Wow. Just wow on so many levels.
Thank you to podcaster Nina Innsted (Already Gone podcast) for this article from the Lansing State Journal, September, 1977.
“PATTERSON PHONED NEWS ORGANIZATIONS MONDAY TO SAY THAT BERTHIAUME HAD TAKEN A LIE DETECTOR TEST AND WAS CONCLUSIVELY CLEARED OF ANY INVOLVEMENT IN THE STILL-UNSOLVED SERIES OF CHILD-ABDUCTION SLAYINGS IN THE DETROIT SUBURBS.” WTF, Brooksie?
Investigators better squeeze this POS defrocked priest, Gary Berthiaume now that he is back on his old stomping grounds in Michigan to face charges in yet another 1977 criminal sexual conduct against a minor case. He needs to divulge what he knew or heard about pedophile rings operating in Oakland County back in the day. Maybe he won’t be a dumbass like Lamborgine or Sloan. It’s not going to go well for you in the big house, padre. You might want to start talking and work your way into a solitary confinement/protective custody deal. Or maybe, like Lamborgine, “God has forgiven you.” Good luck with that.
Wow is right. Why call the media and rule out a suspect when no one is asking about said suspect in a different case??!
THINK ABOUT THIS: In 1975 there was a camp near Port Huron, MI, where the freak and pedophile Gerald Richards, working as a gym teacher at a St. Joseph’s Catholic School, brought boys for sex and pornographic images. By 1976 Richards was director of Brother Paul’s Mission on N. Fox Island–a nature camp for boys that in actuality was a torture chamber used by pedophiles. Richards used “Brother Paul’s” camps in Michigan for his child porn and trafficking kids to Fox Island. Richards WORKED AT A CATHOLIC SCHOOL.
Don’t forget, that as described in Marney Keenan’s book, then 29-year-old Richards was arrested on July 23, 1976 for raping a 10-year-old boy. This was six months after Mark Stebbins was abducted and murdered. The Snow Killings, p. 150. A year later, he was testifying before the House Judiciary Committee about sexual exploitation of children, and the many pedophiles cloaked with respectability as priests, counselors, camp officials, Scout leaders and Big Brothers. And “philanthropists” like Frank Shelden.
From a reader: Now that Fr. Gary Berthiaume is back in Michigan for additional 1977 child sex charges, a class action attorney who specializes in pedophile priests should run ads for kids who may have attended this summer “camp” in Port Huron. Boys and girls (girls were used as “bait”). More possible victims and witnesses. Gerald Richards minimized and lied in his testimony. These “camps” in Southern Michigan were hunting grounds for young victims. Berthiaume could have all kinds of connections to this sick world. He needs the squeeze. As the reader points out, it seems there is always a religious or fictitious “children in need” cover for this sick shit.
AND, LBP was made aware of Berthiaume and then made sure he was cleared very publicly. Picked up the phone and contacted news organizations to say after a polygraph, Berthiaume is absolutely cleared!! And this is reported in the Lansing State Journal, outside of the abusive reach of an Oakland County prosecutor. I agree with the reader that he was covering up for someone from the Catholic church.
Let’s not forget that this is the SECOND time Patterson boldly claims to the press that people were polygraphed in the OCCK case and “CLEARED.” In February 1977, a month before my brother Tim is abducted, Patterson tells the press Busch and Greene were polygraphed in late January and CLEARED of any involvement in the OCCK case. In September 1977 he pulls the same thing with Berthiaume. “Conclusively cleared.” That is an interesting approach for a prosecutor, even back in the day when polygraph was god. Not admissible into evidence, but good for quote to the press.
Well I wrote Dana Nessel on Twitter because she did make it public about bragging about the arrest. If you send loads of people calling and emailing her office to stop same old open and shut cases and actually start connecting the dots and taking down webs of pedophile rings. I mean you see this shit way too often. Oh let’s prosecute here but the buck stops at sentencing because god forbid they actually investigate and discover a larger scheme. You know Cathy I was also noticing just how common crimes almost identical to OCCK there are out there. Almost identical MO’S. You ever heard of the ABC killer? I mean seriously it’s mind boggling the FBI hasn’t created a task force to dissolve pedophile rings from info they already have and start partnering local agencies across the country to cases who share similar perp MO’S. I can think of almost 10 different unsolved cases across the country that are ironically similar and from similar years. If I am not mistaken the ABC killer was from 71-74. Maybe they are different perps but maybe they are connected some how. Who the hell does that you know. How many people abduct kids and murder them via strangulation all with in the same time frame. That can’t just be coincidence if you ask me. If it is something large scale would explain why Charles Bush asked for protection. Kinda weird how frequent that kinda crime reoccured in the 70s but hey what do I know I am not a detective
Here’s something kind of strange. At the lower right hand corner of the “pedophile flow chart,” there is a more minor hub “Charlevoix,” described as “the town that Frank built.” There are two circles denoted “Nels” and one “Nel’s witness.
This drawing, with a heading “Pedophelia and Pederasty Organized Network,” was entered into evidence at the House Judiciary Committee meeting in June 1977. The record reflects that it was prepared by Gerald Richards who by then was serving his light sentence in Jackson prison in Michigan, and who testified concerning the drawing. It is entered into the record.
This drawing is a goddamn roadmap that appears to have NEVER been followed up on. We know it is in the OCCK records at the MSP, because at page 62 of The Snow Killings, it is reproduced and descried as a “flow chart, drawn by a pedophile arrested in 1976 in the Cass Corridor,” and that it was from the Michigan State Police, courtesy Cory Williams.
You almost need a magnifying glass to read all the detail in this flow chart, but there it sat in MSP files for the OCCK case, and nobody does a damn thing with it when it could have made a difference back in the day. Fucking unbelievable.
But hey, what do I know, I’m not a detective either.
Handwritten notes from Gerald Richards are in the House record at page 81. They are annotations for the flow chart and are dated December 7, 1976. The notes start with “E” and go through “M.” There is no A-D. “M” describes “Nels” as F.S.’s [Frank Shelden’s} boy-lover in Charlevoix and that his father was Barry Weis. The rest is unintelligible.
Cathy:
What is the name of the priest or reverend that looks just like Doug Wilson’s description composite? I know you mentioned it months back and I couldn’t find it.
Thx
Looked at a fuzzy photo of Berthiaume sent to me by Nina Innsted; there is another photo of him accompanying an article about his crimes. Berthiaume looks similar to the composite. When the media covers these pedophiles, they need to get their hands on photos of them during the time they were raping kids. Other victims would come forward.
It would be interesting to find out if Berthiaume was polygraphed by Cabot.
I think it was big Chet who polygraphed Berthiaume. Need to find his last name. A rock star compared to Ralph.
What might be even more interesting is the question of whether the MSP shared its file on Berthiaume with the CID of the AG’s office.
Cathy: Two questions. Can you post the flow chart so it is easier to read? Do you know the address of Frank Sheldon’s condo in Ann Arbor?
I will try, Jay. The chart is not very readable in the House report either. Will see what I can do. I don’t have any addresses on Shelden—the MSP file on Shelden and N. Fox Island is pretty heavily redacted.
Jay, I printed the flow chart and accompanying notes from pages 80 and 81 of the Hearings before the Subcommittee on Crime, Session on Sexual Exploitation of Children (May 23, 25, June 10, and September 20, 1977) and that is more blurry and hard to read than the copy of the flow chart in Marney Keenan’s book at page 62. As I said, with a magnifying glass you can get most of it from the image in Marney’s book. When I get time I will try to recreate it and post it.
Thanks Cathy. I grew up in Ann Arbor and there were not too many condominiums back in the 70s. I recall one of the reports said it was on the river. I think that may be an error. I can only recall two condominium complexes then: Northbury and Earhart. My guess is he lived at Earhart.
There was a big write up on Shelden in the Sunday Detroit Free Press on December 28, 1975, when he was known only as wealthy, private investor, bachelor Renaissance man, not yet known as pedophile and investor in production of child pornography. I read the article on newspapers.com and could not glean anything about where he lived in Ann Arbor. He did complain to the reporter that he was being “crucified on taxes” by Leelanau County for his torture chamber island, N. Fox Island. Trust me, old man, you did not get the crucifixion you actually deserved.
I have the condo complex somewhere, I can dig that out. I had to know because my husband’s grandparents lived in an A2 condo from the mid 70s through the late 80s
Nina, let me know if the address happens to be on Greenhills Drive. Thank you.