Thursday, January 11, 2018

UPDATES!


I thought I'd take a second to update the blog as to what I'm working on now, so the interested folks can follow along.

First - I've begun producing my own podcast. I'll be focusing on local open homicide cases, with the aim of helping the communities understand why certain cases are where they are, and how some of these cases go cold. One thing I've learned in the last few years, while researching these cases, is that people often have wildly inaccurate information regarding not only the facts of the case, but why it has gone gold. 

Each case is different, so those reasons vary.

My first season on Down & Away will deal with the shooting death of Norma Waldron in Newaygo, Michigan. Fremont, to be specific. 

Her husband insisted this was suicide. The Michigan State Police thought otherwise. The first episode is up, and I will be posting episodes on this case for the next few months, bi-weekly. There will be six episodes, and it will contain audio of actual police interviews of Robert Elton Waldron, as well as witnesses and family members. The podcast is live on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play music, so it's available to Apple and Android users. 

Here's the iTunes link where you can subscribe:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/down-away/id1329623611?mt=2

Here's the web page, for folks who don't do the podcast thing, but would like to listen from your computer. There's an audio player embeded in each post. Currently, there's the Season One teaser and Episode One Posted:

http://downandawaypodcast.com/


Next...




I'm looking at cases for future seasons, and right now, I'm actively requesting information from the community on the murder of Arnold Holmes on October 19, 1992 near Ashton, Michigan. The article above is the only one I have been able to locate on the incident, so far, and in all of the discussions about this case  that I've heard, I was never made aware that there were TWO dead men found on the property that day.

The other man in question appears to have been Kenneth Varney Sr

I believe Varney was the renter and Holmes was the owner of the property.

This makes me wonder how much the community even understood about the case at the time it occurred. But, if the case remains open, there has to be a reason. Either the person they believe to be the perp is dead, or they know who they think did it, but were never able to gather enough evidence to prosecute (the main reason most of these cold cases get stalled) or they have no idea what happened. 

In the latter two, that means they need is the help of the community. 

If you have any information, please contact me at deckerjeni@gmail.com, or comment below. You can also contact me at my personal Facebook Page  or the Down & Away Facebook page. Both have private messaging options.


Thanks in advance for the support.
~Jeni

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember when this happened, I grew up not more than a mile from there.
That morning it scared my mom spitless upon hearing about the murder.
Official story goes that Holmes was stopping by his rental on 185th to collect rent money from Varney.
Varney seeing him coming to the door lost his mind and shot him on the front steps. Realizing what he had done, Varney went around back and shot himself.
The reason the case is still open is because the official story didn't line up.
Rumor has it that Holmes body was found still warm and Varney's was already cold which didn't line up with the narrative.
It was definitely a strange incident and didn't get much coverage.

Jeni said...

Check out Season 4 of Down and Away podcast where I covered Arnold’s case alongside Brett Holmes. We obtained the official Michigan State Police report and got most of the answers to our questions.