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In 2002, the shootings of Doug Estes and Jim Bennett, which occurred nearly a dozen years ago, resulted in the wrongful conviction of Marine veteran and former police officer Jeff Titus, who was only recently released from prison after his life sentence was overturned by a Federal District Court Judge.
Estes and Bennett were two hunters whose bodies were found in the Fulton State Game Area in the woods of Kalamazoo County in 1990. The case remained unsolved until a team of cold case investigators connected Titus to the killings, despite being ruled out as a suspect in the initial investigation.
Jeff Titus: Killer in Question on ID will revisit the case against Titus and his wrongful conviction, which was vacated partly due to the upcoming true-crime series and in part owing to Susan Simpson’s podcast Undisclosed.
Part 1 is scheduled to air on ID this Friday, March 3, at 9.00 pm ET. Its synopsis reads as:
"Eleven years after the murders of two hunters in Kalamazoo, Mich., detectives charge suspect Jeff Titus with the crime, but one cop believes they have the wrong man."
Doug Estes and Jim Bennett's 1990 shooting deaths remained unsolved for more than a decade
On November 17, 1990, Doug Estes and Jim Bennett were gunned down in the woods near Jeff Titus' farm in the Fulton State Game Area (near Battle Creek), in the woods of Kalamazoo County, while on a hunting trip. The men were hunting separately and were strangers when they were each shot once in the back from different firearms and died.
While investigating their deaths, authorities even discovered a gun that reportedly belonged to one of the victims two days after the killings, but it was wiped clean. There were no suspects at the time except for Jeffs, who was soon cleared by the first detectives in the case after he provided a solid alibi that proved he was nowhere near the crime scene when the incident occurred.
Sources stated that Jeff Titus was himself on a deer hunting trip with a friend more than 27 miles away at the time of the murder. Moreover, minutes after the shootings, two witnesses saw a car swerve off the road and fall into a ditch. The driver refused assistance despite their offer to call a tow truck.
Deadline reports that the two witnesses even identified Thomas Dillon as the driver two years later. He, a serial killer, was arrested in 1992 and charged with killing outdoorsmen, including hunters, fishermen, and hikers. He would later die in prison in 2011 while serving a life sentence.
Detectives handling the investigation in Kalamazoo, however, were never made aware that Dillon had been identified as a possible suspect in the murders.
Jeff Titus, 71, says wrongful conviction "should've never happened" after release from prison
Over the years, the case went cold due to insufficient leads, however, ten years later, in 2000, a newly established cold case team reopened the case, completely contradicting the original conclusion of the first investigators and instantly naming Titus as the primary suspect.
According to The Cinemaholic, Jacinda Davis, the producer of Jeff Titus: Killer in Question, stated:
"I can’t think of another case where there are two sets of detectives that don’t agree. The original detectives in this case absolutely, 100 percent cleared Jeff Titus and believe he is not guilty. [They are the ones who took the case to the Michigan Innocence Clinic.] And the cold case team is the opposite. They believe beyond a doubt that they have the right man."
Jeff Titus was arrested in 2001. During a highly-debated trial, prosecutors asserted that Titus he have had sufficient time to travel to and from the crime scene, proving his alibi shaky. In August 2002, Titus was found guilty and given a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Earlier this year in February, 71-year-old Jeff Titus was released from prison after spending more than two decades in prison for Doug Estes and Jim Bennett's 1990 murder case. His conviction was overturned.
According to People, Titus reportedly told local station WOOD TV that:
"It's been 22 years waiting for this day, and it should've never happened in the first place. I'm just over [ecstatic] and overjoyed to finally be out, where I can get out and do something. I want to see my grandkids, I haven't seen them, I want to see them."
Jeff Titus: Killer in Question airs on ID on March 3, 2023.
