Devyn Michaels Las Vegas woman accused of decapitating her boyfriend, Jonathan Willette of Henderson after allegedly demanding the woman perform a sex act on him. Suspect now charged with open murder as authorities investigate ‘complicated’ relationship.
It’s time sharpen our knives. Shall we? A Las Vegas woman is accused of beheading her boyfriend after he allegedly tried to force her to perform a sex act on him.
Devyn Michaels, 45, was arrested on August 15 after the mother of her boyfriend Jonathan James Willette, 46, discovered the man’s headless body in his bed the week before.
The victim’s mother found the body ‘wrapped up in blankets and bloody,’ the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. She called 911. It wasn’t clear if she saw that the body had been decapitated.
A very complicated love affair
Responding cops found the body was still ‘smoking’ and smelling of chemicals, thought to be bleach and ammonia, upon coming across the corpse on August 7 at the man’s Henderson residence.
An investigation was launched into the grisly death, with Michaels, who is also married to the victim’s son, brought in for questioning.
She initially denied the killing, and claimed that she left her boyfriend’s home the night of his death. The woman relented and conceded striking Jonathan Willette, on the head with a wooden stick after refusing his advances, allegedly saying she only wanted to hospitalize him.
Who knew wooden sticks were so lethal?
She also claimed that Willette was abuse towards her, and alleged that he would have his oldest child take showers in front of him, according to an arrest report obtained by 8News Now.
It wasn’t clear whether police considered Michaels’ allegations of abuse, credible.
A breakdown of events leading up to beheading
According to social media, it appears that Michaels may have been his ex-girlfriend, and Willette’s Facebook profile shows him engaged to someone else.
Willette’s headless body was discovered by his mother at around 8:40am on August 7, with police rushing to the scene to find the beheaded man’s remains in the 46-year-old’s bed.
The man’s head was not immediately located, with cops saying there was a chemical smell around the body likely to be bleach and ammonia, which appear to have been used on the remains as there was ‘smoke’ coming from it, police said.
The victim’s mother told police that the last time she saw her son was around 10pm the night before, when he was with his girlfriend, Michaels.
At around 1am, she said she saw Michaels downstairs in the kitchen washing dishes. Michaels told her boyfriend’s mother that Willette was drunk and had gone to bed, and they planned to leave early the next day to register their kids to school.
The mother said she went back upstairs without seeing her son, before being woken up at around 3am by the sound of dogs barking. While thinking this unusual, she decided to go back to bed and didn’t investigate the ruckus.
What happened to missing meat cleaver?
Upon waking up next around 8am, the victim’s mother said she found the dogs locked outside her home and her son’s truck parked outside. When she went to look for him, she made the macabre discovery of her son’s headless body.
Surveillance footage showed Michaels’ car leaving the residence just after 2 a.m., a few hours before Willette’s mother found his body, the Review-Journal said.
When asked to explain what happened in the hour between seeing Willette’s mother and her exit, Michaels told police she ‘could not account for that time frame.’
On Aug. 8, the mother told police that when she was cleaning up, she noticed that a meat cleaver was missing from the kitchen.
And now for the amazing backstory. Please reach out for the steak knife.
During questioning, Michaels told cops that she didn’t live with Willette, her former boyfriend, while saying the pair who had two daughters together were thinking of getting back together and moving in for their children.
Michaels said their relationship was complicated, as she lived with Willette’s son, who was not on good terms with his father and was not happy at the prospect of having to move out if he moved in, police said.
Complicated all in the family love relationships
Michaels was also married to the vicm’s son, and told investigators she did not have an intimate relationship with Willette’s son and that she was only married for medical reasons.
The suspect told police that she and Willette’s son got married a couple of years ago ‘to help each other out.’
According to a fundraiser set up to pay for his funeral expenses, Willette worked on the Las Vegas strip for over 20 years. When the pandemic struck, he started a moving business, and would often be seen in ‘his truck and trailer all around the Las Vegas valley.’
When quizzed about her boyfriend’s death, she initially said she left Willette’s home after she spoke with his mother in the kitchen.
But after investigators reportedly found Willette’s wallet, keys, social security card and blood-covered phone in Michael’s home, she was given a polygraph test that allegedly found she had a ‘significant reaction’ to a question about her participation in his death.
Admits striking him with a wooden stick but not decapitating him
Police say she then claimed Willette was abusive, including an allegation that he would force his oldest child to shower in front of him. His alleged behavior escalated on the night of his death, she said, as he allegedly tried to force her to preform a sex act on him.
She said while he was laying face down and rubbing her back, she grabbed a wooden stick and struck him on the back of the head.
His arms and legs went limp from the force of the impact, but Michaels told police she only meant to hospitalize him for long enough to figure out what to do with her children.
She never admitted to decapitating him.
Michaels was arrested Tuesday and faces a charge of open murder, Henderson police announced in a statement Wednesday.
The man’s cause of death was still pending, the Clark County coroner’s office said.
But there’s even more. Desert is also now being served…
While Michaels claimed Willette was abusive, a woman listed as engaged to him on Facebook paid a tribute to him, saying her ‘body feels like it’s been ripped to shreds.’
‘I am grateful to John for the last five years,’ she continued. ‘He was too good for this world. He did his best to create a happy world. And enjoyed baking.’
Willette’s step sister Valerie Rivera said in a fundraiser to pay for his funeral expenses that he was ‘loved by so many people.’
‘Johnathan had the personality and charisma that attracted everyone to him,’ the fundraiser read. ‘Working on the Las Vegas Strip for 20 plus years, Johnathan touched so many people’s lives.
‘Rest in Peace Johnathan, we all love you.’
Police to date have yet to recover the decapitated man’s head. Its immediate location remained unclear….
