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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 16, 2013 21:13:10 GMT -5
March 16, 1977
March 16 fell on a Wednesday in 1977. It was the last day I would see my brother Tim alive. Five days earlier, my Dad turned 46. My brother Chris had his 16th birthday on Tuesday.
That day, after a typically god awful Midwest winter, it was 70-plus degrees. People were giddy. My brother Tim skateboarded at the Hunter-Maple Pharmacy/Chatham Supermarket parking lot with three other friends all afternoon after school. The lot had a decent incline, and the kids would skateboard from the top of the lot to the bottom. This lot was four blocks from our house. It was very near Adams Elementary School, where Tim and his friends were in 6th grade, and Poppleton Park. (BTW, Chris Busch�s oldest brother, Charles, lived with his family directly across the street from Poppleton Park at that time.) One of Tim�s friends walked home from the lot around 5 p.m. Tim showed up at home later and had dinner.
The previous week, some friends invited me to go to see Jerry Lewis� stand-up routine at a new hotel/conference center in Dearborn. I put off asking my Mom because I figured the answer would be no since it was a school night. I was a senior in high school. My friends asked again, so I pitched it to my Mom on that Monday and she said yes.
After school on Wednesday, I babysat for two kids I had been babysitting off and on since the summer after 6th grade. I don�t remember eating dinner at home that night and maybe had dinner with the kids I was babysitting.
After I got home, as I was getting ready to go out, my Mom told me she and my Dad were going to a client�s house for a will signing. My Mom was going as the witness. She said that she had talked to Tim and they were letting him stay home alone because he had been asking to be able to do that for some time. My brother Mark, a 9th grader, had play practice at the junior high and had already left home. Chris was babysitting for another family and offered to have Tim come with him. My parents then left, went to the client�s house and then decided to go out for a quick dinner after that.
Although I wanted to go to the show, I was not all that fired up about getting dressed up for it. As I was sitting on our couch looking down to buckle the ankle strap of my shoe, Tim came into the room, stood in front of me and said �You look pretty.� I was caught off guard because, although I was close with Tim, none of my brothers ever said anything like that to me back then, ever. And had Tim said it in front of the other two, they probably would have hacked on him for it. I smiled and looked at him and said �thanks� and then he got kind of an impish look on his face. I said �Ok, what do you want?� He smiled and asked if he could borrow money from me and run up to Hunter-Maple to buy some candy. I did not immediately agree and I forget what I said but he said �please,� with a big smile. He explained that he was saving his money (from a newspaper route�back when a kid could have one without getting murdered) for a blue running suit�a track suit. I had a part-time job as a waitress and I had a big jar of change in my bedroom with tip money in it. I did laugh, because at least he asked rather than helping himself. Truthfully, my concern was Tim crossing Adams road�and I told him to be careful. I said I would leave the front screen door closed but crack open the main front door because otherwise the door would lock shut behind me when I left. Tim was very grateful, very happy, and he left through the front door. Soon after that my friends picked me up and we went to Dearborn.
Although I distinctly remember seeing the faces of Mark Stebbins, Jill Robinson and Kristine Mihelich in the newspapers over the past year-plus, never�not once�did I think about the possibility that a serial killer or killers was running around abducting kids from neighboring suburbs and that predators were crawling around Oakland County. So I am not making it up when I say Tim had never been left on his own before�this was the first time my Mom agreed to it, and that I never, not once thought about the possibility of Tim crossing paths with a serial killer or pedophile. I was worried about the drivers on Adams Road.
While I was headed to the show, my brother bought candy at Hunter-Maple and then was seen talking to a man in the parking lot. My parents got home and Tim was not there. Mark and Chris show up and don�t have any idea where Tim is. My parents get concerned around 9 pm (?) and call the Birmingham police. The officer who responded to the call immediately picked up on the fact that an 11-year-old kid was missing and that given what had happened over the previous 13 months in neighboring suburbs, this was cause for very serious concern.
The drinking age was 18 in 1977. I was 17, but we all got served at the bar after the show. No one asked for any I.D. We were all dressed up and looked older than we were that night. We pulled into my driveway closer to 2 am than midnight. All of the lights were on at my house. We all assumed we were in very deep nuts. My friends took off to go face the music at their homes. As soon as I walked in my parents asked me if I knew where Tim was. I told them about giving Tim the money, him heading to the store, and how I left the door open a bit so he could get back in. I was their last hope. Their shoulders totally sunk when I told them what had taken place in the living room hours before.
While I was at the show, when my brother Chris learned no one knew where Tim was, he ran around the neighborhood in the dark carrying a baseball bat. He did go into the Hunter-Maple parking lot, which was empty except for a few cars. One was a blue Gremlin with a white hockey stripe. Chris looked in the car and saw that it had the denim interior option, which he had always thought was pretty cool. He told police numerous times he had seen this Gremlin in the parking lot later in the evening�he said he thought maybe someone who lived adjacent to the lot maybe had parked there overnight rather than on the streets, which were not wide. In a few days the news would be inundated with requests to look out for a blue Gremlin with a white hockey stripe because a woman had seen a boy who looked like Tim standing next to such a car talking to a man. Chris never believed the Gremlin was involved, but that�s all the cops had and they blew Chris off because he was a kid.
My Mom and Chris also drove around the neighborhood that night. They stopped in front of Tim�s friend�s house on nearby Madison Street. Maybe Tim was there. The house was completely dark. My Mom broke down sobbing. Chris offered to go to the door anyway, but she said no. They went home.
After I walked in, my parents told me what the police had said�that this did not look good at all. My Mom was terrorized. I asked her if anyone had called the local hospitals to see if a little boy had been treated at the emergency room or admitted. She said no and I made the calls while she stood next to me. Of course the answer was �no.� We all knew Tim did not run away, although that�s the first thing people say. I can�t even put into words the feeling of helplessness and fear we all felt.
The next day I went to school and I couldn�t handle being there. I told a few friends what was going on�one or two hoped Tim had just run away for a night. (Right.) As I drove home that morning, I saw low-flying helicopters near our neighborhood. I screamed out Tim�s name in my car, clenched the steering wheel and started crying uncontrollably. I was scared nutsless and I knew wherever Tim was, he was too.
Beginning that day, police were at our house 24/7. One officer had the day shift, the other the night shift. They ran a lot of defense for us and were incredibly kind.
We were all interviewed by police and the FBI in the next 24-36 hours. When the FBI agent couldn�t even look me in the eye, I knew it was all over. He looked like he was about to cry himself. He apologized more than once for having to ask me these questions.
I don�t know why, but I think my parents made my brothers go to school during the week Tim was missing. I didn�t go. I couldn�t sleep and was up for 24 hours at a time more than once that week. I would manage, but when a neighbors or friends stopped by and I saw the looks on their faces, again I knew this was the end of life as we knew it and that Tim was being subjected to some very bad treatment while we were all hiding at home. The next day my Dad walked into the basement where my brothers and I, along with my best friend, were talking in hushed tones. He needed to use the downstairs phone. He looked at us and stopped up short, shook his head and then said almost to himself �if you kids can live through this, you can live through anything.� He quickly used the phone and went back upstairs to deal with the police. We all looked at each other and said nothing. There was nothing to say.
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 17, 2013 2:29:29 GMT -5
Polly Coltman was also at the pharmacy that afternoon and is sure she physically bumped into the OCCK. She also watched as this same person circled the block of Madison St. and around Poppleton Park several times that afternoon. She reported her experience to the police, but was discounted - mostly, she believed, because the man was not driving a blue Gremlin, but a light colored vehicle."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}Part 11
Casual Observer's Testimony Birmingham Today - Reminiscing Yesterday
This video was originally made for my web site many years ago. It was recently compiled, processed and arranged for YouTube. The video was made by Casual Observer who had a mother-in-law that ran into a suspicious man at the Hunter Maple Pharmacy several hours before Tim King was abducted there. Her descriptions match the same descriptions that John told me about a woman He ran into at the same pharmacy. She had a son that was also with Tim King several hours before his abduction. This video documents Tim's abduction location where the Hunter-Maple pharmacy once was and where it all took place. She will walk you through Tim's neighborhood and what it's like today. She will also take you on a drive tour that this man was seen taking after seen at the pharmacy around Poppleton Park and ended up with him stopping in front of her house. He was obviously looking for Tim several hours before he finally found him. She will talk about the 555 building which was something else that John talked about.
In memory of Polly who tried so hard to convey to the police what she witness on that day.
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 18, 2013 1:35:04 GMT -5
1976 THE FIRST 2 VICTIMS DISAPPEAR Feb. 15: Mark Stebbins, 12, of Ferndale, left his mother at an American Legion Hall on Livernois near 9 Mile to go home and watch a movie on television. A pedestrian found him four days later in a shopping center parking lot at 10 Mile and Greenfield in Southfield. He had been raped and smothered. Dec. 22: Jill Robinson, 12, of Royal Oak, ran away after arguing with her mother about chores. Her bicycle was found the next day behind a hobby store on Woodward Avenue. Her body was found four days later on the snowy shoulder of northbound I-75 just north of Big Beaver in Troy. She died of a 12-gauge shotgun blast to the head. 1977 TASK FORCE FORMED WHEN TWO MORE CHILDREN VANISH Jan. 2: Kristine Mihelich, 10, of Berkley, had gone to a 7-Eleven store on 12 Mile near Greenfield in Berkley to buy a teen magazine. A mailman found her body 19 days later in a snow-covered ditch along Bruce Lane, a dead-end street near 13 Mile and Telegraph in Franklin. She had been smothered. Jan. 22: Oakland County police departments, the sheriff and Michigan State Police mobilize a task force to investigate the killings. A task force member works below. A $100,000 reward eventually is offered for the arrest of the killer. Jan. 25: Flint police arrest Gregory Greene, 27, of Flint on charges of sexually assaulting children. He tells investigators that an associate — Christopher Busch, 26, of Bloomfield Township — killed Mark Stebbins. Both men pass state police polygraph exams. Greene is convicted and sentenced to life in prison for assaulting boys. Busch, son of a General Motors executive, receives probation for assaulting boys in four counties. March 16: Timothy King, 11, of Birmingham, had borrowed 30 cents from his sister to buy candy at a nearby drugstore near Maple and Woodward Avenue. A clerk saw him leave through a rear door into a parking lot. His body was discovered six days later in a ditch along Gill Road south of 8 Mile in Livonia. He had been raped and suffocated. A shopper tells police she saw a boy with a skateboard in the drugstore parking lot talking to a man near a late-model blue Gremlin. The task force circulates a sketch of the suspect. March 23: Authorities speculate that the killer is someone children trust, like a doctor, priest or police officer. The crimes terrify parents and cause police to troll gay bars and stop hundreds of Gremlin drivers. April: Detroit criminal psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Danto receives a letter from a man named Allen, who says he lives with the killer. But Allen fails to show up for a meeting at a gay bar and Danto concludes he has been murdered by the child killer. 1978 INVESTIGATION CONTINUES WITHOUT RESOLUTION Nov. 20: Ex-suspect Christopher Busch, 27, found dead of a .22-caliber rifle shot to the head in his bedroom at his parents' Bloomfield Township home. The death is ruled a suicide. Police find a pencil drawing of a screaming boy pinned to a bedroom wall, right. Three decades later, police conclude that the boy looks like Mark Stebbins. Dec. 15: Task force shuts down after $2-million probe and 20,000 tips. "The fact that we did not solve the crime is on the minds of everybody, but at least we can sleep at night knowing we did the best job we could," says State Police Lt. Robert Robertson, the task force coordinator. 1999 INVESTIGATION RESUMES IN RECLUSE, WYO. Aug. 31: Oakland County authorities remove hair, bone and tissue from the exhumed body of David Norberg in Recluse, Wyo., to see whether his DNA matches hair found on a victim. The former Warren autoworker and child killer suspect moved to Wyoming in 1980 and died in a car crash in 1981. His widow alerts authorities after finding a silver cross inscribed with the name "Kristine." Kristine Mihelich's aunt recalls under hypnosis that her niece had an identical necklace. But FBI lab tests fail to find a DNA match. 2005 TASK FORCE REACTIVATES USING MODERN FORENSICS Feb. 18: State detectives restart child killer task force after a 26-year hiatus. Nov. 30: Task force says FBI failed to match DNA from four men — two of them living — with hair found on one of the victims. It said the results, though disappointing, don't clear the suspects. It said the hair could have fallen off an ambulance attendant or medical examiner. 2006 INVESTIGATION TURNS TO ACCUSED PEDOPHILE SUSPECT Dec. 11: Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says Theodore Lamborgine, 65, of Parma Heights, Ohio, is "our most promising suspect" in the child killings. But the task force downplays her comment. Lamborgine is accused of operating a pedophile ring in Detroit's Cass Corridor. He later pleads guilty to 14 sex assaults and is sentenced to three life prison terms rather than accept a plea deal to cut his sentence to 15 years but require him to take a polygraph exam in the child killer case. 2007 TASK FORCE REVISITS AN ORIGINAL CHILD KILLER SUSPECT July 31: Task force launches probe after hearing that Southfield polygrapher Lawrence Wasser supposedly confided to another examiner that a man who turned out to be Christopher Busch confessed in a private polygraph test in the mid-1970s to being the child killer. Wasser denies the claim. Aug. 23: Task force detective says investigators have found an overlooked hair sample that was left on one of the victims. It will be compared with the DNA of 12 potential suspects. 2008 EVIDENCE FROM BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP SUSPECT EXAMINED June 10: The FBI says DNA from Busch and several other suspects doesn't match DNA in hair found on victim. Oct. 29: Detectives search Busch's former home in Bloomfield Towship for dog hair and other trace evidence to try to match what was found on the victims. Results of the search are never revealed. 2009 LAB FINDS DNA MATCH BETWEEN SUSPECT AND KRISTINE MIHELICH March 5: The FBI says its lab technicals have made a mitochondrial DNA match between James Gunnels, 47, of Kalamazoo and a hair found on Kristine Mihelich. Investigators say Gunnels was sexually assaulted by Busch and later socialized with Busch and Greene. Gunnels rode in Busch’s car many times but says he didn’t know Kristine or how his hair might have gotten onto her. Mitochrondrial DNA match isn’t as precise as nuclear DNA match. 2011 GRAND JURY PROBES COLD CASES INCLUDING CHILD KILLINGS July 14: Oakland County officials say a citizens grand jury convened in late May. 2012 VICTIM'S FAMILY SUES FOR INFORMATION April 23: Detroit attorney Paul Hughes files a $100-million federal lawsuit on behalf of Deborah Jarvis against Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, Sheriff Michael Bouchard and state police investigators, accusing them of stonewalling victims' families. Hughes, Jarvis and their anonymous tipster named Bob want the U.S. Department of Justice to take over the probe. Cooper and Bouchard accuse Hughes and Bob of exploiting Jarvis' grief. SOURCES: Archives from Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Associated Press, Downtown Birmingham-Bloomfield Magazine and documents Barry King obtained from the Michigan State Police
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 18, 2013 22:31:54 GMT -5
Mr. King who just turned 82,had said in a recent interview that the reason he wanted to know now who killed his son,because he didn't know who besides his children...would carry on his fight to find out who did this to his son--Well Mr King until this case is solved,there will always be people behind the scenes,who will work on this case,most likely with out your children even knowing about it,there has always been someone who thought enough about these four children's deaths,to look into them...I post this letter about Polly and her daughter-in -law, who by the way still works on Tim's case and may just be the one who one day will solve it--***Polly Coltman, had been in touch with your mom early on. She knew the boys had been playing together near Hunter Maple Pharmacy. In fact, I think your mother even called Polly the evening of the 16th looking for Tim K. I know for a fact that the OCCK killings haunted and puzzled Polly for the rest of her life. Often, while visiting us, she would tell me the events of March 16, 1977 from her perspective as she was convinced she had seen the man who abducted your brother. This is how her story went. 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. If you remember, 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. At 4:30 she started watching out the front window as she was expecting Tim C. to come home and get ready for the Ice Capades. He still wasn’t home when it was time for Dave to get me so she sat at the window waiting and watching. She noticed a light colored car drive by (NOT A GREMLIN) because it was the second time it had driven by slowly while she sat waiting. So, she watched it turn right on Hunter. From her kitchen she followed it until it turned on the next street. She couldn’t see it for a time, but then she spotted it slowly driving by Poppleton Park , out o Madison and back in front of the house. By this time, she was standing at the front door –with it open – and as the car again passed in font of the house, she blatantly stared at the driver. He turned and looked at her too. When they made eye contact, she realized it was the same man she had run into at the pharmacy. She felt sure he realized this too. Tim C. showed up moments later, Polly felt relieved and let the whole thing go until the next day when your brother’s disappearance was reported. She contacted the police, told them her experience and was never contacted again. She never wavered from that story and every few years would call the police to see if they wanted her story again. In 1997, Polly was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer (30 days from diagnosis to death.) I was blessed with the gift of time and was able to spend a good deal of her last days caring for and talking with her. There were times of lucidity as well as times of confusion and sadly, much pain. One night, in an “out of sorts”, incoherent state, she thought she was in her basement and she asked me to help her “move boxes” to get her things in order. I did. As I sat with her, she would describe a box location and tell me what it was and where to move it – I would verbally tell her I was doing it and then she would go to another box. There was one box in particular she wanted only me to handle. She asked me not to lose it and not to let anyone forget about its importance. I readily agreed and promised. Whatever it was important. After she died, we (her sons and daughters – in – law) were cleaning out her home (which was in Ann Arbor .) My sister-in-law was going through boxes in the basement – pitching most of the stuff because it was moldy. She came upon a box of newspapers that had been saved and asked Tim C. what to do. He looked through them, discovering they were all about the OCCK and decided he would pitch them. He felt he had lived through that era and didn’t want to be reminded. It occurred to me at that moment that perhaps that was Polly’s important box and I wanted to keep it, but Tim C. was adamant that it should be pitched and I couldn’t hurt him by insisting it be saved. He has his own issues with what happened in 1977. However, it came to me with absolute clarity that Polly wanted her desire to see closure to your brother’s murder carried on. And I had promised her that I would make sure of it. In 2003, I discovered Helen’s story on the web. I pondered it. I was intrigued by it. But, I dismissed it. In 2004, I again did a search, found her original story again and the added updates which made me think that maybe there was more to it. It took me about 6 months to get up the guts to contact her – which I did through a post on the Dreambook site. I called myself Casual Observer. I didn’t reveal anything that I knew until I was sure that she was not, in fact, writing a book. Helen contacted me privately and started sharing information from her notes and while I can’t remember the exact piece that startled me, it allowed me to share Polly’s story more in-depth. I never revealed anyone’s name (including mine) other than Tim C.’s first name. I know that names can be found easily through email addresses, but Helen never once referred to me or any of my family members by name – even Tim. One of the pieces that rang true was John’s lack of ownership of a blue Gremlin and that he had been startled by a woman in the pharmacy. From there I asked Helen if John had ever called victim’s families. She said he had and she said that she had actually taken a list of people he had called from his apartment. I asked her to email me the list – she sent some of the following names : Bruce Danto, Chief Tobias, Mr. Robinson, and a few others and David Coltman. Now, here is the odd part. I told her that Tim C. had received a strange phone call concerning your brother in the days after he was abducted, but the truth was that phone call actually came to Dave. Here’s how I know this. About 13 years ago, Tim C. and his wife were visiting us. I don’t know how it started, but a discussion of your brother came up and it was clear that Tim C. had never mentioned the OCCK to his wife. . . and now she wanted to know. Tim C. has very scattered memories of the day your Tim was abducted and he has a selective memory of what his mother told him and refuses to acknowledge that the incident has had any lasting effect on him – although I can assure it does starting with his choice to never discuss it. BUT, he had a few beers that night and so was prompted to tell the story of the phone call with amazing clarity and an unspoken directive that it would be the last time he ever discussed it. The phone rang one evening somewhere around or just before 6 p.m. Dave answered the phone. The caller asked Dave if he wanted to talk about Tim. Dave misunderstood and told Tim C. the phone was for him. Tim C. took the phone and the caller said, “Dave? “ Tim C. said, “No, Tim.” The caller was quiet for a minute then proceeded to ask Tim (as if he knew him) what he thought had happened to Tim King. Tim C., frightened and confused, pulled the phone away from his ear. Polly saw the puzzled look on Tim C.’s face and grabbed the phone. When she said “hello” – the caller waited a second and then hung up. She asked Tim C. what happened and he told her the caller asked for Dave and wanted to talk about Tim King. The caller never identified himself and Polly called the police. There was a series of hang-up calls the next day or two – then nothing. At the time it was thought to have been a reporter because the boys who were with your brother that day had their names published in the paper. Conclusive? Not at all, but rather odd. Helen eventually told me ( I think when she was comfortable that I wasn’t seeking glory) the name of John. John Hastings. He went to Brother Rice, but his youngest brother Mike went to Seaholm. There is no official photo of Mike in the yearbook, but there are 2 candids in the 1978 edition (his senior year) that I have scanned. When I saw them, I remembered him. He played violin in the orchestra ( candid), and worked in a market ( the other candid.) After extensive searching I found info on him, his family tree, his careers, and oddly, that he graduated in September of 1978. . . wasn’t that unusual? He claims tobe an actor and to have had a reoccurring role on West Wing as well as being a theologian and teacher. I checked SAG records of members and couldn’t find a Mike, Michael, or any other variation of Mike Hastings in the membership. Nor, when I searched cast records for WW from the beginning, could I find any mention of Mike Hastings OR the role of “Navy Captain.” He does have a website dedicated to Fibromyalgia based on this captain at www.captainhastings.com. It also lists his resumes. He seems slimy. On the Classmates website, he used to have a profile that said he was an engineer in Georgia – which is really odd as that is where John was living then too. That has since been removed – somewhere in the last 6 months. Anyway, after weighing all the garbage that is out there on the Oakland County child killer, I have come to this- Helen Dagner has never changed her story about John. She has lots of information that has never been published. She has spent countless hours trying to bring about an end. And, she has never breached her word with me about not revealing me to the internet world, giving out my name, email, or anything else ( unless, like with you, I have directed her to do so.) She has stuck with her story for almost 17 years. She hasn’t written a book or a screen play. She hasn’t tried to engage the press with sensationalistic material (and there was at least one time she could have.) She has no self serving, monetary motivation that I have detected in the 2 years I have been in contact with her. So, I have to say, I believe her. There are others who profess to be extremely knowledgable about the OCCK and Helen has been involved in some pissing contests with them. However, they are no longer making posts. . . and Helen still is. Take that for what it is worth. Lastly, when I first shared Helen’s story with my husband – he was angry. Why was there not an arrest? Why can someone say all she has said and nothing happened? And, why was I jeopardizing our family safety by communicating with all these internet crackpots? One of these crackpots is a man named Kevin Rundle ( screen name Kdogg) who took it upon himself to cyberstalk me. I had to remove my name from classmates.com, the Seaholm Alumni website and block my email. He had the audacity to even repost the boys names who were with your brother that day and ask me why that hit so close to home. It was at that time that I stopped posting (for the most part), but kept in touch with Helen only. Again, she has never betrayed me and I value our relationship. I have chosen not to share any of this with Dave – only if it becomes essential in bringing out a conviction to the OCCK. There is so much more I can and will share if you would like me to do so. I have known how to contact you since your 20 year HS reunion, but have chosen not to as I did not want to bring about emotions or ideas that would create eventual heartache for you. As for contacting Chris. . . he has never seemed approachable about the subject and I have always felt it a sign to leave him alone. Your family suffered untold horrors at the hands of a monster. I can never change that, but if I have the power to offer insight, integrity, and empathy with my knowledge that will bring you closure, I will do it until no more can be done. Xxxx
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 19, 2013 0:03:14 GMT -5
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 20, 2013 2:45:04 GMT -5
Task Force Report 1977-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.******* Note:It's amazing the police aren't more interested in the dates...the correct ones.It would seem like a path could be drawn from the time stamp that the court order was entered. Off the top of my head, I thought it was midday. It's not proof that John knew. I don't think he was in court, as I recall. His parents came home, told him the news. Tim disappears that afternoon. This is John's last chance at the house. The parents inform him of the closing. John and Tim are both "gone" from the home 2 days before the closing. The closing and new owners take care of any chance of evidence. And the very thing that puzzled the cops the most back then.....The suspect needed a place to keep the kids for days on end. That place disappeared on March 24, 1977, along with the OCCK.***** But in 37 years NO red Flags went up for any Investigators??Why??? (March 16,1977 Consent Order for Temorary Relief
***** Helen, I just finish looking the file over and you are correct. On March 16, 1977 there was a Consent Order for Temporary Relief ordered as part of the divorce proceedings. There were alot of things covered, including her getting custody of and support for Xxxx, the taxes, etc. One of the points is "It is further ordered that the parties hereto shall cooperate in every step necessary, including eviction proceedings if needed, to remove the adult child, John H. Xxxxxxxx, Jr (age 27 years) from the marital home as soon as possible." The order was signed by the judge and then entered into the record by the county clerk at 10:03 am on March 16, 1977.
(As a side note, I assume the middle "H" in Jr's name is a typo in the order. Aren't they both John M?)
Since it was the mother as the plaintiff in the divorce, I would take this as she's demanding John Sr's help in getting Jr out of the house. So, this proves where he was living, and you can assume he was home on that day. . I don't remember now what the cops said John was doing on that day,but does it really matter? You have the word of the person who was looking at the house on the very day,and she said John was home!Sgt.)
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 21, 2013 0:46:58 GMT -5
Re-Run-From The Barry king Press Conference ~Important Dates
November 30, 2007 - Michigan State Police Detective Sargeant Garry Gray and Wayne County Prosecutor Investigator Cory Williams, identify Chris Busch as a possible suspect in the Oakland County Child Killer murders.
March 1, 2010 - Prosecutor Cooper asked Birmingham Police Chief Don Studt to call Barry King and advise him that her office had concluded that Chris Busch was not a viable suspect.
March 14, 2010 Barry King filed the first FOIA lawsuit against the Oakland County Prosecutor for her files on Chris Busch's involvement in the OCCK case.
December 15,2010 - The Michigan State Police deliver to the King Family 3, 411 pages from it's files on the possible Chris Busch involvement.
August 2012 - Lieutenant Denise Powell of Michigan State Police and Oakland County Deputy Sheriff Gary Miller advise Barry King that Chris Busch remains a viable suspect.
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 21, 2013 1:09:54 GMT -5
March 20, 1977
The following letter to the public–and to the kidnapper of her 11-year-old son–was given to a Detroit News reporter Saturday by Mrs. Marian [sic] King of Birmingham. Her son, Timothy, has been missing since Wednesday night.
I am expecting at any moment for the side door to bang open and hear Tim say ‘Have we ate yet? I mean, have we had dinner yet?
When that happens, I will run for his favorite Kentucky Fried Chicken and mix his glass of Ovaltine.
Then, when he has had the usual eight Oreos and some plain milk to dunk them, Tim and I will go on our delayed shopping trip. We had planned to buy a much-wanted light blue warmup suit with the money he has saved from his newspaper route.
Wherever Tim is, he is distressed about worrying me. He has always left notes or called to tell me where he is. He is impatient to return to rehearsing for his role as ‘Mike TV’ in the upcoming production of ‘Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ at Adams School.
He is also eager to play on his basketball team, try out for Little League and his new career as a soccer player.
There are no words to express how much we all miss Tim. We can hardly wait to see him, hug him and hear his latest collection of jokes.
It is my hope that Tim is not frightened or hungry and that his cold is not any worse.
I appeal to all of you from the bottom of my heart–help bring him home to us very soon. Do whatever you can to help find him, and call the Birmingham police with any possible information which might be useful.
We are overwhelmed at the outpouring of love and support from neighbors, friends and concerned persons.
The magnificent efforts of the Birmingham police and their associates from all of Michigan are beyond any expectations.
We are eagerly anticipating Tim’s safe arrival. Someone, please, give him all our love until we can do that ourselves.
Tim’s autopsy three days later would reveal that he had eaten chicken shortly before his death. He was buried on March 26 in a light blue warmup suit.
So, when weasels like Charles Busch, Larry Wasser, James Feinberg, Vince Gunnels and others (some in law enforcement) complain bitterly about how hard the past few years have been and how much they have “gone through” since leads in the case have surfaced, I have no sympathy. Even if they think in their heart of hearts that Chris Busch was in no way involved, why did they play unnecessary games? Why didn’t they just man-up? Why did you f**k around in the district court and the court of appeals? And as for those who victimize children and then do whatever they can to hide their sickness, and those who did whatever they could to preserve these animals’ “reputations”–they are the worst kind of cowards. My Mom was a thousand times stronger than any of these people. *** NOTE: I should say at this time -that all through the years and especially this last couple of years-Every LE-who I ever talked to-Never said anything bad about the King Family-They totally got it!!....and said Mr. King just wants to know who kill his son !!! And they never blamed him for that,they did feel his pain,how could they not-they are fathers themselves....Helen
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 21, 2013 20:47:42 GMT -5
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 21, 2013 21:02:44 GMT -5
1977-It had been decided earlier In the Investigation that the very nature of the crime dictated that security for the killer be given top priority -It was determined that the only safe place to incarcerate the child killer was Second District Headquarters in Northville -after all,it was a State Police case,and District was well fortified. There was a heliport in back,high fences,lots of troops and even a kitchen and sleeping quarters-If the Occk could be protected from an outraged citizenry any where it was there...and the Task Force had a feeling they would need it soon....2013-Case remains UNSOLVED
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 21, 2013 21:19:38 GMT -5
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 21, 2013 21:45:47 GMT -5
Somebody knows theory-When your in law enforcement,you normally believe that no one ever commits a crime without at least one other person knowing about it-and according to the somebody knows theory all you have to do is look long and hard enough and talk to enough people and sooner or later you are going to find somebody who has that vital scrap of information to solve the crime-However if it is a family member who knows...well some times the rule of Blood is thicker than water -holds true...and they just won't give the Brother or son -up--They just hang onto that family secret...
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 22, 2013 2:22:10 GMT -5
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 22, 2013 23:14:26 GMT -5
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Post by Helen Dagner on Mar 23, 2013 9:48:34 GMT -5
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