MAX HAINES MURDER MYSTERY

He waited in the barn loft until Diane King drove into the driveway of her home. As she stepped out of the car, he raised the Remington model 511 Scoremaster to his shoulder, took careful aim and gently squeezed the trigger. A .22 calibre slug tore into Diane’s heart, killing her instantly.
A second shot hit her in her lower abdomen as she fell.
Then he was gone.
Inside the King vehicle, three-year-old Marler King cried. Little Kateri, only three months old, slept. Their 31-year-old mother lay dead on the frozen earth in front of 16240 Division Dr. in Marshal, Mich. It was early evening, Feb. 9, 1991.
Later, Bradford King told of how he had waited for his wife to return home from visiting her family in Detroit. He had decided to take a long walk around the sprawling property. When he returned, he was aghast to find Diane lying in the driveway.
Marshal is an unlikely location for violent crime. It’s considered by many to be one of the ideal American towns in which to raise a family.
Diane King was a local celebrity. She was the morning news anchor at WUHQ, Battle Creek, and had a huge viewing audience.
Brad was understandably distraught. He, too, was well-known in and around the community, having formerly been a police officer with the Pontiac Police Dept.
During his 14 years with the department, he had received numerous commendations for outstanding service and bravery. While still a policeman, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and taught criminal justice at a college in Dearborn.
At the time of his wife’s murder, Brad was a respected part-time faculty member of Western Michigan University.
This was the sterling back-g round of the victim and her husband when tragedy entered their lives in 1991.
At the scene of the murder, police noted the barn loft door was partially open. On the floor they found two .22 calibre casings. Tests indicated the trajectory of the bullet was compatible with the shot being fired from the loft.
Brad gave police a detailed description of his walk. Detectives followed the same route, using a tracking dog that had picked up the killer’s scent in the barn loft. An officer spotted the butt of a rifle sticking up only an inch out of a creek.
The weapon was a .22 Remington Scoremaster, and the casings found in the loft had been fired by the rifle.
Detectives felt there was now circumstantial evidence pointing to Brad King. When Brad gave his statement, it placed him roughly where the rifle had been found. A detective noticed that Brad’s shoes were polished when he was originally questioned. Would they be that clean after a walk through a 500-acre farm?
Investigators delved into the backgrounds of the victim and her husband.
Diane had been an aggressive, career-oriented woman. Friends related that she dominated conversations at parties. Some felt he may have resented his wife’s dominant personality. Brad King became a prime suspect in his wife’s murder when a young woman, not known to anyone in the community, showed up at Diane’s funeral.
When she left town after, detectives traced her to Western Michigan University. The 21-year-student of Brad’s had gone out to a pub with him two days before the murder.
Nothing of an intimate nature had taken place, but information from an anonymous caller led police to another student who was having an affair with Brad.
She told police he had been a charmer and their relationship had been purely physical. In time detectives produced another student who told them the same story.
When detectives learned the Kings were living beyond their means and that Diane had a life insurance policy at work that would pay Brad $54,000 upon her death, they were sure they had their man.
Brad admitted infidelity, but swore he had nothing to do with his wife’s murder. His attorney was quick to point out the murder weapon had never been connected to his client. Brad claimed he had never owned a .22 calibre rifle. The local district attorney refused to have Brad arrested without this key evidence.
Brad moved to Colorado with his two children. Back in Michigan, an offhand remark by 14-year-old Chris Sly led to Brad King’s downfall.
Chris had been hired to mow the Kings’ lawn the summer before the murder. One day, his dad brought up the topic of Diane’s murder. Chris responded that he often wondered about the .22 Remington Scoremaster he had seen resting on a freezer in the King home.
Mr. Sly immediately notified police. Soon the quiet teenager was being questioned by detectives.
He was shown photos of various rifles and picked out the Remington Scoremaster as the one he had seen at the King residence. It was the final piece of evidence the prosecution required. Brad King was brought back to Michigan, where he was tried and convicted of premeditated murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.