A reader sent me this April 30, 1977 letter written by Mark Stebbin’s mom, Ruth, and published in the Royal Oak Tribune:
The reader also included this YouTube video, which presumably contains footage of the PBS (Channel 56) show Ruth Stebbins referenced.
The YouTube channel has not posted Part 2 of this 1977 broadcast. Part 2 is said to address police response and community safety measures.
Ruth didn’t live long enough to learn the sick truth that it was law enforcement doing all of the forgetting, not the public.
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I see this old footage of the Oakland County Task Force in action, and I can’t help but think this is footage from “The Naked Gun” movies.
Sitting around drinking coffee, smoking a pipe, and waiting for someone to turn themselves in. Everybody looks confused as to what they should be doing. Oh well, no collar today. It’s almost 4:30 PM, time to go home.
Watching the printer spit out a list of all the crimes, in the area and nobody analyzing the data or why all these crimes are happening. Then putting these pretty reports neatly in a nice binder, and filing it away in a room that will eventually be under water. Good job today. Nice report. We’ll be back at it again tomorrow at 9:00 AM.
I’m sure if Artificial Intelligence was available, and the printer suggested that detectives go immediately to 3310 Morningview Terrace, or 200 Tuckahoe they would say, “Not a chance. Not reliable information”.
News reporters claiming the task force needs a witness. Well many witnesses finally did come forward, and the Task Force believed they were all low priority. What do these witnesses know. They are not trained observers or detectives.
Yes, yes, yes, G-Man. Except they didn’t put pretty reports in neat binders–it was and still is a clusterfuck. Post-2005 there are two organized narrative reports, and an excel spreadsheet that lists *most of the evidence in the case. Maybe post-2012 there are some organized files reflecting work done, but we will never know because they will not engage in transparency. But the old stuff–overflowing file drawers and boxes. It must feel like a 1970s time warp to be in the presence of it.
In the 13 or so years that the “task force” was “rejuvenated,” not one attempt was made to organize that massive cold case–the files or the evidence. Evidence was sent to the FBI and stayed there. Time comes to retest and–whoops! Where is everything and how do we account for it?
This case has never been treated as the heinous, serial murder case that it is. Biggest manhunt in history up to that point–sure, right. As the case has been passed on to other detectives since 2019, no legitimate attempt was made to bring the detective up-to-speed or to narrow the issues, let alone figure out how a person can call in a tip.
And the amount of money paid by the taxpayers for that dog and pony show! I still don’t understand how these communities could ask for a grant to fund the investigation when it seems to me they were basically wanting funds to replenish their coffers for the payment of cop overtime for wheel-spinning/pipe-smoking. They get $1 mil in 1977/78 dollars and then shut the whole thing down in December 1978. They never accounted for this grant money, knowing damn well no one is going to ask about that in a child murder case.
They “rejuvenate” the task force in 2005/06 and say they will digitize the files and then spend the money elsewhere.
One of the first signs that this “investigation” stunk was the number of people who contacted my dad and me post-2007 and said they called police (sometimes regularly and for years) with what even a civilian would recognized as worthy of some review, and were summarily blown off. When one of them continued to press, Garry Gray from the MSP SHOWED UP AT HIS WORK AND TOLD HIM TO BACK OFF. Another person who came forward repeatedly was a survivor of Busch and Greene. He also felt compelled to go to a local PD because he was being dismissed by the “task force.” The very experienced cop who took that report and WAS ALSO BLOWN OFF told me about taking this man’s statement and the urgency he felt that the man was telling the truth and should be taken seriously. They had already spoken with him–chill out, pal.
So yes, many, many civilian witnesses came forward. So many thousands that the case files are a clusterfuck. Quite a few of them were tortured by what they saw or overheard and what was clearly ignored. When they come to me today, they are beyond frustrated and they lash out at me when I can’t advance the ball with LE. Sorry, the cops think I’m crazy, too.
The citizenry (most of them, except those still covering for their family name) did come forward. What we need now is a cop to come forward and tell the truth about how and why that investigation was derailed in 1977 and 1978. Two of them have tried to come in the back door and advance the ball. They did nothing wrong back in the day except to stay silent in the face of monstrous public corruption. Everyone gets it–they threaten your career, your pension, you, your family. You don’t know for sure what went down . . . . But it’s been 50 years. You gonna take that shit to your grave? Four kids (and probably more) were held for DAYS and in one case WEEKS, held captive, subjected to fear, abuse, humiliation and then murdered. And you took one for the team–Team Patterson and then Team Cooper.
The six-figure FOIA responses (in even simple requests) from the MSP demonstrate that they don’t know where a single thing is in the case. What happens when law enforcement from another state calls in with information regarding a suspect in similar crimes from that era?
So yes, this tragic and unbelievably wicked case not only inherited what you describe above, it remains immune to the most basic cold case procedures that have resulted in answers in hundreds of other cold cases of similar vintage. Ask yourself why that is the case.
3310 Morningview Terrace.
200 Tuckahoe.
HIGH. PRIORITY.
The state of the evidence and case files in this case is a reflection of that sad scene you describe, G-Man. Team Patterson prevails to this day, using the most effective weapon there is: The passage of time.