The Oakland County Child Killer

WHY THE OCCK AND RELATED CASES HAVE NOT BEEN “SOLVED.”

Let’s take yet another look at documents from this case.  (Sorry for beating a dead horse, but apparently it’s necessary.)  The FOIA response by the state police reflects two instances of obstruction of justice.  These were discovered by civilians, readers of this blog, who read these documents after they had been made more widely available.

The polygraph shell game in January 1977

First, despite illegal redactions in the FOIA response by the MSP, it is now obvious that Greg Greene was polygraphed twice on  January 26, 1977 to test the veracity of his claims that Chris Busch killed Mark Stebbins almost a year prior, as well as Greene’s possible participation in that crime.  FOIA documents do not include these two polygraphs, conducted by a polygrapher whose name in related police reports was redacted.

Instead, the response included two polygraphs of Greg Greene–one dated January 27 and then another on February 1, 1977.  The names of these polygraphers were not redacted.  Greene was polygraphed four times, not two.  The second two polygraphs were ham-handed, ugly and illegal actions to evade any inquiry into the very real connections between the son of Bloomfield Hills resident H. Lee Busch and prolific pedophile Greg Greene.  Where are the copies of the polygraphs/notes from January 26?

I am, of course, attempting to boil down the work done in Guarded by Jackals to evaluate the very real actions by the OCP to ensure Chris Busch was not connected in any way with Greg Greene and that Busch would be ushered through the criminal justice system around Michigan for known child rapes with simple probation sentences.  In four CSC cases where he pleaded guilty.

Greg Greene is summarily swept off to Jackson Prison, never to be heard from again.  Chris Busch still walks the streets when my brother is abducted and murdered six weeks later on March 16, 1977.  That’s a big problem for the people who previously manipulated the polygraph evidence in Flint.

A document later obtained by my dad, and not via FOIA, is the “check out” sheet to Busch’s Oakland County CSC file concerning the rape of a boy with Greene (who was never charged in OC).  Richard Thompson, Oakland County chief deputy prosecutor, who traveled twice to Flint in the wake of Greene’s allegations and sat in on the polygraph of Chris Busch, “signed out” Busch’s file hours after my brother’s abduction was announced to the public on March 17, 1977.  Police had started to investigate Tim’s probable abduction around 9 pm the night prior.  Thompson was clearly worried about what was in that CSC file and I agree with the author of GBJ that this was the point where notations of “NO DEALS” were added to help buttress their handling of the Busch lead in Flint six weeks prior.

Because no one wants to address this obvious obstruction of justice, the OCCK case has not/will not be solved.

The Georgia polygraphs of suspect John Hastings

Two other readers of my blog found a glaring, but previously unacknowledged/realized, redaction “failure” in the MSP’s FOIA response.

Does this sound like someone who passed a polygraph?

Although Det. Cory Williams traveled with MSP Det. Garry Gray to Georgia in October 2009 to interview suspect John Hastings who then agreed to take a polygraph in Georgia in subsequent weeks, Gray did not pass on to Williams this information received from polygrapher Steve Duncan.  I believe that at this juncture, Williams had been “kicked off” the OCCK task force courtesy of then prosecutor Jessica Cooper and FBI SA Sean Callaghan.  When Williams was “allowed” to return to the task force, Gray apparently failed to inform Williams of the results of the Georgia polygraphs.  The information was buried.

Hastings, you will recall, was a same-aged neighbor of Chris Busch in Bloomfield Village.  Multiple tips were called in on him after my brother’s murder and an entire separate investigation of Hastings was conducted by Birmingham PD in 1992 in the wake of information provided by Helen Dagner.  Hastings was, in the end, dismissed in 1992 solely on the basis of–you guessed it–an MSP polygraph conducted solely on my brother’s homicide.

Because no one wants to address the obvious obstruction of justice in the burying of the Georgia polygraph information concerning Hastings–made obvious by the failure to inform Det. Williams, who had been present for the Hastings interview in 2009, of the damning nature of these follow-up polygraphs–the case has not/will not be solved.

It is not my job to provide an explanation for the polygraph shell games described above.  But the evidence that they took place is in the very FOIA documents provided by the state police.  And, just like in the recent Epstein document dumps, those documents are but a fraction of the case file record.  That’s what they let us see.  That’s what remains after what was no doubt evidence destruction back in 1977 and certainly after the 1978 “suicide” of Chris Busch, an obvious suspect and connection in the OCCK murders.

And it is not my job to investigate the claims of public corruption outlined in Guarded by Jackals relating to a $10,000 campaign donation to L. Brooks Patterson by his chief deputy’s father–a retired autoworker whose access to $10,000 in 1977 dollars is at best questionable.  You can avoid this problematic inquiry by simply handling the OCCK case as a legitimate cold case rather than stone-walling or proceeding at a continued glacial pace.

WHAT CAN BE DONE GOING FORWARD

I want to preface this section with the fact that we have had what I would describe as a good relationship with the current prosecutor’s office and I do not lump Karen McDonald’s office into the cesspool that proceeded her tenure there.  We actually had a rough game plan to address the gaps in these cases and to be heard.  Then Ethan Crumbley massacred four high school students at Oxford High School.  Say what you will about the prosecutions Crumbley’s parents, they seemed to me to be very necessary prosecutions and they are the subject of active appeals.  The legal system will do rough justice as the appeals are evaluated.  Anyway, that child and his family wrought destruction, despair and disruption to life in Oakland County.  Of course an almost 50-year-old cold case would take a back seat.

Subsequently, the prosecutor’s office has listened to our concerns and attempted to be a “go between” with the state police.  The MSP will not communicate with us at all and have not since I attempted to pass on the information in 2020 about Bloomfield Village police officer Richard McNamee who responded to the Busch “suicide” scene.  He was a pedophile cop and Marney Keenan’s FOIA request for his records confirmed as much.

The refusal of the state police to “deal” with us has had a variety of explanations over the years.  We don’t deal directly with survivors or victims of the crimes we investigate.  We won’t return “the sister’s” calls because we heard she “is difficult.”  Or the earlier and pedantic explanation of FBI SA Sean Callaghan to Det. Cory Williams–we don’t let the tail wag the dog.

But as time has marched forward, the people touching the OCCK case (with the exception of the FBI, who I would argue no longer have any business in these cases–return any evidence you are still holding and bow out), are not the reason for what I have described above.

Here’s what I think can be done going forward:

1.  Assign the OCCK and related homicides to the MSP cold case unit once and for all.  Use the protocols demonstrated in the solving of the 1987 murder of Roxanne Wood.  The cases do not belong in the Special Investigations Unit.
2. Retest all of the evidence in this case using third party lab(s).  The hair evidence concerning Arch Sloan, the partial Y-str obtained from Kristine Mihelich’s autopsy, all of the children’s clothing and their belongings.
3. Find a way to properly digitize the documents in these murders–using the necessary archival procedures for handling old paper and paper that may in fact be evidence.  This is cold case 101.
4. Find a way to report what is happening in these cases to the public.  Even the relatively new chief of Boulder PD himself reports to the public once a year on what is taking place in the JonBenet Ramsey murder investigation.  No press conference, just a YouTube video telling the public in very, very general terms what next steps are.  If you are afraid of a live interview, just go for the video statement.  Why can’t you generally describe next steps?!
5. Do not expect me to let this 50-year mark pass without comment and by  asking me to treat the MSP with kid gloves so that they won’t punish us by pulling back on current efforts.   Find a way to be transparent about what can, is, and will be done going forward.

Or simply ride out the next wave of renewed attention to these cases, like you have before.

Finally, I’m not asking the public to come forward anymore. They, including survivors of Michigan pedophile rings, did and they are universally ignored.  So here’s #6:

6.  Any still living law enforcement, polygraphers and employees of the office of Prosecutor L. Brooks Patterson who know why these dead children in Oakland County were denied justice and predators were instead protected, how about YOU come forward?  Try the public integrity offices of the US Attorney or the Michigan AG’s office.  Don’t bother with the FBI; trust me, they don’t want to hear from you.  And then contact a reporter or two.  Or take it to the grave like your predecessors.

Just thought it was worth an ask.

 

Imagine my surprise this morning, as I thought about a Groundhog Day-themed post and read this post on Substack:

https://substack.com/home/post/p-185606943

Not only did it address how forensic evidence is used in cold cases, it was penned by Arthur Busch of Michigan.  I did not realize he had served as Genesee County Prosecutor after years of criminal defense practice.  I meant to reach out to him last month when he joined Substack to ask about his representation of sex offender Douglas Bennett, who ended up in the tank with Greg Greene and Chris Busch in Flint in 1977 (and claims to have had no connection to either man).  Also the obvious question–is there any relation to the family of H. Lee Busch?  I sent him a message this morning asking those questions and suggesting he pick up a copy of Guarded by Jackals.

Either way, the man makes a good point regarding cold case units and the “time-delayed witnesses” found in properly preserved forensic evidence.  He explains that solving cold cases takes time that regular detectives don’t have and should be assigned to a dedicated cold case unit.  Amen.

Since 2019, the OCCK cases have been passed on to a succession of detectives in the MSP Special Investigations Unit.  SIU detectives probably have in excess of 50 active cases.  And by active, I mean obtaining evidence for arrests in current crimes and testifying in court.  Constantly.

The MSP has a cold case division.  The OCCK case should have been reassigned there in 2022.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/video/news/2025/06/16/det-rothman-highlights-the-success-of-the-msu-msp-cold-case-collaboration/

The only thing “special” about the OCCK case is that the lid needs to be kept on it.  What better way than to add a 50-year-old series of at least four homicides to the plate of a detective who has six court appearances next week?  When is he supposed to spend time on this cold case?  The case then waits for the next desk to land on when the current detective gets promoted.  In the meantime, the public information officer acts as a buffer to any inquiry about case status.  No need to worry about any pesky questions; some PIO is paid to run defense and basically obstruct.

We want our brother’s case and those of the other unsolved child homicides in Oakland County, to be treated like Roxanne Wood’s 1987 homicide case was.

https://wmich.edu/coldcase/cases/roxanne-wood

Why can’t these kids get the same level of attention and treatment?

Do they deserve any less?

I am not a cynical weatherman, but a cynical sibling of murder victim Tim King.  That cynicism is legitimately born of 20 years of being gaslit by police and prosecutors in the OCCK case.

While the OCCK and related child homicides enter their 50th year of being “unsolved,” I say 20 years because prior to that we all just accepted what the Oakland County Prosecutor(s), the MSP, and local police departments  implied for the 30 years before that–boy oh boy were those tough cases!  We worked like dogs, but the maniacal killer just was always two steps ahead of us!  He didn’t leave any evidence behind.  At least there were no more killings.  It’s a sad history we leave in the rearview mirror as we drive on to decades of a highly stable triple-A bond rating in Oakland County.  Still a great place to raise the kids!

That triple-A bond rating was achieved on the backs of Mark Stebbins, Jane Allan, Jill Robinson, Kristine Mihelich, and Tim King.  If you don’t believe that, read Guarded by Jackals (2024) and attempt to refute what is written and documented there.  I will gladly post your enter responsive argument.

So as this month of February marks 50 years since the abduction and murder of 12-year-old Mark Stebbins, the first known/acknowledged victim of the Oakland County child killers, some of us continue the vigil for the children murdered in that county who received no justice.  While it might seem hollow to many who just want to move on and forget the crimes ever occurred, I believe these victims and the affected communities deserve legitimate answers about where the cases stand and why.  Why these cold cases are not treated like real cold cases.  Why they have not been turned over to a dedicated cold case unit at the MSP.

The failures and malfeasance in these cases lands directly on the desks/lab tables of people who had no part in the reason these cases remain unsolved.  They have been heavily burdened by their predecessors.  That burden was not inflicted by those of us who have attempted to uncover why the cases were handled as they were and to demand answers.

Rather than acknowledge this, they recoil from the chance to reframe these cases in modern day evidentiary terms and from any degree of transparency.  They frame people like me as crazy and literally punish the victims themselves by failing to act or report to the public because the ugly actions of their predecessors weigh heavily on them.

From 2006 to 2019 they (the OCP, the MSP, the FBI) punished not only my family, but Det. Cory Williams while he was working with the task force.  An “outsider” from Livonia PD and later the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office, he sustained many body blows from Oakland County (Jessica Cooper, prosecutor then) and the FBI (SA Sean Callaghan, previously an assistant prosecuting attorney with the OCP).  Yet Williams was the driving force during these years on the investigation, the MSP in the passenger seat when they weren’t thwarting him.  He was a direct threat to the narrative the OCP had decided on in 1977 and 1978.  I will always believe that the “rejuvenated” OCCK task force was created not only to provide a job for an employee in the face of a reduction in force at the MSP, but to keep an eye on Cory Williams who had uncovered possible links between Richard Lawson and Ted Lamborgine and the OCCK.  (Yeah, call me crazy.)

They punished author Marney Keenan, who dared to publish a book in 2020 setting forth what happened in this investigation.  They shut down any further inquiry or response to the work, immediately and apparently now permanently adopting an iron-clad “no comment” response that extends to today.

They didn’t know what to do with J. Reuben Appleman’s book before that (2018), or the Cineflix production of the documentary Children of the Snow (2019; now on Apple TV, Roku, Peacock, HBO, Hulu and Amazon Prime).  But they apparently deeply regret allowing MSP employees to go on camera for that production.  So now they don’t advise the public on this and related cases, ever.  This silence helps avoid scrutiny of what has gone before and avoid the question of what can be done NOW.

And prior to that, the MSP punished my dad many times over for having the audacity to file and then litigate a FOIA request in his son’s murder case.  They punished him for going to the press when no one in the chain of command would address his legitimate concerns.

I don’t know who the MSP answers to or why they are handled with kid gloves by officials or even the Michigan State legislature.   I do know that L. Brooks Patterson and Richard Thompson were two of the happiest men on Earth when they offloaded an Oakland County case to the MSP and never again had to answer for the dead kids in their county.  Wow, that was a close one, right?!

Next post I will attempt to explain the two questions I think Michiganders should be thinking about as these cases enter the ugly 50th year “anniversaries.”  One, why these cases remain “unsolved.”  Two, what can be done going forward.