The Murder of Deanna Gillean

For this case I watched an episode of Cold Blood. It’s season 3 episode 9, titled ‘Rotten To The Core.’

A 15 year old girl is killed, and her case goes unsolved for 11 years.

Background

Deanna Gillean

Deanna Gillean lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her dad Sam, and brother Billy. Her parents divorced when she was 6, and her mom lived in Texas.

Deanna’s home life wasn’t the best, her dad was an alcoholic, but she managed to be a honors student at school. She was described as always smiling and laughing. She dreamed of being a teacher one day.

The Discovery

On October 27, 1992, around 11am, a construction worker was taking his lunch break. He walked into a nearby apple orchard, and saw what he thought was a mannequin. However, when he went closer, he discovered it was the body of a young female. The Grand Rapids police were called.

When the police arrived, they realized the female was very young, around 15. She was naked, except for an ankle bracelet, and covered in branches and long grass. It was also apparent that she died from strangulation, she had marks across her neck.

The police needed to try to identify the victim. They searched the database for missing person reports, and discovered that Deanna Gillean had been missing for a week, after running away from her house.

Deanna was positively identified by her fingerprints, about 24 hours after she was found.

The Father

The police went to Deanna’s home to notify her family. Sam Gillean, Deanna’s dad, told the police that he hadn’t seen his daughter for a week after they got into a fight over babysitting his girlfriend’s daughter. Sam said Deanna stormed out, and went to her friend Melissa’s.

Melissa Shomin said that Deanna called her that night, and asked if she could come over. Melissa said she could tell that Deanna just wanted to vent about what happened. Melissa said that Deanna stayed for about an hour, and left about 12:30am.

While the police looked into Deanna’s background, they discovered that she had a very hard life. Her dad was a very heavy drinker, and this was apparent when they tried to interview him. They said in this episode that he was never sober enough for an interview, and that the fight the night Deanna left was very violent. The neighbors had to call the police about it.

The police were also very suspicious of Sam when they discovered he didn’t report Deanna missing for several days. Sam said he just thought she was at a friend’s house.

The police asked Sam if they could search his car, and discovered that his tires had mud on them. They thought it was suspicious because the apple orchard had mud, and there was mud at the construction site. However, the mud was tested at the lab, and it came back as not being from the apple orchard.

Sam was also asked to take a polygraph test, he passed, and he was eventually eliminated as a suspect.

The First Lead

About a week after Deanna was found, a man named Terry Rogan came forward saying he saw a suspicious red station wagon with the lights on, near where Deanna was found.

Terry actually became a suspect after reporting the vehicle. He was eventually ruled out after passing a polygraph test.

This red station wagon will come back again, it is not random I promise.

The Partygoers

When the police were looking into Deanna’s background, they discovered that her older brother Billy was very troubled. Billy was 18 at the time, and he enjoyed partying and stealing car stereos for party money.

The leader of the group was a man named Francis Littrell, who was 20 at the time. There were various people that told the police that Francis liked Deanna, and would make comments about how pretty she was. Deanna was not interested in him, and it made the police suspicious of him.

Francis was brought in for questioning, and was asked to take a polygraph test. He agreed, and passed. However, he was not ruled out for a very long time. Francis was released because the police didn’t have any evidence to hold him.

The case stalled, and two years later another lead would come into the police.

The Jail Informant

A friend of Billy’s named Gordy Bush said he wanted to talk to police. Gordy told the police that he knew where the crime took place, and would take them there.

Gordy said the crime took place at an apartment that was vacant at the time, that the group of friends used for partying. The apartment was just a few blocks from Deanna’s home.

Gordy told the police that Deanna was killed in the apartment by a friend named Eric Vogel, and that he actually saw him strangle her.

A forensics team was called in to search the apartment, but there was nothing found. No blood, DNA or fingerprints.

The Grand Jury

Deanna’s case once again stalled, this time for 11 years. It wasn’t until a team of grand jury investigators and a new prosecutor named Kellee Koncki reopened various unsolved cases.

In March 2004, Billy, Francis, Gordy, Eric and their friends were subpoenaed to testify in front of the grand jury.

Gordy told the grand jury that he lied to them several times, and that he just wanted a deal from the police, since he was in jail at the time. The grand jury and the police now believed that the group of partygoers had nothing to do with Deanna’s murder.

Gordy Bush was sentenced to 10 years in prison for perjury.

The Red Station Wagon

One day while she was looking through the original case file for Deanna’s case, Kellee Konocki discovered a brown manila envelope. In the envelope, there were pictures of a red station wagon and of a new suspect that the police had actually looked into 11 years earlier.

The man’s name was Robert Ladewig, and he had a long criminal history of various sexual assaults. He was briefly looked into after the tip came in about his red station wagon. His car was searched, and inside they found maps with various schools circled. One of these schools being Deanna’s. However, the police ruled him out, and believed the maps were for his job selling books.

When the police went to talk to Robert again, he was in prison serving a 10-3o year sentence for unrelated sex crimes. The police described Robert as creepy, and said that he asked them more questions than they asked him.

The police also spoke to Robert’s sister Joan, and she said that Robert started stealing as a teenager, and that it escalated.

The police were frustrated because they believed Robert was there man, but they had no evidence. They also discovered that the Grand Haven police got rid of all the evidence from when they searched Robert’s station wagon years earlier.

The “Confession”

Robert eventually cracked while he was in solitary confinement. He said he remembered strangling Deanna, but he never confessed to doing anything sexual to her.

The police also discovered that Robert had several women’s rings in his apartment. His sister found them when she was cleaning out his apartment.

The police needed someone to identify the rings, and they asked Deanna’s friend Melissa if they were Deanna’s. Melissa said she knew that one of the rings was Deanna’s.

On August 26, 2004, Robert Ladewig pleaded guilty to second degree murder. He was sentenced to 25-60 years in prison.

The police believed that Robert saw Deanna walking home after she left Melissa’s. They also believed that Robert kept her at his apartment for a few days, sexually assaulted her, and then put her in his car. Robert believed Deanna was passed out when he drove her to the apple orchard, but she wasn’t and tried to escape. He was able to overpower her, and he killed her.

Robert Ladewig

FINAL THOUGHTS

Francis Littrell was interviewed briefly in this episode, and he said he believes he deserves an apology from the police. His name was dragged through the mud for 11 years, and I kind of agree with him. I also think Deanna’s dad Sam was mistreated. The police called him a drunk that probably hurt his daughter, when he didn’t.

I’m not saying the police didn’t do a good job in this case, but they focused too much on the wrong suspects. They had Robert in their sights, and he was let go. It took several years, but at least Deanna got the justice she deserved. She was just an innocent girl walking home, and her future was taken away from her because of some perv.

Sources

All of the information about this case is from the episode of Cold Blood, there are no other articles that I could find about this case.