Mystery – Children of the Snow – Amateur Connoisseur

When crimes happen to children, regardless of what it is, the crime seems much worse that is really was, simply because the victim was more innocent than anyone else. This mystery case was recommended by Cas R. and it’s intrigued me, I hope it does for you as well.

**Warning – The content you are about to read may be too graphic some readers. It may contain descriptions of crimes against children, graphic language, and crime scenes. Reader discretion is suggested.**

In 1976 and 1977 at least four children in Oakland County, Michigan, were murdered. The children were held captive before being killed. The children were either strangled or shot. Each child was taken from outside their home, on their way to or from another location, and discovered in a public area within 19 days of disappearance. The children were all between 10 and 12 years old, and were 2 boys, 2 girls.

Let’s talk about the children first; below are the four confirmed victims:

Mark Stebbins, 12, did not return home from an American Legion Hall. His body was found 4 days later wearing the same clothes he disappeared in. He was lying in the snowbank in a parking lot of an office building. He was strangled, and sexually abused, there were lacerations on his head and rope marks on his wrists and ankles, indicating he was bound.

Jill Robinson, 12, left her home after an argument with her mother. Her bicycle was found behind a hobby store, and her body was found 4 days later alongside I75 in Troy; in view of the police department. She had been shot in the face with a shotgun, and her body was fully clothed and wearing her backpack that she had left the house with. She had not been sexually abused.

Kristine Mihelich, 10, she failed to return home from a 7-Eleven store. Nineteen days later her body was found by a mail carrier on the side of a rural road, in Franklin Village. She had been smothered and her body was found within view of nearby homes. She had not been sexually abused, and only dead for less than 24 hours.

Timothy King, 11, had left home to go to the pharmacy. He failed to return home and an intensive search was conducted. He was found 6 days later by two teenagers, in a shallow ditch. He had been sexually assaulted, and suffocated, approximately six hours earlier.

There were three other victims that are suspected of being victims to the same killer:

Cynthia Cadieux, 16, was found bludgeoned to death.
Jane Allan, 14, was found in Miamisburg, Ohio, four days after accepting a ride while hitchhiking in Michigan. She died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Kimberly Alice King, 12, disappeared in 1979, authorities believe she was abducted, and her disappearance is connected to the unsolved killings.

After the murder of Kristine, police noticed similarities and put a public warning out about a possible serial killer. 18,000 tips were checked and about two dozen arrests were made on other unrelated charges.

There were several suspects and persons of interest, Archibald Edward Sloan, Ted Lamborgine, and Chris Busch. There were hairs that matched two of the victims in Archibald Sloan’s car. Ted Lamborgine, was a convicted child molester, and pled guilty to 15 sex related counts involving young boys rather than accept a plea bargain that would require him to take a polygraph in this case. Chris Busch was the son of General Motors executive, Harold Busch. He was in police custody before Timothy King was taken, on child pornography charges. He allegedly committed suicide in November 1978. Even though there are some connections from the victims to the suspects, there is not enough evidence to point to one person. The case remains open.