Police Identify 1987 Murder Suspect

patrick-gilham
patrick-gilham

Michigan State Police have identified the suspect arrested this week in a 1987 murder in Niles as 67-year-old Patrick Gilham of South Bend. 30-year-old Roxanne Leigh Wood was found dead in her home with her throat cut in February 1987. Berrien County Prosecutor Steve Pierangeli spoke at a press conference Friday.

“On Thursday, February 17, 2022 at 1:15 p.m. Patrick Wayne Gilham, a white male, date of birth 9-5-54, was arrested at his residents by officers from the South Bend Police Department on an extraditable warrant issued by the Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office.”

Pierangeli said the case had been closed until 2020, when two state police detectives reopened it and began reviewing thousands of pages of evidence and conducting interviews.

“We did talk to the family of Roxanne Wood as well as her husband, Terry Wood, who was married to her at the time, and made them aware of the arrest. So, they are all aware.”

Prosecutors have not said what led them to Gilham. He’s charged with open murder and breaking and entering and faces life in prison. Police say he broke into Roxanne Wood’s home, encountered her, and killed her. She was found dead by her husband after they had been bowling the night before, with her heading home around midnight and Terry Wood following about 45 minutes later.