The man at the center of these allegations, Arthur Ream, has a lengthy criminal background.
The 7 Investigators have learned, the people who have interrogated him in the past say they’re not surprised he’s now under suspicion of being a serial killer.
As police search for answers and bodies in northern Macomb County, convicted predator Arthur Ream is back in the crosshairs of local detectives.
After 13-year-old Cindy Zarzycki vanished from Eastpointe in 1986, it took police decades to connect Ream to her murder.
Ream wasn’t brought to justice until 2008, after a dedicated Eastpointe detective reached out the professional interviewers from the Illinois firm Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates.
“He developed some information about Art Ream who had a pretty significant background with some sexually deviant activities with younger girls,” said David Zulawski Tuesday.
Eastpointe police officials tell the 7 Investigators that Cindy had been dating Ream’s son. That’s how he got her to get in his car at a local Dairy Queen. Police say Ream raped and murdered her, but he would only ever admit that she died in his presence.
A jury convicted Ream of first degree murder. Eventually, Ream lead police to her body in the same area where investigators are now searching for additional victims.
“After his conviction, [Ream] called and asked to meet with the detective again. So we strategized about how to handle that. And [we] basically just told him, if you want to have an opportunity to reveal where Cindy’s buried, you know let us know, and it’s got to be before this date, because it may take us a while to recover the body,” said Zulawski.
Cindy wasn’t Ream’s only victim. He’d already served time for a child sex offense in Shelby Township in 1975, and again in 1998 for a case out of Gladwin County.
“Four other woman came forward who were sexually assaulted by this defendant,” said Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith in 2008.
Zulawksi says he’s not surprised police are now labeling the 68-year-old Ream a serial killer.
“There’s always an element of violence in his previous crimes towards the victims, so it wouldn’t be unusual that there might be multiples,” said Zulawski.
One of the most notorious serial killer cases in this area is the Oakland County Child Killer case. We did check with investigators. That Child Killer case does not line up with the facts in the Ream case. But of course, if new evidence is uncovered, detectives will explore it.