The Snow Killings

by Marney Rich Keenan

  In April 2010, Pearce, now retired, was contacted by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office at his home in Florida. He agreed to be interviewed by Williams about the case and the Busch suicide scene. Specifically, Williams wanted to know why task force officers were called to the scene of the Busch suicide if not to investigate the incriminating evidence directly related to the case. Why did the details of the crime scene—the drawing resembling Mark Stebbins, the apparently blood-stained ropes, the shotgun shell left on the dresser, the next-to-impossible scenario of a man lying in bed shooting himself between the eyes with a rifle—not raise any red flags?

  But after four months of repeated queries, it appeared to Williams at the time that Pearce “was dodging us.” Indicative of the politics of the time (and too, a harbinger of the backstabbing to come) Williams added: “My guess would be that someone from Oakland County Pros. Office told him not to talk to us, but I can’t confirm that.”

  In January 2018, I contacted Pearce by telephone. Now in his early eighties and evidently unable to come to the phone, his wife relayed his response: “No comment.” Oakland County Sheriff’s Officer John Davis did not respond to my repeated efforts to contact him.

  But at least two retired officers from the Bloomfield Township Police who responded to the scene—Wolfgang Uhrig and James Speicher—never forgot the alarming evidence they witnessed. In 2019, retired Bloomfield Township Detective Wally Quarles, who was also at the scene, recalled: “I have been to so many suicides, I honestly can’t remember, but Wolf did,” Quarles told me. “He remembered the sketch of the child screaming and the ropes and he remembered that I told him to contact the Task Force because this might be the Oakland County Child Killer. And that’s what Wolf did. We just figured that, at some point in time, they must have decided he wasn’t the guy.”8

  Indeed, on November 20, 1978, at 1:30 in the afternoon, Bloomfield Township Police evidence technician James Speicher brought the following items to the MSP forensics lab “for further investigation: a rifle, 3 spent casings, one box of bullets, a Vodka bottle, 2 cassette tape cartridges, several pieces of rope, a drawing and some miscellaneous papers.”9

  In a phone interview Speicher told me: “I do remember (Busch) was lying on the bed with a .22 rifle and he had shot himself once in his head,” Speicher said. “I remember the drawing—the one of the kid screaming—was very intense. We thought ok maybe this is the guy. That was everybody’s first impression, that this must be the guy. It was pretty unanimous that we got the guy.”

  Speicher said that he was instructed not to talk about it. “They tried to keep it confidential. As I remember it was: ‘Guys, let’s just be very cool about this.’ They wanted to keep it secret in case it turned out it wasn’t the guy. They didn’t want the public to let their guard down (if Busch wasn’t the child killer).”

  Speicher continued: “As time went on and killings stopped, that just gave more credence to the fact that he was the killer, that he couldn’t take it anymore and he committed suicide. We thought sure the task force was going to say they’d solved it and close the case.”

  When that never happened, Speicher said: “We just assumed the task force was doing its job and he must not have been the right guy.”10

  By the time Williams went looking for the suicide evidence—the ropes from the closet floor, the drawing of the boy, the shotgun shell—it had long since been destroyed. The .22 caliber rifle was returned to H. Lee Busch on December 12, 1978.

  Busch’s body was transported to the morgue via Fleet ambulance about 45 minutes after police arrived. Oakland County Medical Examiner Dr. Robert Sillery conducted Busch’s autopsy on the same day his body was discovered. While officers at the scene all believed that Busch had likely died days earlier, Sillery determined Busch died that same day—November 20, 1978—of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Other than noting that Busch’s blood alcohol level was 0.41 percent—more than four times the legal limit for driving and enough to cause coma or death—there was no indication that a full autopsy was ever even conducted.

  This is not surprising considering Sillery’s reputation for shoddy workmanship. In 1979, he conducted an autopsy on a 25-year-old man who died after being arrested and jailed by Madison Heights police. Sillery claimed the young man died from cirrhosis of the liver, but a private autopsy showed he had died of brain injuries from a beating while in police custody. A lawsuit claimed that during the autopsy, Sillery destroyed 20 percent of the deceased man’s brain that would have revealed the injury.11 In July 1981, a clerk from the medical examiner’s office testified in court that Sillery “did not perform autopsies in 919 out of 1610 cases in which he signed death certificates indicating he had done so.”12 In a review of all autopsies Sillery conducted from December 1976, when he was hired by the county, until April 1981, the clerk testified that he had signed death certificates indicating he had conducted autopsies. But, in well over half of the total cases, she said, he conducted only a postmortem, or an external examination of the body and withdrawing of fluids, rather than examine all internal organs and tissues.

  Sillery was fired in July 1981, but because of a preliminary injunction against his firing, he was able to collect his salary while not working. Finally, in 1982, he resigned, and his medical license was suspended after he was found to have “attributed” the wrong cause of death in more than three dozen cases.13 Sillery passed away in 1999 at age 75.

  The Bloomfield Township Police Department closed the Chris Busch case on November 29, 1978, only nine days after his body was discovered, concluding: “all the evidence and information gathered in this case indicate that Christopher Busch committed suicide.”14

  This was a full seven days before the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department crime detection lab reported its findings on the “Alleged Suicide (Ref: Your Complaint #78–5906),” which was contrary to the Township Police’s conclusion. To wit: “Levels of antimony … were insufficient to indicate the presence of gunshot residue…. From these findings no conclusion could be made as to whether the subject did or did not handle or discharge a firearm.”15

  One month after the death, the Oakland County Child Killer Task Force shut down, citing lack of funds.

  In 1982, a Michigan State Police lab report shows that the Task Force turned over the ropes and the drawing from Busch’s suicide scene to Bloomfield Township police. When Williams contacted the township police in March 2008, all that remained of the suicide evidence were the photos. The police chief told Williams the evidence had likely been destroyed.

  In June 2012, the Cold Case Investigative Society of the University of Western Ontario, a student-run organization that aids in the solving of domestic and international cold murder cases, issued its analysis of the Oakland County Child Killer case after six months of investigation.

  Of the suicide scene in particular it was noted:

  Despite the redaction of photograph details it appears that no significant blood spatter was produced by the gunshot wounds. While it is possible that the caliber of weapon was not sufficient to create an exit wound, this was not confirmed in the details released in the medical examiner’s report. The inconsistency between the number of casings located, number of bullets recovered and number of reported wounds raises suspicion concerning the ruling of manner of death as a suicide. … It is also unclear whether the bullet was recovered from the skull of the victim, which would explain the lack of blood splatter in the scene.

  A shot between the eyes is uncommon in cases of suicide via firearm…. The awkward position to achieve a self-inflicted wound between the eyes with a long-barreled firearm may have resulted in a larger injury and would expect to present with associated blood spatter.

  The nature of the scene as a “symbolic confession” of involvement in the murders is contrived. The placement of evidence linking Busch to the OCCK case appears staged and forced (such as the ropes conspicuously placed on the
beige carpet, despite relatively orderly stacks of books and otherwise clear floor around them). Investigating officer notes do not indicate whether these items were fingerprinted to assess the potential of their placement by other individuals.

  There are also inconsistencies between the state of the scene and conclusions drawn by responding officers. All doors and windows were locked from the inside except the door from the garage which was standing open. The fact that the outside overhead doors were closed appears to have been sufficient evidence to those investigating the scene that no one else had gained entry to the house between Busch’s death and the discovery of his remains. The arrival of task force members, short duration of their investigating the scene and dismantling of the task force itself shortly after Busch’s death point to a superficial investigation of his death that failed to exhaust all possibilities that could have led to the observed outcome.”16

  Chris Busch’s body was cremated two days after it was discovered. A memorial service was held later at William R. Hamilton Funeral Home on Maple Avenue in Birmingham, across the street from the drug store where Tim King disappeared. Chris’ attorney, Jane Burgess, attended the service but, according to Burgess’ husband, both H. Lee and Elsie refused to acknowledge her, lest people make the connection.

  In an interview in 2008, Jane Burgess’ husband and law partner, Laurence Burgess, told Det. Williams that another attorney-friend of his referred H. Lee Busch to their firm. Burgess indicated that he normally would have handled the Busch case, but he was tied up on another case at the time, so his wife, Jane, represented Chris Busch. The Busch family was “very wealthy,” Laurence Burgess said, and he acknowledged his firm was very well compensated for the representation of their son. But, Burgess maintained, the reason they were paid so handsomely was “not because they cared about their son.” H. Lee and Elsie Busch “were embarrassed by Chris,” Burgess said. “They were only concerned about their reputation in the community. They were very cold people.”

  Burgess said Jane grew to like Chris Busch personally. Busch once made her a gingerbread house for the family that she would bring out at Christmastime. In fact, the Burgess family once stayed at Busch’s Ess Lake cottage at his invitation. While they were there, Busch, who was staying somewhere else in the area, stopped over to visit, made the family dinner, and then left. Knowing his history of pedophilia, Laurence Burgess was guarded whenever he was in Busch’s presence; but Busch did not say much to Burgess at the time, he recalled. Chris was uncomfortable around him and most adults—but he really liked Jane.

  Burgess stated that his wife did an excellent job representing Busch; she kept him out of prison, even though he was facing some very serious charges. He confirmed that H. Lee flew Jane all over Michigan in his private jet to represent his son. He also confirmed that the Burgess law firm used the polygraph services of Lawrence Wasser often back then, noting that James Feinberg, Lawrence Wasser’s attorney, is a partner in the Burgess law firm.

  When Williams asked if Burgess knew that Busch was being looked at during the time of the Oakland County Child Killings, he said: “No.” He said he and Jane definitely had conversations about clients and discussed each other’s cases, but he didn’t remember much about their conversations about Busch. When Det. Williams asked Laurence Burgess if he thought Busch could be involved in the child killings, Laurence Burgess answered: “Yes, he could.”17

  Williams tried to interview Christopher Busch’s first attorney, R. Keith Stark, but Stark never returned his phone calls. Stark, who worked in private practice in Troy, represented Busch up until March 15, 1977, the day before Tim King went missing. My repeated efforts to talk to Stark were also in vain. Dr. Herbert Raskin, Busch’s psychiatrist in nearby Southfield, had long since passed away.

  In 1979, seven months after Busch’s suicide, H. Lee and Elsie sold the Morningview Terrace home and purchased a condominium in Bloomfield Hills, but it went largely unoccupied. After Chris’ death, the couple spent over a decade living at residences in Frankfurt, Germany, and London, England. In 1985, the condo was sold, and they bought a home in downtown Birmingham, on Pierce Street.

  In January 2002, Charles Busch moved his parents to the Essex Health Center, a nursing home in Essex, Connecticut. H. Lee died five months later at age 90. Elsie died three years later at 93.

  For both H. Lee and Elsie Busch, private memorial services were held at Kirk in the Hills Church. One of the most prestigious Christian churches in the Midwest, its parishioners are among Oakland County’s wealthiest residents. An imposing steeple, called the “Tower of the Apostles,” houses the world’s largest carillon in the number of bells.18 The church is both breathtaking and ostentatious.

  By the time H. Lee and Elsie Busch died, three of their four sons had predeceased them: Christopher, 27, in 1978 of a questionable suicide; David, 35, from whom they were estranged, of AIDS in 1982; and John, 60, in 2001 of congestive heart failure and diabetes after struggling with alcohol and drug abuse.

  Charles Busch moved to Connecticut in the eighties. He and his wife also had a “part-time apartment residence” in Manhattan.19 Later, the couple moved down South to be close to their only son, Alexander Nels Busch, who resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

  Once in Connecticut, Charles thought he had put the dark period of his brother’s pedophilia and horrible death behind him forever and no one was the wiser. Thirty-five years later, on April 22, 2008, his wife, Nancy, answered the door of their Greenwich Village apartment. Standing there were two FBI agents. They wanted to talk about a Michigan cold-case matter known as the “Oakland County Child Killings.”

  * * *

  1. Bloomfield Township Officer Wolfgang Uhrig, suicide report, November 20, 1978.

  2. Charles Busch in interview with FBI Special Agent Thomas MacDonald, at his home in New York, March 5, 2008.

  3. Bloomfield Village Association, www.bloomfieldvillage.net

  4. Dr. Bruce Garretson to Det. Cory Williams, August 13, 2008.

  5. Incident Report 78–5906, Bloomfield Township Police, November 28, 1978, 3

  6. Det. Cory Williams, Busch Outline for SW, DNA and Gunnels, originated on September 15, 2008, updated on March 13, 2009 and September 1, 2009. 16.

  7. Det. Cory Williams, Busch Outline, September 1, 2009, 17.

  8. Wally Quarles in interview with author, June 2018.

  9. Township of Bloomfield Police Department Incident Report #78–5906 Crime Scene Investigation Report, November 20, 1978.

  10. James Speicher in interview with author, October, 2019.

  11. Joe Swickard, “’79 Autopsy Hid Beating, Suit Claims,” Detroit Free Press, July 30, 1982.

  12. John Castine, “Sillery Didn’t Do 919 Autopsies, Witness Testifies,” Detroit Free Press, July 15, 1981.

  13. “Dallas Pathologist Replaces Sillery,” Detroit Free Press, September 16, 1983.

  14. Township of Bloomfield Police Department Incident Report #78–5906, November 20, 1978, 3.

  15. Lawrence A. Presley, Oakland County Sheriff’s Department, Crime Detection Laboratory Report, December 6, 1978.

  16. Marney Rich Keenan, “Teacher Students Investigate Oakland County Child Killings Case,” The Detroit News, June 13, 2012.

  17. Laurence Burgess to Det. Cory Williams, May 6, 2008.

  18. Carillon, http://www.kirkinthehills.org/music/carillon.

  19. FBI Special Agents Thomas P. MacDonald and Barbara A. Daly, interview with Charles Nels Busch, File #306-DE-80444 FBI transcription, April 24, 2008 1.

  10

  A Request for Witness Protection

  A little after 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22, 2008, New York FBI special agents Thomas “Tommy” MacDonald and Barbara Daly arrived at a condominium in the historic district of Greenwich Village o
wned by Charles Nels Busch.

  Having been extensively briefed by Det. Williams over several conference calls, MacDonald and Daly brought with them a dozen prepared questions and DNA saliva swab kits. Charles had been contacted by MacDonald a month prior while on vacation in South Carolina. While Charles was described as “cooperative” in that first phone call, a visit from the FBI likely came as a shock. As the sole remaining sibling of Christopher Busch, Charles must have regarded his brother’s “problem”1 and the repugnant stain it cast on the family as ancient history, never to be revisited after Chris took his last breath.

  While Chris’ grisly death was certainly tragic, it must have come with a certain sense of relief. No more cleaning up after Chris’ messes, no more drain on H. Lee’s finances, no more dots for the police to connect, and hopefully, no more missing children.

  Along with their questions, the FBI agents brought with them three pictures to show Charles. One was the drawing on the wall in Chris Busch’s bedroom that strongly resembled Mark Stebbins. The second was a photo of Mark taken when he was found dead in the parking lot, lying on his back on the asphalt, with the fur-lined hood up, just like in the drawing. The third photo was of Mark smiling, his sandy hair chopped in a crooked line across his forehead—again, just like in the drawing.

  A nervous and fidgety Charles Busch, then 64 years old, dutifully answered questions about any involvement his brother could have had in the abduction and killing of four children in the seventies. At the onset, Charles said he was anxious and apprehensive. But he did not seem appalled or insulted by the agents’ queries. He admitted knowing his brother was a suspect in the case long ago. He said he knew Tim King vanished from the shopping center blocks away from his home on Mohegan Street, where he and Nancy and their young son, Alexander, lived. He must also have known that Chris found his neighborhood appealing. Poppleton Park was down the street, complete with swing sets and baseball diamonds. From the back patio, one could hear the rippling laughter of children during recess at nearby Adams Elementary School.