Suspect Admits Slaying But Gives No Reason, Police Say

GUN RECOVERED: Stanford Thompson, who police said admitted the killing of Mrs. Marjorie Williams Saturday, shows police where he cached the murder weapon, a .32 caliber automatic. Police Lt. Joseph Huizenga is holding the gun. The gun was found underneath a large rock near the McDonald Ice Cream Co. building, 1039 S. Main St.

Suspect Admits Slaying But Gives No Reason, Police Say

Thirty-five-year-old Stanford Thompson has admitted the fatal shooting of Mrs. Marjorie Williams Saturday morning, police said today, but has given no exact reason as to why.

Officers said Thompson gave them and Prosecutor Douglas K. Reading a long statement on the crime — but without explanation of his motive or the events led up to the shooting — after he was taken from a Toledo-bound bus at Milan Saturday noon.

They said Thompson claimed he had been intimate with Mrs. Williams, but broke up with her a few weeks ago, moving from her house, where he had been rooming, to the Ann Arbor Hotel.

Describes Events

Friday night, he and Mrs. Williams and another man, St. Charles Bettis of 426 N. Ingalls St., friend of both Thompson and the slain woman, were at Mrs. Williams’ home together, according the version officers said he gave.

During that time Thompson and Mrs. Williams quarreled, Thompson did not say what about, officers said.

He later went to his hotel room, according to police, and picked up his gun, a .32 caliber automatic.

He returned to the Williams home and all three went ‘‘out riding" in the car he was driving, police said.

They let Bettis off at his house and returned to the Williams home, where they quarreled again, according to police.

Was Making Coffee

Officers said Thompson told them Mrs. Williams was making coffee for them when he pulled out the gun and shot at her. She ran into the bathroom and he fired again several times through the bathroom door, police said.

It was a tip to Ypsilanti police that led to the 35-year-old garbage collector's arrest in Milan, after Ann Arbor officers had been sought in vain for him for eight hours following the killing.

About 10 o'clock Saturday morning, a Negro woman, who did not give her name, entered the Ypsilanti police station, pulled Capt. Emil Susterka aside and told him that Thompson had just boarded .. Toledo bus in the Ypsilanti bus station.

She told Capt. Susterka that she knew Thompson and knew he was wanted for the murder.

State troopers, alerted by the Ypsilanti officers, boarded the bus in Milan and arrested Thompson, who gave up without a struggle.

‘Ready To Pay Penalty’

During the ride back to Ann Arbor with officers, he freely admitted that he did the killing and announced that he was ready to pay the penalty for murder and wanted to “get it over with,” police said.

He told them that after the shooting, he walked the Ann Arbor Railroad tracks from Ann Arbor south to US-112. Before leaving the city, however, he related, he hid the murder weapon underneath a rock behind the McDonald Ice Cream Co., 1039 S. Main St.

When he reached US-112, he walked into Saline on it, waited for a bus to Ypsilanti, rode one there and then took the bus from Ypsilanti toward Toledo.

Officers Just Miss Him

Two Ann Arbor officers, Lt. Joseph Huizenga and Sgt. Henry Murray, acting on a hunch, had followed the railroad tracks south and arrived in Saline by car 30 seconds after the bus carrying Thompson left for Ypsilanti.

Coroner Edwin C. Ganzhorn said an autopsy showed Mrs. Williams died of internal bleeding caused by a lung wound. Only one bullet hit her, he said.

Thirty-five years old, she lived at 705 N. Fourth Ave.

Thompson waived examination and was bound over to circuit court when arraigned before Municipal Judge Francis O'Brien on a murder charge this morning. He was ordered held without bond, subject appearance in the higher court tomorrow.