TIMMY KING - 11 yo (1977) - Birmingham MI

The family of one of the victims of the Oakland County Child Killer
wants to take the police and the prosecutor to court.
The family of Timmy King is going to file a lawsuit next week against the Michigan
State Police and the Oakland County Prosecutor.
They say they’ve waited long enough for answers in this decades-old mystery, and they
want to see the files on one of the Child Killer suspects.



Timmy King was the fourth and final victim of the Oakland County Child Killer –
a murderer who abducted 4 children between 1976 and 1977. The killings
have never been solved, but with a new lead that came from the King’s
family in 2006, police started looking into the activities of
Christopher Brian Busch.
“They’ve had this information for 3 Christmases, 3 of Tim’s birthdays. Nothing’s happened,” says Barry King -
Timmy King's father.
He says his family is tired of waiting for the Michigan State Police and the Oakland County Prosecutor to wrap up
their investigation into Busch. So, his family is going to file a lawsuit against the law enforcement agencies to force them to hand over
the records related to Busch.
“We think the public ought to know what happens in these investigations,” says King.
Christopher Busch was a convicted pedophile – and the son of a wealthy GM executive.
The family lived in Bloomfield Township at the time of the killings.
Police reports show Busch committed suicide in 1978. Sources close to the case say, inside Busch’s bedroom police found
a sketch of a boy that looked like one of the child killer victims,
along with other evidence that prompted the cops to call 2 members of
the Child Killer Task Force to the suicide scene.
In 2008, the state police searched the home where Busch killed himself. Now the
King’s are frustrated that the state lab still hasn’t finished
processing the evidence that was recovered during that search. They’re
losing confidence in the detectives at the helm of this decades-old
investigation.
“I went 30 plus years without having any worry at
all about the fact that the police were doing a good job on this. I
don’t sleep as well as I used to. I wake up in the middle of the night
thinking about this case and what happened to Tim,” says Barry King.
He says Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper won’t talk to him and has
only sent letters saying that she won’t release the files on Busch.
Since Busch has been dead for years, there’s no way he can be convicted -
and that’s why the King’s are suing. They want to know everything about
Busch, so they can decide on their own if he was the one responsible.
“What do you think the file might show? I have only hearsay evidence, and statements from people, and
review of documents that raise questions that I can’t answer. And it’s
possible there’s a cover up, and its possible Christopher Busch was not
involved. And in either circumstance, I think we’re entitled to
answers,” says King.
The Michigan State Police say they are actively pursuing leads in this case, and they are still processing
evidence – but they can’t comment on the King’s lawsuit, because it’s pending litigation.

Poster's Note: For a Wikepedia entry on the Oakland County Child Killer, here's your link:

WITH VIDEO: Father seeks answers to 1977 child killer case
Published: Sunday, August 01, 2010



By SHAUN BYRON
Of The Oakland Press

It will be 2011 when Barry King’s lawsuit against the Michigan State Police goes to trial in his quest to determine if a dead sex offender was his son’s killer.

“I don’t have any answers from anyone why we were denied access to public files that anybody should be able to walk in and get,” said King, upset that his requests for police reports were denied while local media was able to obtain the information.

King, the father of Oakland County Child Killer victim Timmy King, filed the lawsuit in April in an attempt to get information about Christopher Busch.

Busch is a convicted sex offender who potentially could be a suspect in the more than 30-year-old case that still haunts the area.

King maintains a belief he deserves to know if Busch, who is also the son of a former General Motors Corp. executive, was able to skirt the investigation because of his father’s influence.

He said a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain records relating to Busch was given a price tag of more than $11,000 to obtain. The lawsuit also maintains state police officials have not identified any material that it claims to be exempt from FOIA requests.

State police spokeswoman Shanon Banner said they follow FOIA requests all in the same manner and work closely with the state Attorney General’s Office.

The family also encountered difficulties in obtaining police and court documents from the 1970s that are about Busch.

“It raises some real problems with me and my family,” he said.

Possible special treatment

It was Jan. 25, 1977 and three men would be arrested by Flint police on allegations of forcing boys to commit sexual acts. The three defendants were Christopher Busch, Douglas Bennett and Gregory Woodard Greene.

Busch was the son of Harold Lee Busch, the executive financial director in the United States and Europe for General Motors.

Greene was a Flint native with a criminal history stretching back to 1968. His rap sheet included convictions for breaking and entering, and drinking while under age. It also included charges of drug possession, forged bills, kidnapping and false imprisonment from incidents in Huntington Beach, Calif.

News reports indicated detectives would be questioning as many as 75 boys.

Busch, Bennett and Greene were accused of using gifts, threats and physical force to persuade more than 30 boys to engage in sodomy, oral sex and lewd photography sessions, according to news reports.

News reports from that time also stated the men met their victims while working as counselors in community service groups.

An official with the prosecutor’s office stated some of the boys had been passed from one defendant to another.

Busch was released after his bond was dropped from $75,000 to $1,000.

Greene, meanwhile, was held on a $75,000 bond. Bennett was held on a $15,000 bond.

Greene would go on to be convicted of multiple first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges in 1977. He was sentenced to life in prison that same year.

In 1995, Greene died after serving 18 years of his sentence.

King said Busch, meanwhile, was sentenced to five years of probation and had to pay $2,400 in court costs.

This was despite Busch’s two previous convictions, King said.

“He never spent a day in jail,” he said.

Records on Bennett’s case were not readily available.

A family’s influence?

Timothy King was kidnapped from a grocery store parking lot March 16, 1977, near the family’s home in Birmingham. He was found March 22, just south of the Oakland County line in Livonia.

Busch’s body would be discovered the morning of Nov. 20, 1978 in a bedroom of his family’s home in Bloomfield Township.

He had a single gunshot would to the head. It was ruled a suicide.

It was reported Busch had four criminal cases against him at the time of his death.

The task force investigating the Oakland County Child Killer case was notified the morning his body was found, according to Bloomfield Township police report.

King said a drawing of a boy resembling a different victim, Mark Stebbins, was at the suicide scene, as were bloody ligatures according to information recorded by investigators looking into the apparent suicide.

Stebbins was one of the other Oakland County Child Killer’s victims.

Police, King said, now can’t find the ligatures. Police have declined to comment on the details of the case.

The first task force that was put together to find the killer disbanded that December.

A news report that came out days after Busch and Greene’s arrest cites then Oakland County Prosecutor L. Brooks Patterson as saying some of the Oakland County Child Killer’s victims had been from Oakland County.

Patterson also had stated the cases seemed to be unrelated to Stebbins’ murder.

It was reported two of the men arrested in the Flint bust were interviewed by investigators and given lie detector tests, which concluded they were not suspects in the Stebbins case.

Patterson, now the Oakland County executive, said he doesn’t think it’s possible Busch would have been able to evade them as a suspect because of his family’s influence.

“I’m sure somewhere in this criminal justice system, that kind of influence may have worked, but I don’t remember him being a suspect at the time,” he said. “I’m confident in the integrity of the criminal justice system, the state police ... the departments were working feverishly.

“I just don’t think that is possible.”

Patterson said he still believes the four Oakland County homicides were the work of a single person, but questions if the mystery will ever be solved.

“Busch, with all of the other physical evidence ... is probably the best lead we have,” he said. “I know for the families it’s been an open wound.

“I understand (King’s) continuing frustration and how much he wants it resolved in his lifetime and I hope it is. We’ve been through this since the ’70s and I’m just not optimistic.”

Contact staff writer Shaun Byron at 248-745-4685 or shaun.byron@oakpress.com. You can also follow him on Facebook and @ShaunByron on Twitter.

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2010/08/01/news/doc4c55e5646aa40043864575.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Last Updated: December 28. 2010 1:00AM
Pedophile allegedly linked to '77 Oakland County slaying



Marney Rich Keenan / The Detroit News
For the last 33 years, Barry King and his family have sought to learn who killed his 11-year-old son in 1977, one of four children who were abducted and murdered in the mid-1970s in Oakland County.
For the past three years, King was convinced that he knew the answer.

And today, following the recent court-ordered release of 3,400 pages of investigative records compiled by the Michigan State Police, King says it is clear to him that Christopher Busch, a pedophile who was convicted four times of rape with a minor, was involved in the killing of Timothy King.
"I am now more convinced than ever," King said in an interview.
But the Michigan State Police, who head a task force investigation into the crimes, decline comment. They say the investigation is still active.
The documents were released as the result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the King family against the State Police. A judge ordered the agency to release the investigative files. The agency has billed the King family $11,000 for the documents, though the court will ultimately decide what charges, if any, there will be.
The records reveal: Busch had been charged, and later convicted, four times in the first three months of 1977 with criminal sexual conduct with a minor in four counties: Oakland, Montmorency, Genesee and Midland. With each charge, Busch's father, H. Lee Busch (a prominent General Motors executive) posted cash bonds to free his son. One of his victims said Busch's mother drove to his Flint neighborhood in a limousine, offering him money if he agreed not to say anything to the police. Busch pleaded to a lesser charge and received probation in each of the four cases.
Other children molested by Busch and his companion Gregory Greene told the Oakland County Child Killings Task Force in 1977 that the two men would drive them around in their cars and would have them "lure kids closer to the car by talking to them." One victim said he had been choked unconscious while being molested.
This victim also said he recognized photos of Timothy as being the same boy seen with Busch. He said he saw a Polaroid photo of Timothy tied up in Busch's car.
In an Oakland County Child Killing Task Force interview about his pedophile activity, Busch is said to have listed the locations where he picked up and dropped off boys in the same chronological order that matched the abduction sites of the other three Oakland County children who were killed: Nine Mile and Woodward Avenue in Ferndale (the same location from which Mark Stebbins disappeared), 13 Mile and Woodward in Royal Oak (Jill Robinson was last seen near the Tiny Tim Hobby Center) and the 7-Eleven on 12 Mile in Berkley (where Kristine Mihelich went to purchase a teen magazine). Timothy had not yet been abducted.
On March 16, 1977, Timothy was kidnapped near a Birmingham drugstore and was found six days later alongside a road in Livonia. King said the records are proof that if Busch had been detained by police, his son might be alive today.
Busch questioned, released
Busch lived in Birmingham while the community was being terrorized by the rash of kidnappings and murders of the four children that began in February 1976 and ended with Timothy's death on March 22, 1977. Each child's body was clean, fully dressed and tossed by public roadsides. All were found in Oakland County except Timothy, who was found in Wayne County.
In late January 1977, Busch, then 27, was facing a rape charge in Flint and was questioned by Flint and task force investigators about the murder of Mark Stebbins, the first victim in the Oakland County child killings. According to the records, several investigators and then-Deputy Oakland County Prosecutor Dick Thompson thought Busch would be charged with the Stebbins murder, based on his criminal record and responses to investigators. But after a lie detector test was administered by Michigan State Police examiner Ralph Cabot, Busch was released.
Six weeks later, Timothy was abducted and murdered.
Busch committed suicide in November 1978. The State Police records reveal evidence left at the suicide scene that might have linked Busch to the killings was never pursued by law enforcement. The evidence included ropes and ligatures found on the floor of his bedroom closet and a drawing closely resembling first victim Mark Stebbins that hung on his bedroom wall.
"I still think it is possible there was a cover-up," King said. "I also want to know why it took over 30 years for the Chris Busch lead to be uncovered."
Michigan State Police Capt. Harold Love said he has no comment on the release of the records, adding: "We continue to work the case and pursue all leads."
Reports reveal evidence
Part of the reason King and his children said they are suspicious of the investigation is because the family, not law enforcement, was responsible for bringing the Busch lead to light. Timothy's mother, Marion, died in 2004.
In 2006, former neighbor Patrick Coffey, a licensed polygrapher, called the Kings with information that Larry Wasser, a Southfield polygrapher, had confided to him that Busch had implicated himself in the child killings during a polygraph exam he conducted more than 30 years ago.
Armed with Busch's name, Detective Sgt. Cory Williams of the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and Detective Sgt. Garry Gray of the Michigan State Police examined the State Police records, conducted their own investigation and uncovered the circumstantial evidence tying him and Greene to the killings.
Other findings in the State Police report: A tip was called into the Montmorency Sheriff's Department while Busch was at his family cottage on Ess Lake near Hillman. A woman pleaded with police to go to the cottage, saying she had seen Busch — known to her as a pedophile out on bond — in town with minors. The call came on March 19, 1977, during the time Timothy was missing, which was between March 16 and March 22. There was no indication that law enforcement acted on the tip. A former cellmate of Greene's told detectives Williams and Gray that Greene said "he got away with killing four kids in the past." Greene died in prison of a heart attack in 1995. He was 45.
In early 2008, Williams enlisted three independent polygraph examiners to re-examine the original polygraphs of Busch and Greene that led to Busch's release in the Stebbins investigation. Their findings are blocked out in the documents the King family received.
In April 2008, in an interview with the FBI in New York City, Charles Busch, Christopher Busch's only living sibling, requested that as a condition for supplying his DNA, family members living in Michigan be allowed to enter a "witness protection-type program." He also said that later in his life, his father, H. Lee Busch, who died at age 90 in 2002, shredded all of the family documents, including birth certificates.
Prosecutor refuses to talk
In light of this evidence, King said he feels some vindication in his pursuit of information but failure in his pursuit of justice. He said he wants to meet with Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, but she has refused to talk with him.
"The Michigan Constitution says that crime victims have a right to confer with the prosecutor," King said.
"I will feel like justice has been served when the Oakland County prosecutor explains to me why Busch is not guilty. I am sick and tired of a four-time convicted sexual pedophile being treated better than my family and the families of Mark Stebbins, Kristine Mihelich and Jill Robinson."
Cooper responded in an e-mail that she cannot comment because "there is an active, open and ongoing investigation that would be compromised by the release of any information regarding Christopher Busch."
The King family also filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Oakland County prosecutor seeking its Busch-related files. Oakland County Circuit Judge Wendy Potts decided against the Kings, saying the prosecutor's information on Busch was "sensitive," and disclosure of the information could interfere with the investigation. However, the judge urged the prosecutor "to communicate as openly and freely as possible with Plaintiffs and other family members of the OCCK victims."
When asked if he felt the documents were worth $11,000, King replied: "It was Tim's college money."
mkeenan@detnews.com
(313) 222-2515

http://detnews.com/article/20101228/METRO02/12280367/Pedophile-allegedly-linked-to-%E2%80%9977-Oakland-County-slaying

Birmingham's Most Horrific Murder Remembered; An Unsolved Serial Killer Mystery
Tina Valentine, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Feb 2, 2011

On March 16, 1977, 11-year-old Timothy King disappeared from the parking lot of a drug store on Maple Road never to be seen alive again. On March 22, his body is found in a ditch alongside Gill Road, despite his parents' pleas for a safe return. Little Timothy King is thought to be the fourth victim in a series of child killings in Oakland County. Each child was cleaned and bathed when found so the public dubbed the killer, "The Babysitter." Timothy's clothes had actually been pressed when his body was found. Some of these children, including Timothy, had been sexually assaulted. This is probably the most horrific crime Birmingham has ever seen.

According to Wikipedia, a man named "Allen," who claimed to be a roommate of the serial killer, called police. He said he helped care for the children. Allen was going to turn himself in and "give up" the killer in exchange for immunity, but he didn't show up for the meeting and he was never heard from again. There was another top suspect by the name of Theodore Lamborgine. He was arrested for being involved in a child porn ring and is thought to be the serial killer, but it was never proven. There were other suspects as well.

The website Serial Killer Central posted an update on the unsolved mystery in 2005, which stated that police were still investigating the crime. There was a single hair found on one of the slain children and that hair was being tested against the DNA of possible suspects. Forensic science is so much more advanced today than it was back then, but I couldn't find any reports on the serial killer being found. Hopefully, they will keep trying and solve the mystery of who the serial killer known as "the babysitter" is and what drove this tormented person to kill innocent children.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7709056/birminghams_most_horrific_murder_remembered.html

poster's note.....the drawing is too graphic to include in this post.
EXCLUSIVE: New Person Identified In Oakland County Child Killer Case

POSTED: Wednesday, May 18, 2011
UPDATED: 9:57 am EDT May 19, 2011

DETROIT -- With the help of DNA technology, there has been a physical match in the Oakland County Child Killer case, providing a new suspect never before named.
From February 1976 to March 1977, a serial killer was abducting and holding four young children against their will for several days before killing them, then cleaning their bodies and clothes and placing them on display throughout Metro Detroit.
For 35 years it has been an unsolved mystery with a lot of speculation, but no physical evidence.
Watch: DNA Links New Suspect In Oakland County Child Killer Case
There is new hope for solving the murders of Mark Stebbins, Kristin Mihelich, Jill Robinson and Timothy King.
There are four blockbuster new pieces of evidence:
1. White animal hair connects all four cases.
2. A DNA match from new hairs discovered on one of the victims leads to this new suspect.
3. Police find a startling drawing at a suspect's home.
4. A police report surfaces from the 1970s that sent investigators looking around a northern Michigan cottage Tuesday afternoon.
The white animal hair believed to be from a dog is found on all four victims. It tells investigators that the murders are definitely connected.
One hair was found on the body of 11-year-old King. However, it never has been revealed before that three additional hairs were found on Mihelich, including two on her blouse.
The 10-year-old girl was taken from the streets in Berkley Jan. 2 1977. Her dead body was found 19 days later, still wearing the same clothes she disappeared in. Investigators believe the hair fragments may belong to the person who dumped her body.
"Never, we never knew it," said Mihelich's sister, Erica Ascroft-McAvoy, when asked if her family ever knew there was hair found on her body.
Ascroft-McAvoy was shocked to find out about the hairs. She then was floored to find out that according to police files obtained for the first time, police have been able to make a DNA match in the Oakland County Child Killer case.
The hair found on Mihelich's blouse is a mitochondrial DNA match with a man living in Kalamazoo. But because of the quality of the hair, a perfect DNA match is impossible. A mitochondrial match narrows the hair to 1 percent of the Caucasian population. Police reports say this is "the first physical evidence match in the Oakland County Child Killer case's history."
"I think there is a mountain of evidence that in fact they will never divulge to us, even as family," said Ascroft-McAvoy.
According to police reports obtained by the Defenders, police think the hair belongs to 49-year-old James Vincent Gunnels. Gunnels was in police custody until just one month ago, living in a halfway house in Kalamazoo. He has a long history of property crimes, but never has been charged in any criminal sexual case. The victims' families were recently told Gunnels would stay in prison for decades unless he cooperated in the Oakland County Child Killer case. But tonight Gunnels is a free man -- police saying they do not have enough evidence to hold him or charge him.
"Law enforcement needs to make a deal with him, extend that olive branch, and get him into a witness program, or put him some place, but they have to put the pressure on him to make him talk. He knows more," said Ascroft-McAvoy.
Police took a DNA swab of Gunnels and gave him a lie detector test while he was still in prison. Police say he intentionally held his breath to try and cause the lie detector test to be inconclusive.
While talking to his sister from prison on a recorded phone line about the Oakland County Child Killer case, Gunnels' sister said "They have your DNA on one of the victims." Gunnels' response: "I wasn't there when it happened."
"They are going on the theory that he may have possibly been the one that disposed of her body. And that if he were to pick her up and if she were to be slumped over his shoulder, they are thinking maybe that is how that hair got into, what would be the abdomen region on the blouse," said Ascroft-McAvoy.
According to hundreds of police documents scrutinized by the Defenders, investigators believe Gunnels may have been part of a group involved in the child killings or a lure to draw the kids closer to the killer. Gunnels was only 16-years-old at the time. Police investigating Gunnels have learned he was molested by a key suspect in the Oakland County Child Killer case -- a man named Christopher Busch. Busch was convicted of sexually assaulting Gunnels. Gunnels told police Busch molested him at the Busch family cottage on Ess Lake in northern Michigan.
"He said he has been up north with Busch, and took a couple of trips with him. He's been in his car hundreds of times," said Chris King, brother of Timothy King.
Investigators are looking into the possibility that Tim King was taken to that same cottage on Ess Lake. The 11-year-old disappeared from Birmingham on March 16, 1977. According to this police report obtained by the Defenders, three days later on March 19, police in Montmorency County got a call that Christopher Busch, a known pedophile, was at Ess Lake with three young boys ages 13, 14, and 15. Three days after the tip call to police, Timothy King's dead body is dumped in Livonia in the same clothes he was abducted in. The families want to know if Gunnels lured King and other kids into Busch's car and took them to the cottage.
"It would be heartbreaking to think that Tim could be in that cottage, and someone called the PD because they knew he shouldn't be around minors," said Chris King.
"They have examined people about having been used as a "lure" and how they got kids in the car," said Barry King, Tim's father.
Chris and his father Barry say James Vincent Gunnels needs to be pressured to talk.
"He also states that if his hair was on the victim it was because he was in Busch's car hundreds of times, which seems to put Christine Mihelich in Chris Busch's car," Chris King said.
As for Chris Busch, he cannot be prosecuted or questioned because he is dead. His body was found with a bullet between the eyes in a Bloomfield Hills home in November 1978. It was ruled a suicide. The victims families' aren't convinced. They were never told about Busch as a suspect when he was found dead. Never told that police found these blood-stained ropes in his house -- the ropes were kept in an evidence locker for years, but now have gone missing. Also, in Christopher Busch's bedroom, this frightening drawing of a young boy being tortured. It has never been seen by the public before now. Police immediately recognizing the similarities to 11-year-old victim Mark Stebbins -- abducted in Ferndale on Feb. 15, 1976. His dead body found four days later.
Remember Busch died in 1978, but police never told the families about this drawing.
"I don't really want to tell you what I'm thinking about that picture," said Mike Stebbins, Mark Stebbins' brother.
Police never even told Mike Stebbins there was a drawing. He asked Local 4 to provide him with a copy saying he wants to see it. He wants the public to see it, so that someone will take action. He says you can tell by the hair, the coat, the face, that the drawing is of his brother.
"And that hurts me so freaking bad," Stebbins said.
Jill Robinson is the only one of the four victims not smothered to death. She was abducted Dec. 22, 1976. Her body was found four days later. She was shot with a 12-gauge shotgun. James Gunnels, the man whose hair was found on victim Kristin Mihelich's blouse, told police that when he was with Chris Busch at the Ess Lake cottage, Busch taught him how to shoot a 12-gauge shotgun.
The families want Busch's cottage and all other known Busch properties searched.
"I've been tearing myself up for 35 years -- because there is not a day that goes by that I don't think about this," Ascroft-McAvoy said.
On Tuesday, the Defenders were at the Ess Lake cottage up north. And so was a Wayne County prosecutor and an investigator. Wayne County is involved because Tim King's body was found in Livonia. To date, no search warrants have been executed at the home. Police did search Busch's home in Bloomfield Hills. They did not get a positive DNA match. The families were told it's too expensive to search other properties.
But the King family is offering to pay the bill. Police and prosecutors have discussed taking this evidence to a grand jury, but the plan has not moved beyond the discussion stage.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/27944695/detail.html

A grand jury is expected to hear evidence in the Oakland County Child Killer case, according to a county official.
Oakland
County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who was prosecutor when someone
kidnapped and murdered Timmy King, Mark Stebbins, Kristine Mihelich and
Jill Robinson in 1976 and 1977, said he expects the homicide case to be
one of 30 on the table for the Oakland County Grand Jury to review.
But Patterson urges that the move should not be misinterpreted as an indication that an arrest is imminent.
“I
don’t consider this to be a major breakthrough on the child killer
case,” he said. “I’m sure it’s going to be one of the cases reviewed.
We’ve been down so many dead end streets with this case. So I’m hopeful,
but I’m not overly optimistic at this point.”
He commended
Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper for convening the grand jury
and reviewing the case, which should provide people a measure of hope
that a killer might someday be found.
“I want them to be
cautiously hopeful,” he said. “I know several of the families. I want
more than anything for those families to have some closure.”
Oakland
County Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton today would only acknowledge
that Cooper asked county officials to fund a grand jury convened in late
May. She asked for 13 to 17 Oakland County residents to spend up to a
year reviewing evidence and testimony about unsolved Oakland County
homicide cases, he said.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a
cold case but an unsolved homicide,” he said this morning, explaining
that he could not acknowledge which cases the jury will be reviewing,
including the Oakland County Child Killer case.
News of the grand jury probe brought a new wave of hope to families who have been waiting decades for justice.
“I’m
excited,” said Barry King, 80, of Birmingham, whose son Timothy King
disappeared March 16, 1977 after he left the family home to skateboard
to a nearby convenience store for candy. He never returned. His body was
discovered March 22 in a ditch in Livonia. He had been sexually
assaulted and smothered.
The grand jury, King said, may
provide some definitive answers. “This is the first opportunity, that
I’m aware, of where somebody is going to have to make some
determinations about what happened here.”
This is the first
grand jury seated in Oakland County since those assembled in 1999 and
1996, Walton added. Secret by statute, 13 to 17 residents of Oakland
County will hear evidence presented in each case, then vote on whether
to indict the suspect for the crime.
The secrecy is designed to ensure witnesses in each case feel comfortable testifying.
“They
feel secure while they’re there,” Walton said. “They have the belief
and understanding that when they testify, when they leave no one else
but the prosecutor and the grand jurors are going to know the
testimony.”
Any indictments also remain secret until the suspect is arrested and arraigned before an Oakland County Circuit Court judge.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110714/NEWS03/110714008/Oakland-County-child-killer-case-reviewed-by-grand-jury?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Wayne County grand jury has been investigating Oakland County Child Killer case

Posted: 07/15/2011

(WXYZ) - It has been a week of stunning developments in the Oakland County Child Killer case.

Now Action News has learned that another grand jury has been investigating the decades-old murder mystery. Legal experts say this is not something that usually happens – to have two different state grand juries investigating the same case. But Action News has learned that Wayne County is conducting a grand jury to look at the child killer case and an Oakland County grand jury is doing the same thing.

Action News has learned that Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy convened a grand jury of her own to hear evidence in the decades-old case. Between 1976 and 1977 – a killer – or killers – abducted and murdered four children. They were all kidnapped in different Oakland County cities – and all but three of the bodies were left in Oakland County.

The child killer’s last known victim was 11-year-old Timothy King – taken from Birmingham, but his body was discovered in Livonia. Legal experts tell Action News that one location allows Worthy to have some jurisdiction in the case. Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper has recently convened a 13-17 person citizen’s grand jury to hear testimony and examine evidence in the child killer case.

A grand jury operates in secret and they have to power to compel witnesses to appear, and they can grant immunity. Timothy King’s father, Barry King, is grateful Worthy is also pursuing the case.

King says he hopes that all of the law enforcement officials can work together to bring resolution to the case. Neither prosecutor is commenting on either grand jury.


http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/wayne-county-prosecutor-kym-worthy-launches-oakland-county-child-killer-grand-jury

sounds like there is some covering up going on. looks like there just waiting for everyone involved to pass on.

Reasons for moving suspect in Oakland County Child Killer case are a mystery

July 18, 2012

Arch Edward Sloan, locked up since 1985 on criminal sexual conduct charges, is now being connected to the Oakland County Child Killer case.

Since December 2010, he has twice been brought over from the west Michigan prison where he is being held to Oakland County, presumably as part of the investigation.

Sloan was transferred by court order from the Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility in Muskegon Heights to the Oakland County Jail, once in December 2010 and once in February, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.

But the orders don't detail why Sloan was taken to Oakland County, Jim Verboncouer, deputy warden at the Brooks Correctional Facility said. He said these types of orders are typical if a person needs to be in court or if there is an investigation.

According to Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, Sloan has been interviewed by investigators but has provided little information.

However, hair found in Sloan's vehicle shares a similar DNA profile to three unidentified hairs found on the bodies of two of four children believed to be the victims of the killer, Cooper said Tuesday.

A man who said he is Sloan's brother declined to comment Tuesday, and other family members could not be reached.

According to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, Sloan -- who has been described as a quiet, well-behaved prisoner -- had four convictions of sexual assault against male minors.

In 1959, Sloan was sentenced to two-five years on a charge of gross indecency between males-committing/procuring, according to the state's offender tracking system.

He started serving two life sentences for a first-degree criminal sexual conduct case out of Wayne County in 1985.

On occasion, Sloan has visits from family members, who provide him with funds. His last visit, Verboncouer said, was in October 2011. He said Sloan consistently puts $10 a month on phone cards. That amount, he said, would give him about 30 minutes of talking time.

Since the department began keeping track of prisoners electronically, Sloan appears to have only had three misconducts -- one in 1999 for possessing dangerous contraband, one in 2001 for possessing stolen property and another minor misconduct in 2001, said John Cordell, a spokesman for the MDOC.

"He is a quiet prisoner, doing his time and not problematic at all," Verboncouer said. "But that's pretty typical for that type of crime (criminal sexual conduct)."

http://www.freep.com/article/20120718/NEWS03/207180442/Reasons-for-moving-suspect-in-Oakland-County-Child-Killer-case-are-a-mystery

Attorney in Oakland County Child Killer case blasts prosecutor's office over complaint

August 29, 2012 at 3:57 pm
By Mike Martindale, The Detroit News

Detroit — An attorney who has accused Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper and other law enforcement officials of mishandling the Oakland County Child Killer investigation criticized her office Wednesday for filing a professional complaint against him.

Attorney Paul M. Hughes and a shadowy client known only as "Bob" claim to have knowledge of the identity of people investigators should be looking at in a series of unsolved killings of Oakland County children between 1976-77.

Hughes — flanked by relatives of two victims — said at a news conference that the Oakland County Prosecutor's office has refused to share information and responded to his criticism by filing a complaint against him with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission.

"In 28 years, I have never been disciplined for anything," said Hughes, who distributed photocopies of the three-page grievance letter to reporters Wednesday. "And any grievances against me have been dismissed as frivolous."

Hughes said he plans to file his own grievance against Cooper for allegedly slandering him by referring to him as a "dog bite attorney" in a local TV interview.

"I have never filed a dog bite case in my life," said Hughes.

The verbal and legal sparring between Hughes and Cooper's office in recent months has brought new attention to — some say overshadowed — the unsolved deaths of Mark Stebbins, 12, of Ferndale; Jill Robinson, 12, of Royal Oak; Kristine Mihelich, 10, of Berkley; and Timmy King, 11, of Birmingham.

The four disappeared on different dates between February 1976 and March 1977 and were held for several days before their lifeless bodies were dumped in public places to be found.

Because of the circumstances of their apparent abductions, slayings and how they were found, the deaths were believed to be related.

All appeared to have been fed and cared for, investigators said. But Robinson was killed by a shotgun blast and the other victims were smothered. The two boys had been raped, autopsies determined.

"It's always been felt someone in religious garb, a police officer or someone children would look up to (was involved)," Hughes said.

"This was not a child molester who was repeatedly caught," he said.

In a news conference last month, Cooper said investigators believe at least one person is still alive who could provide information to help resolve the cases, always thought the work of one killer or killers.

Over the past year, families of the victims have renewed pleas for public help and also criticized investigators' efforts. Lawsuits have been filed in state and federal court over investigative reports about various suspects who had been involved in child sexual assaults and apparently looked at by detectives at one time or another.

An anonymous mystery man known as "Bob" has made news with his unspecific claims that more needs to be done and that the entire probe should be turned over to the U.S. Department of Justice. Hearings on that request, and for the dismissal of a federal lawsuit against authorities, are expected to take place next month.

Jarvis, who is Kristine Mihelich's mother, and Michael Stebbins, brother to Mark Stebbins, both said Wednesday they still want the federal government to take over the probe.

The investigation has even been rumored to have gone before separate grand juries in Oakland and Wayne counties for consideration. Hughes said information has been leaked out and noted that Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson both criticized Cooper's office.

Responding to his remarks Wednesday, Cooper said: "Assuming there was a grand jury — and we cannot confirm or deny there was because they are secret — none of them could possibly know what went before it or what constituted so-called leaks."

Cooper said she is unconcerned by Hughes' statement that he would file a grievance against her office.

"I don't care what his plans are," she said. "His own website said he specializes in dog bites.

"All of this is so bizarre it defies explanation," Cooper said. "There is no basis in law or fact. There are lawsuits with affidavits from anonymous people, like Bob, whomever that is, based on hearsay on hearsay.

"I've never seen anything like it as a lawyer, a judge or a prosecutor."

Cooper said she met with members of the multi-agency task force and all agreed to release information about hairs found on two victims and a possible link with a convicted pedophile.

Mitochondrial DNA found on hairs left on the two boys matched that of a hair found in a car of a convicted pedophile, Arch Sloan, who was questioned by investigators back in the 1970s.

The hair does not match Sloan, who is serving a life sentence for other unrelated sex crimes, but is the first physical evidence tying two victims together.

"We have received several dozen good leads and tips they are following up on," she said. "Yet we and the news media waste time and energy responding to this stuff."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120829/METRO/208290465#ixzz252w812Vl

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

Woman blogs about losing a brother to the Oakland County Child Killer

By DAVE PHILLIPS
POSTED: 04/13/13, 12:00 AM EDT | 0 COMMENTS
"It's easier to put it on the page rather than to carry it around in your head."

That's how Catherine Broad describes her blog, focused on the Oakland County Child Killer.

Broad's brother, Timothy King, was one of the killer's four victims from 1976 and 1977.

Since beginning the blog at catherinebroad.wordpress.com in January, Broad has had thousands of visitors. She writes about many aspects of the killer, from evidence to tales of the days before and after King's death, and she also writes about other criminals.

"I never promised at the beginning of the blog that it would be in chronological order," Broad said.

"The case and investigation is very complex. I kind of decided to approach it piecemeal -- that's the easiest way for me to tell the story."

Broad started the blog after receiving a phone call.

"I had gotten a phone call from maybe the 30th person who was asking me for information about what had taken place in the case, and it was someone who should have had a better grasp on the facts," she said.

"I felt like 'I'm just going to document this in one place, because I'm so sick of telling the story over and over and over.'"

The blog has seen 13,000 hits and is followed by about 400 people.

"The readership has definitely increased over the past three months," Broad said.

Barry King, father of Broad and Timothy King, said he's proud of the blog and has expanded his knowledge of computers in order to keep up with it.

"I'm very pleased with what my daughter's doing because we're not getting any answers from the people who should be talking to us, and I think it will get better before she finishes," King said.

He explained that Broad started college the same year Timothy was killed, and she graduated magna cum laude.

King spoke about the Freedom of Information Act requests that the family has received, which have also been posted on the blog.

"It's very interesting in a way, because my first two FOIA requests, (the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office) has not produced one document to me, and I have both of those cases up in the Court of Appeals now," he said.

"Then I asked for everything they gave to (WDIV-TV) channel 4, and we get the complete, non-redacted transcript of (James) Gunnels flunking a polygraph test."

Gunnels was asked in 2009 if he participated in the killing of Kristine Mihelich, another Oakland County Child Killer victim. He was also asked if he knew who killed Mihelich and if he had any physical contact with Mihelich.

A Michigan State Police report states that Gunnels "completely failed all aspects of said examination." The document is posted on the blog.

In a press conference last year, officials said hairs found on the bodies of Timothy King, who was 11 when he was killed, and 12-year-old Mark Stebbins, matched hairs found in a vehicle belonging to Arch Sloan when tested along Mitochondrial DNA lines. The hairs do not match Sloan's DNA nor do they match Gunnels.

Mitochondrial DNA tests only along maternal lines. The results cannot pinpoint an exact donor, because siblings and their mother would share the same Mitochondrial DNA pattern.

"Until somebody convinces us to the contrary, we believe there's a much bigger (story behind this)," King said.

"We're hoping someone will raise their hand along the way and say 'Enough's enough. Here's what happened.'"

The topic is obviously not an easy one for Broad to discuss at times.

"It does take a toll on me sometimes after I've written it and published it," she said. "It's not easy to put yourself out there like that, but I still feel like that's what I've signed on to do."

Broad, who moved out of state in 1977 and now lives in Illinois, is frustrated by the ongoing investigation into the killings.

"I don't think very much is being done on the investigation at all," she said.

"I have a lot of faith in the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office but no faith in any of the other agencies. I wish I could say something different, but that's my view of what is and isn't going on."

Communication -- or in Broad's opinion, lack thereof -- is key.

"I think the communication aspect is huge," she said.

"We would've never been where we are today had someone in the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office just returned a phone call or a letter."

The King family has been involved in litigation with the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, seeking information that the prosecution is not willing to turn over because an investigation is ongoing. The legal battles are chronicled in part on the blog.

"Now it's turned into this thing where there are a lot of hard feelings," Broad said.

"I feel a lot of vindictiveness."

Some have asked Broad if she's concerned that the blog will impact the investigation.

"If that's the way it works, then something's really broken with the system," Broad said.

"All we wanted were answers ... about where the investigation was going and the answer of 'It's an open investigation,' that doesn't work for 36 years. You can't just keep saying that.

"I feel like they've surpressed any inquiry and it's become this very petty, vindictive battle, and I just don't understand."

Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper explained the reasons that information is kept from the family.

"There's a reason that family members are not involved in the investigation," Cooper said.

"One is because it's too intensely personal for them, even if it is 35 years later.

"It has to be followed with a level of objectivity. I know the media loves to talk about this because it is an unsolved mystery. I know that Mr. King has been the center of media attention for a long time, but this blogging and this disrespect for people that have worked so hard for them, it's time to stop ... and let the professionals do what they seek to do."

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20130413/woman-blogs-about-losing-a-brother-to-the-oakland-county-child-killer