This March it is clear that a virus is working as a Boomer Remover/Silent Generation Remover. Flippant, but apparently true. In the mid-1970s, it was kids and young teens being picked off in alarming numbers in Oakland County. Beautiful kids with all the potential in the world. Murdered. Jane Allen, Sheila Srock, Kimberly King, Mark Stebbins, Jill Robinson, Kristine Mihelich, Tim King (no relation to Kimberly). There were others before and after. Sheila’s murderer was caught, convicted and sent to prison. These other murders were never solved. No one clamored for answers. People just accepted this sad fact in Oakland County and moved on.
We have since learned that there were children victimized all over Michigan, not just in Oakland and Wayne Counties. Some never came home after being sexually victimized. Others were raped and abused and threatened with death (and death of family members) if they told anyone. Child pornography and pedophilia had a very deep hold in Michigan during this time. It still might.
Children were scared during the reign of the OCCK and we have discussed a time or two how the adults dropped the ball, big time. How Tim’s teacher and the principal of his school didn’t talk to his classmates, let alone the entire student body, about what happened to Tim and the loss they all felt. How counselors in the Birmingham School District had been instructed NOT to talk about this crime. Ignore it and it will go away. Sound familiar? Maybe if I add the phrase “like a miracle.”
Many readers have reached out to me over the past few years, here and by email, to describe the terror they experienced in the wake of these crimes. Quite a few had near-abduction attempts in Oakland County they still vividly remember. If you want to get a sense of what it was like for kids in Oakland County, Michigan during that era, read this poem written by a young girl after Tim was found dead. I found this poem in a very large box of condolence cards my Mom had saved. I may have shared Andrea’s poem before, but here it is again:
Here is another poem written by someone who was 6 and 7 years old in 1976 and 1977. After Tim’s body was found, parents had their kids wear whistles around their necks like necklaces. In an email accompanying this poem, the writer describes an incident where she and her sisters were chased by teenagers who got out of a car and ran them down, grabbing one of them briefly before jumping back in the car, laughing. This was after Tim’s murder, in the spring of 1977. Nothing like a group of friendly, Oakland County teenagers. An older version of the young boys who called our house numerous times when Tim was missing to ask to speak with Tim, then ask “well, where is he?” and then burst into laughter. Here is the poem:
I want to thank everyone who responded to my post yesterday–comments here, emails and texts. I appreciate it more than I can convey. I know how hard it is to respond in the face of so much grief. So thank you. No one even verged on the well-intended, bad advice I have received almost constantly ever since March 16, 1977. This writer captures the pain and difficulty really well:
Tomorrow I want to spend some time looking at and writing about why I agree with a reader who follows this case closely and suggested it may well be time (past time) to reach out to the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, to get someone outside of the MSP and the Detroit area FBI office to get some answers about why this case has been mishandled for decades. Perhaps their Child Exploitation Unit.
In the fall of 2018, the Inspector General’s Office launched an investigation into the FBI’s handling of sexual abuse allegations against USA Gymnastics Doctor, and Michigan State University’s own sexual predator and serial pedophile, Larry Nassar. https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/05/us/fbi-response-larry-nassar-claims/index.html. The FBI sat on complaints about Nassar and during this delay, this prolific pedophile and child pornographer was able to abuse 12-14 other young women. https://www.ocregister.com/2019/11/22/olympians-demand-justice-department-release-report-on-fbi-in-nassar-case/. As of December 2019, Michigan AG Dana Nessel’s office was investigating MSU’s role in this tragedy. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/24/sports/Larry-Nassar-investigation.html
In the OCCK investigation, as the reader noted there is much to be concerned about. For example, the Norberg bullshit–in 1999 the MSP uses the “latest” DNA testing on ONE hair and it takes a few years to get the results out to the public. In spite of constant DNA advancements, nothing gets retested for many years. Consider the MSP Oak Park Post–how many years has the evidence not been properly stored, preserved or catalogued? What evidence could be tested with current technology but is not? The call line is not being administered; how many thousands of people have not had any follow up at all regarding anything submitted/provided? In the face of this, and the low priority placed on this very cold case, how can be be sure that solid leads received after the airing of Children of the Snow (and the announcement of said tip line) are going to be carefully pursued in a timely fashion? The behavior of the FBI in this case is totally suspect as well, as evidenced by their treatment of the Doug Wilson information regarding the LeMans seen near Tim on March 16, 1977, the ditching of the work done to identify make and model of the car that left the bumper impression at Kris’s body drop site, and their lame excuse that no records exist due to a “catastrophic flood.”
I realize this case keeps falling to the very back of the line (what’s another year after you reach 40?), but I’ll tell you what another year is: Another year that one of the still-living freaks who participated in these crimes or someone who has knowledge can join the people who took this to their graves.
I have about 70 emails I have to respond to with regard to this blog and I owe a phone call to Dylan and copies to Dale. I haven’t forgotten. While “social distancing,” I hope to use some time to deal with this a little more. Maybe get down to 65 emails.
In the mean time, wash your hands bigly, social distance, don’t hoard shit or buy what you don’t need and try to be kind.