'Murder Scene' Barn Destroyed

^Murder Scene9
Barn Destroyed

A Superior Township barn
near an old farm house where
police believe a 13-year-old girl
was murdered last month was
destrnvpri by fire early this
mo

Sheriffs deputies said the
barn was seen blazing about 3
a.m. today. Superior Township
Fire Chief Max Markin, who
led a dozen men to the fire
scene, said the blaze was the
work of an arsonist.

The barn is located about 100
feet from the abandr "m
house where sheriff's ves
theorize Dawn Basom was tak-
en by an abductor who stran-
gled and stabbed her. Her body
was found beside Gale Rd.
sbout a mile northwest of the
farm house.

The barn and the house were
examined foot by foot by Mich-
igau State Police Crime
Laboratory technicians and by
detectives from the Sheriff's

Department and Ypsilanti City
Police Department on the day
of the murder, April 16. No
clues of consequence were
found at that time.

"I have a hard time convinc-
ing myself that the person who
killed the Basom girl returned
to burn down the barn and
cover a clue," Sheriff's Detec-
tive Lt. Stanton L. Bordine said
today. "If this wasn't what we
think was a murder scene, it'd
be written off as malicious
destruction by arson."

Dawn Basom was the fifth
young woman to be slain in the
Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area since
the summer of 1967. Investiga-
tors from five police agencies
have been unsuccessfully prob-
ing for a substantial lead to the
murders for the past two
months.