Chapter 5: The Runaway

On November 9, 1976, Detective Tom Waldron of the Flint Police Department (PD) was contacted by the principal of Donovan North Middle School that one of his students was missing.³² Flint is in Genesee County (GC), Michigan. The principal was alerted by the mother of the missing boy. The mother believed her 12‐year‐old son had run away from home. The boy played baseball and his mother was concerned that he might be with the team’s coach, Gregory Greene, whom she believed was homosexual. In the late 1970s, homosexuality was perceived differently than it is today where it was conflated with child molestation. Flint PD visited Greene’s home that same day, but Greene feigned ignorance stating that he had not seen the boy for 2‐3 days. The boy returned home the following day but would not tell his parents until five days later that he spent the night at Greene’s house.³³

Two months later, on January 19, 1977, Det. Waldron was again contacted by the principal at Donovan North. He informed Waldron that Greene was observed hanging around the school on three occasions and on January 17, 1977, he was seen with the runaway boy who stayed at Greene’s house. Waldron and Sgt. Frances Miller received consent from the runaway boy’s parents to conduct an interview with him on January 20, 1977.

The 12‐year‐old runaway told the officers that Greene kept him in a hidden attic room in his home and that Greene molested him multiple times. Greene scared the boy into silence by telling him about another of his molestation victims from the time Greene lived in California. Greene told the runaway that he nearly choked the California victim to death because the boy threatened to tell on him. Kristine Mihelich was found dead the next day. The results of her autopsy that were released one week later indicated that she, like Mark Stebbins, was suffocated to death.³⁴ It is important to note, however, that the autopsy on Mihelich obviously took place before the results were released to the press on January 28, 1977. According to the MSP file, Dr. Robert Sillery performed the autopsy on January 22, 1977. Thus, the OCTF and the man leading it, Brooks Patterson, were aware that Mihelich was smothered to death before this information was released to the public. Recall that it was one of Patterson’s subordinates from the OCP office that made the arrangements for the autopsy.

The runaway told the officers of other victims who were also on the little league team that Greene coached. The graphic details of what Greene did to these boys is in the police report.³⁵ The officers interviewed these other boys between January 21 and January 24, 1977. The boys were between 10 and 15 years old, all were molested by Greene multiple times and they all stated that they are terrified of him. One of the victims stated that Greene boasted of having molested over 100 young boys. Greene took nude Polaroid photos of the boys and threatened to show the photos to others if his victims told anyone about being molested. On January 25, 1977, based on the accounts of these victims, a warrant was authorized and Greene was arrested on three counts of 1st degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC).³⁶

It is also worth noting that these boys on Greene’s little league team were too afraid and/or ashamed to come forward on their own. They only told their stories after they were identified by their teammate, the runaway boy. This is tragically common in cases of child molestation. The victims rarely come forward on their own. If it were not for the principal at Donovan North Middle School who alerted Officer Tom Waldron of Flint PD, there would be more molested children and likely more that were murdered.

Greg Greene was arrested and charged only for the victims he molested who played on the baseball team at Donovan North Middle School. It would later be revealed that Greene molested several other young boys in the Flint area, but none of them were added to his original charges. His crimes were not limited to Genesee County, but he was not charged in any other jurisdiction. The significance of this will be discussed in later chapters.

Footnotes:

32 MSP 496‐502.

33 It is worth noting that the runaway boy in question was not Kenneth Bowman. Bowman was another victim who was not identified until after Greene’s arrest. In fact, it was Greene who identified Bowman to the police. This point is made because it is commonly believed that Greene and Busch were Bowman came forward leading to Greene and Chris Busch both being arrested and Greg Greene was arrested based on his molestation of Kenneth Bowman, which is not correct. The importance of this distinction will be addressed in subsequent chapters.

34 Detroit Free Press, January 29, 1977, 1‐A.

35 MSP 496‐98.

36 MSP 501. It is worth noting again that Kenneth Bowman was not one of the boys who provided statements about being molested by Greene that served as the basis for Greene’s arrest. Kenneth Bowman, who will be discussed in later chapters, was not known to the police until after Greene was arrested. In fact, Bowman was only known to the police because Greene told the police about him.