BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) has intervened to halt an unregulated rideshare service run by a confessed serial killer and rapist who is out on parole.
Brent Koster, 67, was released on parole in January of 2021. He was put in prison after admitting to the murders of three women in the 1970s, including one he picked up while she was hitchhiking.
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Recently, Koster, who has the alias of “Big Bird,” was found to be distributing business cards advertising his ride share services in the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo area. The parolee did not get approval for the business or inform his parole agent about it.
The public became outraged after seeing serial killer’s business card online.
Screenshots of Koster’s business card have been circulating on social media including Facebook page for “Violent Ends Podcast” who warned everyone about Koster in a post.
The photos of Koster’s business card, along with details of his criminal past sparked widespread outrage. When questioned via text message by the Detroit Free Press, Koster offered no comment on the matter.
Cash up front or wheels don’t roll.
The business card, featuring Koster’s telephone number and photo, offers “impromptu rides” with a strict “cash up front or wheels don’t roll” policy. His business resembles a rideshare or taxi service but operating outside the scrutiny and regulation typically imposed on taxi drivers or those working for platforms like Uber or Lyft.
Three women raped and kidnapped.
Koster’s criminal history dates back to when he was just 15 years old when he and Danny Ranes, then 28, raped and murdered Linda Clark, a 19-year-old Chicago resident, and Claudia Bidstrup, also 19, in July of 1972.
The heinous acts occurred after the women stopped for gas at a Kalamazoo service station where Ranes was employed. The following month, Koster and Ranes raped and killed 18-year-old Pamela Fearnow, whom they had picked up while she was hitchhiking.
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Although Koster pleaded guilty to only one count of second-degree murder and received a “life” sentence, his confessions proved instrumental in convicting Ranes of four murders, resulting in a life sentence without the possibility of parole for Ranes.
Koster’s business stopped when parole agent learned of rideshare.
MDOC spokesman Kyle Kaminski has disclosed that Koster’s parole agent in Calhoun County took immediate action to shut down the rideshare service upon learning about it earlier this week.
Additionally, a special condition will be added to Koster’s parole, expressly prohibiting him from engaging in such activities.
“He is not approved to perform this type of work,” Kaminski emphasized. “His parole agent met directly with Koster upon becoming aware to make clear that he cannot provide rides or engage in similar work with the public” and added that Koster will continued to be monitored by his agent until his parole discharge in January of 2025.
Koster was paroled in 2021 after serving 48 years in prison. Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Getting said at the time, “I’m very troubled by the Michigan Department of Corrections choosing to release an admitted serial rapist, serial murderer. In my opinion the risk to our community is simply unacceptable. I’m not aware of another person with such a horrific history having ever been released anywhere.”
Koster pawned off the responsibility of the killings mostly on Ranes, saying at the parole review hearing in 2020, “If I had not met Danny Ranes, I know in my heart that I would have never become in solved in crimes like this.”
