Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 10

8 A DETROIT FREE PRESSSATURDAY, MAY 30, 1992 For rapists, In spite of scrutiny, system missed killer 5s 1:11 I I began his murder spree. An anonymous caller told police about Williams, who had moved away from Wixom only nine days before the assault. Although police had Williams' criminal file dating back to 1973 for a Wixom burglary, he was not ques- tioned in the case. Wixom Police Chief Lawrence Holland said investigators from the Michigan State Police, the Oakland County Sheriffs Department and local police departments including Wixom's formed a task force. They went over hundreds of tips and looked at numerous suspects.

Wixom Sgt. Richard Howe said the composite developed in the case resembled Williams, but also other suspects. Holland said Williams and other suspects in the case had criminal records. "Did we blow this? I'm saying no," Holland said. "This guy has got a record.

But we can't interrogate everyone with a record." Williams was arrested for shoplifting March 23, 1991, at the Meijer Thrifty Acres store in Brighton. Brighton Police Chief Michael Kin- aschuk said he had stolen a cassette player valued at $44 and two cassettes by the British heavy metal band Uriah Heep and singer J. Thomas. At his arraignment, on May 22, 1991, Williams pleaded guilty to retail fraud and was fined $75. The court officially notified the Michigan State Police central records bureau of the conviction on Feb.

27, 1992. Two weeks later the Corrections Department's parole office in northwest Detroit reduced Williams' supervision status from intensive to average, meaning he would have to report to the office once, instead of twice, per month. Joseph Jereckos, the Corrections Department's assistant deputy regional administrator in charge of parole services, said a shoplifting conviction is not necessarily a reason to send a parolee back to jail or even to forego reducing his supervision status. He said Williams' parole record was otherwise exemplary. He had always reported to parole offices on time, had held steady jobs and had attended all his counseling sessions.

"We wish there was some way we could have picked out this character," Jereckos said. "But in this case, there was just no evidence that there was any problem." But Kinaschuk said he believed Williams should have been charged with a parole violation after the shoplifting offense. "I think if a person is on parole, any kind of crime should be considered a parole violation," Kinaschuk said. William Mannix, supervisor of the parole office in northwest Detroit, said each of his eight parole officers handles an average of 115 parolees. He said they try to balance public safety with the need to give parolees a chance to make it in society.

"You want to put the dangerous ones back in jail and work with the ones who don't appear dangerous," he said. "We try and give everyone a fighting chance." Even those closest to Williams were fooled. James Jardine, Williams' uncle, let Williams live in his Hartland home off and on after his 1990 parole. Williams showed no signs of having any problems and was wonderful with Jardine's two granddaughters ages 5 and 13 who also live there. Jardine has said in recent days that Williams was depressed, but at their1 home, he was always happy, he said.

Williams, from Page 1A arrested for shoplifting, counseled by therapists and interviewed constantly by parole officers. He was placed under surveillance in November 1990 over a kidnapping, but the woman dropped charges and he remained free, this week, he confessed that he had abducted her. Named among dozens of suspects in the kidnapping and rape of a 9-year-old in August 1991, Williams was cleared because his car did not match that described by the young victim. This week, he confessed that he had raped her about 60 yards from where he had raped, killed and buried Kami Villan-ueva in Milford Township about a month later. Livingston County Prosecutor David Morse was among many who charged that sex crimes are not taken seriously enough by society.

"It would have been helpful if Williams' psychiatrist or his uncle would have spoken out," Morse said. "We need to make more of an effort to be our brother's keeper," Morse said. Williams' criminal career began in 1970 when he was 17 years old. His crimes became progressively more violent. At his last trial in 1983, Williams pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit kidnapping and assault with intent to sexually penetrate and was sentenced to five to 10 years for the assault and seven to 30 years for being a habitual offender.

Michigan State Police Sgt. David Minzey, who develops profiles of serial killers and sex offenders, said judges often give lenient sentences to sex offenders partly because of society's view of women. "Women used to be treated as property and the view was, 'she's my woman and you damaged my said Minzey, who worked on the Urbin case. "How would courts view rape and sexual assault if it happened to men?" Since his parole, Williams' closest brush with the law was in November 1990, when he surfaced as a suspect in the kidnapping of a woman from a telephone booth at a New Hudson gas station. It was only three months after his prison release.

His probation officer, Karen sey, wrote that month in a report: "I would not anticipate any noteworthy problems in supervising this subject. We can only hope that he is as stable as he represents, and will not re-involve himself in the assaultive pattern that is noted in his file. He appears to have many factors going for himself, inclusive of his apparent intelligence and verbalized desire to make it on parole." Rumsey questioned her evaluation, though, when she received word from the Oakland County Sheriffs Office that Williams was under investigation and surveillance in connection with the abduction. Rumsey said she wanted to have Williams locked up during the investigation, which is allowed if there is probable cause, but was overruled by her boss. The case against Williams fell apart when the woman, apparently afraid to prosecute, failed to come in to identify Williams' photo.

Sheriffs detectives could not be reached late Friday to comment on Rumsey's comment that Williams had been placed under surveillance. In Wixom on Friday, police also defended their investigation of Williams as a suspect in the August 1991 abduction and rape of the 9-year-old near Loon Lake Road. The rape took place about a month before Williams DAYMON J. HARTLEYDetrolt Free Press Leslie Williams is arraigned on rape and murder charges Friday in Walled Lake District Court. A judge denied him bond on two murder charges.

"I wouldn't allow anybody to post bond on me anyway," Williams said. Muddy field becomes focus of search counseling may not be enough! BY MARTY Hair 1 Free Press Staff Writer 4 Leslie Williams had 14 monthsjrf psychotherapy, including group and individual counseling, before he was! paroled in 1990. Like most sex offenders recom-j mended for therapy in prison, Williams) had a long wait more than six yeare before receiving it. "Because of the high number of; prisoners waiting for therapy, it is-usually offered as they near parole," Gail Light, corrections department spokeswoman, said on Friday. I Prisoners may refuse treatment, but most comply, said Dr.

Brucej Wright, chief psychologist at the cenj tral complex of the State Prison, ot Southern Michigan in Jackson. The therapy, usually given for six) months to two years, includes a thfe-j month educational phase on sex educan tion, assertiveness training and related, topics. That is followed by kj group sessions, led by which -last about VA hours. Some prisoners also receive individual coin- seling. The emphasis is on relapse prevn-j tion, or helping offenders recognjzej and manage cues that tell them they! are about to repeat old But there is debate over whetherl treatment makes any long-term differ-j ence for repeat sex offenders, "We have a hell of a problem, and we don't have any answers," said! Terence Campbell, a psychologist with; the Macomb County Circuit Court.

"We don't know how to treat these people." I Said Wright: "All the data is not in yet as far as how well treatment works It's an area where a great deal or research is going on and a great deal! more is needed." Even so, some thera-l py is better than none, he said. Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a Detroit psy- chiatrist, said there is no way to treat people like Williams, whose crimes! apparently escalated to serial murders Such people have the "mental equif a- lent of a deformity or a psychic mon-i strosity," Tanay said. I In Michigan, convicted sex offend ers are supposed to see therapists' while on parole, as Williams sometimes! did. But it can be difficult to fjnc counselors willing to treat paroleesj and prisoners can't be forced to continue counseling, said Dave Barth, a statd parole officer in Mt.

Clemens. As in prison, counseling is recomj mended but not required as a conditior of parole. 7 "I can't send a person back tc prison for not going to therapy) There's no hammer," he said. "We cajole, or order, but if they don't go ana they fight it tooth and nail, after a number of failures you just let it slide." Sex offenders usually are acting ou( desires for power, control and degra dation, not sexual urges, said State Police Detective Sgt. David Minzey who develops criminal profiles.

"If it's not a sexual issue, there's conclusive results that we can change' the behavior through therapy, partem larly if the offender doesn't want td change, he said. "We just control it, iij the prison setting, or an institution or on the tether program." 1 Minzey added: "If treatment is imf portant, let's get them that treatment with an eye toward protecting the) public as well." ,1 About a dozen states offer intense prison treatment for sex offenders that, goes well beyond Michigan's, accord; ing to the Safer Society Program in Vermont, a nonprofit center that tracks the programs. The newer approaches are gaining attention because of the growing numf ber of jailed sex offenders, who account for 20 percent of federal and statd prison populations, said psychologist Robert Freeman-Longo, associate; dif rector of Safer Society. In Vermont, sex offenders are sepa rated and get special therapy to help1 them understand their crimes from th victim's perspective. They watch vidf eotapes of simulated attacks, read ref lated material, write narratives as the victim might have perceived the ast sault and re-enact the attacks.

Prison officials in Vermont, Califor' nia and Oregon are reporting success es measured in lower rates of repeat offenses with prisoners whi are willing to change, Freeman-Longi said. The programs which can require fewer inmates per therapist and mort time are costly, but so are loni incarcerations, he said. 1 Wright, the Jackson Orison nsvrhnl. ogist, said Michigan prisons do not offer such intense therapy but may be forced to consider it. I "Because of the public interest iri that kind of offense, there's a certain urgency for us to attempt to meet that neea, 10 una a means ot treatment if i is mere, ne saia.

mm Williams shows cops place where he raped 9-year-old Wixom girl Wixom Officer Al Blashfield, who was on the Wixom case from the start, said investigators would comb the field for evidence that could include a quilt he raped her on, the ties, and duct tape Williams used to tape the girl's eyes. The muddy field was the same place where Williams drove Villanueva the night of Sept. 14, knocked her unconscious, raped and killed her, according to police. The body of the last of four teenage girls Williams has confessed to killing 15-year-old Cynthia Marie Jones of Milford was buried about two miles west, on Buno near Old Plank Road. She was abducted from Milford's Central Park on Jan.

4. At Friday's arraignment, Walled Lake District Judge Michael Batchik denied bond on two murder charges. "I wouldn't allow anybody to post bond on me anyway Williams said softly. Williams did not respond to reporters' questions or onlookers who taunt Mj. i Livonia.

A native of Ann Arbor, she is survived by her father, Pedro; sisters Trisha and Nicole; maternal grandmother, JoAnn Wall; paternal grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Pedro Villanueva it Hi BYWYLIEGERDES AND NANCY ANN JEFFREY Free Press Staff Writers The muddy field in Milford Township has become familiar to Oakland County investigators in recent days. It's where they found the body of 18-year-old Kami Villanueva in a shallow grave on Wednesday. On Friday, confessed serial killer Leslie Williams led investigators back to the field to show them where he had raped a 9-year-old Wixom girl only about 60 yards from the spot where he buried Villanueva's body a month later.

His hands cuffed in front of him and his head bowed, Williams emerged from the field surrounded by police shortly after 3 p.m. He had just shown investigators from the Oakland County Sheriffs Department and Wixom Police the grassy spot in the field, on Buno Road west of Charms, where he drove the girl after abducting her at knifepoint in nearby Wixom. He pointed to the tree where he secured her with plastic ties. "This is the place," he told them. The grisly tour followed Williams' arraignment on rape and murder charges in Walled Lake District Court.

It was the first time police saw the spot where Williams assaulted the girl, first in his car, and then on the ground. ed "shoot him" and "fry" as he entered the court building. Williams wore a bulletproof vest under his jail clothing. He stood motionless while Batchik read 18 counts stemming from his admitted rape of the Wixom girl and the sexual assaults and murders of Villanueva and Jones. He is expected to be arraigned next week in Livingston County in the admitted killings of Michelle Urbin, 16, and Melissa Urbin, 14, sisters abducted a few weeks after Villanueva.

The Wixom girl was riding her bike Aug. 11 when Williams forced her at knifepoint into his car. Investigators said Williams abducted Jones from the Milford park where she was hanging out with her boyfriend. He took her to his apartment in Redford where he sexually assaulted her before killing her. Villanueva was taken from her home in South Lyon after Williams looked into a window and saw her in her bedroom.

Williams took her to the Milford field where her body was found Wednesday. After assaulting her, Williams strangled Villanueva and placed her in a grave he had dug earlier. The first-degree murder charges carry mandatory life in prison on conviction. Murray Burley of Commerce Township, grandfather of Cynthia Jones, who was one of confessed serial killer Leslie Williams' victims, on Friday lashed out at the state parole system. "I am more frightened of that system and the people that operate it than I am of Williams.

We don't know how many Williamses they have let out." PATRICIA BECK Detroit Free Press and great-grandmother Elma Ren-wick. Memorial contributions may be made to the Kami Villanueva Fund, Bank of South Lyon, 419 S. Lafayette, No. 5, South Lyon 48178. Memories come tinged with anger Grandfather of 15-year-old victim assails Michigan parole panel Friday for the four young murder victims.

Michelle and Melissa Urbin: A joint funeral mass for sisters Michelle, 16, and Melissa, 14, will be at 1 p.m. Monday at-St. John's Catholic Church, 600 Adelaide, Fenton. Visitation will be 2 to 5 p.m. today and 2 to 5 p.m.

Sunday at the Fenton Chapel of Bowles-Sharp Funeral Home, 1000 Silver Lake, Fenton, and from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at St. John's. Burial will be in St. John's Cemetery, Fenton.

Memorial contributions may be made to REACH Runaway Program, 914 Church, Flint 48502. The sisters, whom Leslie Williams said he abducted and Sept. 29, 1991, from an area near their rural Tyrone Township home, are survived by their parents, Patrick and Kathleen Urbin; brother, George; sister, Mary; paternal grandmother, Clara Urbin, and maternal grandparents Margaret and Bethel Thomson. Cynthia Marie Jones: Funeral services for Cynthia, 15, who was abduct by Marian Dozier and Margaret trimer-Hartley Free Press Staff Writers Ten years ago, Cynthia Jones gave her grandfather a small block of wood with photos of herself and her siblings. She dated it 2-23-82 and signed it "Cindy." Friday, that memento gave Murray Burley some comfort as he talked about the murder of his oldest granddaughter, whose body was found Thursday in a makeshift grave.

Burley, 65, lashed out at the state parole system that had freed the man who has confessed to her murder. Burley said he was outraged that the parole system had disregarded "such a stark criminal history" as that of Leslie Williams. "I am more frightened of that system and the people that operate it than I am of Williams," he said. "We don't know how many Williamses they have let out." Funeral services set Fiineral plans were completed ed Jan. 4 from a Milford park, will be at 1 p.m.

Monday at Milford Presbyterian Church, 238 N. Main Street, Milford. Visitation will be from 7 to 9 tonight and 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday at the Richardson-Bird Chapel of Lynch Sons Funeral Home, 404 E. Liberty, Milford.

Cynthia, a native of Dearborn, is survived by her mother, Alana Hoeft; sisters Mary Jones, Elizabeth Hoeft and Emily Hoeft; brother, Tommy Hanusik, and grandparents Mary and Murray Burley. Memorial contributions may be made to the Milford High School chapter of Students Against Drunk Driving, in care of Diane Douglass, 2380 S. Milford, Highland Township 48357. Cynthia was a member of the group. Kami Villanueva: Kami, 18, who was last seen in her South Lyon home on Sept.

14, 1991, will be memorialized at 3 p.m. Monday at the Casterline Funeral Home, 122 W. Dunlap, North-ville. Visitation will be from 1 1 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Sunday at the funeral home. Burial will be at Glen Eden Memorial Park, IS.