When my dad was 46 years old, he had to stand up at a press conference at the Birmingham Police Department and beg the monsters who had his 11-year-old son to let him come home and not to harm him. My terrified mother sat beside him.
The “rule” of the press conference was that if either of my parents broke down, filming would start over. When my parents returned, I was in the living room. My dad fell into a chair, covered his face with one hand, gripped the arm of the chair with the other, and sobbed so hard his entire body shook. I had never seen my dad cry before. He quickly got it together and stood up. That’s when I knew for sure Tim would be murdered and that there really was no hope.
A few days later, the police would tell us not to cry at the funeral because the killer would enjoy that.
My dad then spent the last 15 years of his life begging law enforcement for some transparency. Some truth. A fucking crumb.
He was treated like shit, especially by the office of Jessica Cooper (although this was nothing compared to what L. Brooks Patterson had done on the down low). The “task force” humored him but jacked him around. They put him through unnecessary hell, too.
A couple of newspaper articles, a documentary, podcasts and books was all that was in the cards during that 15 years. I know he knew in his heart before the end he had been gaslit by all these motherfuckers. Agencies and people he had trusted.
That’s what happens when a case from a corrupt county festers for 50 years.
Begging for anything from them had the same effect as his pleas to the abductor(s) in March of 1977.
P.S. If you haven’t read Guarded by Jackals: Predators, the Public Officials Who Protected Them and Resolution of Michigan’s Most Notorious Cold Case, now’s the time. The first NINE chapters are free and can be accessed via a link at this WordPress page:
This link also contains the meticulous footnotes and case documents relied upon in the book.
This is not a typical “true crime” book and it is an intense read. A muscular book as I have said. The author isn’t leaving you to figure out “whodunnit,” but supporting his conclusions regarding why the case was never meant to be solved. Read about the “mobbed up” prosecutor and the evil that infected this investigation. It is not easy reading. But now is the time to do your homework–or at least read the hard work of someone who supports his work with news articles and FOIA documents to help you understand you need to override your instinct to believe nothing could be this corrupt.
It can and it is.