The Babysitter: Oakand County MI Child Killings, a Cold Case

As a kid growing up in the seventies, I vaguely remember hearing about the child killer in the Livonia, MI area. The only real memory I have about this case is from watching a news clip on T.V. during a cold and drab wintery day in Northern MI. My parents and I were sitting in our living room. I am fairly certain I had out my treasured Breyer Horse Collection, play galloping on the brown nylon carpet, since this was something I did everyday when I was about the age of 7. After the clip aired, my mother instructed me about 'not talking to strangers' from her perch on the couch next to my father. At my tender young age and fairly protected upbringing at the time, I wondered why someone was so 'bad' that they went around kidnapping kids and then killing them. Years later, I learned the truth of why someone so evil would snatch and murder an innocent child.

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This cold case is in the news today 3/22/06.

SNIPPET"A 60-year-old man turned down a plea deal that would have sent him to the prison of his choice, anywhere in the country, in exchange for telling all he knows about the Oakland County child killings, his lawyer said Tuesday."END SNIPPET

Here is the link:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060322/NEWS03/603220344/1005

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Lawson was brought back to MI for a murder trial. (this is unrelated to the child murders) Lawson was given a life sentence in Wayne County Circuit Court on 3/21/06.
It appears the DA's office has been chasing down new leads this last year regarding the unsolved child murders. Half of these 'decent' leads have come from Lawson's jailhouse interviews with police. Lawson worked as an informant for Detroit Police around the time of the murders, he informed on the pedophile rings in the Detroit area. Lawson has NEVER been convicted of any kind of pedophile charges..... Police also state that Lawson once called the father of one of the murdered children years ago. Lawson told this father he (Lawson) knew who the killer was.

Now, this creep who is not fit to breathe, has clammed up and is not cooperating with solving 'The Babysitter Murders". Too bad MI doesnt have the Death Penalty anymore-but that is a whole other subject!

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The Babysitter: an overview of the cold case.

Possibly one or more child-killers stalked Oakland County in Michigan during the years of 1976-77. Authorities are positive of a connection in the deaths of four victims:

1. Mark Stebbins, 12, was abducted in Ferndale while walking to his home on February 13, 1976. His body was found in a parking lot 6 days afterwards, his corpse cleaned. Stebbins had been sexually assaulted and smothered to death. Something to note about Stebbins body being found- a business man walking through the parking lot of a local shopping mall discovered the body, but hours earlier a man who regularly walked his dog in the same exact area at 9:30 a.m. swears Stebbins body was not there earlier the same day. Also, Stebbins body showed he had been bound for a prolonged period of time.
2. Jill Robinson, 12 was abducted on December 12,1976 in Royal Oak and her body found in Troy the day after X-mas. No sexual assault was evident and the girl was killed by a shotgun blast, she had also been scrubbed clean before being dumped. Noted: Robinson received the 12 gauge blast as she lay in the snow where she was discovered on the edge of I-75 outside of Troy.
3. Kristine Mihelich, 10, vanished in Berkely on January 2, 1977, and her body was found 19 days later in Franklin Village by a postal carrier. Mihelich's body was dumped so in a manner that it would be found. The body was at the dumping location for less than 24 hours. Her body had been cleaned after her killer suffocated her death, like the others. No signs of sexual assault.
4. Timothy King, 11, went missing on March 11, 1977 in Birmingham. He was found dead in a ditch near Livonia with his body scoured clean, his nails manicured(unusual for this boy), and his clothes washed and ironed. King was also sexually assaulted before death. His body showed signs of being bound for a prolonged period of time and he was given a meal of 'fowl' before his murder. *one witness, a lady who was loading groceries into her car saw King talking with a man driving a blue Gremlin car, with a hockey stripe down the side on the night he disappeared.

The press gave a name regarding the odd signature of the killings. They called the unknown perpetrator "The Babysitter" due to his post-mortem care of the victims, also the perp/perps cared for the children for days before murdering them, cleaning them, then dumping thier bodies in a somewhat sick display method out in the open.

Other killings that occurred in the area at the same time have been linked to the Babysitter killings. Cynthia Cadieux, 16, was abducted and beat to death on January 15, 1976. Missing from Roseville, she was discovered nude in Bloomfield Township the next day. Just five days after Cadieux's disappearance Sheila Shrock was raped and shot dead at her home in Birmingham. Jane Allen, 13, was murdered by carbon monoxide poisoning after accepting a ride in Royal Oak and was found in Miamisburg, Ohio, on August 11, 1976. The 1972 slaying of teenager Donna Serra in Ray Township has also been mentioned as possibly being connected to these murders.

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Suspects:

At the beginning of these horrible killings, there were almost 300 working this case on The Michigan Child Murders Task Force. Every lead was followed. There were a lot of suspects but I am only going to mention 3. These 3 are the only solid suspects that I feel could possibly be connected to this case.

David Norberg: an anonymous tipster called this lead in. This suspect matches the composite drawing of the man King was last seen talking with. Norberg also drove a car similar to the Gremlin mentioned. In 1981 Norberg was killed in an auto accident. In 1989, his wife, who gave Norberg an alibi, recanted. She also contacted police stating she had found a necklace that belonged to Mihelich in Norberg's belongings. A cross pendant with the name 'Kristine' inscribed. After this information came forward, police exhumed Norberg's body and did a DNA analysis against a single hair that was found on King's body. The DNA did not match but Norberg is still on the suspect list.

A Mount Clemens man, who's name I have not been able to obtain yet, allegedly confessed to the killings but not too long afterwards committed suicide.

Reverand Gary Berthiaume, a Catholic Priest, who was serving in the Farmington area at the time of the murders. 3 tips were called in regarding him. Berthiaume was ultimately cleared but for the record: in 1978 he pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 2 boys in his Farmington church and spent 6 months in jail. The Reverand was then sent to Cleveland, OH where he was accused of more molesting, he was then moved to Chicago where he is still there today. It sounds to me like the good Reverand is a repeat offender. I wonder how extensive the investigation into his involvement in the Babysitter killings really was....

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A mother speaks out

Deb Jarvis, a Petoskey resident who works in the News-Review's circulation department, is the mother of one of the four children who were abducted and slain in Oakland County between February 1976 and March 1977. She is the mother of Kristine Mihelich. This new news brought forth regarding the decade old murders has brought her both pain and hope. Since her daughter's murder, she has divorced and remarried, moved to Northern Michigan where her new husband retired. Jarvis says she has never given up hope in catching the creep who killed her child. You can read an article about Jarvis here:

http://www.petoskeynews.com/articles/2005/02/22/news/local_regional/news02.txt

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I am optimistic that these unsolved 'Babysitter' murders can be solved. With new forensic techniques and up-to-date DNA testing, I feel it is only a matter of time before the truth is known. I am leaning towards the theory of a single perpetrator in these murders, but that there are others who know about the killings or played a small part in the abduction part. Lawson holds a key to many questions, ones that need answers. Lets hope he answers to Law Enforcement before he answers to his maker.

"carpe diem"

seize the day