My brothers and I had never been to a funeral before Tim’s funeral on March 25, 1977. A family friend took my brothers to go buy suits for the service. I went by myself to a store in downtown Birmingham to buy something black. I paid for it with a credit card and had to show i.d. The woman helping me was older than I am now–she had gray hair, I remember that. She looked at my license and said in the most unbelievably weird, school teacher-esque voice: “I certainly hope you aren’t related to that little boy who was abducted.” I told her that, yes, Tim was my little brother. She was completely flustered after that. It was the first of many times I would have to navigate inappropriate comments by adults and end up trying to make them feel better after they stepped in it. I was 17 and I remember thinking “wow, that was so out of line.”
A friend of my Dad’s took me shopping that week to buy a light-blue warm up suit for Tim to be buried in. We found all kinds of dark-blue warm up suits, but nothing in light-blue. We went to quite a few stores. The closest we came was at the Varsity Shop where we found a dark-blue warm up suit, but it was too big. Tim was 4′ tall and 63 lbs. The woman waiting on us said that if it was just a little big it would allow for growing room. We politely declined and gave up.
This man drove all over suburban Detroit after he dropped me off until he found a light-blue warm up suit for Tim. It was the right color and the right size. When we saw Tim at the funeral home, he was dressed in the suit this guy found for him. We did not have a wake. It was just us and my Mom’s sister and brother.
This funeral home is no longer in Birmingham, but a neighbor from our old neighborhood was a funeral director there. He had kids younger than Tim. He couldn’t have been kinder or more cool. In hindsight, I don’t know how he did it. Tim looked larger than he was because god knows what they put in someone’s body to make it look “normal” after an autopsy. He had a large bruise on the left side of his forehead, shining through the pancake makeup. He was placed so that his left side was against the wall, away from us. I had never seen or touched a dead body before. His hands were incredibly cold.
A limousine picked us up to take us to Holy Name for the funeral service. First ride in a limo. My Mom told me not to wear mascara and to bring tissues. When we got out of the limo, the sound of cameras buzzing was almost overwhelming. I didn’t realize that when you are “the guests of honor” you walk in after everyone else has been seated–walk past everyone and go to the front row.
The service was in many ways beautiful. It was multi-denominational and there was a priest from Holy Name, a priest from our old parish, St. Alan’s, as well as a rabbi. Some cardinal was there, too–a cardinal who I researched and learned approved the transfer of a pedophile priest turned into the task force as a suspect and cleared, to other parishes where he continued to rape boys.
My Mom told me that the guy playing the organ for the service–Mr. Callaghan–said as they were preparing for the service: “I didn’t know this was going to be a St. Alan’s production,” referring to the fact that the priest from our prior parish would also be officiating. I believe his son, Sean Callaghan, is the FBI S/A who was most recently assigned to this case, and who, in my opinion, has treated my Dad and one of my brothers like shit. I keep telling you this whole thing is so bad it is Karmically appalling.
Undercover officers took photos of as many people as they could at the service. People walking in, people parking nearby, people in the church. We were all asked to look at these photos after the funeral and identify people we knew. Those photos are sitting in some goddamn file somewhere and somebody should be going through them again looking for the creeps whose names have bubbled to the surface since 2005. Plenty of other names have been bandied about since the task force was “rejuvenated” in 2005 in the wake of the arrest and conviction of Richard Lawson (now deceased) and Ted Lamborgine for the rape of many boys in the Detroit area. But the photos from Tim’s funeral, like those of the men who showed up at the crime scenes (body dumps of Kristine and Tim) are apparently not worth perusing. Even though the “conventional wisdom” at the time was that this killer was so, so sick that he would in fact show up at his victim’s funeral.
Along those lines, here’s another thing my Mom told me and her sister after we viewed Tim’s body but before his funeral–that some asshole knocked on the door of the funeral home late at night, told the funeral director that he was a relative of Tim’s and had driven all night for the funeral and could he please see and stand near Tim’s body? God only knows if this was followed up on, but this freak was not one of our relatives.
The headline in the Detroit Free Press on March 26, 1977, the day after Tim’s funeral read: “Someone Protecting Slayer of 4 Children, Police Insist.” Ya think?! A photo shows a young boy looking at Tim’s coffin with the most terrifying look on his face. Tim’s coffin is covered in flowers, and a floral rendition of a big baseball bat and baseball–his favorite sport was baseball. The photo caption reads: “A hockey teammate says goodbye to Timothy King. He is wearing team jacket–the same one worn by Timothy when he was last seen alive and when his body was found Tuesday night.”
“The Back Page” of the Detroit Free Press ran a separate story that day. “Pews Are Filled for Timothy King’s Funeral: Chums Carry Young Victim’s Coffin.” Free Press staff writer Bill MIchelmore wrote:
Sunlight streamed trough the stained-lass window of the suburban church and played tinted patterns across the plain white coffin of the murdered boy. Atop the casket sat flower replicas of the child’s most treasured possessions–his baseball bat and ball.
Once, when he was asked to draw his picture of God, the bright, athletic sixth-grader at Adams Elementary School in Birmingham depicted God as a baseball player. ‘Now that is what I call knowing God. There is nothing complicated about God,’ the Rev. Robert Burke [the priest the old organ player was so bent out of shape about having present] told some 400 people. They were gathered in Holy Name Roman Catholic Church in Birmingham for the funeral of the fourth south Oakland County child to fall victim to a twisted killer.
Timothy King’s still-warm body was found on a gravel road in Livonia in northwestern Oakland County Tuesday night, six days after he disappeared after leaving a Birmingham drugstore where he had gone to buy candy.
An autopsy showed the popular, straight-A student had been smothered only a few hours before his body was found.
Tim’s parents, Marian and Barry King, sat at the front of the church with their other children, Kathy, 17; Christopher, 16, and Mark, 14. The sunlight that illuminated Tim’s casket also touched the family and the two people sitting with them–Barry King’s father and a Birmingham plainclothes policeman who has been living with the family since the boy was found.
A few rows away, the pews were filled by boys in bright red jackets, all members of Tim’s hockey team. The casket, which was carried into the church to the strains of a violin playing Bach’s ‘Be Thou with Them,’ was carried by six friends.
About a dozen other plainclothes policemen were inside the church and a dozen uniformed officers patrolled outside.
This made me cry, cringe and remember like it was yesterday. I kept thinking the funeral should have been private. It should have been about Tim and his family – not bout the Parishes. But really, it should not have been at all.
Cathy, thanks for sharing that. What an honor it is to hear from an actual family member of one of the victims of the OCCK tell what it was like on the day it happened as well as the days after of this tragic event.
What baffles me about this case is how this killer did this in broad daylight or early evening with hardly any witnesses other than obscure testaments from a few witnesses. I often wonder about the method of the killer and how on earth did he convince these kids to go with them.
Or who knows. Maybe he grabbed them and knocked them out with chloroform then quickly dragged them in his car. Speaking of chloroform. I’m wondering if this was ever tested when they did the autopsy of the bodies.
I’m wondering if he scoped out the locations of each victim and was just waiting for the right time. I noticed each of the victims was abducted on either a Sunday or Wednesday. If I’m not mistaken Stebbins and Mihelich on Sunday afternoon and Robinson and King on Wed early evening. And it went in that order for each killing. Sunday then Wed then Sunday then Wed.
Who was the asshole at the funeral home door? Can this get any worse?
Makes me cry,so angry.Sitting here just shaking my head.Blood boiling!
No clue, Shawn. The cops just asked my parents if a male relative had driven all night to get to town for the funeral and explained what happened. The funeral director didn’t let the guy in and called police, but I’m sure he was long gone before anybody responded.
Yep,
And all the Barney Fife Aka ” pick one”.assholes on this case!
I grew up in the area, a few yrs younger than your brother. I was 6 when he passed. But i remember it like it was yesturday. I, like many others will keep this going until we get the answers that us as a community and you and your family and the other families deserve. You are not alone and will never be. Thank you for your thoughts from back then. I too wonder what those pictures of the funeral show.
I lived in the area at the time this was happening. I was as glued to the news as the rest of the city was. Because of my heightened awareness of child murders a story on a show called Unsolved Mysteries cause my attention. Two young boys were both found in Ohio murdered and laid out near railroad tracks. I immediately thought of the Oakland Cases and still wonder if they were somehow connected. The boys were a bit older at 17 and 13 years old but the rest of the circumstances seemed familiar. The boys were Eugene Kvet and Kurt Sova.
Reading about your family in the days after Tim’s abduction & murder remind me so much of reading about Robin Samsoe of Huntington Beach, Ca. who was abducted & murdered 2 years later. She had an older sister & two older brothers as well…
Hello,
That was my Grandfather ( Manely Bailey) who was the Funeral Director for Timothy. The Manley Bailey Funeral Home is unfortunately not there as you say, that was my home away from home. I remember my mother Louise Bailey had a copy of the People Magazine with Timothy Funeral on the cover, my Grandfather was in fact one of the Pall Bearers.
My Name is LA if you might have questions you may contact me.
[Address redacted.]
I want to tell you how sorry I am for the loss of your brother. My heart broke reading your posts .as you recounted those days prior and the months after this unimaginable tragedy.
I was 10 yrs old when this happened. My sister read the newspapers to me that told the stories connected to all of these children. These articles were significant in my life as I was almost abducted at 8 yo in the spring of 1975 while walking home alone and late from school in Wayne county michigan. It wasnt until a few years ago that I learned that this case was still open and no one has been held accountable.
I spent days reading one of the childrens fathers online blogs which was extremely emotional for everyone who must have read it too.
All of these yrs later I keep asking myself why there is no mention of detectives interviewing children back then who had experienced an “attempted abduction” during that time frame in those counties and surrounding ones as well. I dont believe he honed his techinique of manupulating children into going with him willingly or getting close enough to them to grab them on his first, second, or even third attempt. I pray that one day these children get the justice thats been decades overdue to them and to their loved ones left behind to pick up the pieces that shattered their lives.
Hi Kathy. I remember your brother and your dad. I was 16 and 17, living in Royal Oak at the time. You and your family are in my hearts and prayers, and I pray they find these idiots as soon as possible. My biggest concern is your dad’s faith. I was confused from the documentary whether he is mad at the church or mad at God? He’s going to see Jimmy very soon if he has gotten his heart and the most important thing at this time. Even more important than finding the bastards who did it. Being mad at a church. Very understandable. Being mad at God is another thing. What I found from years of studying is that the God of this present World system is Satan.2 Corinthian s 4:4. Justice is often not seen until the end of things. It won’t always be like that, and I want Tim and your dad to be together. Desperately. He deserves that! You all do.
I enjoyed your writing. It was very cathartic. I Encourage you and your family to continue to write and find these creeps! They were not forgotten!
My Grandfather, Manley Bailey is the funeral home your parents used. I remember like it was yesterday. I was only 8 years old. Such a great loss.
This entry made me cry. Esp just a few hours! You are very courageous. I cannot imagine the pain and anger your family endured. I love the man who kept going until he found the right color and size for Tim.
I just retired and though I have visited here before, I have decided I now have time to read the entire blog. Thank you for writing it.
I did laugh aloud at your shout out to the reader from the Netherlands.
A time machine would be handy. Probably not in our lifetimes though.