Episode 175: Erik Cross (Part 2 of 2)

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Hello, and welcome to the Catch
My Killer Podcast. Thank you for listening.

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My name is Mark. For nearly
eight years, I've written a weekly

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newspaper column about true crimes and missing
people for the Claremont Sun newspaper in Ohio.

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With the column and podcast, my
objective has always been to bring attention

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to cases that haven't received much media
attention if any. This week's story involves

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a sixteen year old Michigan high school
student named Eric Sterling Cross, who told

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his parents that he was spending the
night with his friend Bill Cook. The

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plan was for Eric's father to pick
both of the boys up the next day

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and they were going to spend the
day at a boat show. Unfortunately,

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June twenty fifth, nineteen eighty three
would be the final day that Eric's parents

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and his younger sister Jackie would ever
see Eric alive. He would be brutally

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murdered. What happened to Eric?
Who would want to kill him? Easy

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going and fun loving teenager, Eric
Sterling Cross was born in Flint, Michigan,

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on September twenty fifth, nineteen sixty
six, to Ted and Mary lou

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Cross. Eric lived in Vicksburg,
Michigan, which is in Kalamazoo County with

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his parents and his younger sister,
Jackie Mitchell. According to Jackie, Eric

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was a great big brother. The
two shared a love for music, and

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both of them loved led Zeppelin.
Eric loved to hunt, fish and spend

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his time outdoors, as many teenagers
did back in the eighties. Jackie said

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that her and Eric had a great
childhood. They were loved by their parents

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and had a strong family unit,
but life would change after Eric was viciously

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murdered in nineteen eighty three. On
June twenty fifth, nineteen eighty three,

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Eric had made plans to stay overnight
with his friend Bill Cook. Eric's dad

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playing on picking up the boys and
spending the next day at a boat show.

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It was something that Eric had looked
forward to. However, unknown to

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Eric's family, he was planning on
attending a graduation party that evening. There

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would be alcohol at the party.
Eric and Bill would both make it to

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the party, and the events that
this party would lead to Eric's brutal killing.

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Instead of staying overnight with Bill,
Eric walked home alone. According to

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Eric's sister, he didn't stay with
his friend Bill because Bill decided to spend

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time with his girlfriend and the other
people who would be involved in Eric's death.

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Eric's sister said that her brother's friend
abandoned him and left him alone after

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Eric left the party he was in
even created sometime before two am, Eric

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was seen walking past the gas station. There were also two carloads of teenagers

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from the party seen near Eric as
he walked home. According to Jackie,

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she said that there was some false
information about what happened next. She said

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that media sources have claimed that Eric's
father heard him return home, assumed that

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he was home, and then went
back to sleep. Jackie stated that this

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is not true. She said that
her father did not hear anything and he

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never suspected that Eric was home because
he had told his parents that he was

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spending the night with his friend Bill, so there was no reason for him

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to suspect that Eric had arrived home. As far as he knew, he

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didn't expect to see Eric until the
next day, when he was supposed to

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pick him up at his friend Bill's
home. Jackie has said that it's important

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to know the truth because people had
accused Eric's father that being negligent by leaving

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his son outside to die. Had
he known Eric had returned home, he

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would have gone to the door and
let his son in. Jackie wanted me

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to stress this for this episode because
she said that her father was a caring

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and loving man and he died knowing
that people blamed him for Eric's death,

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which was not true. Early that
Sunday morning, Eric's father went outside to

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get the newspaper. He would be
shocked by what he found. Eric's lifeless

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body was in the driveway. He
must have been confused. Why would Eric

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be dead in the driveway when he
was supposed to be with his friend Bill

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waiting on a ride to the boat
show. It was assumed that Eric had

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walked home, got hit by a
car, and then died. Upon further

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examination from the medical examiner, the
explanation for Eric's death would be far more

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horrific. Based on evidence. There
was ripped pieces of clothing at the scene,

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blood, and evidence of rope burns
on Eric's body. It also appeared

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that someone had beaten him. Based
on Eric's wounds, someone had tied him

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to a car and dragged his body
through the streets before finally running him over.

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Rumors began to spread that there were
several witnesses and people began talking.

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Eventually, the story came out that
a teenager named Brent Spaulding, who had

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bullied Eric in school, had followed
Eric home and found him lying next to

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a tree. Most likely, he
had fallen asleep and never made it into

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his house. According to witness statements, Spaulding tied a rope around Eric and

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then attached the other end of the
rope to his car. He then dragged

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Eric to his death. However,
after dragging Eric through the streets, Spaulding

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realized that Eric wasn't dead. He
then decided to run Eric's body over to

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make it appear like a hit and
run. Although there have been witnesses who

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said Spaulding confessed and other witnesses who
have shared this information with law enforcement,

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Spaulding has never been arrested. According
to Jackie Mitchell, everyone in town knew

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who killed her brother. She said
it was no secret. Jackie said that

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in late twenty seventeen, law enforcement
issued a warrant to arrest five people and

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then charge them with killing Eric.
The five people named being responsible for Eric's

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death were Amber Thomas, Bill Cook, Tim Martin, Brian Swalving Senior,

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and Brent Spalding. Although law enforcement
was prepared to arrest these five individuals.

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Law enforcement in Eric's family would receive
some devastating news. The prosecutor's office has

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refused to prosecute the alleged killers.
I would also like to mention that I

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erroneously stated that Eric was seventeen in
the first episode when he was murdered.

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He was actually sixteen. And I
would like to restate that the sheriff's department

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requested the prosecutor to issue the warrant
for five arrests. However, the prosecutor

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didn't approve the war and has refused
to prosecute anyone for Eric's homicide. And

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this is how the case remains today, cold and unsolved. This is the

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conclusion of a two part story,
and now on with the story of Eric

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Cross, as told by his sister, Jackie Mitchell Well. I truly believe

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that no one gets away with being
evil. Even if you were to escape

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earthly justice, you will face judgment
from a higher power. And I would

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think that most people would agree with
that statement. It's hard to believe that

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you can commit crimes, kill people, and be evil and never suffer any

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consequences. At least that's what I
believe that's right. Yeah, and they

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do. That's what my mom told
me when she was trying to talk me

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out of getting involved in investigating it
too much. Tim And twelve years ago,

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she's that Jim Martin is a non
person, Brent Spalding is a non

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person. Let them destroy themselves.
That's true. But I still want to

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make sure they get to justice.
But these days it's more like what you

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said, Yeah, it'd be cool
if they you know, it's not for

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us. Any kind of trial or
arrest would happen. It'd be to protect

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the public what they claim they're doing. Yeah, arrest the care to protect

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the public, not for us,
like not going to do us. Say

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for us, it's going to be
bad for my mom eighty two years old

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if she has to go to a
trial. It'd be horrible. They have

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to hear all this, hear them
do the stuff they do. Lying there

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wouldn't be anything good for us at
all. But you know, they fake

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people who're talking about They think everybody's
faking it. That's what I've come to

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learn, Like they don't even understand
the concept of getting to the point in

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your life where you try to become
a better in person, if you make

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a mistake, you go and try
to say you're sorry. They think everybody's

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faking it like they are. They
really don't know what it's like to even

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live that way because they are basically
not even alive. I agree with you

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that I don't know what happens to
them after death. I don't even know

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if they would exist, because it's
like they had to even have a soul

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to start with this, Like they're
already in hell, you know what I

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mean, They're just not living a
real life. So to me, like,

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yeah, I'm not going to sit
here and say I mean, I'm

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very disappointed that Eric didn't get to
live the life he was destined to live

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and was supposed to live. But
also Brent Smaalding didn't get to live the

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life he was destined to live,
I supposed to live, and he could

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have had a chance to do that, like you said before, if he

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had been brought to justice right away, if they cooperated in any way,

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he could have probably not gotten that
bad of a sentence. He'd be well

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over that by now and hopefully not
running around the way he's now. He'd

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be a better person, probably have
lived something from it and maybe made the

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amends that he had to make to
pay for these mistakes of his parents and

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to actually redeem the family and break
the generational cycle of abuse. He would

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have had a chance to do that, but he chose to go the other

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way and perpetuate the generational cycled abuse
by never coming to terms with what he'd

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done. It's very sad. I
realized that this case has gone unsolved for

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nearly forty years and it is considered
cold as ice. But I do know

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that there was some movement in two
seventeen on this case. Can you tell

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me more about this and what happened
back in two seventeen. Well, actually,

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nothing happened between nineteen eighty three and
two thousand and one, except that

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I did have some own conversation with
Brian Spaulding's brother when I moved back to

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Michigan around nineteen ninety nine two thousand. I just called him out to try

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to get him to tell me,
just like I did at Bamberg, what

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were my brother's last moments? Like
you were there in the car, what

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can you remember about it? All
I want to know is how you know

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it was? Because I would just
sit there and imagine all kinds of things

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trying to figure it out. But
in terms of official things, in two

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thousand, Kalamazoo County had a cold
case team, which was like a new

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thing that they'd established, and they
looked at Eric's case and they came and

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interviewed me Detective Workama from the Kalamusa
County Sheriff Department, and they did some

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news blitzes and we're investigating the case, reinterviewing witnesses, all that kind of

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stuff. So that was like two
thousand and two thousand and one, and

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then at some point right in there, that cold case team got disbanded because

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of budget cuts, so then it
got put on the shelf again. And

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then in two thousand and ten,
I did start with Facebook page that I

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started for Eric because when Facebook was
newer saw that brand had a Facebook page

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and with the stale kind of stuff
about his life, I thought, huh,

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that's really not fair that he's living
his life and at Facebook page and

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Eric never got to live a life. So I decided to start one just

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with his name and picture, which
is still there today. Eric Sterling Cross

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you can find on Facebook. And
so I did start antagonizing him, like

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posting things about twelve steps like I
was just talking about and so on.

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But the thing that I found out
at that time was that people in Vicksburg

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just assumed that they'd been arrested and
charged. Like the young people were in

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high school. Back then, everybody
knew who they were, and back then

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everybody wasn't always instantly up on the
news, so they knew, oh,

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these people killed Eric, must be
they want to jail. Two thousand and

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ten was the first time, almost
thirty years later that people found out Oh

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no, actually they never arrested that. I can't remember how. Then the

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Sheriff's department got involved again because the
Kalamazukazette did a front page story. Then

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my parents' lawyer called me and said, I've still got the police report.

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If you want to read it,
you can come in, and he let

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me make copies of it, which
had like all kinds of information I'd never

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seen before, which started us kind
of like doing myself. And then other

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people who are many people like Missy
Hatfield who are still involved with the Justice

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Or Group today, started helping me
investigate and do our own little amateur loosing

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And we didn't even have to go
and find them. At the time,

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they were like writing to me on
Facebook and saying, I heard this thing

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and I get to that person.
So anyway, that kind of reinvigorated the

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case. And then the Sheriff's department, including Detective Madison was the main detective

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at that time, Rich Madison,
because Markama had retired. He took it

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over and started reinterviewing people. So
that was one little push and then the

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next like major push came around two
thousand, different went under Sheriff, Paul

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Matches, he came to under sheriff. He started really pushing the case.

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He's been like a real hero for
Eric as well, and Detective Madison to

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a lot of work. He's retired
now it's detective Madison was there in nineteen

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eighty three. I don't think he
was a detective then he was like a

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person, like just a policeman.
He walked up and down the street looking

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for evidence and so on. So
anyway, he then later the detective was

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signed to the case. And then
Paul Matches really he was like, so

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we can get I've talked a lot
of victims and families like you have.

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If can get constant call about law
enforce, but you know what they mean,

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because it's like, why didn't they
do this? Why don't they do

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that? You know they say,
oh, you watch the television shows,

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you think it's always going to be
that way. He's like that kind of

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person where he's putting his heart and
soul into it, like even he hired

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still working on the case, like
comes to our events or justice work,

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and so he really has his heart
and soul into it. You can tell

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he wants to do the right thing, like the kind of person you really

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want to have on your side who
does have a conscience, wants to get

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justice for the community because he sees
the bigger picture where people like these government

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figures. It's like, oh,
well, you're approval rating and trust in

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official dumb and government is plunging.
But then you wonder, when you don't

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arrest a murderer, what everybody in
the entire county knows who did it?

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What are you guys actually doing?
Why do we even have law enforce?

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But if you can't do that,
And then in twenty and fifteen, he

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also helped with a media push,
which is when crime watched dailies came out

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here and they TV who came out
and do this whole big thing. But

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then he thought it's going to go
to home. I think it was twenty

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seventeen when they actually accrupted the warrants. I'm pretty sure they requested the five

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open murdered warrants conspiracy to commit murder
for those fide people we said before,

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and got, oh, it's finally
happening this many years later, which at

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that point was probably over thirty years
later, and then the prosecutor just refused

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to issue the warrants. We had
the politicians involved, like pressuring them all

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kinds of things, whatever reason,
which there is rumors of corruption. I

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know, we can't get into every
detail. Corruption bribery always comes up in

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his case. In two seventeen,
law enforcement officially named five people in a

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warrant that they felt were responsible for
being involved and Eric crosses homicide. The

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family and their supporters were ecstatic in
thinking that Eric would finally get justice.

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Unfortunately, there would be a setback. The prosecutor's office refused to prosecute anyone

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for Eric's death. We will take
a short break in return with Jackie's thoughts

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on the prosecutor not willing to prosecute
anyone for killing her only brother. Can

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you share with me the five names
that law enforcement wanted to arrest for killing

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Eric. It's okay for you to
mention the name since it is public knowledge.

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Bryan Spaulding the father, Brent Spaulding
the son, Jim Martin, the

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only adult who was there with all
those teenagers, who also was one of

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the drivers of the cars they were
in. Amber Thomas, the girlfriend of

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Brent, and Bill Cook the false
friend. Are these five people still alive

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today? Yes? Yeah, okay, So the sheriff was ready to arrest

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all five of these people, but
then the prosecutor refused to honor the warrant.

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So tell me what is the reason
behind the prosecutor's office not allowing these

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people to be arrested for killing your
brother? Absurd reasons, I mean,

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just excuses. The sheriff's office would
tell you, oh, they said they

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need more, so they had us
go get this thing, that thing.

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Than the sheriff went and got this
thing, that thing, the other thing,

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and they still wouldn't do it.
I mean, just delaying tactics,

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excuses, no good reason. There's
different possible theories. Some people think the

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corruption that goes back so far,
they don't want to expose how incompetent they

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were back then. But the other
reason is the usual reason with an electric

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elected prosecutor, which is a common
problem, is where they want to say

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when they go up for re election, Oh look at me, I've got

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a ninety nine percent win rate.
How did they do that? Only prosecute

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cases that are on video or for
a poor black kid on crack or whatever,

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you know, where they know they
can win. I mean, they

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knew he has a high powered defense
attorney, that they have the money to

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pay a high powered defense attorney,
and they don't want to go up against

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them in this hard case that they
might not win, which is absurd.

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I don't know anyone in real life
who votes for someone because they have a

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win rates just come kind of ego
to saying that they have because they only

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think of themselves. So any reason
that they have is a bad reason.

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They don't have any good reasons.
There's men. It's Kalamazoo County, and

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I've been told this by many people. It's not just our case. They

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just don't prosecute cases that they should
be prosecuting because they go for the easy

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win. In Saint Joseph County,
this. Around the same time frame,

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Doug Stewart was convicted of killing his
wife, Venus Stewart without a body,

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and I watched the entire trial from
beginning to end because I was friends with

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the victims' family who sent me the
DVDs. Nowhere near the amount of evidence

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that we have, nowhere near what
I've seen in Eric's case, and I

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haven't even seen everything. So you
have some prosecutors who are willing to do

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the right thing, and you know
they're a killer. Arrest them, do

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your best, present the case,
see what happens. I mean, Paul

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Matt just told me that at the
time. He's like, these guys keep

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trying, waiting for the perfect case. It's like, okay, well you

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wait long enough, everybody's going to
be dead and then you won't have to

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do it at all. I mean, you sit there and think you only

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have one try at it, so
make to try, you know what I

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mean. It's absurd the ways people
work. So all these years later,

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I truly think that this case should
be put in front of a grand jury.

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Why not let them decide. I'm
sure there are plenty of other homicide

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cases in your county. They are
successfully prosecuted or less evidence than what's in

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this case. Yes, yes,
Jackie Mitchell had told me that she has

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been extremely frustrated with the prosecutor's office
and their unwillingness to take any action against

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anyone for killing her brother nearly forty
years later. There aren't going to be

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very many opportunities for justice because none
of these suspects are getting any younger.

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Why not bring them in front of
a grand jury and let the grand jury

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decide what to do. History has
proven that there have been many people successfully

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prosecuted with less evidence than what's in
Eric's case. There have even been convictions

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in cases without a body. We
will take a final break and conclude this

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story with Jackie's closing thoughts. Well, maybe it is truly like what you

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said. The prosecutor doesn't want to
put much effort into the case. Is

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your current prosecutor the same one one
that refused to prosecute this case back in

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twenty seventeen, Well, sadly he
got re elected. I'm pretty sure he

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ran un a post. After we
had the meeting with the Attorney general in

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twenty twenty, I stopped paying attention. Basically, you'd have destimacy. He

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field one of the people who actually
pay attention because I've so got so disgusted

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with the system after that, Like
I vaguely remember hearing I'm pretty sure he

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ran on a post and you know, which is very said. I know

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that the Justice Rare Group was like
trying to get the word out and not

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just done. There's other like you
said, there's other victims families who are

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in the same boat that we were
in Kalamazoo County that tried to say this

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prosecutor is not doing his job.
People don't reelect him. Of course if

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they have no one to run against. I mean, how much can you

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do? Yeah, and what law
enforcement agency is handling this case? So

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if anyone is listening and they want
to share a tip, who would they

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00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:57.559
need to contact. It's the Kalamazoo
County Sheriff's Department. Yeah, the Kalamazoo

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County Sheriff's Department. And then there's
an anonymous kipline which is the Silent Observer,

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Oh, Kalamazoo Silent Observer. It
says two six nine three four three

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00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:15.839
two one zero zero, And the
Kalamazoo County sheriff Department is two six nine

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three eight three eight seven for eight. Thank you for sharing that information.

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Now, I would like to ask
you to share a favorite memory with your

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brother while he was still alive,
something that you'll never forget about him.

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Well, I think there's just one
that six in my mind, probably because

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it happened so close to his death, because I remember thinking back on it,

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like right afterward. Like we were
driving. We went out on the

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weekend with my parents to a dinner
in the Amish Country, which is down

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there south of where we lived.
And when we were driving down there,

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we saw this bird all crossing the
road and my dad avoided the turtle,

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and then I remember my brother and
I just looking in the rearview mirror to

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make sure the turtle got across.
We were really curned that he was going

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to make it all the way across. We were just watching the blonging as

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we could, because I think that
was just emblematic of Eric, because he

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just did love nature so much,
and so did I. Like that is

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that's why I told you some of
my greatest memories when we were in that

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particula, because just exploring nature and
getting out there. He loved being on

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the water. Also, just like
when we would go to German Island as

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a child. That's another great memory
I have of him because my uncle he

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00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:36.119
lived on drenaline, so we would
go there and visit him every summer and

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stay for a week in a cabin
up there on Lake Huran and just going

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to the beach with him and keepping
rocks. Most of the memories I think

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of him have to do with the
nature or being outdoors, because that is

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another thing besides music that we really
connected on. It sounds I mean like

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you really miss him a lot.
I do. Yeah, yeah, I

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do. Know. It's been forty
years, and sometimes, like when I

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00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:07.920
talk to people in the media,
I try not to get too emotional because

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I don't want his killers to know
how much they destroyed us, because I

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think that type of evil that their
behavior stems from wants to destroy beautiful and

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good things. And I know that
my family is a beautiful and good thing.

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And even though they did do a
lot to hurt us, my mother

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always wanted me to focus on my
little children, don't think too much about

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ers, murder and tests remember and
when he was alive, which is why

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America, I think what you're doing
with your podcast because many of them,

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00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:49.200
Yeah, I mean many of them
be a story. It's understandable. They

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00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:55.920
focus on the crime because that's the
newsworthy thing. But the person who the

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victim was is meaningful and oftentimes there's
a reason why that victim was targeted.

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00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:07.440
That it is important to the bigger
picture, and it's important for people to

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00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:14.039
understand because because all of these police, they are part of that struggle between

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00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:18.440
good and evil. That light can
never go out. I will always remember

329
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Eric as miss alive. We only
have like a few because you know,

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00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:29.279
video because the recorder was not even
happening. Then maybe some people had him,

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00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:32.599
but I think they didn't become popular
until after that. My uncle John

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00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:37.079
made some eight millimeter films of Eric
and so he then made that into a

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00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:41.319
video pair later and then I eventually
got converted to the DVDs of a few

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00:25:41.400 --> 00:25:48.400
films of him moving. But right, Johnny just bored or interview. I

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00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.519
have you know in front of me
two pictures Eric and the film. He

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00:25:51.559 --> 00:25:53.319
looks like he's two or three,
sitting on a seat sell with my dad,

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00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:57.440
and the other one he's a little
older, looks like he's maybe six

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00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:02.720
or seventies with my dad. Next
to a motorbike in the woods, and

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00:26:02.839 --> 00:26:07.960
he was just a very sweet boy. And that's what a lot of people

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00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:11.519
who knew him, which is always
a gem and a treasure for me whenever

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00:26:11.559 --> 00:26:15.799
I meet someone knew who knew Eric
in school in Vicksburg or wherever, Like

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00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:18.920
I met someone just last summer who
I hadn't talked to before. It's like

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00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:22.720
such a treasure to talk to someone
who knew him when he was alive.

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00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:27.519
Because even though he did some of
these kind of you more rough and humble

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00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:33.200
type things like counting, fishing,
motorbikes like any boys do, he was

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00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:37.720
like at his heart, like just
a very curing and kind of sweet person.

347
00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:41.640
Your brother sounds like a really great
young man who loved his family and

348
00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:48.200
was enjoying his life. It's so
sad that his life was just cut so

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short. I mean, he really
didn't even get a chance to live.

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00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:56.759
It seems unfair that he only got
sixteen years of life. He should still

351
00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:02.119
be alive today and spending time with
his own children kids. I also feel

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00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:06.640
terrible for your father because he died
without ever seeing any justice for his only

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00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:10.400
son. I realize that your mom
is getting up there in the years,

354
00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:15.440
and unfortunately she may not even see
justice either. So the last question that

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00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:19.799
I would have for you is for
anyone out there that's listening to the sound

356
00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:25.640
of your voice, if they have
any information that could help lead to an

357
00:27:25.720 --> 00:27:30.039
arrest, what would you say to
that person or persons if they know anything.

358
00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:33.759
I would say, there's no time
like the present, if you might

359
00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:38.079
as well come forward with what you
know, and especially someone who has direct

360
00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:45.240
information or can give something that is
going to help push these arrests forward.

361
00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:51.680
My dad was pursuing justice. He
wrote a letter to the editor of the

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00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:56.000
Commercial Express in Vicksburg, I think
that was in nineteen eighty four, saying

363
00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:02.079
that he thought it was his phivic
duty to protect the community and other people's

364
00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:07.200
children to pursue justice. That was
his original motivation. So that's the kind

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00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:15.960
of person whose son was taken from
him and he died never seeing justice for

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00:28:15.079 --> 00:28:22.279
his only son. My mom is
eighty two years old, never change justice

367
00:28:22.440 --> 00:28:30.480
for her only son. It we
mean everything to our family to have some

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00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:37.720
closure, to put this to rest. It's really a service to the perpetrators

369
00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:42.759
as well to be forced to be
brought to earthly justice. Some people it's

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00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:48.799
the only way, the only wake
up call that works. They've been running

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00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:53.400
from themselves now for forty years.
They've never come to terms with something that

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00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:59.480
happened when they were teenagers. They've
never even developed past that point. Their

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00:28:59.559 --> 00:29:03.680
children and running around an adult bodies
still trying to hide from their crimes.

374
00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:08.160
The witness who has real information.
Even if you're one of the people who

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00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:14.279
was there, who've been offered several
times immunity to tell what you know,

376
00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:19.000
you still haven't done it. Even
if you're the main perpetrator who knows you

377
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:25.079
can't possibly get past step one to
twelve step program. Any of these people,

378
00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:29.960
you could lighten beload of so many
people, you know, redeem yourself,

379
00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:34.519
Redeem the community of Vicksburg, Kunamazoo
County. So many people would be

380
00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:41.400
overjoyed if this could actually be brought
to closure. Because that's the one thing

381
00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:45.240
I've learned from talking to people.
I had no idea how much it affected

382
00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:49.920
other people. You know, you
talk about urban legends like this was a

383
00:29:51.079 --> 00:29:53.799
rural legend. Like so many people
came up to me and said, oh,

384
00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:57.759
I've told your story about your brother
to my children, and they were

385
00:29:57.799 --> 00:30:00.680
in high school. You know,
you're ever at a party. Even if

386
00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:04.279
you're in trouble, call me right
away and no questions asked. It's like

387
00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:10.160
a cautionary tale, especially about the
bullying that was gone on on checked,

388
00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:12.599
which I think we're doing better as
a society about going out now, but

389
00:30:14.279 --> 00:30:18.480
back then we really weren't good at
it. Anybody who's carrying this knowledge around

390
00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:22.240
on your heart, it's for your
sake if you don't want to do it

391
00:30:22.279 --> 00:30:25.920
for other people. Believe me,
I know, coming clean, telling the

392
00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:30.599
truth is a bomb and healing for
everyone. And even if it means taking

393
00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:33.759
some punishments, so be it.
But you know, many times, Sheriff,

394
00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:37.640
it's that they know who they're after. They're willing to make deals and

395
00:30:37.799 --> 00:30:42.559
offered many deals just to try to
get these main perpetrators, and for whatever

396
00:30:42.599 --> 00:30:45.880
reason, people are too afraid or
intimidated, or maybe they don't want to

397
00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:51.240
admit they took Bridesteck. Then some
of these other parents, besides the main

398
00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:53.599
parent who they tried to get the
warant for and with them, are at

399
00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:56.160
the end of their lives. If
one of them happens to be listening,

400
00:30:56.200 --> 00:31:00.480
it's like, please, sir,
you did the wrong thing back then.

401
00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:07.160
You went around and you are trying
to take down Eric's toasters, trying to

402
00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:11.440
ask for help. You've covered up
your child's involvement. You're a Catholic,

403
00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:17.200
you go to Mass, and yet
you covered up a murder, and you're

404
00:31:17.240 --> 00:31:21.319
not going to get that off your
soul before you died for the sake of

405
00:31:21.400 --> 00:31:25.319
your families. There, I could
say something each one of them and speak

406
00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:29.079
into their heart because I know and
I've seen, and I don't pretend.

407
00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:33.279
I've called up Brian, I called
up Amber, and I talked to Bill

408
00:31:33.720 --> 00:31:36.839
like. I don't sit around and
pretend. I don't even know what it's

409
00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:40.319
like to run around and live a
life where you're killer, but you run

410
00:31:40.359 --> 00:31:44.119
around pretending you're a normal person.
Everybody knows anyway, what's the point.

411
00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:47.599
So that's what I would say to
him, and I have a lot more

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00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:52.559
faith. But that's a short version, and that concludes the story of Eric

413
00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:57.519
Sterling Cross. If you have listened
to Eric's story and would like to assist

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00:31:57.599 --> 00:32:05.680
law enforcement or Jackie Mitchell get justice
for Eric, please contact the Silent Observer

415
00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:12.240
at two six nine three four three
two one zero zero, or you can

416
00:32:12.279 --> 00:32:16.960
also reach out to the Kalamazoo County
Sheriff's Office at two sixty nine three eight

417
00:32:17.400 --> 00:32:22.880
three eight seven four eight And if
you would like to know more about this

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00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:28.359
case, you can also visit the
Justice for Eric Sterling Cross Facebook page.

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00:32:29.079 --> 00:32:32.200
I will be sure to provide this
information in the case story notes. And

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00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:37.920
if you are a parent, law
enforcement official, friend, or relative seek

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00:32:37.960 --> 00:32:43.000
injustice for an unsolved comic side case, please visit my website and complete the

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00:32:43.079 --> 00:32:47.359
contact form. You can also contact
me through Facebook. Thank you for listening.