John Ewing's attempts to ask a female jogger about some property resulted in his arrest. Ewing and his wife, Jill, had been looking for some land in the country. On Saturday afternoon June 23, 1984, he drove down a country road that faced some vacant land. Unable to spot a "for sale" sign he parked his car and approached a female jogger (Pattie Morris) with the hope that she may know who owned the land.
Morris, jogging alone in the remote area, reacted fearfully when the stranger, (Ewing), approached and asked, "Can I talk to you? Do you live around here?" She ran past him, noting the license number of his car. Two days later (6/25/84) she reported the encounter and Ewing's license number to The Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department. No charges were filed because no crime or attempted crime had been committed. But a month and a half later Ewing was charged 5 Criminal Sexual Conduct (CSC counts) from three counties.
Eskridge spread a rumor that Ewing actually tried to rape Pattie Morris. Morris, on the other hand, testified that Ewing made no threatening attempts toward her. But her testimony came on 2/11/85, months after the false accounts to the Ann Arbor News.
