Retired Saline Police Began Volunteering for an Office Project, Ended Up Conducting a Murder Investigation

Last week, the Michigan State Police announced it was taking another crack at solving the nearly 40-year-old murder of Mary Alice Ellicott.

Ellicott, a 29-year-old woman who lived in an apartment on Saline's west side, was last seen leaving the Polar Bear (now home to Thompson's Bar & Grill)  in Saline Township on Oct. 11, 1981, between 6 and 7 p.m. For nearly two weeks, police conducted a missing person investigation until Ellicott was found dead in a grassy field about a mile and a half from the Polar Bear in Saline Township.

The murder case was unsolved.

Mary Alice Ellicott was 29 years old when she disappeared from The Polar Bear in Saline Township in October of 1981. She was found dead in a field 1 1/2 miles away two weeks later.

Now, thanks to work by Saline Police Department retirees who were volunteering at the station, the Michigan State Police has reopened the case. Police are asking the public for information and will begin talking to suspects and witnesses.

"We have a list of suspects. We are going to thoroughly investigate everyone one of those suspects. If there's somebody out there reading this article, I hope they understand we're going to be talking to them," said Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Larry Rothman.

(TIP INFORMATION: D/Sgt. Larry Rothman, First District Cold Case Team, 313-407-9379)

Rothman urged anyone with information to contact him.

"Even if it's second-hand information, it can be an important piece of information that helps us solve the puzzle," Rothman said.

So why did Michigan State Police reopen this investigation? For one, according to Saline Police Chief Jerrod Hart, the Michigan State Police have started a cold case team with the help of Michigan State University. Hart said there are 53 cold cases in this state police district, which stretches from Monroe to Clinton County. Detectives from the state police reached out to local police departments to see what kind of evidence they might have on some of these cases.

At the same time, police department retirees were beginning a volunteer project at the police department. 

In 2019, Don Terry and Sandy Wood began sorting old police files to help make room for a gym in the department's basement.  Wood is a retired dispatcher from the Saline Police Department and Ann Arbor Police Department. Terry was a dispatcher in Saline for 15 years after working 31 years with the Ann Arbor Police Department. As they began looking at old documents and files, they started plans for a book on the history of the Saline Police Department. Then they started looking at the Ellicott file.

Terry had been interested in the case for a long time. When he began working in Saline, former Officer Mike Slagle often talked to him about the case.

"He was convinced this case was solvable," Terry said. 

Terry started looking at the reports.

"I started reading the reports and there were some 'WTF' moments," Terry said.

Policing was different in 1981. Files weren't so easily shared because everything was on paper. And the case wasn't even in the Saline Police Department's jurisdiction.

Terry approached Hart about reopening the case.

"What's the negative? I have passionate retired police officers who want to work this case and provide closure for Mary and her family," Hart said.

Terry was given the green light to call Officer Slagle.

"I said, 'I've got a project for you." And instead of hanging up, he asked what it was. Then I said, "You aren't going to get paid or get any recognition and there's an extremely high likelihood of frustration and heartbreak.' He still didn't hang up. So I told him Chief Hart was going to allow us to reopen the Ellicott homicide," Terry said.

Sgt. Bob Dietrich, who, like Slagle, worked at the SPD at the time of Ellicott's murder, was also brought in to help. They also discussed the case with former Chief Jim Douglas.

They began cataloging the evidence. They had a wall in the police department with names and photos - as you'd see on a detective show.

When they had the case buttoned out, Hart reached out to the Michigan State Police, who were impressed with what the SPD had put together. They met about six months ago to go over the case.

Last week, the Michigan State Police announced it was going to reopen the case.

"There are a lot of things that go into a 'scoring grade' that we used to determine which cases we reopen. In this case, a big part of it is the Saline Police Department and their passion for this case to be solved," Rothman said. "Without the work and cooperation of the Saline Police Department, we don't reopen the case. Because of their work, we can hit the ground running."

There are 53 cold cases in District 1 of the Michigan State Police, which includes Monroe, Washtenaw, Lenawee, Jackson, Livingston, Eaton, Hillsdale and Clinton counties. The Michigan State Police is partnering with Michigan State University to organize and digitize old case files. Ph.D. students and faculty members at MSU are starting a class with the aim of helping the Michigan State Police solve some of these cold cases.

30 percent of cold cases are solved with DNA technology. 70 percent are solved "the old fashioned way," Rothman said.

"We go out and knock on doors and talk to people," Rothman said. "What may have been a great relationship back then might not be so great now, so maybe someone who didn't want to talk then will want to talk now."

Hart thought back to a conversation he had a couple of weeks ago with Saline Police Detective Bill Stanford.

"People carry guilt. And someone's been carrying guilt from this case for a very, very long time. And this could be their opportunity to release themselves of that guilt," Hart said. "Maybe they know who did it. Maybe they saw something and they didn't feel comfortable speaking out at the time, but this is that opportunity for them to release themselves or that guilt and share information that will give some closure to this case."

The retired officers are hopeful this cold case turns into a closed case.

"I'd love to close that case. This case was probably the biggest one we ever had and it was just a bit beyond our capabilities at the time," Dietrich said.

Rothman said the SPD's initial casework in the missing person investigation was very good. He said new technologies and procedures could help close the case.

Police are asking anyone with any information to contact Michigan State Police Sgt. Larry Rothman at 313-407-9379.

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