In late March, a reader posted the following in a comment section of my blog:
Hello Catherine, I cant open the scans. I believe it was the Lemans. I am unsure if the creepo who tried to get me was driving one, but I remember double round headlights, though Im nearly sure it was a sun bleached green car.. I am desperate to get back the sketches, I gave one to Leuitenant Fox of Bloomfield Township, and also sent one to your dad, who must have forwarded to the state police, Both of them had the olive skinned guy with mirrored glasses, dark wavy hair and sideburns, with a long but not big nose, with the two dogs in the back seat of his car, the one being a white German Shepherd, the pother a hound. I was just now digging in boxes in my garage trying to find a copy. I cant find one, but can easily draw it againt. I have an old friend in the News undustry who I am meeting, hopefully tmrw. I was in hopes he might listen to my story as I think the White German Shepherd holds the key. I had posted the sketch online long before it came out that there were white dog hairs on the children. I had posted the scans on Dagners site and also I think on Lisa Life or something, maybe another OCCK blog
long ago, I had talked to some investigator that told me there were no dogs involved, He had called my house, and I wonder if he recorded the phone number in some log. I would love to help your family find closure, not sure if anything I saw pertains but I think it does. Scared the crap out of my young self as he tried to chase me for minutes with his dogs out and his car reversing down the two track. If anyone reading Catherines blog has seen or copied the sketches, please send copy back to me.
Peace to you and your family!
Two readers, who have helped me out a lot in the past, sent me what I believe are the sketches you are looking for, scanned above. I cannot imagine the terror of being chased by this man, his dogs let out of the car, and him reversing to try to get closer. Yet another of many incidents that reveal Oakland County as a pedophile hunting ground back in the day. Could you pick a better spot?! Kids felt safe coming and going and the cops rarely did jack shit if you reported being chased, or worse.
Note that this guy long ago talked to some OCCK investigator who told him “no dogs were involved.” How the fuck did he know?! And animal hairs WERE found on some of the kids. Also, the investigator called him at his home, the phone number presumably having been recorded in some log. Not many people received a return phone call in this investigation. And here’s a call back saying “NO DOGS.” The writer states himself that this incident/man may have nothing to do with the OCCK case. But the way he was treated certainly is relevant.
As one of the readers who sent this asked, whatever happened with the mtDNA testing of the animal hairs in this case? Especially because I believe those hairs were sent to animal DNA expert Dr. Joy Halverson, who has performed DNA testing of pet samples for 64 criminal investigations and testified as an expert witness in 13 criminal prosecutions. See her website: http://joyofdna.com/dr-joys-story-2/
We never heard back about that, one way or the other. And if the Michigan State Police manage to keep this case open for another 40 years, we will never know what was or was not done in this case. And it’s not like the media in Michigan have made any effort to file FOIA requests or that there is a court in Oakland County that has the balls to rule in response to a FOIA request that, enough is enough–your “open case” bullshit doesn’t work after 40 years. There is case law to support that outcome, but from what I’ve seen in this case, Oakland County courts don’t feel the need to cite or even refer to case law. The FBI (and not the local office in the Detroit area) should have taken over this case long ago. The MSP and Oakland County have too much to hide in their conduct of this investigation.
There is (or was!) plenty of DNA in this case, not just animal hairs. But if you drank the Kool Aid all these years, you think there was no evidence. Why do you think that is?
That sketch looks like Arch Sloan
Anybody know if that freak had dogs and what kind?
Could be a long shot, but didn’t dogs need licenses back in the day? I grew up in Flint in the 1980’s, my family was pretty lower-middle class, but we still had licenses for our dogs. That tells me that those laws were enforced and most people complied with them. There must be records of those applications somewhere.
Hi Catherine, Thanks alot. I will talk to my buddy about this. I do hope someday that you find closure. I cant imagine the loss and sadness and anger. Sincerely,
Thanks for another post. BTW, can’t anybody file a FOIA request?
I have to say, I was taken aback when I clicked and saw the sketches. Back in 69 I was walking home from high school in the blue light of dusk when I was stopped by a car rushing into a side street after I had stepped down from the curb. He asked me a question and I moved closer because I couldn’t hear him. Chalk it up to young naivete, because he whisked away a map he had in his lap to reveal…., guess what? I ran all the way home and I mean to tell you it was a wake up call.
Yes, anybody can make a FOIA request, but a big media outlet has the dough to pay for their outrageous redaction and copying costs. And their attorneys are well-versed in that area of the law.
Driving around with a lap map. So pathetic. What is wrong with these men?
Catherine,
A couple suggestions:
1. Could you ask any commentators who have personal memories of being approached by creeps back in the 1970’s to tell us precisely where it happened?
Your March commentator was pretty specific. I’ll bet he can tell us the street corner. There may be a discernible pattern, if we get enough other people with real memories of these incidents. If you are reading this, bitamoney, would you please tell us where that happened back in 1969, if you remember? Or, any other details such as the day of the week, which way did the car come from and which way did it go, etc.
Nothing may come of this, but I think there is still a chance to learn more.
2. Obviously, the Pontiac LeMans should have been a suspicious vehicle for the task force. But it wasn’t ever publicized, instead it was ignored despite real evidence of one being used in at least three of the four OCCK cases. The fact that the infamous AMC Blue Gremlin was trumpeted had to have been deliberate.
It appears the LeMans was a sensitive vehicle – someone had it, and that someone was important to law enforcement. Important enough that law enforcement wanted to conceal their existence by hiding their car.What exactly did Arch Sloan own or drive back in 1976/77?
3. Alene Strole, Jill Robinson’s sister, is on record in an interview stating that she herself was approached by a “creep” in September of 1976, about three months before her sister. Strole said that the infamous suspect sketches after Tim’s kidnapping and murder resembled the man who approached her.
Here is her description of the suspect:
“He looked like Freddie Prinze, maybe not Mexican. He was probably a whit guy, but he was darker. He was creepy. He probably staked out the neighborhood (Royal Oak).”
Can someone put the above picture of Arch Sloan (plus pictures of a clean shaven Greg Green, and bearded Chris Busch) in front of Alene Strole and tell us what she says? Can she identify any of these men as suspects who approached her?
http://www.leelanaunews.com/news/2014-03-06/Front_Page/37_years_No_answers.html
Before I respond to Paul, here is a comment from a reader who was having trouble logging on to comment:
Hi Fremont;
Very impressive sketch BTW. I’m glad someone found it for you. I recall this on Helen’s website years ago. Anyway, I was always curious that in your sketch it appears to be a mark on the person’s left cheek. Do you remember this specifically from your memory? Perhaps a mole? This may be the most important feature for identity. Looking at the other more recent photos of Arch Sloan, some appear to show a similar mark on his left cheek as well while others don’t reveal anything like that. Perhaps this detail is in the police records somewhere? Also in your drawing it seems to be a mark on the lip or was this a smudge in the drawing? Curious if this detail was intentional from your memory? Do you remember from memory what that might be? Injury maybe? Maybe this person injured themselves some way before hunting you down? Please be more descriptive if you can as this is very interesting.
Anonymous
OMG.. so scary..
Sent from my iPhone
>
Paul, yes I will post asking readers and those who have commented if they would be willing to post any details they recall about being approached as kids by creeps in Oakland County. I think a lot of people reached out to police and assumed their information was acted upon, but this is not a valid assumption. In the wake of Tim’s murder, police reached out to schools with a questionnaire for kids between fourth and eighth grade. Called “Operation Lure,” the inquiry revealed some 600 previously unreported incidents of abduction attempts in Oakland County. In addition, 1,700 child molestation reports filed with metro police were submitted to the task force. This was reported in the Sunday Detroit News on May 29, 1977. So the problem there was massive. And check this out, from the same article–in April 1977, AFTER Tim’s murder, a 10-year-old boy in Royal Oak was riding his bike a few blocks of Woodward Avenue when a dark-colored car slowly turned a corner, very close to the boy on the bike. A middle-aged man stopped the car, got out and asked if the boy was ok and then said “We’ve just had an accident. Your bike hit my car. You better come with me. We’ll go to the police station. We have to report this accident to the police.” Thank god this kid ran off. So there you have it; that’s how these freaks roll. That shit was still going on, not two weeks after my brother was buried.
How did the task force deal with the 600 questionnaires and the 1,700 child molestation files? Your guess is as good as mine.
The LeMans. Must have been sensitive information, because remember that witness Doug Wilson was hypnotized and interrogated at length about the LeMans he saw in the parking lot where my brother was skateboarding. They told Wilson they were going to keep it quiet because they “didn’t want to alert” the owner of the LeMans. Law enforcement cannot get around how this information, as well as other information about the involvement of a LeMans in Jill and Kris’s cases, was handled.
The dogged focus on the Gremlin in the face of lots of contrary information is completely suspect, in my opinion. I read a really interesting Washington Post article about the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, in which an aviation expert pointed out the possibility of “complicity to a crime” if the Australian Transportation Safety Board continued to cling to their version of events when they had knowledge to the contrary about the crash, and that the Australian government was remiss in not pressuring the ATSB to listen and act upon professional advice from the aviation community. “MH370 experts think they’ve finally solved the mystery of the doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight,” Washington Post, May 15, 2018. I think there are some parallels with the knowledge by law enforcement that a LeMans was most certainly involved in these crimes, and a Gremlin most likely was not.
Sloan was the owner of a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville, according to the press reports. The evidence referred to in FOIA documents listed “Pontiac debris,” but no other detail.
The 1966 Pontiac Bonneville and the 1966 Pontiac LeMans look very similar to me. However, by 1972 there are noticeable differences – see the rear view pictures:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1972_Pontiac_Lemans_Rear.JPG
https://www.flickr.com/photos/carphotosbyrichard/3883385602
I was approached twice when I was a child ,at slightly later dates than you mentioned.
81/82
My parents let me walk to a friends house near Pierce street , north of 12 mile rd in Southfield.I was approached as I walked down the sidewalk by a white man with brown hair and facial hair , driving a light brown coupe . As he approached, I was on the passenger side of the car and he rolled down the passenger side window and asked me for directions.
I told him I don’t know but he persisted and asked me to come to the door , at which point I walked off and he headed down Pierce st towards 13 mile.
82/83
My father took me along with him to a clients house east of Woodward , south of where 696 is. I was acting up so he gave me some change and let me walk to the store and buy candy. On my way back turning from Woodward to the residential street , a man in a car stopped at Woodward waiting to turn right saw me and literally lost his shit , put the car in park and ran out trying to grab me with the most depraved ,animalistic look on his face . I took off running and did not look back.
Thank you.
It was 1977, winter, I don’t know which month, but I was well aware of the OCCK. I was walking home from school, in Clawson. I was alone for some unknown reason, something that didn’t happen often anymore and I had just turned down School St. headed towards Main St. from Custer. I was maybe 4 houses from that corner, when a medium sized blue car pulled up behind me. Shape resembled LeMans above, as I recall. As I wet my pants in fear, he pulled up closer, and I started walking faster, and I remember acting like I was walking up to a house, and as he moved forward a little, I walked to next house, etc. He slowed, and followed, and this happened for a few houses, until a family friend pulled up behind him, saw what was happening, and chased him into Detroit. We called the police, they came, but I was so scared, that’s all I could remember. I couldn’t remember what the guy looked like. All the advice I had been told many times to do, such as run, go to a house and just go in, etc, went right out the door with my fear. I don’t know how helpful this would be, but since it was suggested above, here it is.