Thanks to a reader for this information about tonight’s virtual book talk with Marney Keenan, author of The Snow Killings: Inside the Oakland County Child Killer Investigation:
In case you were not aware, the Troy Public Library is having a program tonight (01/13/2021 @ 7PM). Here is the info:
The Snow Killings: Inside the Oakland County Child Killer Investigation
Written by award-winning veteran Detroit News journalist Marney Rich Keenan, The Snow Killings takes readers inside one of the country’s oldest unsolved serial child murder cases, which terrorized southeast Michigan in the late 1970’s. Join her for a look at the case through the eyes of the lead detective on the case, and the family that cracked it open.
Looks like a large amount of patrons have signed up for this ZOOM event.
You can still sign up: https://troypl.librarycalendar.com/events/snow-killings-inside-oakland-county-child-killer-investigation.
You do not understand what happened in this case if you have not read this book. Get in on the discussion so you can understand what happens in communities that ignore the most vulnerable and cater to the wealthy. And what happens when law enforcement agencies decide to “handle” things by acting unethically, immorally and illegally. And what happens when you don’t pay attention to who you vote for.
Marney Keenan’s blog about The Snow Killings can be found at https://www.marneyrichkeenan.com/.
A reminder that the FOIA documents my Dad paid $11,000-plus for are on my blog (posted starting in April 2019). You will have to wade through them, just like the rest of us. Some good samaritans are discussing a searchable database for this case. Someone has put an incredible amount of time into a timeline which will also be very helpful. A timeline the police should have put together back when they were allegedly “computerizing” this case.
This case isn’t going away. Read Marney Keenan’s book. People have come forward in the wake of her book and the documentary Children of the Snow. Speak up, for god’s sake.
Something that jumped out at me while reading Marney’s book is that Tim King was at Hunter Maple parking lot earlier in the afternoon of 3/16 ( with friends) skateboarding after school. Was anyone suspicious spotted in the parking lot at that time? Could Tim and/or friends or other kids could’ve had a conversation with the suspect earlier in the day? Something like ‘hey your skate board is awesome – I’d like to buy it for $100 ( or whatever) – think about it and I’ll come back later tonight with the money’ type of thing. I’m sure detectives would’ve looked into this but didn’t see anything in any books or articles about it.
Amcmurf – One of the boys with Tim that afternoon was interviewed by police a few times. A reporter showed up to Adams school the day after Tim went missing – on the playground. The principal made all the kids come inside and not talk to him but that was before he was interviewed by police. I also know a tip was phoned in about a suspicious man at HM and the Poppleton area on March 17 (I believe) and was among those “accidentally erased” as no one ever got back about the tip.
The only thing you can be sure of in this case: You can’t be sure detectives from these suburban police departments or the MSP did anything you would assume they would have done. There were remarkable lapses in this case given the nature of the crimes and the usually rigid law enforcement practices of even the most lax suburban PD and the MSP. Remember, Birmingham PD LOST THE TAPES OF THE INITIAL CALLS ABOUT TIM KING’S DISAPPEARANCE. You know, the “most important information” that comes in during the first 72 hours? Yeah, that. They “accidentally” lost those tips. The dog ate them.
Ask yourself why the MSP and the OCP have always played their hand like there is no way in hell anybody’s getting busted for public corruption. Silence, denial and complicity are all signs of cowardice. Your tax dollars at work.
Was that a missed opportunity? Sounds like it- These guys had to be trying this crap with multiple kids – they couldn’t have been sure who they could get alone to push into the car ( or however they did it) without creating a scene. I remember being at a skating park with my sister and a guy comes up telling her she could model, he’s a photographer with the Detroit News blah blah would she come over into the good light ( by his car) so he could get a good shot and she ll be in the papers tomorrow. What 11-12 yr old girl doesn’t fall for that no matter how smart? Luckily my uncle came up just then cuz we were out of sight of our group. With Tim and the lure to boys – would’ve been something to do with skateboard or baseball and it being worth $$ or I’d like to buy it for my son’. Guy shows up multiple times and kids get a feeling – he must be ok – he lives in the neighborhood – type of thing.
There was a kid who was approached in that very same parking lot on March 15, 1977, the day before Tim was abducted. We all went in and out the back entrance of Hunter-Maple all the time. Shorter distance from Knox Street, the route we took from Yorkshire.
This kid did not tell his parents about it for some time, but it was within weeks of Tim’s abduction and then they went to police. Did anyone show this boy the composite drawings? Did anyone ever circle back to him?That seems like a bigger deal than the Gremlin lead.
A man was seen in a parked car watching kids play after school at Adams School on the day Tim was abducted. Adams School, Poppleton Park, Hunter-Maple Pharmacy–all right there and full of kids on a nice day.
Pedophile Ted Lamborgine frequented ” “Monahan’s Beef Buffet” which was part of that little shopping complex back in 1977. Turns out there were a ton of creeps rolling around Birmingham and Bloomfield.
But as far as any of us knew, it was just one crazed sociopath somewhere in Oakland County. So many missed opportunities. And then corruption heaped on top.
Wow! Just wow…. how could they only have interviewed one kid? seems like that should just be common sense – they creeps HAD to have approached many kids – no way they would’ve got a kid alone in the first try- and maybe they even became known to some kids as ‘regulars’ – who ‘shopped’ in the area – liked to watch skateboarding and talk about skateboards – very likely. Could there be a ‘kid’ from that era who could come forward today?
Wow! Just wow…. how did these creeps move about so boldly and seemingly take such risks? Did they feel suburban cops didn’t have a grasp on all the pedophilia that was going on ? how could they only have interviewed one kid? seems like that should just be common sense – the creeps HAD to have approached many kids – no way they would’ve got a kid alone in the first try- and maybe they even became known to some kids as ‘regulars’ – who ‘shopped’ in the area – liked to watch skateboarding and talk about skateboards – very likely. Could there be a ‘kid’ from that era who could come forward today?
I really hate to put people on the spot but I feel someone needs to. If someone is signed up for this thing tonight. Would they please verify if Marney was the one that claimed Hastings passed his polygraph and was cleared from it and if so, where did she get this information from. Tell her some of Cathy’s readers would like to know as it’s being discussed over here. Seems like there is so much wrong information that is passed around on this case. My guess now is maybe it’s old information from Don Studt and his Alpena excursion although that investigation should be completely discarded by now.
I agree, let me try to make this as clear as I can (from my perspective). Marney’s book was published in July 2020. I posted all of the FOIA documents I had in this case beginning in April 2020. In September 2020 I posted the following:
https://catherinebroad.blog/2020/09/12/does-this-sound-like-someone-who-passed-a-polygraph/
Prior to April 2020, I provided some copies of Hastings-related FOIA documents to two people who have always maintained Hastings was involved. One of them caught what none of us had–the document called “BLK 02868” discussing John’s polygraph, administered in Atlanta August 2009. That is some very damning information. AND IT FUCKING GETS BURIED. Another reader who is on top of this, highlighted these disturbing conclusions in an email to me in September of this year. Then I posted about it, see above.
I am going to post all of the related pages from the FOIA documents concerning the 2009 Hastings polygraph later today. Suffice it to say that god only knows what the GBI thought when the MSP (who at that point was the only agency working the case) didn’t get back to them about Hastings’ difficult day in polygraph world. But the MSP BURIED THIS and I missed this entry in the 3400 pages. Remember, the MSP FOIA response had sets of “Hastings information” at various points in the response. This page appeared only once. The 1992 information was included at least three times. It is awesome that the MSPs attempts to pad the bill on this FOIA response included this clear, glaring error in not redacting the very considered opinion of the GBI regarding this suspect. And while Hastings’ name is redacted, it is in a section of documents with a handwritten cover sheet saying “JOHN HASTINGS.”
And please keep in mind that since the release of Marney’s book, people have come forward with information. Information about pedophile cop Richard McNamee, terribly disturbing information about sex offenders in Oakland County, and information about John Hastings–child hunter, as well as the information about Everell E. Fisher, Jr. The cracks in this investigation just keep getting bigger and bigger.
Cory Williams gets the boot from the “task force” and Garry Gray and Dave Robertson file this 2009 shit on Hastings and nobody’s the wiser. No more action on Hastings; surely he passed the poly.
THE SPOTLIGHT SHOULD BE ON THE MSP. And the 1992 investigation of Hastings by Don Studt–there is some interesting shit in those documents, but it all reeks. They almost lost control of the narrative in 1992. Somebody pulled Studt off of this investigation or told him to make it go away. Anyone with half a brain would have figured out that Hastings lived right around the corner from Busch. Too close for comfort. So Studt went back to his job of being “the handler” of our family. Another betrayal.
Let’s not forget, with all the finger-pointing, that it is the MSP, THE OCP AND LOCAL PDS who screwed the pooch here. The rest of us just absorb shrapnel while trying to get some semblance of the truth in this case.
Very well explained and put into perspective. My comment stems from someone on here that was on a previous book discussion with her from late last year. This person posted on here that someone asked about Hastings as a suspect and she responded that he passed his poly and was no longer a suspect. Maybe by now she has been informed anyway. Thanks.
Is that the excursion where they claimed to have interviewed Big Boy employees concerning Helen Dagner and Hastings meetings? They never really did that, though, right? Another fabrication.
That was the 1992 investigation of Hastings in Alpena, MI, by Birmingham PD.
Marney was asked last night about Hastings’ Georgia polygraph and Duncan’s impressions of Hastings’ involvement as reported on that FOIA page “BLK 02868”. It sounds like she hasn’t seen the document. She said she heard there is recent discussion about it on this blog and that she is eager to learn more.
Anon;
Thanks so much!. That is all I’m after is for her to be at least aware of this. She has a huge influence out there and maybe can have impact on where this case goes next. Her uncovering the Doug Wilson sketches and how much the one matches Hastings is also very convincing.
Cathy,
I am happy to hear that there are people working on a searchable database and constructing a new timeline with info on this case that has come up over the years.
If done, I really think this could give an extra boost to this case and to people researching & learning about the case, by helping to consolidate the mass amount of info that has been found over the years. King of a “one stop shop” in a way where you have everything there and accessible to look at. I think it will help shake peoples memories even more and help get more info to come out.
Looking forward to seeing this come about. Could be bigger than some people might think.
Thanks Cathy, I signed up for Marney’s Virtual Book webinar tonight at the Troy Library and it was very interesting. She really is great! I was wondering if the police have any DNA from Everell Fisher?
Thank you,
Jeremy
Glad you got on, Jeremy. It helps to hear it from Marney’s perspective. Her book is fact-filled and she is beyond reproach. Fisher allegedly died in 1989 in Charleston, SC. He was “cleared” on all four tips called in on him in 1977. No one would have circled back to this “very low priority tip” on someone with big dough to get his DNA.
Marney’s slide presentation and the discussion last night was very informative. One of the things I was wondering about was that The abduction of Kristine seems a little different from the other children. I’m wondering if investigators think it was done by person(s) different than those who abducted the other 3 children. For one thing, it was broad daylight (altho I know Mark Stebbins was also daytime) that area – at 12 mile and Oak shire is so close and full of shops and parking, people walking, homes not far, it seems almost impossible that someone would not have seen. I have a relative who lives near that 7-11 today , so I’m there quite often. It’s such a busy compact, area. It almost makes me think she had to go willingly – Any kind of a struggle would’ve been noticed. Then the fact that she was kept for so long- 19 days & the Gunnels hair just found on her- not found on anyone else. I’m wondering did the Gunnels ( Vince and/ or Paul ) ever hang out at the bowling alley? Could Kristine have known or met them? What about the teenage kid she stopped by the bowling alley to see? Could he have known Gunnels or the others?
Also I’m curious if there was ever any evidence or discussion of the kids being drugged in any way? I hope not, for their sake but that would have made them easier for those creeps to control (and explains how they might’ve been able to keep them quiet ?)