The latest person to join me on the podcast is Marney Keenan.
Marney is author of The Snow Killings: Inside the Oakland County Child Killer Investigation, which is available on her site, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and more.
The Snow Killings is about the string of serial killings now generally known as the Oakland County Child Killings (OCCK).
OCCK is an unsolved string of serial killings where four children- two boys and two girls- were snatched off the streets in Oakland County- all lived within five miles of each other Marney told me. They were abducted, held for up to nineteen days, before being killed and dumped in another location.
While the book tracks the murders themselves, it also tracks how law enforcement failed to properly investigate suspects while the killings were occurring.
After the fact, the same law enforcement agencies- primarily the Michigan State Police (MSP) and the Oakland County Prosecutors Offices- did all they could cover-up for prior incompetence and malfeasance.
I reached out to both offices and Michael Shaw, a public information officer at the MSP, stated, “We are still actively investigating that complaint. When we receive tips, they are investigated till completion. If you or anyone else has information on this investigation, please call 855.MICH TIP.”
Of course, I didn’t submit a query about the investigation, but rather the critical picture painted in the book.
Shaw refused to answer, saying instead, “I am saying that’s the statement you asked me for. But no, we would not comment on the details of any investigation in the media. But naturally if you have information on this investigation, please call our tip line.”
The lack of transparency with the media and others is just one part of this story.
The key question is why would law enforcement actively try to cover up the details of the investigation.
The answer lies in the chief suspect in the OCCK killings: Chris Busch.
Chris Busch was the son of H. Lee Busch, a prominent executive of GM.
GM’s influence was that “of Amazon,” during the 1970s, Marney told me.
It appears that H. Lee Busch used every bit of that influence.
Busch was a known pedophile, charged in four separate child molestation cases at the time that elder Busch was able to dispose of.
H. Lee Busch hired Jane Burgess, a high powered defense attorney.
Burgess was paid well, with the elder Busch even supplying private jets to take her to court hearings.
She was worth every penny. She negotiated bail in all four cases so that Chris Busch didn’t spend even one night in jail, Marney told me.
Then, she negotiated plea deals in all four cases where Chris received nothing more than probation.
As such, Busch was on the streets rather than in jail when the last boy died, Tim King. Tim was abducted on March 16, 1977.
Busch himself would not be long for this earth either. On November 20, 1978, police were dispatched to Busch’s father’s home, where Chris Busch was found dead, a gunshot to the head.
The official report lists the death as a suicide, however, his blood alcohol level was above .4 (which might put you in a coma), and he was shot with a rifle point blank between the eyes.
Furthermore, at the scene, the police found some rope, a shotgun casing {similar to shotgun casings found at an OCCK crime scene), and a picture which resembled one of the crime victims.
Busch had a so-called partner in crime, Greg Greene, who also implicated Busch in the Stebbins killing.
Though Busch and Greene were charged with most of the same child molestation offenses, Greene, who was poor, would eventually receive a lengthy prison sentence.
Though everything was suspicious about the scene of Busch’s death, it was never investigated as a homicide, nor was he then subsequently investigated for being OCCK.
That’s in part because he was previously a suspect but passed a polygraph test administered by MSP. Decades later, other polygraph experts concluded that Busch had actually failed the test.
It was too late. All the evidence built up by his suicide scene, other evidence, and Greene’s accusation, were all dismissed when all this was originally investigated because he’d been ruled out as a suspect because he had passed the polygraph.
Weeks after Busch died, in December 1978, the Task Force set up to investigate OCCK was disbanded.
The Task Force was a combination of more than ten police departments all working in tandem to solve the crime.
All of this detail lay buried until three decades later.
That may have something to do with the transparency, or lack thereof from law enforcement.
From early on in the investigation when the crimes were occurring, the Task Force took the position that as little information should leak as possible.
Law enforcement was not merely closed lip with the media, but with the families as well.
Below is part of a letter reprinted in Marney’s book which then Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper wrote to Barry King, Tim King’s dad.
“One reason is that it is impossible to foresee how information made public during an ongoing investigation might compromise that investigation at some further point.” Cooper told King.
Marney dismissed this logic, telling me that the insistence on non-transparency meant there was no one to hold them accountable.
Barry King sued multiple times trying to get information on this case.
This stance that any information leaking could taint the case is even more nefarious when you consider something else: law enforcement did leak, when it suited them.
Gunnels is Vincent Gunnels, who is definitely a molestation victim of Busch’s.
He may also have played a role in the murders. Marney told me that he may have “lured” the children to Busch. His DNA was found at one of the crime scenes, and this information was leaked, despite the stern stance of Ms. Cooper.
That’s not the only leak. My investigation of Randall Raar’s conviction, led me to OCCK. His supposed involvement in OCCK was also leaked to the media.
Michigan State Police raided a Lincoln Park home last week after receiving a tip from a federal inmate.
A task force is working to bring evidence against the owner of the home, Randall Raar, 59, who they said may be linked to the Oakland County child killer case.
Inside the home, police found letters written to serial killers, child pornography, 8 mm film dating back to the 1970s, computer files and a sex slave dungeon equipped with shackles and a jail-like door that locked from the outside, Local 4 reported.
Raar is considered a link in the case, and a task force is currently collecting evidence to eliminate him as a suspect in the slaying.
Raar is not mentioned at all in Marney’s book; the only evidence, if you can call it that, linking him to OCCK is this so-called informant. That was enough to leak to the media.
Catherine Broad is Tim King’s sister; she started a website on this case. In one post, she detailed numerous strategic leaks, including about Randall.
Worse yet, in 2012, Jessica Cooper faced a tough reelection; Barry King had cut an advertisement for her opponent, Mike Bishop. So, Cooper held a press conference and released startling information about the case.
Arch Sloan is another child molester who also became an OCCK suspect. DNA, as Marney told me, was found in Sloan’s car which matched DNA found at two crime scenes, except there’s one big mystery.
The DNA is not Sloan’s. This Sloan did not know until Cooper went public. He has refused to provide any details about any role he may had in the killings.
Postscript
Check out the previous free articles in this series. Find the first, second , third , fourth, fifth, and sixth article.
Check out the fundraiser on wrongful convictions.
Michael Volpe Investigates Podcast The Impromptu: Episode 60 an Interview with Marney Keenan