Four victims of unsolved crimes: Who they were, how they died

OTTAWA COUNTY — Four females — a child and three adults — all share one agonizing secret: the unknown identity of the person who killed them. 

They are the victims of four Ottawa County homicides that remain unsolved, but certainly not forgotten. Investigators say they won’t quit until they get answers, and that could add years to already years-long — some decades — investigations. 

But in the meantime, the victims and their stories are just that: a recollection of who they are and who may have stolen their lives.

Each case is different, each victim’s life ended horrifically. Still, their stories need to be told in order for the cases to be solved, authorities say:

• The obituary for Elizabeth Rose Gelineau speaks of an "angel" who "found her wings" on a Sunday in December 2005. It mentions how the 16-month-old girl was treasured by her mother and grandparents, a toddler who "flew away too soon."
• Under the nameless gravestone of a brutally murdered woman found in the late 1960s along a Blendon Township intersection lies a mystery. 
• Skeletal remains of a Minnesota woman found by rabbit hunters in 1994 in Wright Township taunt investigators who have diligently tried to locate her killer. 
• And lastly, a fiercely independent animal lover living alone in Port Sheldon Township didn’t survive the stab wounds that ultimately killed her, leaving yet another unsolved cold case for authorities to unravel. The only witness to the crime? Her German Shepherd. 

Here are their stories:

The Child

The short life of Elizabeth Rose Gelineau is condensed in a file with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office. The end of her life is far more harrowing than its beginning and the case continues to be a frustrating one for authorities.  

Gelineau did not simply “fly away” as her obituary detailed; she died on Dec. 11, 2005, from skull fractures and broken bones — injuries consistent with severe child abuse.

Unfathomable as it seems — an adult whom she knew and trusted hurt the child so severely that her small body couldn’t recover. Police said she was injured at the Georgetown Township home where she lived with her mother and her mother’s grandparents. Resuscitation efforts on the child had started, but she did not survive. 

Twenty years later, no one has been charged, though investigators have suspects narrowed down, sadly, to those closest to her. 

"It’s not a 'whodunnit,'" said Captain Jake Sparks of Investigative Services with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office. "We believe the person responsible was someone caring for her at the time. We just don’t have the probable cause to prove which one of them inflicted the fatal harm."

There has never been enough evidence to charge one of those individuals in the home at that time, Sparks said.

“One of the people in the home caused injury and terrible harm to this baby which led to her dying, and we don't know which one of those people it is,” he said. 

Sparks said she died from “severe injuries consistent with child-abuse related injuries, broken bones and skull fractures.” 

'Jenny'

The oldest mystery in the county’s files dates back to October 1967. In a wooded area near the intersection of 52nd Avenue and Fillmore Street in Blendon Township, a young, undernourished Black woman was found beaten and strangled. Her body appeared to have been dumped in the area. 

Over the past several decades, investigators have interviewed countless people, hoping for any hint of evidence to identify the woman and pinpoint who killed her. 

Authorities said over the course of their investigation, police travelled 1,200 miles, spent over 400 man-hours, talked with 700 people, and compared her with 10–15 missing persons. Still, nothing has yet led to her identity. 

Investigators referred to her as “Jenny” so she had an identity for the sake of the investigation. For more than half a century, that nickname has been the only identity she has known.

The woman was roughly 5 feet 8 inches tall and very, very thin — weighing about 100 pounds. Her age range is wide: She could have been as young as 13 or as old as 30, Sparks said.  

When her body was discovered, it was clear she hadn’t had the means to care for herself. It wasn’t clear whether she was homeless at the time, police have said. 

“I would say based on her clothing, apparent lack of health and prior injuries, we can surmise that she lived a tough, possibly impoverished life,” Sparks said.

Following the discovery of her body, she was buried in an unmarked grave in the Blendon Township Cemetery.

In July 2020, detectives exhumed her remains. They are working with the DNA Doe Project, using genetic genealogy to build a family tree that might lead them to her real name.

“We continue to work with genetic genealogy, but no recent tips have come in. It will be a needle in a haystack to have somebody who still has some information about that case because it occurred over 58 years ago. We’re still working on it and we've tried to get information to the public for possible tips,” Sparks said. 

“Until we can identify her and try to figure out who she was and what her life circumstances were around the time of the murder, that one remains pretty much a mystery.” 

The Farmhouse Murder

On July 26, 1977, 20-year-old Deborah Lynn Polinsky failed to show up for her second-shift job at the now-defunct DePree Chemical Co. When a concerned co-worker went to check on her at her rented farmhouse in Port Sheldon Township, that person discovered a gruesome scene.

Polinsky, 20 at the time of her death, was found naked in her bedroom with stab wounds and blunt force trauma to her head. No weapon was found at the scene, and there is no known motive for her death. Her German Shepherd, Thor, was found in the home when police arrived — unharmed.

For decades, the case went cold. Polinsky was remembered by her sister, Tami Elzinga, as a "fiercely independent" woman who loved her pets — a cat, a duck named Dudley and Thor. She was often seen driving her red Volkswagen Beetle around Holland and Saugatuck.

In 2015 and 2017, DNA processing of the crime scene revealed the presence of a second person’s DNA — and it belonged to a woman.

"That was the main update," Sparks said. "It could be that the female was the assailant, or a witness who was present. We just haven't been able to match that profile to a suspect yet."

The sheriff's office has created a Facebook page called "Justice for Deb Polinsky" with information about the murder and contact information for the detectives looking at the case. 

From 'Matilda' to Shelly

While who "Jenny" really is remains a mystery, another case recently saw a breakthrough in identity, if not yet in justice.

For 28 years, the skeletal remains found by hunters in a Wright Township field in 1994 were known only as "Matilda." But in 2022, the Cold Case Team announced that "Matilda" was actually Shelly Kephart, also known as Shelly Rae Christian, thanks to genetic genealogy tools.

In September 2021, Detectives Sara Fillman and Allison Anderson traveled to Minnesota to contact the family of Kephart. Kephart was 29 when she went missing from Hennepin County, Minnesota, in 1993.

Her journey to Michigan remains a black hole in the timeline. Detectives have tracked her movements through the South, possibly Louisiana, but how she ended up discarded in an Ottawa County field remains unknown.

Kephart was 29 when she went missing from Hennepin County, Minnesota, in 1993. Her journey to Michigan remains a black hole in the timeline. Detectives have tracked her movements through the South, possibly Louisiana, but how she ended up discarded in an Ottawa County field remains unknown.

Investigators have looked into Garry Dean Artman, a suspected serial killer who died in prison, as a possible link. However, the evidence remains insufficient for a formal charge.

"The identification was a victory," Sparks said. "But the case remains uncharged. We are still backtracking her movements, trying to find the person who brought her here."

“It was quite the victory, just for the detectives to be able to identify Shelley because it was just skeletal remains. So big shout-out to the DNA Doe Project, again, which was able to help us through genetic genealogy to link her as this missing person out of Minnesota.”

How to help

The sheriff’s office is urging anyone with information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, to come forward.

"Someone knows something," the investigator said. "We just need that one key piece of the puzzle to move forward."

 Anyone with information regarding these cases is asked to contact the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office at 616-738-4000.

Anonymous tips can be submitted through Silent Observer at 877-88-SILENT or online at mosotips.com.

— Heather VanDyke covers northern Ottawa County for the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at hvandyke@ottawanewsnetwork.org.