Unsolved: Murder on Mackinac

It is Mackinac Island’s only unsolved murder.

The mystery of who killed Frances Lacey is one that has baffled and fascinated the island for decades.

In July 1960, Frances Lacey found herself here looking for an escape from the speedy pace of downstate life.

Rod Sadler writes about Lacey’s ill-fated trip to the island in his book “Grim Paradise.”

“She was coming up here with her daughter and son-in-law. Her son-in-law’s mother had rented a cabin at British Landing,” said Sadler.

Lacey eventually checked into the Murray Hotel after a typical Saturday on the island.

Sunday morning, she went down to the hotel lobby.

“She left her baggage there, left her key on the desk, and then she had breakfast in the little, restaurant at the Murray Hotel. And then she set out on foot. And that’s the last time anybody ever saw her alive,” said Sadler.

Sadler took us to where Lacey’s body was found four days later, roughly three miles from the heart of the island.

“Just inside a fence was the wire fence, and that’s where they found some hair, and then the boat. And this is private property now, but that trail makes a bend. And beyond that trail, about 30 feet, was the boat, the overturned old rowboat. And that’s what her shoes were found under. And beyond that, I’m going to say 40 feet or so was her body,” explained Sadler.

A couple who found Lacey’s purse provided the break investigators needed.

“So they took the purse back to Detroit. And four days later, they saw the story in the in the headlines. And, they called the Detroit police,” said Sadler.

Lacey’s body showed signs of sexual assault.

She also appeared strangled with her underwear.

Her wallet was later found near the Grand Hotel as some 25 to 30 detectives converged on the island to investigate.

“They had photos of her, they interviewed people that maybe had left the island on the morning that she disappeared. They talked to some locals that that they suspected might be involved. And slowly those tips became less and less and less,” said Sadler.

Sadler believes detectives may have been closer to solving Lacey’s murder than they realized.

“There was a gentleman, who had been arrested in Ionia for breaking and entering. And when they interviewed him. He said, ‘Well, I was on Mackinac Island.’ Well, that piqued their interest. And they re-interviewed him and said, ‘When were you on Mackinac Island?’ And he said, ‘Oh, I must have made a mistake. I didn’t say Mackinac Island. I must have said Fox Island’ or something like that. So what they did was they took hair samples from him to compare with the trace evidence that they recovered from Mrs. Lacey’s body. And the laboratory scientist, who analyzed his hair against, the hair, that was taken off Mrs. Lacey’s body, said that he could not be eliminated as a as a suspect, because there were too many similar characteristics between his hair and the hair that was removed from Mrs. Lacey’s body. The state police did give him a polygraph, and he passed it.”

And that’s not all Sadler found.

“There was two people, the initial, person that was looked at, they wrote him off pretty quickly. They did make an arrest on suspicion of murder. And, he was released later that day when they realized they didn’t have enough evidence to hold him. And honestly, I don’t think that he is a legitimate suspect in this. There is a suspect that I identify, late in the book that I believe, could be considered a person of interest. Not because I can put him on the island, but because his history goes, his criminal history goes back to the, 1961, just a year after, Mrs. Lacey’s murder, when that was his first arrest,” said Sadler.

But, as Sadler discovered, any hope of solving Lacey’s murder hinges on finding the trace evidence collected from the scene.

“Those trace evidence slides were kept out in Lansing at the laboratory out there where they have gone since then no one knows. The Criminal Detection Laboratory was eventually absorbed into the state police in the mid-’70s. So those files from 15 years prior to that, we have absolutely no idea if they’re in storage somewhere, if they’ve been destroyed, if they’ve been misplaced, we have absolutely no idea,” said Sadler.

Even still, Sadler hopes to see Lacey’s murder solved.

“Mrs. Lacey still has a voice. She still has a voice. If that’s through me, then so be it,” said Sadler.

Sadler also pointed out Lacey’s watch has never been found, meaning if it ever turns up, it could help point to her killer.