A little girl disappears while walking home from school. Nine days later, her body is found in Allegan County. It’s 1955 in Kalamazoo. Sixty-one years later, Nicole and Robert Du Shane stumble across her grave and her tragic story. Their book, One Silent Voice: The Jeannie Singleton Story, is the result.
“We were working on another story, researching and digging through library archives, and came across the unsolved mystery of Jeannie Singleton,” says Robert Du Shane. Nicole waved dismissed it at first but then was drawn into it too. The more they researched, the more intrigued the husband-and-wife history buffs became, and they set aside their first idea to work on a new book.
Little Jeannie was known for her friendly, trusting personality. Walking home alone from school, it was believed she may have accepted a ride from a stranger, never to be seen alive again. After her disappearance, the community gathered for one of the largest manhunts in Michigan’s history, which included neighbors, youth groups, students from Western Michigan University, and employees from nearby companies that shut down for the day to allow time for the search. But she wasn't found. A group of children playing in the woods in Allegan County found her nine days later. An autopsy report confirmed that she had been brutally raped and strangled.
Nicole Du Shane tells the story of hunting for the little girl’s grave as they began their research. "It was a cold, snowy day. We were wandering around the cemetery and couldn’t find her grave anywhere. We were about to give up when I called out, ‘Jeannie! Where are you?’ and a plastic red rose blew up over my foot. I looked down and there, just ten feet from us, was Jeannie’s grave.”
The couple investigated court records, police reports, and autopsy forms. They talked with Singleton family members and Jeannie's childhood friends. They spoke with the little boy, now a grown man, who was the last to see her alive. They spent time at the site where the little girl’s body was found. After all of that research, the Du Shanes reached a firm conclusion about who the murderer was — along with the corruption in the local police department they believe prevented the guilty person, who moved away from Michigan and is now dead, from being arrested and prosecuted.
Robert Du Shane, a Kalamazoo native, and Nicole Du Shane of Grand Haven, now live in Kalamazoo where they hope to restore a historic 1896 house into a bed and breakfast inn. They have written the "Paranormal Michigan" book series and The Haunted History of Kalamazoo. The Du Shanes will read from and talk about their book, One Silent Voice, on Saturday, April 2, at 1 p.m. at Kazoo Books II, 2413 Parkview Avenue. The event is free and open to the public.
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