James VanCallis

 

While I was watching a television show on this case, one I had never heard of yet, my mind kept going to the unsolved murders of Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi Indiana. I often find myself looking up information on a case while I am still watching an episode but when it came to this case it was different. I wanted to jump to the part where they caught the perpetrator and compare dates. I was actually a bit disappointed to find out that James VanCallis was found so quickly and had already been convicted before Abby and Libby's murders occurred in 2017. I was convinced that the crimes were so similar that either the perpetrator had not been caught before he murdered again, or had done his time and had somehow been released. I have not done a blog on Abby and Libby's murders as of yet mainly because I do not do a lot of unsolved cases but know that it is one that I follow closely. I lived in their area for about fifteen years and had only been gone a few years when the crime was committed.

But, as disappointed as I was that James VanCallis had been caught so quickly and could not be connected to the Delphi murders, I was also happy that he was caught, and on the radar of investigators very quickly despite the fact that this was a murder by person unknown to the victim.

On the evening of July 24, 2014, fourteen year old April Millsap went to the Macomb Orchard Trail in her hometown of Armada Michigan, about an hour north of Detroit, to walk her border collie, Penny. It is unclear at what point April's mother became worried that she had not returned home and could not reach her and she called the police to report her missing. One of the people that her mother had reached out to was April's boyfriend, Austin. Information indicated that Austin initially said that he had not heard from April but not long later went to her home and told her mom that he had gotten a text from her at close to 6:30 that said “I almost got kidnapped. OMFG.” It seems that by now it was at least after 8:30 and Austin, along with April's mom headed toward the trail. By the time April's mother arrived at the trail police were already there and it was then that she would learn that her daughter had been found dead.

Around 8:30 that evening two joggers were at the wooded trail area when a dog, later said to be Penny, had approached them and was acting strangely. The joggers followed the dog and were lead the body of April Millsap, about twenty feet off the side of the trail. She had been badly beaten and her clothes were in disarray.

Investigators learned of at least three people who had seen someone with April and all of them pretty much described the same things. One witness had seen April speaking to a man on a blue and white motorcycle. That witness had not really seen the man's face, but had described the motorcycle; it seems another witness had also seen the exchange between April the man and would identify him later as being James VanCallis. A third witness was thought to have interrupted VanCallis from sexually assaulting April. While the witness had not apparently seen April, they did see the man and a sketch was developed from their information. People had taken note of all of this because vehicles were not supposed to be on the trail at all so this had stuck out to people.

Law enforcement learned that April's cell phone and a backpack she had been carrying were missing from the scene. My research stated these were both found later but it was not specified as to wear that had been. However, investigators had discovered that while walking Penny, April had been using a fitness app on her phone. They were a bit horrified at what that app told them. The app had shown that April had been walking along, pretty steady, then she stopped for just a few and had circled back. Then, for a period of about ten minutes the app had recorded activity as if April was exercising. After this period of time the app showed investigators that the phone had left the area at a much faster pace than would be possible to walk. They followed the map through the app until it apparently abruptly stopped. However, they had followed the route the phone appeared to have taken.

Investigators scoured the area and found a home that had a surveillance camera that faced the road in which they believed the perpetrator had taken while holding April's phone. They looked at the video and saw the same blue and white motorcycle that had been described by those on the trail. While they could not determine who the person was on the motorcycle, or anything that told them who owned the motorcycle, they were able to determine that this motorcycle had passed this camera at the exact time the fitness app had indicated.

Law enforcement had issued a release to other officers with a description of the motorcycle that they were searching for almost immediately it seems. Later that same evening an off duty officer had seen a motorcycle that looked similar to the one that had been described. He took a picture and sent it to other officers. Officers went back to the home where the motorcycle had located but by the time they got there it was gone. They talked to the homeowner and he told them that the motorcycle they had seen belonged to his friend, James VanCallis, who had been visiting.

The following day an officer went VanCallis' home to talk to him. According to the officer while VanCallis appeared to have been completely cooperative, something nagged at him. Inside the home was VanCallis' girlfriend who listened while the officer asked questions regarding the murder of April Millsap. Van Callis claimed that during the time of the murder he had been no where near the crime. When asked what type of shoe he had been wearing the day before VanCallis walked inside and brought some shoes out. The reason for this question was because April had literally been stomped on and what was described as an “unique” shoe print had been embedded on her head. The officer looked at the shoes and he knew right away that these were not a match to the print left on April's body. Having nothing, the officer left. But, with the nagging feeling he went back the next day. This time VanCallis was less cooperative which also nagged at the officer but, there was nothing to go on other than a feeling.

In the meantime investigators were following other leads and tips. It was said that within a few days of the murder and with the description of the motorcycle and the sketch of the suspect there had been over 1,000 tips. None of the tips lead anywhere. The medical examiner had determined that April's cause of death was both blunt force trauma to the head and asphyxia “due to neck compression.” They had also determined that while April had not been sexually assaulted it appeared that an attempt had been made as her underwear were at her ankles and her bra had also been pulled down.

Just about a month after April was murdered James VanCallis was back on law enforcement radar, but for something totally unrelated. VanCallis was arrested, along with his father, on charges related to marijuana. Once he was arrested and in custody law enforcement got another break in April's case when VanCallis' girlfriend went to authorities.

According to the girlfriend VanCallis had been abusive and very controlling in their relationship and she feared him. She had never heard VanCallis confess to the murder of April but he had told her he had “messed up,” telling her to “back him up,” and she knew that he had lied to the officer early in the investigation about what shoes he had worn the day of the murder. She would tell investigators that on the night of the murder she had walked into the room and saw VanCallis cleaning his shoes with hand sanitizer. This is when he had made the comment about “messing up.” She said she had no idea what he was talking about until the following day when the officer had come to their door. She also claimed that on the day of the murder the shoes she had seen him cleaning were a pair of Air Jordan's and not the shoes he had showed the investigator. It appears that sometime between the murder the time VanCallis was arrested he had gotten rid of the shoes but the girlfriend showed investigators a picture of him wearing them at some point.

Since they could not find the actual shoes that VanCallis had worn law enforcement officers decided to actually buy a new pair of the shoes and have those compared to the marks left on April's body. They were a match. My research indicated that by that October when officials charged him with April's murder he was still in jail on the drug charges, but it was also indicated that it was possible that he could be released. Prosecutors asked that he be held on the murder charges without bail. Defense attorney's argued that his family all lived in the area and there was no reason that he would flee if he were released on bond. However, prosecutors countered that while VanCallis had never faced a charge this serious, he did have several misdemeanor charges in the past and claimed that on at least two occasions he had “disappeared on us for months at a time.” The judge agreed with prosecutors.

After a two week trial James VanCallis was convicted in February of 2016. He was given life sentences on charges of first degree murder and felony murder. He was given a sentence of nineteen years to forty years on the charge of kidnapping and given a seven to ten year sentence on the charge of attempted assault with the intent to penetrate.

Over the next few years an appeal was filed and upheld by the appeals court. That was appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court who sent it back for review to the appeals court who again affirmed the conviction and sentence. Once again it was appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court who this time ruled themselves that the conviction and sentence were appropriate.

The appeal had mainly argued two things. First, there was the customary argument of ineffective counsel. Secondly, it was argued that the evidence was insufficient to warrant a conviction. I will not even really address the first argument as this seems to be the “go to” basis for an appeal to get things looked at. I will however address the issue of the evidence. The defense argued that there was no physical evidence connecting VanCallis to the crime. This is actually true. While it was said that there was an attempt to sexually assault April the prosecution believes that he was interrupted by the witness hence no fluid was left behind that could have connected him through DNA. It also appears that there was no forensic evidence found under April nails that could have connected him. Prosecutors believed that April had been left defenseless when VanCallis had hit her on the head with his motorcycle helmet. It appears that while there was an indication that the motorcycle helmet had been obtained that there was nothing forensically connected to this. I am going to assume that it was argued that the helmet was cleaned prior to being collected from his home. I will agree considering that this is not a very old case I do find this to be a bit odd. In the same respect I found nothing that indicated that any “unknown” DNA was found. Nor did I find any indication that DNA relating to any other person had been found. Had one of these other things occurred I would have been on his side a bit more.

With the absence of physical evidence resulting in DNA results the investigators did have to rely on other things and this would have been the case whether the suspect had been VanCallis, or anyone else. Investigators testified that they had followed up on other leads and investigator other people who may have owned similar looking motorcycles but all information headed them back to VanCallis.

In my research I found an article from The Washington Post titled “The Dangerous Science that Helped Convict A 14-year-old Girls Killer.” The article discussed the issue of using the fitness app on April's phone as well as the idea of how the use of cellphone towers are being used in criminal cases. On one level I agreed with the article when it talked about how some experts argue that using cellphone towers to show where someone is located is a bit flawed. It has been determined that cellphones do not always ping on the closest tower to the person. That being said, I think the title of the article being related to this case was a complete disservice and ambiguous at best. This case did not use cellphone tower information. It had literally followed the fitness app and based on that app and time period they were able to see who prosecutors said was James VanCallis on his motorcycle driving down a road.

Investigators will often say they do not believe in coincidences when it comes to crimes. I do not know that I agree wholeheartedly but you cannot ignore it when there are several things. First, you have several people discussing the blue and white motorcycle being on the walking trail. Then you have the people who first would describe the person and later identify VanCallis. After that you have the phone going in a particular direction and then seeing the same blue and white motorcycle driving past. Add to all of this to the fact VanCallis obviously had a blue and white motorcycle and owned the types of shoes used to beat April and his girlfriend claims to see him cleaning them the night of her murder. While I would have liked to have seen some good forensics in this case, I also think there was enough evidence to convict him.