UPDATE: According to TMZ, Busfield has surrendered to law enforcement in New Mexico.
One of the most famous people ever to have lived in Howell — Emmy Award-winning actor and director Timothy Busfield — is missing after an arrest warrant was issued for him on Friday, Jan. 9. The U.S. Marshals Service has joined the search for Busfield, who has been accused of sex abuse by two children in New Mexico.
And the social media accounts of his equally famous wife, Melissa Gilbert, have allegedly gone dark.
Busfield and Gilbert lived in Livingston County for about five years, from 2013-2015. The first two years here, they lived in an old Victorian a house on Washington Street in downtown Howell, before moving to a home in Genoa Township, and then leaving Michigan for New York City. (You can read all our coverage of the celebrity couple by clicking here.)
A judge on Friday issued an arrest warrant for the 68-year-old Busfield on two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and a single count of child abuse. The arrest warrant affidavit, reviewed by The LA Times on Sunday, accuses Busfield of inappropriately touching two child actors, who are twin brothers, during his tenure on the Fox crime drama “The Cleaning Lady.” Busfield allegedly told police that the parents of the child actors were upset that they had been replaced with a younger actor.
Since the arrest warrant was issued, authorities have been unable to locate the Emmy-award winning actor, best known for his television work playing Elliot Weston on “thirtysomething” and Danny Concannon on “The West Wing, as well as Mark in the movie “Field of Dreams,” and Poindexter in “Revenge of the Nerds.”
Busfield was accused in 1994 of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old actor who appeared on “Little Big League.” He denied those claims and sued his accuser for defamation. The case ended with a settlement, with a judge ordering Busfield to pay the woman $150,000.
