BATTLE CREEK, MICH. – Police say they solved the murder of a Michigan woman more than 30 years later, after a newly discovered blood sample linked a man to the fatal assault.
But no charges will be filed because Roger Plato was killed in 1988, three days before Gayle Barrus’ body was found by hunters in Calhoun County, prosecutor David Gilbert said.
Nonetheless, Barrus’ family are relieved that authorities believe the case has been resolved.
“I’m just going to breathe out and pray and tell my mom it’s done,” James Barrus of Dayton, Ohio, told the Battle Creek Enquirer. “She can rest knowing that we have the answers, and we don’t have to wait to see her again. “
Gayle Barrus, 30, was last seen alive in a cafe in Battle Creek. His body was found 16 days later along a road. Police said she was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death.
A few days before the discovery, Roger Plato was questioned by the police about another assault. He was shot and killed while trying to flee, the Enquirer reported. Investigators subsequently took a blood sample.
The case was cold until James Barrus contacted Battle Creek Police in 2018 to inquire. Detective Scott Marshall, who reviewed the unresolved cases, has reopened the case. He learned that Plato’s DNA had never been tested.
In 2020, Sgt. Chris Bacik of the county sheriff’s department was doing an inventory of evidence in the department and found blood that was taken from Plato after his death. A state police lab connected the blood to DNA found on Gayle Barrus, Marshall said.
“He’s our killer,” Marshall said. “If we were to lay charges today, it would be open manslaughter against Plato and a charge of criminal sexual conduct. “
James Barrus said he hoped to go to Battle Creek in the spring to thank Marshall.
“This will be our way of closing this chapter and of reuniting with his family and friends at his grave,” he said. “It won’t change the past, but it takes a weight on our shoulders to get an answer. ”
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