NILES, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – A man who allegedly used a knife and frying pan to kill a woman near Niles 35 years ago has been arrested this week for the murder.
67-year-old Patrick Gilham of South Bend, Indiana, was arrested at his home around 1:15 p.m. Thursday for the killing of 30-year-old Roxanne Wood.
Gilham was jailed in St. Joseph County, Indiana, pending extradition to Michigan, where he faces charges of open murder and breaking and entering of an occupied dwelling.
Michigan State Police Detective 1st Lt. Chuck Christensen said at a Friday afternoon press conference, “How we connected with him will be revealed through the court process.”
He said two detectives took the case up in August 2020, reviewed more than 3,300 pages of documents and went back to the evidence, plus conducted new interviews and surveillance.
According to Indiana court records, Gilham was on parole at the time of the murders for burglary and criminal deviate conduct. He pleaded guilty to those crimes in 1980 and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He was released after six. years
Gilham had appealed his 1980 conviction after a court ruled in an unrelated case that judges must verbally explain a defendant’s rights prior to accepting their guilty plea.
He got out of Indiana’s Westville Correctional Facility August 5, 1986.
February 20, 1987, Roxanne Wood was found dead in the home she shared with husband. In the hours leading up to Roxanne Wood’s murder, she and her husband Terry Wood had gone out to a bar and then bowling alley in Niles. Roxanne left the bowling alley around midnight and her husband followed about 45 minutes later.
Lt. Christensen said detectives think Gilham may have been responsible for other crimes.
