Today I found an email dated December 21, 2008, from one of my brothers. I had asked him to contact an old friend who had a brother who graduated from Brother Rice in Birmingham, MI, to see if we could get a yearbook photo of a guy who had been a suspect in this case. My brother gave his friend limited information about why we wanted the year book. She then told him about an amazing exchange she had with an ex-Oakland County sheriff in a bar 15 or more years ago about this case. Because I can’t find my notes on that exchange tonight, I will have to post later about that. I also need to run it by my brother to make sure I have it right. She told him she had never mentioned it to him before because this LE officer–who had moved on to another agency, told her the families all knew what he was telling her and didn’t want to make a big deal of any of it; that it was water under the bridge, and too upsetting. She figured we knew the information and did not want to reopen old wounds.
When we were looking for this yearbook, my brother decided to reach out to a woman he knew in high school who had told him many years later about an incident she still felt terrible about and which she had always felt in her heart was connected to the OCCK abductions. She had told my brother that she was flashed by a younger man on a nearby street–Mohegan. She got a license plate number and ran home and told her parents. Her dad immediately went to the Birmingham Police Department to file a police report. Her father worked for GM corporate. He returned home very upset. The perp’s father worked for GM and her dad said he would lose his job if he pressed charges. The family never spoke of it again, although my brother and she discussed it a few times over the years.
Her story had taken on much bigger significance after 2007, since we had discovered Chris Busch’s oldest brother Charles and his wife and son lived on Mohegan in 1977. Very nice neighborhood. Google Map Mohegan St. & Oxford St., Birmingham, MI and check out the proximity to Poppleton Park, Adams School (now Roeper School), and the Kroeger Retail Center (where Hunter-Maple Pharmacy was located in 1977).
On December 31, 2008, I asked my brother to again give me the details of the incident she described. Here’s what his response said:
It’s a weird one. *** (the victim) has no memory of what the guy looked like and has blocked most of it out. *** was quite young (10,11, or 12?) and doesn’t remember much, except that she noted the license plate number on the car, remembered it and wrote it down when she got home (pretty sharp kid, especially in that time period). Her sister, who was [] older, is tortured by the whole thing, but witnessed nothing.
*** says the license plate number was given to the police and she recently filed a FOIA request for the original report. [Long gone, of course.]
In our discussions about the ability of a GM exec to cover **** up, the sister told me that she knows a woman who was abducted as an eight-year-old from her house in Bloomfield and taken up north. I’m not sure of the exact time period. She was molested in the car. On the drive up north the guy passed two police cars, freaked, and let her off in an open field in the middle of nowhere. The victim’s father was a GM employee, and so was the perp’s father. The whole thing was swept under the rug. The event was never spoken of, no charges were even filed, it never made the papers. The poor kid never even got therapy, and her parents never mentioned the incident again. Eight years old. We weren’t the only ones who had it rough.
How many people’s lives were ruined by the actions of these sick ***** and their families? Could this all be the handiwork of one or two sickos?
I have since been contacted by three other people with similar stories from that era–one woman and two men. Oakland County had a very sick underbelly during that era. I think there were far more than one or two sickos operating relatively freely in Oakland County.
Cathy, I remember a man flashed me as well, on Chapin Street in B’ham. Did the same wrote down his plate #. Gave it to my Dad, he was a fireman in B’ham for 30 years. I really don’t know what came of it. But my Dad probably took care of it on his own.
In 1968 I was 16 but small and very thin and could pass for a 12 year old at a casual glance. I was crossing a quiet residential street two blocks from my house in Rosedale Park (it was VERY nice then). A car pulled up to block my path just as I stepped off the curb. The driver’s window was down and suddenly I found myself just 2 feet from him. He asked me if I could help him find something on a map which he had spread out on his lap. As I leaned forward a little he whisked the map away to reveal his genitals. I screamed and ran home. I have thought of that very brief moment in time over and over again over the years. I have often wondered if this was a possible lure for the OCCK kids. “Just take a look at this map for a second”. Snatch.
Hi Cathy- Did you ever post the story about the amazing exchange your brother’s friend had with an ex-Oakland County sheriff in a bar 15 years ago? This post references it, and I’m really intrigued.
I will speak with my brother to make sure I have all the details and post them.
Actually, I think you did post this story. Sorry, I’m reading your blog and battling ADHD at the same time.
http://catherinebroad.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/more-from-the-you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-file/
I lived on Woodlea and lincoln in the 70’s. I remember several incidences with pervs trying to lure me over to their car. A friend and I were about 12 and 13 when we saw a guy masturbating over.in a small woodsy area near where they taught drivers ed at Seaholm. They’re were seedy characters that drove around that school back in the mid 70’s..
Sorry about the delay in posting, zoey. When you commented, I received quite a few comments by readers who asked that I not post their comments. I err on the side of not approving until I can reread the comment carefully.