Here is Part 3 of the Bradford Drug Murders. Richard Cole – murdered by unknown person; Francis Reed – shot and killed at Willow Bay. One person was acquitted, and two pleaded guilty. Last, we have Michael Hollenbeck, death by overdose.
We’ve already discussed Michael Hollenbeck in the previous two blogs. He was one of the people questioned by the grand jury during the investigation of Richard Cole’s homicide. He also provided critical testimony at the trial of Harry “Hap” Anderson and Charles Whelan for the murder of Francis Reed.
Less than one year after Anderson was acquitted and Whelan pleaded guilty, Hollenbeck was found dead of an apparent drug overdose on January 7, 1978. This was also two years after Richard Cole’s untimely death. However, just as in the case of Cole, no autopsy was performed. This failure would come back to haunt the investigative team.
An inquest to investigate Hollenbeck’s death began on February 16, 1978. On that first day, they interviewed eight witnesses, who often gave conflicting testimony.
One such conflicting story is regarding who was in the house with Hollenbeck between 1:00 AM Friday, January 6, and 2:31 PM Saturday, January 7. The overdose occurred at the home of Tom and Martha Neely. Both Tom and Martha stated they weren’t at home at the time. They fought the night of January 5 because of Tom’s involvement with another woman, Valerie Fenton. Martha went to stay with her sister, and Tom went to Valerie’s. While Tom stated that he didn’t arrive home until Saturday afternoon, when he found Hollenbeck’s body, Valerie refuted his statement, saying that Tom had called her on Friday afternoon and believed he was calling from his house.
The other conflicting story was how Hollenbeck took his drugs. Many people stated that he didn’t like needles and that he was unable to inject himself. He always had other people do it for him. For example, Hollenbeck was admitted to the hospital in January 1976 due to a heroin overdose that a second party administered. Still, several other witnesses stated that Hollenbeck had no issue with injecting himself. One thing we do know from the coroner’s report is that there were three needle marks on his arm.
When Hollenbeck’s body was discovered, there was a spoon on the table next to the bed. A syringe, pill bottles, and another spoon with no handle were in the bathroom down the hall. Laboratory tests found no toxic levels of depressants, such as heroin and morphine, in his blood.
Last, according to various testimonies, everyone was at that house, yet no one was.
So, how did Michael Hollenbeck die? Was it an accidental overdose? Did he administer it to himself, or did someone else inject him? And, if someone injected him, did they purposely leave him there to die?
One last thing. Michael Hollenbeck had a meeting scheduled for that Saturday night – with an undercover state narcotics agent.
Once again, I ask – accidental overdose or intentional homicide?