They are known as the Tobias five.
Five men, convicted and later exonerated in the death of Jerry Tobias in Gaylord in December of 1986.
Now, two of the five men, Terry Moore and Mark Canter, want the death of Tobias back in the spotlight in hopes of finding out what happened to the 31-year-old.
It all started in December of 1986 when State Police began investigating the death of Jerry Tobias.
Nearly a year later, Terry’s brother, Laurie, was convicted of killing Tobias, whose body was found near a butcher shop Laurie owned.
Then, Terry, along with Mark, and two other men found themselves in front of a judge also facing charges related to Tobias’ death.
“Actually, my brother, I was being arraigned the same day. My brother was upstairs in the same courtroom being sentenced.
My poor mother. She’s running back and forth between the two courtrooms. You know, her two sons are there. And she didn’t know what to do. She was beside herself,” recalled Terry.
The new charges were based largely on the shifting testimony of Debra Parmentier, the prosecution’s star witness.
Traverse city author Mardi Link writes about the case in her book, ‘Wicked Takes the Witness Stand.’
“Initially she only came into the case because she was going through a divorce herself. Because she told her soon to be ex-husband that she had witnessed the murder of Jerry Tobias. And she told her initial story, was that he was stabbed behind a grocery store. None of which is true. And certainly, the prosecutors and the police knew that’s not how Jerry died,” said Link.
Canter and Moore were eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
But as quickly as the case against the Tobias Five came together, it began collapsing even faster.
Documents emerged showing massive inconsistencies in Parmentier’s testimony -- she would eventually be charged with perjury.
“Even though her story changed and the whole, aspect of her making up incidents where her own life was in danger so that she would be protected, so that her rent would be paid or cable would be paid or, you know, her medications would be paid for was really ingenious in a very devious way. I think she was just really accomplished at weaving tales,” said Link.
Allegations of misconduct by prosecutors and investigators also came to light, all while Canter and Moore sat behind bars.
“My brother was in for a little over two years, and Mark and I went for eight years, five months and 21 days,” said Moore.
“Not including the six months house arrest and, you know, the, the past 30 years of living, the Tobias case every day. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about the Tobias case or someone mentions it. The community hasn’t forgotten,” said Canter.
A series of appeals and hearings eventually tossed the convictions and the entire case against the Tobias Five, leaving open the question of what happened to Jerry Tobias on that cold December day 39 years ago.
“We expended all of these, all of these work hours, all of this, effort, you know, all of this suffering from the people who were accused. And we still don’t know what really happened,” said Link.
“I’m not going after anybody for their inappropriate conduct and what they did to us. I want to know who threw Tobias in the back of that truck and beat him up. That’s it,” said Canter.
“They failed to pursue, to protect the innocent as well as prosecute the guilty. I don’t care about that anymore. I only want to know what happened and who’s really responsible. That’s enough accountability for me, and I can move forward,” said Moore.
Michigan State Police tell us the Jerry Tobias case is considered a cold case and is not being investigated right now.