Joan Schell

June 30, 1968

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After spending the weekend with her parents, Joan Schell was eager to get back to Ypsilanti, and to her boyfriend Dale Schultz. When she arrived at her apartment, she immediately was anxious to get to Ann Arbor, where Dale was staying with friends. Her roommate, Susan Kolbe, waited with her at the Ann Arbor bus stop around 10:30pm—Joan had planned on taking the late bus. A little while later, the bus drove by without stopping, full and unable to pick Joan up. Without hesitation, she stuck out her thumb. Joan Schell was determined to get to Ann Arbor.

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A red convertible with a black top pulled up-- a voice emanated from the open window, “Do you need a ride?” Susan Kolbe attempted to dissuade Joan from getting in the car, but she did anyway, desperate for a ride to see Dale. Joan asked if he was going to Ann Arbor, to which another voice replied, “Yeah, all the way!” Susan could tell there were three guys in the car, but could only describe the passenger as “young with blonde hair.”

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Joan promised to call when she made it to Ann Arbor. Susan watched helplessly as the car pulled away from the curb with her friend inside. She was worried when she saw the car turn onto Forest Street towards Ypsilanti instead of down Washtenaw toward Ann Arbor, but she didn’t tell anybody about those worries until it was too late.

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Dale called Susan at 12:35 am, more than an hour after Joan had gotten into the car with the three strangers. She hadn’t shown up.

 

July 1, 1968

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On a warm day at the beginning of July, construction workers were building a subdivision off of Earhart Road in Ann Arbor. Two construction workers at the site smelled something putrid coming from some nearby bushes. Nearby, next to a wire fence, they saw a naked torso in the . In a rush, they told the foreman who called the police.

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When the police arrived, they surveyed the poorly concealed site. However, during the initial attempt to gather evidence from the site, rain began, and it did not stop. The investigation was delayed for two days because of the rain, the sky opened and storms raged. By the time any evidence was exhumed, most of it had been washed away. Again, dental records had to be used to identify the body.

 

It was Joan Schell.

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The autopsy revealed 25 stab wounds. Three were on her back, suggesting Joan had tried to escape her attacker. She was stabbed in the head once, at the back of her neck, severing the bone. Her mini skirt was wrapped around her neck like a perverted scarf. The murder weapon was a four inch long blade, possibly a hunting knife.

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The investigators noted the lack of blood in the grass underneath Joan’s body, suggesting she had been moved and possibly bathed. The difference in decomposition between her torso and lower body was distinct. Her upper body seemed sun-worn and leathery, as though she had been exposed to heat. Meanwhile her lower body seemed well-preserved like it had been covered and kept at a cool temperature.

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Joan’s clothes were found nearby, but her red burlap bag was notably missing. Her roommate said it contained a change of panties, a purple beaded purse, cosmetics, and her I.D.

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When her parents were told about Joan’s body being found, they immediately blamed her boyfriend, Dale. The police took no time in questioning the obvious suspect, but after careful interrogation, reasoned he was too distraught to have committed such a crime.