Suburban Murder - Livonia's Own Serial Killer

In 1982 Kimberly Louiselle disappeared from Livonia and was found deceased weeks later in a wooded area of state-owned land miles away.  The following year, one day shy of exactly a year, Christina Castiglione went missing while in Livonia. She was also found deceased later on in a remote area near Howell. 

From the start, police knew that the two cases were likely the work of the same man. It took 40 years and a group of college kids from Michigan State University to make it official. 

Listen to Episode 71 to learn about these two cases that took over the news in Southeastern Michigan in the early eighties. It's the beginning of the 'Suburban Crime' series on Curator135.  

Transcript

I have been a true crime junky for as long as I can remember. My poor children have grown up hearing the dulcet tones of people like Keith Morrison, Josh Mankiewicz and Dennis Murphy in the background almost every evening of their lives. 

10 years ago, in 2014, I was a stay at home dad with plenty of free time on my hands. I began researching murder cases that happened near my hometown of Livonia, Michigan. I toyed with the idea of working on a book that discussed some of the cases, and others like them, where tragedies that are seen everyday in major cities, come to a suburban area. I wanted to learn how these communities react. What makes them so interesting to media outlets? And what sort of lasting scars can an incident leave on an area that is used to speeding tickets and jaywalking. 

In my research, I kept coming back to one story in particular, that I couldn’t get my mind off of. The incident occurred in 2002, right before Christmas time and I honestly don’t remember hearing much about it at the time. I wasn’t, however, much of a news junky at the age of 25 and I wasn’t currently living in Livonia.

Without going into too much detail, because I plan on discussing this particular case in a later episode, I dove into this story headfirst with no idea where it would take me. Hundreds of hours of research, money spent that we didn’t have, interviews with police officers, lawyers, court stenographers and the actual criminals involved and all I came away with in the end were a couple of hundred pages of a book and two storage tubs that I can barely lift. 

I got nervous when I was finished. I’d never finished a book before. I didn’t know what to do next. I had poured my heart and soul into it and never spoken with any surviving family members to see if they’d be okay with me going forward with it. I wasn’t a polished true crime author who knew how to handle things, I was a lost, nearly 36-year-old man, with no real direction.

So the tubs have sat in my basement collecting dust for a decade now… until… I hit another roadblock. 

I did Episode 70 a couple of months ago and then like I had done with the true crime book, and then the science fiction book I spent years on, I was just going to walk away from the podcast. Why? Because that is what I do. I work my tail off on something and then hit one little stumbling block and move on. 

But not this time, darn it. Stumbling on to the story I’d written all of those years ago made me sad, but then I thought, hey… you have another outlet now. Why not take all of that information, all of that love for True Crime, and work it into the podcast? So here we are. It feels good to be back and I will be spending the next few episodes on stories of murder and crime that took place nearby, that I found interesting. I hope you do as well.

Welcome to Year Four of the Curator135 Podcast

I’m your host Nathan Olli and this is Episode 71 - Suburban Murder: Livonia’s Own Serial Killer

16-year-old Kimberly Louiselle was a sophomore at South Lyon High School. She was 5’7” with dark brown shoulder length hair and considered pretty by her friends and family. Her family consisted of her parents, William and Joanna, two sisters that she adored and an older brother. Together they lived in a modest home in South Lyon, Michigan.

Sometime around Christmas of 1981, Kimberly met a 19-year-old named Robert Brown. The two began dating immediately. The biggest issue at the time was that his family lived in Redford, near 8 Mile and Inkster, a little over 20 miles from South Lyon. For those of you not from Michigan, yes, it’s that 8 Mile, made famous by Eminem. Although Robert’s home was a few miles west of the more infamous portion of the road. 

On Thursday, March 18th, 1982 Kimberly caught a ride from a friend to Robert’s home. The plan was for her to spend the weekend with her boyfriend and his family. Some stories report that Robert may have broken up with her on that Saturday, March 20th. But whatever the reason, Kimberly Louiselle left her boyfriend’s home at around 6:00 pm. She’d reportedly been offered a ride from Robert’s cousin but declined, choosing to head out on her own. 

She didn’t mind catching a ride from strangers, she’d done it before. Things were different in the eighties. 

It was cloudy that day, cool and windy, a typical March day in Michigan. As she stuck up her thumb beneath the setting Southeastern Michigan sun, a car pulled up and offered her a ride. 

Unfortunately the ride only lasted for two miles and she was let out at a gas station on the corner of 8 Mile and Merriman. Walking the nearly twenty miles would take forever and wouldn’t be easy, especially at night, in the cold, so she reached into her pocket, grabbed some quarters and approached the payphone. Sometime between quarter after 6 and 6:30 she made at least four phone calls. One to her mother, letting her know she was on her way home and the rest in an effort to find a ride. 

That was the last time anyone heard from her. 

Her family began contacting friends and anyone who knew her but no one had seen her or heard from her. The following day, a Sunday, they contacted the Green Oak Township Police Department. To the police, the case seemed like nothing more than a runaway situation but Kimberly’s mom, Joanna, assured them that it wasn’t. 

Weeks went by and Kimberly wasn’t heard from. In a weird way, it was likely that her family hoped that she had just run away although they knew that wasn’t the case.

On April 14th, a couple was walking through the Island Lake Recreation Area near Brighton, seven miles northwest of Kimberly’s home in South Lyon. As the couple walked through a field behind a park and ride lot at Kensington and Grand River, they stumbled upon the nude, battered body of a young female.

As police arrived at the scene, one officer quickly recognized something sticking out of the ground less than ten feet from the body. It was a stick of dynamite. Upon further investigation the one stick of dynamite turned out to be over 50 sticks connected together in a line.

The dynamite, which had nothing to do with the body, was left behind by a Canadian company that had been participating in geological research of the area, looking for oil.  The sticks should have been buried at least five feet underground but a majority of them were only 6 to 20 inches below the surface. 

Police quickly closed the park, paused the investigation, and carefully removed the dynamite. 

The body was removed and brought to the morgue where William Louiselle was able to identify it as being his daughter, Kimberly. According to him, she’d been beaten badly and according to the autopsy, she’d been strangled to death just three or four days before she was found. 

During the following days a funeral service was held for Kimberly Louiselle. Not long after she was buried the Detroit News offered a $3000 reward leading to any information on the murder via their ‘Secret Witness’ program. 

“To assist state police, the Detroit News ‘Secret Witness’ program is offering a $3000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. To qualify for the reward tipsters must either mail information by following instructions in the coupon below or telephone the ‘Secret Witness’ number, 222-7549, during business hours. Tipsters remain anonymous by choosing a six-digit number as their only identification. The reward remains in effect for six months.”  

In March of 1983, as police continued to search for clues in the Louiselle case, another young woman went missing. One day short of a year since Kimberly had disappeared, a young woman named Christina Castiglione vanished.

March 19th, 1983, weather-wise, was much like the day when Kimberly Louiselle had gone missing. It was cloudy, cool and windy as Christina walked along 5 Mile road near Telegraph. She was on her way home where she lived with her parents, Beatrice and Chris in Redford. She was dressed in a sweatshirt, maroon ski jacket, blue jeans and red and white tennis shoes. 

Earlier in the day, Christina had run some errands with her 25-year-old boyfriend Christopher Lindsey. After the errands, Lindsey dropped her off at her parents home and Christina took a nap. They made a plan to meet up later. 

That evening, having not heard from her boyfriend, she decided to head out and look for him. Christina had recently sold her Mustang because she couldn’t afford the insurance so she headed out on foot. She stopped by his sister’s house across the street and then a friend’s house. He wasn’t at either location. After watching some television with her friend she left to return home. 

Christopher Lindsey was driving in a car with his friends when he saw her walking along Five Mile. It was starting to drizzle. He hesitated to ask his friends to stop the car because Christina didn’t like those friends very much so when they stopped to pick up some beer at a party store a bit down the road, he said goodbye to his buddies and began walking towards where he’d see her. He never found her.  

Christina was 19-years-old at the time and a graduate of Redford Union High School. She was active in sports, popular with friends and worked for the Detroit Edison Company in downtown Detroit as a clerk in the research department. At the time of her disappearance she was in the process of contacting an Army recruiter.

Christina’s boyfriend made a call to her parents to tell her what had happened. They hadn’t seen or heard from her. Her parents reported her missing to the police the next day.  

On the evening of the following day a couple was driving along Inkster Road in Dearborn Heights, eight miles south of Christina’s last known location. There they saw a woman with her hands tied behind her back wearing only underwear and striped socks. They drove for another half a mile before they stopped and asked a homeowner to call the police. By the time they made it back to where they’d seen the nearly naked woman, she was gone. 

Another witness reported seeing that same woman get into a green colored Cadillac with a rusted rear bumper. 

Whether the woman seen was Christina or not would never be known. 

On March 29th, a Northville resident was scouting a wooded state gaming area north of Howell. He was looking for signs of deer but instead found the body of a woman, wearing only a t-shirt, partially frozen in the snow. 

Christina’s parents later identified the body as that of their daughter. DNA was carefully collected during the autopsy and police waited for the results. The following week it was announced that the cause of death was strangulation and that Castiglione had been sexually assaulted. Almost immediately, comparisons were made to the death of Kimberly Louiselle the year before. Two young, attractive females, in the same general area went missing. Both were found at least partially nude with their clothes nearby and both were found in a deserted, wooded area northwest of Livonia. 

The Redford Union Alumni association quickly set up a reward fund and money and tips began pouring in. By August of 1983, police in Redford and Livingston County had received over 80 tips. A family friend of the Castiglione’s that worked as a psychic was also brought in, to no avail. 

Detectives continued to put efforts into solving both murders. Periodic updates in local papers appeared every few years into the 1990s with the promise that leads were still being pursued and that the girl’s cases were still top of mind. A 30-year old woman went missing in 1989 in a similar fashion along with another Canton woman going missing the following year. 

In 2004 it was announced that Christina’s case was being reopened. Livingston County Detective Bob Bezotte announced that they’d received an interesting tip that they were working on following up on. The detective had been on the case since the young girl was discovered in 1983. He’d made a promise to her parents that he’d never give up and with each year it got tougher and tougher. 

Unfortunately nothing came of the lead and the following year, Christina’s mother Beatrice Castiglione passed away. 

30 years after the murders, In 2013, billboards were erected with both of the women’s faces on them. They’d long been cold cases but with technology improving over the years, the hope was still there that they could be solved. 

In 2015, Christina’s father, Chris passed away. Neither parent would ever find out what really happened to their daughter or who the assailant was. 

Meanwhile, Kimberly Louiselle’s sister, Cindy began using newly formed social media tools to keep her sister’s memory alive. Cindy posted her sister’s story and photo in any group that would allow it and each day she’d wake up and check her phone for updates. This continued for years… she knew that the answers were out there somewhere. 

In 2022 detectives from the Michigan State Police Cold Case unit partnered with students from the Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice and reopened the Louiselle case. At the same time, members of the Livingston County cold case team reopened the Castiglione case. Thanks to updated forensic technology and solid police work performed at the Castiglione crime scene, they were able to enter the DNA retrieved from Christina’s body into the system.   

In March of 2022, grant funding was awarded from the Season of Justice non-profit organization to be used to conduct advanced DNA testing on the samples left behind at the Castiglione crime scene in 1983. 

Two months later the evidence was sent to Othram laboratories in Houston, Texas. Scientists from the lab used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to develop a full genealogical profile from the DNA. The profile was then handed over to Othram's in-house genealogical team which used the profile to produce investigative leads. 

Once the information was back in the hands of the Livingston County Cold Case Team they were able to come up with the identification of a suspect. Detectives were able to match up the DNA with a living uncle of the suspect. From there, they were able to build a family tree. They were then able to track down a living brother of the suspect as well as a son. Both cooperated fully and after sending their DNA samples to Othram they came back as a 100% match.

The man responsible for the disappearance and murder of Christina Castiglione was named Charles David Shaw. After speaking to members of the Shaw family they learned that he resided in Livonia and, at the time, lived within five miles of where the victim was last seen. They described Charles as “a sex addict with a disturbing life who struggled with mental illness and his gender identity.” 

Charles Shaw was someone who had several run-ins with law enforcement beginning at a young age. In 1973, Shaw was arrested by the Livonia Police Department on a breaking-and-entering charge. In 1977, he was arrested by the LPD on a drug possession charge. In 1981, he’d been arrested for the attempted abduction of a woman in a McDonald’s parking lot in Fowlerville. For that crime he was sentenced to two weeks in jail and put on probation. In 1982, he was arrested for larceny of women's shoes from a Livonia Kmart.

Police had their man. There was no doubt. 

And now, Charles Shaw’s DNA was in the National Combined DNA Index System. 

After the Castiglione case was solved, Michigan State University cold case interns turned their attention to Kimberly Louiselle. As the students scoured the boxes of evidence and files, they noticed a familiar name on one of the police reports. Way back in 1983, someone had reported to police that Charles David Shaw lived in the area where Kimberly Louiselle was taken. The report also made mention of Shaw suspiciously destroying his apartment. The report was filed, but police never tracked Shaw down.

The students created maps of areas where Shaw was known to spend time. Places like his home and work surrounded the last known location of Kimberly Louiselle. Along with the cold case detectives, students took all of the evidence to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab and asked to have it retested. Four months later the lab got a hit off of one sperm cell that was found. After running it through the system, the cell was linked to Charles David Shaw. 

Charles Shaw grew up in Livonia, Michigan and had at least two brothers, one of which passed away in 1978 at the age of 22. He attended Bentley high school in the early seventies. Other than that, not much is known about Charles David Shaw… except that he died just months after killing Christina Castiglione.

He was found dead in Detroit on November 27th, 1983. The medical examiner’s report listed his death as accidental sexual asphyxiation. He was 27-years-old.

Shaw would never face punishment for his crimes and sadly some of the victim’s family members didn’t live long enough to put a name to their children’s killer but hopefully his death stopped him from harming more women and putting more families through what the Castiglione’s and Louiselle’s went through. 

The FBI typically defines a serial killer as someone who commits three or more murders, sharing common characteristics. The murders are separate events, usually in different locations over a period of time. They generally will have gaps between them that can range from days to years. I’d be curious to know if there was some significance to both girls being abducted around the same day in back to back years. 

The reason that this episode is titled ‘Livonia’s Own Serial Killer’ is because detectives are currently looking into similar cases that happened between the late 70’s and early 80’s. It appears that Charles David Shaw is the lead suspect in at least one other unsolved murder case. I’ll circle back and let you know if another victim is linked to Shaw. If he is, he would officially be a serial killer. 

Police Departments are often understaffed. Making time to check into cases that are decades old is hard to do. I was excited to learn that students from Michigan State University are helping to make a difference in cold cases. A team of studious, driven college kids with a passion for criminal behavior and forensics is exactly what is needed. Kids pouring their heart and soul into a case that they weren’t even alive for when the original crime was committed. Kudos to them and I hope they stick with it.

At the school I work at, seventh graders have an option to enroll in a class on forensics. The teacher, Ms. Guzdial is a great instructor. She connects with kids and is helping to get them interested in the study of forensics. Maybe one day, some of those kids will join the MSU School of Criminal Justice. Science doesn’t just have to be dissecting frogs and measuring wind speed. And don’t worry, she keeps it very PG. I have had the honor of being one of her suspects before. 

True Crime, to me, isn’t about popularizing the perpetrator but more about why they became the way they are. It’s about how individuals work together to find answers. How communities react when tragedy hits close to home.   

Let me know what you think. Was there an event that happened in your community that you’d like to learn more about? Nathan@curator135.com Visit the website to see photos and information regarding these two cases. Curator135.com  

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