As Timothy Busfield faces charges of alleged child sex abuse, Melissa Gilbert's youngest son, Michael Boxleitner, called his stepfather a "hero" in a character letter written to a judge. Michael, 30 - son of the Little House on the Prairie alum, 61, and actor Bruce Boxleitner - found himself "overwhelmed with emotion" and "flooded with so many memories" of his teen years spent with his mother and his stepfather as he struggled to find the words to describe Busfield.