---
category: Crime & Abuse Networks
created: 2026-05-14
location: Michigan, United States
summary: Gregory Greene was arrested in January 1977 alongside Christopher Busch for
  sexually assaulting a boy in Michigan; during interrogation he confessed that Busch
  had killed a boy at a family cabin near Ess Lake and identified the victim as Mark
  Stebbins, the first Oakland County Child Killer victim - a confession that was apparently
  dismissed by investigators at the time.
tags:
- Person
- OCCK
- Michigan
- Pedophilia
updated: 2026-05-14
---

Gregory Greene was an individual associated with [Christopher Busch](/people/christopher-busch/) who was arrested with him in January 1977 in Michigan for sexually assaulting a boy who had been procured through a church-sponsored Big Brother program. Greene is significant in the [Oakland County Child Killer](/events/oakland-county-child-killer/) (OCCK) investigation because of the confession he gave to police at the time of his arrest, which investigators subsequently failed to adequately pursue.[^1]

### 1977 Arrest and Confession

In January 1977, Greene and [Christopher Busch](/people/christopher-busch/) were arrested together for sexually assaulting a boy. During his police interview, Greene told detectives:
- He had raped a boy together with Busch
- Busch regularly took boys to a family cabin near Ess Lake in northern Michigan
- On one trip to the cabin, a boy had been killed
- Greene identified that boy as [Mark Stebbins](/people/mark-stebbins/), whose murder on February 15, 1976, was the first of the confirmed OCCK killings

Busch was subsequently polygraphed and cleared - a polygraph result that later investigators and victim families found implausible given the totality of evidence pointing to Busch. Both men were prosecuted for the assault but not for murder. Greene's confession identifying Busch as having killed Stebbins was not immediately followed up by an OCCK-specific investigation.[^1]

### Connection to OCCK Investigation

Greene's role in the OCCK case is primarily as the witness whose confession pointed most directly toward [Christopher Busch](/people/christopher-busch/) as a perpetrator. The failure to act on Greene's statements in 1977 represents one of the most consequential investigative lapses in the case. By the time OCCK investigations intensified in the cold case revival of the 2000s, Busch was dead - found with a apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in his home in November 1978 - making Greene's original confession irrecoverable as live testimony.[^2]

Informant [Richard Lawson](/people/richard-lawson/), who provided statements to Michigan State Police in 1988 and 2005, independently confirmed the connection between Busch and the broader child abuse networks associated with [North Fox Island](/places/north-fox-island/), corroborating the general outline of what Greene had described.

The OCCK case connections identified by investigators included:
- Greene and Busch's arrest for assault in January 1977
- Busch's possession of child pornography films depicting bound boys in wooded areas
- A hand-drawn portrait at Busch's residence resembling [Mark Stebbins](/people/mark-stebbins/)
- Ropes at Busch's residence cut to lengths matching binding marks on victims[^1]

### Current Status

The Oakland County Child Killer investigation remained open as of 2026, with the FBI conducting excavations at [North Fox Island](/places/north-fox-island/) in February 2026. No charges have been filed against any individual in connection with the four confirmed OCCK murders. Greene's fate subsequent to the 1977 arrest has not been publicly documented in the available investigative record.

[^1]: Coffey, Thomas. Oakland County Child Killer investigative reporting, *Detroit Free Press,* various dates 2012-2017.
[^2]: King, Barry. "The Killing of Timothy King," private investigation summary, cited in *Detroit Free Press* reporting.