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Ognjan left his residence in St. Clair Shores, Michigan on November 22, 1985. He was accompanied by his childhood friend David Tyll. The two men planned to spend the weekend hunting in near White Cloud in northern Michigan, at Tyll's family's cabin. The last unconfirmed sighting of Ognjan and Tyll took place in the Houghton Lake/Mio area of Michigan on the day they vanished. They never arrived at the cabin or purchased hunting licenses. The black 1980 Ford Bronco they were driving has never been located.
In May 2003, almost eighteen years after Tyll's and Ognjan's disappearances, two brothers were arrested in connection with their cases. Police say that Raymond "J. R." Duvall Jr. and Donald "Coco" Duvall killed Ognjan and Tyll on the night they disappeared. Before their arrest the men lead a rough existence living off the Michigan woods, shooting game and sleeping in small cabins and trailers.
Authorities claim to have witnesses who saw the Duvalls beat Ognjan and Tyll to death outside the Linker's Lounge bar in Mio, and other witnesses who heard the brothers brag about feeding the missing men's bodies to pigs. The witnesses allegedly did not come forward for so long because they had been threatened by the brothers and were afraid of retribution. Several of them have died since 1985.
There is no blood or other physical evidence linking the Duvalls to Tyll's and Ognjan's presumed deaths, and their attorneys said they were being framed and the witnesses were all either lying or mistaken. The star prosecution witness admitted to having had nine alcoholic drinks prior to witnessing Tyll's and Ognjan's murders. The two men were nonetheless convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in October 2003. They were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Ognjan was employed as a mechanic at the time of his disappearance. Foul play is suspected in his and Tyll's disappearances due to the circumstances involved. Their cases were the subject of a 2006 book, Darker Than Night, by Tom Henderson.
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This post has been edited by Pachanga Rick : Today
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It's that time of year again...., Hunters
Nov 14 2007, 02:50 PM
