Thanks to a reader for sending:
Despite the inability to prosecute, the victims need closure
A reader sent me this article about a serial killing, assaulting man with ties to Michigan dating back to 1979:
Ottawa County detectives believe this animal is responsible for the 1979 sexual assault of a 27-year-old woman in Holland, MI, and the 1989 abduction and attempted rape of a 6-year-old in that county. Detectives noted that DNA testing is advancing daily and investigators plan to retest, saying this freak remains the main suspect. “Despite the inability to prosecute [him], the victims need closure, and police continue to look at other Ottawa County cold cases to see if [he] is the culprit.”
The reader included this message: “Don’t ever give up hope. There are a few in prison who know the truth. All it takes is one honest person, with evidence, and the right anti-corruption investigators, to extrapolate the unweaving of the web.”
“Does the killer know how screwed-up we are in law enforcement or was that just luck?”
I recently wrote about a package I received from a woman who had cold called OCCK Task Force Commander Robert Robertson in 1993 to ask if he would share any insights or information to help her with a “pitch” she was making for a t.v. script based on the child killing cases.
At the end of the post I included a download of all the materials Robertson sent this woman. They are original documents. He had explained to the woman that he had many files from the case in his garage. Robertson included a “cover letter” of sorts–no salutation, no date. He ends with “I trust you will return this material when you have no use for it.” She never returned it and he never asked for it back.
He includes a transcription of his final tape recording for the OCCK file, with an explanation that he made many tapes covering many topics and had asked other task force members to put their thoughts on tape.
If you didn’t read the 10-page transcription of the final tape, consider it now. Rather than editorialize and provoke the predictable handful of readers who would go crazy over my cruelty and my cop-disdain, I will just say this thing speaks for itself in so many ways. As the man himself concludes, “Does the killer know how screwed-up we are in law enforcement, or was that just luck?”