The Oakland County Child Killer: The Story of a Lesser Known, and Uncaught, Serial Killer

We all know about certain high profile serial killers like BTK, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer, but there are countless more out there that are lesser known, and sometimes unidentified. One lesser know serial killer is the Oakland County Child Killer, an unidentified murderer who committed heinous acts against children in the late 1970s before vanishing. This vicious killer has four confirmed victims with a couple more unconfirmed victims that are possibly linked to him (or her, or them).

The first known victim was Mark Stebbins, a twelve-year-old who went missing on February 15, 1976 on his way home from an American Legion Hall. His body was found fully clothed on February 19th in a parking lot, where it appears it was dumped. The cause of death was determined to be suffocation. He had been sexually assaulted with an object and he had lacerations on his head and rope marks on his wrists, neck, and ankles.

The second known victim was Jill Robinson, a twelve-year-old who went missing on December 22, 1976 after she left home following an argument with her mother. Her clothed body, including the backpack she ran away from home with, was found on December 26th, dumped on the side of I-75 in Troy within sight of the Troy police station. It is believed she was killed on Christmas. The cause of death was a shotgun wound to the head. There were no signs of sexual assault and it appeared she had been cared for during her captivity. This case was not immediately connected to Mark Stebbins's due to the differences.

The third known victim, which helped police and the public begin to connect these cases, was ten-year-old Kristine Mihelich, who went missing January 2, 1977 and who wasn't found until ninteen days later on January 21st. She was found fully clothed and had been smothered to death. The autopsy concluded that she likely died the day before she was found. There were no signs of sexual assault.

The fourth and final known victim was 11-year-old Timothy King, who went missing on March 16, 1977 on his way home from a corner store. The task force, which had been previously organized, launched a massive investigation into the disappearance. However, they were unable to find him alive and his body was found on March 23, 1977. The cause of death was suffocation and he had been sexually assaulted with an object.

In addition to the four confirmed victims, several other victims are potentially linked to this killer, including Cynthia Cadieux, Jane Allan, and Kimberly Alice King. Other cases, such as that of Sheila Srock, were at one point suspected to be related to the Oakland County Child Killer but were later proven to not be related.

Even though there were differences between the murders, there were enough similarities for authorities to confidently connect the killings. According to The True Crime Files, “Obviously all of the victims died in separate ways and seemed to have different periods of time in captivity, but the way the bodies were found and the fact that all of them had occurred in Oakland County was enough for police to determine a connection.” Additionally, “[a]ll bodies had the same white animal hair on them, presumably from a dog.” Although, prosecutors have recently stated that even though the four victims had white dog hair on them, none of the hairs were from the same animal.

After the death of Timothy King, the police and public were now certain there was a serial killer hunting the area's children and, in addition to a task force, "the largest manhunt in U.S. history at that time" was organized. The police had some leads to work with, including witnesses who provided a description of the suspect and stated the suspect drove a dark-blue AMC Gremlin with a white stripe.

However, just as suddenly as the murders began, they suddenly stopped and the perpetrator vanished. So, who was this heinous individual (or group of individuals)? The short answer is that, despite extensive media coverage and a massive police investigation, which involved many investigative methods, no one knows. However, the long answer is that, while no one knows for sure, there are theories.

One theory was that at least one of the murders, that of Tim King, was connected to the infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy. However, this connection was disproven by DNA testing.

One of the more bizarre theories, as posited in the book “The Snow Killings: Inside the Oakland County Child Killer Investigation,” is that the was a police cover up. Although authorities deny these claims. Another strange theory that has been put forth is that the killings are linked to a pedophile ring.

A more plausible suspect was Christopher Busch, a convicted pedophile who was the son of a General Motors executive. Busch was originally connected to the crime by another pedophile, Gregory Greene, however both Greene and Busch passed lie detector tests (although this by no means conclusively proves their innocence as there are many flaws with polygraph tests). Both were subsequently convicted of other crimes. Over the years, many people remained convinced that Busch was the killer and continued to look into the case, but prosecutors subsequently stated that the totality of the evidence rules out Busch. Despite this, some are still convinced that Busch was the killer. Ultimately, if Busch was involved, we will likely never know as he died in November 1978 from an alleged suicide, although many believe his death was staged (leading many to suspect a cover up) due to some of the evidence appearing to be inconsistent with a suicide.

Another suspect was James Vincent Gunnels, whose DNA is a mitochondrial DNA match to a hair found on Kristine Mihelich's body. He also failed a polygraph. Gunnels denied guilt and even spoke with King's family.

Also suspected was a sex ring, which included Theodore Lamborgine, who is currently serving a life sentence for murder. Similarly, Archibald Edward Sloan was a sexual predator, who is currently serving a life sentence for other sex crimes, who was connected to the crimes but never convicted. There are multiple other suspects as well.

Ultimately, despite these suspects, the case remains unsolved to this day. But even though this case may be decades old, there are still those actively working to solve it. This includes the family of Timothy King, as well as the family of Mark Stebbins. As a result of these efforts, and the work of police, reporters, and others, this case continues to be investigated with leads still coming to light.

However, as Busch demonstrates, one of the most difficult factors in solving this case is time. Time causes memories to fade, evidence to be lost, and witnesses, and suspects, to die. This complicates the search, as it is entirely possible the killer, who may have been one of the suspects or may have been someone who altogether evaded scrutiny, is already dead or in prison.

The bottom line is we will likely never know for sure, although, due to renewed investigations and renewed interest in the case, including a new podcast focused on the case called "The Forever Children of Oakland County," as well as documentaries such as "Children of the Snow" and "Child Killer," it is possible that the families of the victims will one day have the closure they have been seeking for decades.