36 thoughts on ““In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Even when we feel we are standing alone – know that there is one on our side at all times. And that for our own sanity he tells us to: “leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” says the Lord”
Cathy its going to be 40 years next year, is this case ever going to be resolved? Is there anything new going on with this case? I feel like its being forgotten and I cant believe it.
I think a lot is going on. Whether it will ever be solved, unfortunately, is not in our hands. Though I believe there is a God and all goes according to his great plan, no matter how undeniably frustrating it can be.
P.S. your quote hits close to home, Cathy. Real close.
Good evening…
I have taken on an interest in this case, and would like to order a copy of “Decades of Deceit.” Is sending a check the only option still, or do you do you accept PayPal or anything else?
Cameron, sorry for the delay. Send your name and address to The Tim King Fund, 1509 Yotkshire Road, Birmingham, MI,!48009. Explain that the check option won’t work. Let’s seen if we can get you a copy.
Hi Cathy, I haven’t read much on here for months. As you know for a long time I got disconnected. Back a year ago you were saying you were going to be quiet for a while, as if something was brewing and you felt you should back off for a while. What has happened since then? Best to you, Ceil
What’s happened? I can’t say because I don’t know. I know one agency continues to seriously investigate. Dirty dogs currently in prison won’t talk–and we all know why. In prison or on the street, they are dead if they talk. Oakland County has a full dose of dirty animals who still around and are highly placed enough or have enough dough to silence people. They deserve the worst of Karmic poxes, as well as the most public shaming possible. They have kept their feet on people’s throats since 1976 and 1977 and rejected any guilt for the torture, rape and murder of children. What will happen? After all of these animals are dead, they will leave their family members and those close to them to answer for what happened and how no one spoke up. Cowards. No surprise. Who victimizes children? Cowards.
C-C, I am sorry I have not had time to make a game plan to address your information. We have had a few private investigators offer to help in recent months and there are plans in the works for a website to pull together a wide variety of sources, links and information. I hope one of the results of the impressive efforts of those helping my family will be that the information can be read widely, others can contribute, and law enforcement ignores the information from you and others at its peril. Thanks to you and others who have come forward with information. Most who have done so have truly gone out on a limb and for that, I am deeply grateful. Take some solace in the fact that when the lid eventually blows, those who came forward on people ultimately implicated will be free from the taint of knowing silence. People who knew or suspected and stayed silent are still alive today. This is the kind of silence that not only allowed the participants in these child abductions, torture, rapes and murders to continue victimizing for at least 18 months (we all know it was longer and that there were other victims, never connected by police), but also to allow these serial murders to remain one of the most heinous unsolved crime sprees in US history. When the lid blows, those who were silent will be revealed and if they are gone by the time it happens, the fall out will be for their families to bear.
Cathy;
So long as there is some type of investigation being made and that the victim’s family are getting some type of status. That is all that really matters! Hoping some day the truth be known about these crimes where ever and whom ever it points to, so be it. Take care
Hi Cathy, I lived near 13 mile rd in Royal Oak at the time of the murders and one day on my way to school I was approached by 2 people dressed as women but were obviously not (they were on the corner of Chester Rd and Hampton). They asked me if I could give them directions but I took off running and did not look back. I assume this disguise was one of their tactics to lure the kids in. I reported it to my principal at Upton Elementary.
Anonymous, I know Cathy is very busy, but if you ever need someone to talk to I am definitely there. You can remain anonymous. My email is rootlesswriting@gmail.com
I am fairly interested in Charlevoix as well, as it is of importance to a case I am currently working on. Although it is very possible it isn’t connected, I would love to share with you information I have gathered if it would help you in any way. There is an active support of many individuals lurking in different corners, attempting to do the seemingly impossible.
So, my email is rootlesswriting@gmail.com
I am all ears. God bless, and let’s hope this is the year for justice.
Thinking about your comment last summer to me that the Mark Stebbins abduction was certainly the result of happenstance, I looked at the old American Legion Hall in Ferndale to see where a possible kidnapping could have taken place.
Assuming Mark truthfully told his mother that he was headed home that Sunday, he would have walked south on Livernois maybe 150 yards or so, and then crossed over to Saratoga to head east to his house at 429 E. Saratoga.
Hmm.
No one can quite believe that a brazen kidnapping happened at 12:30 pm on a Sunday if the confrontation was violent, suspicious, or threatening. Livernois was and is a major street, and the Hall was near Nine Mile Rd. No, the kidnapping had to LOOK NATURAL to passersby. And there had to be someone who witnessed it, but had no idea at that moment what they were really seeing.
The kidnapper had to be someone that Mark would trust enough to enter a vehicle, and in a way that sparked no suspicion.
Kids in the 1970’s (and I was one then) wouldn’t get into a strangers car willingly. But they did have some respect for uniformed authority figures.
Mark had to walk south directly in front of the Ferndale Fire Department on Livernois to get to Saratoga. The Ferndale FD was less than 50 yards from the American Legion Hall, which still stands vacant to this day.
Wouldn’t an honest investigation have asked anyone at the Ferndale FD if they saw anything at all that day? If no one asked, then why not?
If we don’t have the answer to that question, and we don’t, then I can guess why.
Where is any file on the Stebbins’ case? Can you post whatever you’ve got?
Thanks, Cathy.
Again, you and your family will always have my deepest sympathies.
Thank you very much, Paul. You make excellent points. I would add that any number of men could have seen Mark while he was at the American Legion Hall with his mother and watched him leave–alone. Maybe someone who interacted with Mark’s mother or even Mark while they are at the hall. I will go back and see what I have about Mark’s case, but the FOIA responses were tailored to my Dad’s requests. The individual suburban police department case files for each of the abductions are not included in the responses. There is no doubt in my mind that the biggest mistakes were made in the investigations of Mark’s and Jill’s abductions. Any responsible cold case investigation would have focused immediately on the first 300 tips that were called in and on the work and deficiencies of the suburban police department investigations. Remember, these were suburbs where the biggest issues were traffic stops and property crimes. Of course they had no experience or expertise in serial killer cases–least of all child serial killers. When Ferndale dropped the ball it prevented Mark’s case from being solved and resulted in at least three more murders. At some point, the FBI backed off and continued to do so for many decades. Why? They made sure no one would easily find out. And don’t forget–FOIA requests to the FBI by a reporter on Christopher Busch and Frank Sheldon and his Fox Island “partners” were met with delay, followed by “sorry, the file room flooded and the records are gone.”
Watched channel 7. Barry King is a true hero. Whenever you have time I’m still waiting to hear from you. I understand you are incredibly busy. God bless.
In the first month of this blog there are 3 suspicious deaths – a police officer with 2 wounds called suicidal, Busch and his attorney. I suspect there are more to uncover, I am a new reader. Have you contacted This American Life? Perhaps Serial? I watched the Paranoia Shoppe episode you participated in – with all respect to PS, and your own decisions, I think there are more influential cultural voices out there who would be interested in this case. This has probably all been said before. Good luck, Catherine.
Thinking further about Mark Stebbins’ abduction on Sunday afternoon, February 15, 1976:
We agree that it had to be the result of a random sighting by the kidnapper(s). No one could have known in advance that Mark alone would leave the old American Legion Hall on Livernois, just south of 9 Mile, and head east on foot to his home at 429 E. Saratoga, located a block east of Woodward.
You and I agree that the kidnapping had to look completely natural to anyone passing by that afternoon on the streets of Ferndale. And, that Mark almost certainly would not have willingly entered a random stranger’s vehicle. Even then, kids wouldn’t do that.
You have raised the possibility that the kidnapper(s) could have been someone inside the American Legion Hall gathering who witnessed Mark’s departure at 12:30 and knew for sure that his mother was not accompanying him. To me, this would imply that the kidnapper was close to (or at least known to) Mark and his mother. If so, the kidnapper surely came to the attention of the Ferndale PD, and was then cleared. For whatever reasons.
This is, of course, a possibility.
It seems to me, though, it is equally plausible that Mark was taken while walking home, taken by someone not from the Legion Hall, but who saw him while they were driving the streets of Ferndale that afternoon. This would mean that Mark got into that vehicle without raising suspicion.
The drawing found on Chris Busch’s wall after his “suicide” would seem to be a crude rendering of Mark Stebbins. That indicates that either Busch really had a hand in that abduction/murder, (just as Greg Green told the Flint PD) or someone went out of their way to make it look like Busch was involved.
I think it is likely that Busch actually was involved, somehow, with Mark’s ordeal, although I doubt that Busch (or Greg Greene) was the kidnapper off the streets in Ferndale. No kid would get into a car with either of those two creepy-looking guys. Somebody else did the kidnapping part, and then Busch (and/or Green) was later connected. We have no reason to think that either Green or Busch was at the American Legion Hall that afternoon.
We strongly believe that Busch (but not Green) was protected from prosecution by some special connection to law enforcement, at a level that superseded Oakland County authorities. I believe he was likely an informant for both the FBI and the Michigan State Police on the homosexual/predator ring operating out of North Fox Island and Flint. It’s possible Busch (and/or his associates) was/were also used by local police departments, including Ferndale and Berkley, as informants.
For a long time, I always assumed that Mark would have headed east on Saratoga to get home. But a more direct route to his house from the American Legion Hall would have been on Troy Street. And when he crossed Woodward, Troy would have been the closest street on the east side. Saratoga has that little jog to the south. Maybe he took Troy, or maybe he took Saratoga, a little further to the south.
Either way, Mark’s route took him either right past, or within a half-block of the Ferndale PD on Troy Street. Mark’s backyard was less than 75 yards from the Ferndale PD. If a Ferndale PD patrol went east on Troy for a five second drive , they would be within a snowball’s throw of Mark’s backyard. Ferndale was then, and is now, a small department. I doubt they had more than two patrol cars on the streets on duty that Sunday afternoon. If that.
A patrol car could be “out of district” for several minutes, or more, and no one would be the wiser.
It seems remarkable to me that Mark’s path home took him directly in front of either the Ferndale Fire Department on Livernois if he went directly to Saratoga, or within a sniff of (if not directly in front of!) the Ferndale PD on Troy Street. And yet, the kidnapping happened directly under the noses of one or both of these departments.
Call me a cynic, but I doubt it.
We know Mark’s kidnapping involved some kind of vehicle.
We know it’s extremely unlikely Mark would have willingly entered a vehicle driven by either creepy Chris Busch or Greg Green.
But Mark did get into some vehicle driven by someone, and that is an undeniable fact.
Officers in various districts know each other.
Cathy, I need you to make public whatever information you’ve got on that Berkley Police Officer who committed that suspicious “suicide” in his own patrol car in that church parking lot in 1977.
It may turn out to be nothing, but I really believe there is a chance the Stebbins’ case can crack this thing.
As always, you and your family have my deepest sympathies. What happened to your brother and the other little victims remains an unspeakable atrocity.
Paul, I am on the road so I don’t have access to my file on Berkley PD Officer Chris Flynn, who allegedly committed suicide in November 1978, just days before Chris Busch’s body was found on November 20, 1978 (another “suicide”). When I do get home, I will post what I know for a fact, as well as my suspicions. Just the yesterday one of my brothers and I were discussing (for the 100th time) how a cop had to have been involved in these cases. Here’s what I can tell you about Flynn just based on notes I have on my computer. Flynn had two gunshot wounds. Another officer’s gun was found in his car (two guns in car). As I have stated before, it would seem like someone trained to use a weapon would be able to get the job done with one bullet. I do not remember if I had information about whether his hands were tested for gunshot residue. Busch’s tests in this regard were “inconclusive.” According to someone close to him, Flynn “was screwed up” because when he was a Marine in Viet Nam, he lost eight comrades in a battle in a swamp and felt responsible. He was going through a divorce at the time.
Absolutely, the case cried out for somebody to go back to Square One–Mark’s abduction–and start working the case for real at that point many decades ago. You know the killers’ names are in that first batch of tips or reports. I believe this is being done now.
Here is another thing I can’t get out of my mind–Doug Wilson’s statement to the FBI two weeks or so after my brother’s murder. I have written about this as well, but here is a CAR DESIGNER who was hypnotized by the FBI at University of Michigan about what he saw the night my brother was abducted. His written statement included the following:
“On my way home from work I decided to stop at the supermarket and pick up some breakfast groceries (milk, eggs, etc.) for the following morning. As I pulled my new Alfetta GT into the parking lot, I immediately noticed a young boy on an orange skateboard. He was using the natural slope of the parking lot to build up speed as he headed down toward the market. At the last minute he would jump off the board and the board would continue on into the bricks of the building. Fearing that the flying skateboard might damage my new car, I decided to use one of the parking spaces farthest from the store.
After locking my car, I noticed the boy on the skateboard was talking to a young man by the side of the building. My immediate impression was of a father talking to his son. The young man was about 25-30 years old. He was wearing a plaid shirt jacket and jeans. He was also wearing a baseball cap over his shoulder length hair.
As I started walking towards the market entrance, I glanced at an older man sitting in a car. He had backed his car into the parking place now opposite my parking place, but closer to the building. He fixed his gaze on mine and continued to stare at me intently. There was something unnerving about this man and I remember thinking that he might be a car thief. He looked to be about 55-65 years of age. He had totally grey hair and looked about 20-30 pounds overweight. He had a very round face. As I walked by him I glanced back at his car and tried to commit his license to memory. The numbers were easy, three twos and I made up a quick phrase to try to remember the letters. Unfortunately, to this day, I cannot remember the phrase I used to remember the letter make-up of the license plate. The make of the car was a 1973 Pontiac Le Mans 2/door coupe. [This from a CAR DESIGNER.] I continued into the store where I did my shopping and came out about 15-20 minutes later. All three persons were gone: the boy, the young man, and the older man in the car.”
On the subject of the hypnosis, Wilson’s statement was as follows: “The hypnosis session was conducted at the University of Michigan campus. In attendance were the two agents, a sketch artist, and the psychiatrist who would hypnotize me. While under hypnosis I remember wondering if I was really hypnotized. I only remember feeling extremely relaxed, but still aware of what was around me. Or so I thought. It turns out that they already knew the make of the car. When the previous victim had been dropped off, the car had backed into a snow bank and left a perfect impression of the car’s rear bumper. As for the car’s license number, I could only remember the last three numbers: the three 2’s. For some reason the phrase I had made to remember the preceding 3 letters was not retrievable. To this day I still cannot remember it. I can only surmise that numbers are stored in a different part of the brain than the phrase would be. I was able to show the agents the exact spot on the wall where the boy’s skateboard had impacted the bricks of the supermarket building. They took small samples of the brick and discovered pieces of the orange neoprene material that the skateboard was made of.”
Yet this information was never provided to the public. How hard would it have been to find a 1973 LeMans with the numbers 222 in the plate sequence? This car with 222 on the plates had to have been owned by or accessible to someone the police wanted to keep under the radar for whatever reason. Another cop? Remember that a LeMans was seen on the shoulder of I-75 in the early morning hours nearby where Jill’s body was dumped. And the bumper impressions in the snow where Kristine’s body was found were determined to be that of a 1972 or 1973 LeMans with a trailer hitch pulled slightly to the left as if from a prior accident. And the MSP task force NEVER tells the public this information??? Misfeasance or malfeasance–four (or more) kids wind up abducted, tortured, murdered and dumped like garbage. Would it surprise me if Chris Flynn owned a LeMans? No, it would not. I will post what I have when I get my hands on that file. Unfortunately, it’s not much.
Chris Flynn was the president (as of 1969) of the Berkley Police Officers Association, and was honored by the Berkley Jaycee’s as “Outstanding Young Man of the Year”.
“Officer Flynn was honored for his work in seeing that Berkley had a force of well trained men not restricted by outdated regulations. The annual award is the high point of the Jaycee’s efforts directed towards YOUTH ACTIVITIES LEADERSHIP TRAINING and community development.”
Hmm.
So Chris Flynn earned a reputation as a guy who was good at “youth activities leadership training.”
A couple of years earlier, 1967, he was one of the most vocal of the Berkley PD who felt they were seriously under-paid. I wonder how long it took for those old grievances to go away.
He was found shot to death in his own 1973 (Buick?) a few days before Chris Busch in 1978.
Your brother was told by some cop that Flynn’s name was one of first received by the OCCK task force.
Cathy, what was the nature of the occasion at the American Legion Hall that Sunday afternoon? Was it some sort of group that might have included Chris Flynn?
I didn’t know that a Pontiac or Buick was spotted near the drop point for Mark’s body. I did know about the LeMans near Jill and the snowy bumper LeMans impressions near Kristine. I did know a witness placed a LeMans near your brother behind the Hunter-Maple drug store.
If Flynn owned a LeMans, then I’d say this is about over. But in your post of February 9, 2013, you wrote he owned a 1973 Buick. How certain are you of that? I’m not suggesting you were wrong, merely wondering if the original documents might be re-examined.
There would seem to be the possibility that two men, one owning a 1970’s Buick, and the other owning a 1970’s Pontiac, were working together. If Flynn was one of these two men, as seems possible, then there must have been a connection to other people. The kids were held in somewhere for days without anyone realizing that what was going on. I know that the Busch family had that cottage up at a lake in Northern Michigan, and that Chris Busch was spotted with kids (boys?) in March of 1977.
But again, it seems improbable that Busch or Greene would have done the kidnapping off the streets of Ferndale. Someone else had to do that, someone with enough confidence and ability to make it look natural, even to Mark and the other kids themselves.
This person (Flynn, probably) had to be connected to Busch and Green somehow.
I can’t find a picture of Chris Flynn, and the on-line copies of the Catholic Central yearbooks from Troy, New York are no help. He’s not listed.
Cathy, is there any chance you can find a picture of Chris Flynn that even now may yet be shown to Doug Wilson?
How about FUCK YOU BOTH?! Cathy knows, as well as I do, there is NO evidence to implicate my father with these murders. There IS, however, evidence to suggest he was murdered by a cop who did. SHAME ON YOU CATHY for sensationalizing this rumor; especially after our correspondence.
How much evidence still remains intact from the Flint Police Department’s January,1977 search of Greg Green’s van? According to your post of March 11, 2013. the Flint PD discovered (among other things) two pairs of underwear belonging to young girls. The cases of Jill Robinson and Kristine Mihelich were less than one month old at the time of Green’s arrest.
The obvious starting point is to press for a DNA examination/ comparison for any link to either of those two victims on the underwear found in Green’s possession. If those garments have been properly stored and handled (a huge if) then a DNA test will show if Green was guilty as sin, and never mind the phonied up lie-detector results from the Roger Cabot and the MSP.
Remember, Jill’s sister, Alene Strole, said that she herself was approached by a creepy-looking guy on a pretext in the fall of 1976 (before Jill’s abduction), and that this guy resembled the infamous sketch of the suspect in your brother’s abduction. That’s no coincidence. How many guys who looked like that approaching kids along Woodward could there have been at that time?
To me, the mug shot of Greg Green with long hair resembles the infamous suspect sketches. Maybe not a perfect match, but close enough to make him a strong suspect, given his arrest record.
JIll was shot in the face with a shotgun. A sadist did that to make her suffer, because that was her greatest fear, according to her sister.
Green was a manipulative, psychotic evil monster. He could easily have done it to Jill. A simple DNA test will tell us if he was in contact with those two girls.
Green and Busch were linked.
Busch and North Fox Island were linked.
Busch was almost certainly an informant for the FBI and the MSP on North Fox Island.
Green was not.
Green tried to pin Mark Stebbins on Busch, but the MSP cleared both guys, so as not to reveal Busch’s status (and to CYA for themselves and the Bureau.)
Busch may have convinced his handler to let him remain free in March of 1977 while the investigation of the ringleaders of the North Fox Island continued. Greg Green may very well have been out at that moment, too. Doug Wilson may have seen Green in the Hunter-Maple parking lot. Obviously, there was yet another man, an older man, observing from the Pontiac LeMans.
Busch’s confession in front of Larry Wasser meant that Busch came in contact with your brother soon thereafter, if not right then in the parking lot.
Busch’s confession also sealed his own death warrant, as he could no longer be trusted to keep his mouth shut. He might reveal with whom he’d been working, after all!
If Chris Flynn was connected to these men, we don’t yet have the evidence. He is high on my suspect list as a procurer, a guy who could use his position and demeanor to persuade kids to hop into his vehicle. Flynn may not necessarily have realized just what exactly was going to happen to Mark Stebbins later at the hands of others. He couldn’t come forward without implicating himself.
Maybe he shot himself, or maybe somebody made sure he wasn’t going to talk about any connections he had to any confidential informants for other agencies.
So:
1. A DNA test is needed on the undergarments found in Greg Green’s van.
2. Greg Green’s picture (and Chris Flynn’s and Chris Busch’s picture) needs to be shown to Doug Wilson.
3. Pictures of Greg Green, Chris Busch, and Chris Flynn (and any other possible suspects, including John Hastings, although I doubt he was directly involved, but nothing should be ruled out) need to be shown to Alene Strole.
Finally, Cathy, can you post whatever you’ve got on the death of Jane Burgess? You’ve hinted that it may be mysterious, but I know nothing about it. If I’m right, and Busch was a CI for a powerful LE agency, then her days were very probably numbered.
Thanks for all you do, Cathy, and know that those of us who grew up in Birmingham then have not forgotten. This case matters to many, many people, and it must be solved.
Paul,
Yes, yes, yes. I don’t know who you are, nor do I know your reason for the level of interest, thought and research you have put into this case and your posts. I will just say we are on the same page. I have to preface what I am going to say with the fact that I used to know dates, name and answers off the top of my head. I thought, after having this shit unfold before me over the past 10 years like an unbelievable horror story, that I would never forget a detail. But, truth be told, eventually this started ruining my day-to-day life. I have done what I could, been taken advantage of, relied upon when it is not reasonable, and generally banged my head against a wall for so long that I can only hope that Karma takes over eventually. There is one cop I trust in all of this–apparently the new people on the team are working without the taint of the prior MSP task force and Oakland County law enforcement (most were not dirty, but I still believe a few are as dirty as they come, as was the FBI in this). I have no police powers. No one with any knowledge really talks to me in any detail because I have a blog and I am pissed off. Most of the police who worked this case had their hearts and souls in it and worked tirelessly and carry the burden today of the unresolved status of the case. But some of the suburban cops, those at the top of the MSP task force, at the Oakland County Prosecutors Office (then and now), are as shameful as they come. Somebody with a badge offed pedophiles they thought were involved in this case. People at the OCP and Oakland County judges (and those involved in other counties dealing with Frank Sheldon and similarly situated animals) back in the day sold their souls. So this is the ultimate recipe for the total lockdown on resolution of this case. Who is actually going to come forward? This case is the worst of the worst. That’s why fucking Arch Sloan and Vince (“Jimmy”) Gunnels will never spill the beans. That’s why spouses, siblings and friends of those involved who have knowledge will never come forward. How on Earth do you ever justify your silence? Kids DIED because you were all cowards. And because some cops thought they took care of business by offing people, the circle becomes complete. Who is going to talk?? They thought everything was handled and then Tim got abducted and murdered. You are right. Busch spills to Wasser and Burgess and they probably drop the dime on him. Then he has to go. So does Flynn. Green is stowed at Jackson and the cops aren’t listening to him anymore when he begs a Flint PD officer to come talk to him about the OCCK case after he lands in the Big House. Hey–he passed a polygraph and so did Busch. No wonder H. Lee Busch burned all of the family records in the twilight of his pathetic life. None of these assholes ever think or care that, decades later, people still hurt, no justice will ever happen, that their fucked up, cheap methods of dealing with this case victimize these four (0r more) kids over and over, every day, every week, every month, every year these cases remain open like a gaping hole. Only in Oakland County, Michigan. With that preface, I will next address your very valid points.
Do I think any evidence remains intact from the Flint PD’s January 1977 search of Greg Green’s van (namely, two pairs of young girls’ underwear)? Not only no, but hell no. If you knew the state of the OCCK evidence, some of which was used in their goddamn Post training, you would scream out loud. A very experienced cop described the task force in this case as a clusterfuck of idiots. Oakland County Medical Examiner Sillery was an incompetent and a drunk. This case never stood a chance.
Yes, Green with long hair and without the glasses IS the poster boy for these abductions, but who knows. Was anyone ever showed his photo? Again, hell no. There are so many people the current investigators have talked to who have said the same thing–NO, the “rejuvenated” MSP task force NEVER talked to me. Hey, let’s let sleeping dogs . . . die.
Sadist? You should read Greg Green’s record. The crime he did time for in a “mental” hospital in California for was as bad as they come. He strangled a boy, almost to death, after sodomizing him and then dumped him at a hospital. All Greg Green learned before he got paroled and returned to Flint, MI, was to make sure the next victim died. Did you know there were ligature marks on Mark Stebbins’ neck? That was how he was tied up; it was not his cause of death. Green was an animal. He and Busch were partners. Busch told the goddamn cops when questioned (and of course released) that he and Green had spoken about abducting a kid and taking alternate work shifts so they could watch the kid. WTF is the matter with these cops?! Oh right–H. Lee Busch, I forgot.
Did you know that Busch told one of his nephews (he molested one of his three nephews), while in the Hunter-Maple parking lot, pointing to a location: “That is right where Tim King was when he was taken.”
1. DNA test on undergarments in Green’s van–if this evidence still exists, I will run 12 marathons in 12 months.
2. Show photos of Greg Green, Chris Bush, Chris Flynn, John Hastings, as well as other suspects or names that have been mentioned in connection with the case, to Doug Wilson and Alene Strone–this would be too easy. Why bother?
3. Paul, I think Jane Burgess died of cancer in the early 1990’s. Again, I used to know this stuff off the top of my head, but her obituary can be found online. I will take this opportunity to state that when questioned in the past 6 years or so, when all of this shit floated to the surface, her husband Laurence Burgess, spoke very proudly of his deceased wife’s representation of Christopher Busch, said Busch had been to their cottage up north and had cooked them a wonderful meal. I bet the Burgesses didn’t let their buddy/client Chris Busch near their young son, who now practices with his dad in the Detroit area.
4. Finally, Berkley PD Officer Chris Flynn. I’m sorry, Paul, I don’t have specific details but will continue to look for the information I received about his suspicious suicide. It was unbelievable. Oh Berkley, you are so, so suspect in all of this. Your bullshit meant Kris dies and then Tim dies, too. Nice work. The kid who came forward with info about Berkley PD Officer Jim Cox being at the 7-11 around the time Kristine was abducted has been tortured then and now by Cox and retired officer Ray Anger, as well as other complicit Berkley PD cops. Cox and Anger are still alive. They made this man’s life a living hell. They messed with other people’s lives, too. Think the cops don’t pull this shit? Watch Making a Murderer on Netflix and judge for yourself. I have all the information, boys. Don’t deny it. You are old now, the game has changed, and a bunch of us have your number. No more crocodile tears or cop intimidation. What you did to that kid who came forward when you showed up at his school is so evil. And you never missed a chance to mess with him down the road. For that you can never be forgiven. You literally got away with murder and other lesser offenses that make me so sick. Whatever you did to put a lid on this should haunt you for the rest of your days and then some. Oh, and Officer Dave Piche? Yeah, buddy, we know what you are made of, too. In charge of the investigation back in the day, but you can’t remember Kristine Mihelich? Right, pal. Have kids? Grandkids? How do you live with yourself?
I am a 1979 graduate of Seaholm, and I was very slightly acquainted with your brother, Chris. I have five younger brothers and sisters, all Seaholm grads, and three of them were (within a very few months) just about the same ages as Mark, Jill and Kristine. I remember the spring of 1977 when I was a sophomore, and the shock and bewilderment and fear that gripped every Birmingham family then.
This case resonates with me, as it does for so many of us who were there then, because we know that only blind fate kept it from happening to us. It easily could have been us! Those monsters were targeting little kids the same exact ages as my brothers and sisters in the same exact neighborhoods! Only dumb luck spared us!
Cathy, none of us can truly know the horrors suffered by you and your family. But know that many of us realize that only the slenderest of threads separated our fate from yours.
It’s intriguing to me to re-read your comment above that Berkley PD officer Chris Flynn was a “screwed up” Viet Nam vet, suffering from PTSD, apparently.
This fits exactly with what mysterious caller “Allen” told Dr. Bruce Danto about the OCCK. Flynn didn’t do it all by himself, but we don’t yet know how, or if, he knew men such as Busch, Green, or Arch Sloan. One of Sloan’s unknown contacts came in contact with your brother and Mark Stebbins. DNA evidence on the hairs settles that. Gunnels was in contact with Kristine Mihelich at some point. DNA shows that. Green almost certainly had two pairs of underwear belonging to Jill Robinson and Kristine in his van. The Flint PD found those pairs. Gunnels knew both Busch and Green.
So, Green, Busch, Sloan and Gunnels – perhaps to a lesser extent – are guilty as sin. But, we don’t have the procurer – someone who could persuade kids to willingly get into a vehicle in a manner that would not raise undue suspicion to any passersby. Flynn, a police officer, fits the role. And, if he did suffer from PTSD from Viet Nam, then “Allen” knew what he was talking about.
But what was the connection between Flynn and those men?
Cathy, can you revisit the Bruce Danto saga again? Any hard info you have on Chris Flynn would be very helpful, especially the source of the PTSD material. If a Berkley cop was in regular illicit contact with an FBI informant (Busch), then no wonder the FBI watched Danto’s office like a hawk for a year to see if anyone showed up. The FBI wanted to know who knew about these relationships!
Paul, I am mired in tax prep but have added this to my to do list. I don’t have a lot of hard information on Chris Flynn, I know that. I spoke a few years ago with a man that as a young kid saw Kris Mihelich and a different Berkley cop at the 7-11 the afternoon she went missing. This cop and another one (who worked extensively on the task force until his relatively recent retirement) made this kid’s life a living hell and continued to do so every chance they could for YEARS afterward. The story would break your heart and make you hate cops. Seriously. (And don’t tell me this kid/now adult made this all up. It doesn’t work that way.) Berkley PD factors into this mess more than any other PD, one way or the other. That is one rock that has all kinds of nastiness and evil under it, if you ask me.
According to Biblio.com, the author “Michael Parrott” (aka Bruce Danto?) followed up his 1980 novelization of the case with a July 1981 book titled “Pardonnez-moi Vos Offenses” – French for “forgive me for your sins”. “Forgive me for your sins”????? What???? As if the author is somehow responsible for the sins of the perp? Who else but a psychologist treating a criminal would pick that title? The cover illustration features a young boy running in obvious fear, dressed in an unzipped coat, as if it is cold/cool outside. “Parrott” chose a drawing which is impossible to be a coincidence.
Your speculation that Danto was Busch’s psychologist sounds plausible/persuasive to me. I never bought the whole “Bruce Lane” thing as a reason for Danto to interject himself into the case, but I didn’t realize until now that cover story was needed because he dared not reveal that he knew and was treating at least one of the principal actors.
Your citation of the passage where the two cops murder the suspect in a manner to look like suicide is so close to the actual scene of the Chris Busch (right down to the fact that within a month or so of Busch’s suicide, the OCCK task force actually did close down, due to “lack of funds”!!!!!) that only an insider could have written that scene. And when “Parrott” wrote those words in 1980, the public had no idea that Chris Busch had any conceivable connection to the case.
So, “Parrott” knew the Busch connection, knew the Busch “suicide” was staged, and was OK with that. He knew these things when no outsider could have.
Cathy, I want to read that book very carefully. There just might be even more in it. Do you have any idea how to get ahold of a copy?
Did you know that the first name on the Fox Island Lighthouse Association (FILA) Board of Directors is Co-founder and President John McKinney, and he (from his picture) appears to be in his late 50’s, about the same age as John McKinney, Jr.? These may not be the same men, but If this is just a coincidence, it is striking. However, if it really is the same man, then I wonder why he has taken such a personal interest in the Fox Islands . . .
Also, according the December 5, 1977 issue of People Magazine, Dr. Bruce Danto was a Deputy Sheriff in St. Clair County. In other words, he was part and parcel of law enforcement on a variety of levels. Whoever “Michael Parrott” really was, “Parrott” knew what Danto knew. If Danto was not “Parrott” ( a mighty big “if”), he was passing along information to “Parrott”, including reconstructing conversations between officers in the midst of staging a “suicide” for one of the suspects (Busch). Danto was the man to see to create a psychological profile of the OCCK.
As far as I can tell, the now-famous FBI psychological profile unit under the legendary John Douglas was not yet up and running in 1977 (ironically, Douglas had been with the Detroit FBI until 1977), so Danto would have been the best option then.
Even when we feel we are standing alone – know that there is one on our side at all times. And that for our own sanity he tells us to: “leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” says the Lord”
Cathy its going to be 40 years next year, is this case ever going to be resolved? Is there anything new going on with this case? I feel like its being forgotten and I cant believe it.
Absolutely.
Jessie
>
I think a lot is going on. Whether it will ever be solved, unfortunately, is not in our hands. Though I believe there is a God and all goes according to his great plan, no matter how undeniably frustrating it can be.
P.S. your quote hits close to home, Cathy. Real close.
Good evening…
I have taken on an interest in this case, and would like to order a copy of “Decades of Deceit.” Is sending a check the only option still, or do you do you accept PayPal or anything else?
Thanks!
Cameron.
Cameron, sorry for the delay. Send your name and address to The Tim King Fund, 1509 Yotkshire Road, Birmingham, MI,!48009. Explain that the check option won’t work. Let’s seen if we can get you a copy.
Hi Cathy, I haven’t read much on here for months. As you know for a long time I got disconnected. Back a year ago you were saying you were going to be quiet for a while, as if something was brewing and you felt you should back off for a while. What has happened since then? Best to you, Ceil
What’s happened? I can’t say because I don’t know. I know one agency continues to seriously investigate. Dirty dogs currently in prison won’t talk–and we all know why. In prison or on the street, they are dead if they talk. Oakland County has a full dose of dirty animals who still around and are highly placed enough or have enough dough to silence people. They deserve the worst of Karmic poxes, as well as the most public shaming possible. They have kept their feet on people’s throats since 1976 and 1977 and rejected any guilt for the torture, rape and murder of children. What will happen? After all of these animals are dead, they will leave their family members and those close to them to answer for what happened and how no one spoke up. Cowards. No surprise. Who victimizes children? Cowards.
Have you had time to look into my information, Cathy? I’m not blowing smoke here, I really believe what I have to say is important.
C-C, I am sorry I have not had time to make a game plan to address your information. We have had a few private investigators offer to help in recent months and there are plans in the works for a website to pull together a wide variety of sources, links and information. I hope one of the results of the impressive efforts of those helping my family will be that the information can be read widely, others can contribute, and law enforcement ignores the information from you and others at its peril. Thanks to you and others who have come forward with information. Most who have done so have truly gone out on a limb and for that, I am deeply grateful. Take some solace in the fact that when the lid eventually blows, those who came forward on people ultimately implicated will be free from the taint of knowing silence. People who knew or suspected and stayed silent are still alive today. This is the kind of silence that not only allowed the participants in these child abductions, torture, rapes and murders to continue victimizing for at least 18 months (we all know it was longer and that there were other victims, never connected by police), but also to allow these serial murders to remain one of the most heinous unsolved crime sprees in US history. When the lid blows, those who were silent will be revealed and if they are gone by the time it happens, the fall out will be for their families to bear.
……………………
Cathy;
So long as there is some type of investigation being made and that the victim’s family are getting some type of status. That is all that really matters! Hoping some day the truth be known about these crimes where ever and whom ever it points to, so be it. Take care
Thanks, R. You take care, too.
Hi Cathy, I lived near 13 mile rd in Royal Oak at the time of the murders and one day on my way to school I was approached by 2 people dressed as women but were obviously not (they were on the corner of Chester Rd and Hampton). They asked me if I could give them directions but I took off running and did not look back. I assume this disguise was one of their tactics to lure the kids in. I reported it to my principal at Upton Elementary.
Anonymous, I know Cathy is very busy, but if you ever need someone to talk to I am definitely there. You can remain anonymous. My email is rootlesswriting@gmail.com
I am fairly interested in Charlevoix as well, as it is of importance to a case I am currently working on. Although it is very possible it isn’t connected, I would love to share with you information I have gathered if it would help you in any way. There is an active support of many individuals lurking in different corners, attempting to do the seemingly impossible.
So, my email is rootlesswriting@gmail.com
I am all ears. God bless, and let’s hope this is the year for justice.
Thank you, Shay. I meant to message Anonymous with my email. I am at catherine.broad@yahoo.com.
Hi Catherine,
Thinking about your comment last summer to me that the Mark Stebbins abduction was certainly the result of happenstance, I looked at the old American Legion Hall in Ferndale to see where a possible kidnapping could have taken place.
Assuming Mark truthfully told his mother that he was headed home that Sunday, he would have walked south on Livernois maybe 150 yards or so, and then crossed over to Saratoga to head east to his house at 429 E. Saratoga.
Hmm.
No one can quite believe that a brazen kidnapping happened at 12:30 pm on a Sunday if the confrontation was violent, suspicious, or threatening. Livernois was and is a major street, and the Hall was near Nine Mile Rd. No, the kidnapping had to LOOK NATURAL to passersby. And there had to be someone who witnessed it, but had no idea at that moment what they were really seeing.
The kidnapper had to be someone that Mark would trust enough to enter a vehicle, and in a way that sparked no suspicion.
Kids in the 1970’s (and I was one then) wouldn’t get into a strangers car willingly. But they did have some respect for uniformed authority figures.
Mark had to walk south directly in front of the Ferndale Fire Department on Livernois to get to Saratoga. The Ferndale FD was less than 50 yards from the American Legion Hall, which still stands vacant to this day.
Wouldn’t an honest investigation have asked anyone at the Ferndale FD if they saw anything at all that day? If no one asked, then why not?
If we don’t have the answer to that question, and we don’t, then I can guess why.
Where is any file on the Stebbins’ case? Can you post whatever you’ve got?
Thanks, Cathy.
Again, you and your family will always have my deepest sympathies.
Thank you very much, Paul. You make excellent points. I would add that any number of men could have seen Mark while he was at the American Legion Hall with his mother and watched him leave–alone. Maybe someone who interacted with Mark’s mother or even Mark while they are at the hall. I will go back and see what I have about Mark’s case, but the FOIA responses were tailored to my Dad’s requests. The individual suburban police department case files for each of the abductions are not included in the responses. There is no doubt in my mind that the biggest mistakes were made in the investigations of Mark’s and Jill’s abductions. Any responsible cold case investigation would have focused immediately on the first 300 tips that were called in and on the work and deficiencies of the suburban police department investigations. Remember, these were suburbs where the biggest issues were traffic stops and property crimes. Of course they had no experience or expertise in serial killer cases–least of all child serial killers. When Ferndale dropped the ball it prevented Mark’s case from being solved and resulted in at least three more murders. At some point, the FBI backed off and continued to do so for many decades. Why? They made sure no one would easily find out. And don’t forget–FOIA requests to the FBI by a reporter on Christopher Busch and Frank Sheldon and his Fox Island “partners” were met with delay, followed by “sorry, the file room flooded and the records are gone.”
Watched channel 7. Barry King is a true hero. Whenever you have time I’m still waiting to hear from you. I understand you are incredibly busy. God bless.
In the first month of this blog there are 3 suspicious deaths – a police officer with 2 wounds called suicidal, Busch and his attorney. I suspect there are more to uncover, I am a new reader. Have you contacted This American Life? Perhaps Serial? I watched the Paranoia Shoppe episode you participated in – with all respect to PS, and your own decisions, I think there are more influential cultural voices out there who would be interested in this case. This has probably all been said before. Good luck, Catherine.
Catherine, is there an email address to which I can contact you. I have some thoughts I’d like to share, but privately.
Thanks very much,
Dan Miller
Cathy,
Thinking further about Mark Stebbins’ abduction on Sunday afternoon, February 15, 1976:
We agree that it had to be the result of a random sighting by the kidnapper(s). No one could have known in advance that Mark alone would leave the old American Legion Hall on Livernois, just south of 9 Mile, and head east on foot to his home at 429 E. Saratoga, located a block east of Woodward.
You and I agree that the kidnapping had to look completely natural to anyone passing by that afternoon on the streets of Ferndale. And, that Mark almost certainly would not have willingly entered a random stranger’s vehicle. Even then, kids wouldn’t do that.
You have raised the possibility that the kidnapper(s) could have been someone inside the American Legion Hall gathering who witnessed Mark’s departure at 12:30 and knew for sure that his mother was not accompanying him. To me, this would imply that the kidnapper was close to (or at least known to) Mark and his mother. If so, the kidnapper surely came to the attention of the Ferndale PD, and was then cleared. For whatever reasons.
This is, of course, a possibility.
It seems to me, though, it is equally plausible that Mark was taken while walking home, taken by someone not from the Legion Hall, but who saw him while they were driving the streets of Ferndale that afternoon. This would mean that Mark got into that vehicle without raising suspicion.
The drawing found on Chris Busch’s wall after his “suicide” would seem to be a crude rendering of Mark Stebbins. That indicates that either Busch really had a hand in that abduction/murder, (just as Greg Green told the Flint PD) or someone went out of their way to make it look like Busch was involved.
I think it is likely that Busch actually was involved, somehow, with Mark’s ordeal, although I doubt that Busch (or Greg Greene) was the kidnapper off the streets in Ferndale. No kid would get into a car with either of those two creepy-looking guys. Somebody else did the kidnapping part, and then Busch (and/or Green) was later connected. We have no reason to think that either Green or Busch was at the American Legion Hall that afternoon.
We strongly believe that Busch (but not Green) was protected from prosecution by some special connection to law enforcement, at a level that superseded Oakland County authorities. I believe he was likely an informant for both the FBI and the Michigan State Police on the homosexual/predator ring operating out of North Fox Island and Flint. It’s possible Busch (and/or his associates) was/were also used by local police departments, including Ferndale and Berkley, as informants.
For a long time, I always assumed that Mark would have headed east on Saratoga to get home. But a more direct route to his house from the American Legion Hall would have been on Troy Street. And when he crossed Woodward, Troy would have been the closest street on the east side. Saratoga has that little jog to the south. Maybe he took Troy, or maybe he took Saratoga, a little further to the south.
Either way, Mark’s route took him either right past, or within a half-block of the Ferndale PD on Troy Street. Mark’s backyard was less than 75 yards from the Ferndale PD. If a Ferndale PD patrol went east on Troy for a five second drive , they would be within a snowball’s throw of Mark’s backyard. Ferndale was then, and is now, a small department. I doubt they had more than two patrol cars on the streets on duty that Sunday afternoon. If that.
A patrol car could be “out of district” for several minutes, or more, and no one would be the wiser.
It seems remarkable to me that Mark’s path home took him directly in front of either the Ferndale Fire Department on Livernois if he went directly to Saratoga, or within a sniff of (if not directly in front of!) the Ferndale PD on Troy Street. And yet, the kidnapping happened directly under the noses of one or both of these departments.
Call me a cynic, but I doubt it.
We know Mark’s kidnapping involved some kind of vehicle.
We know it’s extremely unlikely Mark would have willingly entered a vehicle driven by either creepy Chris Busch or Greg Green.
But Mark did get into some vehicle driven by someone, and that is an undeniable fact.
Officers in various districts know each other.
Cathy, I need you to make public whatever information you’ve got on that Berkley Police Officer who committed that suspicious “suicide” in his own patrol car in that church parking lot in 1977.
It may turn out to be nothing, but I really believe there is a chance the Stebbins’ case can crack this thing.
As always, you and your family have my deepest sympathies. What happened to your brother and the other little victims remains an unspeakable atrocity.
.
Paul, I am on the road so I don’t have access to my file on Berkley PD Officer Chris Flynn, who allegedly committed suicide in November 1978, just days before Chris Busch’s body was found on November 20, 1978 (another “suicide”). When I do get home, I will post what I know for a fact, as well as my suspicions. Just the yesterday one of my brothers and I were discussing (for the 100th time) how a cop had to have been involved in these cases. Here’s what I can tell you about Flynn just based on notes I have on my computer. Flynn had two gunshot wounds. Another officer’s gun was found in his car (two guns in car). As I have stated before, it would seem like someone trained to use a weapon would be able to get the job done with one bullet. I do not remember if I had information about whether his hands were tested for gunshot residue. Busch’s tests in this regard were “inconclusive.” According to someone close to him, Flynn “was screwed up” because when he was a Marine in Viet Nam, he lost eight comrades in a battle in a swamp and felt responsible. He was going through a divorce at the time.
Absolutely, the case cried out for somebody to go back to Square One–Mark’s abduction–and start working the case for real at that point many decades ago. You know the killers’ names are in that first batch of tips or reports. I believe this is being done now.
Here is another thing I can’t get out of my mind–Doug Wilson’s statement to the FBI two weeks or so after my brother’s murder. I have written about this as well, but here is a CAR DESIGNER who was hypnotized by the FBI at University of Michigan about what he saw the night my brother was abducted. His written statement included the following:
“On my way home from work I decided to stop at the supermarket and pick up some breakfast groceries (milk, eggs, etc.) for the following morning. As I pulled my new Alfetta GT into the parking lot, I immediately noticed a young boy on an orange skateboard. He was using the natural slope of the parking lot to build up speed as he headed down toward the market. At the last minute he would jump off the board and the board would continue on into the bricks of the building. Fearing that the flying skateboard might damage my new car, I decided to use one of the parking spaces farthest from the store.
After locking my car, I noticed the boy on the skateboard was talking to a young man by the side of the building. My immediate impression was of a father talking to his son. The young man was about 25-30 years old. He was wearing a plaid shirt jacket and jeans. He was also wearing a baseball cap over his shoulder length hair.
As I started walking towards the market entrance, I glanced at an older man sitting in a car. He had backed his car into the parking place now opposite my parking place, but closer to the building. He fixed his gaze on mine and continued to stare at me intently. There was something unnerving about this man and I remember thinking that he might be a car thief. He looked to be about 55-65 years of age. He had totally grey hair and looked about 20-30 pounds overweight. He had a very round face. As I walked by him I glanced back at his car and tried to commit his license to memory. The numbers were easy, three twos and I made up a quick phrase to try to remember the letters. Unfortunately, to this day, I cannot remember the phrase I used to remember the letter make-up of the license plate. The make of the car was a 1973 Pontiac Le Mans 2/door coupe. [This from a CAR DESIGNER.] I continued into the store where I did my shopping and came out about 15-20 minutes later. All three persons were gone: the boy, the young man, and the older man in the car.”
On the subject of the hypnosis, Wilson’s statement was as follows: “The hypnosis session was conducted at the University of Michigan campus. In attendance were the two agents, a sketch artist, and the psychiatrist who would hypnotize me. While under hypnosis I remember wondering if I was really hypnotized. I only remember feeling extremely relaxed, but still aware of what was around me. Or so I thought. It turns out that they already knew the make of the car. When the previous victim had been dropped off, the car had backed into a snow bank and left a perfect impression of the car’s rear bumper. As for the car’s license number, I could only remember the last three numbers: the three 2’s. For some reason the phrase I had made to remember the preceding 3 letters was not retrievable. To this day I still cannot remember it. I can only surmise that numbers are stored in a different part of the brain than the phrase would be. I was able to show the agents the exact spot on the wall where the boy’s skateboard had impacted the bricks of the supermarket building. They took small samples of the brick and discovered pieces of the orange neoprene material that the skateboard was made of.”
Yet this information was never provided to the public. How hard would it have been to find a 1973 LeMans with the numbers 222 in the plate sequence? This car with 222 on the plates had to have been owned by or accessible to someone the police wanted to keep under the radar for whatever reason. Another cop? Remember that a LeMans was seen on the shoulder of I-75 in the early morning hours nearby where Jill’s body was dumped. And the bumper impressions in the snow where Kristine’s body was found were determined to be that of a 1972 or 1973 LeMans with a trailer hitch pulled slightly to the left as if from a prior accident. And the MSP task force NEVER tells the public this information??? Misfeasance or malfeasance–four (or more) kids wind up abducted, tortured, murdered and dumped like garbage. Would it surprise me if Chris Flynn owned a LeMans? No, it would not. I will post what I have when I get my hands on that file. Unfortunately, it’s not much.
Cathy,
Thanks for your prompt reply.
Chris Flynn was the president (as of 1969) of the Berkley Police Officers Association, and was honored by the Berkley Jaycee’s as “Outstanding Young Man of the Year”.
“Officer Flynn was honored for his work in seeing that Berkley had a force of well trained men not restricted by outdated regulations. The annual award is the high point of the Jaycee’s efforts directed towards YOUTH ACTIVITIES LEADERSHIP TRAINING and community development.”
Hmm.
So Chris Flynn earned a reputation as a guy who was good at “youth activities leadership training.”
A couple of years earlier, 1967, he was one of the most vocal of the Berkley PD who felt they were seriously under-paid. I wonder how long it took for those old grievances to go away.
He was found shot to death in his own 1973 (Buick?) a few days before Chris Busch in 1978.
Your brother was told by some cop that Flynn’s name was one of first received by the OCCK task force.
Cathy, what was the nature of the occasion at the American Legion Hall that Sunday afternoon? Was it some sort of group that might have included Chris Flynn?
I didn’t know that a Pontiac or Buick was spotted near the drop point for Mark’s body. I did know about the LeMans near Jill and the snowy bumper LeMans impressions near Kristine. I did know a witness placed a LeMans near your brother behind the Hunter-Maple drug store.
If Flynn owned a LeMans, then I’d say this is about over. But in your post of February 9, 2013, you wrote he owned a 1973 Buick. How certain are you of that? I’m not suggesting you were wrong, merely wondering if the original documents might be re-examined.
There would seem to be the possibility that two men, one owning a 1970’s Buick, and the other owning a 1970’s Pontiac, were working together. If Flynn was one of these two men, as seems possible, then there must have been a connection to other people. The kids were held in somewhere for days without anyone realizing that what was going on. I know that the Busch family had that cottage up at a lake in Northern Michigan, and that Chris Busch was spotted with kids (boys?) in March of 1977.
But again, it seems improbable that Busch or Greene would have done the kidnapping off the streets of Ferndale. Someone else had to do that, someone with enough confidence and ability to make it look natural, even to Mark and the other kids themselves.
This person (Flynn, probably) had to be connected to Busch and Green somehow.
I can’t find a picture of Chris Flynn, and the on-line copies of the Catholic Central yearbooks from Troy, New York are no help. He’s not listed.
Cathy, is there any chance you can find a picture of Chris Flynn that even now may yet be shown to Doug Wilson?
How about FUCK YOU BOTH?! Cathy knows, as well as I do, there is NO evidence to implicate my father with these murders. There IS, however, evidence to suggest he was murdered by a cop who did. SHAME ON YOU CATHY for sensationalizing this rumor; especially after our correspondence.
AND, btw, my father did NOT serve in Vietnam.
Cathy,
How much evidence still remains intact from the Flint Police Department’s January,1977 search of Greg Green’s van? According to your post of March 11, 2013. the Flint PD discovered (among other things) two pairs of underwear belonging to young girls. The cases of Jill Robinson and Kristine Mihelich were less than one month old at the time of Green’s arrest.
The obvious starting point is to press for a DNA examination/ comparison for any link to either of those two victims on the underwear found in Green’s possession. If those garments have been properly stored and handled (a huge if) then a DNA test will show if Green was guilty as sin, and never mind the phonied up lie-detector results from the Roger Cabot and the MSP.
Remember, Jill’s sister, Alene Strole, said that she herself was approached by a creepy-looking guy on a pretext in the fall of 1976 (before Jill’s abduction), and that this guy resembled the infamous sketch of the suspect in your brother’s abduction. That’s no coincidence. How many guys who looked like that approaching kids along Woodward could there have been at that time?
To me, the mug shot of Greg Green with long hair resembles the infamous suspect sketches. Maybe not a perfect match, but close enough to make him a strong suspect, given his arrest record.
JIll was shot in the face with a shotgun. A sadist did that to make her suffer, because that was her greatest fear, according to her sister.
Green was a manipulative, psychotic evil monster. He could easily have done it to Jill. A simple DNA test will tell us if he was in contact with those two girls.
Green and Busch were linked.
Busch and North Fox Island were linked.
Busch was almost certainly an informant for the FBI and the MSP on North Fox Island.
Green was not.
Green tried to pin Mark Stebbins on Busch, but the MSP cleared both guys, so as not to reveal Busch’s status (and to CYA for themselves and the Bureau.)
Busch may have convinced his handler to let him remain free in March of 1977 while the investigation of the ringleaders of the North Fox Island continued. Greg Green may very well have been out at that moment, too. Doug Wilson may have seen Green in the Hunter-Maple parking lot. Obviously, there was yet another man, an older man, observing from the Pontiac LeMans.
Busch’s confession in front of Larry Wasser meant that Busch came in contact with your brother soon thereafter, if not right then in the parking lot.
Busch’s confession also sealed his own death warrant, as he could no longer be trusted to keep his mouth shut. He might reveal with whom he’d been working, after all!
If Chris Flynn was connected to these men, we don’t yet have the evidence. He is high on my suspect list as a procurer, a guy who could use his position and demeanor to persuade kids to hop into his vehicle. Flynn may not necessarily have realized just what exactly was going to happen to Mark Stebbins later at the hands of others. He couldn’t come forward without implicating himself.
Maybe he shot himself, or maybe somebody made sure he wasn’t going to talk about any connections he had to any confidential informants for other agencies.
So:
1. A DNA test is needed on the undergarments found in Greg Green’s van.
2. Greg Green’s picture (and Chris Flynn’s and Chris Busch’s picture) needs to be shown to Doug Wilson.
3. Pictures of Greg Green, Chris Busch, and Chris Flynn (and any other possible suspects, including John Hastings, although I doubt he was directly involved, but nothing should be ruled out) need to be shown to Alene Strole.
Finally, Cathy, can you post whatever you’ve got on the death of Jane Burgess? You’ve hinted that it may be mysterious, but I know nothing about it. If I’m right, and Busch was a CI for a powerful LE agency, then her days were very probably numbered.
Thanks for all you do, Cathy, and know that those of us who grew up in Birmingham then have not forgotten. This case matters to many, many people, and it must be solved.
It must.
Paul,
Yes, yes, yes. I don’t know who you are, nor do I know your reason for the level of interest, thought and research you have put into this case and your posts. I will just say we are on the same page. I have to preface what I am going to say with the fact that I used to know dates, name and answers off the top of my head. I thought, after having this shit unfold before me over the past 10 years like an unbelievable horror story, that I would never forget a detail. But, truth be told, eventually this started ruining my day-to-day life. I have done what I could, been taken advantage of, relied upon when it is not reasonable, and generally banged my head against a wall for so long that I can only hope that Karma takes over eventually. There is one cop I trust in all of this–apparently the new people on the team are working without the taint of the prior MSP task force and Oakland County law enforcement (most were not dirty, but I still believe a few are as dirty as they come, as was the FBI in this). I have no police powers. No one with any knowledge really talks to me in any detail because I have a blog and I am pissed off. Most of the police who worked this case had their hearts and souls in it and worked tirelessly and carry the burden today of the unresolved status of the case. But some of the suburban cops, those at the top of the MSP task force, at the Oakland County Prosecutors Office (then and now), are as shameful as they come. Somebody with a badge offed pedophiles they thought were involved in this case. People at the OCP and Oakland County judges (and those involved in other counties dealing with Frank Sheldon and similarly situated animals) back in the day sold their souls. So this is the ultimate recipe for the total lockdown on resolution of this case. Who is actually going to come forward? This case is the worst of the worst. That’s why fucking Arch Sloan and Vince (“Jimmy”) Gunnels will never spill the beans. That’s why spouses, siblings and friends of those involved who have knowledge will never come forward. How on Earth do you ever justify your silence? Kids DIED because you were all cowards. And because some cops thought they took care of business by offing people, the circle becomes complete. Who is going to talk?? They thought everything was handled and then Tim got abducted and murdered. You are right. Busch spills to Wasser and Burgess and they probably drop the dime on him. Then he has to go. So does Flynn. Green is stowed at Jackson and the cops aren’t listening to him anymore when he begs a Flint PD officer to come talk to him about the OCCK case after he lands in the Big House. Hey–he passed a polygraph and so did Busch. No wonder H. Lee Busch burned all of the family records in the twilight of his pathetic life. None of these assholes ever think or care that, decades later, people still hurt, no justice will ever happen, that their fucked up, cheap methods of dealing with this case victimize these four (0r more) kids over and over, every day, every week, every month, every year these cases remain open like a gaping hole. Only in Oakland County, Michigan. With that preface, I will next address your very valid points.
Do I think any evidence remains intact from the Flint PD’s January 1977 search of Greg Green’s van (namely, two pairs of young girls’ underwear)? Not only no, but hell no. If you knew the state of the OCCK evidence, some of which was used in their goddamn Post training, you would scream out loud. A very experienced cop described the task force in this case as a clusterfuck of idiots. Oakland County Medical Examiner Sillery was an incompetent and a drunk. This case never stood a chance.
Yes, Green with long hair and without the glasses IS the poster boy for these abductions, but who knows. Was anyone ever showed his photo? Again, hell no. There are so many people the current investigators have talked to who have said the same thing–NO, the “rejuvenated” MSP task force NEVER talked to me. Hey, let’s let sleeping dogs . . . die.
Sadist? You should read Greg Green’s record. The crime he did time for in a “mental” hospital in California for was as bad as they come. He strangled a boy, almost to death, after sodomizing him and then dumped him at a hospital. All Greg Green learned before he got paroled and returned to Flint, MI, was to make sure the next victim died. Did you know there were ligature marks on Mark Stebbins’ neck? That was how he was tied up; it was not his cause of death. Green was an animal. He and Busch were partners. Busch told the goddamn cops when questioned (and of course released) that he and Green had spoken about abducting a kid and taking alternate work shifts so they could watch the kid. WTF is the matter with these cops?! Oh right–H. Lee Busch, I forgot.
Did you know that Busch told one of his nephews (he molested one of his three nephews), while in the Hunter-Maple parking lot, pointing to a location: “That is right where Tim King was when he was taken.”
1. DNA test on undergarments in Green’s van–if this evidence still exists, I will run 12 marathons in 12 months.
2. Show photos of Greg Green, Chris Bush, Chris Flynn, John Hastings, as well as other suspects or names that have been mentioned in connection with the case, to Doug Wilson and Alene Strone–this would be too easy. Why bother?
3. Paul, I think Jane Burgess died of cancer in the early 1990’s. Again, I used to know this stuff off the top of my head, but her obituary can be found online. I will take this opportunity to state that when questioned in the past 6 years or so, when all of this shit floated to the surface, her husband Laurence Burgess, spoke very proudly of his deceased wife’s representation of Christopher Busch, said Busch had been to their cottage up north and had cooked them a wonderful meal. I bet the Burgesses didn’t let their buddy/client Chris Busch near their young son, who now practices with his dad in the Detroit area.
4. Finally, Berkley PD Officer Chris Flynn. I’m sorry, Paul, I don’t have specific details but will continue to look for the information I received about his suspicious suicide. It was unbelievable. Oh Berkley, you are so, so suspect in all of this. Your bullshit meant Kris dies and then Tim dies, too. Nice work. The kid who came forward with info about Berkley PD Officer Jim Cox being at the 7-11 around the time Kristine was abducted has been tortured then and now by Cox and retired officer Ray Anger, as well as other complicit Berkley PD cops. Cox and Anger are still alive. They made this man’s life a living hell. They messed with other people’s lives, too. Think the cops don’t pull this shit? Watch Making a Murderer on Netflix and judge for yourself. I have all the information, boys. Don’t deny it. You are old now, the game has changed, and a bunch of us have your number. No more crocodile tears or cop intimidation. What you did to that kid who came forward when you showed up at his school is so evil. And you never missed a chance to mess with him down the road. For that you can never be forgiven. You literally got away with murder and other lesser offenses that make me so sick. Whatever you did to put a lid on this should haunt you for the rest of your days and then some. Oh, and Officer Dave Piche? Yeah, buddy, we know what you are made of, too. In charge of the investigation back in the day, but you can’t remember Kristine Mihelich? Right, pal. Have kids? Grandkids? How do you live with yourself?
Cathy,
I am a 1979 graduate of Seaholm, and I was very slightly acquainted with your brother, Chris. I have five younger brothers and sisters, all Seaholm grads, and three of them were (within a very few months) just about the same ages as Mark, Jill and Kristine. I remember the spring of 1977 when I was a sophomore, and the shock and bewilderment and fear that gripped every Birmingham family then.
This case resonates with me, as it does for so many of us who were there then, because we know that only blind fate kept it from happening to us. It easily could have been us! Those monsters were targeting little kids the same exact ages as my brothers and sisters in the same exact neighborhoods! Only dumb luck spared us!
Cathy, none of us can truly know the horrors suffered by you and your family. But know that many of us realize that only the slenderest of threads separated our fate from yours.
Paul Jolliffe
Cathy,
It’s intriguing to me to re-read your comment above that Berkley PD officer Chris Flynn was a “screwed up” Viet Nam vet, suffering from PTSD, apparently.
This fits exactly with what mysterious caller “Allen” told Dr. Bruce Danto about the OCCK. Flynn didn’t do it all by himself, but we don’t yet know how, or if, he knew men such as Busch, Green, or Arch Sloan. One of Sloan’s unknown contacts came in contact with your brother and Mark Stebbins. DNA evidence on the hairs settles that. Gunnels was in contact with Kristine Mihelich at some point. DNA shows that. Green almost certainly had two pairs of underwear belonging to Jill Robinson and Kristine in his van. The Flint PD found those pairs. Gunnels knew both Busch and Green.
So, Green, Busch, Sloan and Gunnels – perhaps to a lesser extent – are guilty as sin. But, we don’t have the procurer – someone who could persuade kids to willingly get into a vehicle in a manner that would not raise undue suspicion to any passersby. Flynn, a police officer, fits the role. And, if he did suffer from PTSD from Viet Nam, then “Allen” knew what he was talking about.
But what was the connection between Flynn and those men?
Cathy, can you revisit the Bruce Danto saga again? Any hard info you have on Chris Flynn would be very helpful, especially the source of the PTSD material. If a Berkley cop was in regular illicit contact with an FBI informant (Busch), then no wonder the FBI watched Danto’s office like a hawk for a year to see if anyone showed up. The FBI wanted to know who knew about these relationships!
Paul, I am mired in tax prep but have added this to my to do list. I don’t have a lot of hard information on Chris Flynn, I know that. I spoke a few years ago with a man that as a young kid saw Kris Mihelich and a different Berkley cop at the 7-11 the afternoon she went missing. This cop and another one (who worked extensively on the task force until his relatively recent retirement) made this kid’s life a living hell and continued to do so every chance they could for YEARS afterward. The story would break your heart and make you hate cops. Seriously. (And don’t tell me this kid/now adult made this all up. It doesn’t work that way.) Berkley PD factors into this mess more than any other PD, one way or the other. That is one rock that has all kinds of nastiness and evil under it, if you ask me.
Cathy,
Here’s an odd tidbit:
According to Biblio.com, the author “Michael Parrott” (aka Bruce Danto?) followed up his 1980 novelization of the case with a July 1981 book titled “Pardonnez-moi Vos Offenses” – French for “forgive me for your sins”. “Forgive me for your sins”????? What???? As if the author is somehow responsible for the sins of the perp? Who else but a psychologist treating a criminal would pick that title? The cover illustration features a young boy running in obvious fear, dressed in an unzipped coat, as if it is cold/cool outside. “Parrott” chose a drawing which is impossible to be a coincidence.
Your speculation that Danto was Busch’s psychologist sounds plausible/persuasive to me. I never bought the whole “Bruce Lane” thing as a reason for Danto to interject himself into the case, but I didn’t realize until now that cover story was needed because he dared not reveal that he knew and was treating at least one of the principal actors.
Your citation of the passage where the two cops murder the suspect in a manner to look like suicide is so close to the actual scene of the Chris Busch (right down to the fact that within a month or so of Busch’s suicide, the OCCK task force actually did close down, due to “lack of funds”!!!!!) that only an insider could have written that scene. And when “Parrott” wrote those words in 1980, the public had no idea that Chris Busch had any conceivable connection to the case.
So, “Parrott” knew the Busch connection, knew the Busch “suicide” was staged, and was OK with that. He knew these things when no outsider could have.
Cathy, I want to read that book very carefully. There just might be even more in it. Do you have any idea how to get ahold of a copy?
Paul, someone sent me some information in the past two years or so that indicated Michael Parrott is who he says he is. Off the top of my head, I can’t recall what the information was. I have the book. Send me an email–catherine.broad@yahoo.com. For a real freaker, check out this work of fiction, written in 1976: http://www.amazon.com/Christovs-Testament-Yuri-Diakonov/dp/B000OLY44I/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459795060&sr=1-2&keywords=Christov's+Testament.
You can get a copy off of amazon as well ..
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/2070488306/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A23JLCBJJKE7AL
Cathy,
Here are a couple more things to ponder:
Did you know that the first name on the Fox Island Lighthouse Association (FILA) Board of Directors is Co-founder and President John McKinney, and he (from his picture) appears to be in his late 50’s, about the same age as John McKinney, Jr.? These may not be the same men, but If this is just a coincidence, it is striking. However, if it really is the same man, then I wonder why he has taken such a personal interest in the Fox Islands . . .
http://www.southfox.org/about.htm
Also, according the December 5, 1977 issue of People Magazine, Dr. Bruce Danto was a Deputy Sheriff in St. Clair County. In other words, he was part and parcel of law enforcement on a variety of levels. Whoever “Michael Parrott” really was, “Parrott” knew what Danto knew. If Danto was not “Parrott” ( a mighty big “if”), he was passing along information to “Parrott”, including reconstructing conversations between officers in the midst of staging a “suicide” for one of the suspects (Busch). Danto was the man to see to create a psychological profile of the OCCK.
As far as I can tell, the now-famous FBI psychological profile unit under the legendary John Douglas was not yet up and running in 1977 (ironically, Douglas had been with the Detroit FBI until 1977), so Danto would have been the best option then.