Brandon Twp.
Man arrested in Michigan for old California killing
YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Detectives from Michigan and California arrested a 41-year-old man for investigation of murder in the death of his ex-wife, whose body was found buried in the desert nearly 10 years ago.
Charles Patrick Leppan was arrested Sunday in Brandon Township, Mich., the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department reported. He was booked at Michigan’s Oakland County Jail and is awaiting extradition to California for investigation of murder.
A man walking his dog found a woman’s body buried in the desert on March 3, 2004. Two months later, authorities identified the remains as those of Leppan’s 33-year-old ex-wife, Jean Leppan. She had vanished the previous January.
Leppan and her husband divorced in 2003 but were still living together in Yucca Valley when she vanished. Charles Leppan remarried two weeks after she disappeared.
Sheriff’s detectives arrested him in May 2004 after interviewing him about the disappearance. He was eventually released without being charged.
At the time he was a Marine Corps sergeant serving at the military base in nearby 29 Palms.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s cold case detectives decided to re-examine the case earlier this year.
“Homicide detectives conducted numerous interviews and search warrants were served,” Sheriff John McMahon said in a statement released Monday. “They developed new information and submitted it to the district attorney for review.”
On Sunday they arrived at Leppan’s Brandon Township, Mich., home with a warrant for his arrest.
Flint
Revival effort is set for abandoned mortuary building
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A recent architecture graduate and others are working to transform an abandoned mortuary in Flint into a cooperative art and community space.
A Kickstarter campaign is underway to raise funds for the project, which is being called Spencer’s Art House.
Organizers want to raise $12,000 by Saturday.
The long-vacant 120-year-old building is in Flint’s historic Carriage Town neighborhood.
Leading the effort is Andrew Perkins, a recent graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo architecture school who fixed up an abandoned house in upstate New York using only recycled materials.
The plan with Spencer’s Art House is to turn it into an alternative space for architects, designers, artists and engineers to produce innovative work and demonstrate Flint’s potential for rebirth.
Ferndale
Man charged with fleeing in car from police in cemetery
FERNDALE, Mich. (AP) — A Detroit-area man is charged with fleeing a traffic stop and driving through a cemetery, knocking over headstones and tearing up flowers.
Ferndale police say Michael Wasikowski was pulled over Sunday because of an outstanding warrant.
Detective John Thull tells The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak Wasikowski pulled into the Machpelah Cemetery driveway, and the officer got out of his patrol car.
Police say the 43-year-old Sterling Heights man then put the car in gear and took off. In addition to damaging headstones, Thull says Wasikowski “almost hit a 75-year-old pedestrian at the cemetery, and she had to jump out of his way to avoid being struck.”
Wasikowski is jailed on a $150,000 bond. It wasn’t immediately clear if he has a lawyer.
He’s scheduled for a pre-exam conference Thursday.
Grand Haven
Man faces prison in accidental gun death of teenager
GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — An 18-year-old from western Michigan who authorities say accidentally killed a 16-year-old friend while they played with a gun faces sentencing next month.
Richard M. Usher had been scheduled for trial this week on manslaughter and firearms charges in Ottawa County Circuit Court, but The Grand Rapids Press reports that was averted when Usher pleaded no contest last month to manslaughter. Sentencing is Nov. 4.
The Grand Haven Tribune reports Usher faces prison time.
Authorities say Usher shot Brandon Kuiper in the face March 6 in the basement of Usher’s home in Ottawa County’s Tallmadge Township home.
Police say the shooting followed talk about a game of Russian roulette. Four other males ages 17 to 19 were in the basement when the shooting occurred. No one else was hurt.
Saginaw
Ex-fugitive will be tried in girl’s shooting death
SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan man accused of murdering the mother of his 3-year-old son during a year on the run from the fatal drive-by shooting of a 6-year-old girl has been ordered to stand trial in the first killing.
Saginaw County District Judge Terry L. Clark ruled Monday that there’s enough evidence to try 24-year-old Michael D. Lawrence on a first-degree murder charge in the August 2012 slaying of 6-year-old Layla Jones in Saginaw.
He’s one of four suspects.
A hearing next month will decide whether he stands trial in his ex-girlfriend’s killing.
Saginaw police say Lawrence killed 23-year-old Angelica Olivarez. Police discovered her body April 15 in her home after 3-year-old Michael Lawrence III was found wandering the streets.
An FBI-led task force captured Lawrence Aug. 30 in Las Vegas.
