By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
NILES – News came last week in a 35 year cold case murder as the man arrested last month has accepted a plea agreement. In addition, the trial of the man who allegedly shot a Michigan State Police trooper last fall has been delayed.
Berrien County Prosecutor Steve Pierangeli reported late last week that Patrick Wayne Gilham, 67, of South Bend, IN
has pleaded no contest to second-degree murder for the 1987 murder of Roxanne Wood. Gilham agreed to a minimum sentence of 23 years in prison and will be sentenced April 25 in Niles.
Gilham was charged Feb.16 with open murder and breaking and entering of an occupied dwelling. If he had gone to trial and been convicted of first-degree murder, he would have faced life in prison without the possibility of parole. Breaking and entering an occupied dwelling is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The charges stem from allegations Gilham forcibly entered the home of Wood on Feb. 20, 1987, in Niles Township. Once inside, Gilham encountered the victim and killed her by stabbing her. Wood’s husband, Terry Wood arrived home shortly after, discovered the body, and contacted the police. Wood was 30 at the time of the offense.
The case was investigated by the Michigan State Police in collaboration with many outside agencies. As reported over the weekend by a Grand Rapids television station, the break in the case came with help from an investigative genetic genealogist.
Pierangeli said the plea was offered by the Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office in consultation with Wood’s family. “The plea bargain was offered with the input of family members, including her husband Terry Wood,” Berrien County Assistant Prosecutor Jerry Vigansky said.
“This sentence agreement effectively keeps Mr. Gilham in prison for the rest of his life. This plea will allow the family to have some closure and continue to work on healing from this tragic murder.”
Gilham had initially been scheduled for a preliminary hearing at the Niles Courthouse this week before accepting the plea. Some details of the case were provided in the complaint and warrant statement in the Gilham court file including how police were able to hone in on Gilham as a suspect last year.
The complaint stated that Terry Wood arrived home to find his wife lying in a pool of blood with her throat cut. Police discovered that a back utility door had been forcibly entered. A droplet of blood was found on the door as well as the results of a sexual assault kit were entered into the state’s Combined DNA Index System with no matches found.
The complaint further stated that investigators “received information from a credible and reliable source” in February, 2021 that Gilham should be looked at “as the possible contributing source of the unknown male DNA profile.” Michigan State Police found that Gilham had resided in the Michiana area in 1987 and that his DNA had not been on file.
An “alternate DNA source” for Gilham was obtained on June 3, 2021 in the form of a “publicly discarded cigarette butt.” The cigarette butt was examined by the Michigan State Police Laboratory for comparison to the unknown DNA collected at the Wood crime scene.
The complaint stated that tests conducted showed that Gilham’s DNA matched the DNA collected at the scene “at a rate of 1 in 958.8 trillion.”
Gilham was first interviewed by the Michigan State Police at the South Bend Police Department on July 29, 2021. He denied ever going to Michigan except for work in 1987 which was a time when he was on parole in Indiana. He denied knowing the street where the Wood lived or knowing Roxanne Wood when shown pictures of her.
“Det/Sgt (Jason) Bailey informed Gilham that the woman in the picture had been assaulted,” the complaint stated. “Gilham began to breath rapidly and his hands shook as he was holding them up. At that time, he said he needed to talk to a lawyer and the interview was ended.”
In the other high profile case, Isaac Ntabaazi, 24, of Niles will now face trial in Berrien County Trial Court in mid-May rather than this month. He had been scheduled to go to trial in Berrien County Trial Court starting March 14 but will now go to trial in mid-May.
Defense attorney Scott Sanford said that Berrien County Trial Judge Sterling Schrock agreed to a delay in the trial earlier this month. A new status conference date has been set April 25 with the trial itself set to run May 11-13. The status conference is the last time that a defendant can make a plea and avoid trial.
Sanford told Judge Schrock in late January that he needed more time in order to complete testing on the guns used in the incident as well as clothing. Judge Schrock left the March trial dates in place at that point but granted the delay Monday.
The incident occurred Oct. 6 when Michigan State Police Trooper Jason Devries pulled over a vehicle in which Ntabaazi was a passenger. It is alleged that Ntabaazi fired a gun at Devries during the traffic stop which occurred at the intersection of 9th and Main Streets in Niles.
Devries asked Ntabaazi to step out of the car and a struggle ensued when he did. Ntabaazi allegedly refused to take his hands out of his pockets and during the struggle he allegedly fired a pistol which struck Devries in the leg. Devries returned fire and struck Ntabaazi in the head.
Both were taken to the hospital but have since recovered although Ntabaazi is blind from his injuries.
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