MARSHALL, MI (WTVB) – The man who was killed in a shootout with Michigan State Police on Francisco Road near Arborgast Road in Union Township in January 2018 has been named by investigators as the murderer of a Coldwater man almost a decade ago.
State Police released details of their investigation during a news conference at the Marshall Post on Wednesday after many months of speculation.
62-year-old David Kidney of Union City died 15 months ago in the violent incident that saw two State Police members shot as personnel from the Marshall Post were executing a search warrant related to the Duane Finney cold case murder investigation.
Finney was murdered in May 2009. It was considered a cold case in March of 2017 as the Michigan State Police began assisting the Branch County Sheriff’s Department with the investigation following a request from the Sheriff’s Department.
Lt. Chuck Christensen displayed a Beretta 9mm gun which he called the murder weapon during the news conference. He said at this point investigators were “highly confident” Kidney murdered Finney. While the investigation will remain open under M.S.P. protocol, Christensen said the cold case investigators will no longer actively work this case.
Through a search of Kidney’s residence after the gunfight, a Beretta hand gun and Rueger mini were discovered. Finney had reported the same guns went missing from his personal collection just months before his murder. Investigators were then able to match the bullets found in the guns to the ones discovered in Finney’s body.
Christensen indicated before the murder, there were mostly minor disputes between the former Fairview Estates neighbors before they stopped talking to each other for a number of years.
He said according to one theory that was developed, Kidney got into Finney’s vehicle in the trailer park where they lived on the morning of Finney’s death as the victim was leaving for work. It’s not known what exactly happened or what was said in the car during the short drive which took the men over to the Skate Ranch. Investigators think Finney was shot as he was driving because of the way the vehicle came to a rest.
Finney’s body was found several hours later. His car came to rest in a field about 500 feet from a rental storage unit parking lot next to the Skate Ranch.
