Some Answers, But More Questions

There is a notion, and one that I hold to be true more often than not, that says a serial killer or group of killers doesn't stop killing until they're caught or are dead.

There's no real incentive, when you think about it, for the sociopaths and otherwise mentally ill killers to stop without provocation to do so.

Why would they? They're crazy enough, in the first place, to commit such atrocities, and part of the thrill for them is the cat and mouse game played between police and killer(s).

The serial killer is usually very smart (though demented), organized and purposeful, albeit that purpose is often lost on the sane.

The serial killer doesn't just wake up one day and decide to stop killing. There may be gaps between murders, but they almost always continue until the perpetrator is no longer able to commit them.

So the assertion today on Detroit radio that those responsible for the Oakland County Child Killings are still alive, should be met with a bunch of raised eyebrows.

Note I said "those who are," not "he (or she) who is."

The killings, which occurred in 1976-77, are now 35 years in the rear view mirror. They just stopped one day, lending credence to the belief that the person(s) responsible was/were unable to continue the violence.

I always believed the OCCK were the work of one man. A popular (barely) belief is that the perp was someone named Christopher Busch, who committed suicide in 1978.

Makes sense.

But today on Charlie Langton's show on WXYT-AM (1270), Debra Jarvis, mother of one of the victims, asserted through her attorney Paul Hughes that several people were involved in the killings, and she bases that on the leads provided by an informant known simply as "Bob."

A federal lawsuit was filed this week by Jarvis against the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, Michigan State Police and others for failing to turn over investigative information requested by the families.


Jarvis, mother of victim Kristine Mihelich (10), told Langton, "I have been in contact with him (Bob) for the past two years and he has information beyond the old newspaper articles… He may be our answer."




Kristine Mihelich, 10 years old when killed in January 1977
 

Mystery Bob has often gone underground on a whim, sometimes when he's been frustrated by his perceived lack of cooperation by police in regards to his information.

The eyebrow-raising part of all this, to me, is the notion that several people were involved, not just one individual.

Barry King, father of victim Timothy King (11), believes the aforementioned Busch was involved, but King also thinks Busch was just one of several people involved.

"I believe there were a lot of people involved," Barry King said on Langton's show today.

Through Hughes, "Bob" says that the group may have been tied to at least six other murders after the OCCK, but they stopped leaving the bodies in public after nearly being caught doing so with Timothy King's body.

One of the killings, "Bob" says, occurred out of state.

So why did the killings stop, if several people were involved?

Did the gang break up? Did they all die at once? Were they all arrested?

The claims by "Bob" at first blush seem to answer some questions. But, alas, they also appear to simply create brand new ones.

Such is the life of a 35-year-old cold case.