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| Mike Cline (Murder) Cold Case from 1970; Missouri | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 9 2008, 06:51 AM (5,325 Views) | |
| Ell | Nov 9 2008, 06:51 AM Post #1 |
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Heart of Gold
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Sunday, Nov 9, 2008 Posted on Sat, Nov. 08, 2008 Cold case about teen love gone bad haunts detective By DONALD BRADLEY The Kansas City Star A teenager steers his water skis into a Lake Winnebago cove and casually flips the bird to a group of homicide investigators watching from shore. Detective Mike Klinefelter wouldn’t be born for another three years after that July day in 1970, but he talks about that event as if he was close enough to be sprayed by the boat — sunny afternoon, blue water splashing, laughter from the “Winnebago kids” — and a handsome, athletic Mike Cline smiling as he sped past on those skis. Klinefelter never met Cline, but he believes he’s got a pretty good handle on the guy after reading the police reports and witness statements bulging from an old cardboard box on his desk. “Strong-willed, smart, manipulative, very confident … arrogant,” Klinefelter, of the Cass County Sheriff’s Department, said last week. His story of Mike Cline is about a cocky, rich kid who at 18 and just out of high school allegedly murdered his pregnant, working-class girlfriend because she didn’t fit his plans for a bright future. Some people would say the story ends there. Cline disappeared shortly after being indicted by a grand jury on a first-degree murder charge and hasn’t been seen since — at least not by authorities. But Klinefelter is eager to write a new chapter, even if it means breaking a few rules of homicide investigation. The thought that Cline could stand accused of strangling Jo Ellen Weigel, dumping her body into a lake, flipping off detectives and then going free irks him to no end. So Klinefelter, with the go-ahead from other agencies — including the FBI — has decided to make public previously unreleased details of the investigation. Detectives usually hold back the things that are known only by the killer. But investigators in this 38-year-old case are willing to go for broke in hopes of shaking loose a new lead into the whereabouts of Cline, rumored to be in Latin America. It is a case filled with mystery. For starters, how did Cline get out of his family’s lakefront house that night when it was being watched by police? Some think his father smuggled him in the trunk of a car. Klinefelter has a different idea. “He was a strong swimmer.” ••• The following account is based on court documents and newly released details in the 1970 murder case, State of Missouri v. Michael Cline: On July 5, 1970, a water skier dropped into the water of Lake Winnebago. When he surfaced, a girl’s body floated up with him. It was wrapped in netting and weighted with a concrete block and two large jugs of lake water. The victim was Jo Ellen Weigel, 18, a pretty, smart, recent graduate of Lee’s Summit High School. An autopsy revealed that she was four months pregnant. Jo Ellen had told her best friend and had said that she and her boyfriend, Mike Cline, would soon be married. She showed the friend a wedding ring. Cline didn’t want a ring for himself, she added. The two had dated about two years, and both were members of the National Honor Society. Before leaving on a date July 2, 1970, the couple stood outside the Weigel home in Lee’s Summit and argued for about 20 minutes. Jo Ellen was to spend the night at a friend’s house. When she did not return the next day, her parents attempted to contact Cline. He did not return their call until 11 p.m. He told them that he and Jo Ellen had gotten married and that he had put her on a bus to Columbia, where a Weigel family member lived. The parents drove to Columbia, and the family member told them she had not heard from Jo Ellen. The parents returned and confronted Cline, who changed his story. He told them that he had dropped Jo Ellen at the bus station but did not know if she had gotten on a bus. The next day, Cline arrived at the Weigel home in Lee’s Summit and said he needed to resolve the situation with Jo Ellen or he could not go on a senior trip to Europe. The two had not married, he told them, but he had put her on a bus and sent a message through Western Union to the relative in Columbia. The relative, Chris Goble, never received any message. Cline left for Europe on July 5. The next day, Cline’s father, Donald Cline, a veterinarian, contacted Jo Ellen’s parents and told them that a girl’s body had been found in Lake Winnebago. He drove them to the funeral home, where Ester Weigel identified her daughter from a piece of cloth. She had made the dress Jo Ellen was wearing when she died. Donald Cline then asked the funeral director about the rope that was used on the body. When told the color was white and yellow, Cline turned to the Weigels and said: “Oh, my god, we have not just lost one, but two of them.” ••• The Lee’s Summit seniors were in Rome when Mike Cline received a message to call Alex Peebles, a well-known Kansas City defense lawyer. Within hours, Cline was on a plane headed home. According to newly released information, the rope on Jo Ellen’s body was identical to the one on Donald Cline’s boat. The concrete block had been taken from the home of Mike Cline’s best friend. A white towel with forcibly removed hairs from Jo Ellen’s head had been found in Cline’s car. Back at Lake Winnebago, Cline, on the advice of counsel, refused to give a statement. Same for his parents. Investigators from the Metro Squad, officers from area agencies assigned to work a specific case, searched Cline’s home and took several items. Meanwhile, Mike Cline carried on the carefree lifestyle of the “Winnebago kids.” They were from the first affluent families that moved to the lake after it was built in the early 1960s. They skied, swam and partied on the water. The Metro Squad set up headquarters at the yacht club, but residents made it clear they didn’t want to talk. It was during this time that Cline flipped off the detectives. On July 27, a grand jury handed down its indictment. When authorities arrived at the home, family members said Cline was gone. ••• Finding Cline might not mean much after all this time, said Chris Goble — now Chris Morley — whose mother was Jo Ellen’s sister. Jo Ellen’s parents have died, their lives ending in sadness they never overcame. “My grandmother was always so strong, and losing Jo Ellen the way it happened took that strength from her,” Morley said. “My grandfather was grief-stricken until he died. That first year he all but shut down. “It got so we never talked about it around them. It was just too painful.” Her own mother is now in a nursing home with a form of dementia. “All these lives that were so deeply affected by this,” said Morley, a teacher in the Shawnee Mission School District. “He (Cline) had money and ran off to wherever … just leaving these broken lives behind.” Cline’s father died in 1988. Mike Cline was not mentioned in the obituary. No family member could be reached for this story. Over the years, they have declined to comment. In 1989, though, a sister told The Star: “His leaving destroyed this family. People think he did this terrible thing and that we’re part of it.” Klinefelter hopes Cline had it rough, even though he is convinced the fugitive had lots of help, starting with his escape. He thinks Cline swam the lake, jumped into a waiting car and was whisked into the night. “He probably had a hard life at first, moving around, always looking over his shoulder, never at peace when he slept,” Klinefelter said. “Things probably got easier over time. He got a new identity, might have gotten married and raised a family. He could be happy and have a whole new life.” But there’s still the matter of that old box on Klinefelter’s desk. It’s filled with a story of young love, blue water and murder. The girl and boy in their prom picture are long gone; she to her grave, he to a place safe from the tears that followed her. The box waits for him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW TO HELP Anyone with information about the case is urged to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477) or the Cass County Sheriff’s Office at 816-380-5200. To reach Donald Bradley, call 816-234-7810 or send e-mail to dbradley@kcstar.com. http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/881880.html |
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Ell Only after the last tree has been cut down; Only after the last fish has been caught; Only after the last river has been poisoned; Only then will you realize that money cannot be eaten. | |
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| Ell | Nov 9 2008, 06:53 AM Post #2 |
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Heart of Gold
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A sketch shows what Michael Cline might look like now, more than 30 years after he disappeared from the Lake Winnebago area. |
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Ell Only after the last tree has been cut down; Only after the last fish has been caught; Only after the last river has been poisoned; Only then will you realize that money cannot be eaten. | |
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