In March of 1969, a 23-year-old female University of Michigan law student named Jane Mixer was looking for a ride from Ann Arbor to her hometown of Muskegon for spring break. She had recently gotten engaged and was eager to share the news with her parents. Mixer had placed an ad on a university ride-share board and arranged a ride with someone who identified himself as 'David Johnson'. On the evening of March 20, 1969, she left her dormitory, expecting to be taken home.
She never arrived.
The following morning, her body was discovered in a rural cemetery. She had been shot twice in the head with a. 22 caliber gun and then strangled with a nylon stocking. Her body was found fully clothed, with her raincoat placed over her. A copy of the novel 'Catch 22' was set neatly near her body, along with her shoes. There were no signs of sexual assault.
For decades, Mixer's murder was unofficially linked to a series of other killings in the area attributed to a serial killer, John Norman Collins. Collins was convicted of one of those murders, and with the killings stopping after his arrest, many, including Mixer's family, came to believe he was responsible for her death as well. However, some investigators felt that the details of Mixer's case didn't quite fit the pattern of the other murders.
The case remained cold for over 30 years until advancements in DNA technology allowed for a re-examination of evidence from the crime scene. In 2002, a DNA sample from Mixer's pantyhose was entered into a national database. This led to a surprising match with a 62-year-old retired nurse and former school board member named Gary Leiterman. Leiterman had no known connection to Mixer and had never been a suspect in her murder. His DNA had been added to the database following a 2002 conviction for prescription fraud.
Leiterman was arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of Jane Mixer. The prosecution's case rested heavily on the DNA evidence. They theorized that Leiterman had posed as 'David Johnson,' picked Mixer up, made a sexual advance, and then killed her when she rejected him. In 2005, a jury found Gary Leiterman guilty of the murder of Jane Mixer, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
Despite the conviction, the case was not without controversy. During the trial, it was revealed that another man's DNA, that of a convicted killer named John Ruelas, was found in a blood scraping from Mixer's hand. However, Ruelas was only four years old at the time of the murder, leading to arguments of possible lab contamination of the evidence. Leiterman maintained his innocence until his death in prison in 2019. Some forensic experts later argued that the DNA evidence against him was likely the result of lab contamination, leaving lingering questions for some about whether the true killer of Jane Mixer was ever brought to justice.
