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Post by Helen Dagner on May 20, 2011 8:32:55 GMT -5
Police, families never stop looking for the next hot tip A special report by Oakland Press staff writer Korie Wilkins . . . other cases in Oakland County remain unsolved - with victims waiting for justice and family members and investigators hoping for tips that will blow the cases wide open. What is a cold case? Lt. Darryl Hill of the Michigan State Police said a cold case is basically any unsolved crime. But the ones that get the headlines are the violent ones: kidnapping, murder and sexual assault. "We always maintain an interest in those types of cases," Hill said. "We never close an unsolved homicide." "Cold cases are worked and worked until they are solved." How to solve a cold case First, detectives do a full review of the case file. They read reports, interviews and statements, reviewing photographs, lab reports and evidence. "They are looking to see if there is anything there," Hill said. Next, detectives run evidence and forensic data - such as fingerprints, ballistic reports and DNA - through national databases, hoping for a match. If the case remains cold, detectives go out and re-interview witnesses, suspects, neighbors, associates of the victim and family members. They are looking for that tidbit of information that could open up the case. "We are constantly reviewing old cases, looking for an inroad," said Detective Lt. James A'Hearn of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. The leads from the interviews are then followed up by detectives, who try to piece together the new information in the context of the case. The new evidence might mean other information needs to be reviewed by the crime lab. With luck, detectives catch a break - and a criminal. But if they don't, sometimes law enforcement seeks the help of the media to drum up tips. Tips and tipsters: The media's role Investigators say media attention can help drum up tips in a long-forgotten case. But not every tip pans out. That's why investigators have to follow up on every lead, because they never know which tip is going to be the one that could make a difference and win a conviction. Unsolvable crimes? Are some cold cases simply unsolvable? Most investigators say no, although some cases are harder to crack than others. Prosecuting a cold case So what happens when charges are brought in a cold case? Trying to persuade a jury to convict someone in a decades-old case is a special skill, officials say, and often prosecutors have to contend with witnesses who have died or cannot be found, decaying or missing evidence and the perception that if the case was so strong, why did it take so long to file charges? Chief Deputy Prosecutor Deborah Carley said prosecuting cold cases can be difficult, but getting a conviction for the victim's family is worth the effort. Hoffa and the Oakland County Child Killer Are some cases too highprofile to ever be solved? Has every lead already been tracked down? Investigators say every case can be cracked, and recent cases in the national media seem to back that up. In March 2005, a 30-year reign of terror in Kansas ended after Dennis Rader was arrested for being the BTK serial killer. Rader, who later pleaded guilty to the crimes and is serving a life sentence, was ultimately identifi ed as the BTK through DNA evidence. His daughter, Kerri Rader, lived in Oakland County at the time of his arrest and is believed to have given a DNA sample that helped implicate her father. Seeing a 30-year-old case solved gives hope not only to victims and family members, but also to investigators. It can be done, they say, and no case is ever a lost cause. And a flurry of media stories earlier this year helped reinvigorate the county's other big unsolved case, the Oakland County Child Killer. The killings, which started in Oakland County in 1976, horrified parents, who tried to keep their children indoors. The victims were 12-yearold Mark Stebbins, abducted while walking near his Ferndale home Feb. 15, 1976; 12-year-old Jill Robinson, taken in Royal Oak on Dec. 22, 1976; 10-year-old Kristine Mihelich, snatched near her Berkley home Jan. 2, 1977; and 11-year-old Timothy King, kidnapped from a grocery store parking lot near his home in Birmingham on March 16, 1977. The killer was dubbed "the baby sitter" because he kept his victims alive for days, feeding and bathing them before slaying them and leaving their bodies for others to find. Two of the children were raped. Through the years, a series of strong leads has developed, but so far, none has resulted in an arrest......
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Post by Helen Dagner on May 21, 2011 10:35:32 GMT -5
This is a list of areas where people said prays for Divine Intervention-In 2007-For the Oakland County Child Murder cases~ Troy, MI, US Clawson, MI, US Birmingham, MI, US Sterling Heights, MI, US Royal Oak, MI, US Madison Heights, MI, US Bloomfield Hills, MI, US Rochester, MI, US Berkley, MI, US Huntington Woods, MI, US Utica, MI, US Franklin, MI, US Pleasant Ridge, MI, US Auburn Hills, MI, US Oak Park, MI, US Pontiac, MI, US Ferndale, MI, US Southfield, MI, US Warren, MI, US Hazel Park, MI, US Center Line, MI, US Keego Harbor, MI, US Fraser, MI, US West Bloomfield, MI, US Clinton Township, MI, US Highland Park, MI, US Oakland, MI, US Roseville, MI, US Macomb, MI, US Hamtramck, MI, US Drayton Plains, MI, US Washington, MI, US Lake Orion, MI, US Waterford, MI, US Eastpointe, MI, US Mount Clemens, MI, US Farmington, MI, US Redford, MI, US Saint Clair Shores, MI, US Union Lake, MI, US Harper Woods, MI, US Harrison Township, MI, US Detroit, MI, US Lakeville, MI, US Ray, MI, US Walled Lake, MI, US Clarkston, MI, US Grosse Pointe, MI, US Livonia, MI, US Leonard, MI, US Commerce Township, MI, US Oxford, MI, US Novi, MI, US Windsor, ON, CA Dearborn, MI, US Romeo, MI, US White Lake, MI, US New Baltimore, MI, US Dearborn Heights, MI, US Garden City, MI, US Wixom, MI, US New Haven, MI, US Melvindale, MI, US Armada, MI, US Inkster, MI, US Westland, MI, US Davisburg, MI, US River Rouge, MI, US Ortonville, MI, US Tecumseh, ON, CA Northville, MI, US Allen Park, MI, US Ecorse, MI, US Milford, MI, US Lincoln Park, MI, US Plymouth, MI, US Almont, MI, US Anchorville, MI, US Wayne, MI, US Dryden, MI, US Highland, MI, US New Hudson, MI, US Metamora, MI, US Salem, MI, US Richmond, MI, US Canton, MI, US Taylor, MI, US Southgate, MI, US Fair Haven, MI, US Allenton, MI, US Casco, MI, US Holly, MI, US Goodrich, MI, US South Lyon, MI, US Wyandotte, MI, US Romulus, MI, US Hadley, MI, US Harsens Island, MI, US East China, MI, US Hartland, MI, US Algonac, MI, US Columbus, MI, US Memphis, MI, US Grosse Ile, MI, US Brighton, MI, US Marine City, MI, US Atlas, MI, US Trenton, MI, US Belleville, MI, US Capac, MI, US Attica, MI, US Fenton, MI, US Grand Blanc, MI, US Lapeer, MI, US Ypsilanti, MI, US Flat Rock, MI, US Imlay City, MI, US Goodells, MI, US Whitmore Lake, MI, US Hamburg, MI, US Saint. Joachim, ON, CA New Boston, MI, US Emmett, MI, US Rockwood, MI, US Saint Clair, MI, US Lakeland, MI, US Davison, MI, US Linden, MI, US Burton, MI, U
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Post by Helen Dagner on May 24, 2011 21:29:51 GMT -5
The killer (or killers) of the four Oakland County children is still at large as of this writing. A number of possible suspects have been identified, many of whom have been questioned (including, in some cases, polygraph examinations) and who will be questioned again. Additional information continues to come in and is duly investigated, building up the body of facts that will, hopefully, lead to the murderer. One by-product of the tip system has been the identification of scores of heretofore unsuspected child molesters and homosexuals, particularly among clergymen and teachers, although none have been linked to the crimes in question. Many of these identifications have come about through "Operation Lure," the massive attempt to get from Oakland County school children any possible recollection of past or recent attempts to accost or approach them under suspicious circumstances (the School Incident Form used for this purpose can be seen as Appendix B). Available to all elementary school teachers, this form is also a very useful educational device, in that it makes children aware--in very realistic terms--of the prcsenb~ of molesters and other people who have the potential to do them harm. As to the future, things are uncertain. A suspect could confess tomorrow (surprisingly, only two false confessors have come forward, and their claims to guilt were demolished easily by the facts), or an investigation of a telephone tip may lead to the killer. On the other hand, some hard-bitten street detectives are almost convinced that they have probably already talked to the killer and that he is laughing at them while the Task Force's six months of life slip away. They feel that he may wait until early winter before leaving another smothered, despoiled body along some Michigan road to mock their efforts. 19
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Post by Helen Dagner on Jun 10, 2011 3:21:41 GMT -5
September 1972: Teenager Donna SERRA is strangled in Ray Township. January 15, 1976: Cynthia CADIEUX (16) abducted the day before, is found raped and bludgeoned to death. Her naked body is lying on a rural road in Bloomfield Township. Her corpse had apparently been dragged over snow covered pavement, her clothes piled fifteen feet from the body. January 19, 1976: Sheile SHROCK is raped an shot death in Birmingham inside her home. February 13, 1976: Mark STEBBINS (12) leaves the American Legion hall in Ferndale, heading homeward early afternoon. His corpse is found February 19, lying in the snowy parking lot behind an office building. According to the coroner Mark was killed appr. 36 hours earlier, sexually assaulted, his body carefully cleaned and exposed for discovery. August 8, 1976: Jane ALLAN (13) is abducted while hitchhiking in Royal Oak. Her dead body is found August 11 at Miamisburg (OH) poisoned with carbon monoxide. December 21, 1976: Jill ROBINSON (12) disappears from Royal Oak, her body discoverd December 26 near Troy, laid out neatly in a roadside snow bank. The cause of death had been a single short-range shotgun blast. The corpse had been carefully scrubbed. This time there is no evidence of sexual assault. January 2, 1977: Kristine MIHELICH (10) vanishes on a short walk from her Berkley home. Her body, laid out in a funeral position, is found January 21, in Franklin Village, not far from the location Cynthia CADIEUX had been discarded one year ago. March 16, 1977: Timothy KING (11) disappears in Birmingham. Timothy´s mother begged for the safe return of her son through TV, promising his favorite chicken dinner on his return. March 23, 1977: Timothy´s corpse is discoverd in a roadside ditch near Livonia. Timothy was suffocated apparently, his body scrubbed and manicured, his clothing cleaned and pressed. Medical examination confirmed sexual assault and a last chicken dinner before death.
March 27, 1977: Dr. Bruce DANTO, a Detroit psychiatrist, publishes an open letter to the “Babysitter”, called so by the media for his “care” for the victims while holding them captive. One of the callers after DANTO´s theories published, tells DANTO “The article was wrong. You better hope it doesn´t snow any more.” Another caller, naming himself “Allen”, claims to be a roommate of the killer, having soldiered with him in Vietnam, offering weird theories and motives.
The next winter arrives, snow falls - but no more killings appear...
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