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Buried Car Parts Could Be Connected To Oakland County Child Killer Case

GRAND BLANC (WWJ) - Could car parts unearthed in Detroit's northern suburbs be connected to one of the most notorious criminal cases in the Midwest — the Oakland County child killer?

A task force investigating the decades-old series of Michigan child abductions and killings has been notified after parts fitting the model and color of a vehicle suspected in the case were unearthed Monday in Genesee County.

Michigan State Police investigators were called to a construction site where parts of a blue Gremlin were discovered.

child killer case dig
Investigators at the scene where parts of a blue Gremlin were found. (credit: Jon Hewett/WWJ)

The Gremlin has long been associated with the child killing spree since a witness said she had seen a boy resembling Timmy King — the final victim — talking to a man in a parking lot of the drugstore where King was last seen alive.

She told police the man was in a blue Gremlin, and that led local police to question every owner of a blue Gremlin in Oakland County.

According to State Police Lt. Mike Shaw, that suspect vehicle was never located.

The latest development in the case that has stymied investigators for decades is happening in the area of I-75 and Saginaw Street in Grand Blanc, south of Flint.

Shaw said police received a tip there were a number of cars found at the site by crews who were digging a basement for a new home.

"When it first came out of the hole, it was actually a large metal clump of what looked like different vehicles parts, bicycles, scrap metals - you name it, it was kind of in the hole," said Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw. "One of the things that we did notice was a car door that was pink. There was another vehicle in there and other vehicle parts that was able to be identified by some of auto theft investigators as part of a Gremlin.

Authorities are now trying to determine if a chop shop was ever located on the lot.

"We just wanna do our due diligence to make sure that everything is the way it's supposed to be," Shaw said. "If we find out

gremlin parts found
Investigators at the scene where parts of a blue Gremlin were found. (credit: Jon Hewett/WWJ)

that this was a junkyard, then we'll know that."

From February 1976 to March 1977, a serial killer abducted and held four young children — Mark Stebbins, Kristine Mihelich, Jill Robinson and Timothy King – against their will for several days, before murdering and placing them on display on streets throughout Metro Detroit. In 2011, investigators said they found DNA evidence linking the four young victims.

Although several potential suspects have been investigated over the years, the case officially remains unsolved.

Parents of several of the slain children have worked tirelessly to find justice, most recently filing a $100 million lawsuit against the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, the Michigan State Police and Oakland County Sheriff's Office for what they saw as harboring evidence.

Stay with WWJ Newsradio 950 and CBSDetroit.com for the latest.

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