Oakland County Child Killer: Murders, a pedophile ring up north, and unanswered questions 50 years later
The Oakland County Child Killer: 50 Years Later
Fifty years after the Oakland County Child Killer terrorized communities, investigators continue to seek answers and explore the potential links between the murders and a pedophile ring nestled on a rustic island in northern Michigan.
OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Fifty years ago, the murders of children along the Woodward Corridor in Oakland County instilled grave fear in parents — and evidence suggests these brutal crimes had sinister connections that stretched across Michigan.
While investigators worked the cases and identified potential suspects in Metro Detroit, links between some of the prime suspects and a boys' camp on an island in northern Michigan that was eerily similar to Epstein Island emerged.
However, a year after it was created, a massive task force established to investigate the crimes disbanded, and justice was never served, even with the links to a potential pedophile ring that stretched well beyond the county lines.
But thanks to new technology and a renewed push, the identity of the Oakland County Child Killer could be within reach.
Oakland County Child Killer terrorizes communities
Timeline:
In February 1976, Mark Stebbins, 12, was kidnapped while walking home from an American Legion hall in Ferndale. Four days later, his body was found in a parking lot in Southfield.
Nearly a year later, in January 1977, a 12-year-old girl named Jill Robinson, was abducted from Royal Oak. She was found shot and killed along I-75 in Troy.
That same month, 10-year-old Kristine Mihelich was abducted from a 7-Eleven store in Berkley. She was held captive for 19 days before her body was discovered in Franklin.
In March 1977, the final victim, 11-year-old Timothy King, was kidnapped after buying candy from a store in Birmingham. King was found dead along a Livonia road.
The boys were sexually assaulted. The girls were not.
Local perspective:
The killings rocked multiple communities at a time when such crimes were a rarity.
"We had a FBI agent flown in from, I forget where, and he gave us a whole lesson on pedophiles, what to look for, how they act, and there was no doubt what we were looking for," said retired Southfield Police Det. Lourn Doan, who was assigned to the case after Stebbins was found dead in his city.
While police learned what to look out for, parents started to keep their children indoors, fearing their kids could be the killer's next victim.
Nancy McCauley, a reporter for Channel 2 in the 1970s, covered the cases from the start, and witnessed firsthand the way the killings impacted communities and families.
"I do believe people really tightened up the freedom that their children had because they were afraid, and I saw that, too. We’d be out trying to do stories, and before you'd see a bunch of kids playing," she said.
After the murders started, what she saw changed.
"Not without an adult. An older person was always there. I think everybody was terrified it would happen again, it could happen to them," McCauley said.
Oakland County Child Killer suspects
Using the more than 16,000 tips submitted to the task force established to investigate the murders, investigators developed three suspects: Chris Busch, Ted Lamborgine, and Arch Sloan. Investigators believe these men had connections to an undercover pedophile ring that operated throughout the state, and involved trading child porn and assaulting children.
Chris Busch, Ted Lamborgine, and Arch Sloan
Decades later, those close to the case still consider Busch a top suspect in the Oakland County murders, but he died of a suspicious suicide before he could face any charges. He was charged with sex crimes against children, but he never spent any time behind bars.
The other suspects both received life sentences for crimes against children.
A northern Michigan island with a dark secret
Hundreds of miles from Oakland County sits North Fox Island. While not near the scene of the crimes, its connections to some of the men suspected in the murders continue to catch the attention of investigators.
This island off of Grand Traverse Bay was owned by Francis Sheldon, a wealthy businessman who ran a boys' camp on the island called Brother Paul's Nature Center. Investigators say this was actually a child porn operation. The link to Oakland County? Busch was a friend and customer of Sheldon, according to investigators.
Chris Busch
Bill Johnson, who spent time on North Fox Island when he was eight, described the sex abuse he faced at the hands of men.
"Other men were there taking pictures of us swimming, playing, everyone was naked," he said.
Of the men involved in the crimes on North Fox, only one, a former gym teacher in Port Huron named Gerald Richards, was ever charged.
A renewed investigation
Michigan State Police is now the leading agency on the case. Though MSP declined to allow any authorities to speak on camera about the Oakland County Child Killer, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard spoke about what his office is doing to help advance the investigation five decades later.
Last summer, Bouchard directed his special investigations unit to revisit the case files to see if there are any pieces of evidence or connections that may have been missed. This involves digitizing case files and using artifical intelligence to analyze them.
The process also involves running any evidence through mitochondrial DNA testing, a process that allows genecology to be used to develop potential suspects.
"If I could do anything before I’m done and I hang up my badge, I would like to give the family closure," Bouchard said.