The Tragic Case of Roxanne Wood

[00:00:00]Most of us probably lock our doors every time we leave, and when we return, we enter and lock them again. But that hasn't always been the case. In small towns across the Great Lakes, even in the 1980s, leaving your door unlocked wasn't unusual. Locking doors then seemed less important than it feels today. Maybe the threat of break-ins seemed like a big city problem, far from the peaceful banks of the St. Joseph River. Niles, Michigan was the kind of community where people knew each other, where danger was something you saw in the news, not something that ever happened to you. But on a freezing night in February of 1987, that sense of security vanished. And what happened inside one home would leave a family shattered, a husband under suspicion, and a mystery that refused to let go for more than three decades. At the center of this story is Roxan Lee Wood. She was 30 years old. Her family called her Rock and it wasn't just a nickname, it was who she was to them. Growing up wasn't easy for her. After her parents divorced, life became unstable with the kids moving from place to place and never really settling. But through all of that, Roxanne became the steady one, helping look after her younger siblings, Brad and Janet. Years later, Brad would remember that time is chaotic and uncertain, but he always came back to the same thing, Roxanne. No matter where they ended up or how things changed around them, she was the constant, the one who made things feel safe. Roxanne Woods graduated from Niles High School in 1974, where she was known for her kindness and vibrant spirit. She was a woman who appreciated simple pleasures. She took immense pride in tending to her prized rose bushes, and she was a passionate cook and baker who loved sharing cherished family recipes with friends.

[00:02:10]She was a fan of contemporary rock music, frequently playing Bon Joy's Wana Dead or Alive on the stereo. In 1982, Roxanne married Terry Wood. Her last name changed by just one letter. At the beginning of their marriage, both worked at Terry's father's business. Roxanne took a position in nearby Southbend, Indiana. This simple change allowed the couple to have a healthy separation during the day, which their family members noted strengthened their bond.

[00:02:42]The evening of Thursday, February 19th, 1987, started as a typical night out.

[00:02:48]The couple met for tacos after work at a restaurant in downtown Niles. Because they drove separate vehicles to work, they traveled individually to their next destination, a local bowling alley, where Terry was scheduled to participate in a men's league. As midnight approached, Roxanne decided to head home. She was tired and wanted to rest before her workday the following morning. Before departing, witnesses observed Roxanne and Terry embracing, exchanging a kiss, and saying, "Love you. Drive safe." Roxanne departed in her vehicle, leaving Terry to bowl one final game. Roughly 45 minutes later, Terry finished his final game and drove home. When he entered the house, whatever normaly had existed just hours before was gone. Roxanne lay on the kitchen floor in her night gown surrounded by blood. She'd been beaten with a heavy frying pan and her throat was cut. Her night gown was pulled up, her underwear around her ankles, which suggested she'd been essayed. In that moment, nothing made sense to Terry.

[00:03:59]There was only shock, panic. He dropped beside her, desperately searching for any sign of life before grabbing the phone to call 911. His voice was frantic, overwhelmed as he tried to explain what he was seeing. My wife has been murdered. She's dead. She's been cut. As the dispatcher sought answers, Terry became belligerent, screaming at the dispatcher to get 50 cars started immediately.

[00:04:28]When the Michigan State Police arrived at the Nile's residence, they were met with an atmosphere of chaos and emotion.

[00:04:35]Terry's behavior on the 911 call and his subsequent interactions with first responders immediately drew the suspicion of investigators.

[00:04:45]Some investigators came to believe that Terry was faking his reaction. As officers tried to secure the scene, his agitation escalated. He became uncooperative and was eventually handcuffed and placed in a patrol car.

[00:05:00]Later, during questioning, he requested an attorney almost immediately. Now, individually, none of these actions prove anything, but together to police, they began to shape a narrative. And that narrative pointed them towards Terry. Then there was the physical evidence. There were no signs of forced entry anywhere in the home. No broken doors or windows. There was nothing to suggest that someone forced their way inside. Terry mentioned their back door lock had had some issues locking, but investigators were skeptical. This explanation seemed too convenient to them. If no one forced their way in, then how did they get inside? Another detail added to the growing suspicion.

[00:05:46]Terry told police that he'd slipped in Roxanne's blood as he tried to help her, but forensic analysis of the scene didn't support that. The blood patterns on the floor showed no signs of disturbance consistent with slipping or even moving in the way he described. It was a small inconsistency, but in a case like this, small inconsistencies matter.

[00:06:08]And then there was the weapon. Near Roxan's body, investigators found a sheath for a fillet knife. Inside the kitchen, they located the drawer where that knife belonged. It was open, and the knife itself was missing, which raised another question. Would an intruder enter a home unarmed, search through a kitchen to find a weapon, and then take it with them when they left?

[00:06:32]Or was the weapon used by somebody who already knew exactly where to look? As investigators dug deeper into the couple's lives, they uncovered another layer. Both Terry and Roxanne had been involved in past extrammarital relationships. It introduced something investigators couldn't ignore, a motive.

[00:06:51]Piece by piece, the case began to take shape. No forced entry, a weapon missing from inside the home. Terry's explosive behavior. Could he have wanted to get rid of his wife? Everything seemed to point in Terry's direction. So much so that Janet Wood, Roxanne's sister, recalls one of the detectives actually telling Terry, "I believe you're the killer, and I won't rest until you're behind bars." Now, to me, this sounds a lot like this investigator already had tunnel vision really early in the case.

[00:07:27]So, you have to wonder if they bothered to check with nearby jurisdictions to see if there been any similar breakins or attacks. Did they even check to see if there were any recently parrolled criminals that might have had a similar MO? Despite investigators suspicions of Terry, prosecutors lacked the physical evidence to file formal charges. So, the case eventually went cold, but the shadow of suspicion remained firmly over Terry. He was socially ostracized in the community he'd grown up in. He would hear whispering when he entered local businesses and sometimes people would mutter slash. Years passed. Terry continued with a cloud of suspicion over him. But he stayed in Niles working at his family business. For over a decade, he lived under that cloud. Although his family, including Roxanne's sister Janet, didn't believe he was capable of such violence, Janet actually ended up marrying Terry's brother, also becoming a Wood family member. Finally, in 1999, DNA technology had improved enough for an update in the case. The semen recovered from Roxan's body was successfully analyzed and uploaded to Cotus, the national database. The DNA was also tested directly against Terry Wood and the results were definitive.

[00:08:50]The biological evidence did not match Terry. This should have been the moment that Terry was fully cleared, but it seems like tunnel vision prevailed. As Detective Lieutenant Chuck Christensen would later explain to CBS News, just because you find seaman in somebody doesn't necessarily mean that that person is the one that killed them. End quote. Since Terry and Roxanne had had affairs, they might have even thought that Roxanne maybe had a consensual encounter before being killed by Terry.

[00:09:22]Or they reasoned Roxanne might have been assaulted by an intruder but later killed by Terry. Or that Terry himself had hired an accomplice to carry out the assault and murder. The mystery remained. If the DNA belonged to an unknown third party, who was this man?

[00:09:40]And how did he enter the Wood home on that freezing February night? For over 30 years, the Roxanne Wood homicide remained one of southwestern Michigan's most notorious cold cases. Multiple detectives from the Michigan State Police fifth district cold case team reviewed the files in 2001, but each effort ended in a dead end. The investigation was paralyzed by the sheer volume of physical paperwork. Over three decades of compiling notes, tips, and interviews had resulted in a massive disorganized archive of approximately 3,500 pages. In August 2020, two dedicated detectives at the Niles Post, Detective Sergeants John Moore and Jason Bailey decided to take a fresh look at the case. They quickly realized manually searching through thousands of physical pages was a massive barrier to progress.

[00:10:37]They needed a modern solution to streamline the data. This led to a collaboration with Western Michigan University's cold case program directed by Dr. Ashlin Ken. This program partnered academic researchers with state police. Doctoral students Carl Huber and Ashley Chilbec along with undergrad students Samantha Rogers and McKenzie Stoman took on the monumental task of organizing the chaotic cardboard boxes of files. Over a grueling eight-month period, the students dedicated over 1,200 hours of intensive labor to cataloging, scanning, and indexing the entire 3500page case file.

[00:11:19]They created a searchable digital database. This allowed detectives to instantly search names, immediately, revealing whether an individual had already been interviewed or if a tip had been explored about them decades earlier. The students also built family and friend webs, person indexes, and interactive timelines that synthesize 35 years of investigative data into a coherent narrative. Incidentally, this is not the first time we've covered a case where undergrad criminal justice majors helped to solve a case. For another, you should check out this case here. After reviewing the now digital file on Roxan's death, the Michigan State Police realized they needed something new. So, they decided to take a highstakes gamble. They would retrieve the remaining biological evidence from the 1987 crime scene and subject it to the latest advancements in forensic DNA technology. But when they accessed the evidence, the state lab reported there was approximately 3% of the genetic material typically required to generate a viable DNA profile. This represented the content of only a few microscopic cells. So the case was once again on the brink of failure. How could any forensic team extract a complete genetic identity from a sample that had virtually ceased to exist? Recognizing the limitations of standard forensic laboratories, the Michigan State Police reached out to Identifiers International, a Californiabased genetic genealogy company led by Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick.

[00:12:52]Identifiers specialized in resolving highly complex cold cases using advanced genomic sequencing. The company spent 10 grueling months attempting to process the minute DNA sample, but the high level of degradation repeatedly led to processing complications. The project was on the verge of being abandoned with Dr. Fitzpatrick calling the sample a nat's eyebrow of a chance of being usable. Then in April of 2021, Dr. Fitzpatrick discussed the case with Gabriella Vargas, an independent investigative genetic genealogologist consulting for the company. Vargas, who possessed a deep confidence in her unique analytical methods, requested access to the raw data, stating, quote, "I believe this case is extremely solvable, and I believed I could solve it." End quote. In a landmark success, Vargas generated a complete profile from the lowest amount of DNA ever used to solve a case in forensic history. With the genetic profile secured, Vargas uploaded the data to GED Match, a public genetic database where individuals who have used consumer DNA services like ancestry.com or 23 andme can voluntarily opt in to assist law enforcement. Vargas identified distant genetic cousins. She then began the painstaking process of reverse engineering the suspect's family tree, tracing his lineage back to 1797.

[00:14:22]Using public records, census data, and obituaries, Vargas identified a couple who'd been born around 1920. Vargas calculated the suspect had to be one of the couple's three sons, born either in the 1940s or 1950s. Investigators conducted rapid, intensive background checks on all three of their sons. Two of the brothers were quickly eliminated.

[00:14:46]They had no criminal records, lived far away from Niles. The third son, 67year-old Patrick Wayne Gillum, emerged as a terrifyingly viable suspect. He was currently living in Southbend, Indiana, only a few miles from the scene of Roxan's murder. With a viable suspect, investigators began digging into Gillum's past, and what they found made them more convinced than ever that they were on the right track. Now, before we get to the next part of the story, if you haven't already, please consider subscribing and liking this video to help our documentaries reach wider audiences.

[00:15:25]Eight years before Roxan's murder in September 1979, Gillum had broken into the Gary, Indiana home of a woman named Moren Farag. Moren was a local art teacher with two daughters, aged one and three. That night, her husband, Robert, called with a small request. He said, "Moren, I don't have my keys to the house. Could you leave the side door open?" After putting her daughters to bed and getting ready herself, she unlocked the side door and went to bed. She was startled awake by a noise downstairs sometime in the night. She probably thought it was Robert finally arriving home, so she made her way downstairs, but instead she was shocked to see a stranger rumaging in her purse. She turned and fled back up the stairs, but the man chased her, assaulted her, and attempted to molest her. She fought him off, and he left, taking her purse with him. Moren quickly called the police. When Robert finally arrived home, he was met with the flashing lights in his own driveway.

[00:16:31]Just a week later, Patrick Gillum was stopped for a minor traffic violation.

[00:16:36]The police officer noticed that he had Morin's credit card laying in his car.

[00:16:40]That detail was enough to charge him for the attack and robbery. Moren bravely testified in court, resulting in Gillum being sentenced to 14 years in prison for burglary and unlawful deviate conduct. However, due to illegal technicality and early parole, Gillum served only seven years before being released in August of 1986.

[00:17:04]And only four months after his release, he broke into Roxanne Wood's home. While we can't read his mind, Gillum wouldn't be the first criminal to learn from his previous conviction that a surviving victim meant prison. to ensure he would never return there. I wouldn't be surprised if he decided his next victim wouldn't survive to testify against him.

[00:17:27]Gary Artman, the Grand Rapids serial killer, spent 10 years in prison for assault, after which he learned to no longer leave witnesses, leading to the murder of at least 11 women. And we covered that story on our channel, too.

[00:17:40]It also wasn't his only potential attack in the summer of 1987. Rose Caparel had been watering her flowers late one night alone when she heard a loud car coming down the street. It was a blue El Camino with a broken tail light and it passed her, but soon she heard it coming back.

[00:17:59]And then it stopped. She got a bad feeling about that. Suddenly, dropped her hose and headed for her front door.

[00:18:06]And suddenly a man, a stranger with a beard and stocking cap, appeared around the corner in front of her. She screamed and ran into the neighbor's house instead where she called the police.

[00:18:18]When they arrived, that man was nowhere to be found. Well, a week later, Rose and her family were driving to town and they saw that same blue car with a broken tail light. They stopped and Rose went into a nearby store to call the police while her husband waited for the owner of the El Camino to return. And sure enough, when the owner arrived, he was the heavily bearded man who trespassed onto the Caparell property and frightened her. Now, I don't recommend what they did next, but here's what happened. Rose's husband held the man at gunpoint and demanded to see an ID, and the man was Patrick Gillum. They waited for over 20 minutes, but the police never came. So, eventually, they let the man go and simply filed a police report at the station later. But Rose never forgot the terrifying incident.

[00:19:10]How could police not respond to that?

[00:19:13]While police were learning all they could about Gillum, they were taking action. To make an arrest, investigators needed a biological sample from Gillum to run a direct comparison against the 1987 crime scene DNA. In May of 2021, the Michigan State Police Fifth District Fugitive Team initiated an intensive undercover surveillance operation on Gillum in Southbend, Indiana. Undercover units, including trooper Ryan Cody, shadowed Gillum for days, mapping his daily habits, and they quickly observed a crucial habit that would serve as their primary opportunity. Gillum was a heavy smoker. This provides an abundant source of DNA. As Gillum was driving his truck down a busy Southbend street, undercover officers trailed closely behind him and witnessed him flick a lit cigarette butt out of his window.

[00:20:07]Trooper Cody quickly pulled over, waited for traffic to clear, and retrieved the discarded butt from the asphalt. The sample was packaged, sealed, and rushed to MSP's forensic laboratory in Grand Rapids. The investigative team waited, believing they were just hours away from solving a 35year-old mystery. Then the laboratory results returned. It wasn't a match. The non-match was a crushing blow to the detectives. Had the genetic genealogy failed? Was Gabriella Vargas' brilliant analysis incorrect? Meaning they were targeting an entirely innocent man while the real killer of Roxan remained free. Refusing to let the investigation derail, trooper Cody initiated a second surveillance detail, he shadowed Gillum to a local laundromat. And this time he was going to be more direct. He went to a gas station across the street and bought a pack of cigarettes. And then the trooper popped down outside the laundromat and lit up one cigarette after another, waiting for Gillum to pop out for a smoke himself. And sure enough, Gillum stepped outside and lit up not even 8 ft away. The two even chatted a bit about the Red Wings before Gillum dropped his butt into a clean gravel area with no other litter or debris nearby. As soon as Gillum went back inside, Trooper Cody moved in, put on a glove, recovered the still warm cigarette butt, and sent it back to the lab. The second laboratory test returned a perfect match. The genetic profile from the laundromat cigarette butt was an identical match to the biological material recovered from Roxanne Wood's kitchen floor in 1987.

[00:21:51]The DNA did not lie. Patrick Gillum was the man who'd entered the Nile's home 35 years earlier. On February 17th, 2022, tactical units arrested Gillum at his South Bend home just days shy of the 35th anniversary of the homicide. He was extradited across state lines to Berian County, Michigan. The interrogation led by detective sergeants Moore and Bailey would last for 5 and a half hours.

[00:22:20]Initially, Gillum was defensive. He denied any involvement in the crime, claiming no memory of Roxan or her home.

[00:22:28]They placed highresolution photographs of a smiling living Roxan directly on the metal table in front of him.

[00:22:35]Gillum's body visibly tensed. His hands began shaking. His chest heaved and he began to hyperventilate. Gillum began to speak. I can't believe I did it. If I did it. But you're saying I did. So I'm a monster, man. If I did that, that's a monster. Realizing he'd crossed a critical legal line, Gllum stopped speaking and requested to speak to an attorney. The legal resolution of the Roxanne Wood homicide wasn't marked by a sensational trial, but by a quiet plea agreement in the Berian County Courthouse. In March of 2022, facing an ironclad forensic case, the 67year-old Gillum entered a plea of no contest to charges of seconddegree murder. The sentencing hearing was a moment of profound emotion for the family.

[00:23:28]Students from West Michigan University's cold case program stood alongside detectives as Brad Woods and Janet Wood, Roxanne's siblings, delivered their victim impact statements. They spoke of the 35 years of empty chairs at family dinners. Janet Wood, who'd married Terry's brother, Rob, spoke of the profound relief that came with the arrest of Patrick Gillum. The family could finally mourn Roxanne without the lingering shadow of an unsolved mystery and wrongful suspicion.

[00:24:02]On April 25th, 2022, the court returned its final judgment. Gillum was sentenced to a minimum term of 23 years and a maximum term of 50 years in state prison. He was remanded to the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections and transferred to the Carson City Correctional Facility to serve his sentence. And given his age, his sentence effectively ensured that Gillum would spend the rest of his life behind bars. Following the sentencing, Detective Lieutenant Chuck Christensen met privately with Terry Wood to deliver the news that he was formally cleared of all suspicion. For 35 years, Terry had lived under a cloud of public condemnation. Terry, who himself had attended Western Michigan University, expressed deep gratitude to the student team, offering a heartfelt go Broncos to the young researchers who helped him clear his name. The legacy of Roxan Wood's case extends far beyond the borders of Niles, Michigan. It stands as a landmark in forensic history, represents the lowest amount of degraded DNA ever used to identify a killer. The model developed by the Michigan State Police and Western Michigan University's cold case program has since been expanded with the state investing significant financial resources to train the next generation of criminologists and resolve dozens of other long-standing cold cases across the country. Ultimately, the resolution of Roxanne Wood's murder serves as a powerful testament to the persistence of justice. It reminds investigators and families that no case is truly unsolvable and the truth, no matter how deeply buried it is, can eventually be uncovered. If you believe we've earned it, please consider liking, subscribing, and sharing this content with your friends. As a small channel, viewers like you truly do go a big way in helping us get discovered. and comments really help us in the algorithm. Thank you.