The crime of rape is a soul-wrenching experience for anyone to endure. As society has become increasingly open with discussing this issue, more and more children of rape are opting to discover their birth mothers and family histories. If any human experience is bittersweet, this is it.
Today, there are organizations and support groups for adult children of rape to reconnect with their birth mothers. The stigma in our society against these innocent offspring still exists, but increasing public exposure of successful reunions is making it easier for more people to come forward.
In 2011, I was contacted by a woman who has asked that her name not be revealed. She was a child of a rape in 1968 and located her birth mother only several years ago. She has since established a loving, healthy relationship with her. Upon inquiring about her birth father though, her mother was uncomfortable and evasive when it came to revealing who he was. After some hemming and hawing, the mom admitted that she knew who the father was, that he was still alive, but that he was unavailable for a meeting.
On a hunch, she asked if her father was in prison. "Yes," was the answer. Reluctantly, her mother told her that she believed her father to be John Norman Collins. When Collins was arrested in 1969 and his picture was in all the papers, she thought she recognized him as the man who raped her.
Only two months ago, I received another gmail from a woman who now lives on the East Coast. After reading some of my Collins blog posts, she decided to contact me believing that her father may be John Norman Collins. This woman searched for and discovered her birth mother and has since established a relationship with her.
And of course, this woman also wanted to know who her birth father was. Whenever she inquired about him, her mother refused to tell her his name because she was still scared of him. Then her daughter found a copy of The Michigan Murders in her mother's house and read it. When she asked her mother about it, her mother looked quite upset. That was her daughter's first inkling that JNC could be her birth father, despite the antagonist's name being changed to John Armstrong in the novel.
I gmailed her back and asked if we could speak on the phone so I could report on what I knew. When I told her that she was the second person to contact me about JNC's possible paternity, she livened up. I told her the background of my efforts to contact Collins and his siblings to see if we could arrange for a paternity test to show kinship. They were unresponsive. I was told by the Michigan Department of Corrections that there is a statute of limitations for rape and we would need a court order to get a DNA sample from Collins.
John Norman Collins has often said that he loves children and would love to have been a dad, so I wrote to him in Marquette Prison telling him that he may be not only a father, but also a grandfather. If he would like more information, contact me. To date, he has refused to show any interest in his fatherhood. That's how strong his paternal instinct is. Again, it is not what he says, but what he does or doesn't do that is most revealing of his character.
On a personal note, I have spoken to the first alleged daughter many times on the telephone and am very familiar with her voice. When I heard the voice of the second woman on the phone, I'll be damned if I didn't hear a similar tone and tenor in the voices of both woman. It was eerily apparent. After receiving permission to have them contact each other, they both asked me to reluctantly inquire if there are any others within the reach of my blog who suspect Collins may be their father.
From my extensive research on Collins, I've found he was a practiced rapist, so other offspring may be waiting to be discovered. If you believe Collins may be your birth father, or if you have any information that might be useful in our quest, please contact me at gregoryafournier@ gmail.com. Your information will be held in strictest confidence.
See what one woman recently did to find her birth mom:
http://www.today.com/news/burger-king-baby-finds-birth-mom-i-am-filled-emotions-2D79437635
When I started writing my Fornology blog in May of 2011, I was a techno-dweeb.
My publicist, Paula Margulies, explained the importance of blogging in this brave new world of digital publishing for launching a novel, establishing a brand, and building an audience. It takes time and persistence, she said. Truthfully, I wasn't enthused and thought I'd be long finished with it by now. That was more than two years ago.
Now, after over 40,000 hits and 200 posts on a variety of subjects, I've graduated to the rank of cybernaut. I actually enjoy the routine of writing a post every week and the immediate gratification of instant publishing.
Content is king and despite some of the dark and sordid subject matter in some of my posts, many others deal with lighter topics. Several of them talk about blogging and writing like this one does.
Forty of my posts deal with the topic of John Norman Collins and the Washtenaw County, Michigan murders of the late 1960s. Blogging has allowed me to focus on bits and pieces of the larger story, which will be woven into whole cloth when my true crime history of these murders comes out late next year. The Rainy Day Murders will be the culmination of three years of intensive research into these matters and forty-five years of thinking about them.
As well as raising awareness of the topic, Fornology has also been a vehicle for people to come forward with information about John Norman Collins, their personal connection regarding these tragic murders, or their knowledge of the victims.
Some people still support Collins and maintain that he is innocent, but they never contribute any evidence to support their claims. Then there are the people who need to tell their story. Some of these stories don't always pass the sniff test, but many of them do. We try to corroborate every story before we use it.
Blogging is helping me create an audience for The Rainy Day Murders project
while I finish writing it.
I am astounded at the global reach of my
blog and often wonder who my readers are on the world wide web and how many of you are
regulars.
Recently, it has come to my attention that Fornology has a new fan. Not a fan so much as a critic - John Norman Collins no less.
Prisoners don't have unrestricted access to the internet, but they can send emails, write and receive written or typed letters, and make collect phone calls to landlines.
Collins has heard about some of my posts from people who write to him and even from some of the prison guards. He may not have internet services, but nonetheless, John Norman Collins has one Hell of a grapevine.
After John Norman Collins and his various attorneys exhausted all of his appeal avenues, he decided to talk to the media and take his case to the people on Monday, October 3, 1988.
Kelly & Company, a popular morning talk show in Detroit, wanted to do a live satellite feed from the prison with the show's co-host, Marilyn Turner. The studio portion of the show with a panel of key people from the case and a live studio audience would be handled by John Kelly, who happened to be Marilyn's husband.
The Friday before, the prosecutor who tried the case, William Delhey, declined to appear. He did not want to be a "question-and-answer man" for a staged courtroom scene.
Then the prison warden reneged on the live broadcast citing security reasons. Producers for the show managed to get him to agree to a taped interview.
The link below is the Collins interview portion of the show. Collins was forty-one at the time and had been behind bars for just over eighteen years. This twenty-five year old Kelly & Company video was the first time most people saw Collins or heard him speak.
http://youtu.be/G779Uw09eMs
Acting on his own behalf, John Norman Chapman applied for and received the necessary transfer documents from the Canadian Consulate and applied for his Canadian prison transfer.
On August 7, 1981, the Marquette Prison warden, T.H. Koehler, wrote the Deputy Director of the Michigan Department of Corrections Robert Brown, Jr. saying that he had "checked the qualifications for transfer to foreign countries and believe that this resident (John Norman Chapman) meets the necessary qualifications at this time."
The warden must have felt relieved that he was getting rid of a hot potato. He was quoted as saying that Collins was the only prisoner in his lockup who had a book written about him that's for sale in the prison store.
After approval by the Marquette Prison Classification Committee, newly christened Prisoner Chapman was transported to Jackson Prison by prison shuttle on Tuesday, December 29, 1981, to await a verification hearing on his transfer to be held on January 11, 1982, at the United States District Court in Detroit.
Attorney Miriam Seifer was appointed by the court to represent John Chapman at a Canadian transfer hearing. She was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor when John Collins was originally arrested in 1969. How odd that must have been for her.
Much to John Chapman's dismay, Ottawa (i.e. the Canadian government) had not completed the formal paperwork for the January 29th scheduled transfer date, so the hearing was postponed. John Norman Chapman was only one signature away from being transferred to a Canadian Prison, but he was so close, he could wait a little longer. Time was on his side now.
Meanwhile, on the morning of January 14, 1982, a letter addressed the Detroit Free Press city desk editor - William Hart - landed on his desk. It was from a prison inmate who had written to him before about prison reform.
Although all the information contained in the letter was not strictly accurate, the information did get the desk editor's attention.
It said that Collins had been released to Canadian authorities two weeks before (Collins was actually waiting in Jackson Prison), Collins planned to use a different name once in Canada, and he would be eligible for parole in two years with time served.
The prison informant added that this happened "with dollars being spread in the right areas." The letter ended with, "I would normally not pass information like this out, but if he's guilty of butchering young girls, then he's not the safest kind of a dude to be put where he could repeat."
Detroit Free Press editor Hart assigned reporter Marianne Rzepka to investigate the story. She found and interviewed Miriam Seifer, the court appointed attorney handling the case. That evening, Rzepka's story "Transfer to Canada for Killer" was the front page headline.
A Detroit Associated Press reporter picked up several early copies of the paper and returned quickly to his office. The story was immediately sent out on their news wire service to thirty-three newspapers and eighty-five radio and television stations across Michigan. By Friday, January 15, the story was reported throughout every corner of the state.
When the parents of slain Karen Sue Beineman read the story, they called William Delhey, Washtenaw County chief prosecutor for the Collins' case, and they went on their own media blitz.
Less than a week after Marianne Rzepka's article appeared, Michigan Department of Corrections Deputy Director, Robert Brown, Jr., revoked approval of the Collins' transfer.
In a letter dated January 20, 1982, Brown denied the transfer on the grounds that John was raised primarily in the United States and had minimal contact with Canadian relatives. It was with regret that he had to inform Chapman that "I am revoking our consideration of your request. I am sorry I could not give you are more favorable reply. Sincerely, MDOC."
When Mrs. Loretta Collins heard that her son's transfer had been rescinded, she told the press, "It's politics, dirty politics. John's hopes were raised; he was moved. Then, they slammed the door in his face. It's inhuman." Many Michigan mothers would disagree.
John Norman Collins took a toss of the dice and they came up snake eyes. Every craps player knows what that means. Instant loser!
