Michigan history: Sen. Warren Hooper shot, killed 78 years ago; case still unsolved
(CBS DETROIT) - Michigan Sen. Warren Hooper was traveling from Lansing to his home in Albion on Jan. 11, 1945, when he was shot and killed.
Investigators suspected that members of Detroit's Purple Gang were involved. Despite the investigation, the Republican senator's case remains unsolved to this day.
According to the University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library, Hooper was killed days before he was scheduled to testify before a grand jury regarding a bribe in horse racing. At the time, former state treasurer and Republican Frank McKay was named in three federal grand jury probes, and Hooper's testimony would have implicated McKay.
A few days after the killing, a witness reported seeing a maroon car blocking Hooper's car on M-99.
The case's attention turned to the Purple Gang in March 1945 when Sam Abramowitz claimed to have been hired by gang leader Harry Fleisher to kill Hooper.
Abramowitz, Fleisher, his brother Sammy Fleisher, Detroit bar operator Mike Selik and gambler Pete Mahoney were charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Abramowitz became a state witness, placing the blame on the four other men. Although the four men pleaded not guilty, they were found guilty of conspiracy and sentenced to four to five years in prison.
Historians say some believed Abramowitz was the killer because his feet were the same size as shoe prints found at the scene.
Two years later, two inmates at the Southern Michigan Prison claimed that Fleisher, Selik and other criminals were recruited to kill Hooper and used the maroon vehicle from deputy prison warden D.C. Pettit.
Historians say investigators interviewed Pettit and searched his farm, but prison records for use of a car were found missing.
The case went cold, but in 1987, Bruce Rubenstein and Lawrence Ziewacz published "Three Bullets Sealed his Lips," prompting investigators to look into it once again. Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Chet Wilson believed Selik was the shooter and interviewed him at a retirement home in 1989.
Selik, who was one of the last living suspects at the time, reportedly refused to talk about it. He died in 1996, never revealing if he had information.