The Oakland County Child Killer, which I covered extensively in the long form podcast

to talk to strangers is a case that I can work on for weeks or even months at a time without

growing tired of it. One of the things that has always bothered me about the case is the

term babysitter murders, or calling the killer of those four children the babysitter. To

understand where that term originated and why you still sometimes see it or hear it associated

with this case, we need to look at three murders that happened a month before the Oakland

County Child Killer picked up Mark Stebans in February of 1976. We'll begin with an

associated press piece from March 8, 1976 titled, Rewards Offered for Slangs. Listeners, this

reads like something from a Stephen King novel. It begins, rewards totaling over $20,000

are being offered in 40 trite area homicides. Then they offer a list of dead kids. A $7,500

reward is offered for information about the murder of 14-year-old Sheila Schrock in Birmingham.

There is $5,000 available for information in the case of a Furndale boy whose remains were

found in Southfield. They add is referring to Mark Stebans. $5,000 is available for information

leading to the arrest of the killer of 16-year-old Cynthia Cashew of Roseville. Her body was found

in Bloomfield Hills. And finally, there is a cash reward for information about the murder

of 16-year-old Judy Farrow of Redford back on January 1, 1976. The year isn't even two

months old and we have four dead children. Now, two of the victims were babysitting at the

time of their death. And I believe this is where the term babysitter comes from. Because

these girls were babysitting, they started calling him the babysitter killer. Then, as

the victims grew younger, the titles stuck around, all of this misery and tragedy just blended

together. And honestly, it was a hellish year for Detroit area families.

So, today we're going to start with Judy Farrow of Redford. Her body was found on New

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