Cold Case Files: REOPENED – The Cufflink
Hosted by Paula Barros, "Cold Case Files" delves into some of the most baffling unsolved murders in American history. In the episode titled "REOPENED: The Cufflink," released on March 6, 2025, host Paula Barros explores the haunting case of Jeanette Kirby, a disappearance that remained unsolved for decades until a breakthrough connected it to a series of violent crimes.
1. Introduction
The episode opens with the chilling account of Jeanette Kirby's disappearance on June 10, 1986. Following her regular routine, Jeanette vanished during an evening walk in Riverbend Park, Michigan, leaving her family in despair.
2. The Disappearance of Jeanette Kirby
Jeanette Kirby adhered to her usual schedule: waking up, going to work, and taking a sunset walk after work. However, on that fateful Tuesday, she never returned home. Her mother, Muriel Kirby, initially assumed a benign reason for her absence, contacting Jeanette's workplace and maintaining communication throughout the day. It wasn't until the next morning that Muriel realized something was terribly wrong.
Muriel Kirby [00:45]: "I started calling Jeanette's office and talked to her supervisor, and we communicated all day long because Jeanette wasn't there and she didn't answer her phone at home."
3. Discovery of the Body
With growing concern, Muriel and her cousin Nancy visited Jeanette's favored hiking trail, Riverbend Park. They discovered Jeanette's car with a parking ticket timestamped hours after her disappearance, confirming she had not returned.
John Hornjack, a family friend and part of a 30-person search team, made a gruesome discovery two days later. While searching the woods, Hornjack found Jeanette's body on the riverbank, bound with police-style flex cuffs and covered in multiple stab wounds.
David Dram [04:02]: "I knew there was something drastically wrong."
4. Initial Investigation
The discovery of Jeanette's body presented a perplexing crime scene. The only significant evidence was the flex cuffs, which unlike standard zip ties, were police-grade restraints without a key. The lack of a weapon, fingerprints, or DNA samples made the case incredibly challenging for investigators.
5. Linking to Cynthia Miller's Case
Shortly after Jeanette's disappearance, another body surfaced—Cynthia Miller—found near the same riverbank. Initially, authorities feared a serial killer was at large. However, Cynthia's body had been in the water for at least a month, indicating a separate incident. Subsequently, Robert Jones and Earl Cox confessed to Cynthia's murder, but their alibis for Jeanette's disappearance exonerated them from that case.
6. Robert Jones and Earl Cox
Jones and Cox's confessions were thoroughly vetted by prosecutor Sam Smith, who found no connection to Jeanette's case. Their involvement in Cynthia's murder did not shed light on Jeanette's mysterious death, leaving the case unresolved and deemed a cold case just five months after the discovery.
Muriel Kirby [09:13]: "I talked to the sheriff's department several times, enough so that they got tired of me and they said, you know."
7. The Cold Case Persists
Despite Muriel Kirby's relentless efforts and renewed attention from the sheriff's department, the case remained unsolved. The flex cuffs lingered as a unique yet insufficient piece of evidence, tantalizing yet elusive.
8. New Developments and David Dram
Sixteen years later, in 2001, a new angle emerged. David Dram, already serving 80 years for assaulting and raping two women, became a person of interest when evidence surfaced linking him to both his previous crimes and Jeanette Kirby's murder. Dram had been implicated in a recent attempted kidnapping, where police found police-grade flex cuffs in his possession.
Detective Pete Ackerley [24:08]: "We began interviewing a number of old friends, acquaintances of David Dram's, a number of people that were never interviewed originally."
9. Linking the Flex Cuffs
The breakthrough came through forensic analysis of the flex cuffs. An expert, Scott Marrier, determined that the cuffs found in Dram's possession were manufactured on the same machine as those used to bind Jeanette Kirby. Further investigation revealed that David Dram had received these cuffs from his friend, Mark Greco, who had previously found them in an old police car.
Scott Marrier [26:56]: "These were wonderful tool marks, both in quantity and quality, and it was actually a very easy identification to make between the metal tab that was removed from the flex cuff that was found on Jeannette Kirby and the one that could be associated to Mr. Draham."
Detectives narrowed the pool of potential matches to about 1,000 cuffs, a small fraction of the millions produced. Coupled with Dram's criminal history and possession of the cuffs, the evidence built a strong circumstantial case linking him to Jeanette's murder.
10. The Trial
In April 2001, Dram was formally charged with Jeanette Kirby's murder. During the trial, Prosecutor Sam Smith presented the forensic evidence alongside Dram's past crimes to establish a pattern of behavior consistent with the murder.
Prosecutor Sam Smith [32:26]: "What happened in the Kirby case was not their movie. Jeanette Kirby was not a woman that hung out with, I guess you could call them lowlifes."
The defense challenged the significance of the flex cuffs' similarity, arguing that manufacturing similarities do not equate to guilt. However, the prosecution emphasized the rarity and specific circumstances surrounding the cuffs, alongside Dram's violent history.
Assistant Attorney General Mark Bloomer [31:12]: "Use your common sense. Because these were used all over the world, what was the likelihood that all 1,000 possible matches were right here in Lansing."
11. Verdict and Conclusion
After three days of deliberation, the jury found David Dram guilty of second-degree murder. At sentencing, Dram received an additional 60 to 90 years in prison, ensuring he would remain incarcerated for life.
David Dram [33:31]: "She's had her day in court. Justice has been served, and that's what we've been fighting for for 16 years."
Jeanette Kirby's mother, Muriel, finally found a semblance of closure after sixteen long years, witnessing her daughter's killer being held accountable.
Production Credits:
- Host: Paula Barros
- Producers: McKamey, Lynn, and Steve Delamater
- Associate Producer: Julie Magruder
- Executive Producer: Ted Butler
- Music: Blake Maples
- Distributed by: Podcast One
- TV Series Producer: Curtis Productions (Hosted by Bill Curtis)
For more captivating cold cases, visit AE RealCrime Blog or check out the "Cold Case Files" TV series on A&E.