...Retired troopers told of a July 23, 1987, incident in which [1st wife] Starr Ann Holbrook shot at him with a state police-issued gun as he arrived home from work... [2nd wife] Joni Holbrook's attorney Jesse Williams says this is not a coincidence...WOMAN WHO REPORTEDLY SHOT FORMER COLDWATER MSP TROOPER FACES PRELIMINARY EXAM TODAY
By Don Reid
The Daily Reporter
Sun Sep 27, 2009, 09:19 PM EDT
[Excerpts] Defense attorneys for Joni Holbrook, the wife of former Coldwater Michigan State Police (MSP) Trooper Sgt. Melvin Holbrook, who is charged with his Aug. 10 murder, want further information about circumstances of a 1987 Branch County shooting. The Traverse City Record-Eagle reported Saturday a retired former fellow trooper told investigators then wife Starr Ann Holbrook shot at him with a MSP-issued gun on July 23, 1987 at their Coldwater area home. She missed... [Full article here]
THERE IS NEW INFORMATION INTO THE SHOOTING DEATH OF A MICHIGAN STATE POLICE SERGEANT.
upnorthlive.com
By Roxanne Werly
Friday, September 25, 2009 at 2:42 p.m.
[Excerpts] The incident report obtained by 7 & 4 news reveals Michigan Police Sergeant Melvin Holbrook's ex-wife shot at him twice in 1987. No one was hurt in the 1987 shooting and according to the report the sergeant did not want to press charges. The couple divorced in 1992 and Holbrook remarried in 1999. In August Sergeant Holbrook was shot and killed at his Benzie County home. Joni Holbrook has admitted to shooting and killing her husband... Joni Holbrook's attorney Jesse Williams says this is not a coincidence. He says he's concerned why charges weren't filed when the first shooting took place and concerned with the lack of an investigation. Williams says had it been investigated properly his client, Joni Holbrook, would not be in the situation that she is in today... [Full article here]
HOLBROOK PROBE REVEALS 1987 SHOOTING Police seargent's then-wife allegedly shot at him twice
BY ART BUKOWSKI
abukowski@record-eagle.com
Published: September 25, 2009
[Excerpts] In July 1987, the then-wife of Michigan State Police Sgt. Melvin Holbrook turned his service weapon on him and fired two shots, an incident that preceded by two decades Holbrook's shooting death, allegedly by another wife. Details of the 1987 shooting in Branch County emerged from police interviews and document searches during a probe of Joni Holbrook, who's accused of shooting Melvin Holbrook to death as he slept early Aug. 10... Melvin Holbrook was not injured in the 1987 incident, and his then-wife, Starr Ann Holbrook, was not charged with a crime. Police investigating Holbrook's death contacted several former staffers at the state police post in Coldwater, where Holbrook, 53, served after graduating from police recruit school in 1986. Retired troopers told of a July 23, 1987, incident in which Starr Ann Holbrook shot at him with a state police-issued gun as he arrived home from work. The couple was separated at the time, reports indicate, and Starr was at his Coldwater residence. Melvin Holbrook arrived home shortly before 11 p.m., according to a supplement he filed with the original 1987 police report. As he was in the driveway emerging from his car, he saw his wife step outside with his service revolver. She shot and hit the driveway seconds after he got back in his car and backed up, according to the report... She fired a second time as he drove away and headed back to the post to report the incident. He didn't request criminal charges... Starr Holbrook recently acknowledged to a Benzie County Sheriff's investigator that she was involved in the incident... A retired trooper told investigators "it was clear from statements made by (Melvin) Holbrook that his wife had become upset upon finding out" he had been dating another state police trooper. [Full article here]
Previous posts:
- [MI] Joni Holbrook charged with murdering husband, State Patrol Sgt. Melvin Holbrook- ...Deputies say when they arrived they found that Sergeant Holbrook had been shot dead in his bed. His wife again admitted to shooting her husband...
- [MI] Neighbors didn't call the police when State Police Sgt. Melvin Paul Holbrook's wife Joni was abused. - ...Barbara Johnson who lived for about three years on Derby Road near the Holbrooks, said Joni Holbrook appeared at Johnson's home last fall and said her husband had just beaten her. "I asked, 'Why don't you call the cops?'" Baker said. "(Joni) said 'He is the police.'"...
- [MI] Attorney says Joni's diminished to the shell of a person. Sheriff will interview neighbors who say they were aware of abuse at the Holbrook's. - "...Her history of mental, physical and sexual abuse from her husband has diminished her to an absolute shell of a person"... The department will interview neighbors who alleged Melvin Holbrook was physically abusive toward his wife...
- [MI] Judge rules murder-charged Joni Holbrook's defense team won't be gagged. (Does she need hospital testing?) - ...Joni Holbrook continues to be held at the Benzie County Jail without bond. Williams asked that a bond be set because Holbrook is suffering from strokes and needs medical attention...
Starr Ann was the first wife but Joni is the THIRD wife, Melvin was married to another between Starr Ann & Joni.
ReplyDeleteHow is it that the first wife shot at him with his state issued weapon when he was arriving home from work? He didn't have his weapon with him at work? Something is wrong with the reports being put out by the media
ReplyDeleteThank you on the wife count.
ReplyDeleteGood question about the weapon.
Testimony: Holbrook may have been awake
ReplyDeleteTraverse City Record
BY ART BUKOWSKI
September 29, 2009
BEULAH -- It's possible Michigan State Police Sgt. Melvin Holbrook was awake when shot, a forensic pathologist testified...
http://www.record-eagle.com/local/local_story_272072122.html
There are a lot of services out there that Joni could have gone to before she shot him while he was asleep in their bed.
ReplyDeleteHOLBROOK RELEASED AS SHE AWAITS TRIAL
ReplyDeleteShe is charged with open count of murder in death of husband
record-eagle.com
By ART BUKOWSKI abukowski@record-eagle.com
October 13, 2009 07:27 am
[Excerpts] Accused murderer Joni Holbrook will be released from jail and allowed to live with her parents as she awaits trial in the shooting death of her husband, a Michigan State Police sergeant. Benzie District Judge Nancy Kida granted Holbrook a $30,000 bond upon completion of her preliminary examination Monday... Kida ordered Holbrook to wear an electronic tether equipped with GPS tracking. She's allowed to leave her parents' Grand Traverse County home only for medical appointments or court proceedings... Much of Monday's testimony came from Benzie County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Troy Lamerson, the lead investigator on the case, and Benzie 911 operator Nicole Smith. Lamerson told Amberg during cross examination that he doesn't consider it a conflict of interest for state police to help with the sheriff's department investigation of the case, even if some state officers knew Melvin Holbrook personally. Police reports indicate several state police officers were on scene, including Traverse City post commander Lt. Bill Elliott... Lamerson also said he ruled out Joni Holbrook's son as a suspect based largely on an interview another deputy conducted with the son the night of the incident... Investigators didn't take Dilts' fingerprints or test his body or clothes for gunshot residue, Lamerson said. [Full article here]