2018 is shaping up to be the year that cold case serial killers are finally brought to justice. First, the FBI and California law enforcement arrested Joseph DeAngelo and charged him with the crimes of the "Golden State Killer" and the "East Area Rapist." Now, investigators in Michigan claim that 68-year-old Arthur Ream may be the man responsible for a string of murders and disappearances dating all the way back to the late 1970s.
The Detroit Free Press reports that police in Macomb Township now believe that Ream may have abducted and killed 12-year-old girl Kimberly King, who went missing way back in 1979.
Given Ream's criminal history, if he really did kill King, then he most likely lured the young girl into his vehicle under false pretenses. This scenario ended the life of Ream's only known victim.
Ream was first convicted in 2008 of the 1986 murder of 13-year-old Cindy Zarzycki, a teenager originally from Eastpointe, Michigan who went missing after leaving a local Dairy Queen. Detectives say that Ream tricked Zarzycki into entering his car by promising to take her to a surprise party for his son. At the time, Zarzycki dated Ream's son.
Ream was sentenced to life in prison for this crime. Ream is also a convicted pedophile who received another prison sentence for raping a 15-year-old.
Cold cases
On Tuesday, Michigan investigators returned to the vacant farm where at least four of Ream's possible victims were buried. The farm, which is located at 23 Mile Road and North Avenue in Warren, Michigan, is the exact same spot where police first uncovered Zarzycki's remains a decade ago. Police are hoping to find more of Ream's victims in this dumping ground.
Besides King, investigators believe that Ream may also be connected to other young girls who went missing in the area in the early 1980s. 17-year-old Kellie Brownlee vanished in 1982. 15-year-old Kim Larrow never returned to her Canton Township home and was declared a missing person in 1981.
Last seen alive
12-year-old King was last seen alive on September 15, 1979.
At the time, she was staying with her grandparents. The grandparents just so happened to live in Warren. That night, Kimberly made plans to attend a sleepover with a neighbor, but called her sister at approximately 11:30 PM from a public telephone. Konnie Beyma, Kimberly's older sister, told the young girl to return to her neighbor's house. This did not happen, and Kimberly was officially listed as missing the next day.
"It's the most important thing in my life. Absolutely," Konnie told ABC affiliate station WXYZ in Detroit. Beyma says that she no longer believes that her sister is alive. She simply wants her remains to "come home."
