2 – The Oakland County Child Killer (1976-1977)
This case relates to the murder of at least four children in Oakland County, Michigan from February 1976 to March 1977. Despite one of the largest police manhunts in American history, all four cases remain unsolved to this day. There were multiple child murders in the states of Michigan and Ohio before and after the Oakland County killings, but only four cases are directly tied to a probable serial killer.
12-year-old Mark Stebbins went missing on February 15, 1976, and his fully clothed body was found four days later. The victim was last seen leaving an American Legion Hall and heading home. Ligatures were found on his wrists, and the boy had been strangled and sodomized. 12-year-old Jill Robinson vanished on December 22, 1976, and her fully clothed body was found four days later. The victim had run away from home after an argument with her mother and took her bicycle. It was found behind a store the next day. Robinson had been shot in the face with a shotgun, and like Stebbins, she was neatly laid out in the snow.
The killer struck soon after as 10-year-old Kristine Mihelich disappeared on January 2, 1977. Her fully clothed body wasn’t found for 19 days, and the cause of death was suffocation. Once more, the corpse was laid out in the snow. 11-year-old Timothy King was the last known victim and he vanished on March 16, 1977. Two teenagers found the body six days later. King died from suffocation. Before the discovery, King’s father made a TV appeal to the killer, and King’s mother wrote a letter which said she hoped he returned home safely so he could have his favorite meal; Kentucky Fried Chicken. Examination of the boy’s body showed his last meal was fried chicken.
Given the time gap between the disappearance and discovery of the bodies and the fact they were fully clothed (and in some cases, the clothes were pressed and washed), it seems likely that the killer held the children hostage before murdering them. He must have read Marion King’s letter in the paper because it is too much of a coincidence that Timothy’s last meal happened to be fried chicken.
There was no shortage of suspects and investigators put together a profile based on the man Timothy King was speaking to on the day of his disappearance. It suggested the murderer was 25-35 years old, Caucasian, with sideburns and unkempt, scraggly hair. Dr. Bruce Danto was a psychiatrist working with the task force charged with finding the killer. He received a poorly spelled letter from someone named ‘Allen’ who claimed he was a slave to his roommate Frank; Allen said Frank was the killer, but after Danto had set up a meeting, Allen failed to show and never made contact with the doctor again.
Other suspects include Vince Gunnels, Christopher Busch, Arch Sloan and Ted Lamborgine. Busch is the most likely killer from the group, but he committed suicide in 1978. Timothy King’s father Barry believes his son was possibly the victim of a pedophile ring and not a single killer. After over four decades and no conclusive evidence, it seems as if the Oakland County Child Killer will never be brought to justice.