MI MI - Oakland County Child Killer, "The Babysitter Murders" , 1976-77 #2

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New book out on this case:

https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Jar-Obs...8&qid=1534318601&sr=8-1&keywords=the+kill+jar

I highly recommend it! Read it in one day, the best book on this case easily. Very well written, it addresses all the relevant suspects CB, GG etc., the Pontiac LeMans, the various "suicides" surrounding the case, the dog hairs etc. The author draws a reasonable conclusion who the killer was, but doesnt go overboard with speculation as to the many unanswered questions and possible connections that explain the decades-long cover up. About 30% of the book is the author's personal story growing up in the area which I honestly found pretty boring (compared to the OCCK relevations) but the book is still a must have to get a 2018 view of this notorious crimes.
 
tilomagnet said:
New book out on this case:

https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Jar-Obs...8&qid=1534318601&sr=8-1&keywords=the+kill+jar

I highly recommend it! Read it in one day, the best book on this case easily. Very well written, it addresses all the relevant suspects CB, GG etc., the Pontiac LeMans, the various "suicides" surrounding the case, the dog hairs etc. The author draws a reasonable conclusion who the killer was, but doesnt go overboard with speculation as to the many unanswered questions and possible connections that explain the decades-long cover up. About 30% of the book is the author's personal story growing up in the area which I honestly found pretty boring (compared to the OCCK relevations) but the book is still a must have to get a 2018 view of this notorious crimes.
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The facts in this book are superb and simply presented but I could REALLY do without the author's edgelord, film-noir memoirist junk. Using your personal life to pad out documentary nonfiction is just lazy storytelling. This case is so complex and objectively fascinating that leaning on that junk shouldn't be necessary.
 
Thats pretty harsh, but I agree. The author's relationship troubles are sort of out of place in this book. Its a bit of a bizarre mixture of an excellent, extremely well written presentation of the OCCK case and the other chapters in which the author dissects his troubled family life. It would have been a better book w/o them but it is what is, Appelman did do great work on this case and if he feels he needs to publish it like that, so be it.
 
tilomagnet said:
Thats pretty harsh, but I agree. The author's relationship troubles are sort of out of place in this book. Its a bit of a bizarre mixture of an excellent, extremely well written presentation of the OCCK case and the other chapters in which the author dissects his troubled family life. It would have been a better book w/o them but it is what is, Appelman did do great work on this case and if he feels he needs to publish it like that, so be it.
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It's reminding me entirely too much of True Crime Addict, which was a notorious dumpster fire of a "true crime" novel. To his credit, however, Appelman's facts seem impeccable. I just can't stop rolling his eyes when he derails the narrative to brag about how damaged he is.
 
I will have the book finished tonight. Grew up in Detroit area, and I was the same basic age as the victims at the time.

I am interested in chatting about theories and angles in this case if any of the rest of you who have just finished the book are, but I have been following this case online since about 1996-7 and I am well aware of the (in my opinion unnecessarily) volatile tone of discussions related to this case. It has always bummed me out because you have to sift through six layers of interpersonal, ego driven sparring to find the morsels of truth that could bring some clarity to this cloudy chapter.

I will say this: There were a few new nuggets in this book for me and I would have to say that they don't seem to help much toward resolution. The whole thing stinks to the core and I remain horrified and furious that a situation such as this one existed in my community ...

Almost as horrified as I am that we continue to ignore the "truth" that seems to lurk just beneath the surface of the long held public narrative of this case.
 
MotownKid said:
I will have the book finished tonight. Grew up in Detroit area, and I was the same basic age as the victims at the time.

I am interested in chatting about theories and angles in this case if any of the rest of you who have just finished the book are, but I have been following this case online since about 1996-7 and I am well aware of the (in my opinion unnecessarily) volatile tone of discussions related to this case. It has always bummed me out because you have to sift through six layers of interpersonal, ego driven sparring to find the morsels of truth that could bring some clarity to this cloudy chapter.

I will say this: There were a few new nuggets in this book for me and I would have to say that they don't seem to help much toward resolution. The whole thing stinks to the core and I remain horrified and furious that a situation such as this one existed in my community ...

Almost as horrified as I am that we continue to ignore the "truth" that seems to lurk just beneath the surface of the long held public narrative of this case.
Click to expand...

I agree. There are a lot of layers and a lot of angles. For such a seemingly small series (only four victims), the investigation is frustratingly byzantine. Busch and Gunnels obviously had something to do with it and I'm of the opinion that the Fox Island/Cass Corridor *advertiser censored* rings are (probably) red herrings. However, there was a lot of dark stuff going on at the time that's going to come up and cloud the waters no matter what. (Much the same as the Atlanta Child Murders a few years later.)
 
How believeable is the "Sebastian" story? Some thoughts...

- the obvious question is why was the actual witness spared and so many 2nd hand witnesses apparently murdered? Yes he claims that he was subjected to severe beatings and claims an attempt was made on his life but they got wrong guy. It still seems very odd that he is still alive if you believe the story.

- the suggestion that the abductor was a cop makes a lot of sense, BUT if this group was so powerful to involve active LE, then surely it seems like an extremely brazen (or dump) idea to use a local patrol cop for the abduction, someone who he is seen daily driving around town and who is very likely to be spotted and recognized by witnesses (which is exactly what did happen if you believe the story). Surely they would have found a stranger, put him in an uniform and pull off the abduction.

- the description in the book makes it seem like the cop must be known by name. Apparently Appelman and a couple others very close to the case have some trust in this witness, so why isnt this considered THE LEAD in this case for those sleuths? It surely should be followed just as much as the CB, GG etc. branch....

- The chain of events described by "Sebastian" makes it seem that Chris Flynn was offed because he was told S's story. That is contradictory to the line of thinking that CF was killed in the same "cleaning action" as CB as those deaths were just days apart.
 
Chris Flynn shot himself after he was passed up for a promotion. He was recently divorced and a former marine, 1954-62

I have not yet read Appelman's book (Interviewing him next week) but I've never believed that Flynn was anything more than a depressed individual struggling both personally and professionally.
 
Figures that when we're getting a proper book on the case it's still all just too good to be true and the author had to go and pop a literary wheelie for no reason other than being an artiste I suppose. Idk if the ebook drops to less than 10 euros maybe I'll buy it, but now I'm just going to be on the lookout for torrents.
 
I think such a book on the OCCK has the potential to be the I'll be gone in the dark (by the late M McNamara on the EAR/ONS/GSK) for this case, i.e. to bring this case on the front pages of MSM and pressure LE into action. It has to be seen if Appelman's book actually has some effect outside the true crime niche.
 
How is everyone doing since the read? I have a lot of thoughts about the case and I am trying to put them into some kind of narrative to post and get feedback on. It is just taking some time. So much to sift through.

The more days that go by since the reading, the more I feel that I "get" what Appleman is trying to accomplish in his book. I like it more now than I did when I finished it, and I liked it quite a bit then.

This case is CRYING OUT to be reviewed and reexamined meticulously. It's the least we can do for those four innocent children who were so horrifically abused and discarded - and for those who loved them and had them taken away so violently so many decades ago.

EDITED TO ADD: Oh by the way, what a surprise. NO local media mentions of the book being published here in Detroit. What a shock (sarcasm).
 
Any news on this? I thought that the Appelman book would help the case gain some monumentum but so far it doesnt seem to be the case. No matter if you buy into the top suspects CB and GG, the investigation has been a complete mess, that I think is without question.
 
I intend to read the book but won't be able to get to it for a while.
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The white dog hair is key. Have any of the named suspects been connected to a white dog?
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There was talk back in the day that the victims had been given a drug used by dog pounds to euthanize animals. Some people speculated that the OCCK might have worked or volunteered at an animal shelter. Is that mentioned in the book?
 
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You can buy a Kindle version if you like.

CB is said to have owned a white dog. However there are far far more compelling connections than the dog thing.

Yes the sedative is mentioned. I dont put any stock in the shelter lead....its possible but its just a shot in the dark w/o any real foundation. Again, there are much more compelling connections than that. I recommend the book and also Cathy King's blog.
 
There is a documentary coming out on this case in February, I believe. For those of you that haven't seen Catherine Broads blog...go read it. It seems to me that these weren't mastermind criminals at work...it hasn't been solved because of the cover ups, the incompetence of LE, the egos, the multiple jurisdictions, the losing of evidence, the not even testing evidence, etc. It's a cluster and it also has a lot to do with money & power back then. Those of you not old enough to know, back in the 70's, GM reigned supreme in Detroit. Busch's father was the CFO of GM in America and Europe. He wielded an enormous amount of power back then and it was extremely important to maintain the appearance that Oakland County, particularly the Bloomfield Hills area, was for the rich, white, and nothing bad ever happened there.
 
Interesting note on Catherine's blog...much has been made in the press about the washing, pressing clothes, cleaning bodies, no other injuries, and laying the bodies pristinely in the snow. Much of that is not true as you can read in the docs that Mr. King received with the FOIA request that he had to pay over 11K for. Mark had a large circular wound on the back of his head, theorized made by the butt of a shotgun, and also on his face. Tim had a cut in his mouth and a large bruised area on his forehead and part of his check...so bad that they couldn't quite cover it up at the funeral home. Also, Tim was "dumped", face first into a pile according to her blog as she has seen the pics from the crime scene. Nothing pristine about that. Sperm samples that were logged have mysteriously disappeared, and now are being denied that they ever existed by LE, tho they are LOGGED RIGHT THERE in the documents!
 
:confused:... I think it's pretty clear that Bucsh committed the crimes and see nothing left for discussion.
 
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Gee...that's exactly what the DA and numerous LE agencies want too...for it to disappear. If Busch did it, he didn't do it alone. Gunnels hair was found on Tim. Numerous others need to be held accountable. Hopefully, the King's will see this happen.
 
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