L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County prosecutor overseeing the OCCK era and then county executive for the rest of his life, told the community he never heard the name “Chris Busch” until 2008*. I am well-versed in the need for amnesia in this case and of the argument that a man this incredibly busy could never be expected to remember the following, from March 1, 1977:

A few points about this article from the Detroit Free Press:

1. It is dated March 1, 1977. Fifteen days later, my brother Tim will be abducted from the Hunter-Maple Pharmacy parking lot in Birmingham.
2. Busch is described as a “Birmingham man.” A number of readers have pointed out that back in 1977, Bloomfield Village had a Birmingham mailing address. Indeed, the court documents list Busch as living at 3310 Morningview Terrace, Birmingham, Michigan. Bloomfield Village is not Birmingham, as any resident of the Village would be swift to point out. But Google Morningview Terrace and 1509 Yorkshire in Birmingham, our family home, to see just how close they are.
3. “According to Prosecutor L. Brooks Patterson,” who somehow got tripped up enough to comment about Busch after February 1, 1977, he goes on to describe what his chief deputy Richard Thompson learned first hand in Flint in late January 1977–the details concerning the sexual assault by wealthy constituent H. Lee Busch’s son upon young boy in Oakland County.
4. “Busch’s arrest resulted from a [sic] Oakland County investigation into the kidnap-slaying of six county youngsters in the past 13 months.” Yes, there were more than a handful of dead kids and teens in Oakland County during this era, and this was before Tim was murdered. If you have read the tortured/amended/redacted versions of the tips and investigation into Greg Greene and Chris Busch, you would quickly realize that Oakland County didn’t do shit to investigate Greg Greene and Chris Busch for these crimes, and certainly not after Busch walked free.
5. “Busch has been cleared in all six of the slayings.” How the hell did that happen? Oh, right, the polygraph shuffle that was used to circumvent legit investigation. But remember, Busch was only polygraphed in the killing of Mark Stebbins (no questions about the abduction, any contact whatsoever, any sexual contact). That was an outrageous and untrue statement.
6. Typical of the reporting for that era (and of reporting under the thumb of LBP), there is no expounding on the “sex charges” in Genesee County. “One of three men”–we certainly were not going to be reminded of Busch’s pal Greg Greene, whose monstrous proclivities based on convictions in California, certainly looked similar to Mark Stebbin’s case. And then more mishmash–“Busch has been charged by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office on two counts of third degree criminal sexual conduct in the earlier cases.”

If you think LBP (or Richard Thompson or Larry Wasser) ever forgot the name BUSCH in the decades Patterson was the gate-keeper of all things Oakland County, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.