Five Cold Cases in Metro Detroit

Cold case: An unsolved criminal investigation (as of a homicide or abduction) that has stopped being actively pursued because of a lack of evidence ( Merriam-Webster ).

According to Project: Cold Case , Michigan is ranked sixth in the nation for most cold cases, with slightly over 19,000 active cold cases dating back to 1980. Nearly every police agency across southeast Michigan has at least one officer investigating a cold case, and newer tools, such as mitochondrial DNA and genetic genealogy, are bringing new evidence into focus.

In 2024, the state government allocated about $1 million to help solve some of these cases. More than half went to the Michigan State Police, and the rest went to cold case research programs at Western Michigan and Northern Michigan universities.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office has a cold case unit of retired detectives who routinely investigate older cases to uncover new leads. They’re currently working on six homicide files.

“They’re passionate about solving these cases,” says Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard. “Sometimes it’s with the help of new technology. In some instances, a witness is more willing to speak up because of the time that passed.”

The Detroit Police Homicide Cold Case Squad examines dozens of cases every year. The unit takes responsibility for a case when the lead investigator leaves the homicide department and the case is more than two years old.

“The Cold Case Squad is a critical component of DPD Homicide,” Detroit Police Chief James White wrote in his 2024 budget proposal. “It advances investigations that may not otherwise receive the attention deserved, and it meets a significant need of the community by keeping those who lost loved ones informed of the investigation.”

Here’s a look at five cold cases in metro Detroit, plus contact information of the authorities for anyone who may have information that could help solve them.

Bernice Onisko, 1937

Our oldest and coldest case dates back to March 7, 1937, in the city of Hamtramck. It will likely never get solved.

Seventeen-year-old Bernice Onisko was heading home from church services on a clear night when an unknown assailant dragged her into an alley and raped and strangled her. She was found in the morning with her belt wrapped around her neck.

Despite a massive manhunt that went on for months, her killer was never caught.

“There was no DNA testing or anything like that at the time,” says Hamtramck historian and author Greg Kowalski. “The whole community was shocked and outraged that nobody was ever brought to justice, but the police had little to work with. It was more than likely a random encounter.”

Onisko lived with her mother. She was a quiet church girl who had just graduated from St. Ladislaus High School and hoped to become a typist. The school, located on Caniff Street, closed in 1981.

Days after the murder, Onisko’s mother received an anonymous handwritten letter mailed from Detroit. It was presumably written by the perpetrator, who claimed he only killed Onisko because she bit him during the attack.

“When you get this, I will be out of the state,” the person wrote. “What can I say — just amen.”

A fingerprint was lifted from the letter, but no arrests were ever made. To this day, the brutal murder of Bernice Onisko remains an open case.

Timothy King, Mark Stebbins, Jill Robinson, and Kristine Mihelich, 1976-77

Who abducted Timothy King, and how did they get away with it?

On March 16, 1977, in the early evening hours, the Birmingham sixth grader left his home to buy candy at a corner drugstore near Maple and Woodward. Six days later, on March 22, his body was discovered in a shallow ditch alongside Gill Road in Livonia.

The young boy’s skateboard was tossed by his side.

Police believe Timothy King, 11, was the fourth and final victim in a series of killings that took place in southeast Michigan between February 1976 and March 1977. The perpetrator of these four homicides was dubbed the Oakland County Child Killer :

• Mark Stebbins, 12, of Ferndale, disappeared on Feb. 15, 1976. That afternoon, he had left a local American Legion hall and never made it home. His body was discovered four days later in a Southfield parking lot.
• Ten months later, on Dec. 22, 1976, Jill Robinson left her Royal Oak home in a huff following a spat with her mom. The 12-year-old never returned home. Her bike was discovered the next day behind a business on Woodward Avenue, and her body was found four days later near I-75 and Big Beaver Road in Troy.
• On Jan. 2, 1977, Kristine Mihelich, 10, never returned home after she went to a nearby 7-Eleven store in Berkley to buy a magazine. Her body was discovered 19 days later on a rural side street in Franklin.

Timothy King was aware of the abductions. His family told him to immediately “drop everything and run” if a stranger approached him.

Yet, somehow, someone managed to get close enough to grab him and drive away.

His abduction led to one of the largest police manhunts in the nation’s history. Thousands of tips came in. Skilled detectives from around the country helped with the investigation.

They could not save him.

More than 45 years later, no arrests have ever been made in any of the four cases. Timothy King’s older sister has her own theories about the cases, believing more than one person may have been involved.

“How is it that we’re here in 2024, all this time has passed, … and they still have not ruled out anybody?” Cathy King wonders about the investigation.

Cathy King would like the Michigan State Police to provide an accurate account of whatever evidence still exists — and whether it’s amenable to more sophisticated DNA testing. She also wants all the evidence converted from paper to digital so that it is easier to sort through and share.

Finally, she believes investigators should reinterview survivors of child sexual abuse that occurred in the ’70s. Many of these cases were brushed under the rug at one time — and it’s still possible that someone alive knows something about the Oakland County Child Killer case.

“You have to keep it in the public’s eye,” she says about her brother’s abduction. “Otherwise, that’s the end of it.”

Tips can be sent to 1-855-MICHTIP (855-642-4847).

Carla Tucker, 1979

On June 19, 1979, Carla Tucker left her home on Elmwood Street in Detroit to purchase a few items at a nearby grocery store. She was 14 at the time, a big sister to her four siblings, and a local spelling bee champ.

She never returned home.

More than a decade later, on Feb. 11, 1992, her body was discovered in a landfill in Carleton. Investigators determined the Detroit teenager had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Her body was left in a 55-gallon drum encased in concrete.

Authorities have no clues about how she was abducted.

At the time her body was discovered, investigators did not know her identity. That took another 22 years, until August 2014, when she was identified through DNA samples submitted by her siblings.

Carla Tucker’s case is one of many profiled on the Michigan Cold Cases website. Crime Stoppers of Michigan is offering a cash reward of up to $2,500 for information that leads to an arrest in her case. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-SPEAK-UP (800-773-2587).

Cindy Louise Moore, 1985

In 1985, Cindy Louise Moore was planning for a brighter future.

It never happened.

Moore was living with her parents and had made a down payment on a mobile home in Auburn Hills. She planned to live there with her 2-year-old son.

On May 23, 1985, the 28-year-old mom finished an evening shift at the U.S. Postal Service in Troy. She was last seen in her silver Ford Tempo, presumably driving to her estranged husband’s home in Warren to pick up her son.

She never arrived in Warren or returned home to her parents in Independence Township. Cindy Louise Moore vanished, and to this day, authorities are not sure what happened to her.

“It haunts the family,” Oakland County Sheriff Bouchard says. “They want closure — that’s why we continue investigating these cases. We keep reexamining them, and we’ve had success.”

A week after Moore was reported missing, her car was found backed into a parking space at the Red Roof Inn at 14 Mile and John R roads in Madison Heights. The doors were locked, the keys were missing, and there were no signs of a struggle.

Police suspect foul play in her disappearance.

Moore’s husband was previously considered a suspect in the case, but investigators say he was never arrested or charged.

Anyone who might know or remember something about the case is asked to contact the Cold Case Unit of the sheriff’s office at 248-858-7155.

Heinrich Bachmann, 1997

Heinrich Bachmann was murdered in his Troy home in August 1997. More than 27 years later, his killer remains free.

At the time, he was 42 years old, a divorced dad with a young son. He owned an auto brake shop in Pontiac that he ran with his father, Edmund Bachmann.

When Bachmann didn’t show up at the shop one morning, his father went to his son’s home on Butler Drive in Troy and found him dead. Investigators say Heinrich Bachmann was shot once in the back of the head.

There were no signs of robbery or struggle. Only one drawer in a bedroom appeared to have been ransacked. Everything else, including cash and jewelry, was left behind.

Authorities believe that Bachmann knew his killer, but they do not know the motive for the homicide.

“At this point, we’re hoping someone will have a change of heart and provide information,” Troy police Sgt. Ben Hancock says. “Maybe someone reached a certain age or point in their life where they feel it’s important to come forward.”

Bachmann’s father told police that he had spoken to his son the evening before the murder and that nothing in the conversation alerted him to any signs of trouble.

Years after his death, in 2013, his family posted this memorial in a local newspaper: “Dear Son, It’s been sixteen years since your life was taken from you. We cannot believe that you are not with us anymore. We miss you very much.”

The Bachmann family is offering a reward for information leading to the perpetrator’s arrest and conviction. Anyone with information can contact the Troy police at 248-524-3477.

T his story originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Hour Detroit magazine . To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on Oct. 7.

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