Death in Detroit

Was it murder or suicide? That question had hounded Detective Raymond Wojconski for three years. The implications for the deceased's family were momentous since his wife and young daughter would suffer financial hardship if it was suicide. But they would have some economic security if Dwayne was murdered.

Risa Adelson, a WWII widow, was one person suspected in Dwayne's death. She was the woman who accused Dwayne of raping her in high school; however, she had reason to want Dwayne alive. She expected that after years of waiting for some admission of guilt from Dwayne, he was about to pay her off for all the years of shame and suffering her family went through.

And then there was the antisemitic element in Dwayne's family since his father was close friends with Bernold Kraus. Kraus, an avowed Nazi sympathizer, warned him that Dwayne should not be hiring Jews in his shop. He was referring to Seymore Lefkowski, a high school student who was hired as a gofer. Seymore heard Dayne's father say, "what's he doing here? Get rid of him, get the Jew out of here," when Seymore showed up for work on that day before Christmas, 1946, the day Dwayne's body was found.

The many elements in the case had Detective Wojconski obsessed by Dwayne's death, but finally he ended up doing what was right.