The Detroit News has a good article today on unsolved murders in Detroit. The article is for subscribers only, here’s a link: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2023/12/14/detroit-unsolved-murders-families-want-answers-other-cases-gain-notice/71741032007/?utm_source=pdtn-DailyBriefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailybriefing&utm_term=hero&utm_content=1008DN-E-NLETTER65 . I want to post more about this over the weekend, but for now here is a summary from a reader which is helpful in evaluating parallels to the investigations in the child killer case:
I suppose it is because of how most Police agencies handle all murder cases, but I always felt it is just human nature of some people. Do everything you can to keep all work (and accountability) off my desk. From the article:
· “I feel like I was victimized twice because it seems like everyone has forgot about my son,”
· Former Detroit Police Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt said it’s often difficult to explain to families why there’s no news to report about their loved ones’ cases You never officially drop in the cases where there’s no evidence, you keep it on your desk hoping to go back to it, but then you get new cases coming in where there is evidence, so you put the old one aside temporarily and try to get a killer off the street,” Dolunt said. “Then, the family will call on the first case, and you reopen it, but there’s nothing but dead-end leads.”
· Dolunt agreed that cases can sometimes get lost in the shuffle as detectives move in and out of Homicide, and their caseloads get passed onto other investigators.
· “If a case isn’t ruled a homicide, then it’s not something (homicide detectives) can work on,” he said. “You’ll get a case that was ruled a suicide, and the family will insist you reopen the case because they say the victim would never commit suicide. Unfortunately, you just can’t help them.
Reader’s overview and quotes from article.
I want to think about it in the context of the sentencing hearing of Ethan Crumbley in Oakland County and what was afforded to victims in that case. Speaking of the Crumbleys, today in Virginia the mother of a six-year-old who brought a gun to school and shot his teacher was sentenced to two years in prison. ”Deja Taylor ‘abdicated most, if not all’ of her responsibilities as a parent when her 6-year-old son got hold of her gun and used it to shoot a teacher at Richneck Elementary School in January, a judge told her Friday.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/12/15/richneck-shooting-teacher-newport-news/.
In other news, Michigan State University Board of Trustees took a long-awaited step today by unanimously approving the release of thousands of withheld university documents linked to the sexual abuse scandal involving sexual predator Larry Nassar.
The documents, which MSU previously wouldn’t release based on attorney-client privilege, will be prepared and released to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. It is not clear if or when they might become public. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/12/15/msu-board-vote-documents-larry-nassar-scandal/71924517007/ . Maybe there will be answers about how “Dr.” Nassar was able to hurt so many girls and women for so long and remain undetected and/or protected. Somebody had to stay on MSU like a fly on shit for five years to get them to agree to release those documents. Maybe a victory for transparency. It remains to be seen.
And here is an article about charges brought in October in Charlevoix against a California man and a Michigan man for sexually assaulting a child. Charges were being reviewed against a third man who may have been involved.
https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/2-men-charged-with-sexually-assaulting-charlevoix-county-child
Editing to add this “blast from the past”–a reader found this article from The Saginaw News dated December 28, 1975. Seems that when Christopher Busch wasn’t grooming or raping boys, he had time to make the Dean’s List at Northwood Institute:
No comment on the headline “Submachine gun used to kill runaway cow.”