Ewing's arrest was headline news in 1984 and
1985. This August 22, 1984 Ann Arbor News article reported Eskridge's FALSE
story of a "woman jogger (Morris) who was attacked but managed to escape
her attacker (Ewing)."
In addition to the false story, Eskridge supplied
the Newspaper with a suspect composite (left) which bore an uncanny resemblance to John
Ewing. Years later the defense learned that the sketch was a forgery identified as
the Coltrain (Jackson County) suspect. (See Judy
Coltrain Case).
Eskridge kept the media supplied
with other "facts." The story on the right says that he "saw a
Jackson County face composite resembling a man who attacked a Jackson County Woman in
1983." The composite he was referring to (see above) was the "new"
sketch that resembled Ewing. The original suspect composite in the Jackson case was
withheld from the defense and has since disappeared.
The article also talks (falsely) about "a
woman jogger (Morris) who was attacked but managed to escape before she was raped in
Northfield Township." According to Morris' own testimony Ewing
never touched her. This testimony, however, came months after the news articles.
Morris was shown the "new" composite
(above) and she did identify the sketch as "the man who tried to talk to her."
Eskridge, however, told the News that Morris "identified the sketch as her
attacker."
Eskridge perpetrated the "serial rapist"
theory by presenting the media with only one suspect composite. In this
statement to the News he said that "all of the face (suspect) composites looked
alike." You be the judge. Do these composites
all look alike?
