Oakland County Child Killer

Serial Killer

The Oakland County Child Killer

An Unidentified Killer Who Terrorized Michigan

The Oakland County Child Killer is the name given to the unidentified person, or possibly group of people, responsible for the abductions and murders of four children in suburban Detroit, Michigan, during 1976 and 1977. The victims were Mark Douglas Stebbins, Jill Robinson, Kristine Marie Mihelich and Timothy John King. All four lived in communities within Oakland County, although one victim was ultimately found in neighboring Wayne County. The children ranged from 10 to 12 years old, and each disappeared during cold-weather months after leaving home for an ordinary activity. The crimes became especially frightening because the children were not killed immediately after being abducted. Investigators determined that they had been held captive for periods ranging from several days to nearly three weeks. Evidence indicated that the captor fed the children, kept them in a sheltered location and, in some cases, bathed or groomed them and cleaned their clothing. The victims were then killed and deliberately placed in exposed locations where their bodies were likely to be discovered. These repeated behaviors convinced investigators that the four murders were connected.

Confirmed Victims

• Mark Douglas Stebbins February 19, 1976 Southfield, Michigan: Mark was 12 years old and lived in Ferndale. He disappeared on February 15, 1976, after leaving an American Legion hall where he had been watching a pool tournament. Four days later, on February 19, his body was found in the parking lot of an office building on West 10 Mile Road in Southfield, approximately two and a half miles from his home. He had been strangled, bound at the wrists and ankles and sexually assaulted with an object. Injuries to the back of his head suggested that he had also been struck. Investigators concluded that Mark had been held captive before his death.
• Jill Robinson December 26, 1976 Troy, Michigan: Jill was a 12-year-old Royal Oak resident who left home on her bicycle on December 22, 1976, after an argument with her mother. Her bicycle was later found behind a hobby store in Royal Oak. On the morning of December 26, Jill's body was discovered beside northbound Interstate 75 near Big Beaver Road in Troy, within sight of the Troy police station. She had been killed by a shotgun blast to the face. Jill was fully clothed and still had the backpack she carried when she left home. Investigators believed she had been held for several days and had been fed before being killed. December 26 is commonly recorded as her death date because it was the date her body was recovered, although the precise time of her murder could not be established publicly.
• Kristine Marie Mihelich January 21, 1977 Franklin Village, Michigan: Kristine was 10 years old and lived in Berkley. She disappeared on January 2, 1977, after walking to a 7-Eleven store near 12 Mile Road and Oakshire Avenue. A postal worker found her body on January 21 beside a rural road in Franklin Village, roughly six miles from her home. Kristine had been missing for 19 days, but investigators believed she had been killed less than a day before her body was found. She had been suffocated or smothered. Her body was fully clothed, clean and carefully placed in a snowbank where it could be seen from nearby houses. The length of her captivity suggested that the killer had access to a private location where a child could be concealed for weeks.
• Timothy John King March 22, 1977 Livonia, Michigan: Timothy was 11 years old and lived in Birmingham. On March 16, 1977, he left home carrying his skateboard and went to a pharmacy on Maple Road to buy candy. He was last seen leaving through the rear of the store into a shared parking lot. His disappearance produced an enormous search across metropolitan Detroit. On March 22, two teenagers found his body in a shallow roadside ditch along Gill Road in Livonia. Timothy had been sexually assaulted and suffocated only hours before his body was recovered. He had been bathed, his clothes had been cleaned and his hair had been groomed. An autopsy showed that he had eaten fried chicken shortly before his death, a disturbing detail because his mother had publicly appealed to the kidnapper and mentioned that fried chicken was his favorite food.

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Confirmed Victims: (4)

Mark Stebbins Age: (12), Date of Death: 1976-02-15

Suspected Victims:

Donna Serra Age: (17), Date of Death: 1972-09-29

Jane Louise Janey Allen Age: (13), Date of Death: 1976-08-08

Kimberly Alice Kim King Age: (12), Date of Death: 1979-09-15

Oakland County Child Killer - Wikipedia