How many people knew or should have known something was not right with Patterson’s handling of the OCCK investigation?

Retired Oakland County Circuit Court Chief Judge Edward Sosnick died about 10 days ago. He apparently had a very distinguished career. Prior to joining the bench he was with the Oakland County Prosecutor’s office, where he rose to the rank of senior trial attorney.

Ed Sosnick made arrangements for the autopsy of Kristine Mihelich on January 22, 1977.

Mr.-Ed-SosnickDownload

Sosnick was in fact present at the autopsy of Kristine Mihelich, along with about 14 other “viewers.” I have been searching for the document which lists all those present at this autopsy without success, but when I find it I will edit this post to add it.

Ed Sosnick was trusted by L. Brooks Patterson and Richard Thompson to arrange for and attend Kristine’s autopsy. Just like Richard Thompson trusted investigator Gary Hawkins to join him in Flint for a little face-time with Greg Greene and Chris Busch at the end of January 1977. And like L. Brooks Patterson trusted investigator Ralph Guerrini to sign out the Chris Busch CSC file on March 28, 1977, so LBP could take a gander at it and his name didn’t have to show up on that sign out sheet as Richard Thompson’s did hours after my brother was abducted.

There were some very interesting things about Kristine’s autopsy. Things Ed Sosnick, if he were the intelligent and good person it sounds like he was, might have opined on when this case started imploding after 2006. But apparently nobody asked him and he didn’t offer anything up. Jessica Cooper didn’t want to hear it, but Karen McDonald might have.

ShitshowDownload

Here are some additional documents concerning Kristine’s autopsy:

Additional-autopsy-documentsDownload

It was L. Brooks Patterson who called in a fingerprint expert from Toronto to lift prints from Kristine’s body. On March 5, 1977, Patterson explained to the press that a third expert opinion had been sought to “resolve conflicting findings” on whether Kristine had been sexually assaulted. Detroit News, March 5, 1977, 5-A.

Oakland County Prosecutor L. Brooks Patterson, who is coordinating the ongoing murder investigation, said yesterday the tests were ordered after two local investigators reached conflicting conclusions last month. The tests are being done by a laboratory in Baltimore.

Id.

No where in any of the documents provided by the OCP office or in the MSP FOIA response is there any mention of lab results from Baltimore. And after that nasty business in Flint, culminating with Greg Greene being polygraphed yet again on February 3, 1977 and sent directly to jail while fellow pedophile Chris Busch walked his dirty, criminal ass out on bond, and this little publicity problem for the promised land north of 8 mile:

The-22safety22-of-Oakland-CountyDownload

and then the murder of my brother, Patterson was all-too-happy to cease his “coordination” role in the investigation and shove the whole goddamn mess on Robert Robertson at the MSP.

Decades later, a partial Y-str DNA sample would be developed by the MSP lab from a vaginal swab from Kristine’s autopsy. The significance of the presence of this DNA sample, while apparently unsuitable for genetic genealogy purposes, cannot be disputed. https://sakitta.org/resources/docs/SAKI-Y-STR-Testing.pdf.

I thought maybe someone like Ed Sosnick could have provided some insight into this clusterfuck of an autopsy, even though all the oldsters who participated in the OCCK investigation seem to suffer from memory issues after the passage of so much time. But he can’t now.

Patterson wins again.

Another conversation with Dr. Kristen Mittelman of Othram Labs, Inc.

A reader sent another good interview with Dr. Mittelman about the work of Othram Labs to identify DNA in cold cases requiring advanced technologies.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-prosecutors/id1513765512?i=1000586222162

If the evidence in the OCCK case is not amenable to this type of testing, this should be explained to the public. If testing at the Michigan State lab or at Quantico over the years has extinguished the DNA in this case, tell the public. Quit with the arrogant secrecy when everyone knows there will never be an arrest in this case.

Why are we not entitled to an explanation of how all of the evidence in this case has been handled over the years? Why, when there are four sets of clothing, four autopsy kits, four cases’ worth of evidence, is there no support for having all of it tested by a lab like Othram? If due to storage failures over the decades, all of it is degraded and contaminated, why won’t someone explain why and more importantly, how it will never happen again?

How is the OCCK case so different from the many other cold cases of similar vintage that have been solved through the use of a lab like Othram? Authorities never made an arrest in this case. Does this immunize them from questions or a review of the case?

In the wake of the many DNA/genetic genealogy solves in cold cases around the world, authorities compound the suspicion by avoiding this fundamental question: Why are you unwilling or unable to use a lab like Othram to evaluate these cold cases?

Ignoring this obvious question compounds the many failures in this case.

Another reader sent this interesting link from GEDmatch about the genetic witness program:

Join the Genetic Witness Program

Finally, another reader informed me today that Det/Sgt Dave Robertson, who ran defense for the MSP on the OCCK case for quite a few years, died on November 21, 2022 at the age of 64.

Cold Case Arrest: After more than 30 years, DNA links Georgia boy’s death to convicted sex offender

Eight-year-old Joshua Harmon was reported missing by his parents on May 15, 1988 when he didn’t return home for dinner. After several hours of searching, his body was found in a wooded area near his Georgia apartment.
— Read on www.wjcl.com/article/cold-case-arrest-after-more-than-30-years-dna-links-georgia-boys-death-to-convicted-sex-offender/37115587