Serial Killer Ron Bailey

Welcome to True Crime Talk with Nic Edwards. Here is tonight's story...

The photo in the news is every parent’s worst nightmare.  A 10-speed bicycle lying on the side of the road. And its owner, 13-year-old Shawn Moore, is nowhere to be found. 

On Labor Day weekend in 1985, in Brighton, Michigan, Shawn is home doing chores, cutting the grass, when the lawn mower breaks. He asks his dad if he can ride his bike to a nearby convenience store to grab a root beer. His dad says yes, and his older brother reminds him to be home for an early dinner, before family movie night.  While at the store, Shawn catches the interest of a man, who watches him having his drink. When the teenager hops on his bike to return home, Ron Bailey decides to follow him.

When Shawn doesn’t make it home for dinner, his worried family starts to look for him. His brother finds his abandoned bike and approaches police. At the time, Michigan is still reeling from a series of murders, known as the Oakland County Child Killings, a few years earlier. About 30 miles away from Brighton, 4 children had vanished. 2 boys and 2 girls. They all go missing around a different holiday, and their bodies are all found days later, lying in the snow.  

A search for Shawn and a manhunt for his abductor, unprecedented in size and scope, quickly ensues.  Shawn’s body is found in the woods, near Bailey’s family cabin, where he was sexually assaulted and strangled with a belt. Bailey committed his first kidnapping and sexual assault when he was just 13 years old. He was an active rapist and killer for nearly 15 years.  So the question remains: how many unknown victims could also be out there, waiting for justice? And with the Oakland County Child Killings still unsolved, we wonder, could this sadistic predator have been involved?

The book is Depraved Obsession by Rod Sadler

The website is www.WildBluePress.com