From the authors of their mastermind minds.
This is mysterious.
Mystery surrounds us every day,
join us and listen to true stories of
mystery from human behavior to nature, and the
physical environment to paranormal
experiences,
the stories are true, even if we can't
explain them.
Mc island is perched
aesthetically in the straits of Mack.
The island is unique,
historic
and timeless.
There is a sense when stepping from the
dot, into town
that a switch has been flipped, and you're
plunged back in time to the nineteenth century
Cars were outlawed in 18 98.
The fairies drop visitors within steps of the
main street. But be careful where you step
because wagon and carriages take the place of
cars, and they are pulled by draft horses.
There are horses to rent for a ride
around the island or bicycles
if you prefer.
The town is arranged for the tourists. Trade
with hotels, gift shops,
restaurants, bars,
and the famous Mack Island fudge.
It's such a beautiful setting that the movie
somewhere in time was filmed there,
and that's what you've feel when you step
off the ferry and enter the town, you
feel as though you've been transported in time
to a simpler
peaceful era.
Thoughts of violence or murder are the farthest
thing from anyone's mind,
but murder did happen there,
on 06/24/1960.
Hello.
My name is Valerie Wine, a writer for
readers of all ages.
I have an
appreciation of history and for those that preserve
it. My newest book, the extraordinary life of
Edwin b Wine,
from the stampede for gold in California to
the capital of Michigan will soon be released.
Be sure to look for it at author
mastermind dot com
amazon dot com, and everywhere good books are
sold
Be sure to visit my website valerie wine
dot com.
Frances Lacey was excited about her weekend trip
to the island.
It will be my first vacation since my
husband died 3 years ago she said,
kaye set, Francis daughter rode with her mother
from dear born Michigan to Mack city where
they boarded a ferry to the island.
As the ferry deep departed of the dock,
the Mc bridge
filled the horizon on the port side of
the vessel.
Its 5 miles span connects the upper and
lower peninsula
of Michigan across the straits of Mach.
And it is a beauty to behold.
Grand hotel on the island also provides a
spectacular view with its massive white columns
and 660
foot porch.
But the 8 mile ferry ride was soon
over.
The ladies dis
and followed the dock to the main street
of town.
Kaye
and her husband Wesley set along with Francis
were invited to stay at a cottage rented
by Wesley mother near a spot on the
island called British landing.
Francis was happy to join the group, but
decided to stay at a hotel instead of
the cottage.
After leaving the dock area, the first hotel
was the chip,
but they did not have any vacancies.
So Francis crossed the street to the Murray
hotel and got a room.
She left her luggage there and went on
a carriage ride to British landing with her
family.
They returned to town had supper and shopped
for fudge and postcards at May's candy shop,
The group returned with Francis to the Murray
hotel and Frances told them she would walk
out to British landing in the morning.
It was already warm by 09:00 in the
morning on 06/24/1960.
When Francis had not arrived at the cabin
by 11:00,
they thought maybe she had gotten lost because
she was always pun.
Their schedule of activities had to get underway
if they were going to be able to
do everything by the time they had to
board the ferry for their return trip.
The family began to search for Francis.
She said she would walk Lake Shore Road.
Some look that way while others walk different
roads just in case.
They walked
to the Murray hotel, but found she had
checked out.
Something was wrong.
It was time to call the police.
A Michigan state trooper the call and rode
his bike to British landing.
He had resolved many missing persons reports in
the past at after getting a description of
Francis, he called Me Bloom, the city police
chief and asked him to check out her
room at the Murray hotel.
Chief Bloom learned that Francis had checked out
of the hotel, but the hotel staff were
not sure of the time she checked out.
Because they found the key to her room
on the desk and assumed
because she had paid for 1 night that
she was checking out.
The staff located her bag in the luggage
area, and they figured she would be returning
for it later in the day.
The chief checked the luggage and saw it
was fully packed,
including 3 pounds of fudge from May's candy
shop.
He checked her room and didn't find anything
out of the ordinary.
But trooper contacted
Me city police on the mainland to see
if her car was still at the ferry
dac. It was.
The police And volunteers began searching the roads
and trails of the island.
At the end of the day, the police
could not find Francis.
And the trooper contacted his commander at the
saint ig post to let him know what
was happening.
Post commander Sergeant George Be burnett said he
would... Send men to the island in the
morning to help with the search.
Sergeant
Boarded the Ferry on June 20 fifth
with 3 other troopers.
On the ferry ride to the island, he
briefed the officers that it was unlikely for
someone to get lost on the island.
The island is 2 and a half miles
long and 1 and 3 quarters miles wide.
The island is covered in a series of
horse trails and foot pat. This and a
person is not far from any of them
on the small island.
As soon as they arrive, the troopers and
65
volunteers began a full scale search of the
island.
Francis son Wesley center was also searching for
her. He was sure she had met with
foul play as she would have reached our
to someone.
Her daughter kaye provided a picture of Francis
and copies were made and passed along to
volunteers who were searching
Police check ferry lines, and no 1 remembered
seeing her
by 10PM
blood had arrived on the island.
They used some of Frances
lacey
clothing from her luggage
enabling the dogs to pick up her scent
on main street,
and follow it to the West Lakes shore,
but they lost it at the end of
the boardwalk.
The dogs were taken to the north end
of the island where they picked up another
scent that led them to the cabin where
the family was staying, then the log, dogs
lost the trio again
that
The next day, June 20 sixth.
Passed without finding Francis and more police became
involved in the search.
Lieutenant Bob Bi, post commander at Mark cat
was sent to the island along with detective
Anthony
Sp.
Sp gained no notoriety as 1 of the
lead detect is in the 19 52 murder
investigation of Army Veteran Coleman Peterson.
Peterson shot and killed former Michigan State police
Trooper Mike Chen,
the owner of the Lumber jack Tavern in
Big bay, Michigan.
A book was written about the killing, and
made into a movie anatomy of a murder.
Detective Sp
began his investigation with an interview of Case
sutter,
She related personal details about her mother. Francis
was
very loving,
independent and pun.
If her mother died,
she and her brother William would inherit at
some apartment buildings,
stocks bonds, and bank accounts. Worth about 25000
dollars.
Kaye had placed a call to her brother
on Sunday night when the all day search
had not found their mother worth William and
his wife valerie left right away for the
island.
Kaye said her mother's black purse had a
cream colored interior.
And bamboo handles.
It should have her checkbook, passport,
social security card pills, and wallet,
Francis
wore glasses,
and she had a diamond ring and a
wrist watch.
She smoked 1 and a half packs of
L m cigarettes, cigarettes each day,
and she would take an occasional alcoholic drink.
Back at the Murray hotel,
another trooper obtained a list of the guests
who stayed on the second floor near room
26.
Where Francis had stayed.
None of them were available to interview because
they had already left the island
He was able to interview some of the
staff. However, the morning clerk remembered checking Francis
in.
And Thomas Murray recalled that she had left
at least 3 times
before 10PM
and left her key at the desk each
time she had left.
After the third time, she told Marie, she
probably wouldn't bother him anymore.
The lobby was closed at 1AM
and the day clerk found the key to
room 26 lying on the desk and missus
Lacey luggage in the lobby
sometime after 10:30AM.
The next day,
June 20 seventh,
a pilot from the Michigan State police,
flew a state police plane
along the island's shoreline
searching for any sign of Francis.
Sp met with a coast guard and joined
them in a search of the coast coastline
around the island by bolt.
Still there was no trace of Francis Lacey.
A dive team from a Michigan State place
in Market was searching the water around the
island.
Swift, dangerous currents in the straits made recovering
a body very difficult.
Police were beginning to believe that Francis Lacey,
could have fallen into Lake huron and drowned.
On the day, Frances Lacey
disappeared.
A couple from Flint took a ferry to
the island,
and the first thing they did was rent
a tandem bicycle.
And The time on the rental ticket was
09:30AM.
They followed the Lake huron shoreline and went
up lake, shore road toward British landing.
The man noticed 2 cobb stone pillars framing
a large iron gate, with a sign that
said private property.
Just past the gate, he saw a purse
lying off the pavement to their right.
They stopped
and heard a noise in the woods as
they picked it up, It sounded like a
large animal lumber through the woods.
The purse was black with a bamboo handle.
Inside there were papers with a name on
them.
They put the purse in the basket and
continued their bark bike ride.
They checked at the Chip
hotel back in town
because there was a brochure from there in
the purse.
There was no 1 registered at the chip
y by that name.
They decided they would not spend the rest
of their day looking for the owner so
the couple took the purse back to Flint
and plan to contact the lady when they
got back home and make arrangements to get
the purse to her.
Back home,
they read newspaper stories of a missing dear
born woman on Mack Island.
And they immediately contacted the police.
Bob Bi
was familiar with a description of where the
couple found the purse.
Be and Brat headed for the gate on
Lake shah Road they began slowly looking around
the side of the roadway where the inform
said they found the purse and then slowly
enlarge their search.
A put odor perm the entire area.
Sp found several small pieces of something.
Broken pieces of a plate. It looked like
a carriage wheel had run over it.
The officers climbed the gate to search the...
On the other side.
They found an overturned rotting row bolt.
Picked up the edge to see what was
under it and found
a pair of women's dress shoes,
1 of the men on the search noticed
2 small trees that the wind had blown
over, and he noticed something dark.
On the ground next to the trees
as he got closer,
he saw
what he was looking at
was human hair.
4 days
after her disappearance.
Frances Lacey
had been found.
This
owed of mysterious is being brought to you
by readers and Writers book club.
It's an online book club with lots of
benefits.
You can stay at home and join the
fun, meet the authors, take part in Facebook
events such as the recent beach. Blanket books
event where games were played. Prizes were won
and puzzles were solved.
You can be a part of our activities
on Facebook,
or become a member at readers and writers
book club dot com.
Please see the show notes for more
information.
The short sleeved white blouse she was wearing
was pulled up above her shoulder blades,
and her dark green skirt was pulled up
to her hip line.
Her plastic rim
eyeglasses
were lying 2 inches from her upper left
arm.
Bob Bi ordered 1 of the troops back
to town to find a photographer and notify
the coroner.
Sp, and the others carefully look for any
more obvious evidence.
They knew the Michigan State police would send
trained
specialists in evidence
collection for to comb over the entire area.
On June 28,
doctor Edgar,
a forensic scientist for the Michigan state police
headed for Mc Island with 2 other detectives,
to help get the investigation into the burner
underway.
The team got there the following day at
2AM.
They waited until daybreak and began a search
working from the outside of the crime scene,
starting with a small pieces of broken dentures,
by 6AM,
they had
slowly moved beyond the overturned row boat and
the black shoes to the body.
Looking closely. It was clear to doctor C
how Frances Lacey was killed. Her white panties
were knot at around her neck.
Cab removed a hair from the front of
her slip near her breasts.
Investigators
discovered 2 hairs,
at the base of 1 of the pillars
near the gate.
Detectives developed a list of all outgoing island
employees.
From the 2 primary theories.
They also went to each business on the
island to get the names of the owners
and the names of all the employees
They wrote a bicycle from where the couple
had rented theirs and took the root to
where the purse was found,
leaving at 09:30. The trooper got there at
10:30.
This means that the couple could have been
only a few yards away
when missus Lacey murderer
concealed her body
under a blanket of brush.
Capella told detectives to get a hair sample
from each suspect bay interviewed to compare to
the hair taken from Frances body.
According to the autopsy report of Frances Lacey,
her body,
was in a state of moderate post mortem
d
deposition. Her skin had already started to deteriorate
around her facial
features and ears.
There was bruising evident on the left side
of her chin and a small lace on
the right side of her chin and there
was a deep
jagged lace on the upper left side of
her head
behind the temple region.
Her right shin was scraped,
from her ankle to her knee with moderate
hem and the doctor noted they were caused
before her death.
She still wore a diamond ring on her
left hand,
but the investigators
reported the absence
of a watch on either of her wrists.
There was obvious bruising on her neck
the bruising was at finger tip
intervals.
There was a knot garment around the neck.
The bruising on her neck
extended entirely from the back of her neck
to the front of her trachea and matched
the width of the l literature.
The killer first used his hands and then
strangled Francis with her own panties.
Vaginal swabs were taken and sent to little
Trevor hospital.
The stomach contents were examined can, pancakes and
bacon were consumed less than 2 hours
before her death.
The report from the hospital confirmed the presence
of sperm.
The discovery of.
Body and confirmation that she had been murdered,
made both year round residents and taurus,
anxious
newspapers statewide
fueled the anxiety.
The police began interviewing suspects and following up
on clues.
By August first,
7 or 8 suspects had been questioned and
released.
While the Michigan State police was tracking down
who killed Francis Lacey,
yachts continued to sail to and from the
island while fairies dropped off an endless stream
of tourists. Old every half hour or so.
4 days a elapsed before Francis body was
found
how many people had left the island during
that time.
On August tenth.
Francis
bill fold, was turned into the police by
the grand hotel Gardner.
He found the bill fold in a clump
shrub near path
contained driver's license.
Vehicle
registration and birth certificate,
but there was no money.
In 19 60,
forensic scientists
used fingerprints and
investigations and doctor C,
compared hair samples from the victim
and hairs found on the victim to potential
suspects.
But Dna
comparisons were totally unknown at the time.
Doctor C
compared hair characteristics,
such as ethnicity, area of the body from
which the hairs came and the color and
growth phase.
He would then determine whether a hair could
be excluded as coming from a known sample.
Hair samples were taken from suspects and compared
to the hair found on Francis slip at
the gate.
Using the evidence they could compile,
police interviewed suspect
after suspect and then had to release them
due to lack of a enough evidence to
charge them with anything.
They contacted all the restaurants serving breakfast and
narrowed down, Francis had eaten breakfast, but
No 1 there remembered her.
The police followed up on thousands of tips
they as they investigated the murder.
They interviewed nearly all the staff on the
island and ferry employees.
They checked backgrounds of suspects. They compared the
details of the lacy case to other murder
cases nearby and around the country.
As years passed,
fewer and fewer leads developed.
The investigation of Francis Lacey death was eventually
moved,
to the cold case files.
The case would be reinvest by different cold
case units over the years.
And then in June of 20 10, detective
sergeant Richard Rule received a tip that caused
him to take another look at the evidence
collected in 19 60.
But then he found
he could not
retrieve all the evidence.
It appeared the evidence
in Frances Lacey murder
was either lost,
misplaced or destroyed.
Dna evidence in 20 10 may have solved
the crime. But what had happened to the
evidence?
She could have been killed by a serial
murder or... It could have been a sex
crime.
Or crime of convenience,
no 1 knows
what we do know
is that with the evidence missing,
the case
will never be solved,
who killed
Francis Lacey.
More detail about this podcast,
can be found in the book grim paradise
by Rod Sad on which this podcast is
based.
I hope you enjoyed this story
and will join us again
for another episode of
mysterious