John Norman Collins Kelly & Company Interview

In 1988, serial killer John Norman Collins gave a television interview from Marquette Branch Prison in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Years before Ted Bundy, Collins was luring young women to slaughter. From the summers of 1967-1969, Collins murdered a minimum of seven women and left them along the country roadside terrorizing residents in the college towns of Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. On July 31, 1969, Collins was arrested for the murder of Eastern Michigan coed Karen Sue Beineman.


In my nonfiction account of these murders Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked, I reveal the backstory of this rare Kelly & Company [Detroit morning talk show] interview interspersed with commentary by people associated with these cases. John Kelly hosted the studio portion of the show and his co-host [wife] Marilyn Turner flew up to Marquette Prison to conduct the prison interview.

All of Collins appeals had run out and his attempt at an international [Canadian] prisoner exchange failed. This was Collins's last chance to take his story to the public and make his case that he was railroaded by an overzealous prosecutor and a rogue county sheriff. 

Collins was in control of the interview until Marilyn Turner blindsided him with "Did you love your mother, John?" With that single question, Turner cut through his self-protective stratagems. For the rest of the interview Collins was sullen and disoriented. When the studio audience was polled at the end of the show, votes ran 2 to 1 against Collins. John's roll of the dice to manipulate the media came up snake eyes.


John Kelly and Marilyn Turner1988 Kelly & Company John Norman Collins interview [44 minutes]: https://youtu.be/JfD3O69PCvw

Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked true crime book: gregoryafournier.com also available on Amazon, B&N, and other online booksellers. A Kindle edition will be available soon. It takes a couple of weeks for a new title to work its way into the system.