A reader took a deep dive into elements of Mark Stebbin’s case. Mark was the first victim of what the press and law enforcement would soon call the OCCK. But as we know now, it was far worse than “OCCK.” It marked the beginning of a string of group killings of children who were kidnapped from Oakland County, Michigan. It wasn’t just one “K.”
Mark was abducted in Ferndale on February 15, 1976. His body was found in Southfield on February 19, 1976.
Many readers have carefully parsed the FOIA documents I have posted on this blog. Forty-nine years later, family members and civilians investigate these murders because the people who are paid to do it are too busy, don’t want to or have been told not to. Or they investigate in furtherance of some future project that will do nothing to close these cases.
Here are some interesting details this reader found.
The Royal Oak Tribune reported on Saturday, February 21, 1976 that a scripture service would be held at 8:00 PM on Sunday at the Spaulding-Curtin funeral home. There was a visitation at the funeral home prior to the scripture service.
Take a look at who showed up to Mark’s wake on Sunday, February 22, some time before 5 pm:
Oakland County Prosecutor L. Brooks Patterson and his Chief Deputy Richard Thompson. I can just hear it, can’t you? “Our deepest condolences, Mrs. Stebbins. We will find and prosecute the person who did this, don’t you worry.”
Southfield Police Department Det./Lt. R. Jerry Simmons was in charge of the investigation into Mark’s murder. His name does not appear in the guest register for Sunday, but perhaps as the lead detective he attended Mark’s funeral the next morning.
Two days after Mark’s body was found and less than 24 hours before the scripture service for Mark, the lead detective was at Hartfield Lanes, a bowling alley in Berkley, between 11:30 pm and midnight. We know this because his car was broken into that evening between 11:30 p.m. and midnight on Saturday, February 21, 1976.
Maybe he was visiting his wife, who worked at the bowling alley. FOIA document M4-Final, page 10 shows Donna Simmons, Age 42, white female, from Lathrup Village being an employee of Hartfield Lanes.
Simmons bowled at Hartfield Lanes. Kristine Mihelich’s mother worked at Hartfield Lanes. She knew Simmons from her work there and described calling him after her daughter went missing.
And we know who else bowled at Hartfield Lanes–Chris Busch, who seemingly gladly told Southfield Detectives Simmons and Doan (summoned to Flint in late January 1977 when Greg Greene dimed Busch as the killer of Mark Stebbins) that he had a “little brother” in the Big Brother program “that he often took to Hartfield’s bowling alley.” (The Snow Killings by Marney Keenan, page 98.) (The horror of this “little brother’s” claims never being seriously investigated by Birmingham police is beyond the scope of this post, but not beyond the scope of my rage.)
Simmons and Doan’s first report after speaking with Greg Greene on January 25, 1977:
Let’s go back to Simmons’ visit to Hartfield Lanes on Saturday, February 21, 1976. Doubtful the guy is bowling two days into an investigation of a 12-year-old’s murder and 30 minutes isn’t a long time period. He reports the break in, noting dashboard and glove box damage by a crow bar, but nothing missing. The two earlier break ins resulted in a CB radio and 36 8-track tapes being stolen from inside the cars. Simmons reports that his CB radio was placed in the trunk that night because of recent thefts. Why would someone break into a car with nothing in plain sight and force open a glove box that may contain nothing valuable?
Here’s what else Simmons kept in his trunk:
Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (Tommy McIntyre, page 39.)
Was the damage to the glove box a result of searching for the nickel-plated .45? Did somebody steal that cut-down, double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun with a sling? (WTF??) While a police report would have to be filed for insurance purposes on the car damage, would a cop report having his prize weapons stolen from a bowling alley parking lot? That’s a bad look. Maybe they were both safe in the trunk of his car, along with the CB radio; who will ever know?
And how much time had Jerry Simmons and his wife spent in the presence of Chris Busch or perhaps John Hastings or even Arch Sloan at Hartfield Lanes, a location that plays a prominent part in this sad case? “Hey Jerry, how’s the investigation going?”
Thanks to a reader who pulled these facts together.