Welcome to Episode 3 of Don't Talk to Strangers, a long look inside a series of child murders that took place in the Metro Detroit area between January, 1976, and March, 1977.

Because we are discussing the murder of children,

this content may not be appropriate for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

If you're over 30 and grew up in the Detroit area,

you're familiar with this case.

You've likely heard of the Oakland County child killer.

You probably sat through stranger danger videos or presentations,

offered in a darkened classroom via projector.

Or perhaps a uniformed officer came to your school for an assembly.

Hey kids, don't hitchhike.

Don't go with strangers.

Nay, nay, stranger, stay away. If you live to the Detroit area, particularly in South Oakland County along the Woodward Avenue corridor,

this case was there, lingering, lurking. Whether or not you knew of the case, it influenced your childhood, and it likely

influenced the way you parent your own children today. There are unanswered questions,

misinformation, and secrecy surrounding the Oakland County child killer. Nine murdered children

in 15 months. Only three of the cases are resolved,

while the other six remain a mystery. Over the next several weeks, we will be looking at each

murder, reviewing how the cases intersect and which cases are resolved while others are still

open, still waiting, but they still sit in a dusty file cabinet

hoping for an elusive DNA match. In episode two, we covered the abduction and murder of 12-year-old

Mark Stebbins of Ferndale. Stebbins left the American Legion Hall off 9-mile road,

...