LANSING, Mich. —  A suspected serial killer was charged Wednesday with open murder in the death of a woman on the city's west side, and more charges could follow in the slayings of five other women.

Matthew Emmanuel Macon, 27, of Lansing, was ordered held without bond during his video arraignment in Lansing District Court after being named as a suspect last week.

Macon, a recent prison parolee and registered sex offender, had been in prison off and on since 2001 before being paroled in late June. He was handcuffed and wearing an orange jail jumpsuit while standing beside his attorney, Mike O'Briant.

Macon waived the right to have a preliminary examination within 14 days. The preliminary exam was set for Oct. 30-31 in the death of Sandra Eichorn, 64, who was found dead in her home Aug. 27. Macon consistently responded to Judge Patrick F. Cherry's procedural questions by answering, "Yes sir, your honor."

Macon's state of mind was good, O'Briant said, adding that he saw no need to seek a referral for a psychiatric evaluation.

"I do not believe he's incompetent," O'Briant said.

O'Briant said Macon's family is supportive of him and "his demeanor is up." O'Briant plans to file a motion to change venue, citing public statements about the case made by the Lansing mayor and police chief.

Lansing police announced last week the apprehension of a suspected "serial killer," and Mayor Virg Bernero called the suspect — who had not been named yet — a "monster."

The judge on Wednesday issued a restraining order preventing law enforcement officials and lawyers from speaking publicly about certain aspects of the case. He also suppressed parts of arrest warrants that have details about why Macon was charged.

O'Briant said Macon's relatives wanted the public to know that their "hearts go out to the victims.

"Let's not forget about them in this. There's some people out there with some very big grief."

Macon also was charged with first-degree home invasion and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder at another Lansing home Aug. 28. The unnamed victim was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, and police have credited her dog with saving her and have credited the woman with providing key information.

Macon also could face charges in the deaths this summer of Ruth Hallman, 76; Deborah Cooke, 36; Debra Renfors, 46; and Karen Yates, 41. A number of the victims were beaten and found in Lansing houses.

Police also want Macon to be charged with the 2004 death of Barbara Jean Tuttle, 45, of Lansing. Both Tuttle and Renfors were found dead in the same house.

Matthew "Chilly" Emmanuel Macon Named Suspect in Michigan Serial Murders

By David Lohr

September 4, 2007

LANSING, Mich. (Crime Library)

Last week investigators announced 27-year-old Matthew "Chilly" Emmanuel Macon, who has been in prison off and on since 2001, is a suspect in at least five unsolved murders that occurred this summer in mid-Michigan. He is also being looked at as a possible suspect in a sixth murder from 2004.

Police arrested Macon last Tuesday on suspicion of not reporting to his parole officer and not registering as a sex offender. He also had an outstanding warrant for breaking and entering. Macon has an extensive criminal history, including two sex offenses, larceny and unlawfully driving an automobile.

Investigators have not yet provided details on what evidence they have connecting Macon to the murder cases, but they have noted similarities between Macon and a description given to them by a witness.

"I am confident we have the right person in custody," Lansing police Chief Mark Alley said during a news conference Thursday, describing Macon as a "serial killer."

The most recent killings began on July 26; one month after Macon was paroled for his third larceny conviction. On that day 76-year-old Ruth Hallman was attacked in her West Lapeer Street home. Her injuries were fatal and she died three days later at a local hospital.

Less than two weeks later, on August 7, 2007, police found the body of 36-year-old Deborah Kaye Cooke under a tree in an east side park. Police have released few details on her murder, saying only that she was physically assaulted.

Two days after Deborah's murder police responded to a 911 call at 1017 North Washington Avenue. Upon arrival police found the body of 46-year-old Debra Renfors. As with the previous case, police would not release any information about how the victim was killed.

According to an August 11 news article published in the online edition of the Lansing State Journal, Chief Alley said the Renfors and Cooke murders did not appear to be connected.

On August 27, a relative of 64-year-old Sandra Eichorn found her body on the floor of her South Genesee Drive home. Police confirmed the victim was murdered but would not comment on a cause of death.

Following Sandra's murder Alley announced the forming of a joint task force, made up of Lansing Police, the FBI and Michigan State Police. Alley said the task force was going to look for connections between Sandra's murder and other recent unsolved homicides.

Before police could finish connecting the dots on the murder cases they were called to the scene of another attack. On August 28, a 56-year-old woman was assaulted in her Jones Street home. A man who claimed to be looking for work entered the back door of her house and struck her on the head. Luckily her dog was able to scare off the attacker. The victim, who has not been identified, provided police with a description of the suspect.

"This victim was brutally attacked and she stayed coherent, articulate and like in any investigation, we got the break and things started to fall in our favor and break wide open," Lansing Police Department Capt. Ray Hall told Wlns.com.

The final attack came just one day later. On August 29, a group of prospective property investors discovered 41-year-old Karen Delgado-Yates barely alive in a vacant home at 1115 Hickory Street. An ambulance quickly transported Karen to Sparrow Hospital, but she died en route.

Last week police released a composite sketch of the suspect based on the description given by the woman who survived his attack. According to Macon's sister the sketch proves her brother is innocent.

"The guy that's a suspect, his nose is very different," Melissa Macon told Wlns.com on Sunday. "The guy doesn't have facial hair, but my brother's face will never be cleanly shaven, because even when he does shave there are still hairs. Police just want to get somebody. People are thinking they are safe because my brother is locked up now, but they're not safe."

Macon's father, Jim Henry Macon Jr., agrees.

"[The sketch] doesn't look anything like him so I don't know what to think," he said in an interview with the Lansing State Journal. "You're innocent until proven guilty ... I guess his freedom's in God's hands."

Investigators are trying to determine if Macon might also be connected to other area attacks that took place in 2003. In addition, Deborah Kaye Cooke's murder took place in the same home where 45-year-old Barbara Jean Tuttle was bludgeoned to death in 2004. Police now believe the cases may be related.

According to Chief Alley, Macon will be charged sometime this week in five homicides and the assault. The suspect is currently being held in a maximum-security single-person cell at the Ingham County Jail.

"The despicable individual responsible for the heinous rampage through our community has been captured," Mayor Virg Bernero said at Thursday's news conference. "Our nightmare is over."

CrimeLibrary.com

Macon’s early life marked by violence, crime

September 6, 2007

By the time Matthew E. Macon pleaded guilty at age 14 to sexually assaulting a girl with a stick, he had seen a lot of violence.

Court documents reveal that Macon’s father was violent and abusive. His older sister was placed in foster care in 1983 after her father was accused of sexually abusing her.

Then, by age 16, at a 1996 Ingham County juvenile court hearing, a court referee said although Macon was making progress in a program for sex offenders, he required “lifetime vigilance.”

“Sexual offending - like an addiction,” the court referee’s notes from the hearing say about Macon.

Police say Macon killed at least six women. He was arraigned Wednesday on a murder charge in connection with the death of 64-year-old Sandra Eichorn on Aug. 27.

Macon’s attorney, Mike O’Briant, would not comment on his client’s past, citing a gag order. Family members said O’Briant instructed them not to make any further public statements.

Macon, who underwent years of court-ordered treatment for sexual offenders, never was charged with a violent crime as an adult, according to court records. He lived in at least three homes for delinquent youths before he was 18.

It is known that at least one of the five recent homicide victims also was sexually assaulted with a stick. Police arrested Macon last week on charges including failing to update his address on a sex offender registry.

The vast majority of adolescents who commit sex offenses do not become sex offenders, serial rapists or even serial killers, said Dr. Bob Geffner, an expert on sexual assault, who is president of the Institute on Violence Abuse and Trauma at Alliant International University in San Diego.

Troubled path

The fact that Macon might have witnessed his older sister being sexually abused and with his history of acting out sexually, means Macon also might have been abused as a youth, Geffner said.

“If nobody dealt with the trauma, anger and hostility,” Geffner said, “that increases the likelihood it will come out … The anger becomes aggressive and turns outward.”

Court records detail a troubled path after 1983.

Macon ran away from a foster care home in 1989. He was considered a “delinquent court ward.”

Also in 1989, Macon was charged with breaking into a Lansing bike shop and a comic club. He pleaded guilty.

In 1992, he was sent to Boys Town, a facility in Nebraska for delinquent children.

In custody for years

He appeared in Ingham County juvenile court in November 1994 after escaping from Highfields, a home for juvenile offenders in Onondaga. He admitted to taking a car from the facility and, with a friend, breaking into a grocery store and stealing food, according to a plea agreement.

In May 1995, he was sent to W.J. Maxey Boys Training School, a facility for delinquent youth, ages 12 to 21, near Ann Arbor. It provides sexual offender treatment, according to the state Department of Human Services.

Macon remained at Maxey in the court’s temporary custody through May 1996.

In October 1997, he completed a sex offender treatment program. Court records show that social workers believed the likelihood he would commit another sex offense was “very slim.”

State police confirm: Macon confessed to killing LCC prof

Claude McCollum leaves jail on bond, awaits new trial in case

Christine Rook and Kevin Grasha - Lansing State Journal

October 17, 2007

The shackles came off of Claude McCollum on Tuesday.

He's not quite free. He must wear an electronic tether.

But his conviction in the 2005 rape and slaying of a community college professor was thrown out. He'll get a new trial. And a state police detective on Tuesday acknowledged another man has confessed to the crime.

That confession by accused serial killer Matthew E. Macon is what caused investigators to re-examine video evidence from 2005, which might show McCollum was not at the crime scene.

"It's going to prove or be part of proving the innocence of McCollum," Michigan State Police Detective Lt. Jamie Corona said of the video.

Corona is a key member of a task force set up to reinvestigate the death of Carolyn Kronenberg, 60, who was attacked on the Lansing Community College campus.

Was the wrong person punished? Who is the right one?

"I'm trying to be OK with whatever happens," said Kronenberg's longtime companion Doug Albert, 58, of Lansing.

New chance

Shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday, McCollum, 30, walked out of the Ingham County Jail, free on bond in a shirt, tie and slacks brought from home.

He was ready to reclaim his life.

McCollum spent more than 1 1/2 years in prison for the attack on Kronenberg - a woman he says he never met.

McCollum's personal recognizance bond was set that morning at $100,000 by Ingham County Circuit Judge James Giddings. His family won't pay unless he flees.

The Rev. Ben Wade, the family minister, was at the bond hearing. He said: "I wanted to give a shout. It was like the walls had come down."

Wade, of Lansing's Tithe Missionary Baptist Church, will check on McCollum a few times a week and help him find a job.

As a condition of his bond, McCollum will live in Lansing with one of his aunts, 62-year-old Sharon Nevels.

Nevels said she always knew her mild-mannered and soft-spoken nephew was innocent. "We've gotten this far," she said. "I believe it will all work out."

Dismissal might be sought

McCollum's attorney, Hugh Clarke Jr., is preparing for his client's new trial.

"I'm never afraid to go to trial - not with what I know about this case," Clarke said after Tuesday's hearing.

He may ask the court to dismiss the case.

In asking that McCollum be released on bond, Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said, "I do not believe he would pose a risk to our public safety."

That comment is "very telling about where they are going with this case," said Ron Bretz, a Thomas M. Cooley Law School professor who worked for 20 years as a public defender and still consults with criminal defense attorneys.

Steven Drizin of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University's law school, who has followed McCollum's case, said Dunnings' statement to the court that McCollum does not pose a threat to public safety speaks volumes about the prosecution's belief that he may be innocent.

"If the state truly believed he were guilty, they would be fighting tooth and nail to keep him locked up to protect public safety," Drizin said.

At Tuesday's news conference, McCollum talked about how he wants to go back to school, get a job and "earn a decent living."

Asked why he believes he was initially prosecuted, McCollum said: "Because I was available."

Could Lansing's justice system have been in error? "As long as we have people that are human," Corona said, "we're going to have mistakes."

Another suspect?

Macon is suspected by police in a string of slayings dating to 2004. Officially, though, the 28-year-old prison parolee has been charged in the death of just one woman and with the assault of another.

For weeks rumors have circulated that Macon had confessed in the Kronenberg case, but officials refused to go on the record, citing a gag order on the case.

The Lansing man's lawyer Mike O'Briant declined to comment on Corona's statement, saying: "That's confidential information."

Corona confirmed Tuesday that Macon confessed.

The Lansing State Journal asked: "I understand we have a confession from Macon that he killed Kronenberg. Is that true?"

"Yes," Corona said, adding that he saw transcripts of the investigator interviews with Macon.

Confirmation of a confession by Macon on the same day he was released somewhat surprised McCollum, who has always maintained his innocence. "I can't ask for too much more," he said. "It's just another stepping stone ... towards me proving my innocence."

McCollum's new trial, which has yet to be scheduled, might draw scrutiny on the quality of police work in 2005. Questions have been raised about an interrogation of McCollum conducted by LCC and Lansing police detectives in 2005. And the video that Corona says can prove McCollum's innocence was in police and the prosecution's hands all along.

"It appears to me an innocent man goes free," Corona said.

Lansing Man Ordered Tried in Deaths of 2

By Kathy Barks Hoffman - The Associated Press

Monday, November 5, 2007

LANSING, Mich. -- A man suspected of killing several women in this city over several terrifying weeks was ordered Monday to stand trial on murder charges in two of the deaths.

Judge Patrick Cherry bound Matthew Emmanuel Macon over for trial after a preliminary hearing in which a Michigan State Police forensic expert testified that genetic evidence found at the two crime scenes matched Macon's DNA profile.

Macon is charged with the August killings of Karen Delgado-Yates, 41, and Sandra Eichorn, 64. Cherry dismissed charges of criminal sexual conduct, home invasion and failure to register his residence with authorities, as Macon is required to do as a registered sex offender.

Macon also is suspected in the deaths of Ruth Hallman, 76; Deborah Cooke, 36; and Debra Renfors, 46. A number of the victims were beaten and found in Lansing houses.

Police also want Macon to be charged with the 2004 death of Barbara Jean Tuttle, 45, of Lansing. Tuttle's body was found in the same house where Renfors' was later discovered.

Macon, 28, who had been in prison off and on since 2001, was paroled in late June.

Mike O'Briant, Macon's attorney, said during the hearing that there were no eyewitness reports of Macon attacking the women and that there were some errors made in the DNA testing of materials found at the crime scene.

"It just takes a little evidence" to send Macon to trial, O'Briant told reporters afterward. "Keep an open mind."

A gag order issued in the case kept him and Catherine Emerson, an assistant prosecuting attorney in Ingham County, from saying more. No trial date has been set.

  

Suspected serial killer to stand trial for murder, assault

Kevin Grasha and Christine Rook - Lansing State Journal

November 5, 2007

A judge ruled today that Matthew E. Macon will stand trial for killing two women and assaulting another this summer.

Macon, 28, of Lansing, is charged with murder in connection with the deaths of Sandra Eichorn and Karen Delgado-Yates. No trial date has been set. Macon also will stand trial for assaulting Linda Chapel Jackson in her home. Authorities say Chapel Jackson survived the attack because her dog chased away Macon.

DNA found on items at two crime scenes matched Macon’s DNA profile, a forensic scientist testified today at a preliminary hearing in 54A District Court. The hearing, which began last week and concluded this morning, was to determine if Macon would stand trial.

Jeffrey Nye, a forensics expert with the Michigan State Police, linked Macon to Eichorn’s house, where her son found her dead Aug. 27, as well as the vacant house where Karen Delgado-Yates was found barely alive two days later.

District Judge Patrick Cherry today dismissed a criminal sexual conduct charge related to the Delgado-Yates case.

“The evidence … is sufficiently sketchy,” Cherry said in making his ruling.

Nye conducted a DNA analysis of a Stanley work glove that was found at Eichorn’s South Genesee home.

“The DNA profile from the cuff of that glove matched that of Mr. Macon,” he said.

He said the DNA found on a Cincinnati Reds baseball cap at 1115 Hickory Street also matched the known DNA profile of Macon.

That is the location where Delgado-Yates was found barely alive on Aug. 29. She later died.

Macon’s attorney, Mike O’Briant, said after the hearing it is possible errors were made in the DNA testing.

“DNA evidence is very complicated,” O’Briant said. “There’s a lot of room for mistakes — and I’ll just leave it at that.”

Macon also is charged with torturing Delgado-Yates. Assistant Prosecutor Catherine Emerson today described evidence that Delgado-Yates, as she was clinging to life, was dragged to a basement drain and then back upstairs to the living room.

“It was brutal, inhumane and sadistic,” Emerson said in court.

A forensic pathologist testified Delgado-Yates suffered massive head injuries, possibly after being struck by a toilet tank lid found in the home’s living room. She also suffered a skull fracture and four broken ribs.

Macon is suspected in a string of homicides dating back to 2004.