1958 — Hillsdale College student Thomas Neitling is found bludgeoned to death in his room above the “College Tav” (a café adjacent to campus), his broken and bloodied shotgun lying nearby. Classes ended at noon that day to allow time to travel home for Thanksgiving, but Neitling failed to show up at his 8 a.m. class. A search began. His roommate, freshman Patrick Flannery, was missing during the investigation, but resurfaced later that morning at police headquarters in Detroit, confessing to the murder.
Flannery (pictured, center) was recorded saying, “You’d better arrest me. I did something real bad.” The Hillsdale Police Chief and County Prosecutor brought him back to Hillsdale to be tried. After much evaluation and time in court, he was committed to a hospital for the criminally insane.
-Compiled by Dane Skorup