Inset: Johnathan James Willette (Affordable Cremation & Burial Service). Background: Devyn Michaels in court (KLAS).
A Las Vegas woman accused of decapitating the father of her children and throwing his head in the trash has pleaded guilty.
Devyn Michaels, 46, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Johnathan James Willette, 46. She will be eligible for parole after 15 years, local CBS affiliate KLAS reported. Online court records show she entered her plea on Tuesday. The shocking case came to light when the victim’s mother discovered the headless corpse smoking from a mixture of bleach and ammonia.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal detailed the case, citing an arrest report detailing the crime at a residence in the 2000 block of Pala Dura Drive after Willette’s mother called police saying she found him “wrapped up in blankets and bloody.”
“Johnathan’s head had been severed from his body, and was not observed to be in the room,” the arrest report said, according to the newspaper.
Police smelled chemicals and saw smoke coming from the body they believe had been doused in bleach and ammonia, local Fox affiliate KVVU reported.
Willette’s head was never found. Prosecutors believe the defendant took it to her home in Las Vegas and dumped it in the trash, where it was picked up during trash service and carted to a dump, the KLAS reported.
Police said the victim was the suspect’s on-again, off-again boyfriend. The victim’s mom reportedly told police Michaels was Willette’s ex, and they were trying to get back together.
Michaels was also married to Willette’s son, the Review-Journal reported. She told police she had married Willette’s son so they could “help each other out.” The son told investigators he and Michaels got married “so he could help Devyn with her medical issues,” the newspaper reported.
Michaels and Willette also shared two daughters, the Review-Journal reported.
Police used a lie-detector test after officers said they found the victim’s keys, wallet and bloody phone in Willette’s house, KLAS reported.
In that interview, she said the victim “was abusive to her” and had a child “take showers in front of him.” She reportedly said that while they were in bed, she hit him in the head with a stick and his arms went limp, according to the arrest report.
“Devyn stated that she did not want to kill Johnathan and only wanted to hurt him enough that he would have to go to the hospital because she wanted him out of the way so she could figure out what she could do with her children,” the report said.
The victim’s mother told police a meat cleaver was missing from the kitchen, the paper reported.
Two days after the murder, Michaels was in court facing an unrelated child abuse case involving her 8-year-old daughter, KLAS reported. She told a judge at that hearing that she wasn’t abusive, but she was still sentenced to one year of probation after the child apparently told a teacher she was being abused at home.
“[The employee] stated that [the child] approached her teacher and told her that she had got a ‘whooping’ while at home from her stepfather,” documents said, KLAS reported. “[The child] also told the teacher that her mother gave her a ‘whopping’ the week prior for having apple juice.”
Michaels was arrested in Willette’s murder on Aug. 15, the Henderson Police Department said in a news release.
Willette’s obituary said the father of two was known on the Las Vegas Strip, where he sold timeshares for 20 years.
“Johnathan loved to talk to everyone, especially at his jobs,” his obituary said. “He was known as someone who would help you out by giving you a job in hard times and also moving you or your possessions on moment’s notice.”
Michaels set to be sentenced on Oct. 31, online jail booking records show.
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