A reader recently reminded me how powerful the 2015 movie Spotlight was. I’ve posted about it in the past. The movie was based on the true story of the investigative reporting done by The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team in 2001 on the decades-long cover up of the crimes of pedophile priests.
The comprehensive reporting on sexual abuse by priests and protection of the Church by attorneys and the government in Boston won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Then editor Martin Baron, who had the guts to push this story, made the compelling nomination in this letter:
Click to access globespotlightletter.pdf
The movie won Oscars in 2016 for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
The movie is free on YouTube. If you haven’t seen it before or it’s been a while, check it out.
The film is age-restricted, so if the link below doesn’t work, search for it on YouTube. It is available on other streaming platforms, too.
Inspiring.
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Some sort of completely independent/politically untampered with cold case unit seems to be the only hope. Does such a thing exist… in Oakland County?
There is actually. Many. The Vidocq Society out of Philadelphia, the Cold Case Foundation, Uncovered, the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute (CCIRI), and some university affiliated groups.
The Vidocq Society requires a request or referral from a law enforcement agency. We know that would never happen. This would involve a loss of control that none of these agencies is willing to risk.
I ran a brief search of the CCF, Uncovered and CCIRI, which all accept case inquiries directly from civilians and families. Here’s what I found.
The results were prefaced with this interesting caveat, generated by the internet and not by me:
“The Oakland County Child Killer (OCCK) case is one of the most infamous, tightly controlled, and complex cold cases in American history. Because of its massive scale, multi-jurisdictional nature, and deep political and legal history in Michigan, utilizing public or civilian-facing organizations requires navigating specific hurdles.”
Infamous. Tightly controlled. Complex. Political. Fucked up legal history. Specific hurdles.
CCF–the application requires incredibly detailed operational knowledge about the case (such as the specific Law Enforcement Agency head, case file number, status, and what specific investigative strategies are requested) and include an official law enforcement contact number. Hmm. I wonder who would be able and willing to be that contact?
Because the case files consist of tens of thousands of pages, multiple lawsuits for public records, and highly sensitive DNA data, CCF would ultimately need the cooperation of active investigators. I don’t see that happening, for a variety of reasons, primarily back to “tightly controlled.”
Uncovered–Built explicitly for families and citizen advocates, this digital platform aggregates data to visualize timelines, map out case locations, and keep cold cases in the public eye. Uncovered’s strength in this case would be in public timeline mapping with geographic information and the complex web of suspects. As you well know, this has already been done and in very detailed fashion, and there is a link to the work on my blog. No one in law enforcement has seen fit to consider it.
CCIRI–a massive volunteer training and research network focused on finding missing “solvability factors.” They are known for tackling high-profile, historical serial cases. They could independently review the massive troves of publicly released documents and books written about the case to build new profiles without needing direct police clearance. That sounds like a winner.
University affiliated groups–every one I know of, including the Geographical Profiling program at Texas State University, requires requests from law enforcement. I was hopeful TSU would consider a request from Western Michigan University’s cold case program, but WMU would have to get the consent of the MSP. I don’t know why, especially after 50 years, these people wouldn’t accept all the help they could get–FREE help.
While I am so thankful WMU is digitizing the case files in the OCCK case, my understanding is that their role has been strictly limited to digitization, even though they offer other services that could help evaluate the case.
In a case where the history involves severe jurisdictional infighting and egos, the withholding of information and files, and stupid professional rivalries, I think we have a good idea of the “solvability issues.”
In addition, we are aware of mishandled evidence, misinformation, and persuasive allegations of a cover up. The state lab steadfastly refuses to retest or allow the retesting of the children’s clothing and will not answer questions about the Y-str sample discovered in Kristine’s case in 2018.
In fact, people can enter the query “Why is the OCCK case such a clusterfuck” in AI mode for more of the “solvability issues.”
Just Brainstorming…
Spotlight focuses on the Institutions that stood in the way of Justice. Boston’s government was backing the church-the church ran everything. The news, independent of government, pushed the cases forward. Spotlight laid out facts that could not be disputed. The end when the phones were ringing-Very moving.
“The Children of the Snow” was powerful! A thousand times better than any “Dance Mom” articles! How does Heather miss tracking Sloan’s commissary? Why not reference Their own story regarding the Gremlin unearthed in Grand Blanc in the mid 2000’s? No homework.
Spotlight taught us a few things:
1) Go outside of the institutions for a team.
2) Present facts.
3) The institutions that should protect citizens can and do fail us.
4) Systematic failures by trusted institutions will not be tolerated at an individual level through a community level nor at a state level.
I know you have exhausted your efforts through the state level, so any organization requiring institutional effort in these cases won’t happen. I am confident you could reach out within your very own blog and organize an extraordinary team! You already built it and we are here. Best armchair detectives this side of The Mississippi;) Cold Case units sometimes hire volunteers to work cases. They just sign an NDA to work with sensitive information like DNA-that’s not an issue for you. I mean, look how far you are today! This blog is powerful. And you know institutions read it.
Two thing could happen
1) You create the blueprint for other families.
2) The state sees you and hears your voices.
One thing has happened to date:
1) Nothing
Am I correct that a case can close if they find a single suspect?
Also, does that make ALL documents available through FOIA?
Also, insert institutional document shred above the last question.
Does Spotlight do stories about Detroit?
Spotlight has its hands full in Boston and Massachusetts. In fact, they have a great podcast from 2025 called Snitch City, about New Bedford’s fucked methods concerning informants and narcotics cases. Ever know a narcotics agent or small town police chief who appears to live well beyond his means? Has all the toys? Yeah, well sometimes there’s a reason and it isn’t a wealthy wife or an inheritance.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVmrjQLTwY07DlCmYh7CDuE1oxH0qWYfO
They will never close the OCCK case because they will never “solve” it and they do not want to open themselves to a bunch of FOIA requests. They fucked the evidence in this case and it’s been 50 years. Get real.
All of the documents in the OCCK case must be digitized. All of them. We know documents and files have been destroyed along the way, that is a given. But there are 10s of thousands of pages left behind. Run it all through some legit redaction program that redacts only what is required by statute, with a quick and easy method for challenging improper redactions. Make this available to the public. FOR FREE. Taxpayers already paid for these documents, many times over during the course of the last 50 years when you think about it. And WMU is a public university, receiving tax dollars.
By the way, where did that “little” one million in 1977 dollars grant go back in the day, MSP?
Six years ago I wrote about the need for an inquiry into this investigation, as was done in the Yorkshire Ripper serial killer case in the UK. The study of the massive failures in that case led to sweeping, foundational reforms that still govern modern British law enforcement.
https://catherinebroad.blog/2020/08/30/this-could-be-the-result-of-the-shittiest-police-work-ever/
That’s never going to happen in the OCCK case, so let the public judge for themselves what went on here. And what didn’t. Analyze what went wrong and what can be learned from it. THAT would be a tribute to Mark, Jill, Kristine and Tim.
ALL THE CASE FILES (PROPERLY AND LEGALLY REDACTED THE FIRST TIME; NO REDACTING OF SUSPECT NAMES), FREE OF CHARGE, TO ANYONE WHO ASKS. That much is owed to four dead kids who never got justice and who died in vain.
No more FOIA bullshit, no more inflated fees. Complete transparency, accompanied by a detailed explanation of the status of the evidence in this case. The public must demand this and settle for nothing less. These fuckers like to paint me as crazy. They are crazy if they think I am going to drop this.
The best we can hope for is some “logical explanation” of who was probably involved in these crimes. Perhaps AI can do this sort of analysis, including dissecting each of the four cases to try to establish what the case files show about who might have been involved with which crime. I think AI analysis could provide insights into how Michigan can make sure it never finds itself in this “place” ever again, in any criminal investigation.