Could the Oakland County Child Killings Be Solved After 50 Years?

In a state full of cold cases, one might be the coldest of them all: four Michigan children vanished between the winters of 1976 and 1977, only to turn up dead and dumped in the snow throughout Detroit’s suburbs. Four kidnappings that all ended in cold-blooded murder, and yet 50 years later, with no official suspects in the case, investigators claim they’re no closer to identifying the infamous Oakland County Child Killer.

Lori Dougovito, a former television reporter who now heads the Michigan State Police’s Communications and Outreach Division, tells A&E Crime + Investigation that the four homicides are still actively being investigated by their Second District Special Investigation Section.

With the cases very much open, Dougovito says she was unable to answer specific details about the murders of Kristine Mihelich, 10, Timothy King, 11, and Mark Stebbins and Jill Robinson, both 12. She did, however, claim that, “as any new tips come in, they are fully investigated,” and she says that detectives “continue to evaluate [older] evidence as new technology and forensic analysis becomes available.”

Some, though, have theorized over the years that detectives have long known who abducted and killed all four kids, but covered up crucial leads that would’ve given up the killer. In her book The Snow Killings: Inside the Oakland County Child Killer Investigation, journalist Marney Rich Keenan, who covered the unsolved murders during her 26-year stint with venerated paper The Detroit News, suggests police looked the other way with respect to suspect Christopher Busch, a convicted pedophile who died by suicide in 1978. Authorities later cleared Busch as a suspect.

“I believe, and my reporting bears this out, that law enforcement covered up these four children’s murders to save face,” Keenan tells A&E Crime + Investigation in an exclusive interview. “In 1977, Christopher Busch was a 26-year-old four-time convicted pedophile who never spent a night in jail.”

Keenan alleges that Busch’s father H. Lee Busch, a then-General Motors executive who died in 2002, “paid a defense to attorney to fly all around Michigan in a privately-owned airplane to arrange plea deals for his for his son.” Michigan State Police documents show that H. Lee posted bond to free Busch in all four of his rape with a minor charges.

“In all four cases,” Keenan continues, “Chris Busch was sentenced to probation. In late January 1977, when Chris Busch was arrested in connection with these child murders, Tim King, the fourth and final victim, was still a 10-year-old freckled baseball player who loved chocolate milk and rarely went anywhere without his skateboard.”

Keenan alleges that Busch learned about Tim through his friend, Greg Greene, who had a history of pedophile convictions in California, according to the Michigan State Police. She found out through her investigative work that Greene told police under interrogation, “Chris Busch had murdered Mark Stebbins, the first victim in the Oakland County Child Killer case.”

Mark disappeared while making his way home on February 15, 1976. Jill was murdered on December 22, 1976; police say she was abducted soon after leaving her parents’ home during an argument with her mom. Kristine was last seen on January 2, 1977—kidnapped as she headed to a local 7-Eleven; her body was found 19 days later.

“Busch was arrested and a top official from the Oakland County Task Force rushed to Flint to interrogate him,” Keenan says. “But somehow, within hours, Chris Busch passed a polygraph” and was let go.”

Weeks later, Tim King went missing. Timothy left for a pharmacy on March 16, 1977 and was found dead seven days later. Then in November 1978, Busch’s brother discovered him dead in his bedroom with a gunshot wound right between his eyes. A drawing of a frightened boy being tortured, who police recognized had a likeness to Mark, was found in Busch’s bedroom but not made public until 2011. Police ruled it a suicide, but victims’ families remain unconvinced.

Investigators also considered Arch Sloan as a suspect in the murders. Prosecutors said a hair from Sloan’s cat matched hairs found on the two male victims, according to WXYZ, although the hair did not match Sloan’s. Sloan, now 84, is serving two life sentences for first-degree criminal sexual conduct at Gus Harrison Correctional in Adrian, Mich.

Keenan thinks Sloan and Busch were associates, and notes that the Detroit area was home to a large multimillion-dollar child prostitution and pornography ring in the 1970s. “Both Sloan and Busch lived in Oakland County and back then, without cell phones or the internet, pedophiles were a tight-knit group,” Keenan says.

In 2011, investigators identified another person of interest in the case in 2011: James Vincent Gunnels. A hair recovered from Kristine’s shirt was compared with a sample strand taken from Gunnels—who was 49 at the time—and although it was a DNA match, authorities didn’t have enough interest to arrest Gunnels. However, Gunnels has a history of property and drug crimes, as well as an attempted prison escape in 1988. His most recent conviction came in 2015 when he was found guilty of manufacturing methamphetamine with intent to distribute, for which he served time until 2023.

Keenan believes the case will eventually be solved through some future advancement in DNA science, especially since there are four victims. “[That means] not just one set of clothing from which to retrieve hairs and semen, but four; not just one autopsy, but four,” she points out. She does acknowledge “DNA should have nailed” the Oakland County Child Killer years ago.

Local news reports from 2011 indicated police had found white canine hairs on the clothing of all four victims that came from the same dog. It was also suggested at this time police were exploring the theory two people carried out the horrific murders. Then in 2013, parts of a demolished blue AMC Gremlin with a white stripe, similar to the vehicle seen at the scene of Timothy’s kidnappings, were discovered in 2013 by construction workers at a site in Grand Blanc Township.

“Some have pinned their hopes on a deathbed confession, although, over the course of 50 years, all but a handful of people who know the truth about what happened to these four kids are still alive,” Keenan says. “Honestly, I don’t know how they sleep at night.”