Melissa Simmons
UPDATE: The announcement by the sheriff has been postponed until Thursday due to scheduling conflicts.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
LUDINGTON — The Mason County Sheriff’s Office has taken a major step in the investigation of a 32-year-old cold case. Last week, the body of Melissa Simmons was exhumed from Pere Marquette Catholic Cemetery in Pere Marquette Township and has been turned over to a medical examiner.
Simmons was murdered in 1993 at the age of 15. The Scottville teen was a freshman at Mason County Central. She was last seen alive the evening of June 23, 1993. Her brutally battered body was found in the Pere Marquette River about 1/4 mile west of Indian Bridge in Custer Township three days later. The case has never been solved.
Grave of Melissa Simmons at Pere Marquette Catholic Cemetery.
On Tuesday, Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole is expected to make an announcement on the case and discuss the reasons Simmons’ body was exhumed. Cole said the exhumation was conducted with the blessing of Simmons’s family.
On July 22, 2023, the Mason County Press published a story about the case. That story can be read here. At that time, Cole said he had instructed the Mason County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau to re-open the case.
“The family and the community deserve answers,” Cole said. “Technology and investigative practices have advanced since the murder. Det. Kyle Boyd has investigated avenues that were not considered previously and has acquired much more information.”
Cole, who was elected sheriff in 2011, said he is the only current member of the MCSO who was working at the sheriff’s office at the time of the murder.
“We owe it to Melissa to seek justice for this crime,” Cole said.
More information will be published following Cole’s announcement on Tuesday.
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