The Murder of Michelle Anglin

This is a shorter case because this case is never talked about, I watched an episode of On The Case With Paula Zahn on Investigation Discovery. It’s the 10th season, episode 7 titled ‘Pattern of Violence.’ All the information I have is from the episode.

Michelle Anglin was a 22 year old real estate agent who lived in Phoenix, Arizona. She was also a newly wed, and had been married to a man named Hudson Anglin for 4 months. She was also close with her mom, Peggy and her 2 sisters.

Michelle

On February 6th, 1996 nobody could get a hold of Michelle. Michelle’s sister, Cindy told her boyfriend- a Phoenix police officer to do a welfare check at Michelle’s work place. He went to her work place and found her car, her purse and her pager all at work but Michelle was gone. They called the police.

Michelle had appointments that day, so they checked out a few of the model homes she could have been showing. They eventually reached the last model home in the subdivision, and found some bizarre things in the master bathroom and closet. They found candles knocked over and broken, and they were missing the candle sticks that they were supposed to be on. They also found pink buttons on the floor of the closet.

They eventually got to the master bedroom of the home and found Michelle’s body. She was underneath the duvet on the floor. They also found semen and fluid in the closet of the master bedroom, and realized the motive was probably sexual.

Michelle’s autopsy showed that she died of manual strangulation.

The police didn't have many suspects or leads, but had to look at her husband, Hudson. He was ruled out almost immediately because his was with his stepfather buying a new truck. He had wanted to buy a larger vehicle, in hopes that he and Michelle would be starting a family soon.

The police started thinking that a possible client of Michelle’s could be the killer. The police went to the media to ask for any tips. A tip came in, it was a man that lived in the neighborhood and he said he saw a man that left the rental home where Michelle was found. He said it was at around 4:15-4:30pm, and said that man walked to a black pick up truck with California license plates.

Another lead came in, it was another client of Michelle’s who said they talked to Michelle at 3:45pm that same day, and that Michelle said she had to go because a client walked in. The police put Michelle’s time of death between 3:40-4:30pm.

Another attack?

Another Phoenix real estate agent contacted the police and said she was attacked by the prime suspect. Her name was Kim Ramos, and she had shown the same man with the black truck a house just an hour before he killed Michelle.

Kim was interviewed on the show, and she said she was watching the news and heard information about the black truck. She said the man had come into her office and wanted to see an expensive model home. He had been wearing jeans and a t-shirt, which she found odd because the house was expensive. She said he made her uncomfortable immediately, and was very close to her while they were walking to the home.

They got to the home, and she said he wasn’t interested in anything but her personal life and wanted to see the master bedroom right away. She didn’t enter the master bedroom, because she saw a shift in his personality. She ran out of the house, and saw him get into his truck.

The police asked if Michelle could give them a composite, and she said she actually had his name. All of her clients are required to fill out a registration card. His name was James Van Adams, they also had his address and phone number.

The search for James Van Adams

The police went to the address that was given of Van Adams, and he wasn’t home. They did find his truck parked in the parking lot, though. They took pictures and showed them to Kim Ramos, and she said that it was the same truck with the blue and yellow California license plate.

They searched James Van Adams in their system, and saw that he had been convicted of another sexual assault in California. It was the same M.O. (modus operandi), he found a model home and attacked a real estate agent. He only served 2 years in prison.

The police got a search warrant and went back to his apartment, and took him into for questioning. He refused to talk, and the officers said he was nervous and had injuries on his face under his eye. They realized it could of come from Michelle defending herself with the missing candlesticks, that they eventually found. They also took Van Adams’ DNA, blood and hair samples. It matched, and he was taken into custody.

James Van Adams

Trial

There isn’t much information about James Van Adams’ trial, but Michelle’s family confronted him in court. In the episode, Michelle’s mom had to be taken out of the court room because she was emotionally screaming at him. Cindy also had some harsh words. They showed footage of him, and he appeared to be smirking and showing no remorse.

On July 14th, 1997, he was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Other

On March 14th, 2005, James Van Adams hung himself in prison after losing his last appeal.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

It’s sad to me that cases like this aren’t talked about more, but I love that Investigation Discovery has a lot of shows where they have cases that very few people have heard about.

Michelle’s family said many times in the episode that their family hasn’t been the same since Michelle died, and it was very emotional to see them talk about it. They also said Van Adams had no remorse whatsoever and that he was a coward for taking his own life.

Sources

Besides the episode, this is the only other source I found, it’s more information about the P.O.S. Van Adams.

http://murderpedia.org/male.V/v/van-adams-james.htm