Oakland County Child Killings

The Babysitter

During the winter months of 1976 and 1977, a child killer roamed the streets of Oakland County, Michigan; and families who moved northward out of Detroit seeking safer neighborhoods became frightened of the predator who invaded their comfortable suburbs. Four children were seemlessly abducted from public areas, without any indication to passersby that a child was being taken against his or her will. Initially the murders were not immediately connected because both the victim selection and manner of death differed. However, all too soon it became clear to investigators that one-by-one children had been stolen from the streets, held as living captives, were well cared for, murdered, then openly displayed alongside Oakland County roadways awaiting discovery. Three of the victims had been smothered, the other had been shot. Part of the killer's ritual included re-dressing his victims just prior or just after their deaths. While there was no evidence of sexual assault on the female victims, both male victims had been sodomized. As a result of the killer apparently taking care of the children prior to murdering them, his moniker grimly became "The Babysitter".

This is an attempt to ID him...

To Catch a Killer

The Michigan Child Murders Task Force, which at one point included 300 people, was created to investigate the murders and target the killer. Endless leads were followed... Cars were stopped that matched the description given in the Timothy King case. Decoy ads were placed in sex magazines in hope of luring the killer. Gay hang-outs were targets of police stakeouts because the killer had sexually molested the two male victms. Even some grieving fathers were questioned because authorities wondered if such a person may be seeking some kind of twisted revenge on living children. Unfortunately, all efforts to identify the killer were to no avail. However, investigators have taken another look at the case, and have narrowed their list of suspects down to 12, and are hoping that changes in technology will lead to a break in the case. We'll keep you posted.

As of February 2005, investigators are still pressing strong with the case. Detectives are excited about new leads, and are as determined as ever to solve this case.

Cold Serial wishes them the very best... We can never give up hope.

Jill Robinson Memorial Scholarship Fund
A scholarship exists in honor of Jill Robinson at Oakland Community College. If you are interested in making a donation, please use the contact information below. Jill Robinson Memorial Scholarship Fund Oakland Community College 2480 Opdyke Road Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304-2266 248-341-2138 Please make sure to indicate that you would like your donation to go toward the Jill Robinson Memorial Scholarship.

Back to Top

Known Victims Mark Stebbins
Ferndale, MI
12-years-old
Held captive 4 days

Twelve-year-old Mark Stebbins was last seen at the Ferndale American Legion Hall just after noon on Sunday, February 15, 1976. He was homeward bound to watch a movie on television. The 4’8, 100 pound boy had reddish-blonde hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a blue hooded parka, blue jeans, red sweatshirt, and black rubber boots. His mother reported him missing when he hadn’t come home by 11 p.m. Four days later, on February 19, Mark’s lifeless body was found in Southfield, MI, by a businessman who was walking through the parking lot of a local shopping mall. One witness reported that when he walked his dog in the same area at 9:30 a.m., Mark’s body was not present at the location. Cause of death was rule to be asphyxia due to smothering. Mark had sustained two lacerations on the back left side of his scalp, had discoloration on his wrists and ankles indicating he had been bound with rope (or similar type material), and had been sexually assaulted.

Jill Robinson
Royal Oak, MI
12-years-old
Held captive 4 days

After having an argument with her mother, 12-year-old Jill Robinson of Royal Oak packed her denim backpack with some clothes and a blue and green plaid blanket and left home on her bicycle the evening of Wednesday, December 22, 1976. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, a shirt, a bright orange winter jacket, snow boots, and a blue knit cap with a yellow design on its border. Jill’s body was found the day after Christmas placed along a snowy shoulder of Interstate 75 just north of 16 Mile Road, near Big Beaver, in Troy, MI. She had been placed on her back in plain sight of any possible passersby. Blood spatter evidence indicated that Jill had received a blast to the head from a 12-gauge shotgun as her body lay in the snow. She had not been sexually molested. Her bicycle was found the next day (December 27) by a neighborhood boy behind a Royal Oak business. It is uncertain if it was left there by Jill on the 22nd, or placed there by her killer sometime later.

Kristine Mihelich
Berkley, MI
10-years-old
Held captive 19 days

Kristine Mihelich left home Sunday, January 02, 1977, at approximately 3 p.m. headed to the 7-11 Store on 12 Mile Road in Berkley. When the 10-year-old wasn’t home by 6 p.m. her mother reported her missing. The clerk at the store remembered a girl matching Kristine’s description buying a teen movie magazine. Though Detroit area television and radio stations broadcast details of Kristine’s disappearance, and while investigators chased many tips from the public for two weeks, it appeared as though Kristine had vanished into thin air. However, on January 21, 1977, at approximately 11:45 a.m., a mail carrier found Kristine’s discarded body near 13 Mile Road. It had been placed in plain sight in a snow-filled ditch alongside a dead-end road in Franklin Village, MI. Upon examination, it was determined that Kristine’s body had been at the site less than 24 hours. Just like Mark Stebbins, Kristine had been smothered. Authorities believe Kristine had been redressed by her killer, as her blouse had been tied in the front, and not in the back the way she normally did it. Likewise, her pants were tucked into her boots, which was also something that was out of character for Kristine. The autopsy physician did not find evidence of sexual molestation.

Timothy King
Birmingham, MI
11-years-old
Held captive 6 days

Eleven-year-old Timothy King was last seen by his older sister the evening of Wednesday, March 16, 1977, as he left his Birmingham home. The sister was on her way out with friends, but gave Tim some money to spend on candy at a nearby store on Maple Road. When he left, he asked her to leave the door ajar so he could get back into the house. At approximately 9:00 his parents returned home, to find the door still ajar and the house empty. A saleswoman at the store he was headed towards reported seeing a boy matching his description the night Timothy disappeared. Another witness reportedly saw Tim at approximately 8:30 p.m. that same night while she was loading groceries into her car. She described a small boy talking to a man standing by a car a few parking

spots away. The boy was wearing a red jacket with emblems on it – which seemed to resemble Tim’s Birmingham Hockey Association jacket. The witness provided enough information to create a composite sketch of the man, and describe the car -- a dark blue Gremlin with a white "hockey stick" stripe on the side.

Timothy’s body was discovered, fully dressed, six days after his disappearance on March 22, 1977, in a Livonia ditch off of Gill Road. He had been smothered to death 6 to 8 hours before his body was found; and had been placed in the ditch approximately 3 hours before discovery. He had been sexually assaulted and smothered. Autopsy results indicated that he had eaten a meal that included ‘fowl’ about an hour before he died. When found, Timothy’s body was very clean, including his fingernails and toenails (which were usually dirty), and his wrists had marks as though he had been bound for a period of time.

Back to Top

Do you have a suspect not mentioned here??

Do you think you have encountered the Oakland County Child Killer as a child??

Share your story in the OCCK Forum

The Suspects

Investigators have been trying for over 25 years to catch the Oakland County Child Killer, but the identity of this murderer remains a mystery. Some officials believe that the killer has either died, or is now in prison for other crimes.

A once primary suspect named David Norberg was thought by many to be the killer. He was first investigated in 1977 after an anonymous tip reached the Task Force saying he resembled the composit sketch of the killer. The tipster also indicated that Norberg owned a blue car similar to the Gremlin witnessed in the Timothy King case. However, in 1979 he was cleared as a suspect. In 1981 Norber passed away in a motor vehicle accident near Recluse, WY, he was 36. Eight years after his passing (1989), his wife (who originally provided an alibi for Norberg which was later recanted) contacted officials claiming to have found a necklace that belonged to Kristine Mehilich in Norberg's belongings. The necklace was said to have been a cross pendant with the name "Kristine" inscribed on it. After another ten years had passed, and because of the advances in DNA analysis, on August 31, 1999, Norberg's body was exhumed from hisfinal resting place so that hair, bone, and tissue samples could be taken. They were to be compared to a strand of hair that was discovered on the body of Timothy King. Once all tests had been performed, the hair strand did not match Norberg's DNA. However, investigators have not ruled Norborberg out completely, as there is a possibility that he may have had something to do with the death of Jane Allan, and the 1979 disappearance of 12-year-old Kimberly King, who vanished while walking in her Warren, MI, neighborhood.

A second suspect that the Task Force took a brief look at was Reverend Gary Berthaiume, a Catholic Priest then serving in the Farmington area. Three tips were given to the Task Force in the early 1970's which lead officials to question him. He was ultimately cleared.

For anyone interested, it seems Reverend Berthiaume was sentenced to six months in jail in 1978 after admitting to sexually molesting two boys at his Farmington church. After his release from jail, he was transferred to Cleveland, Ohio -- where he served as a priest and a sex education teacher (of all things) at a Catholic church and school -- where more allegations of child molestation surfaced. So in 1987 he was transferred to the Chicago area... where he remains.

Cold Serial has minimal information regarding our last suspect. Apparently there was a Mount Clemens man who at one time reportedly confessed to the Oakland County Child Killings. However, he eventually committed suicide. If any of our readers have information about this individual, please send us an e-mail.

*** Additionally, there has been internet discussion regarding a suspect by the name of "John". However, authorities have confirmed that he has been cleared as a suspect.

Back to Top

Do you have a tip that can help solve these murders?

Contact the Oakland County Sheriff Department by calling 1-888-887-6146.

Other Victims?

While the murders of Mark Stebbins, Jill Robinson, Kristine Mihelich, and Timothy King were clearly linked to the same killer, there were a handful of other child murders that occurred within the same time frame that supposedly have no connection to the Babysitter. However, because those of us at Cold Serial believe anything's possible with murder, we are providing the information on their deaths. You be the judge.

Jane Louise Allen
Royal Oak, MI
13-years-old

Thirteen-year-old Jane Allen was abducted on August 8, 1976, while hitchhiking from Pontiac to Royal Oak. Her body was found on August 11 (three days later) floating in the greater Miami River in Miamisburg, OH. Her wrists had been bound behind her back with a torn strips of a t-shirt that were knotted together. The cause of death was ruled to be carbon monoxide poisoning. Investigators believe that David Norberg may have had something to do with Jane's death.

Donna Serra
Ray Township, MI
16-years-old

In late September 1972, Donna Serra was last seen hitchhiking when she seemed to vanish into thin air. Her strangled body was found along-side a road in October of that same year. She was from Ray Township, MI -- which is part of Macomb County.

Kimberly King
Warren, MI
12-years-old

Twelve-year-old Kimberly King disappeared September 16, 1979 while walking in her Warren neighborhood. She has never been located. Some believe she is a victim of David Norberg, as he lived only two streets from her at the time.

Back to Top

Copyright © 2000-2007 http://www.coldserial.net
Reproduction or mirroring of material found at Cold Serial is prohibited.
You must have written consent from the site owner
to redistribute any material, in part or in whole.