case an ill-conceived, unfounded, and tardy attack

[Helen Dagner]

~by ~Heather Catallo who is an award winning investigative reporter whose work has imprisoned criminals, prompted an FBI investigation, led to major government reforms and held public officials accountable

~(WXYZ) - Lawyers for the Oakland County Prosecutor and Sheriff say the recent lawsuit filed against them regarding the decades-old Oakland County Child Killer case should be dismissed.

They call the case an ill-conceived, unfounded, and tardy attack on law enforcement officials who want justice just as much as the families do.

County lawyers also put attorney Paul Hughes on notice that if he doesn’t withdraw his lawsuit, they will seek sanctions against him, in large part because they call the lawsuit “factually deficient.”

Last month, Hughes filed the $100 million dollar on behalf of one of the victim’s families.

The 7 Action News Investigators revealed that Hughes was relying on information from an anonymous source, who’s believed to be the same anonymous source who contacted 7 Action News back in 2010. The so-called source alleged that the killings were tied to cult activities and pagan holidays, but never provided any proof.

Between 1976 and 1977, a killer or killers abducted 4 children along the Woodward corridor in Oakland County, held them captive for days, and then murdered them. The four children are linked together by specific forensic evidence, including carpet fibers and dog hair.

Grand juries in both Oakland and Wayne Counties have been convened to investigate the case.

Read more: www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/oakland-county-officials-ask-for-dismissal-of-child-killer-lawsuit#ixzz1v112kqDg

[Helen Dagner]

In an office at the University of Detroit Mercy on Oct. 18, 2010, Oakland County law enforcement officials stared at a speaker phone as a tipster, who now goes by Bob, laid out his theories about the Oakland County child killings of the 1970s.

Bob said the killers might have been cult or wiccan members who timed the slayings to coincide with pagan holidays or the lunar calendar -- and even a Shakespearean poem -- dumping the bodies in various cities in an attempt to form an acronym out of the first letter of each community's name.

"How that acronym works out is something we just don't have nailed down yet. It's possible it's nothing," Bob told Chief Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Paul Walton and Undersheriff Mike McCabe in a 65-minute conversation Walton recorded and released late Monday.

"It's possible, in the case of Timothy King, that the intention was to possibly leave the body in Lathrup Village because of the need for the L at that point," Bob said. "And hence why they went so far into Livonia, or so far away to a city with an L in it.

"Again, that's conjecture."

The recording casts doubts on whether Bob, who claims he and his associates have investigated the case, has credible information that could solve a mystery that has bedeviled investigators for nearly four decades. And it seems to put him in a category of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tipsters who thought they knew who might have killed the children, but had no facts to back it up.

"He's not going to give any information because he doesn't have any information," Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said Tuesday.

"The most bizarre and saddest thing is that anyone was buying any of this," Cooper said about the news media uproar resulting from a $100-millon federal lawsuit that accused law enforcement officials of hindering efforts by victims' families to find out who killed their children. The lawsuit, based on information from Bob, seeks a U.S. Department of Justice investigation of the case.

During that 2010 conversation, Bob asked authorities to confirm or rebut his theories, saying he didn't want to waste their time.

Bob went on to say that he was suspicious of a man he met by coincidence about 1977. During their six-year association, he said the man drove him around the area and made cryptic comments about the case. He said he hadn't spoken to him since.

Around 2005, Bob said, he heard news reports that prompted him to suspect the man was the killer, even though he admitted he had no hard evidence.

"If you have some information that helps us connect the dots ... please," Walton asked Bob on the recording. "We're not going to make any public statements about anyone unless we're going to charge someone. ... We're not going to ruin anyone's life."

Bob wouldn't budge.

"I'm not going to put someone's name out there unless I have a certain degree of belief that there's facts that I can connect that I can give that person's name out," Bob replied.

The conversation took place in the office of former Detroit Police Chief Isaiah McKinnon, who teaches at the University of Detroit Mercy. He set up the meeting at the request of Associated Press reporter Corey Williams, who had been talking with Bob.

In response to a question from McKinnon, Bob said he wasn't involved in the killings: "I had nothing to do with this."

Bob said several people were responsible for killing several more children than the four officially credited to the Oakland County Child Killer.

To confirm his suspicions about his former acquaintance, he asked Walton and McCabe to provide him two pieces of information from a letter that Dr. Bruce Danto, the late Detroit criminal psychiatrist who was involved in the investigation, received from a man named Allen around April 1977.

Allen told Danto he lived with the child killer and had arranged to meet Danto at a bar in Detroit to talk about the killings. But Allen never showed up.

Bob asked Walton and McCabe to tell him whether Allen's letter was handwritten or typed and where it was mailed from. He didn't explain how the information would confirm his suspicions.

Walton promised to make an inquiry and get back with Bob within two days, but never provided the information for fear of jeopardizing the investigation.

Bob said during the call that he was distrustful of authorities based on reports he had heard about former members of the original child killer task force throwing away or failing to pursue tips, and the possible involvement of a police officer in the killings.

Bob became part of the child killer narrative two weeks ago, when Detroit attorney Paul Hughes filed a $100-million lawsuit against Cooper, Walton, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, and Michigan State Police investigators in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Hughes sued on behalf of Deborah Jarvis of Petoskey, whose daughter, Kristine Mihelich, 10, was one of the official victims. The others were King, 11; Mark Stebbins, 12, and Jill Robinson, 12.

Jarvis said at a news conference that she had talked with Bob hundreds of times, but didn't know who he was.

Hughes, who also has talked with Bob and arranged for reporters to interview him by telephone on Monday, declined to comment about the recording until he has listened to it.

McCabe said the entire episode is disappointing.

"It's a pretty sad state of affairs that this thing has turned into a circus," he said. "And that's a huge disservice to the families and especially the victims."
Key moments in the recording

The recording, made October 18, 2010, starts 15 seconds in with Ike McKinnon speaking. He introduces Chief Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Paul Walton, Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe, and Associated Press reporter Corey Williams. The tipster, who came to be known as Bob, speaks on a speaker phone.

00:39 seconds - Paul starts outlining his theories about the killings, why he thinks there were more than four victims of the Oakland County Child Killer.

06:20: Bob brings up a ritual cult connection

15:35: Bob speaks of an acquaintance who might be the killer

22:20: The Allen letter. Note: This was a letter that Dr. Bruce Danto, the late Detroit criminal psychiatrist who was involved in the investigation, received from a man named Allen around April 1977. Allen told Danto he lived with the child killer and had arranged to meet Danto at a bar in Detroit to talk about the killings. But Allen never showed up.

26:30: McCabe questions Bob about his potential suspect.

30:15 Walton asks him to identify source

36:00: Bob denies involvement in child killings

39:39: His suspect used a fictional person named Allen when he told stories

45:00: McCabe says he wants to build trust with Bob

Contact David Ashenfelter: [e-mail]
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