Also See:
Jodi Parrack Murder Investigation - Reserve Officer Raymond McCann suspect -
Nov. 08, 2007 - April 2014
On November 08, 2007, 11-year-old Jodi Parrack was murdered. Her mother - Valerie Jo - found Jodi's body in the Constantine Township Cemetery after Jodi failed to come home from a friend's home earlier that evening. It was family friend and Constantine PD Reserve Officer Raymond McCann who had suggested that the cemetery be searched for Jodi.
Jodi Parrack's murder remained unsolved for over six years. Almost from the beginning of the investigation, Reserve Officer Raymond McCann was considered as a suspect because of his insisting that the cemetery be search for Jodi, and due to the inconsistencies in his stories regarding his whereabouts between the time of Jodi's disappearance and the discovery of her body.
In 2009, retired Michigan State Police Detective Jim Bedell came out of retirement and became Chief of the Constantine PD. Chief Bedell's main motive was to solve Jodi's murder.
Valerie Jo Carver has never lost faith that the police would eventually find her daughter Jodi's killer[s].
In April 2014, the main suspect in Jodi's murder - former Constantine Reserve Officer Raymond McCann - was arrested on felony perjury charges in connection with Jodi's murder. McCann faces up to life in prison on the charges.
The Constantine PD and MSP continue the investigation into finding Jodi's killer[s].
McCann trial date changed
Accused of perjury in Jodi Parrack case
By Rick Cordes - Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, August 9, 2014 8:06 AM EDT
CENTREVILLE — Raymond Emmett McCann, 46, of Constantine, who is accused of perjury while under oath during the investigation into the November, 2007 homicide of then-11-year-old Jodi Parrack of Constantine, made a brief appearance in St. Joseph County Circuit Court Friday afternoon.
McCann’s attorney James Mequio made a request to Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman to reschedule the trial from its Sept. 2 court date and was granted the adjournment with no new date set.
Trial delayed in perjury case
St. Joseph County Circuit Judge Paul Stutesman has granted a defense motion that postpones a Sept. 2 jury trial for Raymond E. McCann II, a Three Rivers man charged with five counts of perjury linked to the homicide of Jodi Parrack.
By Kathy Jessup
Journal Correspondent
Posted Aug. 8, 2014 @ 8:03 pm
Centreville - St. Joseph County Circuit Judge Paul Stutesman has granted a defense motion that postpones a Sept. 2 jury trial for Raymond E. McCann II, a Three Rivers man charged with five counts of perjury linked to the homicide of Jodi Parrack.
James Mequio, a Portage attorney representing McCann, told Stutesman on Friday that the defense needs more time to obtain and evaluate evidence connected to testimony McCann provided to authorities after Parrack’s body was found in a Constantine cemetery in 2007.
Authorities say the youth’s body had bruises around the neck, wrists and nipples and her death certificate lists the cause as homicide resulting from asphyxiation due to strangulation.
Investigators have said DNA recovered from the girl’s body indicated sexual contact and finding its match would identify the perpetrator.
While McCann has been identified as a “person of interest,” he has not been charged with the homicide and officials have confirmed that a DNA sample he voluntarily provided does not match the crime-scene sample.
Instead, McCann was arrested and has been lodged in the St. Joseph County Jail since April on a perjury complaint, unable to post a $225,000 bond.
McCann was initially charged with a single perjury count, but prosecutors made it a five-count complaint following a July 9 preliminary examination, when St. Joseph County District Judge Robert Pattison found there was sufficient probable cause to go to trial.
Expanded charges allege five inconsistencies in sworn testimony McCann gave at a prosecutor’s inquiry about his actions the night Parrack was reported missing and later found dead.
Mequio has claimed prosecutors are using the perjury charges to “coerce” information from McCann.
No dates were set Friday for either a rescheduled status conference or trial.
Jodi Parrack’s autopsy reviewed
The body of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack showed evidence of bruising on her neck, abrasions consistent with handcuffs on both wrists and contusions to both nipples, according to a 2007 autopsy report reviewed by the Sturgis Journal.
By Kathy Jessup
Journal correspondent
Posted Jul. 30, 2014 @ 7:00 am
Constantine - The body of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack showed evidence of bruising on her neck, abrasions consistent with handcuffs on both wrists and contusions to both nipples, according to a 2007 autopsy report reviewed by the Sturgis Journal.
Grand Rapids forensic pathologist Dr. Stephen D. Cohle also noted “abundant sand” located between the girl’s toes.
According to the report, Cohle estimated Jodi’s time of death at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 8, 2007, less than two hours after police say she left a friend’s home and headed south toward South Washington Street, not a direct route to her home, located less than four-tenths of a mile away.
Her mother, Jo Carver (now Gilson) began contacting friends to locate Jodi shortly after the girl failed to return home by her 5:30 p.m. deadline. The girl’s body was found by her mother around 10:30 p.m. in a Constantine cemetery near the family’s home. The bike Jodi was last seen riding was resting near her body.
With the exception of evidence of restraints, the autopsy report includes few indications of physical struggle. However, Dr. Cohle concluded the cause of death was “homicidal means.”
The report indicates he found a “faint, band-like contusion across the anterior neck”; a “small hemorrhage” in a muscle on the left front of the neck; “restraint-type contusions and abrasions (suggestive of handcuffs) on wrists”; a “small abrasion” on the top of the left hand; and “contusions of each nipple.”
No other indications of sexual contact are mentioned in Cohle’s six-page report. The body was reportedly found clad in a black sweater and T-shirt, bra and panties, white socks and black tennis shoes. She was wearing a pair of white, metal earrings and a cloth ankle bracelet with multi-colored beads.
The autopsy report details evidence that medical first responders who arrived at the scene attempted defibrillation to revive her, with no success.
Raymond E. McCann, 46, was married, living in Constantine and served as a reserve police officer before he became a “person of interest” in the Parrack homicide. He is currently awaiting trial in St. Joseph County Circuit Court on five charges of perjury in connection with testimony he gave during a prosecutor’s investigation regarding his actions on the day of the murder.
According to a transcript of the prosecutor’s investigation, McCann was questioned the night the girl’s body was found and at least four other times in 2011. The transcript indicates McCann has voluntarily taken three polygraph examinations; the first was inclusive and Prosecutor John McDonough characterized the remaining two as “deceptive.”
However, sources have indicated that DNA voluntarily submitted by McCann shows he is not a match to the forensic evidence “of a sexual nature” that officials say was recovered from the victim’s body.
Police have said they believe the person who matches the male, crime-scene DNA is likely the killer and hundreds of DNA samples — including some from Jodi’s young friends — have been tested with no matches thus far.
The autopsy is the first report that discloses sand was found between Jodi Parrack’s toes, despite the fact she was wearing socks and tennis shoes when her body was found.
In testimony, McCann said that on the night of Jodi’s disappearance he had searched a construction site and local baseball fields, but found no traces of the missing girl. He testified that he had gone to a local store to buy laser guns for his sons that afternoon. However, the sons dispute that alibi, accounting for one of the perjury charges against McCann.
A Journal investigation found 10 registered sex offenders lived or worked within a half-mile of where Jodi was last seen, including the father of the friend the victim had visited before Jodi’s disappearance. That man went to prison in 2011 after pleading guilty to second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a victim under age 13.
However, police say they have cleared each of those registered sex offenders because their DNA is not a match.
A status conference on McCann’s case is scheduled for Aug. 8 and if no settlement is reached, a St. Joseph County Circuit Court jury trial is set to begin Sept. 2.
Jodi Parrack investigation alters
MSP team vacates Constantine office
By Rick Cordes - Staff Writer
Three Rivers News
Published: Thursday, July 17, 2014 9:18 AM EDT
CONSTANTINE — Investigation into the November 2007 homicide of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack has entered yet another phase with the closing out of an active Michigan State Police Cold Case Team in Constantine.
MSP Trooper Investigator Bryan Fuller, the last of four MSP investigators originally assigned to work together on the case from a Constantine command post, has been assigned to duty at the agency’s Marshall office, signaling a new and less intense analysis in the case.
Fuller’s departure coincides with the arrest of Constantine resident Raymond Emmett McCann, 46, on charges of perjury under oath during the investigation into Parrack’s death
McCann to stand trial on perjury charges related to Jodi Parrack death
Updated: Thursday, July 10, 2014 |
WWMT News
(NEWSCHANNEL 3) - There is developing news Wednesday night in a West Michigan cold case spanning 7 years.
A judge decided around 5:00 p.m. that Ray McCann will stand trial on five counts of perjury in connection to the 2007 murder of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack.
Police say McCann has been a person of interest from the beginning.
McCann is not being charged with Parrack's murder, but rather with lying to investigators--something that's frustrated police for years.
McCann sat emotionless in court as the prosecution presented five specific lies they say he told under oath in 2012.
One involves where he was the night Jodi was murdered. A State Police detective read the interview transcript in court.
The prosecution accused McCann of lying about his contact with Jodi's mother the night of her murder, in addition to coming up with a new story years later.
State Police say McCann told them he saw a 'motionless' blonde child in Jo Gilson's car that night and asked her about it on the spot.
"An innocent person doesn't lie, so that's all the more reason that he's involved in something," Jodi's mom said Wednesday.
The defense, on the other hand, argues the five counts of perjury are "bogus" charges.
"The argument from the prosecutor is that McCann said this and the other person said that, who's to say what's the truth? It was an emotional time and there's nothing to suggest that one person's version is more correct than the client's version," said the defense attorney.
The defense believes the perjury charges are just an attempt to lock up McCann and get him to confess to something more.
There is no word yet on when the trial will begin.
Police say McCann has been a person of interest from the beginning.
McCann is not being charged with Parrack's murder, but rather with lying to investigators--something that's frustrated police for years.
McCann sat emotionless in court as the prosecution presented five specific lies they say he told under oath in 2012.
One involves where he was the night Jodi was murdered. A State Police detective read the interview transcript in court.
The prosecution accused McCann of lying about his contact with Jodi's mother the night of her murder, in addition to coming up with a new story years later.
State Police say McCann told them he saw a 'motionless' blonde child in Jo Gilson's car that night and asked her about it on the spot.
"An innocent person doesn't lie, so that's all the more reason that he's involved in something," Jodi's mom said Wednesday.
The defense, on the other hand, argues the five counts of perjury are "bogus" charges.
"The argument from the prosecutor is that McCann said this and the other person said that, who's to say what's the truth? It was an emotional time and there's nothing to suggest that one person's version is more correct than the client's version," said the defense attorney.
The defense believes the perjury charges are just an attempt to lock up McCann and get him to confess to something more.
There is no word yet on when the trial will begin.
Judge Robert Pattison's ruling for Raymond McCann to stand trial on five counts of perjury in Jodi Parrack investigation
PUBLISHED: July 10, 2014
MLive
http://videos.mlive.com/mlive/2014/07/judge_robert_pattisons_ruling.html
PUBLISHED: July 10, 2014
MLive
http://videos.mlive.com/mlive/2014/07/judge_robert_pattisons_ruling.html
Raymond McCann, 46, was ordered by St. Joseph County District Court Judge Robert Pattison to stand trial on five counts of perjury related to statements he made when testifying under oath about his actions in the death of Jodi Parrack of Constantine. Prior to the hearing, McCann faced only a single count of perjury, punishable by life in prison, for his statements made in September 2012, but prosecutor Erin Harrington surprised the courtroom and McCann's defense attorney James Mequio by seeking five separate counts of perjury for five individual lies McCann allegedly told during the investigation.
Court appearance for former officer accused of perjury in Parrack case
Updated: Wednesday, July 9, 2014
WWMT News
http://www.wwmt.com/shared/news/features/top-stories/stories/Court-appearance-for-former-officer-accused-of-perjury-in-Parrack-case-11076.shtml#.U-zLkuqYaM8
Updated: Wednesday, July 9, 2014
WWMT News
http://www.wwmt.com/shared/news/features/top-stories/stories/Court-appearance-for-former-officer-accused-of-perjury-in-Parrack-case-11076.shtml#.U-zLkuqYaM8
CENTREVILLE, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A court appearance is scheduled Wednesday for a former Constantine reserve officer.
Raymond McCann is charged with perjury in connection with the killing of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack.
Jodi's mother found her daughter's body in a cemetery in November of 2007.
A cold case team arrested McCann in April of this year.
Police say he has been a person of interest in the case since the beginning.
Wednesday in Centreville a judge will decide if there's enough evidence to send McCann to trial.
McCann to stand trial in perjury case
A former Constantine reserve police officer will face trial on five counts of perjury in connection with the 2007 homicide of Jodi Parrack.
By Kathy Jessup
Journal Correspondent
Posted Jul. 9, 2014 @ 10:16 pm
Centreville - A former Constantine reserve police officer will face trial on five counts of perjury in connection with the 2007 homicide of Jodi Parrack.
But investigators still have no forensic evidence directly linking Raymond E. McCann or anyone else to male DNA that was recovered from the girl’s body about three hours after she was first reported missing.
St. Joseph County District Judge Robert Pattison heard preliminary examination testimony from four prosecution witnesses Wednesday before ruling that there is probable cause that McCann allegedly lied and told investigators inconsistent stories about what happened the night Parrack’s body was found.
Defense attorney James Mequio challenged St. Joseph County Assistant Prosecutor Erin Harrington’s case, charging that the prosecution was using the perjury charge to jail McCann for months in an attempt to “coerce” him.
“This is not the St. Joseph County judicial system at work but the St. Joseph County Guantanamo Bay situation at work,” Mequio charged. “Do they want to waterboard (information) out of him?"
Harrington promised that at trial, the prosecution would produce more witnesses to show why McCann’s alleged lies under oath “are so important.”
Pattison also declined a defense motion to reduce McCann’s $225,000 bond and release him from the St. Joseph County jail, where he’s been lodged since his arrest in April. Perjury in a murder case carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, but Mequio said sentencing guidelines would likely call for a maximum of 30 to 50 months if his client is found guilty.
Rather than the single perjury count originally charged, Harrington came to court Wednesday with five counts, including the following allegations:
*McCann said he went to a Constantine grocery store to ask if anyone there had seen the missing child and a dog running loose. A clerk from the store testified Wednesday that he asked her whether the store had security cameras and asked to check on a dog complaint.
*McCann said he had met a Constantine patrolman at a local park and was told then not to have his service weapon with him as he searched for the missing girl. The officer testified that conversation occurred on the phone and the two never met at the park.
*McCann testified that the patrolman told him to meet him at a local recreation spot as part of the search. The officer denied having that conversation and video at that location showed McCann had not been there, although he told investigators he spent some time waiting there during the search.
*When investigators asked McCann how DNA from Parrack or her mother could have turned up in his vehicle, he said he had hugged Valerie Jo Carver —now Jo Gilson — at the crime scene shortly after she found her daughter’s body. Gilson testified Wednesday she was certain she had not had physical contact with McCann. Harrington acknowledged Wednesday that authorities had actually found no crime DNA in McCann’s vehicle but that he had offered the allegedly bogus explanation.
*In later interviews, McCann told authorities he had seen a child in the back of Gilson’s vehicle while searching for Jodi and had said to Gilson, “Oh good, you found her.” Gilson testified Wednesday that conversation never occurred.
Mequio characterized the case as “an absurd prosecution,” saying McCann has no criminal record and had cooperated with authorities, including 22 hours of interrogation that began the night of the murder.
“Mr. Mequio wants to minimize the lies, but they are significant,” Harrington responded.
Michigan State Police Detective Trooper Bryan Fuller, a member of the cold case investigation team, said officials are still awaiting results from a third batch of forensic case evidence; a fourth batch is awaiting submission. Fuller said about 70 leads still require attention.
Meanwhile, the team has been downsized and case files relocated from Constantine to an MSP facility.
A trial date was not set Wednesday.
Jodi Parrack's mother speaks after Raymond McCann ordered to stand trial for perjury in daughter's murder investigation
PUBLISHED: July 09, 2014
MLive
Jo Gilson, the mother of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack, who was found murdered in a Constantine cemetery on Nov. 8, 2007, spoke to members of the media after Raymond McCann was ordered to stand trial for five counts of perjury related to testimony he gave while under oath concerning Jodi's death.
Jodi Parrack's mother says Raymond McCann facing trial is 'step in the right direction'
By Alex Mitchell
MLive
July 09, 2014 at 6:47 PM
Updated July 10, 2014 at 10:54 AM
CENTREVILLE, MI — When Jo Gilson took the witness stand Wednesday during a preliminary hearing for Raymond McCann, the Constantine man accused of lying to investigators about the 2007 slaying of Gilson's daughter, 11-year-old Jodi Parrack, all eyes were on her.
All eyes except McCann's, who averted Gilson's gaze as she fixated upon him.
"He didn't even look back at me," Gilson told reporters after the hearing. "He just kept looking at his lawyer's papers."
McCann, 46, was ordered by St. Joseph County District Court Judge Robert Pattison to stand trial on five counts of perjury related to statements he made when testifying under oath about his actions on Nov. 8, 2007 when Jodi was found dead in a Constantine cemetery.
Prior to Wednesday, McCann faced only a single count of perjury, punishable by life in prison, for his statements made in September 2012, but prosecutor Erin Harrington surprised the courtroom and McCann's defense attorney James Mequio by seeking five separate counts of perjury for five individual lies McCann allegedly told during that interview.
Mequio requested the case be adjourned in order to give him time to prepare responses to each of the five counts, but Pattison said he felt the Harrington had met the burden of proof necessary to bind McCann over to trial.
While Gilson, whose given name is Valerie and last name was formerly Carver, said McCann facing trial for perjury is "A step in the right direction," the mother said she won't be satisfied until he faces trial for her daughter's death, which a death certificate filed in the St. Joseph County Clerk's Office lists as asphyxia due to strangulation.
"It's not about her murder yet, but hopefully this will lead to that," the grieving mother said.
Harrington called four witnesses, including Gilson, during the nearly 3.5 hours hearing to establish that McCann's statements concerning his actions the night of Jodi's death vary significantly from the accounts of others.
D&S Food Center clerk Helena Baldwin testified she was working that night when McCann, a former Constantine reserve police office, entered the store shortly after 8 p.m. wearing a police hat and windbreaker to ask her if there were cameras behind the store since he had received a report about a dog tied up out back.
Bryan Fuller, a detective trooper with Michigan State Police 5th District Cold Case Team, later testified that McCann said in his 2012 statement given to Fuller, St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough and others that McCann had mentioned to Baldwin that he was searching for a missing girl, but first asked if there were any dogs tied up out back as a way to break the ice.
Baldwin was adamant McCann did not mention Parrack until he returned about an hour later with Constantine police Lt. Marc Donker, who was on duty that night and was the first to be notified of Jodi's disappearance when Gilson reported her missing after Jodi didn't return home with a friend at 6:30 p.m.
Fuller said McCann also previously testified Donker had allowed him to join the search that evening after offering his assistance, but that when he later met the officer at Cannon Park to discuss Jodi's disappearance, Donker asked him to not carry his service weapon because he had been informed McCann was suffering from a medical condition, which Donker later learned to be Vertigo.
Donker agreed when testifying Wednesday that he asked McCann not to bring his service weapon, but he said the two never met at Cannon Park and that the conversation about McCann's gun instead took place over the phone.
The third lie Harrington pointed to was McCann's statement that Donker had asked him to meet him at Tumble Dam, a nearby area frequented by kids. McCann had said he went to the dam, but left after a few minutes when Donker didn't show. Donker denied setting that meeting and Fuller said surveillance footage from a business where McCann claims to have parked does not show he was there.
The fourth incident related to interactions McCann said he had that night with Gilson, claiming he led Gilson away from her daughter's body when she found Jodi in the cemetery and that he hugged her to console her. Gilson admitted that while she was distraught that night, she is certain McCann did not touch her.
Jodi or Gilson's DNA was not found on McCann, Fuller testified, but police had knowledge McCann had been expressing anxiety to others about their DNA possibly being on his clothing or vehicle and that he had made numerous inconsistent statements as to how that was possible. Fuller said this led investigators to ask during the 2012 interview how McCann felt Jodi or her mother's DNA could have been found on him.
The final perjury charge stemmed from a separate interaction McCann and Gilson had when he found her and some friends searching for Jodi in a nearby hole children play in. Fuller said McCann began telling investigators in 2010 that he believed he saw a blonde haired child lying motionless in the back seat of a vehicle owned by Gilson's friend, but was told by Gilson it was a neighbors child.
Gilson again denied McCann's claim, saying he only stopped briefly to ask if they had found anything before leaving again.
When asked at the time why he previously didn't disclose this information, Fuller said McCann told investigators he knew what it's like to be accused of something and didn't want to come forward until he was certain of what he had seen.
Mequio argued that each of these counts are the words of one person against another, but Pattison said it will be up to a jury to determine if they believe these statements constitute perjury. The defense attorney then claimed the prosecution was only seeking these perjury charges because it couldn't gather enough evidence to pursue a homicide charge against McCann.
"They've decided to issue this charge to basically incarcerate him," Mequio said. "I think what we really have is not the St. Joseph County judicial system at work, what we have is the St. Joseph County Guantanamo Bay situation at work."
But Gilson showed no sympathy for McCann, saying that his alleged lies have not strengthened his case that he wasn't involved in Jodi's death.
"I just know he's lying and innocent people don't lie about things like that," Gilson told reporters after the hearing. "Why are you lying if you're not involved? It just makes me believe all the more that he was involved."
5 perjury charges in Parrack homicide
By Steve Kelso and 24 Hour News 8 web staff
WOOD TV News
Published: July 9, 2014, 5:47 pm
Updated: July 9, 2014, 6:35 pm
CENTREVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) — The man police suspect killed 11-year-old Jodi Parrack more than six years ago has been ordered to stand trial — but not on murder charges.
Jodi Parrack was found strangled to death in the Constantine Township Cemetery in November 2007.
Raymond McCann, 46, was arrested in April in connection to her death.
Police believe McCann killed Jodi, but have not been able to gather the evidence to charge him with murder.
So they got an investigative subpoena and interviewed McCann. They said they found multiple inconsistencies in the information he gave them during a total of 22 hours of interviews over the past six years.
He originally faced only one count of perjury, but during a Wednesday hearing, the St. Joseph County prosecutor asked for five counts based on five separate lies McCann allegedly told.
McCann’s attorney called it an absurd prosecution, saying authorities are pursuing the charges only because they could not charge McCann with murder. He asked that the case be dismissed.
But after a nearly four-hour hearing, Judge Robert Pattinson decided there was enough evidence to send McCann to trial on all five charges.
“I’m glad that things went well for the prosecution’s side and that he is being charged with five counts of perjury instead of just one,” Jodi’s mother Jo Gilson said after the hearing.
Gilson was among those who testified against McCann Wednesday. She and police believe McCann killed Jodi.
“There has been nobody charged for the murder of Jodi Parrack. So if you’re lying about something relative to a homicide, I don’t know how you could not categorize somebody as a suspect,” Michigan State Police cold case Det. Bryan Fuller said. “What other reason would there be to lie?”
McCann’s attorney also asked that his client’s $225,000 bond be reduced, citing McCann’s lack of criminal history, but was denied. That means McCann remained held in the St. Joseph County Jail.
Future court dates have not yet been set.
McCann could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.
Perjury case bound over to circuit court
Judge Robert Pattison has bound the Raymond McCann II perjury case to circuit court, following a preliminary hearing today in St. Joseph County District Court.
By Kathy Jessup
Journal Correspondent
Posted Jul. 9, 2014 @ 5:18 pm
Centreville - Judge Robert Pattison has bound the Raymond McCann II perjury case to circuit court, following a preliminary hearing today in St. Joseph County District Court.
McCann, 46, of Three Rivers, is charged with lying in sworn testimony he gave under subpoena in 2012, during investigation of the 2007 death of Jodi Parrack of Constantine.
6 ½ years after girl's killing, Michigan town thirsts for justice
Case still cold 6 years after girl found strangled in cemetery
Francis X. Donnelly
The Detroit News
May 30, 2014 at 10:09 am
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140530/METRO06/305300038
Case still cold 6 years after girl found strangled in cemetery
Francis X. Donnelly
The Detroit News
May 30, 2014 at 10:09 am
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140530/METRO06/305300038
Constantine— For nearly seven years the strangulation death of an 11-year-old girl has hovered over this farm town in southwest Michigan.
Finally, last month, investigators announced a break in the case: the arrest of a former police reserve.
But Ray McCann wasn’t charged with the 2007 murder, only with lying about his search for Jodi Parrack, who was missing for several hours before her body was found in a cemetery near her home.
The charge deflated residents, who had hoped the community’s first murder in 30 years finally would be solved.
In a small town where everyone knows everyone, surely somebody knows something, said residents.
“With all the time they (police) spent on it, they never found anything out,” said Jean Barberis, a retired factory worker.
Police said they have found out plenty, just not enough to charge anyone with murder.
The missing piece has eluded Police Chief Jim Bedell, a former Michigan state trooper who came out of retirement to tackle the case in 2009.
It also eluded a three-man cold case team from the Michigan State Police, which moved into town in 2011.
Investigators have collected DNA from nearly 300 people, including McCann, but none matches genetic material found on Jodi.
The cold case team was recently disbanded, with a single member continuing to look into the slaying.
Bedell, who keeps photos of the victim on his office door, leaves the job today. At 70, it’s time for him to retire — again, he said.
“We just haven’t found the right person,” he said. “What can I say? It’s been difficult.”
Constantine, which calls itself the Seed Corn Capital of the World, has two corn processing plants, five churches and 2,100 residents. Its two-block shopping district has murals depicting the village’s origins in 1837.
The sleepy village grew sleepier last year with the opening of the U.S. 131 bypass. Cars and trucks that constantly flowed through town now go around it.
Closed gas stations attest to the loss of traffic.
Another infrequent visitor is crime, with just a few burglaries or assaults a week, according to the police blotter. Police spend most of their time tending to the lighter traffic.
“It’s friendly and quiet,” Village Manager Mark Honeysett said. “It’s easy to get to know someone by sight if not name.”
11-year-old girl goes missing
In 2007, this pastoral setting was visited by evil.
When Jodi didn’t come home for dinner one November night, her mom, Jo Gilson, went looking for her.
One of the places she stopped by was Ray McCann’s.
The links between Gilson and McCann show the many tentacles that connect small town residents: Gilson once dated McCann’s brother and is friends with his sister, Ann Dupree. Her daughter had a crush on McCann’s son, and was best friends with Dupree’s daughter.
“We were all good friends,” said Dupree, who remains close to Gilson.
Jodi was last seen at 4:45 p.m. leaving Dupree’s home, riding a silver mountain bike along a tree-lined street near the Eley Funeral Home.
McCann, who had become a police reserve three months earlier, told people several times to check the cemetery on the village outskirts. But he didn’t go there himself, witnesses said.
It was nighttime, six hours after Jodi disappeared, when a friend drove Gilson to the cemetery.
The headlights illuminated a bicycle leaning against a headstone. Gilson jumped out of the car before it stopped moving.
Jodi was her baby, the youngest of three, the only girl.
She loved to dress up but also wanted to play youth football. Her mom demurred. If there was a baby in the room, she wanted to hold it.
“She was a tomboy dressed up like a princess,” Gilson said.
She found her baby sprawled across a grave.
Police said she likely was killed elsewhere and brought to the cemetery. They wouldn’t say whether she had been sexually assaulted or discuss their theories about the case.
Jodi looked like she was sleeping peacefully, Gilson said. Her bedroom was several hundred yards away, within sight of her final resting spot.
Cold case squad called in
Two years after the death, Bedell was a warrant officer tracking down deadbeats when he spotted a poster about the case at the Constantine Police Department.
He had retired as a state police detective a decade earlier, but the unsolved case tugged at him.
“It’s an 11-year-old girl,” he said. “I hate to see the person get away with it.”
Bedell became police chief in 2009 but, after 19 months, he realized the burgeoning investigation was too big for his five-man department. So, he asked the Michigan State Police for help.
A three-man cold case squad set up shop in a two-story brick building, a former daycare center across the street from a playground.
Investigators have accumulated 600 pieces of evidence, 1,700 tips, 3,000 interviews, and 7,000 pages of notes in 10 feet of binders.
Among the 300 people who have given DNA are children as young as 11.
“If you were a male in this town, you were lucky if your DNA wasn’t sampled for this case,” said Pat Weiss, president of the Constantine Village Council. Even her grown son provided DNA.
Despite the mountain of material, investigators haven’t been able to connect anyone to the DNA found on Jodi. Besides hundreds of residents, they’ve compared it with state and federal DNA databases.
The probe has been stymied by the passage of time, which dulls people’s memories, said Det. Sgt. Shane Criger, a member of the State Police cold case team.
Also, the crime scene at the cemetery was trampled by residents and emergency workers before police could process it, he said.
“I don’t think anyone involved anticipated it would take this long. It’s nothing that nobody wanted,” Criger said.
Suspicions, but no charges
Police were immediately suspicious of McCann because of his insistence that people search the cemetery.
The factory worker, 46, was described by friends as a shy family man, an Elvis Presley fan who set up a karaoke room in his garage with photos of the King and Jesus.
Questioned about his whereabouts when Jodi was killed, he said he had gone to a local store with his two sons and later had a car-to-car conversation with a village police officer.
But his sons and the officer said those things never happened.
McCann was charged with perjury, which is punishable by up to life in prison. He is being held in the St. Joseph County Jail on $225,000 bond as he awaits his next hearing, which hasn’t been scheduled.
Police believe McCann knows more than he is saying about the crime.
But his attorney scoffed at the notion.
James Mequio, of Portage, said his client’s recollections were fuzzy because of the passage of time.
He said McCann doesn’t have a criminal record, cooperated with authorities from the get-go, and voluntarily gave his DNA.
“I don’t think a faulty memory rises to the level of perjury,” he said.
The numerous police interviews with residents made it clear the investigation was focused on McCann.
Rumors about his possible involvement spread through town long before his arrest. He began avoiding his mom and siblings when they questioned him about it, said Dupree.
“We did push each other away,” she said about the once tight-knit family. “The cops were turning us against each other.”
Gilson is convinced McCann knows something. She implored him to share it with police.
“Not knowing — that’s the hardest part,” she said. “How can you forgive something you don’t know was done?”
By Rex Hall Jr.
MLive
May 29, 2014 at 9:45 AM
Updated May 29, 2014 at 1:40 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/05/evidentiary_hearing_for_raymon.html
By Rex Hall Jr.
MLive
May 29, 2014 at 9:45 AM
Updated May 29, 2014 at 1:40 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/05/evidentiary_hearing_for_raymon.html
CENTREVILLE, MI – An evidentiary hearing for Raymond McCann, the Constantine man accused of lying to investigators probing the 2007 slaying of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack, has been adjourned.
McCann, 46, had been scheduled to appear Thursday morning in St. Joseph County District Court for a preliminary examination. A new date for the hearing had not been scheduled as of Thursday morning, a district court official said.
McCann was arrested last month and charged with perjury in connection with the ongoing investigation of Jodi's Nov. 8, 2007, slaying.
He is being held in the St. Joseph County Jail on a $225,000 cash/surety bond. If convicted of perjury, McCann could face up to life in prison.
Jodi, who was a fifth-grader at Riverside Elementary School in Constantine, was found slain in the Constantine Township Cemetery. A death certificate filed in the St. Joseph County Clerk's Office lists Jodi's cause of death as asphyxia due to strangulation.
Michigan State Police investigators who are part of a cold case team that has been assigned to the Parrack case since January 2011 have said McCann is a person of interest in the ongoing homicide investigation. Police have declined to say if there are any other persons of interest or suspects.
Following McCann's arrest last month investigators said he has been a person of interest in the Parrack case since 2007. Jodi had a crush on one of McCann's sons and before her disappearance she was last seen leaving a house on East Third Street in Constantine after visiting and playing with a niece of McCann with whom she was best friends.
Trooper Detective Bryan Fuller, a member of the MSP cold case team, obtained an arrest warrant for McCann on April 17. In a four-page affidavit Fuller submitted as support for the arrest warrant, Fuller detailed what he alleges were numerous lies McCann told police, as well as when he testified under a prosecutor's investigative subpoena in September 2012.
Sturgis Journal
Thursday, May 29, 2014
A preliminary hearing for Raymond E. McCann II, scheduled for today in St. Joseph County District Court, was postponed and is expected to be rescheduled next week, according to the prosecutor's office.
Officials said all sides agreed to the delay to allow the court to schedule a full day for the matter, rather than a partial day.
McCann, 46, of Three Rivers, is charged with lying in sworn testimony he gave under subpoena in2012, during investigation of the 2007 death of Jodi Parrack of Constantine.
McCann is not charged with the homicide, but investigators say he has been a "person of interest" since the night Parrack's body was found.
However, sources with knowledge of the case say a DNA sample voluntarily provided by McCann does not match DNA recovered from the girl's body that night.
No other arrests have been made in the case. Investigators have collected hundreds of DNA samples without finding a match to the crime scene evidence.
McCann, a former Constantine resident and part-time reserve police officer, was arraigned on the perjury charge April 19 and has been lodged in the St. Joseph County jail since that date, with a $225,000 bond.
Cold case investigators sought the felony perjury charge against Mc-Cann. In the arrest affidavit, police alleged McCann made "false statements about his actions prior to and during the search for Jodi Parrack 's body, as well as his actions following the discovery of Jodi Parrack's body, as well as statements about his potential involvement in her death."
McCann's defense attorney James Mequio, of Portage, has said his client has no prior criminal record and has voluntarily cooperated with the murder investigation. Mequiohas called the prosecution's perjury case "vague."
Lawyers to decide what's next in Parrack cold case
POSTED: 06:12 AM EDT May 27, 2014
UPDATED: 06:12 AM EDT May 27, 2014
WSBT TV News
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/lawyers-to-decide-whats-next-in-parrack-cold-case/26182232
CONSTANTINE, Mich. - Lawyers are expected to meet Tuesday to figure out how, and when, they'll move forward in an almost seven-year cold case.
Last month, the St. Joseph County, Michigan prosecutor charged former Constantine Reserve Officer Ray McCann with lying to investigators during questioning of Jodi Parrack's death.
Those investigators say they're hopeful he'll lead them to the 11-year-old's killer.
Constantine Police chief Jim Bedell led the village's Memorial Day parade yesterday and gave the keynote address at a service in the cemetery.
That's the same place where Parrack's mother found the girl strangled to death.
Bedell's last day as Constantine police chief is this Friday.
He says he's hopeful the village will keep him as a part-time officer so he can continue investigating the Parrack case.
"I took this job five years ago and there hasn't been a day go by that I haven't thought about this case," Bedell says. "I won't let them forget it. As long as I'm still walking around, I'll be here. They'll still know me at the Constantine P.D. whether they hire me or not."
Bedell says he investigated homicides as a state trooper, but none of those cases haunt him like this one has.
Constantine police chief vowing to stay on cold case
POSTED: 04:27 PM EDT May 26, 2014
UPDATED: 09:51 PM EDT May 26, 2014
WSBT TV News
Kelli Stopczynski
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/cop-who-came-out-of-retirement-for-parrack-case-about-to-retire-again/26175760
Cop who came out of retirement for Parrack case again retiring
Constantine police chief vowing to stay on cold case
POSTED: 04:27 PM EDT May 26, 2014
UPDATED: 09:51 PM EDT May 26, 2014
WSBT TV News
Kelli Stopczynski
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/cop-who-came-out-of-retirement-for-parrack-case-about-to-retire-again/26175760
CONSTANTINE, Mich. - Constantine police chief Jim Bedell saw his share of homicide investigations as a Michigan State Police detective. But it’s the case that happened 8 years after his 1999 retirement from MSP that’s haunted him more than any others.
“I took this job 5 years ago and there hasn't been a day go by that I haven't thought about this case,” Bedell said Monday. “A homicide is a terrible act. And when it’s committed on an 11-year-old girl it’s, to me, unbearable.”
Bedell led Constantine’s Memorial Day parade with his squad car lights flashing – winding through town, ending at the village cemetery, where Bedell gave this year’s keynote address at a Memorial Day service.
The cemetery is a haunting place for many people in that town, Bedell included. Someone dumped Jodi Parrack’s body in the cemetery in November 2007.
At the time, Bedell was working as a private investigator, serving as a warrants officer – tracking down deadbeats. Through that job, he got to know Constantine’s village manager and the part time officer working on the department at the time.
In 2009, that officer took a job somewhere else and the village manager asked Bedell if he’d step in as Chief and take over the Parrack case. Bedell agreed to come out of retirement and made it his mission to figure out who killed the little girl.
Around that time, officers on St. Joseph County, Michgan's task force dedicated to solving the case got called back to their day jobs, so Bedell contacted Michigan State Police.
“[I] asked them if they could possibly assign one trooper to help me and they assigned four. I was very happy,” he said.
Then, he went beyond the call of duty, organizing a fundraiser to put a headstone on Parrack's grave in a White Pigeon cemetery.
“I went to her grave site and it was a little homemade headstone that her friends made,” he said. “It was just sad. Sad that the family couldn't afford to purchase a headstone for her.”
All the while, he worked the case -- pouring over some 1,500 tips, interviewing and re-interviewing people who might know something about what happened or why.
Last month, police arrested former Constantine reserve officer Ray McCann. He’s charged with perjury in the case, not Parrack’s murder. But Bedell and the cold case team are hopeful McCann can lead them to the killer.
McCann’s DNA was not found on Parrack’s body, Bedell said.
Now, Bedell is days from retiring. His last day as Constantine chief is May 30 and he knows he’s running out of time to solve the case.
He’s already talked with the village manager about staying on the department part time in order to maintain his certifications and be able to help with the Parrack case if needed, meaning he won’t retire “all the way.”
Lawyers in the case are expected to meet Tuesday to see if they can move forward with a preliminary exam court date set for later this week.
Meanwhile, Bedell says not knowing who killed the little girl is frustrating and ‘hard to put into words.’
But he vows he’ll stay on it as long as he’s alive.
“Today’s Memorial Day,” he said. “Our parade comes right down past her house, kind of like a little hats off to her. Then we come to the cemetery where her body was found, just seems kind of appropriate.”
Speculation, but little certainty - Lack of defining evidence makes closure elusive in cold case
Sturgis Journal (MI)
Friday, May 23, 2014
Kathy Jessup
Two women were reporting for the third shift at Vaupell Midwest Molding on Florence Road when they were stunned by a woman's tormented screams, coming from the cemetery several hundred yards away.
A mother had just found her 11-year-old daughter dead, lying among the headstones.
If you count the hundreds of DNA samples that have eliminated suspects from the pool of Jodi Parrack 's possible murderers, investigators have advanced the case since the day of her death on Nov. 8, 2007.
More than six years later, male DNA found on the child's body that night remains a taunt as well as a solution to the question: Who killed Jodi Christine Parrack? One theory suggests a former Constantine reserve police officer knows who committed the crime, but did not do it himself. Another posits the young girl, who died of suffocation by strangulation, could have succumbed in an accidental erotic asphyxiation. A third scenario speculates she was caught up in child sex trafficking that brought an unknown man to the village, and things went horribly wrong.
With each theory, there is speculation, but no defining evidence - only male DNA that has not found a match in hundreds of tests. So a modicum of closure eludes those who grieve for Jodi.
So far, only one arrest has been made, a perjury charge against Raymond McCann II, a family friend and former reserve police officer. He is awaiting a preliminary examination on charges that he lied and gave inconsistent statements under oath when questioned about his involvement in the search the night Jodi went missing.
McCann's attorney, James Mequio of Portage, says his client has no prior criminal record and does not match the DNA evidence. Mequioargues it's likely McCann's recollections may have become cloudy with the passage of time and he questions whether prosecutors have sufficient probable cause to charge his client with perjury.
"My client has been nothing but cooperative with the investigation and he's maintained all along that he had nothing to do with her murder," Mequio says. "All we've been told is that he's a person of interest. The perjury complaint is very vague. If I was going to be cynical, I might think the prosecutor was putting something out there to have my client arrested and hope something will break lose." Police personnel records show McCann, 46, served a year and a half as an unpaid White Pigeon reserve police officer beginning in 1998, GED high school diploma-equivalent. His primary job was working at an Indiana manufactured home plant.
"As long as he was here, we didn't have any problems with him," recalls White Pigeon Chief Lynn Baker.
Bob Wolg a mood, 90, a former White Pigeon police commissioner and elected official, was listed as a personal reference on both McCann's applications for reserve positions.
"I can't say anything bad and I can't say anything good. The only reason I know of him was his being on the department and pretty positive," Wolg a mood said. "I thought of him as kind of a drifter." McCann later took personal leave from White Pigeon, citing his father's health and working two jobs. He applied to join the Constantine reserves in April 2007, and completed his reserve academy final exam on Aug. 10, 2007.
In an Oct. 26, 2007 "routine review," McCann's reserve sergeant said he had "shown great growth in all aspects of the duties while on the job. with (sic) claim that there have been no problems at all he is doing a fine job." Thirteen days later, Jodi Parrack was dead and McCann was placed on erotic asphyxiation, a practice of restricting oxygen intake to heighten sexual pleasure. At least one Constantine-area teenager has died during that practice in recent years.
Police have collected some DNA samples from Jodi's friends and classmates, but no sample of male DNA recovered from her body.
Vicki Vanas, a forensic interviewer and therapist at the Children's Advocacy Center in Kalamazoo, said sex trafficking is more common with young girls. They may be profiled by "groomers" who blackmail, threaten or manipulate them to participate in sex. Vanas is not suggesting that is what happened to Jodi Par-rack. But she warns parents that even small towns and affluent neighborhoods are not immune from sex trafficking.
"It's everywhere and people are often totally unaware," Vanas explained. "We have cases here where we suspect children may be involved, but the kids are not forthcoming. You see the Stockholm Syndrome where the child becomes attached to this person; a part of them loves that person." Federal statistics say the average age of the 100, 000 to 300, 000 U.S. children at risk for sexual exploitation is between 11 and 14. In three of four cases in which sex is solicited with underage girls, the transaction begins on the Internet.
Even if the Parrack case does not involved sexual exploitation, Vanas said it could provide a teachable moment.
"I hope that the community uses this as an be more hyper-vigilant. Just because this is a sweet little town doesn't mean that bad things can't happen. We want children to know that if something is happening to them it's them be safe." People who grieve for the young girl continue to wait for a break in the case. They say they're thankful for the commitment retiring Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell and the Michigan State Police cold case team have made toward solving the case.
Jo Gilson, Jodi's mother, is returning to St. Joseph County from her home in Hammond, Ind., in anticipation of McCann's preliminary exam, now scheduled for May 29. Jodi's friends avoid press contacts about their childhood friend. Katie Shepherd was a year ahead of Jodi in school and their mothers were friends.
"She was always happy and if there was a baby in the room, she wanted to hold it," Shepherd said. "She loved to ready for adventure. She made friends, not in a desperate way, but because she was just so kind to everyone.
"The bike she was riding that day wasn't hers. I don't think she had a bike. It's an odd coincidence she was riding it that day, it really is."
Checking sex offender connections - No registered offenders match evidence removed from scene of Parrack's homicide
Sturgis Journal (MI)
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Kathy Jessup; Journal correspondent
St. Joseph County court records show a convicted Constantine child sex offender has direct connections to Jodi Christine Parrack, an 11-year-old girl whose body was found in a Constantine cemetery in November 2007.
In addition, nine other registered sex offenders live or work within a half mile of where 11-year-old Parrack was last seen, including several convicted of committing acts against children under age 13. But Michigan State Police Detective 1st Lt. Chuck Christensen said none match the forensic evidence recovered from the scene of the unsolved 2007 homicide.
An amended version of Jodi Parrack 's death certificate now lists the homicide was the result of asphyxiation by strangulation.
Sources say male DNA was found on the girl's body, allegedly linked to some form of sexual contact, and court records say "the victim's body contained injuries to both of her wrists, consistent with the application of handcuffs."
John Thomas Dupree is serving 10 to 15 years in a Michigan prison for having "sexual contact" in 2010 with a Constantine girl who was under age 13. Dupree's guilty plea on that count came in the midst of allegations he also had committed criminal sexual conduct with three other Constantine children, ages 9 to 14. Valerie Carver, Jodi Parrack 's mother, told Constantine Police she had walked in on Dupree while he was inappropriately touching a young relative.
Court records say Carver's sister and Dupree's ex-wife told investigators he "admitted to both of them that he has a problem." But they said Dupree told him "it is not his fault, because they (the children) came onto him." Carver was listed as a prosecution witness. But she did not testify because Dupree accepted a deal, pleading guilty in August 2011, to one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim under age 13. Dupree has another connection to Jodi Parrack . He was the father of Jodi's best friend, the girl Jodi had visited the afternoon before her disappearance. Dupree also was married to a sister of Raymond McCann II, until the Duprees divorced in August 2007.
McCann currently is lodged in the St. Joseph County Jail, charged with lying under oath in testimony he gave to prosecutors in the Parrack investigation. It's alleged that McCann - then a friend of Valerie Carver - had suggested Carver search Constantine Township Cemetery when been charged with the girl's death thus far. A Michigan State Police cold case team is awaiting the results of a third batch of evidence already submitted to a state crime lab and a fourth batch is awaiting submission.
According to the Michigan State Police Sexual Offender Registry, 17 sex offenders currently live or work within one mile of where Parrack was last seen alive in 2007. Six were convicted after the death and 11 had convictions between 1991 and 2006. In some cases, their offenses were committed outside of Michigan.
Minors under the age of 14 were victims in eight cases, including four who were under age 13. Criminal sexual conduct occurs in St. Joseph County at a pace well above the state average. According to state statistics, St. Joseph County has 51 sex offenders per 10,000 population, compared to a statewide average of 38 per 10,000. And St. Joseph County is higher than surrounding counties. In Kalamazoo, the proportion of sex offenders to 10,000 in population is 31; Branch, 40; Cass, 30; Berrien, 34; Van Buren, 31; and Calhoun, 43.
John Thomas Dupree
Theories, but no clear motive - Chief makes case for more investigators
Sturgis Journal (MI)
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Kathy Jessup
It has been six years of following tips, collecting evidence and tracking leads, including three years of intensive work by some top Michigan State Police investigators.
Hundreds of cheeks were swabbed to collect genetic footprints.
Even 11-and 12-year-olds, have been included in the search to find a match to crime scene DNA. A Michigan State Police cold case task force has 10 lineal feet of binders containing investigation documents. They're stored in the team's temporary headquarters in a historic home located next to the Constantine village office. Tip sheets, forensic reports, interview notes-everything generated in the investigation is carefully catalogued and cross-referenced to manage the massive amounts of information.
But one tip, the one DNA match, the one confession continues to elude officers searching for the answer to who killed fifth-grader Jodi Christine Parrack on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007.
Investigators reportedly have theories, but not enough conclusive evidence to charge a murderer or establish a clear motive.
Male DNA was found on Jodi Parrack 's body and sources with knowledge of the case claim its location and possible "sexual nature" will be persuasive to a jury if a forensic match is made.
The problem? After hundreds of DNA cheek swabs and checks of a national DNA register of convicted felons, investigators still have no match.
Sophisticated testing also has allowed them to eliminate blood relatives of people who do not match, several sources say. Raymond Emmett McCann II, 46, a Constantine man who was a friend of the Parrack family, has been charged with perjury in connection with testimony he gave under oath to a county prosecutor's investigation. The affidavit for his arrest alleges a number of inconsistencies in the testimony McCann has provided over the past six years. It was McCann, officials say, who suggested Jodi's mother, Valerie Jo Carver, search the cemetery when her daughter failed to return from a friend's nearby house by her 5:30 p.m. curfew.
If found guilty of the perjury charge, McCann - a former reserve police officer for departments in Constantine and White Pigeon - could face life imprisonment.
McCann reportedly voluntarily provided his DNA sample. But sources indicate his does not match the DNA evidence police recovered from Jodi's body the night she was found in a cemetery, just several hundred yards south of her Centreville Road home.
Authorities recently said McCann was a "person of interest" early in their investigation. Apparently, an anonymous Internet sleuth had the same idea, posting this about an alleged suspect on a crime website just 18 days after Jodi was found: "He is a lifelong Constantine resident who is also a reserve police officer (sic).
Jodi was at his sister's home the day she went missing The prime suspect is said to have been among those who were searching for Jodi" The investigation has likely been hampered by what some cops privately describe as "shoddy" crime-scene preservation in the hours after the body was found.
According to several law enforcement officers with knowledge of the early investigation, the cemetery scene was "trampled over" by responders and civilians who converged once word of the discovery went out. Sources who spoke on condition of anonymity complained that the county's Major Crimes Task Force failed to quickly secure the scene, effectively preserve evidence and that the early investigation lacked coordination.
A house-to-house neighborhood canvas conducted within hours of the body's discovery also proved to be inadequate, sources claimed.
Early involvement by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents from Kalamazoo prompted local speculation about why a federal agency would be involved in a local murder case, generating rumors that Jodi's death was linked to a federal crime or that it involved crossing state lines.
However, sources now say Kalamazoo FBI personnel assisted as a "courtesy."
Constantine Police Chief James Bedell is responsible for bringing a Michigan State Police cold case team into the investigation. Solving the homicide was a goal for Bedell when the retired, 25-year MSP detective sergeant became village chief in June 2009.
Bedell soon realized the mountain of evidence and tips was too much for a single investigator and asked MSP Detective 1st Lt. Chuck Christensen to consider setting up a cold case team to work it. According to Christensen, the Parrack case was not even ranked on the MSP's "solvability worksheet", a usual prerequisite for cold case consideration. But Bedell's pitch was solid and in January 2011, one detective sergeant and three trooper investigators were assigned full time to the single case.
Christensen knows what it's like to be on a cold case team.
"Every day, that's all you think about," he explained. "I drove my wife nuts. She knew every time I would stare off into space at the dinner table I was thinking about the case. You pour everything into it. You can go a couple of years and then you almost need a break." Constantine's cold case team is smaller now, but Christensen said MSP remains committed to continue the probe. Evidence is still being generated to submit to the state crime lab. "We're going to stay with this thing as long as it takes. There've been a lot of things happen in this investigation. The thing that's critical is you always have to follow the evidence and take all your emotion out of it."
New information in Jodi Parrack murder
POSTED: 07:02 PM EDT May 20, 2014
UPDATED: 07:05 PM EDT May 20, 2014
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/cold-case-update-new-information-in-jodi-parrack-murder/26084068
CONSTANTINE, Mich. - Some new information has been released in a 6 1/2 year old cold case murder out of St. Joseph County, Mich.
In November 2007, 11-year-old Jodi Parrack was found dead in a cemetery across from her family's Constantine home.
Her mother found her daughter's body.
According to our partnering CBS affiliate WWMT-TV, St. Joseph County Medical Examiner Dr. John Robertson Tuesday confirmed that Jodi died of asphyxiation from strangulation.
A cold case team has been working the past three years to find the killer.
Last month, police arrested former reserve officer 46-year-old Ray McCann. He's accused of lying about the 7-year-old cold case.
But no one is accused of murder in the case.
Investigators say they will continue to work as long as it takes.
For the last 3 1/2 years, Detective Trooper Brian Fuller has poured over every detail of Jodi Parrack's murder, following up on more than 1,500 tips.
"With every tip that we close, it's one step closer we are to finding that person," said Fuller.
Cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation
By Kathy Jessup
Journal Correspondent
Posted May. 20, 2014 @ 7:00 am
http://www.sturgisjournal.com/article/20140520/NEWS/140518898/0/SEARCH
Editor's note: This is the first in a series on the investigation of the 2007 death of Jodi Parrack of Constantine. Part 2: No killer, no motive. Wednesday.
In the six years since 11-year-old Jodi Christine Parrack was found dead in a Constantine cemetery, investigators have said only that her death was a homicide. Now, the Sturgis Journal has learned the girl died of asphyxiation resulting from strangulation.
Top Michigan State Police investigators say evidence continues to suggest it was not accidental.
“I don’t want to say we’ve totally ruled out that her death was accidental, but I don’t believe it was,” said Det. 1st Lt. Chuck Christensen who supervises Michigan State Police investigators assigned to the cold case team.
DNA collection
Law enforcement remains mum on much of the critical evidence they have uncovered. However, sources say male DNA was collected from the young girl’s body, possibly signaling some form of sexual contact. Christensen declined to confirm that, however.
That DNA, they say, will solve the case when forensic science matches it with a single person. But despite collecting samples from literally hundreds of people — including children as young as 11 and 12 — and checking the crime-scene DNA against a national database of samples from felons, police have not found that key match.
That includes Raymond McCann II, 46, of Constantine, who is jailed, charged with lying in statements he made under oath during a September 2012, prosecutor’s investigative subpoena questioning.
“Ray McCann is not linked by forensic evidence,” said Christensen. “He’s been arrested on a perjury charge."
Could McCann be “covering” for someone who does match the crime-scene DNA? The same forensic analysis that concluded McCann is not a match also eliminates his blood family members.
“If he’s covering for somebody, it’s not an immediate blood relative,” said a source familiar with DNA analysis who requested anonymity.
Police confirm that McCann has been a prime “person of interest” in the case since the earliest days of their investigation, based on what they characterize as his inconsistent statements, plus allegations that it was McCann who urged Jodi’s mother to search a cemetery for her missing daughter when the girl failed to return home Nov. 8, 2007.
Witnesses told police Jodi left a friend’s home on a bike around 4:45 p.m. But she never returned to her home, located less than four-tenths of a mile away.
Forensic evidence
Meanwhile, forensic testing is continuing. According to Christensen, Michigan State Police cold case investigators are awaiting the results from a third batch of evidence that was sent to the MSP forensic lab about four months ago.
Christensen said a fourth evidence batch is waiting to be sent. He declined to characterize the nature of the evidence.
Several sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said McCann may have unwittingly pointed a finger at himself when investigators asked him “how it would be possible” for Jodi Parrack’s DNA to have ended up on him and in his pick-up truck. He told officials, under oath, that it resulted from physical contact he had with the girl’s mother when the body was discovered.
But DNA was never actually found on McCann or his truck.
“This investigation had determined that neither of these incidents occurred,” Michigan State Police Detective Trooper Bryan Fuller said in an April 17 affidavit seeking felony perjury charges against McCann.
“McCann’s explanation regarding these questions has been determined to be fictitious and would potentially indicate that he fully expected DNA evidence would be found linking him to this crime and he began to explain its possibility with accounts of events that continually changed,”
McCann’s testimony from the prosecutor’s inquiry is sealed and St. Joseph County District Court Judge Jeff Middleton signed an order sealing information on approximately 20 search warrants served thus far in the case.
New information
However, one available public document provides some pivotal, new information in the case. Jodi Parrack’s death certificate originally listed her death as a homicide with the specific cause of death designated as “pending.”
St. Joseph County records show the death certificate was “amended” on July 16, 2009, 20 months after the incident. The manner of death remained “homicide,” but the cause is now listed as “asphyxia due to strangulation.” St. Joseph County Medical Examiner John Robertson continued listing the child’s time of death and place of injury as “unknown.”
Other details have remained conflicted and the high number of registered sex offenders living within a half-mile of where Jodi Parrack was last seen raises other questions.
Shortly after the crime, then-Constantine Police Chief Mark Honeysett, told one media outlet, “There was nothing to indicate she was beaten or struck in any way. There was just no clear sign of trauma.”
Valerie Jo Carver (now Jo Gilson) told reporters in 2007 that her daughter “looked peaceful..like she was sleeping” when she discovered her body in the cemetery. But Carver said then she believed Jodi “would have fought” someone trying to harm or abduct her, fueling speculation that the killer was likely someone the young girl knew.
In his April 17 charging affidavit, Fuller said the body “contained injuries to both of her wrists, consistent with the application of handcuffs.” But the affidavit contained no mention of marks to the neck or face consistent with strangulation.
Christensen said the girl’s time of death remains sometime within the six hours between leaving her friend’s home and the discovery of her body. He’s tight-lipped about the case’s DNA evidence, but believes the person responsible for Jodi’s death is local and says it’s unlikely she was killed at the cemetery.
“My opinion on whether this was premeditated would only be conjecture,” Christensen said. “We believe a vehicle was involved. But to elaborate further on what vehicle or who, I can’t say.”
Kalamazoo Gazette:
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Author: Rex Hall Jr.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/05/jodi_parracks_killer_strangled.html
Kalamazoo Gazette:
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Author: Rex Hall Jr.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/05/jodi_parracks_killer_strangled.html
CONSTANTINE, MI – Jodi Parrack 's killer strangled the 11-year-old before her body was found in the Constantine Township Cemetery more than six years ago, according to a death certificate.
The certificate, filed in the St. Joseph County Clerk's Office, lists Jodi's cause of death as asphyxia due to strangulation.
Jodi's cause of death had been listed as "pending" on the certificate following her Nov. 8, 2007, slaying. Michigan State Police investigators have previously declined to disclose Jodi's cause of death. However, the certificate shows the cause of death was amended on July 16, 2009.
The information is the latest twist in a cold case homicide that gained momentum last month when police arrested Raymond E. McCann, 46, and charged him with perjury in connection with the ongoing investigation of Jodi's slaying.
McCann, who is being held in the St Joseph County Jail on a $225,000 cash/surety bond, is scheduled to appear May 29 in St. Joseph County District Court for a hearing on evidence against him. If convicted of perjury, McCann could face up to life in prison.
MSP Detective 1st Lt. Chuck Christensen has said McCann is a person of interest in the ongoing homicide investigation. On Tuesday, Christensen declined to say if there are any other persons of interests or suspects in the case.
State Police investigators have said McCann, a former reserve officer with the Constantine Police Department, has been a person of interest in the Parrack case since the investigation began in 2007. However, that detail was not made public until last month following McCann's arrest.
Police have said Jodi had a crush on one of McCann's sons and before her disappearance in 2007, she was last seen leaving a house on East Third Street in Constantine after visiting and playing with a niece of McCann with whom she was best friends.
Bryan Fuller, a state police trooper detective who has been a part of a cold case team probing Jodi's slaying since January 2011, obtained an arrest warrant for McCann on April 17. As support for his request, Fuller laid out in a four-page affidavit what he alleges were numerous lies McCann told police, as well as when he testified under a prosecutor's investigative subpoena in September 2012.
Christensen said Tuesday that the team of state police investigators, which at one time had four members but now only includes Fuller and Sgt. Shane Criger, will soon leave the small village. Their investigation will continue and Christensen said the Parrack case will still be a priority with Criger being a point person for any new tips.
"They're coming to a point where they've almost physically touched every tip in that investigation," said Christensen, who estimated the total tips in the case at about 1,700.
"We're still going to be heavily engaged with that investigation and it's going to be one of our No. 1 investigative priorities," Christensen added.
Additionally, Christensen said police are awaiting the results of forensic testing on a third batch of samples that has been sent to the state police crime lab in Grand Rapids. Depending on the results of that testing, Christensen said investigators may send a fourth batch to the lab.
The previous two batches sent to the lab "did not yield results that would merit further follow-up," Christensen said.
Christensen has declined to say specifically what type of forensic testing is being done in the Parrack case or what the samples are that are being analyzed, citing the ongoing investigation.
New developments in Jodi Parrack murder mystery
POSTED: 07:20 PM EDT May 06, 2014
UPDATED: 09:32 AM EDT May 07, 2014
WSBT TV - News
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/cold-case-update-new-developments-in-jodi-parrack-murder-mystery/25843404
COLD CASE UPDATE:
New developments in Jodi Parrack murder mystery
POSTED: 07:20 PM EDT May 06, 2014
UPDATED: 09:32 AM EDT May 07, 2014
WSBT TV - News
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/cold-case-update-new-developments-in-jodi-parrack-murder-mystery/25843404
CONSTANTINE, Mich. - A team of investigators recruited to help crack a southwest Michigan cold case is speaking publicly about new developments in the murder of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack.
In 2007, Parrack's mother found her body in a cemetery across from their Constantine home.
A cold case team has been working the past three years to find the killer.
Last month, police arrested 46-year-old Ray McCann. He's accused of lying about the 7-year-old cold case.
But no one is accused of murder in the case.
Investigators say they will continue to work as long as it takes.
For the last 3 1/2 years, Detective Trooper Brian Fuller has poured over every detail of Jodi Parrack's murder, following up on more than 1,500 tips.
"With every tip that we close, it's one step closer we are to finding that person," said Fuller.
Sgt. Shane Criger says the cold case team started from the very beginning, determined not to overlook any small detail or piece of evidence.
"Everything you see here, which is over 7,000 pages, we've scanned into documents and made them searchable," Criger added.
Michigan State Police was called in by the Constantine police chief, taking the job in 2009, based on the unsolved case.
"You don't want to lose this in court over some minor mistake you made, so when we're ready to go to court, we want to know we're going to convict the person," said Chief Jim Bedell.
All are putting in the time, finding renewed hope in the perjury arrest of former reserve officer Ray McCann, more determined than ever to charge little Jodi's killer with murder.
Dozens of people throughout the community have been interviewed time and time again, watching as the cold case takes shape, confident their persistence will pay off, however long it takes.
WSBT -TV
May 06, 2014 - 5:30 p.m.
People Magazine cover to feature Jodi Parrack homicide case
Rex Hall Jr.
MLive
May 05, 2014 at 2:04 PM
Updated May 05, 2014 at 7:04 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/05/jodi_parrack_case_featured_on.html
Rex Hall Jr.
MLive
May 05, 2014 at 2:04 PM
Updated May 05, 2014 at 7:04 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/05/jodi_parrack_case_featured_on.html
CONSTANTINE, MI – The Jodi Parrack case and an arrest last month in connection with the 11-year-old’s slaying is featured on the cover of the latest edition of People magazine.
A photo of Jodi, along with the headline, “Cold Case Shocker, Killed by a Family Friend?,” is located near the bottom, left corner of the May 14 issue of People.
An investigation by police went cold following Jodi’s Nov. 8, 2007, slaying.
Then, on April 21, came the arrest of Raymond McCann, a former reserve police officer for the Constantine Police Department. The 46-year-old has been charged with perjury in connection with Jodi’s slaying.
He’s accused of telling numerous lies to investigators from a Michigan State Police cold case team, as well as under oath when he testified under a prosecutor’s investigative subpoena in September 2012.
Jodi, a fifth grader at Riverside Elementary in Constantine, was found slain in the Constantin Township Cemetery. The girl’s mother, Jo Gilson, found her daughter there on the night of Nov. 8.
Police have said a search party looked for Jodi in the cemetery that night at the urging of McCann.
McCann faces up to life in prison, if convicted. He’s being held in the St. Joseph County Jail on a $225,000 cash/surety bond pending a hearing May 29 on evidence against him.
At this point, no one has been charged with Jodi’s killing. Police have said McCann remains a person of interest in th homicide and the investigation is continuing.
By Howard Breuer
05/04/2014 at 01:00 PM EDT
People Magazine
http://www.people.com/article/jodi-parrack-murder-lawman-leaves-retirement-search-killer
A retired state trooper working as a warrant officer, Jim Bedell would visit the police department in the village of Constantine, Michigan, to track down deadbeats, and he'd be drawn to posters seeking information about the 2007 murder of a girl named Jodi Parrack.
"I had worked homicides before and I was bothered by the idea that it was an 11-year-old girl and the person who did this was still out there," Bedell, 70, tells PEOPLE. "This guy needed to be located."
A year after the murder, at the request of the village manager, Bedell took the position of Constantine's police chief – making solving the murder a personal mission – and now Bedell believes he's finally one step closer to reaching his goal.
On April 18, Raymond McCann, a former Constantine reserve police officer and close friend of Parrack's family, was arrested on suspicion of perjury, as investigators released a lengthy felony complaint with a long list of what police are alleging as lies McCann told investigators about the case.
McCann has not been charged with the girl's murder – her body was found in the village's cemetery – though the investigation continues as Parrack's family amps up the pressure on McCann. "Tell the truth," the girl's mother, Jo Gilson, said at a recent press conference. "Get it over with."
As the first major development in seven years, police hope that he'll provide information that'll crack the case – and Bedell wants to be there when it happens.
The chief was so invested in the case that he organized a fundraiser to purchase a headstone for Parrack, who was buried in a family plot in the nearby town of White Pigeon.
The problem is that time is running out: Bedell's retirement is set for May 30 – though the date is not set in stone.
"I'm sure they will want me to stay, and I probably will if we're getting close," Bedell says. "I want to retire with a conviction. I want to know who killed her, as does everybody in this village and everybody in the state. It's an 11-year-old girl. We need to know [who killed her]. We need to get this person off the streets."
For more about the Jodi Parrack murder mystery pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now.
POSTED: 12:14 PM EDT May 04, 2014
UPDATED: 12:19 PM EDT May 04, 2014
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/local-cold-case-murder-makes-front-cover-of-people-magazine/25804138
Police arrested 46-year-old Raymond Emmett McCann for perjury stemming from the cold case investigation surrounding the death of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack.
Parrack went missing on November 8, 2007 after going to a friend's house after school. Police say she left around 4:30 p.m. on a small, silver mountain bike -- but she never made it home.
Jodi's mother found the girl's body hours later in Constantine Township Cemetery. The cemetery was just down the street from the family's home.
The Cold Case Team has classified McCann as a "person of interest" in the murder investigation.
By Howard Breuer
04/28/2014 at 12:00 PM EDT
People Magazine
http://www.people.com/article/jodi-parracks-mom-urges-raymond-mccann-to-tell-truth
When Jo Gilson went looking for her missing 11-year-old daughter back in 2007, one of the first homes she visited was that of Raymond McCann.
McCann, then a reserve police officer with the Constantine (Mich.) Police Department, was a close family friend. Gilson had dated his brother decades earlier. Their kids played together. And Gilson's daughter, Jodi Parrack, had a little crush on one of McCann's two sons.
Police say McCann not only joined in the search for Parrack but suggested they look in the local cemetery. And that was where they found her body near her bicycle.
More than six years later, police say this was not a coincidence.
Police arrested McCann, 46, on April 18 on a perjury charge, alleging he told a series of lies under oath during the investigation into the murder. On Tuesday, in a press conference attended by members of both families, Gilson urged McCann to come clean.
"Tell the truth. Get it over with," Gilson said, according to M Live. "I think I deserve to know the truth."
Michigan state detective Trooper Bryan Fuller says McCann was arrested now because prosecutors recently concluded there was enough evidence that he committed perjury during the course of a murder investigation, which could get him sent to prison for life; however, the homicide investigation is ongoing.
"I have no problem saying he's a suspect," Fuller tells PEOPLE. "There certainly is a possibility that there will be future charges" against McCann.
According to a police affidavit, McCann claimed that, as a reserve police officer, he only had access to one pair of handcuffs – Parrack's killer apparently used two. But police say that was a lie.
Detectives also found no truth to McCann's explanation as to how Parrack's DNA might have wound up in his pickup truck – or how his DNA was found on her.
The report also says, "When interviewing Angela McCann, (McCann's) wife at the time of the incident, she relayed that McCann was extremely concerned that DNA evidence would be found linking him to this crime and he began to explain its possibility with accounts … that continually changed."
McCann, whose first court appearance is scheduled for May 1, is being held on $225,000 bail.
Gilson told reporters she has mixed feelings about the recent break in the case.
"It's kind of bittersweet because everybody that loves Jodi is glad that the case is moving forward," Gilson said. "But most of the McCann family is like family to us, so both families are suffering for both people involved."
She also has said she doesn't know if McCann is lying to protect himself or someone else.
Several relatives of McCann's stood by Gilson at the press conference, including Julie McCann, who echoed Gilson's sentiments and shared that, since the murder, her brother-in-law has distanced himself from other family members.
"I never thought he could be responsible for where he is today," Julie McCann said. "(Jodi) deserves justice, she deserved it years ago, and I don’t care who it was, they need to be put away."
McCann's attorney did not return calls seeking comment.
Jodi Parrack 's mother, sister-in-law of perjury suspect each address media
Sturgis Journal (MI)
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Corky Emrick
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=14D607E386F013C8&p_docnum=2&p_queryname=1
After nearly eight years, Jo Gilson may be nearing closure in the homicide of her daughter Jodi Parrack .
Friday afternoon, Raymond Emmet McCann II, 46, was arrested as he drove on the U.S. 131 bypass near Constantine.
A warrant for his arrest on a perjury charge was issued Thursday in connection with Parrack's murder in November 2007.
Early Tuesday, surrounded by friends, Gilson spoke to members of the media for nearly an hour. One friend, Julie McCann, stood with Gilson. She is the sister-in-law of the perjury suspect.
"Both families have suffered," Gilson said. "He has torn apart two families."
Gilson said she started to believe something was wrong with McCann's story about three years ago.
"I started to notice discrepancies in things he had said," Gilson said.
She recalled thinking about McCann's behavior and how she questioned it.
"He kept telling us to look in the cemetery, over and over. What 11-year-old goes into a cemetery?" Gilson said. "Then, at the funeral, he was an emotional wreck. He needed help walking, kept saying he was sorry."
Gilson said she had spoken to McCann only once in the past three years.
"I know that this is just the beginning," she said. "I'm glad he's in jail, not living his life. I believe he is involved."
Gilson said she lies awake every night thinking about Jodi.
"I think about it all the time," she said, adding that she is able to cope because of her granddaughter.
"I try to focus on the good things," Gilson said.
Jodi's mother described her daughter as a "tomboy dressed like a princess."
"She was happy, liked to cook, loved animals and she liked to fish," Gilson said.
Gilson was asked about the emotions of possibly going through a trial.
"I hope he (Raymond) tells the truth so it doesn't have to go to trial," she said.
McCann's sister-in-law Julie McCann also spoke to media members Tuesday. She has been married to Raymond's brother for 20 years.
"When I saw (Raymond McCann II's) mugs shot and looked into his eyes, it sent chills down my spine," Julie said.
She also said she believes Raymond is somehow involved.
"Jodi deserves justice," Julie said. "Whoever did this needs to be put away."
Gilson, who now makes her home in Hammond, Ind., hoped meeting with the media would now allow the family some privacy.
Jodi Parrack's mom, friend react to arrest in case
April 22, 2014 - 6:00pm
WOOD TV 8
Jodi Parrack's mother gives press conference on arrest of Raymond McCann
MLive - Kalamazoo Gazette
April 22, 2014 at 1:24 PM
Updated April 22, 2014 at 3:24 PM
http://videos.mlive.com/mlive/2014/04/jodi_parrack_give_press_confer.html
Jo Gilson (Valerie Carver), Jodi Parrack's mother, speaks to reporters at Constantine Village Hall about the arrest of Raymond McCann in connection with her daughter's murder case.
Jo Gibson: "It's bittersweet because everybody that loves Jodi is glad that the case is moving forward. But most of the McCann family is like family to us, so it's both families that are suffering for both people involved.
Reporter: "Were you surprised at the news? Was it a surprise to you?"
Jo Gibson: "Not really. I mean in the initial beginning when I first heard that he was lying about things it was kind of surprising because you don't think that someone you know since you were sixteen years old would do something like that or be involved in anything like that."
Reporter: "How do you know - Jo, if you don't mind - just explaining the relationship a little bit."
Jo Gibson: " His sister is one of my best friends. Jodi's best friend was his sister's daughter. I dated his brother, when I was sixteen, that's how I met them. And you know, like I said, most of the McCann family is just like part of our family. So, I sorta hope that he tells the truth and it doesn't get there. But, if he doesn't, I'll be the first one sitting there."
Rex Hall
MLive - Kalamazoo Gazette
April 22, 2014 at 1:24 PM
Updated April 22, 2014 at 3:24 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/04/jodi_parracks_mother_hopeful_f.html
Rex Hall
MLive - Kalamazoo Gazette
April 22, 2014 at 1:24 PM
Updated April 22, 2014 at 3:24 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/04/jodi_parracks_mother_hopeful_f.html
CONSTANTINE, MI – Jo Gilson had a simple message Tuesday for the man prosecutors have charged with lying about key facts in the investigation of her 11-year-old daughter’s slaying.
"Tell the truth," she said of Raymond McCann as she was backed by friends and family at a press conference at the Constantine Police Department.
“Get it over with.”
McCann, a former reserve police officer in Constantine who Gilson has known since she was 16, sits now in the St. Joseph County Jail charged with perjury in connection with the ongoing investigation of the Nov. 8, 2007, slaying of Jodi Parrack.
“He’s destroyed so many people’s lives just from Jodi … and everyone who loves him too," Gilson said.
Gilson, who was previously known by her first name, Valerie, and former last name, Carver, now lives in Hammond, Ind.
She said Tuesday that she has been suspicious of McCann for at least the past three years after learning of inconsistencies in statements that he made to police following Jodi’s death.
She’s best friends with his sister, as well as his sister-in-law, Julie McCann, who was among the group who showed up to support Gilson at Tuesday’s press conference.
Police have said Jodi had a crush on one of McCann’s sons, and Gilson said her daughter was best friends with Ray McCann’s niece. Before her disappearance on Nov. 8, 2007, Jodi was last seen leaving a house on East Third Street in Constantine after visiting and playing with the niece, investigators have said.
“Just because he did something wrong doesn’t mean the whole family is wrong too,” Gilson said. “His family wants justice for Jodi too and we don’t care who did it, we still want justice.”
Julie McCann, who has been married to Raymond McCann’s brother for 20 years, was emphatic Tuesday that her support lies with Gilson as the police investigation continues and Raymond McCann’s perjury case begins working its way through the courts.
“I’m just happy that they did finally arrest him,” McCann said of her brother-in-law. “I would rather have had the murder solved but like Jo said, it’s just the beginning.”
Julie McCann stood behind Gilson Tuesday as she spoke along with Gilson’s niece, Alea Holliday, Gilson’s sister, Kristy Pearson, and another of Gilson’s best friends, Robin Bowen.
Also in attendance at the press conference were Julie McCann’s daughter, Miranda, 18, and her niece, Mariah Wissler, also 18. Both girls were best friends with Jodi.
McCann said that since Jodi’s death, Raymond McCann has distanced himself from the McCann family.
“I never thought he could be responsible for where he is today,” Julie McCann said. “… (Jodi) deserves justice, she deserved it years ago and I don’t care who it was, they need to be put away.”
Gilson and others have waited for nearly seven years for a break in the investigation of Jodi’s slaying. Police have said at this point that Raymond McCann remains a person of interest in the homicide and the investigation is continuing.
Asked Tuesday if she thinks McCann killed her daughter, Gilson said, “I don’t know what to think other than he’s a liar.”
While no one has been charged with Jodi’s killing, Gilson said she is hopeful that McCann’s arrest and the perjury charge may finally bring forth the answers to questions she has wrestled with since the night she found Jodi dead in the Constantine Township Cemetery.
“This is not the end at all,” she said. “This is just the beginning.”
“Just not knowing, that’s the hardest part,” she said. “I think if I knew the truth then I could heal faster. It’s like, how can you forgive something that you don’t know what was done?
“… I just want to know what happened … Why are you lying? I think I deserve to know the truth.”
When she was asked Tuesday about how she has gotten through the last six years after losing her daughter, Gilson talked about her new granddaughter, her dog and how she has leaned on God.
“I have to have some reason to believe and that’s God,” Gilson said.
Bryan Fuller, a Michigan State Police trooper detective who has been part of a cold-case team probing Jodi’s slaying since January 2011, laid out in a four-page affidavit on Thursday, April 17, what he alleges were numerous lies Raymond McCann, 46, told police, as well as when he testified under a prosecutor’s investigative subpoena in September 2012.
The perjury charge McCann faces is punishable by up to life in prison. He’s being held in the St. Joseph County Jail on a $225,000 cash/surety bond pending a May 1 hearing on evidence against him.
Fuller was in attendance at Tuesday’s press conference. At one point, he became visibly choked up after Gilson and McCann thanked police for their work on the case.
“This has weighed heavily on everyone’s hearts, including ours,” Fuller said later.
Jodi Parrack's mother speaks about arrest
April 22, 2014 - 12:00pm
WSBT -TV News
Jodi Parrack's mom talks about arrest
April 22, 2014 - 12:00 pm
WOOD TV 8
Jodi Parrack Case
Kalamazoo Gazette (MI)
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
By Rex Hall Jr.
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&f_lastaction=doc&p_docid=14D5F0A1EE424CE8&p_docnum=4&p_queryname=1
It was Raymond McCann's repeated suggestions that led a search party scouring Constantine for Jodi Parrack to check for her in the local cemetery.
The suggestion by the former Constantine Police reserve officer led to Valerie Carver finding her 11-year-old daughter there dead, and to McCann immediately becoming a person of interest in the Nov. 8, 2007, homicide, according to court documents and a Michigan State Police trooper investigating the homicide.
"He was in an interview chair at 2:14 a.m. on Nov. 9, and I assure you that was not a routine, fact-finding interview," Michigan State Police Detective Trooper Bryan Fuller said Monday.
McCann, 46, was charged Saturday with felony perjury in connection with Jodi's slaying. The offense, which is punishable by up to life in prison, stems from alleged false statements McCann made in September 2012 while testifying under a prosecutor's investigative subpoena in the Parrack case.
A felony complaint authorized Thursday by St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough alleges that McCann made "false statements about his actions prior to and during the search for Jodi Parrack 's body as well as his actions following the discovery of Jodi Parrack 's body as well as statements about his potential involvement in her death."
McCann, who is scheduled to be in St. Joseph County District Court on May 1 for a hearing on evidence against him, is being held in the county jail on $225,000 cash/surety bond.
Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell said Monday that McCann was suspended as a reserve officer after Jodi's death because he was a person of interest in the case. McCann later resigned, Bedell said. The information about McCann's employment status with the department was released publicly for the first time Monday.
The Kalamazoo Gazette/MLive.com was unable to reach Christine Yancey, who was listed in court documents as McCann's attorney, for comment for this report. Attempts to speak with McCann's relatives also were unsuccessful Monday.
Fuller, who is part of state police cold-case team that began investigating Jodi's slaying in January 2011, said the investigation continues and, at this point, McCann is only a person of interest in the homicide. He declined to comment Monday about whether there are other persons of interest in the case.
"It's not the end-all," Fuller said of McCann's arrest. "The case is still open … This isn't the closure that is needed, that is required, but it's a step in the right direction and I hope that as this continues to unfold that we'll get closer to the ultimate goal."
In a four-page affidavit filed Thursday in St. Joseph County District Court to obtain an arrest warrant for McCann, Fuller laid out what he alleged were numerous lies McCann told when interviewed by police about Parrack's slaying, as well as under oath in 2012.
"I conducted interviews with McCann myself and documented multiple inconsistencies with his account of the events of the evening of 11/8/07 to that of cell phone records and multiple witness statements," Fuller said in the affidavit.
Fuller said Monday that Jodi was last seen on Nov. 8, 2007, leaving a house at 155 E. Third St. on her bicycle. McCann's mother and sister lived at the house at that time and Jodi had been there visiting with McCann's niece, who was her best friend, Fuller said
Carver contacted Constantine police that night after Jodi failed to return home.
After her body and her bicycle were located in the cemetery, police found injuries on both of her wrists "consistent the application of handcuffs."
The affidavit says that at the time of Jodi's disappearance, Carver was aware that her daughter "had a crush" on McCann's son, Raymond McCann III, and stopped at the family's house to see if McCann III knew where her daughter was. The contact with Carver that day prompted the senior Raymond McCann to become involved in the search for Jodi.
Among the alleged false statements McCann made under oath in September 2012 was that he and two of his sons had gone to the Dollar General store in Constantine on Nov. 8 after the two boys got home from school that day. The visit, which Fuller said in the affidavit would have occurred within the time frame of Jodi's disappearance, was refuted by McCann's two sons.
"I interviewed both (Zachary Bittner) and McCann III who denied that this trip to the Dollar General ever occurred," Fuller said. "They both indicated that after returning home from school on 11/8/07, the (the two boys) never left the residence again."
After his contact with Carver on Nov. 8, McCann testified that he searched several locations in Constantine for Parrack and Fuller says in the affidavit that McCann told Constantine police officer Marcus Donker that McCann's nephew, Travis McCann, had told his uncle that Jodi had possibly been on her way to the D&S Market in Constantine when she disappeared.
"Tarvis McCann denies this as factual," Fuller said in the affidavit. "By the time of this relay of information to Donker, McCann had already been to this location, yet he fails to ever mention this fact to Donker. D&S Market was significant enough to entice Donker to go there, however, McCann kept his search of the area secret from the one officer responsible for locating Jodi Parrack ."
McCann also contended to police that the only handcuffs he owned was a single set that were seized by police the day after Jodi disappeared. That, according to the affidavit, was proven to be false during the investigation.
Additionally, Angela McCann, McCann's wife at the time of Jodi's disappearance, told police that her husband "was extremely concerned that DNA evidence would be found linking him to this crime and he began to explain its possibility with accounts of events that continually changed."
When he was asked questions relating to DNA in 2012, specifically "how it would be possible for Jodi Parrack 's DNA to be on his person or how it could be possible that his DNA could have been found on Jodi Parrack ," McCann testified that he had pulled Carver off of Jodi at the time that Jodi's body was found.
As to "how Jodi Parrack 's DNA could have been discovered in his pickup truck, McCann testified that Carver had given him a hug and sat in his truck to get warm on the night of Nov. 8.
"This investigation had determined that neither of these incidents occurred," Fuller said in the affidavit.
"McCann's explanation regarding these questions has been determined to be fictitious and would potentially indicate that he fully expected this DNA evidence to exist."
Jodi Parrack 's mother to speak at press conference this morning in Constantine
Kalamazoo Gazette
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Author: Aaron Mueller
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/04/jodi_parracks_mother_to_speak.html
CONSTANTINE, MI -- Valerie Carver will speak to the media this morning, after an arrest was made in connection with the homicide of her 11-year-old daughter, Jodi Parrack .
Carver, who now lives in Indiana, will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. at the Constantine Police Department. Michigan State Police Detective Trooper Bryan Fuller, who is investigating the homicide, will also be at the press conference.
The Kalamazoo Gazette will provide full coverage of the press conference.
On Monday, investigators announced that Raymond McCann, a former reserve Constantine police officer, has been arrested on a felony perjury charge in connection with the 2007 homicide. Police also say McCann is a person of interest in the killing.
The charge against McCann is the latest development in a case that has gone unsolved since Jodi, a fifth-grader at Riverside Elementary School in Constantine, was reported missing Nov. 8, 2007, by her mother when she failed to return home.
Her body was found later that night in the Constantine Township cemetery.
April 22, 2014
FOX 17 News
http://fox17online.com/2014/04/22/jodi-parracks-mom-just-tell-the-truth-and-get-it-over-with/#axzz2zsVtpwon
CONSTANTINE Mich., (April 22, 2014)– Jodi Parrack’s mother, Valerie “Jo” Gilson, spoke out Tuesday during a news conference following the arrest of Raymond McCann.
McCann, a former Constantine reserve police officer, was charged with perjury after investigators say he lied about several things regarding the case and his actions the day of Jodi’s murder. McCann hasn’t been charged with murder but investigators claim he knows something.
Gilson says most of the McCann family is like family to them and now they are both hoping for answers following his arrest.
Gilson says she has known McCann for years and Jodi was friends with his son along with other kids in the McCann family.
Among the supporters Tuesday was McCann’s sister-in-law and one of Gilson’s best friends, Julie McCann.
Gilson says she doesn’t know what to think other than the fact that Ray is a liar, she says it’s time for him to tell the truth and “get it over with.”
Gilson says she’s been suspicious of him for about three years and he’s the only person she’s suspicious of.
“I’m glad he’s in jail because at least he’s not living his life while the murder investigation continues, because regardless I believe he is involved,” she said.
Ray’s sister-in-law Julie said she didn’t expect this out of him, “but when I seen that mug shot and the look in his eyes, I mean it just sent chills down my spine.”
Julie says he distanced himself form the family following the murder and that raised questions for her, and like so many in the small community she just wants justice for Jodi.
Both said this is not the end but just the beginning. Meanwhile, investigators aren’t saying what McCann might know or if he’s responsible only that they’re confident he’s hiding something.
Monday, Contsantine Police Chief Jim Bedell said McCann has been a person of interest since the beginning. He is due back in court next week.
Rex Hall
MLive
April 21, 2014 at 8:04 PM
Updated April 21, 2014 at 8:12 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/04/in_jodi_parrack_case_raymond_m.html
CONSTANTINE, MI — It was Raymond McCann’s repeated suggestions that led a search party scouring Constantine for Jodi Parrack to check for her in the local cemetery.
The suggestion by the former Constantine Police reserve officer led to Valerie Carver finding her 11-year-old daughter there dead, and to McCann immediately becoming a person of interest in the Nov. 8, 2007, homicide, according to court documents and a Michigan State Police trooper investigating the homicide.
“He was in an interview chair at 2:14 a.m. on Nov. 9 and I assure you that was not a routine, fact-finding interview,” Michigan State Police Detective Trooper Bryan Fuller said Monday.
McCann, 46, was charged Saturday with felony perjury in connection with Jodi’s slaying. The offense, which is punishable by up to life in prison, stems from alleged false statements McCann made in September 2012 while testifying under a prosecutor’s investigative subpoena in the Parrack case.
A felony complaint authorized Thursday by St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough alleges that McCann made “false statements about his actions prior to and during the search for Jodi Parrack’s body as well as his actions following the discovery of Jodi Parrack’s body as well as statements about his potential involvement in her death.”
McCann, who is scheduled to be in St. Joseph County District Court May 1 for a hearing on evidence against him, is being held in the county jail on $225,000 cash/surety bond.
Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell said Monday that McCann was suspended as a reserve officer after Jodi’s death because he was a person of interest in the case. McCann later resigned, Bedell said. The information about McCann's employment status with the department was released publicly for the first time Monday.
The Kalamazoo Gazette was unable to reach Christine Yancey, who was listed in court documents as McCann’s attorney, for comment for this report. Attempts to speak with McCann’s relatives also were unsuccessful Monday.
Fuller, who is part of state police cold-case team that began investigating Jodi’s slaying in January 2011, said that the investigation continues and, at this point, McCann is only a person of interest in the homicide. He declined to comment Monday about whether there are other persons of interest in the case.
“It’s not the end-all,” Fuller said of McCann’s arrest. “The case is still open … This isn’t the closure that is needed, that is required, but it’s a step in the right direction and I hope that as this continues to unfold that we’ll get closer to the ultimate goal.”
In a four-page affidavit filed Thursday in St. Joseph County District Court to obtain an arrest warrant for McCann, Fuller laid out what he alleged were numerous lies McCann told when interviewed by police about Parrack’s slaying, as well as under oath in 2012.
“I conducted interviews with McCann myself and documented multiple inconsistencies with his account of the events of the evening of 11/8/07 to that of cell phone records and multiple witness statements,” Fuller said in the affidavit.
Fuller said Monday that Jodi was last seen on Nov. 8, 2007, leaving a house at 155 E. Third St. on her bicycle. McCann’s mother and sister lived at the house at that time and Jodi had been there visiting with McCann’s niece, who was her best friend, Fuller said
Carver contacted Constantine police that night after Jodi failed to return home.
After her body and her bicycle were located in the cemetery, police found injuries on both of her wrists “consistent the application of handcuffs.”
The affidavit says that at the time of Jodi’s disappearance, Carver was aware that her daughter “had a crush” on McCann’s son, Raymond McCann III, and stopped at the family’s house to see if McCann III knew where her daughter was. The contact with Carver that day prompted the senior Raymond McCann to become involved in the search for Jodi.
Among the alleged false statements McCann made under oath in September 2012 was that he and two of his sons had gone to the Dollar General store in Constantine on Nov. 8 after the two boys got home from school that day. The visit, which Fuller said in the affidavit would have occurred within the time frame of Jodi’s disappearance, was refuted by McCann’s two sons.
“I interviewed both (Zachary Bittner) and McCann III who denied that this trip to the Dollar General ever occurred,” Fuller said. “They both indicated that after returning home from school on 11/8/07, the (the two boys) never left the residence again.”
After his contact with Carver on Nov. 8, McCann testified that he searched several locations in Constantine for Parrack and Fuller says in the affidavit that McCann told Constantine police officer Marcus Donker that McCann’s nephew, Travis McCann, had told his uncle that Jodi had possibly been on her way to the D&S Market in Constantine when she disappeared.
“Tarvis McCann denies this as factual,” Fuller said in the affidavit. “By the time of this relay of information to Donker, McCann had already been to this location, yet he fails to ever mention this fact to Donker. D&S Market was significant enough to entice Donker to go there, however, McCann kept his search of the area secret from the one officer responsible for locating Jodi Parrack.”
McCann also contended to police that the only handcuffs he owned was a single set that were seized by police the day after Jodi disappeared. That, according to the affidavit, was proven to be false during the investigation.
Additionally, Angela McCann, McCann’s wife at the time of Jodi’s disappearance, told police that her husband “was extremely concerned that DNA evidence would be found linking him to this crime and he began to explain its possibility with accounts of events that continually changed.”
When he was asked questions relating to DNA in 2012, specifically “how it would be possible for Jodi Parrack’s DNA to be on his person or how it could be possible that his DNA could have been found on Jodi Parrack,” McCann testified that he had pulled Carver off of Jodi at the time that Jodi’s body was found.
As to “how Jodi Parrack’s DNA could have been discovered in his pickup truck, McCann testified that Carver had given him a hug and sat in his truck to get warm on the night of Nov. 8.
“This investigation had determined that neither of these incidents occurred,” Fuller said in the affidavit.
“McCann’s explanation regarding these questions has been determined to be fictitious and would potentially indicate that he fully expected this DNA evidence to exist.”
WWMT
April 21, 2014 - 6:00 pm
Detective Trooper Bryan Fuller
MLive - Kalmazoo Gazette
April 21, 2014 at 4:30 PM
Updated April 21, 2014 at 8:11 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/04/former_officer_charged_in_jodi.html
Detective Trooper Bryan Fuller talks about the arrest of 46-year-old Raymond Emmett McCann of Constantine. The arrest warrant was for perjury in connection with the investigation. Raymond Emmett McCann, a former reserve officer for the Constantine Police Department is a person of interest in the killing of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack.
Affidavit: Former officer worried DNA would link him to Jodi Parrack's slaying
Rex Hall
MLive - Kalmazoo Gazette
April 21, 2014 at 4:30 PM
Updated April 21, 2014 at 8:11 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/04/former_officer_charged_in_jodi.html
Rex Hall
MLive - Kalmazoo Gazette
April 21, 2014 at 4:30 PM
Updated April 21, 2014 at 8:11 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/04/former_officer_charged_in_jodi.html
Rex Hall
MLive - Kalmazoo Gazette
April 21, 2014 at 4:30 PM
Updated April 21, 2014 at 8:11 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/04/former_officer_charged_in_jodi.html
CONSTANTINE, MI — In a sworn statement, a Michigan State Police trooper lists off what he says were numerous lies former Constantine Police reserve officer Raymond E. McCann made to police and then under oath after 11-year-old Jodi Parrack was killed in 2007.
In September 2012, Detective Trooper Bryan Fuller said McCann, 46, was asked while testifying under an investigative subpoena from the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office “how it would be possible for Jodi Parrack’s DNA to be on his person or how it could be possible that his DNA could have been found on Jodi Parrack,” according to a four-page affidavit.
McCann testified, according to the affidavit, that the DNA may have come from his pulling Valerie Carver, Jodi’s mother, away from her daughter after Carver found her daughter dead in the Constantine Township Cemetery on Nov. 8, 2007.
Asked during his 2012 testimony how Jodi’s DNA could have been found in his pickup truck, McCann said Carver had given him a hug on the night of Nov. 8 as she sat in his pickup truck to get warm.
“This investigation has determined that neither of these incidents occurred,” Fuller wrote in the affidavit, which he filed Thursday to obtain an arrest warrant charging McCann with one count of perjury, a felony that is punishable by a maximum of life in prison.
"McCann’s explanation regarding these questions has been determined to be fictitious and would potentially indicate that (McCann) fully expected his DNA evidence to exist. Additionally, when interviewing Angela McCann, (McCann’s) wife at the time of the incident, she relayed that McCann was extremely concerned that DNA evidence would be found linking him to this crime and he began to explain its possibility with accounts of events that continually changed.”
The alleged false statements by McCann are just some of several Fuller listed in his affidavit.
McCann was arraigned on the perjury charge Saturday in St. Joseph County District Court. He is being held in the county jail on a $225,000 cash/surety bond pending a hearing on evidence against him May 1.
Fuller’s affidavit says that it was McCann, and no one else, who suggested searching the township cemetery the night Jodi disappeared. The affidavit also says that Jodi had injuries on both wrists “consistent with the application of handcuffs.”
McCann told police that he only ever owned one set of handcuffs, according to the affidavit. However, Fuller said the investigation determined that was not the case.
“Given the fact that McCann was a reserve police officer at the time of this incident, he would have access to handcuffs,” Fuller said.
WOOD TV 8
April 21, 2014 - 12:00 pm
Jodi Parrack homicide: Former Constantine reserve officer charged with perjury in 2007 cold case
Rex Hall
MLive
April 21, 2014 at 11:59 AM
Updated April 21, 2014 at 8:10 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/04/jodi_parrack_homicide_former_c.html
CONSTANTINE, MI – A former reserve officer for the Constantine Police Department who police have identified as a person of interest in the killing of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack has been charged with felony perjury, Michigan State Police investigators said Monday.
Raymond E. McCann, 46, was arraigned Saturday on one count of perjury stemming from an investigation that is being conducted by a cold case team of MSP investigators, according to a news release issued by state police.
The charge against McCann is punishable by up to life in prison, police said.
Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell said Monday that McCann was suspended from his job as a reserve police officer at the time of Parrack's death because McCann was a person of interest in the case. McCann later resigned from the department, Bedell said.
The charge against McCann is the latest development in a case that has gone unsolved since Jodi, a fifth-grader at Riverside Elementary School in Constantine, was reported missing Nov. 8, 2007, by her mother when she failed to return home.
Her body was found later that night in the Constantine Township cemetery.
POSTED: 11:52 AM EDT Apr 21, 2014
UPDATED: 12:32 PM EDT Apr 22, 2014
WSBT TV - News
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/police-arrest-person-of-interest-in-cold-case-murder-of-11yearold-jodi-parrack/25582672
CONSTANTINE, Mich. - The mother of a Constantine girl found dead more than 6 years ago is talking for the first time since a former reserve officer's arrest for perjury in the case.
Arrest
Police arrested 46-year-old Raymond Emmett McCann of Constantine, Michigan for perjury stemming from the cold case investigation surrounding the death of Jodi Parrack.
The girl went missing on November 8, 2007 after going to a friend's house after school. Police say she left around 4:30 p.m. on a small, silver mountain bike -- but she never made it home.
Jodi's mother later found the girl's body hours later in Constantine Township Cemetery. The cemetery was just down the street from the family's home.
The Cold Case Team has classified McCann as a "person of interest" in the murder investigation.
Chief Jim Bedell with the Constantine Police Department confirms McCann was a Constantine Reserve Officer at the time of the girl's death.
Once he became a person of interest, he was immediately suspended, Bedell says. Later, McCann officially resigned.
McCann is being charged with perjury after lying to officers during an interview, according to police.
McCann did have an attorney present at the time.
Police suspicions
Court documents say there is a period from the time Jodi Parrack disappeared until her body was found when no one knows where McCann was.
For instance, he apparently told detectives he took his two sons to the Dollar General store that night, but when cops interviewed the boys they said that trip never happened.
Bedell says McCann's son was a friend of Jodi's.
Also that night court documents say he insisted several times that police search the cemetery. Yet he never went to the cemetery.
And he acted odd about the discovery of the body, according to the documents.
Court documents also say Jodi’s wrists had injuries consistent with handcuffs, and there are questions about the set of handcuffs McCann had when officers searched his car the day after the murder.
If convicted on that perjury charge, he faces life in prison. We’re told that’s because he allegedly lied under an investigatory subpoena interview in a murder case.
Police say they hope he’ll talk and that might lead to more arrests.
"We want the murderer," said Bedell. "If he is not the murderer, hopefully he leads us to him. Because we’re convinced he knows something about this case."
It’s still unclear how many people police are looking for. Detectives are still very tight-lipped about this case.
Keep in mind, they’ve never released how Parrack died – her cause and manner of death. That's something they say only the killer or killers would know.
"I told the FBI back in the very beginning, I said whoever did this is here," Jodi's grandmother, Linda Allbaugh, told WSBT.
"...there are butterflies on her tombstone and she loved animals," Linda went on to tell us about her granddaughter. "All the possibilities. She could have gone anywhere in this world."
Jodie's mother is expected to address the media Tuesday at 11 a.m. We'll be there to bring you the latest online and on the air at noon.
WWMT - TV
April 21, 2014
Man charged with perjury in girl's 2007 death
Associated Press State Wire: Michigan (MI)
Monday, April 21, 2014
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/iw-search/we/InfoWebp_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&f_lastaction=doc&p_docid=14D5621B15143D80&p_docnum=8&p_queryname=1
CONSTANTINE, Mich. (AP) — A former reserve officer has been charged with perjury in connection with the 2007 slaying of an 11-year-old southwestern Michigan girl.
The Kalamazoo Gazette reports Monday that 46-year-old Raymond McCann was arraigned Saturday on the charge stemming from an investigation conducted by a state cold case team. Authorities have identified McCann as a person of interest in the killing of Jodi Parrack .
Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell tells WOOD-TV that McCann knew Jodi, as she and his son were friends.
The Associated Press left a message for McCann's attorney, Christine Yancey.
Bedell says McCann was suspended from his job with the village at the time of the girl's death and he later resigned.
Jodi's body was found in a cemetery on Nov. 8, 2007 and her bike was found nearby.
April 21, 2014
FOX 17 News
http://fox17online.com/2014/04/21/jodi-parrack-constantine-reserve-officers-family-speaks-out-after-arrest/#axzz2zsVtpwon
CONSTANTINE, Mich., - It’s something that has haunted the small town of Constantine for years, since November 8 2007 and after thousands of tips and countless interviews the question still remains, who killed Jodi Parrack?
But now after nearly seven years, an arrest in connection to the case of Raymond McCann, who is charged with perjury.
He is not a suspect but Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell says he was labeled as a person of interest that night and still remains as one.
Chief Bedell wasn’t chief at the time of Parracks murder but says it was one of the reasons he took the job as chief, to find Justice for Jodi.
He was one of the only ones working on the case for some time until the Michigan State Cold Case team got involved.
Bedell says McCann was a reserve police officer at the time of Parrack’s murder and he was on sick leave. He says McCann’s son was friends with Jodi and he called to volunteer to go look for her.
But ever since that night he says things haven’t added up.
“There was nothing obviously he could be arrested for but there were a lot of questionable things he did that night and its been that way ever since. As far as we’re concerned he’s not been cooperative with us,” said Bedell.
Bedell says during a recent investigative subpoena by the Michigan State Police Cold Case team McCann lied.
He says they’re confident he is hiding something. Bedell wouldn’t say what they McCann might now or if they think he’s responsible, only that its one step closer justice.
As for McCanns family, his sister-in-law Julie McCann says she doesn’t believe McCann killed Parrack but after the murder he separated himself from the family which raised questions.
She says she doesn’t how he could hold onto knowing something for so long and just like many in the community is hoping for answers and Justice for Jodi.
“We want answers; my daughter was her best friend. Jodi deserves it, it shouldn’t have gone on this long she deserves, She deserves to lay at rest,” she said.
McCann is due back in court next week.
WOOD TV 8
April 21, 2014
Grandmother Of 11-Year-Old Victim Reacts To News Of Arrest: “I Got Hit With A Ton Of Bricks.”
04/21/14
Dave Spencer - Reporter
FOX 17 News
http://fox17online.com/2014/04/21/grandmother-of-11-year-old-victim-reacts-to-news-of-arrest-i-got-hit-with-a-ton-of-bricks/#axzz34Pi5tm2R
CONSTANTINE, Mich. (April 21, 2014) – Nearly seven years after 11-year-old Jodi Parrack was found murdered in a cemetery in St. Joseph County an arrest has been made in the case.
Raymond McCann, who police said was an original person-of-interest and a reserve police officer, has been charged with perjury.
The mystery surrounding Parrack’s murder has consumed her grandmother over the past 7-years.
“I just shut down,” said Linda Allbaugh, Jodi’s grandmother. “I was here. I wanted to be here. For her. Her voice. I hear her. I see her fishing, casting a line.”
After Jodi’s death, Allbaugh made routine visits to the cemetery where she was found.
“For a couple years, they probably recognized my car,” said Allbaugh. “I would drive in the front side, drive in the back side, go up and down where they found the body and think, was she alive before they took her into the cemetery? Did they kill her in the cemetery? And where they found her body, they could see the front door of where she lived.”
She said she’s always felt that her granddaughter’s killer was close.
“Back when it first happened I just felt, it’s here,” she said. “The person is here.”
So to hear that McCann, a reserve police officer at the time of Jodi’s death and a father to one of Jodi’s friends, had been arrested on perjury charges only worked to confirm her feelings.
“It was like I got hit with a ton of bricks,” she said. “It was like, wow.”
Parrack’s aunt, Kristy Pearson, relayed a statement to FOX17 on behalf of Parrack’s mother. Pearson said the family was glad that someone had been caught and hope this is just the beginning. Pearson said, “We all need to process the information and we are in close contact with the McCann family.”
McCann’s sister-in-law, she said she had a feeling this day would come.
“We don’t have any real contact with him since all of this happened. He separated himself from us completely, even his mom and that raises concerns,” said Julie McCann.
She, like Parrack’s family, just wants to know the truth.
“I don’t believe that he could have committed the murder,” said McCann’s sister-in-law. “I don’t understand how he could withhold any information for so long.”
Now, after all these years, she’s hopeful they’re closer than ever before to those answers.
“I think he knows something and I think it needs to be told and I think we need justice for Jodi,” said Julie McCann.
Others throughout this community said a lot has changed in the seven years since her death. Some said the community has a lost a little trust with one another knowing this murder has gone unsolved. They are hopeful this arrest will start to heal those old wounds.
04/21/14
Ann Marie LaFlamme - Reporter
FOX 17 News
http://fox17online.com/2014/04/21/documents-reveal-details-of-day-surrounding-cold-case-murder/#axzz34Pi5tm2R
CONSTANTINE, Mich. (April 21, 2014) – Nearly seven years after the murder of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack, an arrest has been made in connection with the crime.
After thousands of tips and several interviews, police believe a man who was one of their own, a fellow police officer helping in the search for the 5th grader, has something to hide.
Raymond McCann, 46, was arrested Friday for lying to police during the murder investigating.
“We do feel he is hiding something,” Constantine Police Chief Jim Badell said.
The probable cause affidavit obtained by FOX 17 says “McCann`s behavior, after the discovery of the victim’s body, seemed unnatural and investigators became increasingly suspicious of possible involvement.”
Badell says McCann became a person of interest that night Jodi’s body was found in the Constantine Township Cemetery.
The Chief says there was nothing obvious McCann could be arrested for.
The report says, “It was only after McCann suggested to at least four people to check the cemetery that Jodi Parrack`s deceased body was discovered.”
Police never revealed Jodi’s cause of death, but the report gives new details of how her body was found, and its connection to McCann.
The report says, “The victim`s body contained injuries to both of her wrists, consistent with the application of handcuffs. Given the fact the McCann was a reserve police officer at the time of this incident; he would have access to handcuffs.”
The report says when McCann was interrogated and questioned as to why Jodi’s DNA could be on his clothes and in his truck “McCann had testified that he had pulled the mother away from Jodi Parrack at the time of body discovery.” And “Had given him a hug and sat in his vehicle to stay warm.”
Explanations police say they found to be untrue.
Raymond McCann is currently considered a “person of interest” in the case. He’ll be back in court April 29.
04/21/14
Andrew Gilliflan - Assistant News Director
Fox 17 News
http://fox17online.com/2014/04/21/full-report-dna-ties-former-constantine-officer-to-11-year-olds-body/#axzz34Pi5tm2R
CENTERVILLE, Mich. – FOX 17 has obtained the probable cause affidavit in the case of a man connected to the 2007 cold case murder of Jodi Parrack of Constantine.
On November 8, 2007, Parrack’s body was found in a local cemetery after she disappeared while walking home from a friend’s house. She was 11 years old at the time.
Raymond Emmett McCann, 46, was arrested Friday on a perjury warrant from the St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office. He was arraigned the next day. The probable cause affidavit obtained by FOX 17 News shows investigators have been watching McCann closely for years. At one point investigators asked McCann how it was possible that her DNA could have been found in his pick-up truck and on his clothes.
He responded by saying that he pulled Parrick’s mother from the child’s body at the cemetery. Investigators say this was not true. There were also bruises on Parrack’s body consistent with markings from handcuffs.
Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell told FOX 17 News Monday that the person of interest’s son was a playmate of Jodi Parrack. The chief also said McCann was also a former Constantine reserve officer. McCann was suspended from his job when he became a person of interest. McCann later resigned.
The following is the entire probable cause affidavit obtained by FOX 17 News Monday:
On November 8th, 2007, Jodi Christine Parrack, age 11, failed to return home for her 5:30 p.m. curfew. Family members began a search for her in the Constantine area. At approximately 7:05 p.m., Jodi’s mother, Valerie Jo Carver, contacted the Constantine Police Department and reported Jodi Parrack missing.
At 10:30 p.m. on November 8th, 2007, Jodi Christine Parrack was found dead in the Constantine Township Cemetery. A forensic Pathologist, Dr. Stephen Cohle ruled her death a homicide.
Initial investigators became suspicious of Raymond Emmett McCann who was a reserve police officer for the Constantine Police Department. This suspicion arose in part due to investigators knowledge from witnesses as well as McCann himself that it was his suggestion to multiple people check the Constantine Township Cemetery for the then missing/late Jodi Parrack. It was only after McCann suggested to at least four people to check the cemetery that Jodi Parrack’s deceased body was discovered. It should be noted that over the course of nearly an hour and half of making this suggestion, McCann himself did not ever search this location. Further, McCann’s behavior, after the discovery of the victim’s body, seemed unnatural and investigators became increasingly suspicious of possible involvement. Furthermore, I am aware that the victim’s body contained injuries to both of her wrists, consistent with the application of handcuffs. Given the fact the McCann was a reserve police office at the time of this incident, he would have access to handcuffs.
Multiple interviews were conducted with McCann by both initial investigators as well as members of the 5th district cold case team.
I conducted interviews with McCann myself and documented multiple inconsistencies with this account of the events of the evening of 11/8/07 to that of cell phone records and multiple witness statements.
As a result of the documented inconsistencies, the St. Joseph Prosecuting Attorney issued a subpoena for testimony in the matter of the homicide to Raymond Emmett McCann. The inquiry of McCann occurred on September 18th, 2012 in the city of Centreville, County of St. Joseph.
I was present during this proceeding and am aware that McCann was given an oath prior to the inquiry. Additionally, I am aware that McCann was advised of the penalty for perjury prior to the proceeding. McCann answered multiple questions relating to his actions on 11/8/07 as well as additional questions relating to the death of Jodi Parrack. McCann’s sworn testimony was consistent with his earlier police conducted interviews and therefore contained the same inconsistencies as previously documented.
This affidavit is intended to meet the burden of probable cause. It should be noted that I am aware of additional information regarding false testimony provided by McCann than will be documented within the affidavit. It is my belief that this affidavit will contain sufficient information to meet the burden of probable cause.
Specifically, McCann was asked about his actions during late afternoon, early evening of 11/8/07. McCann, under oath, indicated that he and his two children, Raymond McCann III and Zachary Bittner had been to the Dollar General Store in Constantine Michigan on the date in question after the boys returned home from school. It should be noted that this time is in close proximity to the time Jodi Parrack disappeared and was not seen again until her dead body was found in the Constantine Cemetery.
I interview both Bittner and McCann III who denied that this trip to the Dollar General ever occurred. They both indicated that after returning home from school on 11/8/07, they (the two boys) never left the residence again.
McCann testified under oath that he contacted his sister Ann Dupree by phone after having been contacted by the victim’s mother, Valerie Jo Carver. Carver was aware that her daughter, Jodi Parrack, had a crush on McCann’s son and had stopped by McCann’s residence to determine if McCann III possibly knew where Jodi Parrack could be. It was after this contact that McCann II testified that he contacted his sister from his cellular phone to acquire additional information to assist in the “search” for the then “missing” Jodi Parrack. Cellular telephone records obtained from McCann II’s cellular account indicate that this call did not occur. It should also be noted that this was further corroborated by Dupree. When interviewed, she advised that she did not ever receive a call from her brother (McCann II) until much later in the evening and the nature of the conversation of that call consisted solely of checking the Constantine Township Cemetery. This is significant due to a call McCann did make after Carver had stopped by his residence.
Cellular telephone records indicate that the first call McCann made from his cellular phone was to the on duty Constantine Police officer, Marcus Donker. During this call, McCann advised Donker that he had been contacted by Carver and asked to help in the “search” for Jodi Parrack. During this call, Donker specifically recalls instructing McCann not to bring his firearm.
McCann testified under oath that he made this call from his residence prior to leaving to begin his part in the “search” for Jodi Parrack. This testimony has been contradicted by multiple discoveries during the investigation. First, McCann’s firearm was found under the seat of his vehicle after a consent search was conducted by evidence technicians in the early morning hours of 11/9/07. Further, photographs were taken of the interior of McCann’s pickup truck. One explanation for this would be the hasty removal of the firearm which had been attached to it. This would have been removed after receiving the instruction from Donker not to bring the weapon and therefore after McCann had left his residence. It adds suspicion as to McCann’s involvement as to why he would need to be deceptive as to what he was doing for a time period he cannont be accounted for after departing his residence.
Further, I am aware that McCann testified under oath about a car to car meeting he had with Officer Marcus Donker on Fifth Street near S. Washington St. As indicated by McCann this meeting occurred at the south end of Cannon Park. Officer Donker inquired McCann about having his firearm. As previously indicated, Officer Donker had informed McCann of this during his first telephone call.
Additionally, McCann testified under oath that he left his residence and went directly to D&S Market after placing a call to his nephew Travis McCann. McCann did place a call to the residence of Travis McCann, however, when interviewed, he denies ever speaking to his uncle Raymond McCann. Furthermore, without the call to McCann’s sister (Dupree) as previously documented as having not occurred, any knowledge by McCann II of Travis McCann having been one of the last persons to see Jodi Parrack would not be possible.
As indicated Travis McCann states he did not speak to his uncle that evening. Jodi Parrack was later found dead in Constantine Township Cemetery.
In regards to McCann II’s testimony that the first place he “searched” for Jodi Parrack was D&S Market, this has been determined by the investigation to also be false. McCann is observed on D&S video surveillance as entering te establishment at 8:43 p.m. The call initiated by McCann to Donker was at 8:18 p.m. and has already established that this call was after McCann had left his residence. The distance between McCann’s residence to D&S Market takes approximately 2-3 minutes by vehicle and less than one mile. By McCann’s sworn testimony, it apparently took him 25 minutes to travel this distance. As 25 mph, McCann could have travelled over 10 miles in the time period.
McCann testified under oath that he only ever possessed one set of handcuffs, which the police had seized in the early morning hours of 11/9/07. These handcuffs have the name Keith Cantrell engraved on them. McCann testified that Cantrell gave them to him as a birthday present and that is the only set he has ever possessed. This has been determined as false by the investigation.
Cantrell, when interviewed, indicated that he provided McCann with a set of handcuffs during a defensive tactics class because the set McCann already had were not very good. Additionally, when this exchanged occurred, McCann was a reserve with the White Pigeon Police Department. Sgt. William Burgoyne became their first defensive tactics instructor and gave his first class in early 1999. I have obtained a video of McCann on a traffic stop while working as a reserve for the White Pigeon Police Department dated September 1998 in which McCann reached into a handcuff case, retrieves a set of handcuffs and applies them to a subject being placed into custody.
Additionally, to this point, McCann must have already possessed a set of handcuffs as he would not send a reserve office out on assignment without first being properly equipped with all the necessary equipment.
McCann testified that while “searching” for Jodi Parrack, he located a bicycle behind the Falcon Food Mart in Constantine. He testified that he informed Donker about his discovery. Donker indicates that this is simply not true. At that point in the search for Jodi Parrack who had been last seen on a bicycle, had McCann informed him of such a discovery that had been located by McCann at nearly the same time in which Donker immediately arrived to investigate. This bicycle, coincidentally, was found to be in such a condition that it had not been moved in a very long time. Everyone who was witness to this bicycle discovery was in disbelief that McCann would even consider this particular bicycle could possibly have been the one Jodi had been riding due to its condition. Everyone came to the conclusion that this discovery was nothing more than a diversion.
McCann testified that he had only been to the cemetery on 11/8/07 at the time of Jodi Parrack’s body discovery. This was at approximately 10:30 p.m. This investigation has shown that McCann should have been at the cemetery as early as 10:07 p.m., yet he denies this. A cellular call placed by McCann’s cellular phone to his friends Ed and Rosena Steinbach at 10:07 p.m. who reside directly adjacent to the Constantine Township Cemetery. This call would be at a time when McCann should have already arrived at the location.
Coincidentally, a similar call is placed to Ed and Rosena Steinbach at 10:30 p.m., at the time of the discovery of Jodi Parrack’s body. It should be noted that McCann reported being the only person in his vehicle the evening in question. Officer Donker indicates that McCann informed him he was heading to go check the cemetery at approximately 9:37 p.m.
Again, this is less than a mile distance from McCanns departure point (Constantine Police Department) and it took McCann nearly 53 minutes to get there if we are expected to believe his sworn testimony. As it relates to a question posed to McCann during the subpoena proceeding, McCann was asked how it would be possible for Jodi Parrack’s DNA to be on his person or how it could be possible that his DNA could have been found on Jodi Parrack.
McCain testified that he had pulled the mother away from Jodi Parrack at the time of body discovery. This investigation has determined that this did not occur. Further, McCann was asked how Jodi Parrack’s DNA could have been discovered in his pickup truck. McCann testified that Valerie Carver had given him a hug and also she sat in his vehicle to get warm. This investigation had determined that neither of these incidents occurred. McCann’s explanation regarding these questions has been determined to be fictitious and would potentially indicate that he fully expected this DNA evidence would be found linking him to this crime and he began to explain its possibility with accounts of events that continually changed.
McCann testified under oath that at one point during his “search” for Jodi Parrack, he walked up to a location where Valerie Carver and several other witnesses were inspecting a hole. This hole was a foundation of a new construction home located at Water Street and Mill Street in the Village of Constantine. Five witnesses at that location indicated that McCann did not walk to this location; rather he arrived in his pickup truck. This is significant in that in McCann’s own testimony he is claiming to be searching for Jodi Parrack yet nobody ever witnesses him doing so. He could not have searched the park and boardwalk on foot near this location as he testified to if he was in his pickup truck.
McCann testified that he searched several locations during his involvement prior to Jodi Parrack’s body discovery. It should be noted that other than D&S Market where he was captured on video surveillance, other locations cannot be confirmed. Furthermore, McCcnn provided Donker with information he reportedly received from Travis McCann that Jodi Parrack was possibly enroute to D&S Market to make a purchase. As previously stated, Travis McCann denies this as factual. By the time of this relay of information to Donker, D&S Market was significant enough to entice Donker to go there, however, McCann kept his search of this area secret from the one officer responsible for locating Jodi Parrack.
As previously mentioned, the purpose of this affidavit is intended to meet the burden of probable cause to substantiate a review on charges of perjury regarding the underlying offense of homicide. I am awre of additional information which would further substantiate this, however, based upon the above facts, I respectfully believe that probably cause exists and to expound further could potentially risk exposing facts that would be crucial in continuing the investigation of Jodi Parrack’s murder.
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 17 day of Apr, 2014
04/21/14
Andrew Gillifilan - Assistant News Director
FOX 17 - News
http://fox17online.com/2014/04/21/officer-now-person-of-interest-tipped-off-investigators-to-childs-body-in-cemetery/#axzz34Pi5tm2R
CONSTANTINE, Mich. – (April 21, 2014) – FOX 17 obtained the probable cause affidavit in the case of Raymond McCann, a former Constantine reserve officer, who is now being called a person of interest in connection to the killing of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack, a cold case from 2007.
On November 8, 2007, Parrack’s body was found in the Constantine Township Cemetery after she disappeared while walking home from a friend’s house a few blocks away.
McCann was arrested over the weekend and charged with perjury in connection to the case.
According to a four-page affidavit, over the course of an hour and a half, McCann suggested officers search the Constantine Township Cemetery where Parrack’s body was eventually found. Officers became increasingly suspicious because McCann, himself, did not take it upon himself to search the area.
“Furthermore, I am aware that the victim’s body contained injuries to both of her wrists, consistent with the application of handcuffs. Given the fact the McCann was a reserve police office at the time of this incident, he would have access to handcuffs,” stated the affidavit.
FOX 17 is pouring through the documents. We will bring you more details of the investigation tonight on FOX 17 News from 5-7pm.
04/21/14
FOX 17 News
Andrew Gillfillan - Assistant News Director
http://fox17online.com/2014/04/21/mugshot-released-of-person-of-interest-in-girls-cold-case-killing/#axzz34Pi5tm2R
CONSTANTINE, Mich. (April 21, 2014) — A Constantine man, Raymond McCann was arrested and arraigned over the weekend in the cold case investigation into the murder in 2007 of Jodi Parrack.
On November 8, 2007, Parrack’s body was found in a local cemetery after she disappeared while walking home from a friend’s house. She was 11 years old at the time.
Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell told FOX 17 News Monday that the person of interest’s son was a playmate of Jodi Parrack.
The chief also said McCann was also a former Constantine reserve officer. McCann was suspended from his job when he became a person of interest. McCann later resigned.
According to Michigan State Police records, McCann does not have a known criminal history in Michigan.
Raymond Emmett McCann, 46, was arrested on a perjury warrant from the St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office. He was arraigned on April 19. He will be back in court April 29.
The Michigan State Police 5th District Cold Case Team classified McCann as a person of interest, said a release from MSP.
If you have any information that could help the case, you’re asked to call Silent Observer or the cold case team directly at 269-435-1072.
Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell worked with MSP on the case and told FOX 17 News in November 2013 that he was confident the case would be solved. At the time, the investigation had generated more than 1,500 tips and 1,000 interviews.
No onehas been charged for the murder.
04/21/14
Andrew Gillfillan - Assistant News Director
FOX 17 News
http://fox17online.com/2014/04/21/perjury-arrest-made-in-cold-case-after-childs-body-found-in-cemetery/#axzz34Pi5tm2R
CONSTANTINE, Mich. (April 21, 2014) — A Constantine man was arrested and arraigned over the weekend in the cold case investigation into the murder in 2007 of Jodi Parrack.
On November 8, 2007, Parrack’s body was found in a local cemetery after she disappeared while walking home from a friend’s house. She was 11 years old at the time.
Raymond Emmett McCann, 46, was arrested on a perjury warrant from the St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office. He was arraigned on April 19.
The Michigan State Police 5th District Cold Case Team classified McCann as a person of interest, said a release from MSP.
If you have any information that could help the case, you’re asked to call Silent Observer or the cold case team directly at 269-435-1072.
Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell worked with MSP on the case and told FOX 17 News in November 2013 that he was confident the case would be solved. At the time, the investigation had generated more than 1,500 tips and 1,000 interviews.
No one has been charged for the murder
POSTED: 08:00 PM EDT Apr 20, 2014
UPDATED: 06:59 PM EDT Apr 21, 2014
WSBT - TV
http://www.wsbt.com/video-and-photos/Court-documents-reveal-police-suspicions-in-cold-case-arrest/25590290
Conflicting stories, odd behavior and wrist injuries consistent with a pair of handcuffs -- all cited in court documents released upon the arrest of a former Constantine reserve officer as a person of interest in the cold case murder of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack.
Investigation of Jodi Parrack murder - April 19, 2014
Former Constantine PD Reserve Officer Raymond McCann arrested and arraigned on felony perjury charges in connection with Jodi Parrack's 2007 murder.
Former Constantine PD Reserve Officer Raymond McCann arrested and arraigned on felony perjury charges in connection with Jodi Parrack's 2007 murder.
Investigation of Jodi Parrack murder -
April 17, 2014
Warrant authorized for the arrest of former Constantine Reserve officer Raymond McCann, for perjury charges in connection with Jodi Parrack's murder.
April 17, 2014
Warrant authorized for the arrest of former Constantine Reserve officer Raymond McCann, for perjury charges in connection with Jodi Parrack's murder.
Continued:
Jodi Parrack Murder Investigation - Reserve Officer Raymond McCann suspect
