This Wednesday, February 13, 2019, WDIV-Detroit Local 4 will premiere a primetime special: “Child Killer” — and a five-part digital docuseries of the same name — that follows “the heartbreaking and riveting true-crime story” about Michigan’s Oakland County child killer case that is still unsolved 40-plus years later.
The “Child Killer” special airs at 10 p.m. this Wednesday. The digital docuseries, available on ClickOnDetroit at 11 p.m., chronicles this case from February 1976 to the present. It is said to feature never seen before video and interviews from the crime scenes. I am grateful for the exposure of these cases and the chance to get people talking for real about these crimes. I am hopeful there is accurate information and not a recitation of the myths and fabrications that line the entire sordid history of the Oakland County child killer case.
Thank you to a reader for sending me the information about the date and time this show and docuseries will air.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/oakland-county-child-killer/defenders-new-footage-uncovered-in-oakland-county-child-killer-case?__vfz=medium=sharebar&fbclid=IwAR3qRZuDencb5AbIwwJ1nWaBbjAYTZnvzcO2hlMGwwrRLfnur6lVoWcSeOA
Thank you, Kevin Dietz.
Any idea if/how we can watch if we’re not in Detroit?
Pretty sure you can access it on the WDIV-4 website after it airs. They had an interesting segment on tonight and it is online. Another tomorrow evening.
Is the 5 part digital docuseries the same as the 1 hour special just broken up into 5 parts?
I think they are two separate approaches/formats.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/oakland-county-child-killer/defenders-father-of-oakland-county-child-killer-victim-works-to-make-sure-case-is-never-forgotten
I emailed ClickOnDetroit to ask how we can see this program if we aren’t in Detroit. Nobody replied. Does anybody have the answer? Thanks
On the WDIV website = Watch the special at 10 p.m. on Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit. (Chicago P.D. will air at 3:02 a.m. and be available on NBC.com
Ok i hope the family reads this. I think all of them should consider 2nd opinions with exhuming of all victims especially Jill who’s murder was most definately different the the other 3. Back then botched autopsys were common in fact look at Christopher Busch’s autopsy which was a obvious botched autopsy. They say they checked all over these bodies but i am not convinced as dna forensics wasn’t not even reconized back then. I think because of the way Jill was killed they should definately check under her fingernails and examine the females more thoroughly because dna may have been left behind in a not a obvious way to mediocre undeveloped police forensics of the 1970s. Her killing seemed very personal. Reading archives she seemed as though she didn’t take crap from no one so she probably gave them a hard time. There have been scenarios where cold cases such as this families of deceased have been able to be exhumed. I understand preaercation of the corpses may be a problem but is not unordinary for corpses to mummify. I think the family should find the exact location busch stayed over seas and post this story over there as well to see if there may even be victims of murder or sexual assault overseas. I think the King family should publish their documentary “Decades of Deceit” on Youtube to build more influence. I also think they should archive all of the FOIA request and all documents they have they should and attempt to form a PDF and make these records available for free to the public in hopes people from this region would read them along with many retired forensic detectives who may be able to help. I would even consider having conversations with accomplish cold case detectives like the golden state killer detective. I doubt law enforcement or Oakland County will help but if there is any if at all unidentified DNA to upload the DNA to ancestry websites. That is the exact way they caught the golden state killer. I know the Busch family particularly the brother of Christopher Busch is alive and lives in Connecticut. It may be a long shot but maybe try talking them even if their story line is extremely vague or bias. I would encourage anyone who was close to Busch or Gunnels to speak up about their relations with these people even if it is not relevant as there may be hidden statements that help so much. The other obvious thing I would like to mention is this killers hours of operation were typically off of 12pm on weekends and for week days was Late afternoon if i remember correctly afternoons around 7:30 and very early mornings. Also the killer abducted 2 of the victims during christams/newyears vacation of 76-77. As for the police saying the suspect had a flexible job with ability to travel may have been inadequate becaude the times of abduction and crimes scenes were typically very early mornings or late afternoons with the exceptiin of weekends and holiday breaks which would show the individual/individuals involved could have easily been preoccupied monday-friday 5am-3pm or 7am to 3pm job/schooling. I also believe that because Tim kings body was still warm when he was found suggests to me he was murdered very close to the crime scene and may have been held captive close to that area so even if Busch did commit the murders he may have used a different location outside of his own to hide the children unless they were killed in his car. I wish this family the best of luck. I know this sounds extremely corrupt but if this were me i couldn’t help but to consider studying the guards who work at that prison Gunnels is at and pay them off to leave a tape recorder outside of or in his cell and have them look the other way while a giant “Bubba” beats the truth out of him and makes sure not to kill him in the process. All of what I am saying is hypotheticals and may cost countless hours of gathering things but at the same time I think in the end I think it would have such a huge reaction.
The Giant Bubba scenario is probably one that many of us have fantasized about, but of course…. Exhumations? If for the collection of DNA I am somewhat sure it doesn’t last for forty years but maybe I’m wrong.
Bottom line ain’t no kid going near that fat POS let’s face it damn if they let the people look at everything it be solved but the police and justice system don’t live in the same world as us folks
There was all kinds of publicity about a number of suspects over the years. Once the Busch lead came in, and with it exposure of how law enforcement conducts business in Oakland County and the exposure of the old guard culture at the Michigan State Police, they shut that shit down tight. Lid’s gonna start coming off tonight. They haven’t extinguished the Busch lead because no one has figured out why someone would kill him and want to frame him for the child killings and why they let H. Lee Busch keep all that stuff on the down low.
I used to be a professional movie critic. I will do the best I can to put AWAY the tendency to analyze what could have been better about this multi part series.
However I do want to point out that the Gremlin myth was mentioned AS A MYTH in depth but nothing whatsoever was brought out about what kind of vehicle WAS noticed and/or deemed important. I know LE decided to look out for one of those big boats, like a Bonneville. It was amazing to see in the old footage that those big crafts were just about everywhere then. I sure wish they’d talked about it in the film.
Another mysterious image is the one shown at least 8 times, of the youngish man with the long face and the long dark hair with long sideburns. He was 30ish at the oldest and could have been 20 or younger. But who is this supposed to be? They show the picture with absolutely no comment. Could it have been Lamborgine? His face might have looked like that in the 70s. It isn’t Busch. And it would have been instructive to know where LE got the sighting.
The first mention of the bodies being “scrupulously clean” came from Dick Haefner, the news director for WJR. He’s being interviewed in the here and now, isn’t he? So why isn’t it made clear that this was disinformation going back to the 70s? Later on there are more mentions about the “very clean” condition the bodies were in etc. At least Werner Spitz explains that he simply mentioned the word “clean” as a descriptive word and it got mythologized into something much bigger than intended. But I think LE officers themselves heard this at the time and misunderstood, thinking there was no material evidence to run down. And now we know there were hairs, fibers, dog hairs and I don’t know what all.
The above details may be useful to bring out should anyone be interviewed in the near future regarding these films and the cases.