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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

[MI] 8 YEARS AGO, 1 MONTH AFTER FILING FOR DIVORCE, STATE TROOPER SGT.'S WIFE BERNITA SIMS [WHITE] WAS EXECUTED BY A SNIPER'S SHOT THROUGH HER HEART

Image: "They knew exactly what firearm to use"


MIBernitaWhite1.jpg
Bernita Sims [White]

Bernita is always referred to as Bernita White - and legally that was her name when she was murdered. But she had filed divorce... so to me - and I believe for her, she is Bernita Sims.

It's an open case and Det. Sgt. Artis White is still THEE only named person of interest & is still on the job.



REMEMBERING BERNITA WITH EXCERPTS FROM OLD ARTICLES:

...Bernita White was shot just outside the entrance of the Potter Park Zoo. She was with her 5-year old child. Her husband, Artis, a Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. at the time, was considered a suspect. Lansing Police Lt. Bruce Ferguson says,"...there's been no one fully excluded..."

A state trooper's wife visiting a crowded zoo with her daughter was killed by a rifle shot fired from a nearby wooded area. Her mother died of a heart attack when she was told of the shooting...


...The warrants quote Bernita White's mother, 67-year-old Barbara Sims of Detroit, as saying "Artis had her killed," when a trooper informed her of her daughter's death. Sims died after getting the news...

...Mother and daughter were buried in the same week...


...Artis White left Potter Park just minutes before Bernita White was shot in front of her 5-year-old daughter at about 3:15 p.m. outside the zoo's entrance... White did admit that he hired a private investigator to follow his wife. At a custody hearing for the couple's children, Artis threatened to show a videotape of his wife with another man...

...He told investigators he attended a picnic with his wife in the early afternoon and left to pick up their other daughter. He arrived at the zoo about an hour after the shooting... Authorities have said marital problems and a custody dispute over couple's two young daughters were possible motives...

...Police believe that Artis White had enough time to fire the shot, the search warrants said. Hall said investigators still consider Artis White a suspect in the shooting. No one has been charged in the killing. The search warrant lists a pending divorce and a private investigator hired by White as possible motives in the killing...

...The warrant requests, unsealed last week, portray White as obsessive. Priebe wrote that White admitted hiring a private investigator to follow his wife and "that he had been inappropriately using police facilities such as Law Enforcement Information Network records to check on his wife and persons she was seeing"...

...Artis White admitted using the Law Enforcement Information Network to check on his wife's whereabouts...

...White did admit that he hired a private investigator to follow his wife. At a custody hearing for the couple's children, Artis threatened to show a videotape of his wife with another man... Artis White told police he was having an affair with a Michigan State Police employee, search warrants showed...

...Investigators determined that the fatal shot came from a rifle in a wooded area north of the zoo's ticket booth... "We're confident the shooter was a long distance away"...

...Artis White, a Michigan State Police trooper, has maintained his innocence and criticized police for focusing on him while, he said, the real killer got away...

"I know that we continue to live our lives ... and we're just taking one day at a time," White said, referring to himself and his two daughters, ages 9 and 7. Investigators want to intervie.w White further... But Artis White said he refuses to talk with police while they consider him a suspect. Public spotlight on the case had slowed until Artis White released a book about the homicide and the ongoing investigation earlier this year. White said he wrote "Who Killed My Wife?" because he believes police have had enough time to find his wife's killer - and hopes the project will help do just that...

MIBernita_White3.jpg

My name is Artis White and I am the author of "Who Killed My Wife?"- The Unsolved Murder of Bernita White. "Who Killed My Wife?" is a true story. It is about my wife, Bernita who was killed with a high powered rifle while walking with our daughter in a crowded zoo in Lansing, Michigan. The murder, which occurred on June 23, 2001, has not been solved, and that is the premise of my book... Anyone who is interested in true crime will be interested in this book. The book is reported as: "Captivating as told through the eyes of a husband and the heart of a father with the knowledge of a trained investigator"...
[unsolved unresolved police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence (IPV) abuse law enforcement public safety state of michigan book "who killed my wife"]

21 comments:

  1. Justice for Bernita!

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  2. Amazing how these keystone clowns can pursue a charge on a joint, but can't investigate the obvious murder of a woman who told friends and family several times he told her he was going to kill her. then gets up in front of the folks at her funeral to proclaim his "innocence".Sickening, and sad.But. hey.They even kill their own. Remember Scott Woodring and Kevin Marshall, the trooper who's death was blamed on Scott and proven later it was a gun fight between the police and not Scott who wasn't even in the house when they shot each other.Pride Integrity Guts? Nope , just PIG! When will someone give some justice?
    Soon I hope.

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  3. I haven't heard about what she told friends or what was said at the funeral...

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  4. Oh my god, this is scary and horrible. We are not safe, many say Police and State Police are here to protect us who, are they kidding.

    No matter what, Jill and I will continue forward to speak out against the PA Court system and to bring awareness, they are allowing idiots like this Trooper to get away with murder!!!

    Rosa Torres-Sadler

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  5. Tony MedinaJune 23, 2010

    9 years later & this fiend still walks the streets...9 years ago today and Artis has had thunderstorms & lightening all day to remember how he murdered his wife.

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  6. Tony MedinaJune 23, 2010

    Please join the FB site Justice for Bernita! http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Justice-For-Bernita/259148404772?ref=ts

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  7. Thank you Behind The Blue Wall!

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  8. Originally, before reading the book, my thought was 'He must be innocent, or wouldn't bother writing a book titled "Who Killed My Wife" when he was a suspect........Until I read the book. She and her lost life is barely mentioned in the book rather what everyone/everything/instance{s} unfairly blamed him and made his life miserable. Poor, poor, Artis. According to him, HE is the MAIN victum. Can you spell 'SELF-ABSORBED'.
    Hope people look into 'all aspects' of this tragedy beyond Mr. White's limited/slanted viewpoint version given in his book. I did the further research and was disturbed with all the additional information he left out and didn't feel the need to inform in giving the reader a balanced opinion{in his book}. Certainly makes me suspect.

    Does that make him quilty? Not sure. But convinced me his decision in writing the book had nothing to do with finding the murderer of the mother of his children but satisfying his EGO. How Sad!

    To Bernita's two daughters....Hope you live with the peace that your mom loved you both and will always surround & protect you !

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  9. Until the current Prosecuting Attorney Stuart Dunnings is out of office, nothing much is going to be done to re-open this case. The family needs to go to the Federal Govt (US Attorney in Grand Rapids) and ask them to investigate this homicide, under the federal statute that Bernita White's Federal Civil Rights were violated. The Feds have the power to convene a grand jury, and bring forth witnesses and make people talk or risk contempt of court charges. Phone records,cell phone ping locations, financial records, computer files and any other source of information should be sought. Someone out there knows what happened. Another suggestion is to open a unsolved cold case unit, comprised of retired area detectives, who would work this case for free, not costing the citizens of Lansing anything.

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  10. AnonymousJune 23, 2011

    Well today marks the 10 year anniversary of this tragic event. I thought I would spend the day reading the books in it's full, and just add my two cents to this posting. First, why is it that NOWHERE in this book, Artis’ states he did NOT kill is wife? He does mention that in a case involving 9,000 investigating hours, of which he was interviewed for a mere 6 hours, only two people asked him if he killed Bernita. He does not state his responses to that question, nor anywhere in else in the book come out and say, he did NOT kill her. For someone IMPLYINGING that he is innocent, I would think he would just come out and say it, especially considering how much of the book is written to portray HIM as the VICTIM. In addition, very little to none of the book is about the loss of Bernita, In fact, the book isn’t even dedicated to her, it’s really more about him. Furthermore, I think its interesting that he becomes so defense once a detective, who in my opinion, came close to figuring out the case. But as he says in a few sentences later, in response to the detective, there wasn’t enough evidence to convict the shooter, let alone him. Well as a Detective Sergeant with MPD, who self proclaims that investigations come as second nature for him, I guess one would know how to eliminate or minimize as much physical evidence as possible. Speaking of evidence, the book states that the van that was driven to and fro the park, as well as the home, was searched by PD. The book also starts that the detective believed that Artis planted the weapon the night before the murder. Well, Artis states in the book that the night before the murder, he was out driving a different vehicle, one that was never searched. Why was this car was never searched? If the global tracking device in the van was seized to check the location, why not the tracking device in this car, which could have been used to plant the weapon. In addition, and I will just say it now, I know nothing of law or the criminal justice process, so I am a complete layman here, but if I killed someone and knew that my house and van which I drove that day were to be searched and seized, why not place the weapon in a different vehicle that would not have been searched. I am willing to bet the gun used in this shooing is still in that other vehicle, parked in his garage.

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  11. Saw her pic in the paper today. 11 years. that's a long time for a murderer to walk free.

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  12. Just have faith, whats done in the dark will eventually come to the light!

    A retired Law Enforcement Officer

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    Replies
    1. This makes 20 years. How long does god sit on his laurels for justice?

      Delete
  13. Thank you. It's a good thought. Somehow it does seem true that justice delayed is justice denied, but I do look forward to the truth.

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  14. AnonymousJune 14, 2013

    Glad to know Lansing hasnt forgotten this tragedy. I am new to the area and I never heard of this case but it is sad. Looking forward to the truth being exposed soon. But I know that the murderer will have to answer to a higher power in the end.

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  15. Dont buy the Book. Steal it off the net if you must read it but dont contribute one cent to this POS!

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  16. ["FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON”]
    POLICE RELEASE SUSPECT PROFILE IN 12-YEAR-OLD LANSING HOMICIDE
    Lansing State Journal
    Jun. 14, 2013
    [Excerpts] Police on Friday released a profile of the suspect... Investigators believe they are close to solving the June 23, 2001 killing of Bernita White... “We know there is critical information out there that someone is holding on dearly to, for some unknown reason”... According to the profile, completed by state police, the suspect is a man, about the same age as White. He is intelligent, articulate and educated. He was “emotionally connected to Bernita” and familiar with the Potter Park area... “manipulative” as well as task-oriented and methodical... http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20130614/NEWS01/306140039/Police-release-suspect-profile-12-year-old-Lansing-homicide

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  17. AnonymousMay 26, 2014

    Justice will soon find him.

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  18. Now that the prosecutor Stuart Dunnings is out of office for corruption and in prison I really hope finally that the family can get justice. Why was he allowed to continue in the State Police when he abused his job privileges in order to stalk her?

    ReplyDelete

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