Donald Goines documentary makers offer $5K for tips about Highland Park writer's death

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13-03-2025

Moviemakers are searching for new information about the death — and life — of Donald Goines, a novel writer who was killed more than a half-century ago, but whose case was never solved.
And they are willing to pay up to $5,000 for it.
The announcement Wednesday in a downtown Detroit hotel suite, is, by some accounts, a long-overdue plea for help to investigate a cold case. The film company, Detroit Son, is hoping to figure out why the prolific author was killed on Oct. 1, 1974.
"We're trying to determine what really happened and who is responsible," Bill Proctor, a longtime broadcaster who was hired as an investigator by the film company, said. "It is a daunting task."
Goines and his lover, Shirley Sailor, were raising their two small children in Highland Park when they were "brutally murdered," Proctor said. Over time, he added, police files have gone missing, detectives have retired — or died — and memories have faded.
But, Proctor added, other cold cases have been solved and this one can be, too.
While the motive for the slayings was unclear and a killer ‒ or killers ‒ was never arrested or prosecuted, some over the years have speculated that the deaths may have been connected to drugs, which Goines was using, and perhaps gambling debts.
Another theory is that Goines was killed to prevent whatever he was working on from being published.
He drew his stories from real-life experiences and encounters with criminals.
Perhaps one — or more — of them didn't want their deeds exposed.
Goines and Sailor were shot five times each, according to reports.
But one of the most tragic parts of the story is that the two children — Goines' daughters, age 2 and 4 — were left behind in the home, 232 Cortland, where they reportedly spent the night with their parent's dead bodies.
The younger of the two children, Donna Sailor — who is now 52 and briefly spoke at the news conference — told the Free Press she didn't remember anything from that night or know much about her parents.
And, she added, she hoped future film could help her family get answers — and justice.
Goins — who was described by retired Free Press editor Bill McGraw as a "pop-culture star" who was 'largely unknown in white America' — was a bestselling author who wrote about Detroit gangsters, drug addicts and prostitutes.
Goines — who grew up in a middle-class Catholic family in the Dequindre-Davison neighborhood in north central Detroit and at 15, Goines dropped out of Pershing High, faked a birth certificate, and joined the U.S. Air Force — got his start writing while in prison.
More: Donald Goines becomes a pop-culture star half a century after his violent death
He wrote about police brutality, retribution and gangsters, in books set mainly in Detroit.
He turned out a total of 16 books in four years.
His works, McGraw wrote, are 'filled with flamboyant violence and unromantic sex' and were 'printed on cheap paper and wound up for sale at bus stations and party stores because many bookstores wouldn't carry them.'
McGraw added that Goines wrote about 'the arduous life he knew as a pimp, prisoner, con man, armed robber, heroin addict, and ninth-grade dropout,' telling vivid stories and describing 'life at the margins of Black America.'
Goines also was a drug user, who, in his own words, said he needed 'a fix to be able to write.'
Still, over the last few decades, the novels Goines wrote were significant enough to be studied in university English classes and echoed in rap song lyrics. Rapper Tupac Shakur, for instance, called Goines his "father figure."
And in 2004, one of his books, "Never Die Alone," was turned into a film starring another rapper, DMX, and David Arquette, an actor, producer, and retired professional wrestler, who is probably best known for appearing in the slasher franchise, "Scream."
So far, the moviemakers said, they have a working title for the documentary, "Get Yours Before You Get Got: The Donald Goines Story," and already have budgeted about $500,000 to make it.
They said they hope to film it in Highland Park and Detroit and release it in about a year.
Craig Gore, an executive producer and screenwriter, said he hopes that the documentary can cover Goines life, legacy, and the investigation into his death; his status among rappers, like Tupac; and the literary impact of his work, especially among incarcerated readers.
"Hopefully, someone will come out of the woodwork," he added.
And Robert Bailey, one of the documentary's executive producers, said Goines works —which he read while in prison — inspired him to become an author and wanted "to be able to represent his story in a true manner."
Bailey acknowledged that many people who might have known what happened to Goines in the early 70s are "dead and gone," but "it's good to remain hopeful, and that's what we are."
But, he added, even if they are unable to solve the homicide case or find justice for the dead, they still intend to produce a documentary, which could allow the family to emotionally address unresolved feelings, and to tell an important story.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Documentary makers seek to solve Donald Goines murder case