The Detroit Free Press reported the following on the third day my brother was missing:
Officers have received some tips from people who might have seen Timothy after he left the Hunter-Maple Pharmacy and these tips are being checked out. ‘I feel there are people out there who may have seen something but don’t know what they’ve seen,’ said [MSP] Sgt. Krease. ‘If someone in the neighborhood sees an old beat-up car driving down the street they call police. Send the local physician through in his Cadillac and no one thinks anything about it. People saw something and they don’t realize what they have seen. It can be a sophisticated businessman, a physician or the next-door neighbor. We may be talking about a very prominent person, a well-dressed person.
‘Look at your neighbor, your friends, your relatives,’ said [Birmingham Police Chief] Tobin. ‘See if there is any similarity with the profile.’ Tobin said the King family was bearing up exceedingly well during the ordeal. The neighborhood was quiet Friday and Birmingham schools reported normal attendance.
The Detroit News quoted Chief Tobin: “We feel certain that someone knows who abducted Tim. We are hoping that this [$25,000] reward will motivate someone with information to call us.”
Tim would be alive, held captive, for three more days after this. Whoever had that information was silent. The quote often attributed to Edmund Burke (1729-1797) couldn’t be more apt. “All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”
Perhaps they didn’t then (nor now) understand how lucrative these child porn/drug rings really are. An old fashioned way of thinking that money follows goodness.
I so clearly remember my mother talking about this “next door neighbor” statement, over and over with friends. It was a shocking idea at the time, at least for them. You probably don’t care but I am sharing it anyway…my memories from that time are distinct and strong, even now.
Funny how no one would blink twice at this idea today.
I care, and that’s why I continue to write on this blog. Your memories are important because it proves that Oakland County and the MSP’s strategy of just letting this “blow over” did not mean people forgot, were not damaged, do not still need to demand answers.