So just a few days ago I was thinking about the Oakland County Child Killings from a few decades ago. I thought it was pretty bizarre that I even thought about it at the time. I was in a parking lot and I remembered trying to recall the type of they were looking for (at the time I couldn’t think of they name but it was a blue Gremlin, with a white stripe). I do remember thinking it was strange that I was even thinking of it and I’ve thought of it several times since then. I was on the way to the car, not from it, so I wouldn’t have just heard it on the radio (besides I’m pretty sure I was listening to a Laura Veirs CD earlier, it was my day off, so I didn’t need the traffic report).
So here’s the extra strange part, I was googling around looking for John McElroy’s Automotive Insight show to see if they had an on-line feed (which I never did find) and I found this WWJ Audio Page with a link to a November 30, 2004 story about the killings. I’m 99% pretty sure it’s from the same day I was thinking about it. Coincidence? Or did I catch part of the story and not remember? or…?
The car involved looked similar to the one on the right. It’s not exactly right, but I’ve really been thinking about this the last 24 hours and googling for more info and the car in particular (I think because I was in a parking lot). I’m thinking the model they were looking for that the white stripe was definitely thicker (I really remember the white stripe when I think back), darker blue and the car wasn’t as long (stubbier?) click the image for what I think is closer to correct but wasn’t clear enough to shrink.
I only listen to that station for traffic and weather (on the 8’s) and you’d think I’d remember if I had heard a 5 minute story on the topic. This was huge when I was a kid since I was in Oakland County and one of the missing kids was from Berkley so I think I’d have listened. This was real life boogey man stuff…
So here’s the second extra strange part. I’m leaving the same store yesterday and while I’m getting in the car I see a police car four aisles down and when I sit down I see it’s in the second row already (that was quick) and then I realize it’s a different car. As I drive away I notice there are about five police vehicles slowly cruising the parking lot (this is one of the new outside malls in northern Allen Park). When I go down the hill/around the corner to the other new mall I see that a few minutes later they are down there too. Something was going on…
You do have to factor in memory stuff, both short term and long term. I had totally forgotten that they had found the bodies and while I remembered the other cities were close I hadn’t recalled how close (right next door practically).
More info on the old case: WWJ, Oakland Press and Click on Detroit. Don’t know how long these links will last but this google search seemed to find quite a bit on it.
Remembering History
There’s a whole thing on the history of podcasting going on and discrepancies and people always saying who created what. My whole thought in bringing this up relates to my previous post and what I remember about the Oakland County Child Killer. There i…
I heard the WDIV story when it aired on Nov 30th. It took me back to the time in the 70s when Timothy King’s body was found in Livonia. If I remember correctly, I think his body was found near 7 Mile–either Farmington or Middlebelt area in a ditch.
My parents completely freaked and my brother and I had a new set of rules to live by back then—we lived at 6 Mile & Farmington.
Also, I think you’re right on with that (click the link) car photo. I also remember the white stripe being wider.
And another strange thing…we were just talking about this story on Thanksgiving Day when a (much) younger member of the family said how simple our lives were when we were young and we didn’t have the worries of child killers running around!!
Hi,It is good to see someone take the time to post their memorys on the OCCK~~I hope you don’t mind~but I re~posted this link on~my Helen Dagner’s Board~Where the Complete Story Of The Oakland County Child Killer Appears~Please stop by and share~Just Put my name into any search~you will find the story~
Regards,Helen Dagner
http://forum.americanindiantribe.com/viewforum.php?f=17
would you please send me the composite sketch of the Oakland County Child Murders that occured during 1976 and 1977 also known as the babysitter…composite photo of the suspect of the Oakland County Child Murders
This isn’t really the place for sketches (sorry).
My question is: Does anyone else recall this person being called ‘The Babysitter’?
Yes,The Oakland County Child Killer was called the Babysitter~because of the care he gave the four children,after he abducted them~he fed them bathe them~manicured them~wash their clothes & then killed them~
The original story~ http://www.geocities.com/jtoddmatthews/Oakland_murders.html
http://websleuths.com/forums/archive//t-16394
THE STORY OF THE BABYSITTER~ALSO WOULD LIKE TO COMENT ON THE DRAWINGS~~THERE WOULD BE NO POINT IN POSTING THEM~~AS THEY ALL LOOK LIKE ANY MAN THAT WAS AROUND IN THE 70’s~~
http://websleuths.com/forums/archive//t-16394
Hi everyone,just a note to let you know that I’m at my message board everyday>Posting updates on the Oakland County Child Killer.Lot’s of interesting posts from the site readers.
http://b4.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?&user=Serialkillerfacts04
I have my own .com now!!…And have started a forum thread-HELP US FIND OUR KILLER!-You will find new info about the old Investigation-there is a lot of info to be posted-that no one every knew before this…Cover-up…maybe?..Sure looks like it-
http://helendagner.com/
I am a 10th grader and i had to pick a topic in history to do a paper on, I picked the OCCK and after i found out all of the info i got scared because i used to live in Oakland County and my family still does. Now i am scared when i am down there visiting and think that he chould be caught
Just like to say that it seems the only version of this story being passed around is by Helen Dagner.
She posted above, 5 times ??
Her story is NOT the only story and her suspect has been ruled out 100%
It’s been 30 years, I pray it’s solved soon. There are a few good suspects. I wish these web sites would post on them and not just Helen’s John, or Norberg, Lawson, and Lamborgine.
I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was 8 yrs old.
We were up north in Michigan and were driving home on the freeway when my parents made us cover our eyes because they saw the Police removing “Jill’s” body from the snow covered ditch.
My sister knew Kristie Milhelich. My mother & I went to “Ruth Stebbin’s” house daily to make sure that she would eat.
My parents became “fighters” for the cause. We went door-to-door with donated Mobil Oil cans to collect funds to produce the “Kids Don’t Go With Stranger’s” campaign in 1976.
We held seminar’s in Macomb County at the old “Wick’s Furniture” store.
The stripe on the vehicle was a large thick white-stripe.
I don’t know who this Helen Dagner is. She was never involved in this case according to Sgt. Detective Ray Anger of the Berkley, MI Police Dept. Who, still to this day is working this case and was the officer called to “Heartfields Bowling Alley” in Berkley, MI to take a report from a mother who was reporting a missing child: Kristie Milhelich.
He is still one of the lead detectives and cries every night over this because once he arrived to take the missing child report, he then saw Kristie’s mom … they are friends. Det. Anger knew Kristie too.
What kills me is that someone out there knows something. It has been 31 yrs … it’s time to step up and talk.
There is someone sitting in Jackson county jail in Michigan that does know but he still won’t talk.
The [MO] is that he or they find kids that are alone during the winter months.
This could be someone who is laid-off during the winter months and or posed as a police officer or security guard. It could be a teacher. He and or she must have been wearing something that represented “trust”.
Kristie & the kids would not have just gone with anyone.
I’m so glad that these children haven’t been forgotten. Yes, I believe someone out there knows. How can someone keep a child for 19 days and not cause some suspicion?
I seriously doubt i will find what im looking for..I am doing a paper on the occk its due in a few days. I was hoping I could find Tammy and/or Amy If you see this, post and I’ll check back. I’m Sharons mom. I know you remember the day Kristine was picked up. Even though I left the area that is something we wont ever forget. I just need a couple things so I can finish this paper. I dont know where else to look for you.
this case has haunted me for over30 years.I have lived in berkley my whole life and I believe I was a witness to the abduction of christine m. this information was given to dective anger through a tip program in the berkley schools in 1977,I was interviewed by anger and itomy i say interviewed butt what i mean is interorgated and threatened that if i didnt recant my story they would put me and my mother in jail.I never recanted and never will I will always believe this man to be the occk.there is a coverup regarding this case and the answers can all be found in berkley!
I have information about someone posing as a security guard who attempted to abduct me in 77, when I was gong on 8, near a small shopping center called Evergreen Plaza in Southfield. I called those in charge of the case two years ago and offered my info, but they blew me off. Renee, where did you get the security guard info, I’d heard potential law enforcement but never that specific phrase.
Please get in touch with me! I know the feeling, maybe it’s fate that we talk to each other. I am certain we have had a similar situation. I had a gun held to my head, and was told to never speak of the things I’v seen!!
Hope this message get’s to you…..m
Try the 1975 Gremlin.
I remember when the story was going on and
they called it the Gremlin with the hockey stick stripe
on it……just saying….you can look at all model years
on this website.
http://www.gremlinx.com/Grem-1975.htm
October 26. 2009 1:22PM .Oakland County Child Killings
Finding Timmy’s killer: Family seeks answers 32 years after son’s death
King family believes they know who killed 11-year-old in 1977, but police are slow to act
Marney Rich Keenan / The Detroit News
For 32 years, Timmy King’s family has been waiting for the truth. Who abducted, molested and murdered their 11-year-old son and three other children during a 13-month reign of terror that besieged Oakland County between February 1976 and March 1977?
Timmy King was the last victim of the infamous Oakland County Child Killer. He was abducted and held for six days before his body was found on the side of a road, his orange skateboard tossed nearby like an afterthought.
No one has ever been charged with the killings, although numerous suspects have been investigated.
Now the King family believes they know who the killer is: A suspected Bloomfield Township pedophile who police had questioned three weeks before their boy’s murder. But they are frustrated that the task force empowered to probe the cold case is sitting on what they say is information that could close the case once and for all.
“We want to know why we are being stonewalled,” says Barry King, the victim’s 78-year-old father. Timmy’s mother, Marion, died in 2004.
The Kings say their repeated requests to the Michigan State Police for information on recent developments in the case have gone unanswered. Previously scheduled meetings have been postponed twice, although another meeting with some task force members has been scheduled for Tuesday.
“We want some justice for the victims. We’ve been told evidence is apparently lost; tests were supposedly conducted, but there have been no results for over a year. We never get a straight story,” says Timmy’s brother Chris King, 48, of Huntington Woods.
The King family believes that movement on the case has been hampered by disputes among law enforcement agencies involved in the task force investigation. Specifically, they believe how to proceed has created a schism between the Michigan State Police and the other agencies: the Livonia Police Department and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
“There has been a lot of frustration felt by the Kings over the past couple of weeks,” said State Police Capt. Harold Love, second district commander in charge of Southeast Michigan, which oversees the task force. Love said meetings with the Kings had to be rescheduled due to some “issues” within the task force.
“I don’t blame them at all. We had some issues within the task force as far as where information came from and what information was out there and things people were saying and we needed to get the task force all on the same page.”
But the Kings say they’ve waited long enough.
“Those four little kids deserve far better than what they have gotten from the MSP,” says Timmy’s only sister, Cathy Broad, 50, of Naperville, Ill. “Their actions are either gross incompetence or very dirty dealings or both. Neither answer is very reassuring.”
A name under wraps
No one could have predicted the course of events that unearthed this latest break in the case. In part, that’s because it didn’t come from dogged detective work but from an ex-neighbor who’d grown up across the street from the King family. The neighbor’s information was relayed to Chris King in the summer of 2006. Later that same year, the Wayne County prosecutor’s office filed an investigative subpoena compelling a polygraph examiner to testify before Wayne County Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny about the Timmy King killing.
By November 2007, polygrapher Lawrence Wasser was ordered under oath to produce a name. The transcripts are sealed, but the Kings say they were told by Cory Williams, a now-retired Livonia Police detective who was investigating the case, that Wasser revealed the name Chris Busch as a suspect in the King slaying.
Busch’s name had been circulating for years on Internet blogs and among those familiar with the notorious unsolved child murder cases and the nationwide child pornography rings of the 1970s.
Still, the discovery was numbing: Christopher Brian Busch was the son of Harold Lee Busch, executive financial director for General Motors, and Elsie Busch, both now deceased. The family lived in the Bloomfield Village neighborhood of Bloomfield Township from 1970-79. Bloomfield Township Police records show Busch committed suicide in the home on Nov. 20, 1978, a year after the child killings stopped. His body was cremated two days later.
Six months later, the house was sold.
“My family and I think Chris Busch killed Tim,” says Barry King.
“Conventional wisdom at the time dictated it was much easier to think there is some type of evil person who lives far away,” says Chris King. “It’s almost inconceivable to think somebody from the village could do this. But what’s really heartbreaking is that Busch was arrested, charged and should have been in jail many times over.”
A family torn apart
On March 16, 1977, Timmy, a straight-A student in sixth grade at Adams Elementary, left his home on Yorkshire Drive in Birmingham at 8:15 p.m. with his skateboard. Timmy was the youngest of Barry and Marion King’s children, brother to Cathy, Chris and Mark. He borrowed 30 cents from his sister and left home to buy candy at Hunter-Maple Pharmacy in a shopping center that borders Woodward Avenue and Maple Road.
Chris King was 16 at the time. When he came home from baby-sitting that night, there were police cars in the driveway and in front of his house. His parents returned home from dinner to discover Timmy missing. They had dined at Peabody’s Restaurant, less than 500 feet from where Timmy was last seen.
Chris drove with his mother to search for his brother at a friend’s house. “The house was dark, pitch black,” he remembers. “I said, ‘Mom, I’ll just go and knock on the door anyway.’ And she said, ‘No, he’s not there.’ And then she started crying. And I knew she was right.” From that moment on, he says, “It was horrible because you knew what was going on. The clock was ticking.”
Six days later, Timmy’s still warm, fully clothed body was found beside Gill Road near Eight Mile in Livonia. He had been suffocated. An autopsy revealed signs of sexual abuse and there were marks around his wrists and ankles suggesting he had been tied. His body was strikingly clean, as were his clothes.
The bodies of three other victims also were cleaned and scrubbed, according to the medical examiner. Mark Stebbins, 12, of Ferndale was found Feb. 19, 1976, in a parking lot at 10 Mile and Greenfield in Southfield after he had been missing for four days. The body of Jill Robinson, 12, of Royal Oak, missing for three days, was found several feet from I-75 north of Big Beaver. Missing the longest, 18 days, was Kristine Mihelich, 10. Her body was found by a mailman in a ditch on Bruce Lane near 13 Mile and Telegraph in Franklin Village.
All the victims were found wearing the clothes they were last seen in. Their clothing was spotless. All had been suffocated. Jill Robinson was smothered and then shot in the face when, police think, the killer panicked, thinking she was still alive.
The rash of killings paralyzed the community and became national news. For months, Metro Detroit children were rarely allowed to play outside unsupervised. Parents religiously escorted children to the bus stop. Anyone and everyone was suspect: from the clergy to neighbors to baby sitters.
At its peak, in the spring of 1977, the Oakland County Child Killer Task Force employed 200 detectives from 50 communities in the tri-counties. Back then, it was the most extensive murder investigation in U.S. history. Rewards totaling $200,000 for information leading to the killer’s apprehension had been raised.
By December 1978, the task force had disbanded. After close to 5,000 interviews, 99,000 names and nearly 18,000 tips, no one had been arrested. In later years, investigators fielded sporadic tips. In 1999, the body of a former Warren man, David Norberg of Wyoming, was exhumed after a cross found among his possessions was thought to belong to Kristine Mihelich. But his DNA failed to match the genetic material in a hair found on one of the suffocated children.
In September 2004, Timmy’s mother died.
In 2005, Michigan State Police Detective Sergeant Garry Gray announced they were going to reanalyze evidence and leads in the case, using more advanced computer databases and forensic techniques.
The effort did uncover decades-old sex-crime cases, but they were not connected to the killings in Oakland County.
A chance occurrence
The case took an unexpected twist in July 2006, when Chris King got a call from a childhood friend whom he hadn’t seen in more than 30 years. Patrick Coffey, now 49, of San Francisco had been a neighbor and playmate of the King boys.
Now a polygraph examiner, Coffey says when Tim went missing it profoundly affected his life. “Much of the reason that I went into this profession was because of what happened to Tim,” he said.
That summer, Coffey gave a presentation to the board of directors of the American Polygraph Association yearly training conference in Las Vegas. Larry Wasser, a former APA vice president and former president of the Michigan Association of Polygraph Examiners, asked if Coffey would be interested in giving the same presentation in Detroit.
Coffey replied that he grew up in Birmingham and said his career ambition was borne out of the tragedy of a neighbor. “Maybe you have heard of the case: the Timmy King case?” he inquired of Wasser.
He said Wasser’s jaw dropped. Then he said: ” ‘Well, I guess I can tell you this now because the attorney who represented the guy is dead. And the guy who did it is dead. I tested the guy who killed your neighbor boy.’ ”
Coffey says Wasser told him it was a private polygraph in a case unrelated to the Oakland County child killings.
Coffey says he was shocked by the revelation.
Michigan law makes it a misdemeanor for polygraph examiners to divulge any information learned as a result of their duties, unless compelled by law. Later that night, Coffey was able to track down Chris King, who was on a business trip. Six months later, Thanksgiving week 2007, responding to an investigative subpoena filed by Wayne County Prosecutor Rob Moran, Coffey took the stand and Wasser was ordered by the court to produce the name of the suspected killer.
In the courtroom, Coffey says he remembers meeting Gray, the State Police sergeant who had announced plans to revisit the case in 2005. After shaking hands, Coffey says Gray remarked to him, “You know, we had a state task force on this for 30 some years and I can’t believe a neighbor boy solved it.” Gray refused to comment for this story.
Reached by phone in his Southfield office, Larry Wasser denied having any involvement in the case. “Pat Coffey’s information is totally bogus,” he said. “I never tested anybody that was involved in the Oakland County child killings.”
Coffey says he was not surprised by Wasser’s denial. “I know he regrets our conversation,” Coffey says.
In retrospect, Coffey adds: “When you think about the odds of this happening, it’s stunning. The Chris Busch lead would have died with Larry Wasser.”
North Fox Island porn ring
According to his death certificate, Busch, 27, died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head on Nov. 20, 1978.
He was employed as a food service manager at Franklin Club Apartments. It is believed that Busch was sent away to a boarding school in Switzerland. As a high-ranking GM executive, Busch’s father, accompanied by his wife, traveled extensively throughout Europe for long periods. Former neighbors confirm the parents were rarely at the home on Morningview.
In a series of articles published by the Traverse City Record-Eagle in February and March 1977, Busch was linked to a child pornography ring in Leelanau County ‘s North Fox Island near Traverse City.
On Fox Island, the so-called Brother Paul’s Children’s Mission was a front for an underground pornography network where children were coerced into sexual acts and then photographed for use in porn magazines. After conducting a four-month investigation, the Record-Eagle broke the story of the porn ring. One of the stories states: “Police confiscated eight rolls of film from Christopher Busch, 25, of Birmingham.”
Busch also was arrested and charged on multiple charges of criminal sexual conduct in late February 1977 in Flint. Police alleged as many as 30 prepubescent boys from Flint were forced to commit sex acts with men, with each other and before cameras.
While in Flint, then-Oakland County Prosecutor L. Brooks Patterson sent investigators to interview Busch and an alleged accomplice, suggesting that some of the victimized boys had been procured in Oakland County. The accomplice, Gregory Green, 26, was charged with Busch. Previously, Green had served time in Orange County, Calif., for a sex offense involving a boy and was subsequently released to a psychiatric hospital.
The men were given lie detector tests and Oakland County investigators concluded Busch and Green were “not suspects in the Stebbins case.”
While Green was held in the Genesee County jail in lieu of $75,000 bond, Busch went free on $1,000 cash bond. Records on the outcome of the case were not available. Three weeks after Busch walked, Timmy King was abducted.
Being told the truth
Two years ago, the King family filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Bloomfield Township Police for a copy of the police report of Chris Busch’s suicide. They were told the file had been destroyed.
But Jack Kalbfleish, a former Birmingham police detective assigned to the task force during the child killings, says he remembers when the suicide report came into his office.
“I was working with field officers at the time, and I remembered a suicide that came in the area of Maple and Lahser,” Kalbfleish said. “The significant detail found at the scene was a drawing of a kid that looked very much like Mark Stebbins.”
The Kings fault the police for missing another opportunity to investigate Busch.
On Oct. 30 last year, law enforcement officials in Oakland County executed a search warrant for the former Busch residence on Morningview Terrace Drive. The heating and cooling ducts in the forced air system were vacuumed in an effort to dislodge possible evidence such as hairs or fibers.
“We’ve had this name since the fall of ’07,” says Chris King. “They didn’t even start to gather evidence until a year later: the fall of ’08. And now they won’t tell us what tests are done, what tests are not done or when those tests might be done. That’s all we’ve asked for. We just want the truth to come out.”
There is a book just released. Some of the family members of the victims have read it. They tell me is makes more sense than anything they have heard, seen or read in the last thirty five years. I thought you may be interested in reading it. I would be interested in your take on it.
Portraits in the Snow
The Oakland County Child Killings…Scandals and Small Conspiracies…by: M.F. Cribari
Hi Gary and all-I just wanted you to know-We put the Oakland County Child Killer Victims on YouTube
Hi Gary we have 14 Oakland County Child Killer Videos up and I think your readers will enjoy viewing them. http://www.youtube.com/user/HelenDagner1
I have been following this case, the oakland county child killer for a couple of years and have read all the reports regarding suspect christopher busch. It is my opinion that mr. H. Lee busch, christophers father had finally realized that his son was the occk (killer) and on november 19, 1978 in the evening had shot his son in his bedroom, and i base this on the following;
1.) Mr. Busch and mrs. Busch kept posting bails on their sons arrest and also offering families of the victims money to thwart a conviction.
2.) Mr. Busch had seen the drawing of the boy in his sons room and noticed that it looked very close to one of the four victims.
3.) When confronted his son, a arguement probably insued, thus something was said by chris to his father that gave all indications that christopher was the killer and or directly responsible with the 4 victims.
4.) I believe that at that point, the father, mr. Busch took it upon himself to stop the killings of these innocent kids, the determination factor was planned out by mr. Busch, thus shooting his son once between the eyes as reports indicate, planting the gun in a position that would immediately impose a suicide,…………
5.) For the rest of the busch parents lives, i believed they never regreted that fateful decission because if christopher was ever arrested and charged as the oakland county child killer, then it would have certainly destroyed their upscale reputation, collaspe their financial world and mr. Busch would have certainly lost his executive position at general motors. The family would have been socially disgraced from the public and so would their other son who now resides in new york.
So i believe that mr. Busch had to put an end to his son’s reign of terror and killing spree, so as many parents would face,………to kill my own child to stop innocent deaths??. It has been further noted that before the father had died in 2002, he had destroyed all family records and birth cenrtificates, possibly with the intention of preserving the busch name if in the event that investigators should ever tie christopher as the occk. It is a sad storey all the way around, but investigators should take this theory into direct context that the father probably killed his son to stop the reign of terror before the family name got disgraced in time.
Mario B.
Madison Heights Michigan
For anyone paying attention…I grew up with James Lossing and I am pretty certain he was the Oakland County child killer…he graduated from Mt Clemens High in 74 and was the obvious choice . I cannot believe no one else has this conclusion in mind…He was employed as some kind of security person in Oakland county training guard dogs or something and drove the kind of Buick Skylark that had imprinted tail lights in a snowbank near as evidence if anyone remembers…This was not an everyday character and was ultimately killed by police after raping and killing a poicemens son in Mt Clemens…after he was killed the killings stopped also…He killed em all and i dont know why the cover up except for maybe the fact that police killed him without proper process…along with it…all of the pertinent evidence of other killings…it was Jimmy…an adopted child of a local minister…resided on Hollywood Ct in Mt Clemens with his foster parents…There was an article in the Macomb Daily about it when it happened maybe 77-78 my brother sent me the article while I was in college…I hope the families can know that this was the killer and because the police mans son was actually killed in such a horrible crime they want to let go of it. Some say the police man was closing in on Lossing and this was his end game…to me it is so obvious because there just wasnt that many serial killers around at that time, or ever…they even try to pin it on Gacy…it was Lossing….
I used to check in with Detective Gray once a month for years. He said that a man with a cross just like one of the children killed wore that was missing was in Arizona in prison……. a possible Then there was another guy who died in prison, Any information if any DNA type evidence was taken from the bodies such as what types of solutions were used to bath & clean the bodies? They were bathed, dried, hair combed or brushed. also the poor child shot in the face had to have metal in her face to give evidence on the weapon if the evidence was kept. What about a team of people forming with a News Reporter to request FOIAs from the FBI, State Police, Local Police Cold Case files………these children deserve to have the truth told! Exhume the bodies if needed of the children and ANY potential murderers! Also what about the sexual abuse and samples ………kept? DNA? Finally DNA Genetics should be tried as well! Dr J Grenan God Help Our World