Criminology

Oakland County Michigan is the home of thousands of people and also the location of several child killings that rattled the nation 33 years ago. In the winter of 1976 and 1977, a child killer was freely walking in their streets amidst the crowd and unknown to many people. Some families who are seeking a safe neighborhood to raise their children were frightened because of the murdered that disrupted their suburban living. Four children were abducted from different public areas without anyone seeing. At first, the police did not see the connection to all the killings because the selection of the victims as well as the manner of death are all different but as time passes by, everything became clear to the authorities that the kids who were abducted were all from well-cared families and were all held captives  after which the killer ends their lives and  leaves them along the side of the roads to be discovered. Three of the victims were smothered while one of them was shot on the face. The killer has the hobby of redressing his victims before or after he kills them. No evidence of sexual assault were found on the females but the male victims were proven to be sodomized. Investigators think that the killer may have been taking care of these children after murdering them and as such, they named him The Babysitter (Michigandoes.com, 2007).

The Victims of the Babysitter
Police are sure that there is indeed a connection in the murder of the four children, the first one was Mark Stebbins age 12. He was abducted while walking home on February 13,1976 and his body was found after six days in a parking lot. His body was meticulously cleaned and records show that he was sexually assaulted and smothered. The second victim was Jill Robinson age 12. She was abducted in Royal Oak and even though there was no evidence of sexual assault, her body has been cleaned after she was shot dead (Grzech, 1976). The third victim was Kristine Mihelich age 10. She was last seen on January 2, 1977 and her body was found nine days later. Just like the other killings, her body had been cleaned after her killer smothered her to death (Briggs-Bunting, 1977). The last victim was believed to be Timothy King age 11. He went missing on March 11, 1977 and was found dead, cleaned and manicured in Livonia. His body had been cleaned and his clothes had been washed and ironed. Like Mark Stebbins, King was also sexually assaulted prior to his death.

Operation Burial is the name of the operation started by the police on May 9, 1977 in order to check the possibility of knowing something about the killer upon examination of the burial rites. Authorities believe that the ways in which the bodies were dressed and cleaned might reveal a cultural background or other experiences that will lead to the killer.

Authorities have been investigating the murder of four abducted children in Oakland County for more than three decades and they are still not giving up. In 2006, the police said that they have new leads that may help them solve the murder they have a pubic hair, fibers and other clues. Police is certain that the killer was a man but they do not want to reveal how they arrived at such conclusion. Shortly after the killings, the investigators put up a sketch of a Caucasian male with an athletic built that may have been seen near a blue AMC Gremlin talking to the fourth victim Timothy King in the parking lot (Witsil, 2006).

The Failed Suspects for the Serial Killings
The investigators have been trying to identify and catch the Oakland County Killer for over 25 years but the identity of serial killer still remains a mystery. One of the primary suspects was a person named David Norberg. The police investigated him during 1977 when they received a tip that he resembled the suspect in their sketch. But after the careful investigation, he was proven not guilty of the accusation and was cleared as a suspect in 1979. Norberg died at the age of 36 in a motor vehicle accident near Recluse, Wyoming. Eight years after his death, the police re opened the case for Norberg when his wife found a necklace with a cross pendant named Kristine in his belongings. The police took a sample of hair, bone, and tissue from the body of Norberg and compared the sample to a strand of hair that was discovered on the body of Timothy King. Nevertheless, after the test, the hair strand did not match Norbergs DNA. The police did not rule out Norberg even though the test had negative result since there is also a possibility that he has connection with the other killings happened in the neighborhood (Michigandoes.com, 2007).   

Another suspect was in the person of Theodore Lamborgine. On March 2007, he was arrested on counts of various criminal sexual conducts. Since he was accused of running a pedophile ring in Detroit in the 1970s and 11980s, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy considered Lamborgine as the most promising suspect during that time (Keenan, 2009). But just like the other suspects, Lamborgine was found out not guilty on the Oakland County Child Killings.

Amidst the several failures in identifying the real Babysitter behind the serial killings, the police did not stop to put a face behind the name of the mysterious killer. The Task Force also suspected Reverend Gary Berthaiume, a Catholic Priest who was serving in the Farmington area. Reverend Berthiaume had a history of criminal case as he was sentenced six months in jail in 1978 after sexually abusing two boys at the Farmington church. The Task Force received three tips during 1970s which caused the authorities to question him but after the investigation, he was cleared from the case (Michigandoes.com, 2007). Although he was not found guilty in the Oakland County Child Killings, the issue on sexual molestations and allegations did not stop since he was believed to commit the crime in all the places he was assigned.

Moreover, in 2006, the son of a convicted child killer came forward to Action News claiming that his father was the real killer behind the crime. The child was Chip St. Clair who was raised in Southeast Michigan. His father, who tried to kill him when he was young, was Michael Dean Grant.  Grant had a history of abusing children which began during 1970. In fact, he was once put into jail because of beating his girlfriends 3 year-old son. After the incident, Grant was again put into investigation since he was the primary suspect to the death of another womans 18 month-old son. But Grant had escaped from prison and fled to Michigan with a new woman wherein he had a son. After 24 years, he was caught and brought back to an Indiana prison. Because of his criminal record in abusing and killing children, the police decided to question him but in the end, he was never found guilty and he was never charged (Keenan, 2009). Once again, the police failed to identify the responsible for the serial killings.     
The last suspect, which was indeed a very strange scenario, was identified on April 5, 1977 after Detroit psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Danto received a letter from a man who said his name was Allen and that he lived with the Babysitter or the killer of the Oakland County Child Killing. Allen promised to give photographic evidence if the police agreed not to prosecute him. Dr. Danto and Allen agreed to meet in a gay bar but the latter did not show up and did not contact the former anymore after the supposed meeting.

Profiling of the Possible Murderer
Based on the profiling of the Oakland County Child Killings, the possible killer could be a White man who was also living in the place where the killings had been done. Since the two male victims were proven to be sexually assaulted, there is a possibility that the killer was a homosexual. The female victims were not sexually abused but the male ones were raped. This strongly signifies that The Babysitter could be a gay. Another proof that the killer was a homosexual is that he was cleaning and manicuring his victims. Timothy King was cleaned and manicured when found dead after being abducted by the killer. The other victims were cleaned before they were murdered.

Likewise, the killer could be an aged man between 24 to 30 years old since he was very intelligent and cautious as clearly reflected on the patterns of crimes that he committed.  Until now, the face behind the name The Babysitter is not identified because the killer is very meticulous and careful in doing the crime. Nevertheless, the killer could be an individual who was psychologically disturbed since his way of killing and murdering children was very strange and unusual. A person who is in stable mind could not do such killings that the killer had done to the victims. Maybe, the killer was abused during his childhood that is why he did the said crimes. The killer maybe physically and sexually abused by someone during his childhood. Maybe his father, uncle or stepfather abused him during his childhood. And because of that, the killer became mentally unstable and his killings were his way of unleashing his hatred to his experience. He is killing children since he also wanted these children to experience what he had experienced during his younger days. He was sexually abusing his male victims since he was also sexually abused when he was a child. The killer was surely sexually abused by a male abuser such as his uncle, father or stepfather that is why he became a homosexual.

Furthermore, the killer could be also an individual who is very likely and approachable in the community. As seen in the patterns of the killings, the killer can easily get the trust of the victims. There was no record of forcing the victims to be able to go along with the killer. This only shows that the killer maybe someone who is known to all the children in the place. The killer named as The Babysitter could be a teacher, a priest, a guard, or a vendor in the place where the serial killings had done. This was thus the reason why the killer can do easily the crimes.

Conclusion
Amidst the effort of the police and the parents of the victims to identify and put a face behind the pseudonym  The Babysitter, the real identity of the killer still remains a mystery until now. The police believed that there is a possibility that the killer may have died or may have convicted to other criminal case while they are on the verge on searching and identifying him. The killer who was named as The Babysitter, just like the famous Jack the Ripper, will remain as the subject of interest for many since until now his true identity is nowhere to be found.