NILES, Mich. — A suspect was arrested Thursday in connection to a Niles cold case from 1987.
On Feb. 20, 1987, 30-year-old Roxanne Leigh Wood was found dead in the kitchen area of her Niles Township home by her husband, Terry Wood. Troopers responded to the scene and began investigating.
The investigation has remained open for 35 years.
In 2001, the Michigan State Police Fifth District Cold Case Team investigated the case for over a year. Interviews were conducted and evidence collected, but the Cold Case Team ended their investigation in 2002 with no arrests made.
In August 2020, Sgts. John Moore and Jason Bailey of the MSP Niles Post Special Investigation Section began to investigate Wood's death, which included reviewing nearly 3,500 pages of interviews, evidence and surveillance operations.
On Thursday, 67-year-old Patrick Wayne Gilham, of South Bend, was arrested in his home in connection to Wood's death, according to police. Gilham was charged with open murder and breaking and entering of an occupied dwelling.
"We would like to, once again, express our sympathy to Wood’s biological family and her former husband Terry, but are hopeful this latest news will provide them with some modicum of closure," reads a Michigan State Police statement about the case.
Due to the ongoing investigation, authorities are unable to disclose how Gilham was identified as being connected to the murder.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Michigan State Police Niles Post at 269-683-4411.
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