Murder, Mystery & Makeup · Audioboom Studios

Billionaire Island: The Secret Predator Network That Escaped Justice

·43 min·3 clips

Gerald Richards gave authorities a diagram and named Frank Sheldon and Dyer Grossman in the abuse ring.

1. Murder, Mystery & Makeup covers North Fox Island and Brother Paul's Christian Mission as a Lake Michigan child-abuse case tied to Frank Duffield Sheldon. 2. Bailey Sarian hosts the episode and frames the story as an audio exclusive with a warning about child abuse and exploitation. 3. The episode asks how Sheldon, a Detroit elite heir, used money, land, and institutions to build a hidden network around a remote island. 4. Bailey describes North Fox Island as 839 acres in Lake Michigan and says Sheldon bought it for $20,000 with his brother Alger in 1960. 5. Sheldon built an airstrip on the island, stocked deer for hunting, and hosted influential guests including Don Berlage and Chief of Police Jack Mole. 6. She quotes Sheldon saying, "I plan their destruction," while discussing his attitude toward hunting. 7. The episode traces Sheldon's background through Yale, the Michigan Air Guard during the Korean War, a geology master's degree, and a trust fund inherited at age 21. 8. Bailey explains that Brother Paul's Christian Mission incorporated on June 18, 1975, in Port Huron and claimed to provide tutoring, counseling, lodging, retreats, and emergency care for runaways. 9. She says the camp used North Fox Island as part of a supposed retreat for troubled boys while appearing to be a charity. 10. Bailey identifies Gerald Richards as a physical fitness teacher and former camp director who pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct and received a two-year sentence. 11. Richards supplied a diagram, videos, and photos that implicated Frank Sheldon and Dyer Grossman and led investigators to another site in Alto, Tennessee. 12. The Alto location was Boys Farm Inc., also called Father Bud's Boys Camp, where Reverend Claudius E. Vermilye Jr., called Bud, faced 16 counts. 13. Bailey connects Brother Paul's Christian Mission, Boys Farm, and the Church of the New Revelation through incorporated dates, business records, and shared leadership names. 14. She says reporters traced the alias Adam Starchild to the Ocean Living Institute phone number and to business documents tied to Brother Paul's Christian Mission. 15. The manhunt turned into a flight narrative when Frank Sheldon disappeared from Michigan, surfaced through Aspen, Miami, Antigua, France, and Amsterdam, and used a letter dated December 6, 1976, to resign from Cranbrook. 16. Bailey says Adam Starchild later administered the Francis D. Sheldon Revocable Inter Vivos Trust in the British Virgin Islands and that Sheldon sued him in 1982 for mismanagement. 17. She adds that Sheldon became a French citizen in March 1979 after marrying Aline Giselle Gobi, then gained Dutch citizenship before extradition terms changed. 18. The episode says Dyer Grossman used aliases like E.D. Grossman, Alicia Grossman, Michael Grossman, Elliot Crossman, Michael Ross, and Dale Osterman, but never faced arrest. 19. Bailey's delivery is fast, informal, and highly editorial, with frequent asides, quotes, and reactions to the case file. 20. The story suits listeners who follow true crime, institutional abuse, and legal evasion, and may not suit anyone avoiding child-exploitation cases.

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