OT: Oakland County Child Killer doc airing next week
Despite going up in Ann Arbor in the 1990s, I only recently learned of the Oakland County Child Killer (OCCK). The OCCK murdered four innocent children in 1976 and 1977, and the case remains unsolved. There are possible connections to a pedophile ring in southeast Michigan that involved Frank Shelden of Ann Arbor…just ghastly stuff.
Investigation Discovery is airing a documentary about the OCCK next week:
https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/tv-shows/children-of-the-snow/
Any Mgoreaders live through that era? Apparently this case, and a few other high-profile abductions (Johnny Gosch, Etan Patz, etc.) are when a lot of parents stopped letting kids play outside without supervision.
February 12th, 2019 at 6:26 PM ^
February 12th, 2019 at 6:31 PM ^
How old was Larry Nasser in 1976?
February 12th, 2019 at 6:33 PM ^
I did. I was like 6 when this was happening, and he was the "stranger" we weren't supposed to talk to. It was pretty terrifying, as I remember...
February 12th, 2019 at 6:43 PM ^
YOU DID IT?!?!
February 12th, 2019 at 6:56 PM ^
Local 4 is airing a whole series on the case this month too. Should be a bit better in my opinion. The previous seasons of 'shattered' have been very good.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/video/trailer-shattered-season-3-child-killer
February 12th, 2019 at 7:03 PM ^
What is it with serial killers? It's like they ceased to exist after the 1990s. Is forensic science so advanced now that it's nearly impossible for someone to get away with it for that long? I'm not complaining by any means it just is a curious thing to me.
February 12th, 2019 at 8:55 PM ^
They're still around. I don't think they make the national news as much as they used to. I also suspect that at least some serial killers are much better at avoiding leaving forensic evidence nowadays.
I'm now in Toronto, where Bruce Mcarthur was just sentenced to life in prison for 8 murders. It's a bit controversial, since he'll be eligible for parole in 25 years (when he'll be 92).
Some other examples from skimming through Wikipedia: Anthony Sowell was convicted in Cleveland of 11 murders in 2011, James Dale Ritchie killed five people in Anchorage and was killed himself in a shootout by cops in 2016, and Todd Kohlhepp plead guilty to 7 murders in 2017. The only one of those I remember hearing about was Kohlhepp.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:48 PM ^
There are documentaries about a few of the under-the-radar serial killers such as Sowell on streaming services, forget which one at the moment, but they’re pretty interesting
February 13th, 2019 at 1:54 PM ^
Maybe there is a real-life Dexter out there killing all the serial killers!
February 12th, 2019 at 7:18 PM ^
I just remember everyone on the lookout for a blue AMC Gremlin with the hockey stick stripe on it.
February 12th, 2019 at 7:27 PM ^
As a State Police Trooper during that time I interviewed many subjects from tips that were gathered by the Oakland County Task Force. There were key questions we had to ask and we took notes on every interview. The main focus regarding vehicles was the blue Gremlin wth the white hockey stick paint design up the side. We never new if it was the right vehicle but it was reported by a supposed witness. Owners of that car complained they were stopped dozens of times in a week. Sad case but the best investigators in the State of Michigan were working on this case. The bodies were almost pristine after they were found and rarely was evidence found. At least not enough to develop a suspect and arrest him.
February 12th, 2019 at 7:56 PM ^
One of my mom's coworkers just happened to have a blue Gremlin and got questioned multiple times. Crazy stuff.
February 12th, 2019 at 7:39 PM ^
I grew up in Royal Oak during that time, which was unfortunately right in the middle of the OCCK crimes. I remember it too well. It was a huge story in the media and a regular topic of discussion.
Now I live close to where one of the suspected killers lived, not far from the Birmingham abduction.
I still would like closure to these crimes via DNA. It won't bring the victims back and the perpetrator is probably long dead, but it impacted a lot of lives and still carries emotional weight to this day.
February 12th, 2019 at 7:47 PM ^
I swear, there's a seasonal news cycle for both the OCCK and Jimmy Hoffa, where every other year they're chasing a new lead in Oakland County, and then in the off summer they're digging up another backyard because some dying mobster finally confessed to where they buried Hoffa.
Ratings!
February 12th, 2019 at 7:56 PM ^
Unsolved murders will continue to be investigated no matter how old. High profile murders get more media attention than anything else. It’s difficult to investigate high profile crimes without the media finding out. Plus there are many times police use the media to get information out that may assist the investigation.
February 12th, 2019 at 7:58 PM ^
Right, but you have to admit that these two cases are basically ratings bonanzas in Metro Detroit that get dragged up on an almost predictable basis.
February 12th, 2019 at 7:56 PM ^
My father worked closely (worked on the same projects/teams) with Ronald Bailey's father - for those that remember, Bailey was a killer in the Oakland & Livingston County areas in the mid-1980s, preyed on young teenage boys.
Bailey was in his mid-20s at the time, and those murders were about 8-10 years after the Oakland County Child Killer.
Bailey's in prison for the rest of his life. I'm sure they've investigated him as regards being the OCCK, but outside of age (Bailey would have been a bit young, in his mid-teens), he definitely fits in regards to (1) type of crime and (2) general geographic region.
February 12th, 2019 at 8:04 PM ^
The killer was Christopher Busch, age 28...lived in Bloomfield Hills... His father was I recall General Motors CFO at the time. Busch killed himself few years later, too. He was sent away to boarding school in Switzerland when a teen, and was molested by the staff there.
If you're wondering how I know this... I used to ride bike when I was a kid, and would hang at that exact same spot, the Hunter Pharmacy back parking lot, when it was Chatham supermarket, and one victim was Tim King who went to my elementary school...and I followed it closely for decades.... The info never came out because of the Busch family legalled up and good, and the police and Oakland county are supposedly in a legal quagmire....
The info is out there.
February 12th, 2019 at 8:20 PM ^
Yeah - he's definitely the #1 (with a bullet) suspect.
I wonder if we'll get a deathbed confession (of sorts) from L Brooks Patterson someday. Patterson signed off on the plea deal that got Busch released from jail --- and then another murder (which may have been King, I forget the exact timeline) only a few days after.
February 12th, 2019 at 8:27 PM ^
The authorities did a HVAC duct sweep a few years back.... but apparently the results will be kept internally because they fear getting suited.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:11 PM ^
they are not afraid of getting 'suited'. it is almost impossible to sue a gov't official in michigan with any hope of success. it can't (well, almost never) be for incompetence, but actual malfeasance or the sole cause of some problem occuring in a grossly negligent fashion, and even then its tough.
February 12th, 2019 at 8:32 PM ^
From what I've seen of Brooks over the years, he doesn't strike me as the deathbed confession type. He seems more like the "never complain, never explain" type.
February 12th, 2019 at 8:34 PM ^
Patterson never did anything wrong. Ever. He'll tell you that himself while bragging about the excellent job he did on everything he ever touched.
A talented politician who always took the attitude that if you set your neighbor's house on fire yours looks better by comparison. He then brags that his isn't on fire.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:11 PM ^
Yeah, Busch is the one linked to Frank Shelden's pedo ring, at least in news reports. I've listened to some podcasts about it and there were likely others involved besides Busch.
February 12th, 2019 at 8:03 PM ^
I was around 10 at the time and I remember my mom putting the clamps on going anywhere outside. We used to run the neighborhood playing til dark etc. My mom told me about this kidnapper and I laughed because I didn't believe someone would do that. Then I heard the news reports about how these kids were found dead, molested and had been given baths. Creeps me out even today.
February 12th, 2019 at 8:29 PM ^
Don't know that it was him, but after we moved to Oakland County I was 7 & walking my 5 year old sister to school when a guy pulled up in a car & told us our mom said we needed a ride to school. This was just a couple blocks from our house. Sis was like "Mom said it's ok!" I told her to keep walking and ignore him, but if he got out of the car to run to a house and bang on the door screaming while I ran at him. I figured if he got me I could make it difficult for him, but he wasn't going to touch her as long as I could breathe. She suddenly got terrified & started crying. (He left.)
February 12th, 2019 at 9:40 PM ^
One of the people interviewed for the doc, Reuben Appelman, had a similar experience as a kid and that inspired to write a book about the OCCK.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:16 PM ^
I’m too young for the OCCK but my 5th grade teacher drove a blue car at the time and was questioned a few times.
I went to college with Liz Tobin who was dating a Michigan frat guy (there’s the connection) and her father was a big deal police chief who went after the OCCK.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:29 PM ^
Never heard of him.
February 13th, 2019 at 8:37 AM ^
I was 7 years old when my school bus drove by the spot they found Kristine Mihelich in a ditch one morning in Franklin. The first police car had just arrived when we drove past. I remember seeing something blue in the snow.
February 13th, 2019 at 8:47 AM ^
Please , I think most of us read this board to learn about our wonderfull teams not this ghastly murder type stories that do not effect our teams
February 13th, 2019 at 9:48 AM ^
Don't click and it won't bother you nearly as much.
Duh!
February 13th, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^
All of these serial killers haven't killed nearly as many people as some MOB enforcers who are still walking around today.
I wonder how many some of these henchmen have killed. Probably make the Red Baron blush.
February 15th, 2019 at 12:55 AM ^
Odd that you'd choose the Red Baron to compare to when you have this guy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin
February 15th, 2019 at 9:36 AM ^
I had what was likely an encounter with the killer ... I was 8 years old in Farmington ... guy pulled up in a gremlin and offered me a ride to the bus stop and had some candy etc ... I ran. FBI interviewed me 4-5 times and had a sketch artist at the house. Timmy Kings body was found a mile and a half away days later. Crazy days.