How corrupt public officials aided and abetted in the murder of my brother Tim King.

I know it’s a lot to wrap your head around. And I know the Michigan State Police got handed a shit bag of an investigation, courtesy of the shell game played with Greg Greene’s polygraphs in Flint and the “courtesies” extended to wealthy Bloomfield Hills resident Chris Busch by the “no deals” duo of L. Brooks Patterson and Richard Thompson and some in the Flint prosecutor’s office, beginning in late January 1977. They handed over an incomplete deck of cards to the MSP and I believe they put their thumbs on the scale of Kristine’s autopsy. Not hard to do with an ME like Robert Sillery. All the more reason to get that Y-str evidence dialed in once and for all.

We will never know if MSP Captain Robert Robertson (or the chief of the Birmingham PD, for that matter) was told some version of the “inside story” after Busch’s “suicide” in November 1978, or if Robertson’s inexperience and desire to minimize police lapses were part of the “financial” decision to shut down the OCCK task force. What happened to all that grant money, boys? Did you refill the coffers of local PDs for the overtime/wheel-spinning? There was never any accounting. Don’t ask questions; just be glad your kid didn’t die.

While I deeply distrust the state police and the state lab for their failures in handling the evidence that was entrusted to them in these four homicides (as well as evidence submitted from the Busch “suicide” scene), and their current refusal to employ the services of a third party lab like Othram, the fact remains that the OCCK case was derailed in late January 1977 before the MSP ever got jurisdiction. That derailment meant no one would look at Chris Busch, Greg Greene, possible connections with Frank Shelden or any of his associates or clients, or any serious suspect, ever again. Worked for them, until Larry Wasser blew it in Las Vegas. (It’s a long story, Google him or run a search on my blog.)

A person like John Hastings, credibly accused of being an associate of Busch and Greene, and a neighbor (for fuck’s sake) of Busch in Bloomfield Hills, who had “trouble” with a polygraph administered by a real polygrapher from Georgia Public Safety about the OCCK case, would safely fade from memory. Just like all of it has. Funny how those Michigan polygraphers almost always came up with a pass in these cases. Much like almost every tip I’ve ever seen in this case was marked “low priority.” (Never did see a “High Priority.”) This whole investigation should be called “Low Priority.” Polygraph “fails” by Ted Lamborgine and Vince Gunnels went nowhere and yielded nothing.

You cannot understand why the OCCK has never been solved until you read Guarded by Jackals, Predators, the Public Officials Who Protected Them and Resolution of Michigan’s Most Notorious Cold Case (July 2024). It is available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Guarded-Jackals-Predators-Officials-Resolution/dp/B0D9WFQV85?tag=googhydr-20&source=dsa&hvcampaign=books. It is mandatory reading in this case. After you read the book, pass it on to someone else who will read it.

It is the meticulously documented telling of the true story of how prosecutors (yes, prosecutors) can tilt the scales of justice and betray child victims and entire communities. It is the careful, detailed analysis of the evidence-trails left in FOIA documents from files left for cold case detectives assigned to the case over the past almost 50-years that was never undertaken, understood or acknowledged. The book corrects several misconceptions about the OCCK case with evidence that has been hiding in plain sight for decades.

Citations support every fact and the facts are presented in historical context to allow the reader to understand how and why public officials committed the crimes described. The first nine chapters are available for free at this site, as well as an interactive link to footnote references:

Guarded By Jackals

Like other important stories such as those told by Nick Bryant (The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal (2012), https://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Scandal-Story-Powerbrokers-Betrayal/dp/1936296071) and Melanie Perkins McLaughlin (https://haveyouseenandy.com/; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-investigation/id1757196345, about the 1976 disappearance of 10-year-old Andy Puglisi and the child predator rings she uncovered), Jackals has not gotten the traction or attention it deserves. Please, spare me from watching another goddamn “anniversary” video about the OCCK case that just regurgitates names and dates and doesn’t dig into this angle or anything of actual substance.

If I haven’t been able to convince you to read Jackals, maybe this note from a reader will carry more weight:

Hi Cathy,

Just a note to say that Jackals’ author convinced me with the details about f’n LBP and RT. It’s not like I had any doubts that they were POS’s, but the author did an excellent job piecing the evidence together from January 1977 forward and proving their knowledge, actions, and inactions. It was all right there. The ridiculous, outrageous modern redactions make sense now, too.

I’m so sorry about the reality of it, but I’m also glad this book exposing and proving the truth about LBP and RT exists.

If there’s a hell….

The book also reveals how those masquerading as public officials dealt with anyone whom they considered a threat. Character and career assassination, prison and mysterious deaths. Until the book gains a foothold in the public’s consciousness, the author is right to remain anonymous. Some of us know how Oakland County still rolls (and if you doubt it, read my December posts about the actions of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office in the case of alleged child sex abuser Sean MacMaster).

None of the few still-living individuals involved in this miscarriage of justice would ever tell the truth. That’s why the state police must agree to have a third party lab like Othram test and retest all of the evidence in these four homicides. Cost is your problem. After all, you padded a couple of pensions with wheel-spinning in this case for many years. Reassign the case to a real cold case division, not special investigations. Special investigations works active, ongoing, high profile cases. They don’t have the time or ability to deal with the OCCK case. Nice try. Or reassign it to college students affiliated with the MSP. They can’t do any worse.

The MSP took this case over and they became the stewards of the evidence in the OCCK case. How you handled and stored it is on you and your state lab. Respect your constituents enough to explain the status of the evidence in the case. At least try to honor these four dead kids by attempting to get at some truth.

You are left holding the bag. The bag presented to you by two Oakland County prosecutors in 1977. Deal with it.