighbors watched the show too, and called police, who arrested the couple Saturday.

Jerry Strickland, 26, and Melissa Munday, 17, were in the Grant County Jail in Ephrata, Wash., about 100 miles southwest of Spokane, awaiting extradition to Waterford Township, Moses Lake Police Officer John Mays said.

Strickland, a Hagerstown, Md., prison parolee and one of Michigan's 10 most wanted fugitives, and Munday are charged with murder, armed robbery and fraud in the May 1987 slaying of Elmer DeBoer, 38, a Lemon Oil Co. courier who picked up cash from Union 76 gas station in Waterford where Munday worked.

DeBoer's widow, Mary DeBoer, said Saturday she was interviewed for the show, but her comments were not aired.

"It's hard to do, but I would do it over and over again if it can get results like that," DeBoer said. "It's just a relief that they got them and they won't be able to do this again."

Mays said police received about 20 telephone calls from area residents after the show aired.

Strickland and Munday were arrested at 5:30 a.m. without a struggle, Mays said.

"They weren't surprised. They had been watching the same show. They were expecting us," he said.

Munday, a Boonsboro, Md., runaway, used the name Melissa Strickland and lied about her age when she was hired at the station, police said. Munday was on duty May 11 when DeBoer was due to make his pickup, police said.

DeBoer's car was found at the station. His body was found the next day about 20 miles away in Rose Township. He had been shot twice in the head.

Mays said the couple had been in the Moses Lake area since June.

****
Memo: SEE ALSO STATE EDITION, Page 3A
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: NWS
Page: 3A;
Dateline: MOSES LAKE, Wash.
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801060744

TV'S 'MYSTERIES' LEADS POLICE TO FUGITIVE PAIR
Detroit Free Press (MI)
February 7, 1988
Author: Free Press Staff and Associated Press
Estimated printed pages: 2

MOSES LAKE, Wash. -- A fugitive couple wanted in a Waterford Township robbery and killing watched themselves Friday night featured on the television show "Unsolved Mysteries," expecting police, who arrested them early Saturday.

Jerry Strickland, 26, and Melissa Munday, 17, were in the Grant County Jail in Ephrata, Wash., about 100 miles southwest of Spokane, awaiting extradition to Waterford Township, Moses Lake Police Officer John Mays said.

After the two were mentioned on NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries," police got about 20 telephone calls from area residents, Mays said.

Strickland, a Hagerstown, Md., prison parolee and one of Michigan's 10 most wanted fugitives, is charged with murder, armed robbery and fraud in the May 1987 slaying of a Lemon Oil Co. courier who picked up cash from Union 76 gas station in Waterford where Munday worked.

Strickland and Munday were arrested at 5:30 a.m. without a struggle, Mays said.

"They weren't surprised. They had been watching the same show. They were expecting us," he said.

Munday, a Boonsboro, Md., runaway, used the name Melissa Strickland and lied about her age when she was hired at the station, police said. Munday was on duty May 11 when Elmer DeBoer, 38, was due to make his pickup, police said.

DeBoer's car was found at the station, which had been left unattended. His body was found the next day about 20 miles away in Rose Township. He had been shot twice in the head.

Mays said Strickland had been working at the Moses Lake K mart and Munday was working at a greeting card shop. The couple had been in the Moses Lake area since June.

Waterford Township Sgt. Don Bailey said Saturday that Munday faces a murder charge when she returns.

****
Memo: SEE ALSO METRO FINAL EDITION, Page 3A
Edition: STATE EDITION
Section: NWS
Page: 3A;
Dateline: MOSES LAKE, Wash.
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801060731

Column: NORTHWEST BRIEFLY
THE SEATTLE TIMES
February 7, 1988
TIMES NEWS SERVICESBy TIMES NEWS SERVICES
Estimated printed pages: 2

State scurries

to get O'Neall

out of Louisiana

OLYMPIA

Extradition papers for murder suspect Darren O'Neall have been sent by Washington state authorities to Louisiana, where O'Neall _ one of the FBI's ``10 Most Wanted'' criminals _ is being held on an auto-theft charge

Pierce County Prosecutor John Ladenburg said Gov. Booth Gardner signed the extradition papers Friday, and prosecutors shipped them to Jefferson Parish, La.

``We went through this drill in a hurry so we'd be first in line to get him,'' Ladenburg said.

O'Neall, 27, is facing a first-degree murder charge in Pierce County in connection with the March 28 killing of Robin Smith, 21, of Des Moines.

Police in Bellingham also want to question O'Neall in the disappearance last April of Wendy Aughe, 29, whose body has never been found.

O'Neall also is charged with rape in Colorado and is wanted for questioning in the deaths of an Idaho woman and two women in northern Utah.

While the FBI was searching for him last fall throughout the West, O'Neall actually was jailed under an alias in Florida, where he was picked up driving a stolen car. His fingerprints weren't matched with the FBI files until Dec. 30, when he was extradited to Louisiana.

It was candid-camera

time for two fugitives

MOSES LAKE

A network television show on unsolved mysteries led to the arrest yesterday of a couple accused of robbing and killing a Michigan gas-station employee.

Jerry Strickland, 26, and Melissa Munday, 17, also watched the show, so they weren't surprised when police came to arrest them at 5:30 a.m. ``They were expecting us,'' Moses Lake Patrolman John Mays said.

They were being held in the Grant County Jail in Ephrata pending extradition to Waterford Township, Mich.

After the two were featured in the NBC television program ``Unsolved Mysteries'' Friday, the local department received 15 to 20 phone calls from area residents who recognized the couple, Mays said.

Warrants charge Strickland with homicide, armed robbery and fraud, and Munday is wanted for investigation of homicide in the robbery and killing last May of a gas-station courier.

Razor-clam season

set despite scarcity

ABERDEEN

The state Department of Fisheries says Washington will have a razor-clam season this spring _ even though baby clams are scarce.

The season will be from March 19 to May 7 on odd-numbered days and on morning tides only, said Joe Blum, fisheries director.

The limit is 15 clams, and the first 15 dug must be kept regardless of size or condition. Clam diggers aged 16 to 64 are required to buy a license, and diggers of other ages must pay a 50-cent fee.

Man killed, officers wounded in drug raid

ROGUE RIVER, Ore.

Authorities recovered 20 pounds of methamphetamine yesterday at a home where a suspect was killed and two officers wounded during a raid.

Jackson County District Attorney Justin Smith put the street value of the drug cache at $300,000.

Authorities believe the house was a methamphetamine lab run by a motorcycle gang known as the Hessians. The shoot-out occurred when police went to the house to serve a search warrant at 5:30 a.m. Friday.

After the front door was blown off by an explosive charge, two members of a police SWAT team from Klamath Falls went into the house and were wounded by a man with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol, Smith said.

The officers returned fire, killing the man, who has not been identified.

One officer was in good condition with a shoulder wound, and the other was treated and released.

Times news service
Edition: SUNDAY
Section: NORTHWEST
Page: D2
Column: NORTHWEST BRIEFLY
Index Terms: DIGEST; MURDERS AND ATTEMPTED MURDERS; ROBBERIES AND THEFTS; WASHINGTON STATE; TELEVISION PROGRAMS; FISH AND OTHER MARINE LIFE; FISHING, SPORT; POLICE; OREGON; DRUG ADDICTION, ABUSE AND TRAFFIC
Copyright 1988 The Seattle Times
Record Number: 484885

TV SHOW IS 2 FOR 3 IN MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press (MI)
February 8, 1988
Author: DEBORAH KAPLAN Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2

They almost always get their man or woman -- at least in Michigan.

After their show helped to find fugitives wanted for two Michigan murders, the producers of NBC-TV's "Unsolved Mysteries" are beginning to feel like the electronic arm of the law.

"We feel like we're law enforcement's last resort," said Terry Muerer, who with John Cosgrove produces the true-to-life show broadcast four or five times a year. "This country is so big, and their system isn't always the best in communicating state to state," she said. "They sometimes need national exposure."

The producers' latest coup: The couple wanted in a May 1987 murder and armed robbery in Waterford Township was arrested Saturday in Moses Lake, Wash., after several neighbors watching a reenactment of the killing on "Unsolved Mysteries" Friday night phoned police.

Jerry Strickland, 26, and Melissa Munday, 17, told police they had watched the show, and were expecting them. The couple is charged with murder, armed robbery and fraud in the May 11, 1987, slaying of Elmer DeBoer, a courier who was picking up cash from a gas station in Waterford Township where Munday worked.

The show's dramatization last May of a 1970 murder in Washtenaw County led to the arrest last year of John Burns in his isolated mountaintop hideaway in Altoona, Pa. Neighbors tipped off Altoona police.

Burns disappeared after killing his estranged girlfriend, Eleanor Farver, with two blasts from a 12-gauge shotgun. Found guilty of second-degree murder by a Washtenaw County jury in early December, the 79-year-old Burns died last month of a heart attack before he could be sentenced.

The 1980 killing of Michigan's Shannon Davis was also featured on "Unsolved Mysteries" last year, but the case remains unsolved.

The FBI and state police are still searching for David Davis, who had left Michigan for the Caribbean by the time he was charged in 1981 with murdering his wife on her farm near Hillsdale, to collect $330,000 from life insurance policies. Since January 1987, about 20 cases have been dramatized. Three, including the two in Michigan, have been solved based on information provided by viewers.

Is "Unsolved Mysteries" art imitating life, or entertainment staging the news? A hybrid of both, said NBC vice- president Rick Ludwin, a former Channel 7 producer in Detroit. The show is what Ludwin terms "reality TV."

"To have viewers watching the show call authorities, and have two people arrested in a different part of the country, underlines the power of television," he said.

****
Memo: SEE ALSO METRO FINAL EDITION PAGE 13A
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: NWS
Page: 13A;
Index Terms: TELEVISION; CRIME
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801060937

FUGITIVES FACE SLAYING CHARGES \ COUPLE IDENTIFIED IN TV SHOW LEFT \ STATE TO 'MAKE A BETTER LIFE'
Detroit Free Press (MI)
February 8, 1988
Author: GEORGEA KOVANIS Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 3

MOSES LAKE, Wash. -- Jerry Strickland says he finally had what he wanted: a wife, a son and a decent job as a mechanic at a local K mart.

He said he didn't know that his name appeared on the Michigan State Police list of the state's 10 most wanted fugitives -- or that he and Melissa Munday, his teenage girlfriend, were wanted in Michigan for the May 1987 slaying and robbery of a Union 76 gas station courier.

Police in Moses Lake, a town of about 12,000 people about 100 miles southwest of Spokane, say the pair will be arraigned today in Grant County on fugitive charges. Both police and Strickland said the couple did not plan to fight extradition to Michigan.

Strickland, 26, and Munday, 17, are charged with murder, armed robbery and fraud in the slaying of Elmer DeBoer, a courier who picked up cash from a Union 76 gas station in Waterford where Munday worked. They were arrested Saturday after viewers saw the couple on NBC-TV's "Unsolved Mysteries."

DeBoer's wife, Mary, 39, who watched the show with two of her three daughters, said she cried when a police detective told her of the capture.

"He said, 'Mary, we've got them,' " she recalled. "I started crying. I really couldn't tell you how I felt. I told him I couldn't talk no more and I'd call him back.

"I wanted them found -- bad," she said. "It matters a lot that they've been caught, because maybe they won't get a chance to do it to someone else.

"What they did to Elmer was just senseless -- there was no reason for it at all. They could've let him go. They had the money. Why did they have to do this to him?"

At the Grant County Jail in Ephrata, where he is being held without bond, Strickland said he and Munday -- whom Strickland calls his wife -- left Waterford Township to make a new start.

"We wanted to make a better life," Strickland said Sunday. "I say they're thinking wrong," he said. "I'm not the type of person and Missy's not the type of person to do something like that," he said.

Strickland said he didn't know what day the gas station was robbed and DeBoer killed. When a reporter offered to tell him the date, he said he didn't want to know.

Strickland said he and Munday were getting ready to turn themselves in to police when two Moses Lake officers arrived at a house where the couple was visiting friends.

"They were hunting for us," he said. "Why run? You got to turn yourselves in. That's common sense."

Munday is being held without bond at the Grant County Youth Home. Their son, Jamie, who is about one year old, is at a baby-sitter's house.

Strickland said he and Munday ran away from their home in rural Maryland and moved to Virginia before coming to Michigan. He said, "I got a little boy . . . . If me and Melissa get back together, we hope to have a little girl."

After seeing the television broadcast, Strickland said he and Munday thought about driving back to Michigan to turn themselves in. Strickland said they got as far as a motel about 30 miles away and made a few phone calls to friends who advised them to turn themselves in to the Moses Lake authorities.

"We don't have any money," he said. "We didn't know what to do. I was scared."

He and Munday drove back to Moses Lake and were preparing to leave their child with some friends when police arrived. "I don't have no problems with the police," Strickland said.

Strickland said Munday had quit her job at the Waterford Township gas station before DeBoer was killed.

Police said Strickland and Munday drove from Waterford Township to Seattle, and stayed in Seattle for a short period of time before settling in Moses Lake sometime in early June. Munday was a maid at a Moses Lake motel and Strickland worked as a mechanic.

The manager of the local K mart store, where Strickland worked, is one of about 25 people who called police after seeing Strickland and Munday on television.

CUTLINE

Jerry Strickland

Melissa Munday

****
Photo
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: NWS
Page: 1A;
Index Terms: TELEVISION; MICHIGAN; WASHINGTON; FUGITIVE
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801060879

TIPS BRING ARRESTS IN 2 OF 3 MICHIGAN CASES SHOWN
Detroit Free Press (MI)
February 8, 1988
Author: DEBORAH KAPLAN Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2

They almost always get their man or woman -- at least in Michigan.

After their show helped to find fugitives wanted for two Michigan murders, the producers of NBC-TV's "Unsolved Mysteries" are beginning to feel like the electronic arm of the law.

"We feel like we're law enforcement's last resort," said Terry Muerer, who with John Cosgrove produces the true-to-life show broadcast four or five times a year. "This country is so big, and their system isn't always the best in communicating state to state," she said. "They sometimes need national exposure."

The producers' latest coup: The couple wanted in a May 1987 murder and armed robbery in Waterford Township was arrested Saturday in Moses Lake, Wash., after several neighbors watching a reenactment of the killing on "Unsolved Mysteries" Friday night phoned police.

Jerry Strickland, 26, and Melissa Munday, 17, told police they had watched the show, and were expecting them. The couple is charged with murder, armed robbery and fraud in the May 11, 1987, slaying of Elmer DeBoer.

The show's portrayal in May of a 1970 murder in Washtenaw County led to the arrest last year of John Burns in his mountain hideaway in Altoona, Pa, after neighbors tipped police.

Burns disappeared after killing his estranged girlfriend, Eleanor Farver, with a shotgun. Burns, 79 was found guilty of second-degree murder in December, but died last month of a heart attack before being sentenced.

The 1980 killing of Michigan's Shannon Davis was also featured on "Unsolved Mysteries" last year, but the case remains unsolved.

Authorities still seek David Davis, who left Michigan before he was charged in 1981 with killing his wife on her farm near Hillsdale, to collect $330,000 from insurance policies. Since January 1987, about 20 cases have been dramatized. Three, including the two in Michigan, have been solved based on information provided by viewers.

Is "Unsolved Mysteries" art imitating life, or entertainment staging the news? A hybrid of both, said NBC vice-president Rick Ludwin, a former Channel 7 producer in Detroit. The show is what Ludwin terms "reality TV."

"To have viewers watching the show call authorities, and have two people arrested in a different part of the country, underlines the power of television," he said. "It's the electronic equivalent of the post office bulletin board."

****
Memo: SEE ALSO METRO EDITION PAGE 13A
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: NWS
Page: 13A;
Index Terms: TELEVISION; MYSTERY; CRIME
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801060929

A SECTION
THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
February 8, 1988
Author: Compiled by Bob Kelly from wire reports.
Estimated printed pages: 1

THE STARS OF THE SHOW. Jerry Strickland, 26, held a job at the Moses Lake K mart, and Melissa Munday, 17, worked at a greeting card shop. The couple moved to the area last June. They are people who prefer not to draw attention to themselves, so it was somewhat disturbing Friday night when they found themselves mentioned on the NBC program Unsolved Mysteries. Millions watched, including Strickland, Munday, and at least 15 of their neighbors who called local police. Police had sought the pair in the robbing and killing of a Union 76 gas station courier near Pontiac, Mich. They were arrested Saturday morning. ''They had been watching the same show,'' said officer John Mays. ''They were expecting us.'' In an interview late Saturday, Strickland said, ''God as my witness, I didn't do it.''
Memo: Other news to note FAR WEST
Edition: 3 STAR
Section: A SECTION
Page: A8
Index Terms: WASHINGTON TELEVISION MYSTERY FUGITIVE ROBBERY MURDER UNITED STATES MICHIGAN; ARREST
Dateline: MOSES LAKE, WASH.
Copyright 1988 Sentinel Communications Co.
Record Number: 0010410233

FUGITIVE COUPLE HAD PREPARED TO MOVE ON
Detroit Free Press (MI)
February 9, 1988
Author: GEORGEA KOVANIS Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2

MOSES LAKE, Wash. -- The day before they were arrested, Jerry Strickland and Melissa Munday sold furniture at a yard sale, telling friends they were raising money to leave town.

A few days earlier, Munday, 17, gave notice that she would be quitting her job as a hotel maid and told friends that she was preparing to move with Strickland to West Virginia.

They never left.

About 5:30 a.m. Saturday -- after an NBC-TV broadcast of "Unsolved Mysteries" -- Moses Lake police arrested the couple and charged them with the May 1987 robbery and murder of a gas station courier in Waterford Township.

Police said they got about 20 calls from viewers who recognized Strickland, 26, and Munday, his pregnant girlfriend.

Strickland, one of Michigan's 10 most wanted fugitives, and Munday are accused of murder, armed robbery and fraud in the slaying of Elmer DeBoer, a gas station courier who picked up cash from a Waterford Township station where Munday worked.

At his arraignment Monday, Strickland proclaimed his innocence.

"I don't know why Michigan is saying I did this," he said. "I don't know what to do."

Strickland was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bond pending a decision today in court on whether he would fight extradition to Michigan to face murder charges. Strickland told a reporter Monday that he would not fight extradition.

Munday, at a hearing on Monday, said she would not fight extradition. She is expected to be brought to Michigan next week, according to the Grant County Prosecutor's Office.

Friends and the neighbors said they were shocked by the arrests. They said Strickland, Munday, and their one-year-old son Jamie seemed to be a quiet family.

They were "nice people" said Marjorie Romine, manager of the building where Strickland and Munday lived. "I can't believe it," she said of the arrests.

Romine said the couple didn't go out much, and spent evenings at home playing cards or watching television.

Romine said Munday, who originally was from Boonsboro, Md., and Strickland, who had lived in nearby Hagerstown, Md., were heading to West Virginia to help Strickland's brother run a family flower shop.

Munday ran away with Strickland from her home in the Cumberland Gap area of the Appalachian mountains when she was 15, Strickland said Sunday. The couple moved to Centerville, Va., and then to the Pontiac area, he said.

Munday was on duty May 11 when DeBoer, 38, an employe of Lemon Oil Co., was scheduled to pick up cash from the Union 76 station where she worked, Waterford Township police said.

DeBoer's car was found at the station, which had been left unattended. His body was found the next day in Rose Township. He had been shot twice in the head.

Strickland was last seen in the Waterford area May 11 when he put a down payment on a truck at Lucky Auto Sales in Pontiac, police said.

Strickland says he and Munday left the Pontiac area to make a better life for themselves -- not because they were running from police.

The couple settled in Moses Lake -- a town of about 12,000, about 100 miles southwest of Spokane -- in June and became friends with neighbors Juan and Penny Ibarra, who are now caring for their child.

Strickland and Munday were arrested at the Ibarras' house. The couple, who had seen the "Unsolved Mysteries" program, told police they were making child-care arrangements with the Ibarras before turning themselves in.

****
Memo: SEE ALSO STATE EDITION, Page 3A
Edition: METRO FINAL CHASER
Section: NWS
Page: 3A;
Dateline: MOSES LAKE, Wash.
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801070081

FUGITIVE COUPLE HAD PREPARED TO MOVE ON
Detroit Free Press (MI)
February 9, 1988
Author: GEORGEA KOVANIS Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 3

MOSES LAKE, Wash. -- The day before they were arrested, Jerry Strickland and Melissa Munday sold furniture at a yard sale, telling friends they were raising money to leave town.

A few days earlier, Munday, 17, gave notice that she would be quitting her job as a hotel maid to prepare for a March 1 move with Strickland to West Virginia.

They never got there.

About 5:30 a.m. Saturday -- after an NBC-TV broadcast of "Unsolved Mysteries" -- Moses Lake police arrested the couple and charged them with the May 1987 robbery and murder of a gas station courier in Waterford Township.

Police said they got about 20 calls from viewers who recognized Strickland, 26, and Munday, his pregnant girlfriend.

Strickland, one of Michigan's 10 most wanted fugitives, and Munday are accused of murder, armed robbery and fraud in the slaying of Elmer DeBoer, a gas station courier who picked up cash from a Waterford Township station where Munday worked.

Strickland, who has told officials that he will fight extradition to Michigan, is being held without bond in the Grant County Jail awaiting arraignment on a fugitive charge.

Munday, at a hearing Monday, said she would not fight extradition to Michigan. She is expected to be brought to Michigan next week, according to the Grant County Prosecutor's Office.

Friends and the neighbors said they were shocked by the arrests. They said Strickland, Munday, and their one-year-old son Jamie seemed to be a quiet family.

They were "nice people" said Marjorie Romine, manager of the building where Strickland and Munday lived. "I can't believe it," she said of the arrests.

Romine said the couple didn't go out much, and spent evenings at home playing cards or watching television.

Romine said Munday, who originally was from Boonsboro, Md., and Strickland, who had lived in nearby Hagerstown, Md., were heading to West Virginia to help Strickland's brother run a family flower shop.

Munday ran away with Strickland from her home in the Cumberland Gap area of the Appalachian mountains when she was 15, Strickland said Sunday. The couple moved to Centerville, Va., and then to the Pontiac area, he said.

Munday was on duty May 11 when DeBoer, 38, an employe of Lemon Oil Co., was scheduled to pick up cash from the Union 76 station where she worked, Waterford Township police said.

DeBoer's car was found at the station, which had been left unattended. His body was found the next day in Rose Township. He had been shot twice in the head.

Strickland was last seen in the Waterford area May 11 when he put a down payment on a truck at Lucky Auto Sales in Pontiac, police said.

Strickland says he and Munday left the Pontiac area to make a better life for themselves -- not because they were running from police.

He said they bought the truck with money they had saved and decided to move to Washington because he is a Seattle Seahawks fan. The couple settled in Moses Lake, a town of about 12,000, about 100 miles southwest of Spokane.

They arrived in early June and became friends with neighbors Juan and Penny Ibarra, who are now caring for their child.

Strickland and Munday were arrested at the Ibarras' house. The couple, who had seen the "Unsolved Mysteries" program, told police they were making child-care arrangements with the Ibarra's before turning themselves in.

CUTLINE

Marjorie Romine, manager of building where Jerry Strickland and Melissa Munday lived, said the couple didn't go out often.

****
Photo PAT FRIDLUND Special to the Free Press
Memo: SEE ALSO METRO FINAL EDITION PAGE 3A
Edition: METRO EDITION
Section: NWS
Page: 3A;
Dateline: MOSES LAKE, Wash.
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801070021

SUSPECTS IN SLAYING WON'T FIGHT EXTRADITION
Detroit Free Press (MI)
February 10, 1988
Author: GEORGEA KOVANIS Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 1

EPHRATA, Wash. -- Jerry Strickland, arrested in Washington for an Oakland County slaying that was the subject of NBC-TV's "Unsolved Mysteries," said Tuesday he would not fight extradition to Michigan.

"In a way, I'm looking forward to going back," Strickland, 26, said after a brief appearance in Grant County Circuit Court. "I don't want to hide nothing."

Strickland said he hopes his pregnant girlfriend, Melissa Munday, 17, who was arrested with him, and the couple's son will be returned to Michigan at the same time he is. The child is staying with friends of the couple.

Michigan authorities expect to bring Strickland and Munday to Michigan late this week, where they are accused in the May 1987 robbery and slaying of an oil company courier.

Munday, who is being held in a Grant County youth facility, said on Monday she would not fight extradition.

Police arrested the pair about 5:30 a.m. Saturday in Moses Lake, Wash., about 100 miles southwest of Spokane, where they have lived since June. More than 20 people called police with tips on Strickland and Munday after seeing them in the television program Friday night.

Strickland and Munday are charged in the slaying of Elmer DeBoer, who picked up cash from the Waterford Township service station where Munday worked.

****
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: NWS
Page: 7C;
Dateline: EPHRATA, Wash.
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801070210

MOSES LAKE COUPLE WON'T FIGHT EXTRADITION
THE SEATTLE TIMES
February 10, 1988
KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

APBy KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

AP
Estimated printed pages: 1

EPHRATA _ A couple arrested in Moses Lake in connection with a Michigan slaying _ after the crime was featured on a television program on unsolved mysteries _ said they would not fight extradition.
``In a way, I'm looking forward to going back,'' Jerry Strickland, 26, said after a brief appearance in Grant County Circuit Court yesterday. ``I don't want to hide nothing.''

Strickland said he hopes his pregnant girlfriend, Melissa Munday, 17, who also waived extradition, and the couple's year-old son will be returned to Michigan when he is. The child is staying with friends of the couple.

Strickland denied he and Munday had anything to do with the May 1987 robbery and slaying of an oil-company courier. They would not have used their own names when they moved to Moses Lake and taken jobs if they were trying to hide from police, he said.

``We was trying to hide from her parents, not the law,'' Strickland said. ``All we want in life is a family.''

Michigan authorities expect to bring Strickland and Munday to Michigan late this week.

Munday, who ran away from her parents home in Maryland, is being held in a Grant County youth facility.

The pair were arrested about 5:30 a.m. Saturday in Moses Lake, after about 20 people saw their photos on the NBC-TV program ``Unsolved Mysteries,'' and called police.

Strickland said they left Michigan because they had run out of money and believed they could make a better living in Washington state.
Edition: THIRD
Section: NEWS
Page: D14
Index Terms: MURDERS AND ATTEMPTED MURDERS; TELEVISION PROGRAMS
Dateline: EPHRATA
Copyright 1988 The Seattle Times
Record Number: 485378

RUNAWAY WAS GOOD STUDENT \ LIFE OF TEENAGE SLAYING SUSPECT \ SURPRISES HIGH SCHOOL OFFICIALS
Detroit Free Press (MI)
February 15, 1988
Author: GEORGEA KOVANIS Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 3

Seventeen-year-old Melissa Munday was an A and B student, a junior varsity basketball player, a choral singer and a practical joker.

"She always had a wisecrack," said Lawrence Cleaver, principal of Hancock Middle Senior High School. "She had a quick mind. I thoroughly enjoyed being around her."

She was, say those who knew her, the last person they would think capable of murder.

"There is nothing I could say that isn't good about her," said Lynn Kerns, assistant principal at Hancock, where Munday was a student before running away almost two years ago from her home in Hancock, Md., a town of about 2,000 in the Cumberland Gap area of the Appalachian mountains.

"I was very surprised that she could be involved in this," he said, referring to murder and armed robbery charges Munday faces in a Waterford Township case. "It's totally puzzling to me. We're talking about a young lady we knew two years ago who could've changed."

Munday and her boyfriend Jerry Strickland, 26, were arraigned separately Saturday in Oakland County. They were charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery in the connection with the May 11, 1987, slaying of Elmer DeBoer, an oil company courier who picked up cash from the Waterford Township Union 76 gas station where Munday worked.

DeBoer was carrying about $10,000 when he was robbed and killed, police said.

The couple left their Springfield Township apartment after DeBoer's death. They were arrested Feb. 6 in Moses Lake, Wash., a town about 100 miles southwest of Spokane after an NBC "Unsolved Mysteries" program about the DeBoer case.

Why would a girl whom educators described as bright and well-adjusted leave 10th grade to run away with a man almost 10 years older?

Cleaver had one theory.

"Our kids are not farm kids, but they're rural," he said. "There's not a great deal going on here. It's not the social center of the tri-state area.

"At 15 or 16 years old, sometimes girls' heads are turned by the color of a guy's automobile."

Munday was an above-average clerical student, contemplating a move to her school's college preparatory curriculum, school administrators said. They said she appeared happy at home and had the same interests as an average teenager.

The youngest of four siblings, Munday sang in the school chorus and played on the school's junior varsity basketball team.

But Strickland, in interviews in the Grant County Jail in Ephrata, Wash., described a different side of Munday. He said they left Maryland because she didn't get along with her parents.

"When she was with her friends, she loved school. . . . But when she went home, she was unhappy," Strickland said. "They wouldn't let her go nowhere."

Strickland met Munday after he moved to Maryland and inquired about property next to the Mundays' home.

Strickland said he and Munday moved from Michigan to Washington to make a better life for themselves -- not because they were on the run from the police. He said he spun an intricate web of lies -- about his family, his relationship with Munday, and about their past -- to protect his runaway girlfriend from authorities.

Munday is five months pregnant with the couple's second child. They hope to give her parents temporary custody of their year-old son, Jamie.

Strickland said he listened to Munday, cared about her, and didn't treat her like a teenager.

"I'm a lonely person," Strickland said. "I don't mingle with people. All I wanted was a friend. The more we talked, the closer we got."

CUTLINE

Munday

****
Photo
Edition: METRO FINAL CHASER
Section: NWS
Page: 3A;
Index Terms: MELISSA MUNDAY; JERRY STRICKLAND; JUVENILE; CRIME
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801080068

OAKLAND COURT TOLD OF ALLEGED ABUCTION PLOT
Detroit Free Press (MI)
February 24, 1988
Author: GEORGEA KOVANIS Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 1

A former co-worker of murder suspect Jerry Strickland said he and Strickland came up with a plan to rob and abduct a gas station courier several weeks before the courier was killed.

Gregory Chapman, 22, testified during Strickland's preliminary examination Tuesday in Waterford Township's 51st District Court.

Chapman said the plan was to rob the courier at the Union 76 station where Strickland's girlfriend worked, take him to the Fish Lake area and beat him up. He said it did not include killing.

Strickland, who is charged with first-degree murder in the May 11 robbery and slaying of courier Elmer DeBoer, 38, is being held in Oakland County Jail without bond. DeBoer's body was found in Rose Township.

Melissa Munday, 17, Strickland's girlfriend, also has been charged with murder and robbery.

Strickland and Munday were apprehended in Moses Lake, Wash., after NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" broadcast a segment about DeBoer's killing.

Chapman said he and Strickland talked about the plan in late March or April.

****
Edition: METRO FINAL CHASER
Section: NWS
Page: 5A;
Index Terms: TESTIMONY; HOMICIDE; ROBBERY
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801090433

MURDER CASE DEAL COULD DROP CHARGES AGAINST GIRL
Detroit Free Press (MI)
March 29, 1988
Author: JIM FINKELSTEIN Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2

Kidnapping and murder charges against a pregnant teenage runaway may be dropped in exchange for her testimony against her boyfriend, Jerry Strickland, in the slaying of an oil company courier, the girl's attorney said Monday.

Melissa Munday, 17, spent the afternoon giving "a full disclosure" to police and prosecutors about the May 11, 1987, slaying of Elmer DeBoer, 38, according to the lawyer, Charles Toby.

Munday and Strickland, 26, were charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and armed robbery in the death of DeBoer, a courier who picked up cash from the Waterford Township gas station where Munday worked.

DeBoer was carrying about $10,000 when he was abducted, robbed and shot. His body was dumped in a Rose Township field.

Strickland, Munday and their one-year-old son, Jamie, disappeared after DeBoer's death. They were arrested Feb. 6 in Moses Lake, Wash., about 100 miles southwest of Spokane, after NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" broadcast an episode about the DeBoer case. Neighbors turned them in.

At a hearing Monday in Oakland County Probate Court, Judge Eugene Moore heard details of a deal in which all but the armed robbery charge would be dropped in September in exchange for Munday's co-operation in the case.

Strickland has been ordered to stand trial in Oakland County Circuit Court. He is being held without bond in the county jail.

Munday, who had been in a juvenile detention center since her arrest, was freed on personal bond by Moore. She will return to her parents' home in Maryland until Sept. 19. Toby said she is due to give birth to her second child in June.

"She feels she wants to tell the truth, and she doesn't want to be charged with or incarcerated for a crime she didn't commit," said Toby.

The agreement also calls for prosecutors to drop attempts to have her tried as an adult.

Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Racey Jr. said the agreement forbids him from commenting. Toby said Munday and her parents are also forbidden to comment.

****
Edition: METRO EDITION
Section: NWS
Page: 4A;
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801140905

AGREEMENT WOULD CUT CHARGES \ IN SLAYING OF OIL FIRM COURIER
Detroit Free Press (MI)
March 30, 1988
Author: JIM FINKELSTEIN Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2

Kidnapping and murder charges against a pregnant teenage runaway may be dropped in exchange for her testimony against her boyfriend in the slaying of an oil company courier, according to the girl's attorney.

Melissa Munday, 17, made "a full disclosure" to authorities about the May 11, 1987, slaying of Elmer DeBoer, 38, according to the lawyer, Charles Toby.

Munday and Jerry Strickland, 26, were charged with first- degree murder, kidnapping and armed robbery in the death of DeBoer, a courier who made pickups at the Waterford Township station where Munday worked.

He was carrying about $10,000 when he was killed. His body was found in a Rose Township field.

Strickland, Munday and their one-year-old son, Jamie, disappeared after DeBoer's death. They were arrested Feb. 6 in Moses Lake, Wash., about 100 miles southwest of Spokane, after NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" broadcast an episode about the DeBoer case. Neighbors turned them in.

At a hearing in Oakland County Probate Court Monday, Judge Eugene Moore heard details of a deal in which all but the armed robbery charge would be dropped in exchange for co-operation.

The case is in probate court because she is under 18.

Strickland is being held without bond in Oakland County Jail, awaiting trial. No trial date has been set.

In an interview with the Oakland Press, Strickland said that soon after they were arrested, he and Munday talked about whether she should talk to authorities. He said he told her to do whatever was necessary to stay out of jail.

"She's just carrying out what I told her to do," Strickland told the newspaper. "She's carrying my baby, and I don't want her locked up and under all this pressure. She had to do it, and that's OK with me."

Munday, who had been in a juvenile detention center since her arrest, was freed on personal bond by Moore. She will return to her parents' home in Boonsboro, Md., until Sept. 19. Toby said she is due to give birth to her second child in June.

"She feels she wants to tell the truth, and she doesn't want to be charged with or incarcerated for a crime she didn't commit," said Toby.

Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Racey Jr. said the agreement forbids him from commenting. Toby said Munday and her parents are also forbidden to comment.

****
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: NWS
Page: 4A;
Index Terms: ARREST; TELEVISION; GAS STATION; MELISSA MUNDAY; ELMER DEBOER; MURDER; HOMICIDE
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801150066

TV VIEWERS SPOT SUSPECT IN SLAYING
Detroit Free Press (MI)
April 26, 1988
Author: JOEL THURTELL Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2

All it took was a preview of the next "America's Most Wanted" TV episode for sharp-eyed Ann Arbor viewers to recognize the suspect and call police Sunday night.

By mid-morning Monday, detectives had arrested James Charles Stark, 40, on California murder and rape warrants, said Lt. John Atkinson.

Ann Arbor police took five calls from people who watched the program's promotional announcement for the next week's show and recognized Stark as a local street person, said Deputy Chief Don Johnson.

"Can you believe that?" Lt. Mike Pagan of the Banning, Calif., Police Department said Monday. "Fifteen seconds on the air last night, and here we've been working on it for a year."

Early Monday morning, Ann Arbor police replayed a videotape of the program for staffers from the Shelter Association of Ann Arbor. Some, who had called police Sunday, said they recognized the suspect.

Detectives found Stark working at a car wash and he surrendered after a brief attempt to escape, Johnson said.

Pagan said Stark is wanted in the slaying of a teenage girl at a gas station last May 1. The girl, who has not been identified, apparently was riding in a truck with Stark, Pagan said.

Stark is also charged in a February rape in California, Pagan said.

The show, to run Sunday at 8 p.m. on Detroit's WKBD-TV (Channel 50), will have to be re-edited to report Stark's arrest, said Fox Broadcasting Co. Vice-President Thomas Herwitz.

Since the Fox network began airing the show nationally in February, it has led to the arrest of 11 convicted or suspected killers, rapists, kidnappers, arsonists and armed robbers, including two of the FBI's 10 most wanted men, said Fox spokeswoman Leslie Groves.

Last year, John Burns, the suspect in a 17-year-old murder case, was captured in Pennsylvania a few days after an NBC segment of "Unsolved Mysteries" aired his photo.

Burns was brought back to Michigan and convicted in Washtenaw County of second-degree murder in the 1970 shotgun slaying of his estranged lover. Burns died in jail before being sentenced.

Earlier, an "Unsolved Mysteries" program led to the arrest of Jerry Strickland and Melissa Munday in Moses Lake, Wash., in the May 1987 robbery and slaying of Oakland County gas station courier Elmer DeBoer.

Another "Unsolved Mysteries" program led to the April 22 murder convictions in Nevada of Robert Weeks in the deaths of two women. He is also the prime suspect in the disappearance of Carol Ann Riley, a San Diego nurse whom Weeks dated for two years.

****
Memo: SEE ALSO METRO EDITION PAGE 3A
Edition: METRO FINAL CHASER
Section: NWS
Page: 3A;
Index Terms: TELEVISION; HOMICIDE; MYSTERY; RAPE
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801190642

ANN ARBOR TV VIEWERS SPOT SUSPECT IN SLAYING
Detroit Free Press (MI)
April 26, 1988
Author: JOEL THURTELL Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 3

All it took was a preview of the next "America's Most Wanted" TV episode for sharp-eyed Ann Arbor viewers to recognize the suspect and call police Sunday night.

By mid-morning Monday, detectives had arrested James Charles Stark, 40, on California murder and rape warrants, said Ann Arbor Lt. John Atkinson.

Ann Arbor police took five calls from people who watched the program's promotional announcement for the next week's show and recognized Stark as a local street person, said Deputy Chief Don Johnson.

"Can you believe that?" Lt. Mike Pagan of the Banning, Calif., Police Department said Monday. "Fifteen seconds on the air last night, and here we've been working on it for a year."

Early Monday morning, Ann Arbor police replayed a videotape of the program for staffers from the Shelter Association of Ann Arbor. Some, who had called police Sunday, said they recognized the suspect as a man who went by the name James Charles Cherry.

"If you saw him in person you'd know it was him -- the tape is that good," said Atkinson.

Detectives found Stark working at a car wash and he surrendered after a brief attempt to escape, Johnson said.

Pagan said Stark is wanted in the slaying of a teenage girl at a gas station last May 1. The girl, who has not been identified, apparently was riding in a truck with Stark, Pagan said.

Stark is also charged in a February rape in California, Pagan said.

The show, to run Sunday at 8 p.m. on Detroit's WKBD-TV (Channel 50), will have to be re-edited to report Stark's arrest, said Fox Broadcasting Co. Vice-President Thomas Herwitz.

Since the Fox network began airing the show nationally in February, it has led to the arrest of 11 convicted or suspected killers, rapists, kidnappers, arsonists and armed robbers, including two of the FBI's 10 most wanted men, said Fox spokeswoman Leslie Groves.

Like the FBI's wanted posters, the Fox show tries to circulate the faces of criminals to a wide audience, said Herwitz.

"But mass exposure is only one piece of the puzzle," he said. "It takes people who are watching the show to take the time and effort to make the call."

Dramatic as it is, such television-enhanced detective work is not new in Ann Arbor. Last year, John Burns, the suspect in a 17-year-old murder case, was captured in Pennsylvania a few days after an NBC segment of "Unsolved Mysteries" aired his photo.

Burns was brought back to Michigan, where a Washtenaw County jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in the 1970 shotgun slaying of his estranged lover. Burns died in jail before being sentenced.

Earlier this year, an "Unsolved Mysteries" program led to the arrest of Jerry Strickland and Melissa Munday in Moses Lake, Wash., in the May 1987 robbery and slaying of Oakland County gas station courier Elmer DeBoer.

Another "Unsolved Mysteries" program led to the April 22 murder convictions on Nevada of Robert Weeks in the deaths of two women. He is also the prime suspect in the disappearance of Carol Ann Riley, a San Diego nurse whom Weeks dated for two years.

Riley's father, John, lives in Pontiac. She was last seen April 5, 1986, when she was scheduled to have dinner with Weeks to tell him she was engaged to another man. She has never been found and is presumed dead.

Weeks, 58, was arrested in Tucson, Ariz., one day after an "Unsolved Mysteries" segment on him was broadcast. He was turned in by his girlfriend.

The show highlighted Weeks' involvement in the disappearances of his former wife, Patricia, 41, in 1968; a former girlfriend, Cynthia Jabour, 47, in 1980, and Riley. All three women vanished after ending their relationships with Weeks, but agreeing to have dinner with him.

****
Memo: SEE ALSO METRO FINAL EDITION PAGE 3A
Edition: METRO EDITION
Section: NWS
Page: 3A;
Index Terms: MYSTERY; HOMICIDE; TELEVISION
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8801190649

THE SUCCESS OF TV'S 'MOST WANTED' IS EVIDENCED BY ITS STARS' ARRESTS
Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
April 27, 1988
Author: Joel Thurtell, Knight-Ridder News Service
Estimated printed pages: 3

All it took was a preview of the next America's Most Wanted TV episode for sharp-eyed Ann Arbor, Mich., viewers to recognize the suspect and call police Sunday night.

By mid-morning Monday, detectives had arrested James Charles Stark, 40, on California murder and rape warrants, said Ann Arbor Lt. John Atkinson. And now the people at the Fox Network, which broadcasts America's Most Wanted (Sundays at 8 p.m., on Channel 29 in Philadelphia), are going to have to rework this Sunday's show.

Ann Arbor police took five calls from people who watched the program's promotional announcement Sunday and recognized Stark as a local street person, said Deputy Chief Don Johnson.

"Can you believe that?" Lt. Mike Pagan of the Banning, Calif., Police Department said Monday. "Fifteen seconds on the air last night, and here we've been working on it for a year."

Early Monday morning, Ann Arbor police replayed a videotape of the program for staffers from the Shelter Association of Ann Arbor. Some, who had called police Sunday, said they recognized the suspect as a man who went by the name James Charles Cherry.

"If you saw him in person you'd know it was him - the tape is that good," said Atkinson.

Detectives found Stark working at a carwash, and he surrendered after a brief attempt to escape, Johnson said.

Pagan said Stark was wanted in the slaying of a teenage girl at a gas station May 1. The girl, who has not been identified, apparently was riding in a truck with Stark, Pagan said.

Stark is also charged in a February rape in California, Pagan said.

The show, to run Sunday, will have to be re-edited to report Stark's arrest, said Fox Broadcasting Co. vice president Thomas Herwitz.

Since the Fox network began airing the show nationally in February, it has led to the arrest of 11 convicted or suspected killers, rapists, kidnappers, arsonists and armed robbers, including two of the FBI's 10 most wanted men, said Fox spokeswoman Leslie Groves.

Like the FBI's wanted posters, the Fox show tries to circulate the faces of criminals to a wide audience, said Herwitz.

"But mass exposure is only one piece of the puzzle," he said. "It takes people who are watching the show to take the time and effort to make the call."

Dramatic as it is, such television-enhanced detective work is not new in Ann Arbor. Last year, John Edward Burns, the suspect in a 17-year-old murder case, was captured in his secluded log cabin in Pennsylvania's Blair County (near Altoona). His arrest came a few days after an NBC segment of Unsolved Mysteries aired his photo.

Burns was brought back to Michigan, where a Washtenaw County jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in the 1970 shotgun slaying of his estranged lover, Eleanor Farver. Burns died in jail before being sentenced.

Altoona-area viewers had called police in Michigan, who then contacted local authorities.

A Pennsylvania native, Burns, who was also known as Wilford P. Cashman, had fled to Michigan in 1946 after escaping from a state penitentiary where he was serving a sentence for attempted rape and murder.

After Farver's death, he hid for 10 days in a barn within yards of her home before fleeing to Pennsylvania, living as a hermit and a handyman. He was 77 when he was found.

Earlier this year, an Unsolved Mysteries program led to the arrest of Jerry Strickland and Melissa Munday in Moses Lake, Wash., in the May 1987 robbery and slaying of Oakland County gas station courier Elmer DeBoer.

Another Unsolved Mysteries program led to the murder convictions last week in Nevada of Robert Weeks in the deaths of two women. He is also the prime
suspect in the disappearance of Carol Ann Riley, a San Diego nurse whom Weeks dated for two years.

She was last seen April 5, 1986, when she was scheduled to have dinner with Weeks to tell him she was engaged to another man. She has never been found and is presumed dead.

Weeks, 58, was arrested in Tucson, Ariz., one day after an Unsolved Mysteries segment on him was broadcast. He was turned in by his girlfriend.

The show highlighted Weeks' involvement in the disappearances of his former wife, Patricia, 41, in 1968; a former girlfriend, Cynthia Jabour, 47, in 1980, and Riley. All three women vanished after ending their relationships with Weeks, but agreeing to have dinner with him.

Edition: FIRST
Section: FEATURES DAILY MAGAZINE
Page: E01
Index Terms: TELEVISION REVIEW
Dateline: DETROIT
Copyright (c) 1988 The Philadelphia Inquirer
Record Number: 8801270070

LOVER SAYS STRICKLAND CONFESSED TO MURDER
Detroit Free Press (MI)
August 17, 1988
Author: GEORGEA KOVANIS Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2

Jerry Strickland admitted shooting to death oil company courier Elmer DeBoer, the defendant's teenaged lover testified Tuesday in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Melissa Munday, 18, said that Strickland admitted the May 11, 1987, killing because he wanted her to know the truth.

Munday testified that Strickland told her several months after the slaying, " 'In case anything should ever happen, I think you ought to know that I did it.'

"Jerry told me that when things got rough to tell the truth and that he would stand up and tell the truth," she said.

Authorities arrested Strickland and Munday in Moses Lake, Wash. -- a town of 10,500 about 100 miles southwest of Spokane -- in February after NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" program broadcast an episode about the slaying.

Strickland is charged with the robbery, kidnapping and murder of 38-year-old DeBoer, a Leemon Oil Co. courier who picked up cash receipts from the Waterford Township Union 76 service station where Munday worked.

Police estimate DeBoer was carrying about $10,000 when he was killed.

DeBoer's body was found in a marshy field in Rose Township in northwest Oakland County.

Murder and kidnapping charges against Munday, now living in Maryland, have been dropped in exchange for her testimony against Strickland.

Munday said she helped plan the 1987 robbery but knew nothing about the killing. She told the court that Strickland originally planned to "handcuff me and Elmer together, take us out to the land in Rose Township, hit Elmer over the head and rape me."

Munday said the couple planned the robbery for a Monday because she knew there would be more cash at the station since no pickups are made on Sunday.

She said Strickland bought a van shortly before the killing so he could take DeBoer to Rose Township.

Munday said Strickland lured the courier outside the gas station that May 11, saying he wanted to show DeBoer his van, then handcuffed him and forced him to lie down before driving to the field.

"He told me Elmer was not hurt, that he left him handcuffed to a tree," Munday said.

The couple left the state after the robbery, traveling to Seattle before settling in Moses Lake.

Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Charles Spiekerman rested the prosecution's case Tuesday. Defense attorney Elbert Hatchett, who repeatedly asked Munday why her stories about the killing are inconsistent, is scheduled to begin the defense when Strickland's trial resumes Friday.

Munday said she originally told other versions of the killing because she was trying to protect Strickland.

CUTLINE

Jerry Strickland sits in court Tuesday, watching while lawyers argue his case.

Melissa Munday walks outside a courtroom Tuesday before testifying.

****
Photo DAYMON J. HARTLEY
Memo: SHORTER VERSION IN METRO FINAL EDITION page 4a
Edition: METRO EDITION
Section: NWS
Page: 4A;
Index Terms: COURT; MURDER; JERRY STRICKLAND; MELISSA MUNDAY; TESTIMONY; HOMICIDE
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8802050463

MAN CONVICTED IN CASE FEATURED ON TV PROGRAM
Chicago Tribune
August 23, 1988
Author: From Chicago Tribune wires.
Estimated printed pages: 1

A jury on Monday convicted Jerry Strickland in the murder of a gasoline

company money courier, officials said. The jury deliberated about 3 1/2 hours Friday and 1 1/2 hours Monday before returning the verdict against Strickland, 26, said Dan Wangler, a clerk for Judge James Thorburn of the Oakland County

Circuit Court. Strickland was convicted of murder, kidnaping and armed robbery in the slaying of Elmer DeBoer on May 11, 1987, Wangler said. He is to be

sentenced Sept. 9. DeBoer, 38, was shot twice after being robbed of $11,000 at a Waterford Township gas station where he had gone to pick up daily receipts, police said. Strickland`s girlfriend, Melissa Munday, 18, worked at the gas

station at the time. She testified last week that she participated in the

robbery but knew nothing about DeBoer`s death until Strickland confessed to

her two months later. Prosecutors dropped murder and kidnaping charges against Munday in exchange for her testimony. The couple fled to Moses Lake, Wash.,

where they were arrested in February after NBC-TV`s ``Unsolved Mysteries``

broadcast an account of DeBoer`s death and the couple`s disappearance.

Edition: FINAL
Section: NEWS
Page: 3
Index Terms: MICHIGAN; CRIME; MURDER; COURT; VERDICT
Dateline: PONTIAC, MICH.
Copyright 1988, 2003, Chicago Tribune
Record Number: CTR8801250011

MAN CONVICTED IN MURDER OF OIL FIRM COURIER
Detroit Free Press (MI)
August 23, 1988
Author: JIM FINKELSTEIN Free Press Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 1

A Waterford Township mechanic was convicted Monday of first- degree felony murder, armed robbery and kidnapping in the May 1987 slaying of an oil company courier.

Jerry Strickland, 27, who was arrested in Washington state after NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" broadcast a February segment on the slaying of Elmer DeBoer, faces a mandatory life prison term when he is sentenced Sept. 9 by Oakland County Circuit Judge James Thorburn.

After a half-day of deliberation both Friday and Monday, the 12-member jury found Strickland guilty of all five charges, including two counts of using a gun in the kidnapping.

In closing arguments, Assistant Prosecutor Charles Spiekerman pointed to Strickland and said, "Now you know what a cold-blooded murderer looks like."

Defense attorney Elbert Hatchett said that Strickland's girlfriend, Melissa Munday, lied when she told the jury that Strickland confessed to the murder.

Munday, 18, who was arrested with Strickland in Moses Lake, Wash., worked at a Union 76 station where Leemon Oil Co. courier DeBoer, 38, regularly picked up cash receipts. She and Strickland disappeared soon after DeBoer was found dead of gunshot wounds in a marshy field in Rose Township.

She testified in exchange for having murder and kidnap charges dropped, but will return from her Maryland home next month to face armed robbery charges in juvenile court. Munday was 17 at the time of the robbery.

CUTLINE

Jerry Strickland was arrested after an "Unsolved Mysteries" television broadcast.

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Photo
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: NWS
Page: 3A;
Index Terms: VERDICT; COURT; RULING; HOMICIDE; MURDER; TELEVISION
Copyright (c) 1988 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8802060795

TV CRIME PROGRAM LEADS TO CONVICTION
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
August 24, 1988
Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Estimated printed pages: 1

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) - A man who was arrested with his teen-age girlfriend after a nationally televised show linked them to a robbery and slaying has been convicted of the killing.

The defendant, Jerry Strickland, 26, was found guilty Monday of the robbery, kidnapping and murder of a gasoline company money courier on May 11, 1987, said Dan Wangler, a clerk for Circuit Judge James Thorburn.

The courier, Elmer DeBoer, 38, was shot twice in the head after being robbed of $11,000 at the gas station where he had gone to pick up receipts, police said. Melissa Munday, 18, Strickland's girlfriend and mother of two of his children, worked at the station.

Strickland and Munday left Michigan after DeBoer's slaying and wound up in Moses Lake, Wash., authorities said. They surrendered in February after they happened to see NBC's ''Unsolved Mysteries'' broadcast on DeBoer's killing. Prosecutors dropped murder and kidnapping charges against Munday in exchange for her testimony against Strickland.
Edition: FIVE STAR
Section: NEWS
Page: 7C
Index Terms: MICHIGAN ARREST TEEN TEENAGER TEENAGE LINK CONVICTION DEATH; FATALITY SHOOTING WASHINGTON SURRENDER TELEVISION PROGRAM UNSOLVED; MYSTERIES CHARGE
Copyright (c) 1988 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Record Number: 8803110230

WOMAN HOPES TO MARRY JAILED MICHIGAN MURDERER
Detroit Free Press (MI)
April 17, 1989
Author: JEANNE MAY Free Press Staff Writer and , ociated Press
Estimated printed pages: 2

A woman in Moses Lake, Wash., wants to marry Jerry Strickland -- who is serving a life term for an Oakland County slaying -- because he's better than the men in her town.

"I look around at the guys in this town," the woman, Robin Marks, said. "Nobody can compare to Jerry. He's so good-hearted and good with kids. This whole town is full of creeps."

Marks, 35, is the mother of three children, ages 3, 6 and 16. She has no phone and was interviewed by the Columbia Basin Herald, the daily newspaper in Moses Lake, a city of about 10,600.

She said she fell in love with Strickland by mail and telephone after he was arrested in Moses Lake and returned to Michigan.

Strickland, 28, was convicted of kidnapping, robbing and murdering Elmer DeBoer, an oil company courier who picked up cash receipts from gas stations. Strickland's teenage girlfriend, Melissa Munday, worked at a station on DeBoer's route in Waterford Township, and the two left the area soon after DeBoer's body was found in Rose Township in May 1987. They were arrested when the story of the crime was broadcast on NBC-TV's "Unsolved Mysteries" program in February 1988.

Munday, who has two children by Strickland, testified against him, and murder and kidnapping charges against her were dropped.

In Moses Lake, Strickland and Munday lived in an apartment building managed by Marks' mother, and Strickland, an auto mechanic, repaired Marks' car once.

Shortly after he returned to Michigan, some Moses Lake friends of Strickland told Marks he wanted to write to her, with her permission. She agreed.

In more than 100 letters and once-a-week telephone calls, they learned they both valued family, enjoyed children and liked country life, she said. By last summer, they began to talk about marriage.

They broke off for several months because Marks "had doubts," she said, but got together again around Christmas.

"I probably know a lot more about him than I would know about a man if I had been married to him for three years," she said.

Marks said she hopes to marry Strickland by telephone or by proxy because she can't afford to come to Michigan. Strickland is appealing his conviction -- a process that could take years -- but if he gets out, she said, he will return to Moses Lake to live with her and her children.

They also plan to try to get custody of Strickland's two children by Munday, she said.

But what about the killing?

Marks said she believes Strickland is innocent. "A lot of people believe everything that was in the paper and on TV," she said.

CUTLINE

Jerry Strickland

***
Photo
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: NWS
Page: 3A;
Index Terms: MARRIAGE; UNUSUAL; PRISON; JERRY STRICKLAND
Copyright (c) 1989 Detroit Free Press
Record Number: 8901160340

Thanks for posting that Justin. Reading all that makes me even more honked at this case. They try to play the whole "we were going to turn ourselves in..we were scared.....we don't have any money" bit while they were having a yard sale so they could make money to "get out of town" as they say. I don't buy for one minute that they were this nice friendly couple just trying to make a life. They're murderers on the run I don't care if she was a teenager that doesn't excuse her. Even if you buy her story (which I don't) that she didn't know Elmer was killed she still knew about the robbery and played a part in it and thought Elmer was left handcuffed to a tree so that would have been I guess kidnapping and assault and robbery. She should have been charged with all of those felonies. Did she ever wonder (if she believed he was out there) if anybody ever came and helped him? There's no doubt in my mind that she used her child and her baby on the way to get those charges dropped you know the whole "I'm a teen mom with no money" bit. Those kids would probably be better off being adopted anyway.

Very interesting blurb about John Burns as well. I didn't know he had a heart attack and died before sentencing but he did seem pretty old in the update when he had been captured.

The last article makes me want to hurl. I can't believe how stupid some people are.

Well I was doing a search of something else when I came across this so I decided to do an inmate update. Jerry Strickland is still alive and still in prison. Strickland is inmate no. 196117 and is currently serving his time at the Kinross Correctional Facility in Kincheloe, Michigan. Strickland is currently 44 years old and will be 45 in October. Strickland currently stands at 5'9 and weighs 270 pounds.

I also saw David Davis's name mentioned in one of the articles and it reminded me of him so I looked him up. Davis is still alive and still in prison as well. Davis murdered his wife in 1980 for insurance money and then tried to make it look like an accident. Once he knew his gig was up he went on the run and remained on the run for nearly ten years until he was captured after being profiled on Unsolved Mysteries. Davis is inmate no. 206411 and he was sentenced to life in 1990. Davis is currently serving his time at the Marquette Branch Prison in Marquette, Michigan. Davis is currently 61 years old and turns 62 in September. Davis currently stands at 5'11 and weighs 266 pounds. If you want to see their mugshots, go to the Michigan Department of Corrections website and then go the offender search. Type in their inmate number in the search and you will see how much these two have aged. Especially Davis.

Thanks for the info Kardmas! Do you know how many years Jerry has left (or his original sentence)? Does he have a chance of getting out? I believe his partner in crime, Missy Munday, didn't get ANY prison time which absolutely disgusts me! :mad:

Crystaldawn, I do not know exactly in terms of Stricklands sentence. At the Michigan Department of Corrections website it said he was sentenced to life. However they usually put if it is a life without parole sentence and his just said life so I am assuming he will be eligible for parole at some point. In the late 80's I think almost every state had a mandatory 20 year sentence at least for 1st degree murder before being eligible for parole. 20 to 25 years at least I would think. If it is 20 years he could be eligible for parole as early as 2008. Yeah Munday she got out of it big time. You gotta remember that up until the last few years the system was very easy on juvenile offenders. Munday was 16 I believe when the murder happened and 17 when she and Jerry Strickland were arrested. They gave her a plea bargain where I think in exchange for her testimony against Strickland she would plead guilty to armed robbery but the murder charges and stuff would be dropped. She was 17 at the time so I am assuming she never did prison time. They maybe put her in a Juvenile facility until she was 21 or something but that was probably it. If she even got that I would be surprised.

I was reading your messages boards and I know Missy. I don't know her in this manner at all. The point is, it doesn't matter if she knew or didn't know. She never pulled the trigger, point blank.What do you know at that age? You think you know everything and you really don't know grap. This happened a long time ago.

I was reading your messages boards and I know Missy. I don't know her in this manner at all. The point is, it doesn't matter if she knew or didn't know. She never pulled the trigger, point blank.What do you know at that age? You think you know everything and you really don't know grap. This happened a long time ago.

Wow. This is from 4 years ago. I sure wish Missy's friend would have come back to explain this statement. It sounds like he/she is suggesting that we should all just let a murderer off the hook because the victim, a nice hardworking guy with 2 jobs, was killed "a long time ago".

Don't you just love that "get over it because it's ancient history" mentality? :rolleyes: Well, Praz, I sure hope you get the chance to see this, but I doubt you have the capacity to comprehend why people feel the way we do about poor little victimized Missy.

That woman might not have "pulled the trigger" on her victim, but she is obviously guilty of murder. The state just chose to not try her for that crime in exchange for her testimony.

With the intent of victimizing Mr. Elmer DeBoer, MISSY is the one who told her criminal boyfriend about the large amount of cash that he was regularly carrying and on which days he's carried the most money. She set him up to be killed.

MISSY is the one who was willingly handcuffed to him in a sickening deception to make him think that she was also a hostage and needed his protection. Her actions here are especially cruel. It also tells us what incredible lengths she will go to in order to commit her crimes. IMO, this makes her more dangerous than the average criminal. I think she would place at 16 on Dr. Stone's 1-22 Scale of Evil: Committing Multiple Vicious Acts, which may also include murder, rather than level 3: Willing Companions of Killers. She premeditates and creates elaborate charades to increase her chances of gaining the victim's trust.

Without MISSY's involvement and the information MISSY provided, Strickland would have never even known about DeBoer and the man would not have been murdered.

I'm right there with the cop from Waterford. She is as guilty as her cohort. They should have both been sent up for life.

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And on a side note, I noticed we've all been admiring Strickland's sexy prison issued figure. He's now 5'9" and 287 lbs. We Michiganders are broke, homeless, unemployed, and starving. IMO, Strickland needs his rations reduced. I might be forced to house him, but I can't afford to keep feeding this guy....

Glad to see that they were finally apprehended.

Remarkable that they were able to obtain a conviction on circlestansive evidence alone.