PONTIAC, Mich. – Fifty years ago, one of the most notorious unsolved cases in Michigan began. Four kids vanished and were found murdered in Oakland County between February 1976 and March 1977.
While their families held out hope, the killer played cruel games -- keeping the children alive for days, feeding and bathing them, only to take their lives days later.
These children -- Mark Stebins, Jill Robinson, Kristine Mihelich and Timothy King -- became victims of a monster we continue to call the “Oakland County Child Killer.”
“It was every bit as horrible as you could imagine,” said Cathy Broad, the older sister of Timothy King.
“It was jarring. It was very scary for the community. It kind of broke a sense of innocence,” said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who was a young officer at the time.
The Investigators at Local 4 covered the case extensively when it happened and for the decades that followed.
There have been countless theories and people investigated, but no one has ever been charged. Why is that? Was the killer really that clever? Or did something or someone slip through the cracks?
“Do you believe this case can be solved?” reporter Lauren Kostiuk asked.
“100%,” Bouchard said. “Somebody out there, at some point, had real information and either because of fear or participation didn’t divulge it.”
“This was not one killer,” Broad said.
Several suspects have been named -- mostly men with ties to pedophilia and violent crimes, including Christopher Busch, Arch Sloan, Gregory Greene, James Gunnels and Ted Lamborgine. Evidence ranged from DNA to straight-up accusations.
Some have also linked the case to a child pornography ring on North Fox Island, which operated at the same time as the murders.
But none of these leads led to anyone being charged with the murders.
Many blamed investigative mistakes, infighting among agencies and even an alleged cover-up.
At the heart of this fight was the King family.
Frustrated by the lack of progress, Timothy’s dad, Barry, filed lawsuits against the state police and prosecutors, which led to the release of more than 3,000 pages of documents.
The documents helped point to a prime suspect — Christopher Busch.
Busch was a convicted pedophile and the son of a high-ranking GM executive. Police say he committed suicide in 1978, shortly after the killings stopped. In 2012, investigators said DNA testing cleared him as a suspect.
Barry continued to feel dismissed by investigators and the prosecutor. In 2020, he died without answers.
“It’s sickening what he had to endure the last 15 years of his life, just asking for transparency. He understood they couldn’t tell him everything, but he saw through what they were doing. Of course, his kids, the three of us, we saw through it too,” Broad said.
Today, Broad and her siblings refuse to let this case die.
Broad said she hasn’t heard from investigators in years but is grateful for a decent relationship with the current Oakland County prosecutor’s office.
She also continues to run a blog about the case.
“We need someone to say, this is a cold case, this is the coldest of cold cases. Here’s what we’re going to do with the evidence. Here’s what we’re going to do with the documentation, and here’s how we’re going to evaluate whether there’s been obstruction of justice in this case,” Broad said.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard agreed to sit down with Local 4 to discuss the case.
“I was a brand-new boot. I was 20 years old,” Bouchard said. “Probably one of the most vivid memories is the night when the young King boy was taken.”
That night, Bouchard joined a massive search, stopping every car in the area in hopes of catching the kidnapper before it was too late.
“The hope and prayer was, could you catch the car as it moved Timmy King in the trunk or in the back seat, bound up before he was killed,” Bouchard said.
Decades later, the sheriff says the case still haunts him and he believes it can be solved.
“It’s either going to be new technology or somebody that has information that could fill in that one piece of the puzzle that can allow this to go forward. I think those are our only two kinds of Hail Marys at this point,” Bouchard said.
Technology like mitochondrial DNA and genealogy could help. The only problem is that much of the evidence is no longer viable or it’s been used up during previous testing.
“Do you think the killer or killers were any of the people already named?” Kostiuk asked.
“Potentially,” Bouchard said.
“There have been concerns about this case being obstructed or there was a cover-up. What do you have to say to that?” Kostiuk asked.
“I never saw any evidence that there was a cover-up or a blockage by law enforcement, and if I did, I would call it out and I would push through it, and I wouldn’t tolerate it,” Bouchard said.
In the meantime, Broad continues to demand that evidence be retested, files digitized and the case given to a dedicated cold case unit.
But above all, she wants the truth.
“You know who I want to come forward? I want the cops who worked on this case, who knew or suspected how this investigation got derailed and why. I want them to come forth. It’s on you now,” Broad said.
“The family and the victims deserve to have an agency that never gives up on them, and we haven’t, and so we won’t,” Bouchard said.
Michigan State Police and the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office declined an interview with Local 4 but said the case remains open and that MSP continues to investigate new tips.
But time is working against them -- several family members and original investigators have died, physical evidence has deteriorated and memories have faded.
During the investigation, Local 4 spoke to many people who played a part in this story over the decades. Some said they are holding on to hope, while others doubt the case will ever be officially solved.
Anyone with information can reach out to MSP at 1-855-MICH-TIP.