ARCHIVES -Oakland County Child Murders 1976-77

[Helen Dagner]

ARCHIVES
Old murder case revived
By Steve Zucker News-Review staff writer
Tuesday, February 22, 2005 3:11 PM EST
and The Associated Press

When the Michigan State Police and a host of other police agencies announced last week that they are blowing the dust off of four 30-year-old unsolved murder files from Oakland County, one Northern Michigan resident took more than a passing interest.

Petoskey resident Deb Jarvis, who works in the News-Review's circulation department, is the mother of one of the four children who were abducted and slain in Oakland County between February 1976 and March 1977.

The bodies of two boys and two girls were found suffocated after they were missing for a period ranging from three to 19 days. Two had been raped and one was also shot in the face with a shotgun.

The victims included 11-year-old Timothy King, 12-year-old Mark Stebbins, 12-year-old Jill Robinson and Jarvis' daughter, 10-year-old Kristine Mihelich.

Kristine was last seen on Jan. 2, 1977, at a 7-Eleven store near 12 Mile and Oakshire, three blocks from her home where she had walked to buy a magazine. Her body was found at noon on Jan. 21 on a rural road near Telegraph and 12 Mile Road in Franklin Village.
Police have long believed that the killings, that drew much media attention, swarms of investigators and terrified suburban Detroit residents for years, are connected.

Police asked Friday for anyone with information on the deaths to report it to police, and said they would begin reanalyzing evidence and leads from thousands of tips using more advanced computer databases and forensic techniques that are now available.

"It's now time to double our efforts and we need your help," state police Detective Sgt. Garry Gray said.

Investigators' last big lead fell apart in November 2000, when DNA from the exhumed body of a suspect failed to match the genetic material in a hair found on one of the suffocated children.
Investigators moved the five file cabinets and 15 boxes containing the case files to Oak Park from state police 2nd District Headquarters in Northville so detectives and forensics experts can go back and review evidence.

What has become known as the "Oakland County Child Killer" case horrified the area, where parents feared to let their children out of their sight. All the children were abducted from suburban business areas.

Investigators have said the exhumed man, David Norbert of Wyoming, was not ruled out as a suspect. He had a necklace inscribed with the first name of Jarvis' daughter, Kristine, and his wife, who provided his alibis, later recanted.

Jarvis said she first learned of the renewed investigation efforts when she received a phone call from Berkeley Police Department Sgt. Ray Anger a week ago.

"He's been with us since day one," Jarvis said of Anger, who still works for the police department and still regularly checks in with the family on the status of the case.

Jarvis said she views the news of the renewed investigation with mixed feelings. On one hand, she said, she's encouraged that the case might yet be solved, but the renewed interest brings back a host of horrible memories.

But those memories are never far from her mind anyway.

"I know for a lot of people closure is important, but for me there was closure in the incident itself," Jarvis said. "There isn't a day that's gone by that Kris hasn't been in my thoughts, but you do learn to accept it and you do go on."

Jarvis said she believes that, despite the amount of time that has passed, "somebody out there does know something, it's just a matter of whether they would come forward."

While Jarvis, along with police, believe the murderer could be dead or in prison, she said she hopes the case can eventually be closed.

"I would love it, if for nothing else, for the sake of the police officers who have been involved over the years," she said.

Jarvis, since divorced and re-married, moved to Northern Michigan about 10 years ago when her current husband retired.

She said seeing the "wonderful people" her three other children have grown into, she often wonders what kind of person Kristine, who was the oldest of her children, might have become as an adult.

Jarvis, who until now has told very few people about her daughter's death, said it has been the support of friends, family and the community at large - both at the time of the incident and since - that has sustained her.

"The support of the community was unbelievable - how everybody pulled together," she said. "We've tried to live one day at a time. You do the best that you can. I guess we are all survivors."

Police are asking anyone who might have information about any of the slayings to call a special tip hotline at [phone].

Steve Zucker may be contacted at 439-9346, or

[Helen Dagner]

1. All four victims were alone when abducted; also, they were
all taken from business areas, in or near parking lots.2. Two victims were abducted on a Sunday afternoon, two on
a Wednesday evening.
3. Victims were held captive, for periods ranging from 3
to 19 days.
4. Victims appeared to have been well fed while held and
not subjected to weather or other exposure.
5. The victims were well cared for during their period of
captivity, including caring for their normal biological
needs. All the bodies were clean, and Tim King's body
was described as Clinically clean (his finger and toe
nails had been scraped).
6. All four victims were dressed in their own clothing
(possibly by someone else) just before or after death.
7. All four bodies were deposited along roadsides where
they would be readily found.
8. There was no evidence of sexual molestation of either
girl; both boys showed obvious anal dilation.
9. Apparently little if any force was used in the abductions;
no commotions were reported in this regard.
On the other hand, there are certain differences that tend to make
the interrelationship of the crimes less positive. For example, Jill Robinson
was killed along the edge of a highway with a shotgun, a noisy and attentiongetting
method, while the other three were smothered, probably by holding a
hand over their mouths and pinching their nostrils shut. Students of the
pathology of sex would probably point to the probable lack of interest in
pre-adolescent girls on the part of a homosexual assailant of young boys.
And, the killeld~ timing was inconsistent; the Stebbins boy was murdered in
February, 1976; the next victim was seized at the end of December, 1976,
followed by one in January and one in March. Also, the victims were kept
for varying lengths of time: 3~, 4, 6, and 19 days. There are other contradictory
aspects as well; the cleanliness of the victims has been seen by
investigators as a largely successful attempt on the part of the killer to
destroy possible evidence--scrapings from under fingernails, dirt from
clothing, or handprints on skin. These procedures, on the other hand, could
have been part of the compulsive cleanliness of a far-from-normal individual.
Perspective takes on special significance when making judgments on such details.

[Helen Dagner]

The Manicure-Pedicure set being the items that John chose to hide in such a bizarre fashion was the very same items that played such a prominent role in the killings! Now what are the odds of that?...Now remember,the children were manicured...which is also weird because if he just wanted to remove trace evidence that was already accomplished when he bathed them. So,I think this was a signature,which is some part of the crime scene that reveals part of a Serial Killers motive or inner mental state.This is just a guess but maybe John was purifying them almost like ritually cleansing them for a sacrifice...and I say this because at one time John did mention something to me about a cult...{
It reminds me of a good friend. Her father didn't approve of her
lifestyle. He was always saying, "clean the dirt out from under your
fingernails, and come home." Of course, her father didn't mean it
literally. The dirt under the fingernails, was a symbolic reference.

The killer's manicure of the children was probably the last thing he
did. It said, "this isn't my fault, and I'm washing my hands of all
responsibility." The manicure was a symbolic way of cleaning the dirt
of his actions, out from under his fingernails, and walking away with a
clean conscience. After all, in his mind, it wasn't his own hands that
did this. Society made him do it, and he held society responsible.

Well, that's my 2-cents worth of psychoanalysis.
I think this is a credible analysis, after all, the suspect told ME that he did hold society responsible for the things that he was denied and I agree further that the manicures took place postmortem.......

[Helen Dagner]

1) You say they have a DNA match linking Gunnel’s to Kristine. What they have is a Mitochondrial DNA match. MtDNA is inherited from your Mother, and passes down with little if any variations, sometimes for hundreds of years, which means any of Gunnels relatives from his direct maternal line, or men who are first generation from the same, could have provided that hair. Personally, if I were leading the taskforce I would be looking long and hard at Gunnel’s family tree. While I believe he was a little young at the time to carry out these horrendous crimes and get away with it, he wouldn’t necessarily be the only child to ever commit murder, so I would definitely be talking to Gunnels as well.

2) The drawing does not conclusively link Busch to Mark Stebbins. Even if there is a resemblance, there were hundreds of boys involved in the boy’s camp and when he was arrested he had 8 reels of film.

3) Gregory Green offered to hand them the OCCK? What a coincidence, so did Lawson, and so did another prison inmate whose names escapes me at the moment.

Yes, Busch was a known child molester. This is not being disputed, what he did was horrendous, as were Lawson, Lamborgines, Raar, Norberg’s , etc…crimes. They are all monsters and the world is a better place now that they are no longer walking around free to terrorize our children. But, at the end of the day, there never was any solid conclusive evidence saying Busch was the OCCK.

[Helen Dagner]

Helen,

Geographic profiling services should be requested early in the investigation in cases where the crime is serial in nature, where the offender is unknown, where help is needed to narrow the focus of the investigation and/or where special circumstances exist.

Geographic profiling is an investigative aid that predicts the serial offender's most likely location including home, work, social venues, and travel routes. Using information from a series of related crimes, a geographic profiler uses a mathematical model to analyze the locations of the crimes and the characteristics of the local neighbourhoods in order to produce a map showing the areas in which the offender most likely lives and works.

Geographic profiling helps focus investigative efforts on the probable location of the suspect, within an area defined by the 'geoprofile'. It has the potential to reduce the time and effort spent investigating and apprehending an offender. Geographic profiling complements usual investigative techniques and is best used together with criminal profiling.

Geographic profiling was useful in this serial crime as the offender was unknown to the profilers. A minimum of five crimes or related sites are required for a complete profile in your geographic profiling 15 sites were used in profiling your suspect.


The Geographic profilers who worked on your files are experienced police investigators with many years training in serial violent crime and the computerized mathematical modeling used to create the geographic profiles.

This geographic profile provides the investigator with a geographic focus for the investigation. A series of maps has identify the probable home and work locations of your suspect. The maps also identify paths to use when searching for the offender. This geographic profile has also listed multiple suspects in a priority order based on their residence and work locations.

Identifying a catchment area: A catchment area is the geographical area served by an institution, retail, or other facility. Using a mathematical process (a Thiessen polygon analysis), we have determine the catchment areas of a series of locations. For example, the process could identify the catchment areas of the grocery stores in the city. This service is useful for identifying the area of investigation in some cases.

Time, speed and distance calculations: These calculations enclosed can help an investigator who needs to know how far an offender can travel in a given period of time or how much time an offender would require to travel a given distance. They can determine time, speed, and distance calculations for walking, jogging, riding a bicycle or driving a vehicle.

Geographic profilers -have enclosed the finish maps to help investigators related to this series of crimes. These maps are useful for court, briefings, presentations, and reconstructing historical cases.

It is the opinion of this firm Xxxxx Xxxx Xxxxx That your suspect is a person of significant interest in the Oakland County Child Killings.

[Helen Dagner]

1001-We are at a complete loss as to why the present day task force hasn't investigated the finding of Jill's bike by the two boys who have since come forward with what could be vital information.This could be of paramount importance,as it would precisely pin point the spot where Jill was most probably abducted,we found it to be of great value,as it was yet another data point we used to help connect the Geographic Profile dots. Another logic defying stunt by the TF when dealing with witnesses in a flippant manner or just ignoring them all together. Helen,we are not surprised that this case remains unsolved.At this rate it never will be solved.

[Helen Dagner]

1002-In the matter of Alpena Witness-The police learned some important information when he came forward. The fact that he did not report it until sometime after the event-does not make it less valuable nor does it lessen his credibility-we have talked to Loretta as you suggested and she confirms the AW story.The fact that he made several attempts to immediately contacted the police when he realized that there may have been a connection to the Oakland County Child Murders speaks volumes-LE knows that this type of information is not made up-the issue here is there is not much that can be done with the map drawing information at this time other than as a tool-The fact that you have the maps and the one is drawn exactly as the witness has described and that it can be proven that the witness was indeed at the location on the date and time of the map drawings at the Big Boy restaurant in Alpena-does make him a valuable witness -if not the most valuable one in this entire case thus far-Helen,the usual Serial Killer investigation groupie-tries to inject himself into a case by concocting a big,central,pivotal role in the case.The Alpena Witness does the exact opposite.His testimony not only corroborates and strengthens much of what is already on record,he does so from the periphery and makes no attempt to move to the center stage of the investigation.{3 of 456}

[Helen Dagner]

1003-We have had great difficulty trying to comprehend why the task force did not pay more attention to the tip by PC.We do believe the blue gremlin play apart in this { see the blue Gremlin file} However when the police were made aware of the story by the daughter-in-law and yourself-they should have been able to make the connection and looked into this further-as here you have two people who have never met telling the same story-PC-through her daughter-in-law and yourself through notes taken 14 plus years after this event-and they match.PC-
"Around 4:00 p.m. it occurred to her that with everyone being out of the house that night, it would be a good time to color her hair. She drove up to the HM Pharmacy, parked in back, and entered through the back door.- there was a narrow hallway you had to walk through before it opened up to the pharmacy area in the back. She was walking down the hall and bumped into a man in his late 20’s or early 30’s (she thought) and he seemed startled by the incident. He stood there for an extended period of time looking at her before she moved past. He had dark hair and she thought sideburns – but does not remember them being the big mutton chopped sideburns described in the composite sketch. She felt unsettled about the incident, bought her hair dye and drove home." Then John tells you-" that he had been startled by a woman in the pharmacy who physically bumped into him." and the time-line matches-he told you he stormed out of the house just before 5pm and went to Hunter Maple Pharmacy to use the pay phone.Then he tells you-the woman bought hair dye.-I understand that this information because PC is( now deceased) can only be used as a tool-however it has significant value even today-as it discounts the blue Gremlin-and puts another vehicle in that immediate area at a critical time- The fact that the Occk killings haunted and puzzled her for the rest of her life-and
she never wavered from that story- but calls numerous times over the years in an attempt to get someone to listen to her -.makes it more difficult to understand law enforcement's decision not to follow up on this tip-also equally baffling-is the phone call to her home -in which the same person-who shows up on a call list of John's-nearly 15 years later-is in fact the same person.{I have added more comment on PC in the summation report}---{4 of 456}

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[Helen Dagner]

By 1980 Michigan State Police Lt. Joe Koenig was the sole full-time officer assigned to check out new tips in the OCCK case which still came in at the rate of 10 per week. An article in the March 16, 1980, Detroit News explained: "While emphasizing that the task force did 'one helluva job,' Koenig is seriously considering another review of 'high priority tips' by a special group of retired police officers."

"'We're not being critical of work already done,' said Koenig. 'But maybe, just maybe they overlooked something because of all of the pressure.' . . . Koenig has a new theory--a long shot, he admits--on what happened to the murderer. 'What if the killer is from a very wealthy family,' he said. 'Suppose the parents discover their son is the killer and send him off to Europe for psychiatric treatment. The family name is spared, their son is receiving treatment, and they are sure no one else will be killed. They can live with that.'"

This same article goes on to quote the late Dr. Bruce Danto, a criminal psychiatrist who worked closely with the task force. Danto believed "'the killer is alive, probably living somewhere in Oakland County. I think he's sitting on it . . . but he's not a suicide, he's not that generous. He's bright and knows how to protect himself. He knows how to survive.'" The article continues "Dr. Danto said he doubts the killers family sent him away for psychiatric treatment. 'I don't think he'd let anyone know he was the killer, not even his parents.'" [The Detroit News, 3-16-80]

[Helen Dagner]

September 24, 1988
Section: NWS
Edition: METRO FINAL
Page: 3A;

POLICE: CLIPS ON OAKLAND KILLINGS IN SEX \ CRIME SUSPECT'S COLLECTION
JACK KRESNAK Free Press Staff Writer
Harold Sellae, a 65-year-old Hamtramck man arrested this week in the alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl, kept a large collection of newspaper clippings about assaults on children, including stories about the Oakland County child killings, police said Friday. Because of the clippings and the nature of the alleged sexual assault, State Police detectives on the Oakland County Task Force will check the man's background to determine whether he should be considered a suspect in the unsolved killings of four Oakland County children during the winters of 1976 and 1977.
When asked if Sellae is a suspect in the Oakland County cases, State Police Detective Sgt. Richard Rosen said: "Probably not, but when Hamtramck arrested him there were some items that he had in his possession that would tend to make us want to at least have a look at him." Rosen said police will question Sellae about the Oakland County cases next week. "It's something we have to look at, but on the Oakland County Task Force we'll probably get five to 10 tips a year. It's an open investigation and this is just another tip that we're checking out," Rosen said adding that Sellae's name is not on the computerized list of previous tips. Sellae was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with an alleged incident in his public housing apartment in the 12100 block of Dequindre in mid-August. The alleged victim is a 10-year-old neighbor whom Sellae befriended by letting her listen to his radio, said Hamtramck Officer Stan Sadzinski. Sellae is a custodian at a local church and told police he has worked at other schools and churches. He was arraigned Tuesday before 31st District Judge Walter Paruk, who ordered him held in lieu of $250,000 bond, pending a preliminary examination Thursday. The charge carries a maximum term of life in prison. When Hamtramck police searched his apartment they found about 150 newspaper clippings, including reports of attacks, kidnappings, rapes and slayings of children, police said. Victims of the Oakland County kidnap-slayings were Timothy King, 11; Kristine Mihelich, 10; Jill Robinson, 12, and Mark Stebbins, 12. Three were suffocated; Jill Robinson died of a shotgun blast to the head.

[Helen Dagner]

[Helen Dagner]

Ms. Dagner July 3.2008
Approximately 1 year ago, my partner assisted the Georgia Bureau of
Investigations, (GBI) with an investigation which led them to the State of
Michigan. They requested we assist them and conduct some followup interviews in
Michigan. After completing our assist to them, the GBI agent told us if there
was ever anything they could do for us in return, they would be more than
willing. Immediately I thought to myself of the person you've spoken of all
these years who now resides in GA. A formal request, in writing, was then sent
to the GBI, asking if they would be willing to contact him and ask for a
voluntary sample of his DNA. "Buccal Swab".

GBI agreed to assist us, and on Feb 1, 2008, contact was made with this subject.
He voluntarily signed a waiver of Constitutional Rights to a Search Warrant and
voluntarily provided two buccal swabs of his DNA. He was very
gracious/cooperative and willing to assist Michigan authorities with our case.
(The OCCK investigation).

His sample, along with four other individuals we've recently been investigating,
were sent to the FBI lab in Quantico VA. for comparison against our past and
"new evidence".

On July 2, 2008, I received the results of the FBI's findings (analysis). Their
conclusions are as follows:
The mtDNA sequences from xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx and xxx are different.
Therefore, (the five listed subjects, (names withheld), can be excluded as the
source of the evidence xxx and xxx.

Ms Dagner, had this coincidence not occurred with the GBI, we would not have
requested the DNA sample be taken from this person, however, with the
circumstances involved, and knowing the passion you've exhibited all these years
on the OCCK case, I felt out of respect for you and the case, "Why not".

Unfortunately, we didn't get the ever elusive hit we've been looking for all
these years, but make no mistake, we "ARE" vigorously working this case.

Respectfully

D/Sgt. Gray and the OCCK Task Force.

[S Graves]

Hello I lived at 18720 Seminole in Redford Township until 1979. Someone needs to check into the house next to that address. The guy that lived there fits the occk he drove a gremlin n had the same hair. This guy never came out of his house n talked to no one.Very strange man I was 14 at the time but I remember this like it was yesterday. Thank You