vault backup: 2026-05-15 13:55:43

10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/James Michael Holwell.md

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+---
+category: "Other"
+tags:
+  - Person
+  - The_Finders
+  - Washington_DC
+  - 1980s
+summary: "James Michael Holwell, age 23, was one of two Finders members arrested in Tallahassee, Florida on February 4, 1987 while transporting six malnourished children in a van. He also faced a charge of resisting arrest without violence. All charges were dropped in March 1987."
+location: "Washington, D.C."
+---
+
+James Michael Holwell, age 23 at the time of his arrest, was one of two members of [[The Finders]] detained by Tallahassee, Florida police on February 4, 1987, at Myers Park, while transporting six malnourished children in a van. Early news reports used the name "Michael Houlihan" interchangeably; his legal name is confirmed as James Michael Holwell in court documents and FBI records. He appears under "Michael Houlihan" in Finders supplemental membership documents.[^1][^2]
+
+### The Tallahassee Arrest
+
+Holwell and [[Douglas Ammerman]] were found with six children ranging in age from approximately two to seven years. Both men were described by officers as well-dressed. They claimed the children were being transported to a school for gifted students in Mexico. Holwell was charged with misdemeanor child abuse and, additionally, with one count of resisting arrest without violence, a charge that did not apply to Ammerman.[^1]
+
+The van used to transport the children was registered to [[The Finders]]' warehouse at 1307 Fourth Street NE in Washington D.C., triggering the February 5-6 searches of the group's properties. A TRS-80 message recovered during the investigation, attributed to [[Marion Pettie]], directed both men that if questioned by police they should state they were heading to Mexico to start a school.[^2]
+
+Holwell's father was identified in at least one source as a New York high school mathematics teacher. No other background information about Holwell's pre-Finders life has been established in accessible public records.[^2]
+
+### Legal Outcome
+
+Bond was set at $100,000 and reduced to $20,000 on February 19, 1987. All charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Holwell and Ammerman were released March 17-18, 1987. The Washington Post confirmed the dismissal in its article "Two Finders Released," March 18, 1987.[^1][^2]
+
+No federal charges were filed. Holwell does not appear in the 2019 FBI Vault document release as a subject of any continued investigation beyond the initial 1987 incident. No known public interviews or subsequent public appearances have been documented.[^2]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
+[^2]: FBI Vault, "The Finders," FOIA case number 1372462-0, vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (released November 2019). Also: Washington Post, "Two Finders Released," March 18, 1987. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/03/18/two-finders-released/35b2bc13-e56d-4c72-a587-97fe83f9b7da/.