In the wake of my Dad’s death, and making good on a promise I made to him, I put together information for the newly elected Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. I enlisted the help of people I felt had a good feel for the OCCK case. I tried to summarize loose ends and to provide a perspective from my family’s side of this nightmare. We all felt it was very important to provide background information to counter the misinformation the new prosecutor would no doubt be subjected to by the MSP, the Oakland County sheriff, and members of her own staff.
I started by sending her (as well as AG Dana Nessel) Marney Keenan’s book The Snow Killings: Inside the Oakland County Child Killing Investigation, as well as hundreds of pages from retired Detective Cory William’s cogent and well-organized notes. I then sent this letter:
On January 10 I received a phone call from Prosecutor McDonald, acknowledging receipt of the materials and letter. She wanted time to go over everything and was not open to the Zoom meeting I had requested. I wanted the people I listed and described to be present because their viewpoints would round out an honest evaluation of this case and I would not just be viewed as some angry family member.
On January 26, 2021, I then sent this letter:
I realize that stepping into an office that has been mismanaged and worse for almost 50 years has got to be pretty overwhelming and that current caseload and demands obviously take precedence. I still think I was entitled to some kind of a response to my letters. Even just “we haven’t forgotten about this case, we trying to figure out a way forward.” I sent the following email on June 6.
No response. So here we sit, five months later. We certainly can’t have a victim’s family member steering the investigation, or making demands, right? Even though H. Lee Busch, father of prolific pedophile Chris Busch was able to do just that.
I have slowly learned more since I sent these letters in January. I would write them differently today. Perhaps the new prosecutor now has some sense of the real cancer in this case, which metastacized from the very office she now heads. It’s a problem, it’s systemic, and it’s not going away.
I stole this line from Marney Keenan, but we continue to look upon those charged with delivering justice in this case with grave mistrust. Just what part of perpetuating the silence makes sense here? https://catherinebroad.blog/2020/03/. Call me and tell me you won’t go there and why. I know, I’m not a constituent and my Dad is dead. What a relief that must be.