This is a recent email from my brother describing what his friend told him in 2008 about talking to an ex-Oakland County sheriff deputy in the early 1990’s:
Hi Cathy: Here is my recollection about the story on my friend’s encounter at a bar with the former member of the Sherriff’s office:
My friend and another female friend were at a bar in northern Oakland County near closing time. This is perhaps 10-15 years after the murders. They were being chatted up by a guy who worked somewhere in Oakland County government—maybe for Oakland County Circuit Court as a bailiff or something, she wasn’t sure. At some point, he indicated he used to be a cop in the Oakland County Sherriff’s office. The two women indicated they were friends with the King family and asked the guy why that case had never been solved. He said something to the effect of, “We knew who did it, the FBI knew who did it, but it was some rich kid from Bloomfield Hills and we couldn’t touch him.” She said he didn’t really elaborate on why they couldn’t prosecute. However, he gave her his card. My friend said she kept it for more than 10 years just in case anything came up, but at some point she was moving and threw out the card, assuming she would never need it. She never told me about this incident until I asked for the yearbook in 2008 because she thought it would be too disturbing and wouldn’t help at all. My friend does not remember the guy’s name.
One thing that is incorrect in the blog entry: To my recollection, this guy never intimated the victims’ families knew the identity of the killer—just law enforcement. Of course, there were several other people who contacted me after we went to the press in late 2009 to say they had come forward with information to the police and were told something to the effect of, “Look, the families know who did this, but they don’t want to stir it all up again and have this in the press, and the guy can’t harm anyone else (implying the perpetrator was dead or incarcerated).” I’ve seen several similar statements on some Internet forums as well. Sad to think that members of law enforcement might have been using the families of the victims as an excuse to derail the investigation.
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This information is maddening but to me not at ALL surprising. We were told by our detective that our homicide was an isolated incident and he probably won’t murder again and we were also told maybe he will get hit by a train or die in a plane crash. That is our consolation to getting an actual arrest.
Jessie Kanehl
It would seem that the best bet for your family to receive some closure on this case is to put all of these witness testimonies in a report to the judge who had issued the search of the Busch’s residence in 2008. These are the battles that can be won with law enforcement, and if a report was made that is able to tie in elements of the FOIA documents with enough testimony from several witnesses, then believe there could perhaps be enough evidence to get Chris Busch acknowledged as the OCCK. He is never going to get charged for any crime (deceased) no matter what evidence surfaces, DNA test results, or witness testimony implicating his involvement in these crimes, but believe that he can still be “acknowledged” as the perpetrator for educational purposes (that is if this will give the families closure on this).