Rod Sadler didn’t plan to become a true crime author — he planned to solve crimes.
A retired Eaton County sergeant with more than 30 years in law enforcement, Sadler spent decades building cases, drawing composite sketches and leading patrol squads.
But after retirement, he began digging into cold cases and writing about them. His fourth book, “Grim Paradise,” unearths one of Michigan’s most haunting unsolved murders: the 1960 killing of Frances Lacey on Mackinac Island.
Sadler first stumbled across Lacey’s name on a ghost tour with his wife. A guide mentioned the island’s only unsolved murder. “As a cop, that always piques your interest,” Sadler said. “I thought, what if I could solve it?”
That passing curiosity turned into a full-blown investigation — one that led Sadler to pay $2,500 for a 2,000-page Michigan State Police file, build a searchable spreadsheet of every page and ultimately name a new suspect in the final chapter of the book.
Sadler approached the case like a detective — careful, methodical and relentless.
His first step was submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to the Michigan State Police. To his surprise, they confirmed they still had the original case file — but the cost to reproduce it would be steep.
“They said it would be about $2,500. I nearly fell over,” Sadler said. “But I paid it. It was worth it.”
What arrived was a 2,000-page stack of investigative reports, typed statements, evidence logs and lab analyses — much of it redacted. Rather than flip through it blindly, Sadler built a spreadsheet indexing the entire case file, page by page, so he could search names, dates and forensic references instantly.
That tool proved critical. When a new suspect emerged — a man Sadler believed might have been on the island at the time of the murder — he searched the spreadsheet for the man’s name.
“They forgot to redact it,” Sadler said.
That slip allowed him to locate the man’s original interview with police, connect timelines and investigate further.
Sadler doesn’t work with red string and corkboards. His approach is more practical: spreadsheets, digitized transcripts and detailed cross-referencing. He tracks newspaper reports from the 1960s against case file notes to match redacted names with known figures. He logs possible motives, maps known movements and rechecks every detail that might have been missed.
“Sometimes, all it takes is one new set of eyes,” he said.
After “Grim Paradise” was published in 2023, Lacey’s nephew contacted Sadler with an unexpected and valuable piece of history: an 8mm film reel his father had shot two weeks after the murder.
The family had gone through with a long-planned vacation to Mackinac Island. During the trip, the nephew’s father filmed footage of the crime scene area. The reel was later digitized and sent to Sadler. While the footage doesn’t offer any direct evi dentiary value, Sadler said it served as an incredible visual reference for understanding the layout and environment surrounding the murder site.
“It helped me reconstruct the scene and better visualize how everything unfolded,” he said.
He also managed to contact Lacey’s daughter, who was 21 at the time of the homicide and on Mackinac Island with her mother and husband.
She initially agreed to answer questions via email but became defensive after receiving the first set, which included inquiries about her relationship with her husband.
In her reply, she wrote that she did not want Sadler to write the book and that her mother would be “appalled” by it. She ultimately chose not to continue the exchange.
Before ending communication, however, she shared one haunting detail: “My mother didn’t have the ability to scream.”
She explained that years earlier, Lacey had gotten her hair caught in a roller-style washing machine. In the panic of trying to turn it off, she realized she couldn’t scream — a condition that persisted.
“That struck me,” Sadler said. “It might explain why no one heard anything, even though it was 11 a.m. on a Sunday.”
He described the moment as chilling and memorable and said he chose not to press her further out of respect.
While pursuing old suspects, Sadler uncovered new ones. He found a convicted criminal who had been on the island during the summer of 1960, interviewed by police and tied to physical evidence.
Then, using engagement notices and university enrollment records, Sadler traced a different man — his prime suspect — who had a stated connection to Michigan Tech and northern Michigan. The man died in prison but had the kind of disturbing behavioral history Sadler said couldn’t be ignored.
When Sadler presented his findings to the Michigan State Police in St. Ignace, they were receptive but noncommittal.
“They took the packet I sent, but because it’s technically still an open case, they won’t share anything with someone outside law enforcement,” he said. “And I’ve been retired for 13 years, so I’m out of that loop.”
Still, “Grim Paradise” may have sparked renewed interest. A North Carolina man recently reached out, convinced his grandfather may have been involved. Sadler is tracking that lead now — digging into new records, old property logs and newspaper clippings to see if any of it holds weight.
For Sadler, solving a cold case is a puzzle, one he refuses to leave unfinished. He believes there’s enough circumstantial evidence to build a stronger theory — and he’s already spoken with his publisher about a second edition or an addendum with new developments.
“I thought once the book came out, that would be the end of it,” he said. “But two years later, I’m still working on solving Mrs. Lacey’s murder.”
Sadler’s work is guided by a core principle: Respect the victim, and never exploit the story.
“You walk a fine line,” he said. “You can’t sensationalize someone’s death. You have to tell the truth, but you do it with care.”
Readers can find more about Sadler and his work at rodsadler. com. “Grim Paradise” is available locally at Falling Rock Cafe & Bookstore and the Munising School Public Library.
