Circumstances
Bernice was last seen in St. Clair Shores dropping off her toddler at day care around 6:30 a.m. the morning of December 26, 1991. A neighbor in the area reported, and later testified to, hearing a gunshot around that same time. Bernice never showed up to work in Southfield that morning, and her bloodstained car was found four days later on Detroit's east side with two empty bullet casings inside. DNA tests later proved the blood in Bernice's car matched her own. The Macomb County medical examiner ruled Bernice was murdered based on the shell casings and amount of blood in her car; and investigators believe she was shot twice in the head at a stop sign at the intersection of Gordon and Florence.

It is thought that Bernice was buried for a short period of time in a shallow grave on the outskirts of a 17-acre field where cadaver dogs picked up her scent. A Stephen King novel -- with pages bent dog-earred as Bernice was accustomed -- was found in the same area. It is believe her body was later moved from the shallow grave and reburied on land near the Ashland Chemical plant on Hoover near Toepfer, because Bernice's ex-boyfriend , Robert Pann, was charged in 1993 with filing a false police report after he told police a backhoe he owned was missing. The same backhoe later was found near a site at Hoover and Toepfer. Bernice's family believes she is buried somewhere near that site.

In January 2001, Robert Pann was convicted of first-degree murder by a circuit court jury for Bernice's murder. He was sentenced to a mandatory penalty of life in prison.

Investigating Agency
St. Clair Shores Police Department
586-445-5300

Source: Detroit News
Source: Macomb Daily News
Source: Doe Network