Post by Helen Dagner on Apr 23, 2013 10:07:45 GMT -5
UPDATE:
John McKinney:
Murdered in his Birmingham gallery September 1977
He has now been irrefutably linked to at least two of the murdered children. While he has not appeared as a formal suspect within the police investigation, he certainly should have been and is a very real suspect, within the family of one of the murdered children. Of all of the suspects paraded out over the past thirty five years, no one has been able to link any of them directly to even one of the victims of the Oakland County Child Killer (the Babysitter). This statement excludes James Vincent Gunnels. While there is some physical evidence linking him to one of the victims, no one really believes he was a fourteen year old killer-more on him later.
Since the original publication of my story, memories have been jogged and new and very significant information has surfaced, regarding John McKinney.
The source of this information is a tremendous twist of fate in a set of circumstances which led the family of murder victim, Timothy King in the current direction of this unsolved case. Prior to information provided regarding Christopher Busch there were few people other than one site and one woman questioning the investigations. The King family believed the investigation was sound and always moving forward. After revelations about the Christopher Busch debacle, they came to understand it was not as they believed.
After publication of Portraits a family member of the King’s close neighbor family became aware of my story. What happened next is where the purpose for my mission began to take real shape. Long forgotten memories and information came flooding in.
It is important to note that back in the seventies it was not unusual for people to have five and six or more children. It was also very common for each member of these large families to have close relationships with the various age appropriate children of the other large neighborhood families. I remember my older sibling being a close friend of the older sibling of my best friend. This was true of my younger siblings and their best friend’s younger siblings.
So it was with the Kings and their close neighbor family. While the older boy was close friends with one of the King boys, so too was a female member of the neighbor family very close friends with Timmy King’s older sister. Timmy was very close to the younger neighbor boy. He played at and ate at their house almost daily.
Since John McKinney never surfaced as a suspect, he never came up in the many conversations that the neighbors had over the decades, about the horror which befell their good friends as well as themselves.
The following e-mail communications are between me and Timmy King’s sister. They have been edited for space limitations, flow and to remove the names of various people as well as neighbor family members.
But I do have the originals with all names.
****
Catch this. I just got off the phone with my life long friend, cousin of our neighbor family. He lived with his cousins who lived across the street and three doors down from us. She said she talked to him about your book and she was totally freaked out because they knew John McKinney. He was a long-time family friend, was over at their house all the time. Her dad was business partners with McKinney. They were big art collectors. One of her brothers is an artist, and although he moved out west in 1974, prior to that, he worked at McKinney's gallery off an on. As she pointed out, Tim was at their house all the time, too. She said if Tim didn't know McKinney's name, he would have for sure recognized him on the street. Said McKinney ate dinner at their house many times over the years.
She was crying and very upset and explained that everyone had been racking their brains trying to figure out who could have taken Tim. It had to be someone he knew or was familiar with, or that he was overpowered. She said they had all agreed Tim wouldn't have just gone with anyone and that he would have told someone to “f**k off” if they said "get in the car." She is right and she is right that Tim was over at their house all the time. They all knew him very well. She said that for sure Tim would have gotten in a car with McKinney. They had crossed paths that many times. McKinney could have even said “hey, I'm headed to their house. I'll give you a ride home.” She said McKinney had an apartment up above his gallery. They all knew him as an art dealer, but they knew he was a reverend (chaplain, actually) and she sometimes saw him wearing a collar.
Remember all the speculation about a priest nabbing these kids because they might trust a clergy member? She is calling her Dad and is going to run this by him. I just sent her your book. She is totally freaked.
****
I spoke with my old friend twice today. It gets worse. She told me she called her older sister and flung this McKinney stuff on her, asking if she remembered him and telling her about the suspicions. Her sister was quiet for a minute and said “no.” It didn't surprise her.” Twelve or so years ago, when she saw a news blip about a tip in the case, she was compelled to write a letter to authorities saying they needed to look hard at McKinney. That he was totally creepy and that she always suspected him. I AM NOT KIDDING. My friend’s sister was quite a bit older than us (or so it seemed) and she pointed out that my friend and I were younger when McKinney first started coming around and that she saw things from a different perspective. After reading your book, this is what the older sister wrote to me:
Thank you so much for sending me the book. I just got back in from Indianapolis and read it cover to cover. It is sad beyond belief. It makes sense. I always thought that John McKinney did it, but I thought he acted alone. I had no idea back then that rings like that even existed. They are in the news more commonly now. I told my mom about my suspicions and she always said one had nothing to do with the other. I don't care what my folks or my brother have to say about him. He gave me the willies from day one and always did-to the point where I would never take a ride from him or be alone with him. I carried it for years and finally contacted the police. I had and have nothing concrete in the world to base it on and I felt badly about accusing someone with no proof. I turned it over and prayed about it. He was a milquetoast and fastidious and scary. But there is one thing in the book that particularly struck me. Lilly said that maybe Timmy went through this so that others wouldn't have to-that by his death he saved many, many lives. I believe that to be true. He brought an end to an era in Michigan, a horrible dark era. And I believe he saved others through his death. It is my belief that we are here to be a blessing, and there could be no greater blessing than Tim.
Love H.
****
I think I told you one of the neighbor’s brothers, an artist, worked for McKinney at his gallery. My friend said they even went to New York together on work-related stuff. She believes it is possible McKinney did something to him. This family knew it could just as easily have been their youngest son/brother taken. He was Tim's very good friend and classmate. He also had a near-miss with someone he described as looking like "a mountain man" (BUSCH anyone???) while he was riding his bike on our street. The f**ker pulled over and started talking to him and he took off. He told me about this a few years ago, before we knew Chris Busch's name or anything about him!
My dear friend has not yet spoken to her Dad. I sent her your book and she received it today and is reading it as I write. She is calling me again at 11 my time. She also attempted to contact her other brother (the artist) numerous times yesterday. She made general inquiries about McKinney via private messaging on Facebook and then he went "offline."
My friend told me, "I am sure you met him at our house at some point," I don't remember him--not his name, his face; I knew they were big time into art--it was obvious from their house, but I didn't know they were connected to any art gallery. I'm telling you, this was a very nice family. Her Dad will die when she runs this past him. I am not kidding. He is the kindest, most gentle and sensitive person ever. For sure he would give "Mr. Art Dealer" the benefit of the doubt. And no doubt McKinney kissed their asses because they were part of the $$ behind his gallery and they shared a common interest in art. They were backers and would have been a huge plus for McKinney (who lived in Clawson, but catered to a bunch of rich folks from the Birmingham area). Talk about someone who wanted to give a facial to the "upper crust"!!!! Good god, this is as good as it gets for a guy like him. Like you said, digging on the terror he created.
Believe me Lilly this is obviously huge, as you know. I tossed it out in a limited format to Cory Williams and to a member of the press and they were blown away. Few words, but clearly blown away. I used your line about this being the first and irrefutable connection between a suspect and a victim. And did I tell you that my neighbor’s younger sister (2 years younger than us?) babysat for the Robinson kids?
? They have been spooked by this for years; that she knew two of the victims. Tom Robinson lived in Birmingham. The guy was a professor. Did anyone ever think to ask him about whether he ever bought art from or consigned art to John McKinney? After McKinney got murdered, did anyone ask the four families if McKinney's name rang a bell?!
Do you know what I feel like after hearing my friend ask me "Why didn't you ever tell me McKinney was a suspect?" I didn't tell her because I had no idea she or her family knew him. She told me that she remembered her parents discussing the fact that McKinney was investigated by the task force after he wound up dead. I didn't know that. Why didn't she ask me about McKinney? There was an article in The Royal Oak Tribune after his murder, discussing "the three sides of John McKinney," and nobody bats an eye?
So is Busch really just some patsy here? McKinney should have been looked at HARD back in the day.
I am so sick of this. I could weep when I think about all of this Bull S. Why didn't I tell you about something I didn't know could be remotely relevant until a few days ago? Why didn't the police do their jobs back then?
March 3rd is when I learned the younger neighbor girl babysat at Tom Robinson’s house in Birmingham-not Mrs. Robinson’s house in Royal Oak.
First details I ever got about her babysitting for the Robinson kids. When the neighbors mentioned this to me when I met them downtown in 2007, it meant nothing to me other than it was horrible that she knew two victims.
I also remember assuming she babysat for Jill in Royal Oak. I never knew until a few days ago that our good friends and neighbors knew d**n McKinney. Without that piece, the fact that she babysat for Jill and knew Tim was nothing other than a sad fact.
Why do I have to go around digging for this stuff? And why should I even bother passing any of it on to Law Enforcement any more?
Why didn't anybody ever ask all of the parents if they knew John McKinney after he was found shot up? Or if anybody had anything framed by McKinney? I bet you Tom Robinson could have known McKinney. A young professor could have easily been in the same circles as these art people.
My friend had never heard McKinney's name in connection to this case until she read your book!
I never knew that he was business partners with our close neighbors. I was a teenager; I didn't give a nuts who the adults were at my friends' houses. I don't ever remember meeting the guy.
McKinney's name has been tossed about since the Helen era. She had two threads devoted just to him and his murder. Some very interesting comments were made and news articles were posted.
Lilly, just know that yours is the first of a few books that will be written on these cases. You tossed the McKinney card out there first. People like my friend "get" that books/articles roust people out of their slumber. Do what you have to do. Think of her older sister, who was old enough to size-up someone like McKinney, saying that “he was the creepiest guy ever!” Jesus. She told her younger sister (my friend) that when she heard nothing back after writing the letter to the police about him, and then learned about Busch, she just assumed that "oh well," she had tossed out the name of someone who was in fact innocent, but at least she got it off of her chest.
She said McKinney's possible involvement was always with her at some level.
FYI, my friend’s parents were convinced McKinney’s murder was a robbery gone bad. They were always concerned about the art collection they had in their own home. And, as you can tell from those news articles about McKinney, he was a freaking chameleon. Art gallery owner and art expert, compassionate chaplain, lover of old people in need of ministry. Give me a break!!!!!! McKinney was a chaplain at some Bloomfield Hills nursing home. Busch was the food service manager at an assisted living facility for old people and it was probably not the same place as the $$ place where McKinney was "ministering", but the places were in close physical proximity. I have looked this nuts up before and can access it relatively easily. I am just so exhausted by all of this right now that I am feeling overwhelmed.
My friend is going to speak to her younger brother, who was friends with Tim. He is very bright, very successful; if he can remember anything about McKinney, he will be able to articulate it.
I have given this McKinney info to Cory Williams. He emailed back yesterday (before I had even told him about the older sister suspecting McKinney and the younger sister babysitting for the Robinson kids), something along the lines of “WOW that can't be a coincidence! Hey, this is just soooo Bizarre....WOW. It keeps sinking in further. One question though, why are you just telling me this now?”...Cory
Cory has spoken with the younger neighbor boy (Tim’s friend) a time or two over the past couple years. He said he was never questioned by the cops back in the day. Which doesn't surprise me, because the other three boys who were with Tim in the hours before his abduction were never questioned either! It's like I said to my family “if you want to kill little kids, do it in Oakland County.”
Younger neighbor girl (maybe 14 or 15 in 1977) used to baby-sit for the
Robinson kids at Tom Robinson's house in Birmingham. The older girl (my friend) reminded me of that fact yesterday. They had often remarked how bizarre it was that the younger girl babysat for 2 of the victims and quite a few people in their family mentioned this to me as recently as 2007. It was under the category of "how bizarre" that their younger girl knew Tim and Jill.
McKinney was around them all.
There is a strong circumstantial case indicating Busch was involved, no doubt. But how can you ignore this McKinney stuff? Jesus. I'm telling you, every part of this nightmare is exhausting. When I think back to 2006-2008, when everyone thought I was crazy for pursuing the Busch information and questioning the investigation itself on Helen's site . . . Like you said in your book, every aspect of this thing takes a toll on you.
C.
Hey C,
Have you heard back from the neighbors? I have to tell you that I am more than anxious to know if they have more memories. Was McKinney around them while Timmy was missing? Is it possible he offered them his condolences and maybe even spiritual council? I see him doing it-the control, the power, the sick enjoyment. So gross picturing McKinney getting off while talking to the cops. He was at the Landmark all the time. A known cop hang out-knew many of them by name.
I felt that once this story started throwing more nuts in this long and dirty game, information would surface. I was prepared for some hammering from those who don't like my writing style (it is different) and expected them to use it to slam the book-most especially use it to slam the message in the story. That will come. What I didn't expect was that the information to surface almost immediately, would be so intensely vital to everyone concerned, and be irrefutable enough to silence the would-be silencers. I have to tell you. I didn't sleep well. I hope you were better at it than I was. My head is spinning and my heart is now aching for everyone I can only imagine how this will hit your neighbors wave on wave.
This absolute connection to at least two of the children is the most anyone has been able to come up with, in all these years. I am now convinced that with a little legal footwork, the police could uncover a connection with the other two children. It must be there. It may already be there but the dots just were not connected.
C, I was hanging in the Birmingham scene, in those days. It was the new hot spot-the Midtown Cafe, Archibald's, 555, Fox and Hounds. I am just enough older than you, that I too saw things from another perspective. There's no way McKinney was hanging at the Landmark almost daily with all the cops and not getting his daily dose of feel good about all of it-possible gossipy inside info.
That the killer I named was a Birmingham business owner-himself the victim of a brutal unsolved murder, in the same year the killings abruptly stopped, is newsworthy. That there is an irrefutable connection to my named killer and two of the victims, is newsworthy and (never before done). That your old and close neighbor family are the ones to bring this new and extremely important information to the surface, is hugely newsworthy. In fact what has taken place in the lives of all of us in the past few years is the stuff of movies not books.
Do we stay quiet? Do I edit and add this and the other new information-this unbelievable twist to my story? Do I contact the press? How do we get the attention needed to bring more people forward hopefully with more information and memories and force Law Enforcement to do the right thing? They have to see how important this is. Let me know your thoughts.
Blessings...Lilly
Lilly,
Let me think some more about all of this--respond with your ideas and that will prompt me to get back on the horse. This is really so horrifying that my brain is slipping gears right and left. But yes, yes, yes, do an edit or somehow convey what you have learned after stirring this up!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My heart aches for our old friends too. It is almost too much to bear; like looking directly into the sun. You can't do it for long. One of my secret fears over the years was that the killer was someone we knew and how awful that would be. We didn't know McKinney--unfortunately, Tim did.
C.
The following is a compilation of e-mails from a man who claims to have been John McKinney’s long time close friend and confidante. It is now known that McKinney took a special but very quiet almost hidden interest in young men seemingly in need of mentoring. This man, has for decades, followed the Oakland County Child Killings case in hopes of finding information which may lead him to some answers about the murder of his friend.
They have been edited for space limitations, flow and some grammar.
I met John McKinney in 1973 when he brought his car to be fixed at the body shop where I worked. We became friends after bumping in to each other at a restaurant where I used to go. I learned about his art gallery then and started checking out the place. Art and artists are avenues to fantasy and I enjoyed going deep into the exploration. So I spent a lot of time over there. John was pretty well known around town, there would be art shows in the evenings which attracted good crowds and was quite a social affair.
I've never been to this place in Pontiac, never messed around in his religious doings-was never interested. Just thought it was curious and putting McKinney in close proximity to that camp at times. Here's something to help put your mind in overload. He had secrets. Six months before his murder, he expressed a fear of being followed-stalked by someone, but would never tell who it might be. He would say that a car would pull into the gallery parking lot at night, park and then leave. He said it happened numerous times. There was a work room on the second floor of the gallery and John worked there late some nights. He could watch people coming and going. He had no idea who it might have been. I could sense that he thought it was serious, but outwardly he tried to laugh it off. He was AFRAID. I know it because it telegraphed into me also. I was about 31-34 when I knew him and he was about fifteen years older than me. I think he lived in Texas part of his life, but wouldn't go into his past. I think if his past were made known it would be helpful in understanding. At any rate he told me he needed to better himself and needed the grace of God to do it. He also claimed to be bi-sexual.
One day two cops in suits came to the gallery and were asking questions about Tim King, but I don't remember the specifics. Probably some time after they left we talked about the recent abductions and killings, and I asked him if he knew the family. He knew of Mrs. King because she had been a customer at some point. It could be possible for Tim to have accompanied his mother to the gallery, but I don't know. I don't recall if this happened between the abduction and his death, or after young Tim had been found-too fuzzy a memory to be sure. John ended up being brutally murdered. In all likelihood the fact that his murder occurred six months after Tim King was found, is probably mere coincidence.
E-mails, sent to one of my sources, stirred dark questions for me. What directed the police to question him about Timmy King? How would an otherwise respectable Birmingham businessman, husband, father and chaplain, end-up on their radar screen. They hadn’t questioned the Coffey family. The King’s didn’t know McKinney. Had someone called in a tip on him? Or was he, as I suspected, part of the bigger investigation into the pedophile ring on Fox Island and points beyond? Why, when he was being watched, did he not call the police? Owning a gallery filled with expensive treasures and being watched-perhaps cased for a robbery would, to anyone’s way of thinking, cause him to go directly to the police. More disturbing than his not doing that, was the fact that whomever it was doing the watching didn’t try to hide it and therefore must not have been worried that he would call the police. They must have had good reason to believe he wouldn’t. Honest men call the police. Men with secrets so dark they would risk the watchers over the police don’t call them for help. The watchers were there on a regular basis, six months before his murder which would have started immediately following the murder of Timmy King. It was my opinion that McKinney knew exactly why they were there. They let him know he was being watched. Timmy King’s death was the last time the Babysitter was able to get away with murder.
Update
James Vincent Gunnels:
I knew I’d been wrong about the sequence of events in his life among the pedophiles stalking Michigan in those days. But I also believed that I was not wrong about the events themselves. I had written that he had been taken in the Cass and then somehow ended up in the wealthy suburbs and eventually up North with the Busch/Greene/Bennett crew. I was wrong. It was the other way around. Busch got him first. If he was involved in any way with the Oakland County Child Killings, it wasn’t by choice. If he was turned from a victim to a worker, it wasn’t by choice and it made him an even more pathetic victim of the organized pedophile ring.
This man was a victim of Christopher Busch and most likely his crew. He was tortured and raped by an animal whose wealthy mother attempted to bribe her son’s victims with money. Her grandchildren-Christopher’s nephews had been abused by him-the same nephews who’d been Gunnels’ friends. He molested or attempted to molest other neighborhood children also.This family was adept at keeping their dirty secrets. Lying about their lives was most likely conditioned to such a degree that it was as natural as breathing air. I found it hard to believe anything they may have told the police, even in later years, re-picture hanging on the wall. Lending credence to the old saying, “we are only as sick as our secrets.”
Vincent Gunnels became a career criminal-drug addict. After what he’d been put through; did anyone think he would become a Doctor or Lawyer? His story was very similar to Allan McCoy’s. They didn’t just rape these boys. They were turned out-sold-made to work for them and only God knows what else. They were at the mercy of men who were without mercy.
When the Birmingham Eccentric named him the third man to be arrested all those many years ago, With Busch and Greene, there was a question about the purpose for this obvious mistake instead of Busch, Greene and Bennett. Was it a legitimate typo or a deliberate feeding of misinformation from the police? This is what prompted the conversation between Terri and a friend of hers as well as with me. Her friend remembered his name and recognized his picture from the days in the Cass. They contacted him in prison.
When he began communication with Terri and her friend, it was clear he knew about the Cass and even remembered the building in detail (Bobby Moore’s) where they had been taken. He remembered Terri’s friend also. While they had more in common in terms of age and horrific experiences while there; he was especially interested in the “little girl in the basement.” He said he remembered her. He became very interested in continued communication about it with Terri. If what he was saying about the Cass was true then he was an irrefutable link from there to Busch’s crew and Busch was an irrefutable link to the other crews operating back then. Gunnels wanted to have immediate contact with Terri when he was released from prison. Terri and I speculated many times weather he might have been the young man who’d saved her that day in the basement. Was he the one who told her “you are too little for this” and took her home? They wondered if that was why he seemed so very interested in her story and in talking with her when he was released from prison-when it was “safe.”
During this back and forth time with the two women, he told them his parole date kept being pushed back. The police were leaning on him and because of the article in the Eccentric the press was all over the place trying to get information about him. Then suddenly and with no explanation, he denied all of it. He said he didn’t know anything about the Cass-had never been there-didn’t know what they were talking about and cut off all communications. He did call Terri when he was released from prison-then nothing. There were no more attempts to communicate with her at that time that I knew of. She was worried that perhaps he too would be set up to “commit suicide.” A drug overdose could have been easily arranged. During this same time period, her phone was tapped, her computer was hacked and her e-mails about Vincent Gunnels and John McKinney were taken right out of her files.
Others were having those problems too. Now we know why. He was really under scrutiny.
I still believe that every attempt to distance the Cass from any of this was made. The connection would have raised too many questions, not about the OCCK but about the corrupt people involved in that end of the pedophile rings and the possibility of police involvement i.e. Lawson’s recommendation and Redmond.
I along with everyone else not living under a rock in Detroit and points beyond, now knew Gunnels had been under police scrutiny for years and that his hair was a partial DNA match to the hairs found on the discarded body of little Kristine Mihelich. So was it from Busch? Was it from the Cass? Was Lamborgine still in the picture? But a more troubling question. What was it about the Cass that so terrified Lamborgine and Gunnels and seemed to be able, after all these years, to reach out and wield the kind of clout that kept them all so silent? What was it about this dark and deadly part of the story that kept even the police-local-state and federal from being able to make them feel safe from the threat of the Cass? Was this long time silence from Gunnels orchestrated by the police or the old time criminals from back in the day? Why such an effort, by someone or something, to make sure this connection was never really made?
Did anyone think Lamborgine was a stand-up guy? You know the kind of guy that would take several life terms in a hardened state penitentiary wearing a “Child Molester” jacket, rather than rat on his homies-really? He was worm and didn't have those big balls. His silence must have been motivated by a fear greater than that one- which had to be pretty great. Perhaps the same fear was motivating Gunnels? I had confirmation that the investigative body which put Lawson and Lamborgine away, knew about Reverend Redmond and “others” operating down there back in the day-but couldn’t be prosecuted. Who were they? Who the hell knows? No one will ever know. Someone has seen to that. My guess is they bridged the gap between all of them. Perhaps there are still some of them around and their tentacles are far reaching enough to strike the fear of God into anyone who gets too close. The police know who they are/were but don’t seem to want to do a d**n thing about it-even if they continue to threaten or perhaps even kill.
Not because they were part of the OCCK as Lawson claimed but because of the other sinister criminal enterprise.
Update:
A communication from a member of Law Enforcement
What people don’t understand is that the only reason we were able to charge Lamborgine and Lawson with 30 year old child molestations, was because of a loophole in the law. This loophole does not apply to others like Redmond and many more that we were aware of but sadly unable to prosecute. We charged who we could, which is more than any detectives did 35 years ago.
Update:
Richard Hojnaki
I have since, seen Hojnaki’s suicide scene report-if that was a suicide well… His father waited hours before calling police. His explanation: “He wanted his whole family to see it. He wanted them to see it the way it really was-the way it really happened.” I reasoned that this was either really sick or an implication: “Not the way it may end up being reported.” He (Hojnaki) also had a “never before seen” piece of art hanging on his wall. It depicted a man and woman committing suicide together.
I swear to God I don’t remember going to his house in Farmington. I went to a two story house off Lasher Rd. in Bloomfield Hills. But the address on his death certificate says Farmington.
Since the publication this story, I had an attempted assault in my parking structure. I have been followed and intimidated on numerous occasions. I have given at least a half dozen incident reports to local police. I have spoken with Denver Police Intelligence, the local FBI and have received calls from the FBI in Detroit. We have had confirmation that the danger could well be coming from the Cass via California, (at the hands of “the others”) for outing Reverend Redmond, his son Robert’s death and the basement of the Cass Methodist Church.
Just who the hell are the “others?” What or who was it down there that people are still willing to go to these lengths to cover? Is it the law (he was after all only in his teens back then) or something else that so terrifies Gunnels? Allan McCoy talked about the Cass-helped put Lamborgine away. He was found hanged-another “apparent suicide.” And why aren’t the authorities able or willing to do a d**n thing about it-unless, as I asked in my book; “did it involve some old time blue-liners of their own?”
I now believe that John Hastings was involved in this case also. I have said so publicly and also believe that it is very possible he was one of “McKinney’s boys.” As a matter of fact if ever there was a kid that fit the profile of a potential victim of the type of grooming which McKinney was very quietly adept at, it would have been this kid. He was an artist of some unusually exceptional talents. He was needy and a lost soul. He was lonely and without an adult in the world to take even a slight amount of time with him. He would have over time fell under the spell of a man who filled all those needs and more.
It is very possible to my way of thinking that this could have been a serial killing team, which would answer many questions about the taking and holding of these children. It is also my very strong feeling that if this was a “team” there is no way the remaining living member would ever give up his partner or even implicate him. He would have been so totally committed to that relationship and that the only way to hold on to it would be to never reveal it to anyone. And to take full credit for the killing, may have given him a sense of power like none he’d ever had. It could possibly keep his adored dominant alive inside of him forever.
I don’t believe the purpose of all the covering by law enforcement was to cover the killer (s). In covering other more powerful people and their perversions and criminal enterprise, weather for the sake of favors to the powerful or a larger investigation, they inadvertently covered a possible path to the killers without realizing it at the time.
John McKinney:
Murdered in his Birmingham gallery September 1977
He has now been irrefutably linked to at least two of the murdered children. While he has not appeared as a formal suspect within the police investigation, he certainly should have been and is a very real suspect, within the family of one of the murdered children. Of all of the suspects paraded out over the past thirty five years, no one has been able to link any of them directly to even one of the victims of the Oakland County Child Killer (the Babysitter). This statement excludes James Vincent Gunnels. While there is some physical evidence linking him to one of the victims, no one really believes he was a fourteen year old killer-more on him later.
Since the original publication of my story, memories have been jogged and new and very significant information has surfaced, regarding John McKinney.
The source of this information is a tremendous twist of fate in a set of circumstances which led the family of murder victim, Timothy King in the current direction of this unsolved case. Prior to information provided regarding Christopher Busch there were few people other than one site and one woman questioning the investigations. The King family believed the investigation was sound and always moving forward. After revelations about the Christopher Busch debacle, they came to understand it was not as they believed.
After publication of Portraits a family member of the King’s close neighbor family became aware of my story. What happened next is where the purpose for my mission began to take real shape. Long forgotten memories and information came flooding in.
It is important to note that back in the seventies it was not unusual for people to have five and six or more children. It was also very common for each member of these large families to have close relationships with the various age appropriate children of the other large neighborhood families. I remember my older sibling being a close friend of the older sibling of my best friend. This was true of my younger siblings and their best friend’s younger siblings.
So it was with the Kings and their close neighbor family. While the older boy was close friends with one of the King boys, so too was a female member of the neighbor family very close friends with Timmy King’s older sister. Timmy was very close to the younger neighbor boy. He played at and ate at their house almost daily.
Since John McKinney never surfaced as a suspect, he never came up in the many conversations that the neighbors had over the decades, about the horror which befell their good friends as well as themselves.
The following e-mail communications are between me and Timmy King’s sister. They have been edited for space limitations, flow and to remove the names of various people as well as neighbor family members.
But I do have the originals with all names.
****
Catch this. I just got off the phone with my life long friend, cousin of our neighbor family. He lived with his cousins who lived across the street and three doors down from us. She said she talked to him about your book and she was totally freaked out because they knew John McKinney. He was a long-time family friend, was over at their house all the time. Her dad was business partners with McKinney. They were big art collectors. One of her brothers is an artist, and although he moved out west in 1974, prior to that, he worked at McKinney's gallery off an on. As she pointed out, Tim was at their house all the time, too. She said if Tim didn't know McKinney's name, he would have for sure recognized him on the street. Said McKinney ate dinner at their house many times over the years.
She was crying and very upset and explained that everyone had been racking their brains trying to figure out who could have taken Tim. It had to be someone he knew or was familiar with, or that he was overpowered. She said they had all agreed Tim wouldn't have just gone with anyone and that he would have told someone to “f**k off” if they said "get in the car." She is right and she is right that Tim was over at their house all the time. They all knew him very well. She said that for sure Tim would have gotten in a car with McKinney. They had crossed paths that many times. McKinney could have even said “hey, I'm headed to their house. I'll give you a ride home.” She said McKinney had an apartment up above his gallery. They all knew him as an art dealer, but they knew he was a reverend (chaplain, actually) and she sometimes saw him wearing a collar.
Remember all the speculation about a priest nabbing these kids because they might trust a clergy member? She is calling her Dad and is going to run this by him. I just sent her your book. She is totally freaked.
****
I spoke with my old friend twice today. It gets worse. She told me she called her older sister and flung this McKinney stuff on her, asking if she remembered him and telling her about the suspicions. Her sister was quiet for a minute and said “no.” It didn't surprise her.” Twelve or so years ago, when she saw a news blip about a tip in the case, she was compelled to write a letter to authorities saying they needed to look hard at McKinney. That he was totally creepy and that she always suspected him. I AM NOT KIDDING. My friend’s sister was quite a bit older than us (or so it seemed) and she pointed out that my friend and I were younger when McKinney first started coming around and that she saw things from a different perspective. After reading your book, this is what the older sister wrote to me:
Thank you so much for sending me the book. I just got back in from Indianapolis and read it cover to cover. It is sad beyond belief. It makes sense. I always thought that John McKinney did it, but I thought he acted alone. I had no idea back then that rings like that even existed. They are in the news more commonly now. I told my mom about my suspicions and she always said one had nothing to do with the other. I don't care what my folks or my brother have to say about him. He gave me the willies from day one and always did-to the point where I would never take a ride from him or be alone with him. I carried it for years and finally contacted the police. I had and have nothing concrete in the world to base it on and I felt badly about accusing someone with no proof. I turned it over and prayed about it. He was a milquetoast and fastidious and scary. But there is one thing in the book that particularly struck me. Lilly said that maybe Timmy went through this so that others wouldn't have to-that by his death he saved many, many lives. I believe that to be true. He brought an end to an era in Michigan, a horrible dark era. And I believe he saved others through his death. It is my belief that we are here to be a blessing, and there could be no greater blessing than Tim.
Love H.
****
I think I told you one of the neighbor’s brothers, an artist, worked for McKinney at his gallery. My friend said they even went to New York together on work-related stuff. She believes it is possible McKinney did something to him. This family knew it could just as easily have been their youngest son/brother taken. He was Tim's very good friend and classmate. He also had a near-miss with someone he described as looking like "a mountain man" (BUSCH anyone???) while he was riding his bike on our street. The f**ker pulled over and started talking to him and he took off. He told me about this a few years ago, before we knew Chris Busch's name or anything about him!
My dear friend has not yet spoken to her Dad. I sent her your book and she received it today and is reading it as I write. She is calling me again at 11 my time. She also attempted to contact her other brother (the artist) numerous times yesterday. She made general inquiries about McKinney via private messaging on Facebook and then he went "offline."
My friend told me, "I am sure you met him at our house at some point," I don't remember him--not his name, his face; I knew they were big time into art--it was obvious from their house, but I didn't know they were connected to any art gallery. I'm telling you, this was a very nice family. Her Dad will die when she runs this past him. I am not kidding. He is the kindest, most gentle and sensitive person ever. For sure he would give "Mr. Art Dealer" the benefit of the doubt. And no doubt McKinney kissed their asses because they were part of the $$ behind his gallery and they shared a common interest in art. They were backers and would have been a huge plus for McKinney (who lived in Clawson, but catered to a bunch of rich folks from the Birmingham area). Talk about someone who wanted to give a facial to the "upper crust"!!!! Good god, this is as good as it gets for a guy like him. Like you said, digging on the terror he created.
Believe me Lilly this is obviously huge, as you know. I tossed it out in a limited format to Cory Williams and to a member of the press and they were blown away. Few words, but clearly blown away. I used your line about this being the first and irrefutable connection between a suspect and a victim. And did I tell you that my neighbor’s younger sister (2 years younger than us?) babysat for the Robinson kids?
? They have been spooked by this for years; that she knew two of the victims. Tom Robinson lived in Birmingham. The guy was a professor. Did anyone ever think to ask him about whether he ever bought art from or consigned art to John McKinney? After McKinney got murdered, did anyone ask the four families if McKinney's name rang a bell?! Do you know what I feel like after hearing my friend ask me "Why didn't you ever tell me McKinney was a suspect?" I didn't tell her because I had no idea she or her family knew him. She told me that she remembered her parents discussing the fact that McKinney was investigated by the task force after he wound up dead. I didn't know that. Why didn't she ask me about McKinney? There was an article in The Royal Oak Tribune after his murder, discussing "the three sides of John McKinney," and nobody bats an eye?
So is Busch really just some patsy here? McKinney should have been looked at HARD back in the day.
I am so sick of this. I could weep when I think about all of this Bull S. Why didn't I tell you about something I didn't know could be remotely relevant until a few days ago? Why didn't the police do their jobs back then?
March 3rd is when I learned the younger neighbor girl babysat at Tom Robinson’s house in Birmingham-not Mrs. Robinson’s house in Royal Oak.
First details I ever got about her babysitting for the Robinson kids. When the neighbors mentioned this to me when I met them downtown in 2007, it meant nothing to me other than it was horrible that she knew two victims.
I also remember assuming she babysat for Jill in Royal Oak. I never knew until a few days ago that our good friends and neighbors knew d**n McKinney. Without that piece, the fact that she babysat for Jill and knew Tim was nothing other than a sad fact.
Why do I have to go around digging for this stuff? And why should I even bother passing any of it on to Law Enforcement any more?
Why didn't anybody ever ask all of the parents if they knew John McKinney after he was found shot up? Or if anybody had anything framed by McKinney? I bet you Tom Robinson could have known McKinney. A young professor could have easily been in the same circles as these art people.
My friend had never heard McKinney's name in connection to this case until she read your book!
I never knew that he was business partners with our close neighbors. I was a teenager; I didn't give a nuts who the adults were at my friends' houses. I don't ever remember meeting the guy.
McKinney's name has been tossed about since the Helen era. She had two threads devoted just to him and his murder. Some very interesting comments were made and news articles were posted.
Lilly, just know that yours is the first of a few books that will be written on these cases. You tossed the McKinney card out there first. People like my friend "get" that books/articles roust people out of their slumber. Do what you have to do. Think of her older sister, who was old enough to size-up someone like McKinney, saying that “he was the creepiest guy ever!” Jesus. She told her younger sister (my friend) that when she heard nothing back after writing the letter to the police about him, and then learned about Busch, she just assumed that "oh well," she had tossed out the name of someone who was in fact innocent, but at least she got it off of her chest.
She said McKinney's possible involvement was always with her at some level.
FYI, my friend’s parents were convinced McKinney’s murder was a robbery gone bad. They were always concerned about the art collection they had in their own home. And, as you can tell from those news articles about McKinney, he was a freaking chameleon. Art gallery owner and art expert, compassionate chaplain, lover of old people in need of ministry. Give me a break!!!!!! McKinney was a chaplain at some Bloomfield Hills nursing home. Busch was the food service manager at an assisted living facility for old people and it was probably not the same place as the $$ place where McKinney was "ministering", but the places were in close physical proximity. I have looked this nuts up before and can access it relatively easily. I am just so exhausted by all of this right now that I am feeling overwhelmed.
My friend is going to speak to her younger brother, who was friends with Tim. He is very bright, very successful; if he can remember anything about McKinney, he will be able to articulate it.
I have given this McKinney info to Cory Williams. He emailed back yesterday (before I had even told him about the older sister suspecting McKinney and the younger sister babysitting for the Robinson kids), something along the lines of “WOW that can't be a coincidence! Hey, this is just soooo Bizarre....WOW. It keeps sinking in further. One question though, why are you just telling me this now?
”...CoryCory has spoken with the younger neighbor boy (Tim’s friend) a time or two over the past couple years. He said he was never questioned by the cops back in the day. Which doesn't surprise me, because the other three boys who were with Tim in the hours before his abduction were never questioned either! It's like I said to my family “if you want to kill little kids, do it in Oakland County.”
Younger neighbor girl (maybe 14 or 15 in 1977) used to baby-sit for the
Robinson kids at Tom Robinson's house in Birmingham. The older girl (my friend) reminded me of that fact yesterday. They had often remarked how bizarre it was that the younger girl babysat for 2 of the victims and quite a few people in their family mentioned this to me as recently as 2007. It was under the category of "how bizarre" that their younger girl knew Tim and Jill.
McKinney was around them all.
There is a strong circumstantial case indicating Busch was involved, no doubt. But how can you ignore this McKinney stuff? Jesus. I'm telling you, every part of this nightmare is exhausting. When I think back to 2006-2008, when everyone thought I was crazy for pursuing the Busch information and questioning the investigation itself on Helen's site . . . Like you said in your book, every aspect of this thing takes a toll on you.
C.
Hey C,
Have you heard back from the neighbors? I have to tell you that I am more than anxious to know if they have more memories. Was McKinney around them while Timmy was missing? Is it possible he offered them his condolences and maybe even spiritual council? I see him doing it-the control, the power, the sick enjoyment. So gross picturing McKinney getting off while talking to the cops. He was at the Landmark all the time. A known cop hang out-knew many of them by name.
I felt that once this story started throwing more nuts in this long and dirty game, information would surface. I was prepared for some hammering from those who don't like my writing style (it is different) and expected them to use it to slam the book-most especially use it to slam the message in the story. That will come. What I didn't expect was that the information to surface almost immediately, would be so intensely vital to everyone concerned, and be irrefutable enough to silence the would-be silencers. I have to tell you. I didn't sleep well. I hope you were better at it than I was. My head is spinning and my heart is now aching for everyone I can only imagine how this will hit your neighbors wave on wave.
This absolute connection to at least two of the children is the most anyone has been able to come up with, in all these years. I am now convinced that with a little legal footwork, the police could uncover a connection with the other two children. It must be there. It may already be there but the dots just were not connected.
C, I was hanging in the Birmingham scene, in those days. It was the new hot spot-the Midtown Cafe, Archibald's, 555, Fox and Hounds. I am just enough older than you, that I too saw things from another perspective. There's no way McKinney was hanging at the Landmark almost daily with all the cops and not getting his daily dose of feel good about all of it-possible gossipy inside info.
That the killer I named was a Birmingham business owner-himself the victim of a brutal unsolved murder, in the same year the killings abruptly stopped, is newsworthy. That there is an irrefutable connection to my named killer and two of the victims, is newsworthy and (never before done). That your old and close neighbor family are the ones to bring this new and extremely important information to the surface, is hugely newsworthy. In fact what has taken place in the lives of all of us in the past few years is the stuff of movies not books.
Do we stay quiet? Do I edit and add this and the other new information-this unbelievable twist to my story? Do I contact the press? How do we get the attention needed to bring more people forward hopefully with more information and memories and force Law Enforcement to do the right thing? They have to see how important this is. Let me know your thoughts.
Blessings...Lilly
Lilly,
Let me think some more about all of this--respond with your ideas and that will prompt me to get back on the horse. This is really so horrifying that my brain is slipping gears right and left. But yes, yes, yes, do an edit or somehow convey what you have learned after stirring this up!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My heart aches for our old friends too. It is almost too much to bear; like looking directly into the sun. You can't do it for long. One of my secret fears over the years was that the killer was someone we knew and how awful that would be. We didn't know McKinney--unfortunately, Tim did.
C.
The following is a compilation of e-mails from a man who claims to have been John McKinney’s long time close friend and confidante. It is now known that McKinney took a special but very quiet almost hidden interest in young men seemingly in need of mentoring. This man, has for decades, followed the Oakland County Child Killings case in hopes of finding information which may lead him to some answers about the murder of his friend.
They have been edited for space limitations, flow and some grammar.
I met John McKinney in 1973 when he brought his car to be fixed at the body shop where I worked. We became friends after bumping in to each other at a restaurant where I used to go. I learned about his art gallery then and started checking out the place. Art and artists are avenues to fantasy and I enjoyed going deep into the exploration. So I spent a lot of time over there. John was pretty well known around town, there would be art shows in the evenings which attracted good crowds and was quite a social affair.
I've never been to this place in Pontiac, never messed around in his religious doings-was never interested. Just thought it was curious and putting McKinney in close proximity to that camp at times. Here's something to help put your mind in overload. He had secrets. Six months before his murder, he expressed a fear of being followed-stalked by someone, but would never tell who it might be. He would say that a car would pull into the gallery parking lot at night, park and then leave. He said it happened numerous times. There was a work room on the second floor of the gallery and John worked there late some nights. He could watch people coming and going. He had no idea who it might have been. I could sense that he thought it was serious, but outwardly he tried to laugh it off. He was AFRAID. I know it because it telegraphed into me also. I was about 31-34 when I knew him and he was about fifteen years older than me. I think he lived in Texas part of his life, but wouldn't go into his past. I think if his past were made known it would be helpful in understanding. At any rate he told me he needed to better himself and needed the grace of God to do it. He also claimed to be bi-sexual.
One day two cops in suits came to the gallery and were asking questions about Tim King, but I don't remember the specifics. Probably some time after they left we talked about the recent abductions and killings, and I asked him if he knew the family. He knew of Mrs. King because she had been a customer at some point. It could be possible for Tim to have accompanied his mother to the gallery, but I don't know. I don't recall if this happened between the abduction and his death, or after young Tim had been found-too fuzzy a memory to be sure. John ended up being brutally murdered. In all likelihood the fact that his murder occurred six months after Tim King was found, is probably mere coincidence.
E-mails, sent to one of my sources, stirred dark questions for me. What directed the police to question him about Timmy King? How would an otherwise respectable Birmingham businessman, husband, father and chaplain, end-up on their radar screen. They hadn’t questioned the Coffey family. The King’s didn’t know McKinney. Had someone called in a tip on him? Or was he, as I suspected, part of the bigger investigation into the pedophile ring on Fox Island and points beyond? Why, when he was being watched, did he not call the police? Owning a gallery filled with expensive treasures and being watched-perhaps cased for a robbery would, to anyone’s way of thinking, cause him to go directly to the police. More disturbing than his not doing that, was the fact that whomever it was doing the watching didn’t try to hide it and therefore must not have been worried that he would call the police. They must have had good reason to believe he wouldn’t. Honest men call the police. Men with secrets so dark they would risk the watchers over the police don’t call them for help. The watchers were there on a regular basis, six months before his murder which would have started immediately following the murder of Timmy King. It was my opinion that McKinney knew exactly why they were there. They let him know he was being watched. Timmy King’s death was the last time the Babysitter was able to get away with murder.
Update
James Vincent Gunnels:
I knew I’d been wrong about the sequence of events in his life among the pedophiles stalking Michigan in those days. But I also believed that I was not wrong about the events themselves. I had written that he had been taken in the Cass and then somehow ended up in the wealthy suburbs and eventually up North with the Busch/Greene/Bennett crew. I was wrong. It was the other way around. Busch got him first. If he was involved in any way with the Oakland County Child Killings, it wasn’t by choice. If he was turned from a victim to a worker, it wasn’t by choice and it made him an even more pathetic victim of the organized pedophile ring.
This man was a victim of Christopher Busch and most likely his crew. He was tortured and raped by an animal whose wealthy mother attempted to bribe her son’s victims with money. Her grandchildren-Christopher’s nephews had been abused by him-the same nephews who’d been Gunnels’ friends. He molested or attempted to molest other neighborhood children also.This family was adept at keeping their dirty secrets. Lying about their lives was most likely conditioned to such a degree that it was as natural as breathing air. I found it hard to believe anything they may have told the police, even in later years, re-picture hanging on the wall. Lending credence to the old saying, “we are only as sick as our secrets.”
Vincent Gunnels became a career criminal-drug addict. After what he’d been put through; did anyone think he would become a Doctor or Lawyer? His story was very similar to Allan McCoy’s. They didn’t just rape these boys. They were turned out-sold-made to work for them and only God knows what else. They were at the mercy of men who were without mercy.
When the Birmingham Eccentric named him the third man to be arrested all those many years ago, With Busch and Greene, there was a question about the purpose for this obvious mistake instead of Busch, Greene and Bennett. Was it a legitimate typo or a deliberate feeding of misinformation from the police? This is what prompted the conversation between Terri and a friend of hers as well as with me. Her friend remembered his name and recognized his picture from the days in the Cass. They contacted him in prison.
When he began communication with Terri and her friend, it was clear he knew about the Cass and even remembered the building in detail (Bobby Moore’s) where they had been taken. He remembered Terri’s friend also. While they had more in common in terms of age and horrific experiences while there; he was especially interested in the “little girl in the basement.” He said he remembered her. He became very interested in continued communication about it with Terri. If what he was saying about the Cass was true then he was an irrefutable link from there to Busch’s crew and Busch was an irrefutable link to the other crews operating back then. Gunnels wanted to have immediate contact with Terri when he was released from prison. Terri and I speculated many times weather he might have been the young man who’d saved her that day in the basement. Was he the one who told her “you are too little for this” and took her home? They wondered if that was why he seemed so very interested in her story and in talking with her when he was released from prison-when it was “safe.”
During this back and forth time with the two women, he told them his parole date kept being pushed back. The police were leaning on him and because of the article in the Eccentric the press was all over the place trying to get information about him. Then suddenly and with no explanation, he denied all of it. He said he didn’t know anything about the Cass-had never been there-didn’t know what they were talking about and cut off all communications. He did call Terri when he was released from prison-then nothing. There were no more attempts to communicate with her at that time that I knew of. She was worried that perhaps he too would be set up to “commit suicide.” A drug overdose could have been easily arranged. During this same time period, her phone was tapped, her computer was hacked and her e-mails about Vincent Gunnels and John McKinney were taken right out of her files.
Others were having those problems too. Now we know why. He was really under scrutiny.
I still believe that every attempt to distance the Cass from any of this was made. The connection would have raised too many questions, not about the OCCK but about the corrupt people involved in that end of the pedophile rings and the possibility of police involvement i.e. Lawson’s recommendation and Redmond.
I along with everyone else not living under a rock in Detroit and points beyond, now knew Gunnels had been under police scrutiny for years and that his hair was a partial DNA match to the hairs found on the discarded body of little Kristine Mihelich. So was it from Busch? Was it from the Cass? Was Lamborgine still in the picture? But a more troubling question. What was it about the Cass that so terrified Lamborgine and Gunnels and seemed to be able, after all these years, to reach out and wield the kind of clout that kept them all so silent? What was it about this dark and deadly part of the story that kept even the police-local-state and federal from being able to make them feel safe from the threat of the Cass? Was this long time silence from Gunnels orchestrated by the police or the old time criminals from back in the day? Why such an effort, by someone or something, to make sure this connection was never really made?
Did anyone think Lamborgine was a stand-up guy? You know the kind of guy that would take several life terms in a hardened state penitentiary wearing a “Child Molester” jacket, rather than rat on his homies-really? He was worm and didn't have those big balls. His silence must have been motivated by a fear greater than that one- which had to be pretty great. Perhaps the same fear was motivating Gunnels? I had confirmation that the investigative body which put Lawson and Lamborgine away, knew about Reverend Redmond and “others” operating down there back in the day-but couldn’t be prosecuted. Who were they? Who the hell knows? No one will ever know. Someone has seen to that. My guess is they bridged the gap between all of them. Perhaps there are still some of them around and their tentacles are far reaching enough to strike the fear of God into anyone who gets too close. The police know who they are/were but don’t seem to want to do a d**n thing about it-even if they continue to threaten or perhaps even kill.
Not because they were part of the OCCK as Lawson claimed but because of the other sinister criminal enterprise.
Update:
A communication from a member of Law Enforcement
What people don’t understand is that the only reason we were able to charge Lamborgine and Lawson with 30 year old child molestations, was because of a loophole in the law. This loophole does not apply to others like Redmond and many more that we were aware of but sadly unable to prosecute. We charged who we could, which is more than any detectives did 35 years ago.
Update:
Richard Hojnaki
I have since, seen Hojnaki’s suicide scene report-if that was a suicide well… His father waited hours before calling police. His explanation: “He wanted his whole family to see it. He wanted them to see it the way it really was-the way it really happened.” I reasoned that this was either really sick or an implication: “Not the way it may end up being reported.” He (Hojnaki) also had a “never before seen” piece of art hanging on his wall. It depicted a man and woman committing suicide together.
I swear to God I don’t remember going to his house in Farmington. I went to a two story house off Lasher Rd. in Bloomfield Hills. But the address on his death certificate says Farmington.
Since the publication this story, I had an attempted assault in my parking structure. I have been followed and intimidated on numerous occasions. I have given at least a half dozen incident reports to local police. I have spoken with Denver Police Intelligence, the local FBI and have received calls from the FBI in Detroit. We have had confirmation that the danger could well be coming from the Cass via California, (at the hands of “the others”) for outing Reverend Redmond, his son Robert’s death and the basement of the Cass Methodist Church.
Just who the hell are the “others?” What or who was it down there that people are still willing to go to these lengths to cover? Is it the law (he was after all only in his teens back then) or something else that so terrifies Gunnels? Allan McCoy talked about the Cass-helped put Lamborgine away. He was found hanged-another “apparent suicide.” And why aren’t the authorities able or willing to do a d**n thing about it-unless, as I asked in my book; “did it involve some old time blue-liners of their own?”
I now believe that John Hastings was involved in this case also. I have said so publicly and also believe that it is very possible he was one of “McKinney’s boys.” As a matter of fact if ever there was a kid that fit the profile of a potential victim of the type of grooming which McKinney was very quietly adept at, it would have been this kid. He was an artist of some unusually exceptional talents. He was needy and a lost soul. He was lonely and without an adult in the world to take even a slight amount of time with him. He would have over time fell under the spell of a man who filled all those needs and more.
It is very possible to my way of thinking that this could have been a serial killing team, which would answer many questions about the taking and holding of these children. It is also my very strong feeling that if this was a “team” there is no way the remaining living member would ever give up his partner or even implicate him. He would have been so totally committed to that relationship and that the only way to hold on to it would be to never reveal it to anyone. And to take full credit for the killing, may have given him a sense of power like none he’d ever had. It could possibly keep his adored dominant alive inside of him forever.
I don’t believe the purpose of all the covering by law enforcement was to cover the killer (s). In covering other more powerful people and their perversions and criminal enterprise, weather for the sake of favors to the powerful or a larger investigation, they inadvertently covered a possible path to the killers without realizing it at the time.
