NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Police dig serial killer's burial ground for bodies missing since 70s

By Candace Sutton
news.com.au·
12 May, 2018 08:33 PM7 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Police search for buried bodies that were missing since the 70s. / CNN

The bodies in the woods have been missing for so long that the police digging cannot expect to find anything but the seven girls' skeletons and the clothes they were wearing.

So far, the trees in the wood, the brush and overgrowth are cleared.

Now police are digging in mud down in a gully of Macomb Township, 40km north of the Michigan state capital Detroit.

Authorities work near a rural wooded area in Macomb Township, Michigan. Photo / AP
Authorities work near a rural wooded area in Macomb Township, Michigan. Photo / AP

Detectives are convinced they are in exactly the place in a strip of land the size of a football field within a 10 hectare search area to find the missing girls.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This is despite the fact convicted child rapist, murderer and suspected serial killer Arthur Nelson Ream, was "uncooperative" in the current search.

The missing girls police hope to find lie buried near the Clinton River in old farm and logging forest land turned golf course country of the one-time German immigrant town.

Police will only say they are searching for the remains of Kimberly King, a feisty 12-year-old who vanished while staying with her grandmother in 1979.

Kimberley was staying in Warren, where Ream owned a carpet shop, and was on parole at the time after serving four years prison for a sex attack on a 15-year-old girl.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He is now serving life for the 1986 rape and murder of 13-year-old Cindy Zarzycki, whose body he led police to at the same spot they are now searching.

When police questioned Ream about his boast, he refused to talk but took a lie-detector test which he failed.

But the missing girls police are said to be looking for were all aged between 12 and 17 years old, caucasian and vanished over a 12 year period.

Convicted rapist and murderer Arthur Ream. Photo / AP, Michigan Department of Corrections
Convicted rapist and murderer Arthur Ream. Photo / AP, Michigan Department of Corrections

Now aged 69, Ream would have been between the ages of 25 and 37 years old when he murdered all his alleged victims, culminating with his son's girlfriend, Cindy Zarzycki.

Discover more

World

'Murder-suicide': Mum and her four kids among victims

11 May 07:54 AM
World

Execution witness who has watched 280 men die

12 May 03:25 AM
World

Relatives of seven dead in mass tragedy make statement

12 May 07:44 AM
World

Cops drag crying grandmother from car

12 May 10:49 PM

These are the stories of the girls whose families have been waiting to hear of for decades.

NADINE JEAN O'DELL

Nadine O'Dell disappeared in Detroit in 1974. Photo / supplied.
Nadine O'Dell disappeared in Detroit in 1974. Photo / supplied.

It was around 9.30am on August 16, 1974 and 15-year-old Nadine O'Dell was walking in the Detroit metro suburb of Inkster en route to the neighbouring suburb of Taylor.

She was wearing baggy blue jeans, a white T-shirt and her boyfriend's Taylor High School Class of 1976 ring on a neck chain.

Nadine was on her way to babysit at her boyfriend's house, and had arranged to meet him there.

Around 9.50am, he arrived at the house and waited for her, but Nadine never showed up.

No trace of the petite green-eyed fair-skinned Nadine has ever been found.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

KIMBERLY ALICE KING

Kimberly King vanished while making a phone call to her sister from the same suburb where rapist and murderer Arthur Ream worked. Photo / supplied
Kimberly King vanished while making a phone call to her sister from the same suburb where rapist and murderer Arthur Ream worked. Photo / supplied

On the evening of September 15, 1979 Kimberley King was staying at a friend's house in Warren, a suburb in Macomb county 30km from Macomb township.

Kim was spending the night across the road from her grandparents' house in Warren, the same

suburb where an overweight, chain-smoking carpet layer named Arthur Ream had his shop.

At 11pm that night, Kim telephoned her older sister Konnie Beyma and said she had sneaked out of her friend's house and was calling from a nearby phone booth on the street.

Konnie told her to get back inside.

The 12-year-old never returned to the house and following a possible sighting of her by a witness on the same night at a phone booth miles away, she was classified as a potential runaway.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She was also considered a potential victim of the Oakland County Killer. The unidentified serial killer was also known as "The Babysitter" because he bathed and fed two girls and two boys before murdering them in 1976 and 1977.

But police are now certain that King was murdered by Arthur Ream and that her body lies in the woods at Macomb.

Ms Beyma said after the search of the woods began this week, "We all worried about the Oakland County Killer and there was someone else on our midst."

KIM MARIE LARROW

Kim Larrow was meant to meet her best friend at a park in 1981 but vanished. Photo / supplied
Kim Larrow was meant to meet her best friend at a park in 1981 but vanished. Photo / supplied

On June 8, 1981 Kim Larrow was in Canton, 10km west of Detroit's metro city limits.

She was 15 years old and had just moved from her father's home 50km south to her mother's place.

She had only been living with her mother for a week when she made plans to meet up with her best friend at a park but failed to turn up.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Kim was last seen at the ice cream parlour where her friend worked.

A rebellious teenager who used drugs, Kim's disappearance was not reported for several days and her mother refused to co-operate with police.

Her father died in 2005, and his relatives are still waiting for answers.

KELLIE MARIE BROWNLEE

Kellie Brownlee vanished while wagging high school. Photo / supplied
Kellie Brownlee vanished while wagging high school. Photo / supplied

The attractive 17-year-old with dark hair and a flashing smile was living in Walled Lake in Michigan's Oakland County outside Detroit with her boyfriend's family in May, 1982.

She had moved out of home after telling friends her stepfather had abused her and showed them bruises on her body.

She had a good relationship with her mother Loretta, who later said her second husband would be leaving the family home soon and Kellie could move back in.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On May 20, 1982, Kellie took the bus to high school but decided to skip classes and hitchhike to Twelve Oaks Mall in nearby Novi.

At the mall, she stopped in at several shops and applied for jobs, listing her mother's home as her address.

A friend's mother saw her at the mall and offered her a ride, but Kellie said she had more jobs to apply for.

When she failed to return to his family home, Kellie's boyfriend reported her missing that evening.

Speculation surrounded her stepfather, who stated he was innocent.

CINDY ZARZYCKI

Cindy Zarzycki was murdered by her boyfriend's father Arthur Ream who led police to her shallow grave at the current search site. Photo / supplied.
Cindy Zarzycki was murdered by her boyfriend's father Arthur Ream who led police to her shallow grave at the current search site. Photo / supplied.

It is the discovery of Cindy Zarzyki's remains in the Macomb Township woods in 2008 that has brought police back there today.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Cindy was 13 years old and considered a responsible young teenager when she left her parents' East Detroit home in April, 1986 and never returned.

Cindy had been dating schoolboy Scott Ream and told her parents she got on well with Scott's father, Arthur.

On the Sunday morning she left home she was going to meet Arthur at the local Dairy Queen shop for what he told her was a secret birthday surprise for Scott.

There was no birthday party and once Ream had got Zarzycki into his carpet shop van, he raped her.

Friends say she probably would have fought back, resulting in her attacker murdering her.

Arthur Ream was not charged with Cindy's murder until years later, and was only convicted in 2008.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He was facing a sentencing hearing when he agreed to lead police to her body in the wooded area 50m below street level he once frequented.

They found Cindy's remains buried near a creek and Ream was sentenced to life in prison.

Police with shovels and excavators are continuing to dig the very muddy ground in Macomb Township in the hope of finding up to seven bodies of missing girls, all victims of Arthur Ream.

"We have probable cause to believe that (Kimberly) is buried there," Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer told WABI news.

"We also believe that there's maybe four to six other girls that have been reported missing that are buried there. We certainly are convinced we have the right area. It's just a sad type of situation."

"I want to bring my sister home and lay her to rest," Brenda Lee Handloser, sister of Nadine O'Dell told reporters.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I don't care if it's a bone, a piece of hair, a nail. I don't care. I just want my sister."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

'Most horrific attacks': Russian strikes on Kyiv kill 14, injure dozens

17 Jun 08:03 AM
World

'No sense': Defence challenges motive in mushroom poisoning case

17 Jun 07:34 AM
World

'Everyone evacuate': Trump's warning amid G7 Middle East talks

17 Jun 07:15 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

'Most horrific attacks': Russian strikes on Kyiv kill 14, injure dozens

'Most horrific attacks': Russian strikes on Kyiv kill 14, injure dozens

17 Jun 08:03 AM

Twenty-seven locations in Kyiv were hit, including residential buildings.

'No sense': Defence challenges motive in mushroom poisoning case

'No sense': Defence challenges motive in mushroom poisoning case

17 Jun 07:34 AM
'Everyone evacuate': Trump's warning amid G7 Middle East talks

'Everyone evacuate': Trump's warning amid G7 Middle East talks

17 Jun 07:15 AM
Body in bushland confirmed as missing teen Pheobe Bishop

Body in bushland confirmed as missing teen Pheobe Bishop

17 Jun 04:47 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP