After more than 40 years, a murder case in St. Clair County might finally be closed.

See, it can be done. MSP. Othram. Go figure.

— Read on www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2023/12/18/arrest-made-in-1980-st-clair-county-cold-case-murder/

Chapter 17 of Guarded By Jackals: Predators, the Public Officials Who Protected Them and Resolution of Michigan’s Most Notorious Cold Case (2024), discusses the “refreshingly genuine” screw ups of Montmorency Sheriff’s Deputy Junior Brandenburg and booking officer Charlotte Pelham.

On March 19, 1977, Pelham took a phone call from a woman begging to speak with Brandenburg, who was not available. The caller begged Brandenburg to go to the Busch cottage on Ess Lake because Chris Busch was there and “in the company” of minor boys. She wanted to speak to Brandenburg “before it was too late.” Pelham, who was the booking officer for Busch’s child rape and assault charges in the early morning hours of March 3, 1977, surely knew the import of this call.

Three days later, on March 22, my brother Tim was dead. That same day, Brandenburg finally followed up on the frantic call of March 19. As the author of GBJ points out, one can only imagine the shitstorm that would rain down on Brandenburg and his department if word got out that they received a tip that could have saved Tim’s life and he did nothing.

After reading Chapter 17, a reader checked to see if Brandenburg was still among the living. He is not. Check out this obituary and scroll down to the sole guest book entry.

https://www.hentkowskifuneral.com/obituaries/junior-brandenburg

The reader pointed out “[t]hat not a damn thing could go on in a little piece of shit town like Atlanta or Hillman without everyone knowing. If Junior was a shitbag like Busch, Sloan, Hastings, the creepy Detroit cop – all who had ties to that area – maybe he had some incentive to turn a blind eye or misplay the cards.”

Thanks to this reader.