Chandler murder the focus of 'Dateline NBC' segment

Thu, May 22, 2008    to del.icio.us

More than five months after four men were sentenced to life terms without parole for murdering their daughter, James and Glenna Chandler are prepared for the national debut of their daughter's story on "Dateline NBC" Friday night.

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Hosted by correspondent Victoria Corderi, the one-hour segment will air during the second hour of the two-hour "Dateline" show, which begins 9 p.m. Friday on NBC.

"We're going to watch it as much as we can, but it will be difficult," Glenna Chandler said. "We got through the trial — I don't think there will be anything (on "Dateline") we couldn't get through."

The Chandlers were interviewed for the segment after the December 2007 sentencing in Ottawa County 20th Circuit Court. Four men — Anthony Williams, 56, of Boscobel, Wis.; Freddie Parker, 50, of Charleston, W.Va.; Arthur Paiva, 57, of Muskegon; and James Nelson, 60, of Rand, W.Va. — received life sentences for their roles in the murder.

"Dateline" National Producer Jack Cloherty said the segment is part of a two-hour show focusing on two cold cases — one hour on a cold case in Minnesota and the second hour dedicated to Chandler. He added that the segment is presented as a murder mystery, focusing on who killed Chandler and why the case went unsolved for more than 25 years.

"We focus on the conspiracy of silence — if you will — that surrounded the murder, and how the Michigan State Police and Holland Police were able to solve the case," Cloherty said. "It's a very difficult and upsetting case."

Janet Chandler, 22 at the time of her death, was abducted from her job at the Blue Mill Inn in Holland on Jan. 31, 1979, and taken to a party in Holland Township where she was murdered.

Police say the Hope College student was taken to a house where a group of security guards working at a strike at the former Chemetron plant gang-raped her, then strangled her with a belt. Her body was dumped at a turn-around on I-196 in Van Buren County near Covert.

The crime went unsolved for 25 years, but that changed after a Hope College documentary class, under the direction of Grand Haven resident and professor David Schock, debuted "Who Killed Janet Chandler?" in January 2004.

After the documentary's debut, Holland police announced a cold case team had been put together with the Michigan State Police that would be devoted to cracking the Chandler murder case.

Schock, who filmed the Chandler courtroom proceedings for "Dateline," said he thinks Friday's segment will be a "truthful relation of the story."

"Cloherty has made every attempt to stick the story," Schock said.

"Dateline" will air portions of Schock's original documentary during the segment.

"What we found redeeming about the story was about how Dr. Schock and his students helped get the investigation going again and police got involved," Cloherty said. "Everyone got together to fight for justice for Janet."

Two years after the cold case team assembled, police made their first arrest in the case — Robert Lynch, who is now 68 and serving 25 to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

By September 2006, five more suspects were arrested — the four sentenced Monday and Laurie Ann Swank, 49. Swank pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10-20 years in prison.

Police interrogation tapes of Lynch and Swank — released to "Dateline" by police — will be shown for the first time as part of the segment, Cloherty said.

"It shows how the police were able to break them down, get them to talk and thus solve the case," Cloherty said.

The segment also features two witnesses from the trial — Diane Marsman and Cheryl Ruiz — who were at the party the night Chandler was murdered. Cloherty said the two are interviewed about why they kept the murder a secret for so many years.

"For 25 years this was a mystery and nobody knew why this would happen," Cloherty said. "People will see for the first time exactly how police broke the case and they'll hear from witnesses who were at the party tell why they didn't talk."

The show also focuses on the Chandlers, Cloherty said, "both the trial and how they've lived with the grief, and how grateful they are to David Schock and the cold case team."

"It was such a good team that worked with us on the whole case," Glenna Chandler said. "Holland has such a wonderful group."

According to Schock, it's time for Janet Chandler's story to be told to a national audience.

"Any time you have stories that deal with good and evil, it's wise for all of us to pay attention," Schock said, adding that the story's national appeal is not necessarily part of what the media has termed as "justice for Janet."

"I think 'justice for Janet' was four guilty verdicts and two pleas," Schock said. "To this point, I think there are at least six more people who ought to be in prison. I'm not trying to take anything away from what the prosecution or the attorney general, but there are other people out there who were guilty."

Deciding if there's been "justice for Janet" is one other part of Friday's "Dateline" that may surprise viewers, Cloherty said. According to Cloherty, James Chandler's view is different than his wife's.

"Mr. Chandler feels there cannot ever be justice for something like this," Cloherty said.

Cloherty added that he understands James Chandler's view.

"Anyone who sat through that trial wondered about why more people weren't charged, because there were a lot of people at that party that were complicit in this," he said. "I think the prosecution did a great job considering all the circumstances. I do feel they got 'justice for Janet.'"