KRISTINE MILELICH - 10 yo - (1977) /Suspect: James Vincent Gunnels Oakland County MI

Looking for 'The Babysitter': DNA evidence links parolee to Oakland County child killer case

Published: Friday, May 20, 2011, 8:22 AM Updated: Friday, May 20, 2011

Fox 2 Video: New developments in the search of the Oakland County child killer Roughly thirty-five years after a serial killer murdered at least four children in Oakland County, recently released documents indicate authorities have connected DNA evidence to a man recently released on parole in
Kalamazoo.

The Detroit News reports Michigan State Police made a mitochondrial DNA match between 10-year-old victim Kristine Mihelich of Berkley and 50-year-old Flint native James Vincent Gunnels.

May 20, The Detroit News:
Gunnels was recently paroled in Kalamazoo after serving five stints in
prison for crimes ranging from larceny to breaking and entering.
Gunnel's DNA sequence matched one of two hair fragments removed from
Kristine's shirt. Gunnels was a childhood friend of one of the nephews
of Christopher Busch, a convicted pedophile suspected of being involved
in the killings.

...According to Michigan State Police records,
the match is the first physical DNA evidence in the case. A
mitochondrial DNA sequence, however, is not a perfect match, and the
sample is 34 years old. The results of the testing were made known to
investigators in March 2009.

In an interview with The Detroit
News last month, Gunnels insisted he was a victim of Busch and that he
has "no idea" how his DNA could have wound up on Kristine's body.

As the story notes, mitochondrial DNA is not a perfect match, and records indicate Gunnels has submitted to a polygraph two times, neither of which resulted in any charges. Still, his connection to Busch, who was convicted on four separate child criminal sexual conduct charges in the late '70s, has raised eyebrows.

The Oakland County child killer came to be known as "The Babysitter" because each victim had been bathed prior to their murder. The Detroit Free Press reports investigators also found white animal hair on each victim, noting that the Busch family had a white Welsh terrier at the time of the murders.

The latest information on the case, published by several local news organizations, was obtained by Barry King, whose son Timothy was killed in 1977 after borrowing some change from his sister and heading to a Birmingham drugstore to buy candy.

While Gunnels has denied any involvement, King told Fox 2 that Gunnels previously suggested his hair could have been in Busch's car because the two traveled together regularly.

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/05/looking_for_the_babysitter_dna.html

On the day before her daughter would have turned 46, Debbie Jarvis
found herself in the glare of television camera lights, going public
about what up until now has been her very private grief.
"For 35
years, I have patiently waited for justice for my daughter, Kristine,"
Jarvis said Tuesday. "Now, I know if I don't take action, Kris' killers
will never be caught."
Today would have been Kristine Mihelich's
birthday, the bright-eyed and smiling 10-year-old who left her Berkley
home Jan. 2, 1977, only to be hunted down and become the third victim of
the Oakland County Child Killer.
"I can't quite believe it's been
that long," Jarvis said. "It seems like it was yesterday. You can't
live your life thinking, what if. And yet I think, 'What if I hadn't let
her go up to the 7-Eleven that day? What if I hadn't given in?'"
On
Tuesday, attorney Paul Hughes, who is representing Jarvis, held a press
conference in Detroit calling for the Department of Justice to take
over the unsolved murder case "because it has become apparent that none
of the victims will ever receive justice if left up to Oakland County
Prosecutor Jessica Cooper and the Michigan State Police." On Monday,
Hughes also filed a $100-million federal lawsuit on her behalf.
The
normally shy and quiet mother held her own at the microphone. In a
steady voice, she asserted, "The people we rely on to investigate and
prosecute murderers appear to be conspiring to protect these child
killers."
During a 13-month span in 1976-77, four children ages
10-12 were abducted and held from four to 19 days, and their bodies,
dressed in clean clothes, were tossed by public roadsides. The children
had been smothered. While many law enforcement agencies have been
involved in the decades-old case, it has never been solved.
In the
years after the murders, Debbie Jarvis moved to Petoskey, preferring
the privacy of "my home in the woods." While she supported the efforts
of other victims' families, such as Barry King, the father of fourth
victim Tim King, who has filed several lawsuits against the Michigan
State Police and the Oakland County Prosecutor's office, Jarvis watched
from the sidelines; family members would fill her in on developments.
But
two years ago, Jarvis says she was contacted by a person who had
"credible information about the killings." Identified only as "Bob,"
Jarvis and Hughes say the confidential informant has evidence that links
11 other cases to the child murders. His information, they say, also
possibly implicates a member of law enforcement in the slaying.
Jarvis
said she decided to take legal action after repeatedly being
stonewalled by law enforcement when she wanted to discuss these new
developments with them. "They have refused to answer even the most basic
of questions," she said. "I don't know who is the bigger monster here —
the people who murdered these children, or the people who refuse to
bring them to justice."
In a prepared statement, Jarvis detailed
being "treated like suspects" — even "taunted" and "threatened" by law
enforcement, "all under the direction of Jessica Cooper."
In response to the lawsuit, Cooper called Hughes "a conspiracy theorist exploiting someone's grief."
On that point, Jarvis is clear: "I'm not being exploited," she said. "I'm up against a system that is failing me."
When
asked about donations to aid in the case, Hughes explained: "This is
David against Goliath. They have unlimited funding to hide evidence.
That money will go to defray the costs already incurred."
But
Jarvis said the money means little compared to solving the case. "I want
Jessica Cooper to know how I feel," she said. "I can accept that I lost
a daughter. I can't accept that I don't know the truth about how and
why I lost her. Every night when I go to sleep, I have 19 days to think
about. Nineteen days when my daughter was calling out for me and nobody
ever answered her. Now I'm trying to get answers for her."


From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120425/OPINION03/204250344#ixzz1tH3iplqr

Oakland County Child Killer case leads to legal fight between attorney and prosecutor



http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/oakland-county-child-killer-case-leads-to-legal-fight-between-attorney-and-prosecutor#ixzz252yhtlny