I know I promised the response to the OCP’s claim of 27 meetings with my Dad next. But the questions keep coming about why I am blogging and just what exactly I think I am going to get out of it. Here is how I started off in January 2013:
Why this blog?
Posted: January 31, 2013 | Author: cathybroad | Filed under: Uncategorized | Modify: Edit this | Leave a comment »
My youngest brother Tim was murdered by a serial killer in 1977. Tim was 11 years old and supposedly the final victim of a killer (killers, actually) known as the Oakland County Child Killer. I will detail the entire background of this series of crimes and the lame and inadequate investigation, as well as the cover up that continues to the present day.
Today I spent yet another long phone call with someone about my brother’s murder case. It is one of many, many long phone calls since March 2006, when I first got a strong inkling that this case was not only botched, but completely f’ed up and that many officials knew this and turned the other way. So, almost seven years later and no closer to any kind of a resolution despite the convening of two grand juries, much wheel-spinning and perhaps intentionally misdirected reinvestigations, the filing and denial of FOIA requests, followed by litigation and great expense to victims’ family members, the mistreatment of victims’ family members and unethical treatment and behavior by the Oakland County Prosecutor, and the promise of books, documentaries and articles which never see the light of day, I have decided to document what has happened in this case from my vantage point. I will document what has happened since March 2006. Nothing held back. It is what it is. I am asking for no one’s permission to go forward and I ask for and will entertain no comment. If you have something of substance to offer to advance the case, you will find out how to contact me. Sorry, I don’t want your opinion. We are way past that. Let’s just take a look at what has come to light since March 2006 and see if it doesn’t demand intense scrutiny by someone who can make a difference. Someone who can make a difference and won’t get shut down by authorities and those who at one time had power and influence in Oakland County, Michigan. It might be a slow, painful process, but there is too much here to ignore. Make your own decisions. The legal system in Oakland County will do nothing with any of this. But the story still demands to be told.
The story demands to be told. The investigation needs to be kept in the public eye because that is the only way to unearth some potential solution to get the MSP, OCP, and FBI to turn over all files and information to an independent authority or prosecutor for review and action.
My blog is disturbing because the subject matter is disturbing. I am outraged because the situation is outrageous. What I talk about sparks controversy because it is controversial, not because I am creating controversy out of thin air. We are not looking for sympathy. We are looking for ideas. A close friend described it best by saying that light needs to be shed on this tragedy and injustice. “Take action and don’t ask for permission. Get this viral.”
Another friend pointed out that maybe this can be part of a catalyst to bring whatever peace is possible in all of this. Yet another, who has lived with this almost as long as I have, told me to “stay on it, stay strong, do not give in. I can’t believe you are still dealing with corruption, bullshit, lies and nonsense.” One answer is to just get over it. Another is to keep talking about it so authorities don’t get to sweep it under the rug for another 36 years.
So, if it’s easier, I’ll just stick to the facts. As I said in the beginning, you can form your own opinion. The bottom line is that if it happened to my family, it can happen to yours. My story is just as worthwhile as a blog about cooking or running. The best part is, if you don’t like it you don’t have to read it. It’s not like this is on the front page of your morning newspaper.
I did ultimately enable the comment section to the blog and while I have received numerous comments I would never approve for printing (if you think what I have written is disturbing . . . ), I appreciate the fact that people are reading and responding. Like I said, it is what it is. Maybe it gets me no where. But it’s better than nothing, which is what will happen if this case dies another death and no one ever demands answers.
Cathy, I enjoy your blog. As far as you and your family vs the Oakland County Prosecutor and other authorities, I stay out of those things. That’s not my fight. But I enjoy listening to anything that has to do with the OCCK. So if that is part of the package, then I listen.
As far as why you are blogging – I think you offer a very valuable asset. Not only are you providing valuable information about the case, but you happen to be the sibling of one of the victims. You were the last one to see Tim in your family. You gave details about what it was like the day it happened, what it was like during Tim’s disappearance, what it was like the first several days after it happened, and what it’s like after all these years since it happened.
I only hope that someday this case will be solved and they legally find out who was responsible for these killings.
I have been keeping up on the case since i was a kid. But i have learned more new info from your blog than i ever did before. I never knew about the name of chris buschs resturant before or that he even had one. Its interesting info because that area up there is so small and close nit that there has to be people up there who know more. Plus i loved reading the interview transcript info on the various suspects and others you have posted. Also the 1st hand accounts of your siblings is invaluable info and must be preserved.
Things i would like to hear more about still:
Your brothers daily habits, etc ( did he go to that party store regularly where he could have be watched and planed to be taken or was it more of happenstance.
More about the art dealer who died and why you think it might be related to your brothers case.
More knowlege about the other cases and first hand accounts from those familes, in a way such as you have allowed us to see here.
Any cases of weird letters to your family or reaching outs from strangers that you thought was unusual?
More about the porn ring and what might have happened with those that disapeared? Could some have settled near busches resturant?
The witness who came forward recently saying he saw your brother in the parking lot.
Theres so much out there that needs to be put together on this.
B’ham police murdered john McKinney because they knew he was the child killer..the police confessed this to my friend
Mike,
A few responses–I think these monsters obviously hunted at drug stores and places kids and pre-teens were allowed to walk to alone if it was nearby home. It is one of the rites of passage. March 16, 1977, was an exceptionally warm day and kids were out everywhere that afternoon. Tim and three other friends had been at Adams’ school, maybe nearby Poppleton Park, the parking lot where he was later abducted. A kid had been approached by a man in the same parking lot the day before Tim was abducted. These guys knew kids and preteens walked to these type of stores and bought candy, etc. One of these freaks puts on a suit coat, gets a fake badge, follows a kid out of a store and accuses them of shoplifting. Stranger things have happened.
Tim had a newspaper route, played baseball, hockey, basketball, skied with a friend’s family, was in Indian Guides. He had other after-school activities. He was a busy kid. But most kids in the neighborhoods by Adams Elementary went back and forth to school, to Poppleton Park, Hunter-Maple Pharmacy, rode their bikes to nearby Derby Junior High–I mean, I don’t even know where to start. As far as I remember, his close friends lived in our immediate neighborhood or a very few streets away.
The art dealer–John McKinney; believe me, you will hear more.
I cannot speak for the families of other victims. I know much less about the other cases.
Weird letters and calls over the years? Yes. I need to talk to my Dad about that in more detail. He bore the brunt of that stuff. Except for a few instances, I do not have firsthand knowledge.
Porn/pedophile ring–more on that later, too. But remember, one of the FBI’s storage facilities suffered a catastrophic flood and all of the documents we asked for in this regard were destroyed. These freaks came from all over the state and all levels of society. Seriously.
The witness who saw my brother in the parking lot–I now have documents from 1977 concerning his hypnotism and I will post.
This is something that has to be done, to keep info on this out there. As I read this chronologically, I am amazed to think that OCP hasn’t attempted to get a court-order to have WordPress remove your blogs because of it’s controversial content. It is a risk that was undertaken out of necessity, and I think that it is good that the FOIA Documents have been interspersed with all of the family recollections. It is very well-balanced and keeps a reader (learner) very well-informed. Your greatest asset to this case being solved is that you ars seeking “true justice” and are open to it whatever that may be. You weigh all of the pieces of the evidence objectively and are not looking to promote some “theory” because it fits and you want to see justice meted out to someone. I do believe that you are on a quest to learn the whole truth and to arrive at a very close proximity to it. I would also like to say that it appears that you are also biding the time until the right opportunity presents itself to be able to progress in the direction that would be most beneficial to getting justice for Tim, Kristine, Jill, & Mark. Let me explain that “justice” isn’t something that has really interested me in the past. There isn’t any kind of justice that can bring the precious young lives that were lost to murder back and let them live their lives to fullest. This is something different though, and believe it is because of the cover-up involved, that has made me want to get involved. I am not going to play “detective” and tell you ideas about how to solve this case, but I am good at marketing ideas on how to get people involved. This, it seems, is what this blog was about (getting people involved), and up to this point so far it is every thing that I would be doing if I were in your shoes. There is no controversy other than the minor discomfort it may cause the people involved in this cover-up to feel. This is something that needs to carry on, maybe even in a different form, and once I get to present time in the blogs then I will give you assessment on what that may be…
John McKinney was the murderer and the B’ham cops killed him I was told this by a man who the cops confessed it to