FeedsNorthville murder suspect bound over for trial
Thomas Joseph Roe told police that he didn’t intend to kill Cheryl Lynn Boeskool.
The 62-year-old Garden City man had simply been fed up with their turbulent relationship, according to testimony given Friday morning at the 35th District Court.
Roe was there for a preliminary exam on charges that he killed Boeskool and dumped her in a Northville detention pond.
“He had wanted to help her, but he wanted her out of his house,” Det. Sgt. Brian Brian Aure testified on Friday.
Roe told police that he had an ongoing relationship with Boeskool, who had been living with him at the time of her death in early August.
“He described it as more of a friendship than a romantic relationship,” said Aure. “It appeared to be a relationship that was full of conflict.”
The conflict came to a head on in early August when Boeskool, who had a troubled past and issues with drugs and alcohol, kept asking Roe to give her some money and drive her somewhere she could purchase some drugs, according to Aure’s testimony.
“He finally snapped in anger,” he said. “He told her to shut up.”
When she didn’t, Roe allegedly punched her, according to Aure. It dazed her momentarily, but she soon repeated her requests.
“He said he couldn’t take it any more,” Aure said.
Roe allegedly had a dismantled shotgun in his Garden City home, according to Aure. He grabbed the barrel of it from his bedroom and allegedly struck Boeskool across the head with it. Then he got scared because he had previous brushes with Garden City police over domestic violence issues involving Boeskool.
He put a blanket over her head, took the barrel of the gun and led her to his pickup truck. Once there, he dropped the tailgate, had her sit down and then pushed her in the back, according to Aure.
Then he drove away.
“He said he didn’t know where he was going to go with her,” Aure testified. “He just wanted her out of the house.”
Aure testified that Roe had to stop several times when Boeskool started to recover her wits and made noise in the back of the truck, which had a cap on top. Each time, he pulled into a vacant parking lot and struck her with the shotgun barrel three times.
Finally, they came to the pond off Haggerty Road, south of Six Mile Road, where Boeskool’s body was eventually discovered several days later.
“He said somehow the pond made him think of a place for him to take the body,” Aure said. “He thought it was a good place to leave her.”
Until then, according to Aure, Roe hadn’t thought about killing the woman.
Roe pulled his truck off the road and walked Boeskool down near the pond, according to Aure. She was incoherent and dazed, he said. She fell to her hands and knees, moaning, and then Roe delivered the final blows that ended her life, Aure said.
“Once he saw her stop breathing, he knew he had killed her,” Aure said. “Then he pushed her into the pond.”
Roe confessed to the crime the day after Boeskool was found by a township resident, he said.
Chief Judge John MacDonald ruled there was enough evidence to warrant a trial. Roe is being held without bond. He will appear at Wayne County Circuit Court on Sept. 7 for an arraignment on information.
