http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/...st=newsmichigan

Mother losing hope as daughter's slaying case grows colder
3/6/2008, 12:49 p.m. EST
The Associated Press

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A woman whose daughter was slain nearly 22 years ago says she's losing hope, now that cold-case officers are downgrading the investigation.

Bonita Lynne Oom, also known as Bonnie, was 34 when last seen leaving her apartment in September 1986. Her body was found in woods near Pickerel Lake in Cannon Township.

The Kent County Metro Cold Case unit announced last September it was taking up the matter. But despite the accompanying the media blitz, "we didn't get a whole bunch of tips," state police Detective Sgt. Rob Davis told Grand Rapids Press columnist Tom Rademacher for a story Thursday.

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The investigators say they haven't given up, but are shifting their focus to another case: the disappearance of 14-year-old Deanie Peters from her brother's middle school wrestling clinic in 1981.

"I'd prefer that they stay on Bonnie's case," said Celeste Oom, Bonnie's mother. "But I'm not in control of that. It seems after all this time, that if anything were going to click, it would have happened by now."

Davis said there still were "persons of interest" in the case, but not enough clues to keep three detectives busy. Just one is working on it now, and only part-time.

Celeste Oom, 84, lives with a single son. A widow since 2005, she suffers from sciatica and a pinched nerve in her back. She walks with a cane.

Most days, her only company are mystery novels, a 10-year-old cocker spaniel and a black-and-white snapshot of Bonnie on the wall of Celeste's modest bedroom.

"I used to see her, talk to her about every day when she was alive," said Oom, who then lived less than a mile from her daughter. "She'd walk up in the evening and sit on the porch, and we'd sit and talk."

She moved to a different neighborhood to avoid running into people who would bring up Bonnie and ask about the case.

Her Roman Catholic faith faded. So did her marriage. Oom and her husband, Arthur, separated two years before he died.

"I blamed him, and he blamed me," Celeste Oom said Wednesday. "He said that maybe if I had done more things with her ... and I would say the same thing of him."

"It's awful hard to keep on with your life when something like this happens."

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Information from: The Grand Rapids Press, http://www.mlive.com/grpress

© 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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