Close up photo of the sketch on Busch’s bedroom wall and view of placement, above and to the left of record player;
A reader asked a few important questions about the pencil sketch of the screaming boy found on prolific pedophile Chris Busch’s bedroom wall at his “suicide” scene. Was it the actual drawing or a copy of the original? Was it ever tested for fingerprints? Is it still in evidence with the state police?
While there are at least 10-15 listings of evidence as simply manilla envelopes in plastic bags (no further description) and two manilla envelopes described as “original packaging/empty,” there appears to be no specific listing for this sketch as evidence in this case. There is evidence listed as having come from the 2008 search of the old Busch residence, but nothing listed from the “suicide” scene.
This is very interesting because lab scientist David Metzger specifically writes about removing a box from an evidence locker containing “a drawing of a child in a parka and numerous ropes and cordage.” As you can see in the document below, Metzger simply notes that because no ropes or cordage were recovered from the OCCK victims, no comparison could be made. “The ropes will be retained in the event future comparison with other possible uses becomes necessary.” No mention of any analysis of the drawing which sounds like the original as you would think (I know it’s asking a lot) Metzger would have described it as a photocopy of a drawing.
As Metzger avers in his affidavit dated 4/7/2012, the OCCK cases were very much on his mind at the time he examined the ropes because he was called to the scene of my brother’s body dump to help process the crime scene. Despite the failure to mention any examination whatsoever of the ropes for blood, hair, fibers or other evidence in his contemporaneous report of January 1, 1979, when the OCCK cases were very much on his mind, his affidavit some 33 years later lists more detail:
See also, https://catherinebroad.blog/2018/05/11/david-metzger-forensic-laboratory-scientist/
Bloomfield Township PD Officer J. L. Speicher prepared a handwritten Crime Scene Investigation Report prepared on 11/20/1978, the date Busch’s body was found. Among the evidence listed as taken to the police station for further investigation were “a drawing and some miscellaneous papers.”
We know that at least the ropes and the drawing made it into the box Metzger received from I.D. Technician Paul Brabant on 12/12/1978 (see Metzger report dated 1/11/1979 above). Interestingly, in his “Return of Lab. Services Requested,” dated 2/13/1979, there is no mention of the drawing or miscellaneous papers.
At some point in 2009, two of Busch’s nephews are interviewed about Uncle Chris. First the older of the two is interviewed. He later contacted the MSP saying he would agree to be reinterviewed and that his younger brother wanted to speak with police as well.
I have not been able to locate the initial interview of the older nephew, but I have scanned his second interview and the interview with the younger nephew. Many people have read these in the FOIA documents I posted a few years ago.
Read them and see what you think about the drawing on Uncle Chris’ bedroom wall. You know, the one that was apparently never tested for fingerprints and is apparently gone?
By the way, the MSP did polygraph the nephew who claimed his Uncle Chris took him to a location in Birmingham and physically pointed to where one of the victims was taken. The results of the MSP polygraph voodoo are of course redacted:
I know there are a lot of “anybody but Busch and Greene”s out there. And I am not so naive to think that in Bloomfield Village and Oakland County under normal “suicide” circumstances that big ole General Motors Cadillac Comptroller Daddy Warbucks H. Lee Busch and his wife would ever be mined for information about their n’er do well, POS, pedophile son. But the goddamn OCCK task force was called to their house in the wake of the “suicide” scene. Yet there is not one note or indication that H. Lee or Elsie Busch, who owned the home their criminal son was living in, were ever asked about this sketch or anything else for that matter.
Does simple deference to wealth and power in a place like Oakland County explain why there was no investigation into why this “suicide” scene reads like a graphic novel homage to the OCCK crimes, or at least to the murder of Mark Stebbins? I ask again: If he was set up, why wouldn’t the task force at least attempt an investigation into the situation when it could possibly lead to other participants? Who shut that shit down?
And why was that sketch never tested for fingerprints? After Metzger presumably returned the drawing and the ropes and cordage to the box they came from, where did they end up?
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Hi Cathy. I’ll review this message later and respond afterwords.
Might even be still sitting at someone’s hunting camp right now where the owners have no idea the significance of it. It’s really pathetic that the news media does not go knocking on some doors and looking for some answers. Instead they recycle the same old OCCK stuff every year on anniversary dates with nothing new to report.
It’s easier that way, isn’t it? Get the headline, reword same bullshit, shake heads in sorrow and put it away until next time. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Cathy. Great work digging into these old docs for us and sharing. What troubles me going over this stuff is that it reads like the emphasis is so much on those ropes and nothing on the sketch. Seems like it really stands out in2012 where Metzger was questioned over his memories. I don’t understand it that here we are today not even knowing for sure if that was original sketch on his wall or not. Metsger probably knows but was never questioned on it. What also seems to be complete failure that it’s not even recognized as Mark in the docs although when looking at the police sketch next to it, it becomes obvious.
Where else have I heard of someone blowing off a sketch as nothing when it matches someone quite well? Sounds very familiar from somewhere. I still believe if the artist of that sketch could be determined that it would answer some questions on the OCCK.
My screaming boy drawing copy is much more detailed and clear. I’m very suspicious of the large number of poor quality key crime scene documents posted on the internet in recent times.
Well, so sorry to disappoint. I pulled all of these documents straight from the MSP FOIA response to give the general idea of what was being discussed in the interview of the Busch nephews.
Cathy, I was wondering your thoughts about Robert Van Hengel? My gut tells me this guy had something to do with the OCCK killings, The car that was in the area at the time of Gail Webster’s murder was a blueish green Pontiac Tempest/LeMans with rusted and smashed quarter panels and a broken taillight. The same description of the car seen in the OCCK killings.
While Oakland County would have us all believe Robert Van Hengel was simply an eccentric, wack job, ATF agent who sometimes lied about being an FBI agent, my sense is that he was indeed behind the murder of Gail Webster. That he either murdered Gail or arranged for someone else to do it. Yes, that car makes me think the same thing about a possible link to the OCCK murders.
Tips, as in more than one, called in on Van Hengel in the OCCK case were disturbing. And he was credibly accused of possessing child porn. Like every single suspect in the initial OCCK case, he was not adequately investigated. Don’t drive a Gremlin? Have an alibi for any of the dates the four kids were abducted, missing or found murdered? Off the hook. It seemed clear to me from what I read that Gail was afraid of Van Hengel and that she probably saw or heard something that would be a big problem for Van Hengel. He either kills her himself or, more likely, has the clean up crew, that may be affiliated with the OCCK crimes, take care of it. The clothing Gail was wearing (nightgown and robe) WENT MISSING and there were other evidence irregularities. Van Hengel himself could have been behind this with the lax methods used to store evidence in that era. My read of the series Marney Keenan did this year on Gail Webster’s murder and Van Hengel is that it would not surprise me in the least if Van Hengel was involved in the OCCK crimes. What would surprise me is if all of the evidence in the OCCK case is tested/retested by a third party lab. LE has Van Hengel’s DNA (obtained during/after his final hospital stay). He’s not around anymore to tamper with evidence.
Police had been saying in the press in 1976 and 1977 that a cop could have been involved in the OCCK crimes. Not only because a badge could be used to convince a kid to speak to the abductor, but also because they felt the killer was getting inside information on the investigation–even when my brother was missing.
Think about the murders and “suicides” of adults in little old Oakland County during this era. Carson McDowell (August 1977), John McKinney (September 1977), Gail Webster (October 1978), Chris Busch (November 1978). Not one of these murder cases came even close to being solved. Did the suburban cops suck that badly at their jobs? There’s a good chance of that. Or was it best not to dig too deep into these murders because of what they were intertwined with?
Thanks I agree. I wonder if Gail Webster saw something she wasn’t supposed to like pictures of Van Hengel with the OCCK kids and maybe Busch was used to kill Gail and after that Van Hengel killed Busch because he knew too much. I don’t know, just something about Van Hengel makes me think he was involved somehow.
Plausible.
there’s an eerily similar suicide ‘diorama’ in the jonbenet case–that of michael helgoth, a low level of drug dealer that the ramseys promoted as a suspect throughout the investigation. he died of an alleged suicide soon after jonbenet’s murder, and the police released a crime scene picture of his (strangely unbloodied) corpse. beside him were the gun he allegedly killed himself with (although its placement is bizarre), and a Hi-Tek boot and a stun gun–conveniently, these were the two items that the Ramseys’ private investigators repeatedly tried to link to a potential intruder. crazy how helgoth just happened to shoot himself within the photo frame of these two items.