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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.
Hello and welcome back to Cold and Missing.
I'm Ali.
And I'm Eli.
This is episode 95.
If this is your first episode, welcome.
If you've been with us for a while, welcome back.
This is actually a first for us.
Ali and I are currently on vacation and we are recording this episode in the back of
our rental car.
We built a little studio to, you know, keep doing what we do here at Cold and Missing.
So it feels really cool to do this.
I love that Ali and I are committed to Cold and Missing as much as our listeners are.
So if we sound a little different this week, that's why our setup is just slightly different.
But we still wanted to bring you an episode.
We are on a cold case this week.
Episode 95.
Let's get to it.
So today we are covering the cold case of Julia Niswender.
And this takes place in Ypsilanti, Michigan in December of 2012.
But first a little bit about Julia.
Julia is 23 years old in 2012 and is a student at Eastern Michigan University.
She is studying electronic media and film.
She wanted to become a news anchor.
She had recently transferred from a community college to finish up her degree at EMU.
She lives in a ground level apartment that is technically off campus, but it sits just
across the street from the campus.
She has a part-time job at Walmart that she has had for some time and she enjoys working
there.
At this time in December of 2012, it's approaching Christmas break and she's excited for the
holiday.
Her apartment is decorated with gel window clings and candy canes on the front door.
She even asked her family to hold off decorating the Christmas tree until she got home.
Julia is energetic and outgoing.
She loved animals and her friends said that animals would approach her as if they were
old friends.
Julia is also a twin.
Her sister Jennifer had recently just graduated from ESU this spring before.
Her and her twin were very close.
According to a high school friend, quote, those two were inseparable.
They could not get enough of being around each other.
End quote.
Julia and Jennifer are also very close to their 10 year old sister.
And now a timeline of events.
On Saturday, December 8th, during the morning hours, Julia works a shift at Walmart.
Later that evening, she has a date.
This was just a casual date.
The two weren't considered a couple yet.
The next day on Sunday, December 9th, for lunch, Julia meets up with her twin sister
Jennifer and their younger sister.
The three have a great afternoon talking about the upcoming holiday.
After lunch, Julia walks her sisters to their car and says, quote, I love you.
Goodbye.
End quote.
Julia also sends a happy birthday text to a friend.
That afternoon, she has another shift at Walmart.
She ends up getting off at around 5pm and heads back to her apartment.
During the evening hours, Julia is constantly chatting with her twin.
They talk on the phone and text all evening.
Julia stops responding to texts at around 10.30pm.
On Monday, December 10th, Julia's roommate had been out of town, but they returned home
and Julia is not there to greet them.
They do notice, however, that her car is in the parking lot, but she doesn't come home
and nothing is heard from her room.
Julia misses class that day and also misses a shift at Walmart.
The next day, Tuesday, December 11th, Julia misses more classes.
This is strange for her.
Julia's roommate is also becoming worried that Julia hasn't been around the apartment.
The way the college apartment is set up, the kitchen and living room are central and then
the rooms split off into their own sections with their own bathrooms.
The roommate decided to notify apartment security, who in turn called the police.
The police get a master key to enter Julia's room.
The door is locked, but there are no signs of forced entry to the apartment or her room.
When they enter, they find Julia's bedroom in disarray.
All of her dresser drawers had been pulled out and her clothes dumped on the floor.
She had some organizational plastic drawers that were all dumped out as well.
Initially, police believe that a robbery could have happened, but they do notice that her
computer, iPod, flat screen TV, and wrapped Christmas gifts were all left at her place.
They also found her school lanyard with her ID and keys.
It was on her bedroom floor.
Only her apartment key was missing.
Police also noticed that what seemed to be missing was a black and white zebra pillow
case from her bed.
Laying on the bedroom floor was a white pair of latex gloves.
Inside was a dark substance that was later confirmed to be Julia's blood.
The gloves were in front of Julia's closed bathroom door.
When police opened the bathroom door, they find Julia.
She was, quote, face down, submerged in the bathtub filled with water, end quote.
She was nude from the waist down.
Her yoga pants had been cut away and were left on the bathroom floor.
Her pink shirt had also mostly been cut away.
Only her right sleeve remained on her arm.
Underneath Julia in the water was her cell phone.
At first, there were no obvious signs of trauma on Julia's body.
There were a few small circular abrasions near her left elbow, and she seemed to have
been bleeding from her mouth.
Police also noticed ligature marks on her wrist and ankles.
However, whatever had been used to bound or tie up Julia was taken from the scene, along
with whatever was used to cut her clothes.
Police are able to review security footage from the apartment.
The video showed a black male pacing in front of the office at around 5.30 in the evening.
Police however do not take the footage at this time, and when they return for it later,
the tape is already taped over, so the footage is lost.
Police have no idea if this man was connected or not connected to Julia's murder.
The next day, Wednesday, December 12, Julia's autopsy is conducted.
They find that she had a deep contusion on the right side of her tongue from biting it.
Police hold off from publicly saying that this case is a homicide.
They want to get the toxology report back, but they start investigating it like it's
a homicide.
On Thursday, December 13, Julia's twin sister Jennifer at around 3 a.m. posts a picture
of Julia smiling with the caption, quote, Julia was my twin, other half and best friend.
No one will ever understand the bond we shared.
I love her so much and just don't know how I can go on.
My beautiful sister didn't deserve this.
Justice will be served even if it's the last thing I do.
For the rest of my life, I will be living for her, end quote.
It's also around this time that Julia's death is reported in the media and a newspaper
notes that on Julia's apartment door, somebody had clipped a note that said, RIP equals question
mark.
Love you, Julia, Larry, end quote.
The college campus is shocked by the death of Julia.
Normally, around this time, students would be cramming for finals, but instead they're
talking with counselors and trying to process what has happened.
Over 200 students and staff gather for a memorial in her honor.
On Monday, December 17, it's been almost a week since Julia was found dead and she's
laid to rest in her hometown of Monroe Township, Michigan.
On January 29, so now it's been over a month since Julia was found dead and her toxicology
report comes back.
There was no alcohol or drugs in her system when she died.
Police officially rule her death as a homicide, noting that Julia died by asphyxiation by
drowning.
By April 2013, so it's been four months since Julia was murdered and police are offering
a $10,000 reward for information.
Julia's family remain confident that the police will be able to track down Julia's
murderer.
They talk with police at least once a week.
Julia's mother Kim says, quote, I'm willing to be patient as long as it brings justice.
She deserves that, end quote.
Police have also been able to determine that while some things were missing from her room,
police do not think that robbery was the motive.
By this point, police have interviewed hundreds of people, her family, friends, classmates
from both high school and college.
Police have given polygraph tests and everyone has passed.
Police are still working their way through the case.
Detective Annette Kopek says, quote, we still have a current list of names that we need
to look at and a to do list, end quote.
Police do confirm that they have ruled out the guy that she went on a date with the weekend
before she was found murdered.
In December of 2013, just shy of the one year anniversary, Julia's family begs for the
person or people involved in Julia's murder to please come forward.
Her stepfather Jim, who raised her since she was a child, says, quote, for the persons
that are responsible, I'm sorry that you didn't have the open mind to see who my daughter
truly was.
Maybe one day you will, end quote.
They also announced that the reward has been increased to $15,000.
The next time Julia's murder is in the media is at the two year anniversary in December
of 2014.
Julia's family hold a memorial service not only for Julia, but for other families as
well that are seeking answers.
Kim, Julia's mother says, quote, this night is about Julia and finding justice for Julia,
but all of these cases have a common denominator.
Someone knows something.
If we can bring closure to any of these cases, we've done good here tonight, end quote.
Police are a little more clear at this time in what they believe happened the night Julia
was murdered.
They believe that she was asphyxiated and then placed into the bathtub where she drowned.
A few months later in February of 2015, Julia's stepdad, James Turnquist, is arrested for
different charges.
I'm not going to get into it since he was found not guilty and his wife and daughters
stood by him throughout the entire ordeal.
However, in that trial, additional details come out in Julia's case.
He's also named a person of interest in her murder, but this will also fizzle out over
time.
A lot of the additional details I already went over in the timeline.
However, we also learned that seminal fluid was found on her body.
It was male DNA and consistent with a man who had had a vasectomy.
There were also two DNA profiles found in the latex glove.
One DNA profile is weak and they're only able to determine that it's male.
The other one, however, is stronger and would be good enough to make a comparison.
It also comes out that police failed to collect a purple rug that sat outside the bathtub
in Julia's bathroom.
Police will later ask him for the rug so they can test it.
When Kim takes police to the storage locker where they kept Julia's things, the rug
was nowhere to be found.
Some believe that the police had the rug the entire time.
To date, no one knows what happened to the rug.
In 2022, at the 10-year anniversary, Julia's family worked to keep her story in the media,
but they're frustrated with the progress that police have made.
Her sister says, quote, we're just frustrated and they need to hand it over.
This is too big for them, end quote.
The family has been advocating for the Ypsilanti police to hand the case over to the state
police.
The family don't trust the Ypsilanti police after what they put Julia's father through.
The family has started working with retired detective Yuhas, who worked the case from
the beginning initially.
From him, the family have learned new details, one of them being that police haven't been
able to rule out a serial killer, and that the killer also took his time.
Previously, the family thought that the murder was quick.
They think the killer might have followed Julia after she took the trash out at her
apartment.
But that is all we know about Julia Niswender’s case.
So if you know anything about the murder of Julia in December of 2012, the family asked
that you please call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-773-2587.
So that is the case of Julia Niswender.
Not that I ever know what to expect when you are sharing a case with us, but I was just
shocked.
I was talking to myself a lot while I was listening to you, and just a very heartbreaking
case.
You know, like her going to school, kids going to school, just after they graduate, it's
supposed to be a safe space to explore different interests and hobbies and meet new friends
and a place to grow.
And the fact that it was violated in such a violent way, it's just really heartbreaking.
Yeah, this is a case that I also found really shocking while I was researching it.
I didn't know much about it.
It is a case that has been covered quite a bit out there, but it's one that I personally
didn't know.
So I wanted to get into it and uncover things for myself.
And at each turn, I was very shocked.
And yeah, I agree with you that it's always heartbreaking whenever we do one on a college
campus just because that was such a sweet time in my life.
And it feels like it should be like a sacred place where you are safe.
But unfortunately, we find again and again that people are not.
The first thing I just wanted to say about her, I immediately knew or could picture who
she was based on her love of animals and their animals' reactions to her.
Yeah, I always heard that if animals and babies like you, then you're a good person.
So the fact that animals just approached her like old friends, I think speaks volumes about
how good of a person she really was.
Yeah, and her sisterly connection and bond with not just her twin, but her younger sister,
like them meeting for lunch.
I don't know, I have sisters and siblings and we are all close and meeting for lunch
around a busy Christmas time is something we would do just to quickly check in and kind
of de-stress in the middle of what could be a busy, frazzled time.
Yeah, she was extremely close to her family and her family is still deeply advocating
for her and fighting for her.
So that bond is still so tight.
Something else that I wrote down was that's a good roomie, that her roommate knew something
was wrong and did something about it.
We say it all the time, but that's a real one.
That's a real friend, someone looking out for you.
You know, obviously I would want someone to look for me.
I'd want people like that to advocate for me.
So I don't know if you could say who that name or what that person's name was, but yeah,
you're a real one.
Yeah, the roommate was actually never named in any of the research that I was looking
at, but yeah, they immediately kind of knew something was off, like not sticking to the
regular schedule.
They really noticed that her car hadn't moved at all, so it's not like she was doing things
and coming and getting her car, dropping it off.
Like they took note and yeah, raised the alarm very quickly, which is what you want.
This kind of segues us into the terrifying site that they found eventually when they
opened that bathroom door.
But first was, you know, just the mess in what could look like a robbery.
But what I also wrote down was violation of space is, if you've experienced it before,
you know, like been robbed, then maybe you know what I'm talking about or can relate.
But it's a destabilizing experience to know that your space was violated like that, especially
if you are someone who, you know, really curates your space and make it a safe and relaxing
one for you to be in.
But also, you know, that nothing was really taken.
Yeah, police do believe that the rummaging of the drawers and like dumping everything
was more of a decoy to try to make it look like a robbery gone wrong.
But it doesn't seem like anything of value was really missing.
We do know for sure that her apartment key was missing.
So that's how her bedroom door was locked and the apartment was locked when the roommate
got back.
So they locked it on the way out.
And the pillowcase was also missing and it seems like a pillow.
We know ligatures are missing from the scene and something that was used to cut was removed
from the scene.
But there might be some other things missing, those things we don't know.
But it's hard to know what the real motive is here.
I mean, just recently the retired detective, you know, told the family that they think
that the person just slipped in, followed Julia when she took the trash out from her
apartment and followed her back.
But there was no sign of forced entry.
So maybe she knew the person.
You know, there's a lot of things and police are also even saying like a serial killer.
They don't mention a name or specifics in that.
But it seems like nothing has really been ruled out here.
I know with our podcast, we don't spend a ton of time on details of a murder, but this
is for clarification's sake.
I don't think I understood.
She asphyxiated and was then drowned.
That's what I don't understand.
Yeah, so police aren't very clear exactly on the details.
But what I took kind of took it as, it does seem like it was two acts of like the asphyxiation
is one and then the drowning was the final piece.
Yeah, to me, and I'm just thinking of this in real time.
It's not something that I wrote down.
To me that really does say that was someone who was taking their time.
You know, it didn't even occur to me but like to take the time to, you know, draw the water
unless it was already in there, but if she was talking to her sister and whatnot, it
doesn't seem like that is what was happening.
So oh, God, that's very terrifying to think about.
Yeah, it's really scary to think about what this girl went through.
You know, police found ligature marks.
So they do say she was tied up or bound.
So it does seem like whoever committed this horrible act realized that he had the time
to be there.
I know you mentioned that the perpetrator was someone who had had a vasectomy, which
to me, definitely like if I was, you know, investigating, I would think it was an older
man.
Those are my thoughts, at least on like profile that it was probably someone older.
But I'm curious to know what you thought.
I would agree with you that the vasectomy does point to somebody who is older.
I wouldn't think that it would be typical of a college student.
Another thing I just kind of wanted to point out is that there does seem to be two, possibly
two DNA profiles from the latex gloves that police found in the bedroom floor.
The FBI and police did talk about the latex gloves possibly being like a decoy or something
to throw them off.
So that is something but there did seem to be like two sets of DNA.
One was pretty weak.
So maybe that is just the other DNA profile, just a weaker pull of it.
But there is a strong DNA profile that could be used in comparison.
So I hope in the future, the family gets justice.
They're fighting for it, they're advocating for it.
They actively want this case worked.
So I hope that they're able to get a profile to match to this DNA that they have.
I do know it hasn't showed up in any systems like CODIS.
So that is something that police have mentioned.
Yeah, I think with cases like this, once there is a possible theory or speculation that a
serial killer could possibly be involved, it becomes a case where a lot of people start
speculating and the most important thing is honestly like just what you did brought this
case to our attention.
I feel sad that I didn't know about it because I originally am not too far from where she
was from.
I'm very interested in helping.
Anyway, I can, especially because this case was so recent.
It feels possible to me that there are answers out there, but you know, more than anything,
just keep just continuing to talk about it.
Absolutely.
And again, if you know anything about Julia Niswender’s murder, please call Crimestoppers
at 1-800-773-2587.
And we'll of course have pictures of Julia on our Instagram at ColdandMissing.
If you're not following us, please follow us there.
We have updates in case we ever do need to miss a week of the podcast.
We usually post about it there.
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You can do it in Apple podcasts or at our website www.coldandmissing.com where we also
have transcripts and all of our back catalogs.
So go check it out.
If you're new here, if you want to look at more cases, you can find all of them there.
But that is all I have.
Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing.
I'm your host Allie.
And I'm your co-host Eli.
Have a good week and stay safe, y'all.
Stay safe, y'all.