WASHTENAW COUNTY, Mich. – Accused killer Buster Robbins was back in Washtenaw County Circuit Court on Friday, and attorneys on both sides were seeking more time for evidence to be presented in the nearly 37-year-old murder case.
With members of Beverly Ann Wivell’s family looking on, Robbins, 69, was led into the courtroom in a green Washtenaw County jumpsuit with his arms and legs shackled.
The defense made another attempt to get Robbins out of jail on bond after he was denied at his last hearing nearly a month ago.
His attorney is arguing that the prosecution has been too slow in providing evidence and has been stalling the start of the trial.
Robbins has been charged in connection with the abduction and killing of Wivell while she was sleeping in her car after dropping her son off at school in Canton Township on sept. 18, 1989.
Robbins was not a suspect at the time of the killing; however, the case was reopened in 2022.
Robbins’ wife told investigators that in 1989, he drove a car matching the description of the one caught leaving the scene.
Investigators also found a 45-caliber magazine with ammunition in the home and DNA evidence from the 1989 rape kit – which was sent for forensic testing in September 2024 – found DNA matching Robbins’.
The defense argued on Friday that Robbins, who has been in police custody for nearly a year, should be released on bond to the custody of his sister, who lives in Oakland County, despite being denied bond during a hearing on Dec. 19.
“She has no internet in her home; She’s in a two-bedroom apartment,” Tim Turkelson, Robbins’s attorney, said. “This apartment has no other apartments around it.
“It happens to be on a storage facility, so there’s no other people around, no minor children around, and she has no internet,” Turkelson said.
Along with the Wivell case, investigators also found child pornography on one of Robbins’ tablets as they were looking into other cases he is potentially connected with.
Judge Arianne Slay denied the bond motion again.
“You are asking me to track you by satellite, and if you’re tracking someone by satellite, and that’s my only reassurance that they would not get in trouble, that’s not really enough when the allegations are this serious,” Slay said. “I’m not going to grant your motion for modification for bond today.”
Robbins is currently back in the Washtenaw County Jail, and his next hearing is scheduled for March 23 at 10 a.m.
“I feel wonderful about it,” Kim Meggison, Wivell’s sister-in-law, said after the hearing. “He needs to stay where he’s at. He’s a danger.”
Robbins’ trial was originally slated to start in early February, but it’s now likely to begin in the summer.
“I am definitely ready for it to be done and over with,” Meggison said. “I’m ready to see him in a prison cell instead of a jail cell.”