Sources and Resources

Call the Law

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

Michigan State Police crime scene photographs

Fred Lovelace’s photographs for the Petoskey News-Review, July 1968

Emmet County Sheriff’s Office radio log for July 1968

Interviews with Sheriff Pete Wallin, May 31, 2007, and July 10, 2007

Paul E. Petosky, Postmarks from the Past, a regular column in the Great Lakes Marina newspaper and a Web site, http://postmarks/grandmaraismichigan.com

Emmet County tax certificate dated October 25, 1910

Brochure from Chippewa Cove Woods

Historical signs posted along M-119, The Tunnel of Trees

“Mystery Shrouds Area of Mass Murder since Indian Legend Days,” by Bob Clock, Petoskey News-Review, August 1, 1968

Will Be Back

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

Michigan State Police crime scene photographs

Autopsy files of Emmet County medical examiner Dr. Richard Weber

Letter from pathologist Dr. Jean Webster to Jensen’s Animal Hospital dated July 30, 1968

Emmet County medical examiner’s property recovery form dated July 23, 1968

Interview with Aileen Fox by Al Koski, 1968

“Probe Emmet Mass Murder; Family of Six Found Dead at Blisswood,” by Fred Lovelace, Petoskey News-Review, July 23, 1968

“Rule Mass Murder Premeditated,” Petoskey News-Review, July 24, 1968

“Zink Returns to Head Robison Probe,” by Bob Clock, Petoskey News-Review, July 26, 1968

“Slayer of 6 Hidden by Lack of Motive,” Detroit News, August 9, 1968

“4 Bodies Exhumed in Robison Investigation,” The Eccentric, November 1, 1968

The Boss

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

Interview with accountant Cal Mackey conducted at his office at 10½ Mile and Greenfield and Oak Park on November 24, 1969, by Detectives Lloyd Stearns and John Flis

State police interview with Richard Stockwell, former R. C. Robison and Associates employee

State police interview with Ross Robison, Dick Robison’s father

State police interview with Joseph R. Scolaro III

State police interview with Pastor Harvey Peters of Calvary Lutheran Church in Southfield, Michigan

State police interview with Dr. Alexander Dukay of Ypsilanti State Hospital

Results of Walter Muellenhagen’s polygraph test

Autopsy files of Emmet County medical examiner Dr. Richard Weber

New Catholic Dictionary

Writings of Richard Robison

Editorials published in Impresario Magazine

“Victims Close-Knit; Did Things Together,” by Bob Clock, Petoskey News-Review, July 24, 1968

The “Mentals”

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

Emmet County Sheriff’s Office report

Historical records of the Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane

“Deadlier Than the Snake Pits? Reporter’s 5 Days in an Asylum,” by Stephen Cain, Detroit News, June 27, 1971

The Phony

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

Interview with accountant Cal Mackey conducted at his office at 10½ Mile and Greenfield and Oak Park on November 24, 1969, by Detectives Lloyd Stearns and John Flis

Interview with Dr. Roger Smith and Margaret Smith, friends and neighbors of the Robisons, by Al Koski, 1969

Interview with retired Michigan State Police detective John Flis at his home, by Al Koski, July 18, 1998

State police interview with Joe Scolaro

Obituary of J. Raymond Scolaro, Joe Scolaro’s father

Military records of Joe Scolaro

Telephone records for Summerset, the Robisons’ Good Hart cottage, and for Joe Scolaro’s Wallace Street home in Birmingham

Financial records of R. C. Robison and Associates

Gun Country

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

Emmet County Sheriff’s Office report

“Where Is the Gun That Killed the Robison Family?” by Joseph E. Wolff, Detroit News, June 27, 1971

“Problem of Ecology & Economics,” by Keith Matheny, Petoskey News-Review, July 1, 1997

Michigan Department of Natural Resources hunting season records

State police ballistics report on Case No. 7471

“Find 14 Spent .22 Shells in Robison Cottage Closet,” Petoskey News-Review, September 14, 1998

Following the Money

Interviews with Sheriff Pete Wallin, May 31, 2007, and July 10, 2007

Financial records of R. C. Robison and Associates

State police interview with Roger and Margaret Smith

State police interview with Detroit National Bank manager Frank Joity

Walter Muellenhagen’s notes on Dick Robison’s new business venture

State police interview with Ross Robison

Oakland County Probate Court records from July 1968

State police interview with accountant Cal Mackey

State police interview with New Hudson Airport managers Arnold Park and William McKinley

Telephone records for Dick Robison’s home on Dolores Street in Lathrup Village

State police interview of Joe Scolaro

State police interview with Helen Hoeft, secretary at Delta Faucet

Records of Oakland County assistant prosecutor and forensic accountant Eugene Freedman

“Big Airport Deal Adds New Mystery to Robison Case,” United Press International, September 5, 1969

“A New, Startling Report on the Bizarre Events and Strange Dealings That Foreshadowed Murder,” by William Schmidt and Al Koski, Detroit Free Press, November 8, 1970

The Tipsters

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

Emmet County Sheriff’s Office report

Letter from Sheriff Richard Zink to Martin S. Hayden, editor of the Detroit News, August 7, 1968

Typed letter addressed to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, October 4, 1972

Memo from unknown state police detective to Captain Guy Babcock, September 15, 1969

Letter from an anonymous correspondent to attorney general Frank J. Kelley, July 28, 1988

State police interview with Karl Olbrich and friends

Telephone records of Joe Scolaro’s Wallace Street home in Birmingham

“Reward Offered in Unsolved Mass Murder,” by John Charles Robbins, Petoskey News-Review, June 24, 1998

“Police Ask News’ Aid in Robison Murders,” Detroit News, August 11, 1968

“Is Key to Robisons’ Killer in Classified ad?” by Joseph E. Wolff, Detroit News, January 5, 1969

“Robison Murders Year Ago—Still No Motive,” by Bob Clock, Petoskey News-Review, June 25, 1969

“Detroiter Confesses to Good Hart Murders—but Is Another Phony,” by Bob Clock, Petoskey News-Review, April 24, 1969

A Leg Man

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

Emmet County Sheriff’s Office file

State police interview with Wanda Hensley Britt

State police interview with Gail Cornforth Barnes

State police interview with Bonnie Jean Scrull

State police interview with Corrine Loop Newton

State police interview with Glenda Sutherland

State police interview with Leo Sawchuck

Financial records of R. C. Robison and Associates

Polygraph examination of Joe Scolaro

State police interview with Ernest Gilbert

State police interview with Richard Stockwell

Cleveland Police Department report on Raymond Britt

Palm Beach Shores Visitors and Convention Bureau

State police interview with Virgil Wheaton

“Religious Medal May Be Clue to Mass Murder Mystery Man,” Detroit News, March 24, 1969

The Alibi

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

The Blue Book of Gun Values, 28th ed., (Blue Book Publications, 2007)

Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors, by Rex Feral (Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 1983)

Two-color pamphlet advertising the AR-7 produced in the mid-1960s by the Armalite Corp.

Memo from gun expert Harold Gunder to Emmet County sheriff’s detective Jerry Hartman, September 1, 1991

State police interviews with Lora Lee Scolaro

State police interview with Walter Muellenhagen

Weather report of June 25, 1968, for Southfield, Michigan, and Good Hart, Michigan

State police investigation photos of the basement of the Robison home on Dolores Street in Lathrup Village, Michigan

Financial records of R. C. Robison and Associates

State police interview with Margaret Smith

Closing In

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

Southfield, Michigan, police report of the suicide of Joe Scolaro

Michigan State Police photographs of Albert Faulman’s target range on Elizabeth Lake Road outside the town of Union Lake, Michigan

Interview with Herbert Johnson by Detectives Lloyd Stearns and John Flis, November 12, 1969, at Johnson’s place of work, the Utley-James Construction Company in Pontiac, Michigan

Letter from Charles Meyers, Senior Crime Laboratory Analyst, retired, to Sheriff Richard Zink, dated July 29, 1988

Michigan State Attorney General records

The Criminal Mind by Katherine Ramsland, PhD (Cincinnati, OH: Writer’s Digest, 2002)

“Arrest Robison Associate over Insufficient Checks,” United Press International, September 15, 1969

“Robison’s Associate Charged with Fraud,” The Eccentric, September 18, 1969

“Robison Murder Suspect Found Dead,” by Jim Herman, Detroit News, March 9, 1973

The Case for Prosecution

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471 

Emmet County Sheriff’s Office files

State police interviews with Joe Scolaro

Letter from Emmet County prosecutor Donald C. Noggle to Sheriff Richard Zink dated January 13, 1970

Statement from Petoskey News-Review reporter John R. “Bob” Clock to Sheriff Richard Zink, signed but undated

Memo from unknown State Police detective to Captain Guy Babcock dated September 15, 1969

Virginia Tech study by the Campus Alcohol Abuse Prevention Center in Blacksburg, Virginia

Al Koski interview with Bill Glass, notes dated March 3, 2000

Telephone conversation between author and Al Koski, September 16, 2007

State police interview with chief assistant Oakland County prosecutor Ronald Covault

“Harbor Youth Killed in Crash Is 3rd in Week in Emmet County,” Petoskey News-Review, June 24, 1968

“Noggle Reviewing Robison Evidence from State Police,” by Fred Lovelace, Petoskey News-Review, January 6, 1970

“Robison Murders Believed Solved,” by Joseph E. Wolff, Detroit News, January 6, 1970

“Noggle Expects Robison Decision Soon,” Petoskey News-Review, January 7, 1970

“Noggle: Not Enough Evidence for Arrest—But Robison Massacre Case Not Closed,” by Fred Lovelace, Petoskey News-Review, January 14, 1970

The Leavenworth Letter Theory

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

Letter from Alexander Bloxom to Michigan State Police, January 12, 1970

Michigan State Police criminal history card for Alexander Bloxom, October 10, 1957

Kansas Branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation records of an interview of Alexander Bloxom by Special Agent Jack H. Williams

State police interview with Alexander Bloxom

State police interview with Mark Warren Brock

State police interview with Robert Matthews

State police interview with Walter and Bessie Bloxom

“Retired Detective’s Theory: Suicide Ended Case in 1973,” by Al Koski, Oakland Press, July 22, 1998

Manhunts in the North Woods

“Backhoe Bandit Says He Was Attacked,” by Sheri McWhirter, Traverse City Record-Eagle, August 8, 2007

Official request for laboratory examination from Detective Bobra Johnston to the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division, August 1, 2002

Letters dated May 1, May 10, May 12, May 13, and May 20, 2002, from Linda Venn of Davison, Michigan, to Emmet County law enforcement and court officials

Laboratory report from Michigan State Police forensic scientist Jeffrey Nye to Detective Bobra Johnston dated June 25, 2003

Laboratory report from Michigan State Police Firearms, Toolmarks and Explosives Sub-unit dated June 25, 2003

State of Michigan Department of Public Health report dated August 15, 1968

Interviews with Sheriff Pete Wallin, May 31, 2007, and July 10, 2007

Emmet County Sheriff’s Office official Web site

Multiple news accounts of the murder of Tara Grant

Crime Lab: A Guide for Nonscientists by John Houde (Rollingbay, WA: Calico Press, 2006)

“Continue Search for Mass Slayer,” by Bob Clock, Petoskey News-Review, July 25, 1968

“Sheriff Hopes for Closure, Finality in Baffling Murder That Shocked Area 35 Years Ago,” by Al Koski, Petoskey News-Review, May 20, 2003

“Murder Case DNA May Not Be Usable,” by Steve Zucker, Petoskey News-Review, May 21, 2003

The Sleuths

Michigan State Police Report on Case No. 7471

Telephone conversation between author and Al Koski, September 16, 2007

E-mail exchanges with Al Koski, August and September 2007

Interview with Judith Guest, September 12, 2007

Appearance by Judith Guest at the Lincoln, Michigan, public library, September 12, 2007

Interview with Tom Mair, June 9, 2007

Al Koski’s interview with state police detective John Flis

The Michigan Murders by Edward Keyes (New York: Reader’s Digest Press, 1976)

Letter from Dean R. Luedders of the Real Estate Division of the National Bank of Detroit to Undersheriff Clifford Fosmore, August 27, 1968

Letter from attorney general Frank J. Kelley and assistant attorney general Robert Ianni of the Criminal Division to post commander Lt. David Leik, August 29, 1988

State police interview with Reverend Harvey Peters

Handwritten notes from the files of the Emmet County Sheriff’s Office on a sheet of paper from a yellow legal pad, dated “8–12”

Letter from Tom Mair to Aileen Fox, July 11, 1994

Letter from Aileen Fox to Detective Lloyd Stearns

“Seek Link in Robison Murders,” by Jane Denison, United Press International, August 4, 1969

“Robison Massacre Site Will Be Torn Down,” by Joseph E. Wolff, Detroit News, September 5, 1968

“To Raze Murder Cottage in Unsolved Emmet Case,” by Bob Clock, Petoskey News-Review, February 24, 1969

“Obsession; Veteran Reporter Writing Book on Good Hart Murder Case,” by Deidre Tomaszewski, Petoskey News-Review, October 20, 2000

“On the Trail of a Killer,” by Tom Mair, Northern Express, August 2004

“Retired Harbor Springs Teacher Offers Opinion on Murders,” by Janenne Irene Froats, Petoskey News-Review, July 23, 1993

“Tip Line Continues in Robison Murders,” by John Charles Robbins, Petoskey News-Review, October 23, 1998

“Murders Became an Obsession to Reporter,” by Steve Zucker, Petoskey News-Review, May 20, 2003

The Good People of Good Hart

“How the Retired Man May Serve His Country,” by John J. Gafill, American Forests Magazine, June 1962

“Mystery Has Long Shrouded Good Hart Area,” Petoskey News-Review, August 10, 1968

Personal letters of Bishop Baraga. Archives of Bishop Baraga, Diocese of Marquette, Michigan

Interview with Stephanie Guyor, October 13, 2007

Driftwood Journal by Monnie Bliss

Interview with Sheriff Pete Wallin

Interview with Virginia Taylor, August 20, 2007

A Bliss House

House tour and interview with Linda Bolton, August 19, 2007

Interview with Trina Hayes, August 19, 2007

Interview with Bonnie Bliss Weitzel, October 13, 2007

Interview with Carolyn Sutherland, June 2, 2007

Northern Michigan real estate listings

Issues of the Driftwood Journal by Monnie Bliss

“Fred and Maree Baxter at The Pebble and Timber Bend 1930 to 1950,” a diary of Good Hart summer visitor Maree Baxter, compiled by her grandson, Fred Cunningham, May 2006

Brochure for Blisswood, 1955

Web site for Blisswood resort, www.blisswoodmichigan.com

The Literary Ladies of Lamkin

Attendance at the August 20, 2007, meeting of the Good Hart Book Club, aka “The Literary Ladies of Lamkin”

Interview with Trina Hayes, August 19, 2007

Interview with Linda Bolton, August 19, 2007

Interview with Stephanie Guyor, October 13, 2007

Interview with Bonnie Bliss Weitzel, October 12, 2007

The Indians of Hungry Hollow by Bill Dunlop (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004)

State police interview with Margaret Smith

State police interview with Walter Muellenhagen

A Healing

Interview with Bonnie Bliss Weitzel

Interview with B. Anne Gehman

Al Koski’s interview with Aileen Fulton

State police interview with Aileen Fulton

Epilogue: Status of Case No. 7471

Typed note from State Trooper John Flis to Sheriff Richard Zink dated April 5, 1971

Interviews with Sheriff Pete Wallin, May 31, 2007, and July 10, 2007

Interviews with Corporal J. L. Sumpter, July 10, 2007