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Updated: 9:19 PM Jul 3, 2009
St. Joe County PD helps make arrest in Michigan cold case
Allegan County, MI A 16-year-old cold case has now been solved, and the suspect in the rape and murder case has been arrested in St. Joseph County.
Posted: 5:30 AM Jul 3, 2009Reporter: Stephanie Stang Email Address: stephanie.stang@wndu.com |
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St. Joseph County Police have made an arrest in a 16-year-old cold case out of West Michigan.
Van Buren Hutchison, 45, of Allegan County,was captured and arrested this morning just after 8:00. He was wanted in connection with a 1993 rape and murder of a 28-year-old woman.
A trail can still be seen in the soybeans, where Hutchison crawled to a stop and asked for help.
"He said he got hurt in the wood, crawled to the side of the field and he asked me to call the ambulance. He was polite about it, he said please," says Elizabeth Muellner.
Despite Hutchison's courtesy, Elizabeth was still suspicious.
"My normal reaction would have been to run to his side, and help, but there was something weird," Elizabeth adds.
"When I found out he came from the woods, it created some big questions in my mind," says Stephen Muellner.
When police arrived they identified Hutchison as a suspect in a murder and rape case from 1993, after an alert was sent out he was in the area.
It was 16-years ago a 28-year-old woman was found dead in Allegan County, in the Kalamazoo River, tied up with a rope.
And although this family in St. Joseph played a part in his arrest, it's not a part they planned in their holiday weekend.
Hutchison was living in Berrien Springs, and South Bend.
Police in Allegan County asked for help Friday morning in finding him.
Police won't say why the case was now suddenly open again, only that Hutchison was suspect from that case.
He was found with $800, and three sets of car keys on him.

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