Investigator added to Warren murder case

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By Rosemary Arnholt
VIEW News Editor

LAPEER — Will a single gray hair found in the trunk of a car in Genesee County be the clinching link to solving the horrendous October 2006 murder of 86-year-old Marie Warren?

“We got a lead on a car in the last few weeks that may or may not have been used to transport her body,” Lapeer County Prosecutor Byron Konschuh said earlier this week. “We won’t know about the hair until we get results from a DNA test.”

Because of the mountains of samples sent to an MSP forensic lab for DNA testing, individual test results can take months.

“They tell you six months, but Gary (Lt. Gary Parks) is working on it,” Konschuh added.

Also working on the case is the lieutenant’s uncle, Det. Gerald “Gerry-Joe” Parks, 71, who retired in 1988 from the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department, and now works on unsolved crimes in multiple jurisdictions. Networks made during his long career have also resulted in several closed cases. One unsolved murder from 1984 will go to court in Genesee County next week, he said.

The senior Parks met with his nephew and the prosecutor Tuesday to go over case notes and crime tips on the Warren case. He’ll be able to coordinate tips and will work on it full time for $1 a month, but his real payday will come when the crime is solved.

“If someone has something on the case, call,” he urged. “You may not think it’s important, (but) it may turn the case around.”

The suspect Genesee County car was added to the ever-widening collection of evidence compiled by Lt. Gary Parks. That list includes two suspects currently lodged in the Genesee County Jail and a third person, who may not have been involved in the violent death of a fragile and beloved family matriarch, well-liked neighbor and good friend.

“There are two or three main actors (under investigation) and maybe someone else driving the vehicle,” Konschuh said.

The body of the Deerfield Township great-grandmother was discovered on Oct. 1, about five miles from her farmhouse on White Road. She had been reported missing about 10:15 a.m. that morning by her grandson, who was living with her, but had spent the night away bow hunting.

He called the sheriff to file a missing persons report after returning to her home that morning to find pools of blood in the home.

Mrs. Warren was found in her night clothes, dumped in a ditch on Five Lakes Road about five miles from her rural home around 11:40 a.m. Oct. 1 by two horseback riders. She had been beaten beyond recognition and all ten fingers had been cut off and removed from the scene.

“We’re getting closer,” said the lieutenant who spent 12 hours last Friday, checking out tips in Flint.

Anyone with information, even something they feel is insignificant, is urged to contact Lt. Gary Parks at 810-245-1382 or Det. Jerry Joe Parks or 810-640-2000 ext. 254.

By Rosemary Arnholt
Posted Thursday, March 6, 2008