You may have seeen in on CNN and Fox but you are going to hear this from me first. Dr. Mercer is a family friend and I was close friends with his children. He is also a huge exotic car enthusiest, he is the guy who gave me the Ferrari bug. The general word around the close circle is the case is very weak and the media a police are already starting to exploit the news making parts of the case. The Cold Case squad has their perfect attention getter Dr. Mercer was the American Osteopathic Association Surgeon of the year has a couple Ferraris, Lotus, Pantera and a few others. He is not the kind of guy that anyone would pin as a murderer but my mind is open.

I am do not have an opinion of his guilt or not but this case will be interesting to watch unfold.

Published June 6, 2006
[ From the Lansing State Journal ]
Doctor charged in wife's 1968 death
Okemos woman thought to have died from polio

By Kevin Grasha
Lansing State Journal

MASON - A 72-year-old Okemos doctor who practices at Ingham Regional Medical Center was charged Monday in the 1968 death of his wife, Sally Sue Mercer.

Dr. Charles William Mercer is being held without bond in the Ingham County Jail on an open murder charge. He was arrested at his home Monday morning.

Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth would not give details on the cause of death or what information and evidence led to Mercer's arrest. He said there are no other suspects.
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Sally Sue Mercer died Feb. 27, 1968, at the couple's home on Yuma Trail in Okemos, where Charles Mercer still lives. At the time, a pathologist ruled she had died from bulbar polio, a disease that attacks the part of the brain that controls breathing and often results in paralysis of respiratory muscles.

Mercer - an osteopathic doctor who in 1989 was named "Surgeon of the Year" by the American Association of Osteopathic Specialties - has been practicing at Ingham Regional Medical Center, spokesman David Eich confirmed. Eich would not comment further.

Wriggelsworth said improvements in forensic science and "old-fashioned detective work" led to the doctor's arrest. Investigators from the county's Cold Case Task Force interviewed witnesses across the country.

Mercer's preliminary hearing, which will determine whether there is enough evidence for a trial, had not been scheduled as of Monday.

Case reopened in '95

Over the years, investigators suspected foul play may have been involved in Sally Mercer's death, Wriggelsworth said. The case was reopened in 1995.

In 2001, a now-retired Ingham County sheriff's detective established enough evidence to change Sally Mercer's death certificate to say she was the victim of a homicide.

In August 2003, police exhumed her body for a second autopsy, Wriggelsworth said. Findings from that autopsy showed the death was not caused by polio.

"We have a theory about how she died," Wriggelsworth said; he would not comment further.

Mercer's attorney, Chris Bergstrom, also declined to comment.

A man who answered the phone at the home of Charles and Sally Mercer's daughter in Troy said that what was released in the media Monday about Charles Mercer is not an accurate portrayal. He would not comment further.

Rumors disregarded

Some neighbors in the tree-lined Okemos subdivision on Yuma Trail said there were rumors surrounding Sally Mercer's death, but no one took them seriously.

Elizabeth Schwarzweller, who has lived next door to Charles Mercer since 1972, said he mostly kept to himself.

"He was a good neighbor," she said, adding she rarely spoke to him over the fence that divides their properties.

"He's always been very friendly and very open with us," said Bill Miller, who has lived on the street about 12 years.

Assault case dismissed

In August 1969, more than a year after his wife's death, Charles Mercer was charged with felonious assault after his then-girlfriend, Michelle Kelly, said he entered her Okemos apartment, wielding a 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun and told her to go with him to his home.

The case was dismissed when Kelly and three house guests refused to testify at a preliminary hearing, according to a story in the Aug. 21, 1969, State Journal.

Mercer later married Kelly. They both worked at Lansing General Hospital.

Task force gets credit

Officials credited the Ingham County Cold Case Task Force - made up of detectives from the Sheriff's Office, Michigan State Police and the Michigan State University Police Department - for solving the case.

The task force's investigations have now led to four people being charged with murder. Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said the task force is a valuable asset.

"It makes a difference to the community to know there are no unsolved homicides in Ingham County," Dunnings said. "There are just cases where no one's been charged, yet."

Staff writer Jeremy Steele contributed to this report. Contact Kevin Grasha at 267-1347 or kgrasha@lsj.com.

C'mon, 38 years? So Dr. where were you on the night of Feb 27, 1968? The guy is 72 years old, he probably can't remember what he had for lunch. How is he supposed to mount a defense?

OK he probably did it, but hey, 4 decades later, why waste the money.

He is still practicing and is in very good shape. If he did do it justice should be served, although if you google the Sheriff has a record for attempting to investigate prominent members of the community and going down in flames. Unfortunately that is part of being the sheriff is Blue Collar central.

if my name were Wriggelsworth, I'd change it.

As an advocate of victim's rights, my question would be, "would you waste the money if the deceased happened to be your sister, aunt, mother, ect.....?"

Naw, **** it, it was 38 years ago.

38 years? A doctor who can probably afford the best attorneys in Michigan? Doesn't sound promising for a guilty verdict so far...

__________________
Ralph

1985 300D Turbo, CA model
248,650 miles and counting...

Someone was murdered. The killer should be caught and tried.

__________________
Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

That should be if someone was murdered, the sheriff's department involved has a nasty habit of arresting uppity lawyers, doctors and businessman around here. Most of the time they are never convicted but have to suffer a couple months of humiliation. That is not so bad anymore because the locals don't have much faith in them because of this stuff.

Was the same Sharf in charge when Doc got his assault charge dismissed??

And if the guy was a genius planner why in hell would he have her buried instead of cremated?

It sounds like this would have been pretty hard to prove in 1968 when everything and everybody was fresh and accounted for. After this many years, I can't imagine what evidence they could have that would convince a jury beyond a reasonalbe doubt.

If he's convicted, this will make a helluva story. I'll certainly read the book.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
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OK you guys, I was looking for something else and this story popped up.
Was the doctor a ghoul or was the sheriff a sloppy politician?
And I liked the observation about cremating the body. I'll remember that.
If my wife makes one more remark about "boys and their toys. ." GRRR

Attorney says evidence was destroyed or lost in 1968 death
6/8/2006, 1:07 p.m. ET
The Associated Press


MASON, Mich. (AP) — The attorney for a doctor charged this week with the death of his wife in 1968 says his client is innocent and that the prosecutor's office lost or destroyed evidence in the case.

Chris Bergstrom — who represents 72-year-old Charles William Mercer — said Sally Mercer died of a viral infection, a fact about which he says doctors were aware in 1968. Two other Lansing-area women at the time also died under similar circumstances, Bergstrom said Wednesday in his first public comments since his client's arrest on Monday.
"I've been aware of this case for a long time," Bergstrom said. "I'm comfortable today saying (he is innocent), as I've been for the last 15 years."

Bergstrom — in a motion filed in district court in Mason — accused the Ingham County prosecutor of knowing the cause of death in 1968 but either destroying or losing the files.

The prosecutor's office had no comment on Bergstrom's claim, chief assistant prosecutor Linda Maloney said.

Charles William Mercer is accused of murder in the death of his first wife, who originally was thought to have died from bulbar polio 38 years ago. A preliminary hearing is set for June 15.

Bergstrom's motion Wednesday included a 1968 letter from the National Institutes of Health, which showed results of tests performed on tissue samples. British neuropathologist Dr. William McMenemey concluded Sally Mercer and two other Lansing-area women — Barbara VanGilder, 38, of Webberville and Patricia Shepardson, 26, of Eaton Rapids — died from a viral infection.
Sally Mercer died Feb. 27, 1968, at the couple's Okemos home.

Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth said Monday that improvements in forensic science and modern detective work led to the doctor's arrest. Investigators interviewed witnesses across the country, they said.

Wriggelsworth declined to say what the actual cause of death was or what information led to Charles Mercer's arrest. But he said authorities long suspected foul play and reopened the case in 1995.

In 2001, Sally Mercer's death certificate was changed to say she was the victim of a homicide. A second autopsy in August 2003 showed the death was not caused by polio.

yes at this point the defendents attorney does not know what evidence the prosecuter has against him.