Take a listen to the latest episode(s) of a new podcast about the OCCK case. Start at the beginning if you are new to the series.
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy80MzM0ZjFhMC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==
I am always struck by the observations of people of all ages and from all over the country and the world about this case. How on earth did Oakland County and the Michigan State Police control their dirty narrative for all these decades and how are they still able to remain mute in the face of evidence and questions that should be addressed publicly once and for all? How are the state police allowed to talk out of both sides of their mouths: The case is open, so we won’t comment or respond to FOIA requests, yet we continue to lose evidence in this still-open case? How is it that every prosecutor since L. Brooks Patterson has looked the other way and wiped their hands of this case, thereby supporting and perpetuating the removal of Brooksie’s “fingerprints” from this case and thereby joining the ranks of the complicit?
A reader wrote me and asked “Let’s say the actual killer is found. Then what?” Then people at the MSP and the OCP have to do their jobs; investigate all of the connections to this person/persons, why he/they were dismissed or overlooked as a suspect, determine who knew and kept quiet, who was complicit, determine if there was any obstruction of justice and whether any money exchanged hands, ask for any living victims to come forward, charge and try anyone still living, and explain all of this to the public. Oh yeah, and admit to errors, omissions and perhaps much worse. That’s for starters. Now that Det. Williams is retired can you think of anyone who would deal with any of this? They are too busy covering their asses and the asses of their predecessors to speak/work on behalf of the dead kids who can’t speak for themselves.
I suspect it is very likely they know who and where the killer is.
If it’s still an open case. Does that mean someone is still getting paid to investigate it? Need to make a sequel to Children of the Snow call it OCCK Don’t Ever Ask Questions and really put the spot lights on this case and put the fire under some people’s ass!
I propose a FOIA request asking how much money is spent monthly on the open and ongoing OCCK investigation but I’m sure it would cost a fortune to calculate all those hours and dollars.
Having grown up around this case, I am sad to say that I think part of the reason this case was not scrutinized and pushed by the general public is the subject matter. The sexual abuse of children – boys in particular is not something that people wanted to deal with, hear about or have their children hear about – although all of us kids knew what happened, I don’t think we knew it happened to boys. As a 12 year old girl back then, I knew girls and women could get raped and we had to be careful – we had men harassing us on the street when our basketball team jogged outside. It’s just something girls grew up with. For boys, I think it was swept under the rug and considered shameful back then. I think I’m today’s world with the ‘me too’ movement and less shame on victims – it would be handled differently. I don’t think this was necessarily unique to Oakland county – I think had this happened in Chicago, Atlanta, anywhere in mid America or the south – it probably would have been the same- sweep it under the rug, cover it up. Maybe in California they were more progressive but, in general, sexual assault of boys and men was not discussed openly. We have come a long way but still a long way to go. Just my opinion.
Most definitely denial and aversion played parts here. I take a darker view of Oakland County, however. As discussed in Nina Innsted’s recent podcast episode, two teenage girls were brutally murdered in Oakland County in early 1976 before Mark Stebbins was murdered. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-babysitter-murders/id1109927634?i=1000519637590. A third girl, Jane Allen, was abducted from Oakland County and found murdered in Ohio during the summer of 1976. I believe this presented a real problem for a guy like OC Prosecutor Brooks Patterson, whose entire mojo was built around how crime-free and awesome life was north of 8 Mile Road. Then Jill Robinson is abducted and murdered in December 1976. When Kristine Mihelich is then murdered in January after being held captive for 19 days, Patterson needs to manage the narrative heavily. I would bet my life that man went to bird-of-a-feather, medical examiner “Dr.” Robert Sillery, to make sure nothing was mentioned about sexual assault in Kristine’s case. The fact of the sexual assault on Mark Stebbins was already known and his body was first examined by a Southfield police officer before being taken to the Oakland County ME. Tim King’s autopsy was conducted by Dr. Werner Spitz in Wayne County, so that information could not be “managed.”
That there was a real, almost psychological, need to downplay what must have taken place during the captivity of these children (a combined total of over 30 days), it is now 2021. Plenty of other jurisdictions have done the hard work and been honest with the public about what did or must have taken place in similar crimes. Looking away or making excuses is no longer justified. Pacifying residents of Oakland County and managing “panic” might have been an explanation back then but no longer. And if, by staying silent and looking away, this enabled the crimes and the investigation to be covered-up, forgotten and relegated to “too bad, so sad,” then this needs to be revealed so it never happens again.
Agree – it was definitely ‘look the other way’ by the powers that be and the general public back then. Combine that with L. Brooks’s need to be a ‘top 1% county’ and you’ve got the cover up. Still I think the general public – I mean the parents and adults back then – well leaning as most of them were ( & I include my parents and friends’ parents, Aunts & Uncles wanted to believe this was some diabolical genius who acted alone rather than face facts that there were many men . Some very powerful and well connected – involved in such sordid behaviors. They just didn’t want to know.