Cold case murder motive: jealousy

HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) - Revelations of incest and murder emerged during a preliminary hearing in an Ottawa County cold case from November 1987.

Ryan Wyngarden is charged with murdering his sister, Gail Brink, and her husband Rick in their Park Township home 25 years ago.

During a hearing to determine if there's enough evidence to send the case to trial, prosecutors revealed a motive for the murders: jealousy.

As 24 Hour News 8 reported when the case first broke, it was Ryan Wyngarden's wife Pamela who finally told detectives in January 2013 that her then-boyfriend admitted he killed the couple two days before the bodies were found on November 23, 1987. She kept that secret for more that 25 years.

Pamela Wyngarden testified Wednesday her husband had a sexual relationship with his sister when she was a teenager, and told her he was jealous of his sister and her husband, who had been married just over a year, and that he didn't want Rick Brink to find out about the past.

The bodies of Gail and Rick Brink were discovered at their home on Nov. 23, 1987.

Two days before that, Ryan told Pamela what happened.

"'I killed Rick and Gail,'" she recalled him saying.

When she asked him if he'd called police, she testified he said no.

"He said he wanted them to suffer," said Pamela Wyngarden on the stand.

Assistant prosecutor Lee Fischer asked Pamela Wyngarden why she lied to police at the time and why she waited so long to come forward.

"I was in fear," said Wyngarden, whose testimony brought an outburst from her husband.

"Your saying all these lies about me, Pam," said Ryan Wyngarden, as deputies stood him up and lead him out of court. "You know it's all lies."

Earlier in the proceedings Wednesday, Ida Brink remembered the day her son Rick's co-workers called her home, concerned because he hadn't shown up for work.

She and her now-late husband Garret "Bud" Brink went to the home on Ransom, walked through an unlocked door, yelling "Kids, are you home?"

When no on answered, the couple searched the home. Brinks found her daughter-in-law in bed, a pillow covering her head.

"When I touched her, she was cold," said the elderly Mrs. Brink. "And I told my husband, she's dead."
 
After Ida Brink discovered her daughter-in-law's body, she could not find her son.

There were no cell phones at the time. The battery in a wireless phone in the home was dead.

While they scrambled to find a way to call police, Rick Brink's boss at Trendway Corporation, Don Heeringa, and his brother Jim showed up at the home.

A close friend of Rick's, Don Heeringa also worried when he didn't show up to work, so they went to the home to check on them.

Jim Heeringa went to another home and called deputies. Don Heeringa testified as he stood outside the home.

As he stood near Rick Brinks' SUV, Heeringa noticed a window was down. Peering inside, Heeringa saw a body lying across the passenger seat, He didn't see the face, but he recognized the coat that Rick often wore at work.

Heeringa told deputies, who found Rick Brink dead of two gunshot wounds shot at close range.

Video, shot by the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department the day the bodies were discovered, gave the court you a glimpse inside a crime scene. It shows Rick Brink's truck with the passenger side window either broken or shot out.

The video also showed the inside of the home the couple shared.

"The TV was on. Didn't appear to be any struggle or ransacking in the house," retired Ottawa County Sheriff's Detective Lauren Wassink said in court.

He said Wyngarden showed up at the scene and wanted to talk to an officer.

"His purpose for being there is to tell us about an ex-boyfriend of Gail, and why we should be aware of him."

Wassink testified Wyngarden didn't ask for any details. He talked to detectives for 10-15 minutes.

Wednesday afternoon, Pamela Wyngarden was called to the stand.

"He said, 'Eventually the police will catch me,'" she said told the court.

But after the prosecutor asked another question, Ryan Wyngarden broke in.

"You're saying all these lies about me, Pam. You know it's all lies," he shouted.

The judge ordered a recess.

Testimony ended for the day around 5 p.m. and will continue Thursday.

Ryan Wyngarden, now 50, faces life in prison if convicted of the murders.