In 1969, Jane Mixer was attending the University of Michigan Law School when she was found dead just miles from her dorm. She had been shot twice in the head and strangled. Jane was the third of seven young women to be found dead in the area within two years. Investigators believed John Norman Collins was the serial killer responsible for several of the murders but couldn't prove he killed Jane. The case went cold until 2001 when the investigation was re-opened by testing DNA evidence collected more than 30-years earlier. “48 Hours" Correspondent Maureen Maher reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 3/24/2007. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who was Jane Mixer and what happened to her?
She had been shot once in the front and once in the back of the head. Here is just where he dumped her on a night of cold rain. Jane was a silent but very strong presence growing up. I had a lot of unanswered questions, both about Jane's murder, about who she had been. I look back to 1969 to find out.
She was bright and articulate and concerned and empathetic. I mean, she stood up for what she thought was worth saying.
One of the first women admitted to the University of Michigan Law School. Very promising future ahead of her, and her life was stolen.
She was on her way home for a weekend. She was picked up supposedly at 6 o'clock by someone who was going to give her a ride to Muskegon, Michigan.
She gets into the vehicle with him, expecting to head west. And we've got a certain number of hours where Jane's basically missing. In the early morning hours, March 21, 1969, Jane's body was discovered in the Denton Road Cemetery.
My aunt was shot twice in the head and strangled.
My name is Barbara Nelson, and my sister was Jane Mixer. I think I didn't want to even get close to what had happened to her. At the time of Jane's death, there were a whole series of murders of young women. They did arrest a man for the murder of one of the young women, and he was tried and convicted.
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Chapter 2: What was the initial investigation into Jane Mixer's murder?
For many years, most people thought my aunt was the victim of a serial killer. When I did my research, I was not convinced that Collins killed my aunt.
Jane's case was just too different. The fact that she was placed in that cemetery with her belongings, very unlike the other cases.
There were many mysteries. I had reasons to think that somebody was still out there.
I certainly felt that someone had gotten away with murdering Jane.
I never in my wildest dreams thought things would happen as they did. Never, ever.
Deadly Ride.
Jane was both an inspiration of many things I wanted to be, driven, disobedient, brilliant, independent. And I also knew that she died horribly.
Jane Mixer was murdered in Ann Arbor, Michigan in March 1969. She was 23. About the same age her niece, Maggie Nelson, was when she resolved to learn all she could about the aunt she never knew.
I didn't feel as though I could ask anyone in my family the details about Jane's murder. What was it that you wanted to know, that you needed to know? The questions weren't so much. I mean, they were like, who was she? How did she die? But they were really also, why does this story haunt me so much? We didn't talk about what had happened to Jane.
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Chapter 3: Why was John Norman Collins suspected and what was his fate?
Chapter 4: How did Maggie Nelson research her aunt's life and death?
You would see these photographs each time a body was found, you know, all lined up with dramatic headlines. Catherine Ramslin teaches and writes about forensics.
This is one of the better maps of where each of the murder victims have been found. Her latest book is about serial killers. Back in 1969, she was living near Ann Arbor.
They have young women being murdered and nobody can find the guy and stop him. That's just something that had never happened here.
Karen Sue was dead, the victim in the seventh unsolved murder of college co-eds.
As body after body was recovered, the Mixer family retreated. We were buried within our own little worlds of pain and didn't talk about what was really going on. But the community was clamoring for action.
We're afraid we might be the next one. You never know. He's out there. He's a monster. He's a madman.
How long can you have young women being killed before the pressures become so great because you as the police can't solve this?
In 2020, a group of young women found themselves in an AI-fuelled nightmare.
Someone was posting photos. It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body part.
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Chapter 5: What new evidence emerged in the investigation decades later?
No, I did not.
Although the police kept grilling Leiterman, he stuck to his story. Why didn't you believe him?
Primarily the DNA.
The police lab could not pinpoint where the DNA came from, but said it was not blood and not semen. It might be something like sweat, saliva, or skin cells. It was enough for police to accuse Leiterman of murder. A 35-year-old murder. What went through your mind?
They were wrong. I did not do this. My concerns for my family and what this was going to do to them. Just the accusation is horrible.
Leiterman was taken into custody.
Detective Schroeder had put me on the phone with my wife while she was in the car. I could hear the anguish, the terror in her voice.
At the time, Leiterman's wife was too distraught to speak with us, so their close friend Rachel Kuby stepped in to talk about the man she has known for three decades.
I believe they've got the wrong man. It just isn't Gary. And the Gary I know wouldn't have done this.
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Chapter 6: Who is Gary Leiterman and why was he accused of Jane Mixer's murder?
My personal life was pretty much wrapped up with my family, taking vacations with them, dragging the kids along to Civil War battlefields.
But he did have one scrape with the law in 2001, when he was caught writing himself fake prescriptions. He had become addicted to painkillers during a bout with kidney stones. He was ordered to a treatment program, which he successfully completed. But his DNA was put in a database. And that is how he now finds himself accused of murder. Did you kill Jane Mixer? No, I did not.
Did you take her body to the cemetery and dump her there? Were you with anyone who did that?
No, I was not. No, I did not.
Did you have anything to do with the murder?
Nothing.
Prosecutor Stephen Hiller doesn't buy that and believes Leiterman should pay for this crime. What would be the motive for him to kill a woman?
The fact that her pantyhose had been taken down, her jumper had been pulled up so that her genitals were exposed. I think that it's fair to conclude that the motive was sexual assault.
But there was no physical evidence of sexual assault. And that is just one of the many challenges Hiller faces in this old case.
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Chapter 7: What challenges does the state face in prosecuting Jane Mixer's case?
There are enormous mysteries that remain in this case.
Do you know about Jerry Lee Lewis wanting to murder Elvis? Or the hip-hop star who cannibalized his roommate? What about the murders ACDC was blamed for? Or the suspicious deaths of Brittany Murphy and River Phoenix? Or about Anthony Bourdain's wild lust for life and untimely demise?
These stories and more are told in the award-winning Disgraceland podcast hosted by me, Jake Brennan, every Tuesday, where I dive deep into subjects from the dark side of music history and entertainment. So follow and listen to Disgraceland on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.
All rise, please. The Honorable Donald E. Shelton presiding.
Michigan prosecutor Stephen Hiller says Gary Leiterman got away with murder for 36 years.
Jane Mixer's death remained unsolved until August of 2004.
A lot of the evidence was saved from this crime scene, correct?
We got lucky.
Now in 2005, Leiterman is on trial for the 1969 murder of Jane Mixer.
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