When a vacation goes wrong

Ahhhhh....summertime! Kids are out of school and many families plan trips to enjoy some fun in the sun outside of their home...cities...states...maybe even their country. When I was in grade school, my family and I took a big trip out west to see Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and then on to Deadwood City. We even got to see Devil's Tower in Wyoming. It was a very fun trip with lots of things to see and do. After all was said we done, we arrived back home safely.

Unfortunately, not everyone can say the same. Sometimes summer vacations can go very wrong. Maybe you lost your baggage. Maybe someone robbed you. Maybe...you ended up dead.

Let me introduce you to Richard Robison, 42, his wife Shirley, 40, and their four children: 19-year-old Richie, 16-year-old Gary, 12-year-old Randall and 7-year-old Susan. The Robisons lived in Lathrup Village, Detroit. Richard was an advertising executive and owned a magazine named ‘Impesario’, allowing the family an upper middle-class living. Shirley was a homemaker, taking care of the home and family. For the summer of 1968, Richard and Shirley planned to take the family to their holiday cabin at the Blisswood Resort in Good Hart, Michigan, for the summer months.

When the family arrived to Good Hart, Richard spoke with the caretaker, Monty Bliss, about the Robison going to Florida for a few weeks, returning back to the cabin by July.

Over the next few weeks when no one saw the family, no one was worried about anything as they thought the family were in Florida. I can't even imagine the shock and horror when people discovered that the family never left their cabin.

By late July, people in neighboring cabins started complaining about foul odors coming from the Robison cabin. Thinking it might be a dead animal around or under the cabin, another caretaker, Chauncey Bliss, decided to take a look. Instead of finding a dead animal on the premise, he instead saw dead Robison family members through a window. Authorities were then called and the gruesome discovery of a family of six, all dead for approximately weeks, were found through their cabin.

Found in the cabin were all six family members dead. The investigation discovered that all six were shot, two different guns had been used. Richard Robison and his daughter, Susan, had also been beaten with a heavy, blunt object. Investigators believed a hammer was possibly used. The front window of their cabin was shattered, suggesting that the first shot may have been fired outside the cabin before the perpetrator or perpetrators had gone into the cabin to take out the whole family.

Pathology reports show that the family had been dead for about four weeks before being found. This puts their date of death around June 25, 1968. By the time of discovery, the bodies were badly decomposed, making getting much needed evidence very difficult if not impossible to collect. Any possible sexual assault could not be determined, either.

Now came the time for the police to figure out the who and the why...neither of which have ever been answered after 54 years. Motive? Police believe the father, Richard, was the primary target, but were not able to come up with any concrete answers. Bad business dealings? Possible affairs? Nothing was ever proven. Any why take out the whole family?

Suspects? The primary suspect was Joseph Scolaro, a 30-year-old who had worked with Richard Robison. Police found that Joseph had been embezzling money from the magazine and his boss up to $60,000. They believed Richard found out and called Joseph Scolaro. There is evidence of multiple phone calls having been made between Richard and Joseph the morning of the murders. It was found that Joseph would've had time to drive from Detroit to Good Hart after their last phone call and he never did have a solid alibi.

Joseph failed two lie detector tests and a third one was inconclusive. Obviously lie detectors cannot be used in court, but it does make me a bit suspicious about Joseph. At the cabin, police found shell casings and a shoe print left by the killer. Joseph did own a pair of shoes that matched the print at the cabin, but police said that shoes were clean and had not been worn before, so they couldn't prove it was the same shoes as what was worn at the cabin. Joseph also owned a gun that was similar to the one used in the killings, but was not an exact match. Police did find shell casings at a driving range used by Joseph that were a match, but they did not feel it was enough to charge Joseph with murder.

Sadly, on March 8, 1973, police found the body of Joseph Scolaro. He had died from a self-inflicted gun shot wound. He left a suicide note stating that he did not kill the Robison family and had no idea who did it.

Another possible suspect could be Chauncey Bliss, who found the bodies. He knew the family and the layout of the cabin and surrounding area well, but what would the motive have been? Other than grieving the recent loss of his son, nothing really comes to mind. Again, why would he take out a family? I know grief can cause people to behave in unusual ways sometimes, but murdering a whole family in this situation seems a bit of a stretch to me.

Another name talked about as a possible suspect in the Robison family murder is John Norman Collins. He is believed to have murdered teenage girls between 1967 and 1969 in Southeastern Michigan. John is mentioned due to having attended the University of Eastern Michigan with the oldest son, Richie. Without evidence of John being at the cabin in Good Hart, I don't believe a college connection is strong enough for me to think John had anything to do with this. Also, John abducted, beat, and raped teenage girls - the whole Robison family was annihilated; men, women, and children. This just doesn't seem to fit with John.

Overall, many people still think the murderer was Joseph Scolaro. To this day, no one has been charged and I'm not sure this case will ever be solved. All the Robison family wanted to do was enjoy their summer vacay - but their lives were cut short by someone...or maybe multiple someones on a summer night in Michigan.

Next time you go on vacation...I wish you safe travels...and living through it!!!

-- Audre