PONTIAC, MICHIGAN, USA – JULY 11, 1995 The nude and battered body of Margaret Midkiff, a 43-year-old, white female, was discovered in the basement of her home by her 21-year-old son, Jeremy. Her daughter, Angela, became concerned when she couldn’t reach her mother by phone. She had gone to the house earlier that day. When she didn’t receive an answer to her knocks on the door, she contacted Jeremy. Jeremy, who had moved out of the house on Friday, July 7, had relocated to an adjoining town and had a key to the house.
An autopsy was conducted on July 12 by a Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s office. The cause od death was listed as blunt force head trauma. Margaret died of blunt-force head trauma. Although there were small areas od hemorrhage in the soft tissue of the neck, there was no fracture of laryngeal cartilage or hyoid bone and there was no evidence of conjunctival petechiae indicating strangulation. The injuries in the vagina and anus were indicative of sexual assault. The medical examiner further opined that the brain edema and herniation were suggestive of survival following the impact on the head. This meant that the victim lay there suffering on the floor for some time after the assault. The manner of death was teremined to be a homicide. The preliminary investigation and condition of the crime scene suggested more then one assailant.
