S12 E4 - The Name in Two Files - The Cold Case Murders of Kathy Darling & Diane Holloway

In 1976, young pregnant mother Kathryn “Kathy” Darling was murdered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, while her 15-month-old child was nearby. Three years later, another pregnant woman, Diane Holloway, was murdered in the same city. For decades, the cases remained unresolved — until the Kent Metro Cold Case Team connected one name across both files: Russell Vane.

In this episode of Malice in the Mitten, Tracy Preston and Christine Mulligan examine the cold-case investigation, the role of DNA evidence, the limits of old investigative tools, and the delayed justice that finally came after more than thirty years. Suggested by listener Becky Vander Meulen, this episode remembers Kathryn Darling and Diane Holloway not as case files, but as women whose lives, families, and futures mattered.

In 1976, young pregnant mother Kathryn “Kathy” Darling was murdered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, while her 15-month-old child was nearby. Three years later, another pregnant woman, Diane Holloway, was murdered in the same city. For decades, the cases remained unresolved — until the Kent Metro Cold Case Team connected one name across both files: Russell Vane.

In this episode of Malice in the Mitten, Tracy Preston and Christine Mulligan examine the cold-case investigation, the role of DNA evidence, the limits of old investigative tools, and the delayed justice that finally came after more than thirty years. Suggested by listener Becky Vander Meulen, this episode remembers Kathryn Darling and Diane Holloway not as case files, but as women whose lives, families, and futures mattered.

#MichiganTrueCrime #MaliceInTheMitten #ColdCase #GrandRapids #TrueCrimePodcast

Hosted and Produced by Tracy Preston, Featuring Christine Mulligan

Researched and written by Tracy Preston

Original music created exclusively for Malice in the Mitten by Tracy Preston

Original artwork by Todd Preston

Sources:

Wolter, Sally. “Notes from the Field: A Multijurisdictional Team Moved Cold Cases to the Front Burner.” National Institute of Justice, 3 Dec. 2019.

Price, Cynthia. “Cold Case Successes Result from Collaborative Effort.” Grand Rapids Legal News, 29 Apr. 2011.

Public records and reporting vary on the spelling of Kathryn Darling’s name, with some sources using Catherine Darling and others using Kathryn/Kathy Darling. For this episode, we use Kathryn “Kathy” Darling while acknowledging the source variation. This episode relies primarily on the National Institute of Justice account by Detective Sally Wolter and reporting from Grand Rapids Legal News.