For more than three decades they sat in evidence storage with other items collected as part of the hunt for those responsible for a 13-month reign of terror in the mid-1970s that came to be known as the Oakland County Child Killer case. At least four children were among the victims.
A task force was reactivated in 2005 to search for new leads in light of advancements in forensic science. And old evidence was re-examined — including the strands of hair.
On Tuesday, calling it a “tremendous breakthrough,” Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper announced that three hairs found on two of the victims matched the DNA profile of a hair found in the car of a known pedophile at the time.
“There may very well be a living perpetrator of these crimes,” Cooper said at a news conference attended by several members of the task force that’s still investigating the case.
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Cooper said FBI laboratory technicians in Quantico, Va., discovered that hair found in 1976 in a vehicle of an early suspect in the case — Arch Edward Sloan, now 70 and serving two life sentences in prison in Muskegon Heights for two first-degree criminal sexual assault convictions in Wayne County — matched hair strands found on the bodies of Mark Stebbins and Timothy King.
Mark, 12, of Ferndale, the child killer’s first victim, disappeared Feb. 15, 1976, on his way home from an American Legion hall to watch a movie on television. His body was found four days later in a shopping center parking lot at 10 Mile and Greenfield in Southfield.
Timothy, the child killer’s last known victim, disappeared March 16, 1977, after leaving a drugstore near Maple and Woodward where he had gone to buy candy. His body was found six days later in a ditch along Gill Road, south of 8 Mile, in Livonia.
Investigators found a single strand of human hair on Mark’s clothing. That hair matched the DNA profile of two hairs found in Timothy’s underpants and in his nasal cavity.
Southfield police were investigating the killings around that time, and came across Sloan, a mechanic in Farmington Hills who was living with his parents in Southfield. Sloan had been convicted of a sexual assault against a boy.
Sloan allowed the police to search his 1966 Pontiac Bonneville. Investigators used tape to gather hair, fibers and fur in the car.
Thirty-six years later, Quantico scientists were able to match a hair from the car to the three taken from the two boys.
“The (hair) donor may be the key to solving these two murders,” Cooper said.
Cooper said that the hairs did not match Sloan’s DNA and that investigators are still trying to determine what, if any, role Sloan had in the killings. Sloan, who is serving his sentence at the Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility, has been interviewed by investigators but is not cooperating, she said.
The child killer is believed to have killed at least two other children: Jill Robinson, 12, of Royal Oak, who disappeared after leaving home following an argument with her mother on Dec. 22, 1976, and Kristine Mihelich, 10, of Berkley, who vanished after buying a teen magazine at a 7-Eleven store on Jan. 2, 1977.
Jill was found four days later on the shoulder of I-75 north of Big Beaver in Troy.
Kristine was found 19 days after she disappeared in a ditch along Bruce Lane near 13 Mile and Telegraph in Franklin.
Jill died of a shotgun blast to the head; the other children were suffocated. The boys had been raped.
Cooper said there were no DNA links found for Kristine, or Jill.
Armed with the new DNA information, Cooper said the task force is asking that anyone who knows Sloan, or his 1966 Pontiac Bonneville, or who may have borrowed the car back in the mid-1970s to come forward.
Cooper said Sloan also had a 1969 black Chevrolet pickup and a 1971 blue Ford pickup, and that he may have loaned all three vehicles to friends.
“Finding anyone like this who turns out to be the donor of the hair may be the key to solving these two murders,” Cooper said.
The killings horrified metro Detroit parents, who kept a close watch over their children. At the time, residents phoned in thousands of tips to a hastily mobilized, 200-member task force led by the State Police.
Investigators eventually released a composite sketch of a man who was seen standing near Timothy and a blue American Motors Corp. Gremlin before King disappeared.
Police questioned and polygraphed many suspects, but never made an arrest.
The task force shut down in December 1978 after exhausting its $2-million budget.
Over the next two decades, a handful of detectives continued to work the case, and several suspects were publicly identified. But no one was charged.
The task force was reactivated in 2005 to examine the evidence with modern forensics, including DNA testing.
Last year, Oakland and Wayne County authorities — Timothy’s body was found in Livonia — were said to have convened separate grand juries to investigate the case.
In March 2009, the FBI crime lab concluded that mitochondrial DNA from James Gunnels, a 47-year-old parolee, matched the DNA from a hair fragment found on Kristine’s body. He’s the only other person whose DNA matched hair found on victims.
Although a mitochondrial DNA match isn’t as precise as a nuclear DNA match — mitochondrial DNA narrows the field of potential suspects, while nuclear DNA can pinpoint the individual — the FBI told investigators the findings were significant.
Gunnels was paroled to Kalamazoo in 2011 after serving sentences for larceny, breaking and entering an occupied dwelling, car theft and attempting prison escape.
Gunnels said he didn’t know how his DNA got onto Kristine’s body and was never charged.
The families of the victims said they were encouraged by Tuesday’s announcement.
“I think this is the best and biggest piece of evidence in the case so far,” said Christopher King of Pleasant Ridge, Timothy King’s brother.
“I’ve always said that if this case is solved, it will be because someone in the public came forward with information,” he added. “Someone in the public knows who this guy hung out with.”
Christopher King said he thinks Sloan must be considered a suspect or person of interest because the hair was found in his vehicle.
Michael Stebbins, a Royal Oak auto parts deliveryman and brother of Mark Stebbins, said he is hopeful that the new information will help solve the case.
“I’ve been sitting here waiting for 36 years,” he said.
Deborah Jarvis of Petoskey, the mother of Kristine Mihelich, said: “I was expecting a little more.”
Jarvis is suing Cooper, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and Michigan State Police investigators in U.S. District Court in Detroit in hopes of getting the case turned over to the U.S. Department of Justice for an independent probe.
She has criticized authorities for keeping the victims’ families in the dark about the investigation.
Cooper has said she can’t divulge details about he investigation without compromising it. County lawyers have asked that her lawsuit be dismissed.
Jarvis said Tuesday’s disclosure doesn’t change her position about the need for a Justice Department investigation.
“I still believe the case needs fresh eyes,” she said. “I believe they’ve done all they can here.”
