Murder Case Reward Fund Tops $5,000

Murder Case Reward Fund Tops $5,000

The reward for apprehension and conviction of the killer of an Eastern Michigan University coed leaped to more than $5,000 today, and investigating officers lauded the move by EMU students as “positive and helpful” action.

Joan E. Schell, 20-year-old EMU coed from Plymouth, was found stabbed to death off Glacier Way near Earhart Rd. on July 5. After officers from five police agencies turned up no substantial clues to her murderer, the EMU student newspaper, the “Eastern Echo,” posted a reward of $300 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer. Subsequently the Ypsilanti City Council added another $500 to the reward fund, and anonymous businessmen contributed another $300 to raise the total to $1,100.

Today student leaders of the Eastern Echo announced their reward fund has now reached $5,000. Most of that sum has been contributed by private industry and commerce leaders in the Ypsilanti area, the students said.

With the other reward funds added to that of EMU, a person providing a key clue to the killer could collect $5,800 in reward money.

The EMU reward offer is operated on a system of a tipster writing a five-digit number on his letter of information, retaining a copy of the number and then appearing with the number if the clue breaks the case.