Last week an Oakland County Court convicted a Ohio man to life in prison for the murder of a Pontiac woman, 36-year-old Gwendolyn Perry, in the late 1960s. Nolan Ray George, now 67, is also the man who admitted to the strangulation of S. Slater Street resident, Francis Brown, 22.
When The Review mentioned last week it would have more next week (which is now this week), we received an e-mail from Lake Orion Police Chief Jerry Narsh.
‘LOPD discovered the murder victim in her car in 1969. The murderer was identified as Nolan Ray George, he was charged and prosecuted and convicted for the Lake Orion murder. He went to prison for about 10 years.
‘He appealed based on a technicality on the charge, and was released after serving time for the Lake Orion murder, he stands convicted of the murder, he was released early on the sentence.
‘Since he was in custody for the LOPD murder, Pontiac detectives interviewed him for the murder of a victim they had with similar M.O., he admitted to the Pontiac murder since they were comfortable he was going to prison for life, they wanted to close their case so they told him his confession, ‘wouldn’t count.?
‘After he was released from Michigan prison, he fled to Ohio, killed a woman was convicted, and again released early on a technicality. He was re-arrested for a threat to his landlord while armed, while in custody there, Oakland County decided to try him on the old Pontiac case.
‘Lake Orion’s murder is the only Michigan murder he was convicted on, and he did plead guilty to the crime.?
Thank you, Jerry.
Above is the March 20, 1969 cover of The Lake Orion Review, with the details of Ms. Brown’s discovery by LOPD officers. George had met his victim at the Verwood Bar, asked her to got to the car with me then said he strangled her.