Midwest
Death of convicted murderer in Michigan reignites investigation into cold cases
- Michigan detectives are investigating unsolved homicides linked to convicted murderer Garry Artman who died in a prison hospital last week.
- Kent County sheriff’s detectives interviewed Artman before his death and gathered information that prompted the reopening of homicide cases.
- Police have connected Artman to a woman’s disappearance nearly 30 years ago.
Authorities in western Michigan are looking into missing persons cases and unsolved homicides after interviewing a convicted murderer and long-haul truck driver with terminal cancer who died last week in a prison hospital.
Kent County sheriff’s detectives questioned Garry Artman on three occasions before his death Thursday at a state Corrections health facility in Jackson, Michigan.
Kent County Lt. Eric Brunner said detectives “gleaned information” from their interviews with Artman and are collaborating with other law enforcement agencies to “connect the dots with missing pieces or homicide cases that are still open.”
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Brunner would not say which unsolved cases are being looked into or how many cases are being investigated, although police in Grand Rapids, Michigan, have tied Artman to a woman’s disappearance nearly 30 years ago.
Authorities in western Michigan are looking into missing persons cases and unsolved homicides after speaking with Garry Dean Artman, a convicted murderer and long-haul truck driver who died last week in his hospital bed. (Michigan Department of Corrections via AP)
“Interviews with Artman provided enough information to reasonably conclude he was involved in the 1995 disappearance of Cathleen Dennis but that it is very unlikely that Dennis’ body will ever be found,” a Grand Rapids police spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Grand Rapids detectives also met with Artman before his death and are trying to determine if he is connected to other missing persons or homicide cases in that city, the spokeswoman said in an email.
WOOD-TV first reported Artman was being investigated in other cases.
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John Pyrski, Artman’s court-appointed lawyer, told The Associated Press Wednesday that he didn’t know if Artman had committed other murders. But “if he did, I’m glad he made everything right in the end” by disclosing them, Pyrski added.
Artman, 66, had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. A Michigan jury in September convicted him of the 1996 rape and murder of Sharon Hammack, 29, in Kent County. He was sentenced in October to life in prison without parole.
Artman also faced murder charges in the 2006 slaying of Dusty Shuck, 24, in Maryland. Shuck was from Silver City, New Mexico. Her body was found near a truck stop along an interstate outside New Market, Maryland.
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Artman, who had been living in White Springs, Florida, was arrested in 2022 in Mississippi after Kent County investigators identified him as a suspect in Hammack’s slaying through DNA analyzed by a forensic genetic genealogist.
His DNA also matched DNA in Shuck’s slaying.
Kent County sheriff’s investigators later searched a storage unit in Florida believed to belong to Artman and found several pieces of women’s underwear that were seized for biological evidence to determine whether there were other victims, Maryland State Police said in a 2022 news release.
Artman previously served about a decade in Michigan prisons following convictions for criminal sexual conduct in 1981.
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Cleveland, OH
City of Cleveland isn’t at fault for drowning death, says Ohio Supreme Court
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday the city of Cleveland isn’t responsible for the drowning death of swimmer because of a ‘physical defect’ with the lifeguard chair.
According to a press release from the Ohio Supreme Court, the case of Hoskins v. Cleveland will be tried again as the court ruled in favor of the city.
During a routine visit, swimmer William Johnson died from drowning at Thurgood Marshall Recreation Center in December of 2019.
In 2023, the executor of Johnson’s will sued lifeguard Nieemah Hameed and the city of Cleveland in a wrongful death lawsuit alleging her negligence caused his death.
The suit claimed Hameed not sitting on the elevated lifeguard chair and instead using a folding chair prevented her from monitoring Johnson closely.
The city and Hameed appealed the suit saying they were not at fault because of an Ohio code saying state business are responsible for wrongful death case if there is a physical defect.
Both a trial court and Cuyahoga County’s Eighth District Court of Appeals sided with Hoskins saying the code didn’t excuse the defense.
The released state the Supreme Court found a physical defect to not be presence because Hameed’s view was not impaired because of the lifeguard chair.
The court ordered for the case to be sent back to the trial order.
From the release, the Supreme Court’s dissenting agreement made noted that lack of lifeguard chairs could be found as a physical defect.
Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.
Illinois
Missing man’s body found in retention pond in Elk Grove Village, police say
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill. (WLS) — The body of a missing man was found in a retention pond Thursday in the northwest suburbs, police said.
Chopper 7 was over the scene at a retention pond at Higgins and Innovation Drive in Elk Grove Village, in front of a number of warehouses in the area.
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There was a large police presence there for multiple hours, surrounding the water.
Chopper 7 witnessed dive teams go in and out of the water, and there were paramedics on scene.
Elk Grove Police confirmed a male body was found in the water in the 700 block of Innovation Drive. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office responded to the scene.
Police identified the body as a missing 26-year-old man named Alexis Ramirez.
Ramirez had been missing since March 10. Elk Grove Police were searching the same area after Ramirez went missing after he was the sole occupant of a single-vehicle crash near Higgins and Brennan Boulevard, which is right by the pond he was found in on Thursday.
Police believe he walked away from that scene before officers arrived. At that time, the police search led to no one being found.
ABC7 spoke to the family of Ramirez on the scene Thursday, and they appeared very emotional.
Police say there is no evidence of foul play at this time as they send out their condolences to the family.
No further information was immediately available.
Copyright © 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Indiana
Indiana expands emergency advisories for high water on northern lakes
WOLCOTTVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — The Indiana Department of Natural Resources on Thursday issued a second emergency advisory to restrict watercraft due to high water on lakes in the northern part of the state.
As WISHTV.com previously reported, the first emergency advisory, issued Tuesday, affected lakes in Kosciusko County. On the Barbee Lakes Chain, the operation of all motorized watercraft is restricted. The Barbee Lakes Chain consists of Kuhn, Big Barbee, Little Barbee, Irish, Sechrist, Sawmill and Banning Lakes.
Also in Kosciusko County, an idle speed restriction has been placed on motorized watercraft on the Tippecanoe Lake Chain and Lake Wawasee; the Tippecanoe Lake Chain includes Lake Tippecanoe, Oswego and James Lakes.
The second emergency advisory, issued Thursday, placing an idle-speed restriction on motorized watercraft on the Indian Lakes Chain in southern LaGrange County. The goal is to prevent boat wakes from causing water to enter homes. The emergency advisory specifically impacts Witmer, Westler, Dallas, Hackenberg and Messick lakes, which comprise the Indian Lakes Chain.
Natural Resources lists its advisories on its website.
The lakes provide tourists and residents with year-round recreation including swimming, fishing, skiing, boating, kayaking and canoeing.
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