Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan : Decoding Death The Gruesome Case of Jonathan Willette

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

Jonathan Willette is brutally murdered, his headless body discovered under mysterious circumstances and a chemical haze. The case is rife with complex family dynamics and an ever-changing narrative from the accused. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack explore the forensic complexities of identifying a headless victim, the psychology behind such gruesome acts, and the role of familial dynamics in criminal investigations. Morgan lends his expertise on death investigation, discussing everything from chemical smells at crime scenes to the increasing trend of decapitation cases. Together, they offer a comprehensive and chilling look into a murder case that defies easy explanation. Subscribe to Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan : Apple Podcasts Spotify iHeart   Time codes:   00:00:00 — Joseph Scott Morgan sets the stage by discussing the complexities of death investigation. He introduces the episode's focus on the perplexing case of Jonathan Willette. 00:01:00 — The unique and complicated relationship dynamics in Jonathan Willette's case are revealed by Morgan. He describes how these complexities add another layer to the already gruesome murder. 00:02:00 — Dave Mack chimes in with his perspective, likening the case to a horror movie titled "Headless in Las Vegas." He discusses the emotional toll of discovering a loved one in such a state. 00:03:40 — Morgan uses the term "familial dynamic" to express his confusion over the complex family relationships in this case. He questions how these dynamics could have played into the crime. 00:04:00 — A haunting image is painted by Morgan as he describes the moment the victim's mother discovered her son's headless body.  00:05:20 — Mack outlines the complicated relationship between the victim and his son, adding another layer of complexity to the case. 00:07:53 — Insurance could be a motive, suggests Morgan. He also alludes to a sinister confession made by the perpetrator during police questioning. 00:09:10 — A lighter moment occurs as Dave Mack recounts a humorous story from years ago. He describes a terrifying experience involving a seemingly breathing corpse. 00:11:04 — What's the protocol for a decapitated body? Mack inquires, leading Morgan to explain the crucial role of the medical examiner in such cases and elaborates on his role in crime scene investigations, particularly in cases involving severe body mutilation. 00:15:01 — The gruesome topic of decapitation in murder cases is discussed by both hosts. They ponder the mindset of the perpetrator and the circumstances under which it can happen. 00:18:42 — Mack questions the lack of a blood trail and the presence of a chemical smell at the crime scene, adding another layer of mystery. 00:19:30 — Morgan shares his experience with dangerous chemical combinations in morgues, highlighting the risks involved. 00:22:09 — Cleaning products at the crime scene? Morgan speculates on an attempt to clean up and what evidence might remain. 00:23:00 — The challenges of finding a disposed head in a garbage bin are explored by Morgan. He discusses the logistical difficulties involved. 00:23:40 — The accused admits to hitting Willette in the head, leading to a discussion on her changing narrative. 00:24:00 — Mack points out inconsistencies in the accused's story, questioning the credibility of her statements. 00:24:40 — The physical appearance of the body and a missing meat cleaver raise more questions for Mack. 00:25:20 — Morgan delves into the mechanics of using a meat cleaver for decapitation, discussing the likely injuries and marks left on the body. 00:27:00 — The episode wraps up with Morgan talking about potential tool marks that could help identify the weapon used. At the time of recording, authorities have only an accused person.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan. In death investigation, I've been there to try to make sense at many scenes about what the catalyst was that started the wheels in motion. When you think about bodies being torn to ribbons and you only have a remnant left behind many times. Sometimes bodies are intact, but many times we show up at scenes and all you're left with is this evidence of horror. Today we're going to talk about a gentleman who was previously married to a lady by the name of Devin Michaels. To make matters even more interesting, this woman is now married to this gentleman's son, this gentleman, Jonathan Willett. And he was literally butchered.

I'm Joseph Scott Morgan, and this is Body Bags. So you're a young cop. You walk into a room and probably the first thing that you're expecting to see if you've been called out on a death is a dead body. Sometimes your senses are hit with the odor of decomposition. Many times you smell things before you see them. This does happen. But in today's case, you're hit with a smell that is not decompositional, but you're actually hit with a very strong chemical odor. And when you do finally see the body, you see smoke, what they define or call smoke, emanating from these remains. It's a real conundrum. As a parent, I can't imagine anything worse than finding your child dead.

But what Willits' mother found was his body. There's no head. We don't know where the head is. Even as we do this show today, we still don't know. That's why we're doing the show Body Bags today on wonderful Devin Michaels and the relationship she had with her husband and her baby daddy husband. And her husband actually was the baby of the daddy that she's married.

Well, you get the picture. Yeah, it's almost like you need a lineup card or maybe a playbill to keep up. When I first came across this case, I was dumbfounded because I couldn't make sense of what I think sociologists like to refer to as the familial dynamic. Don't you love that academic turn? I hope that you're impressed. When you think about this dynamic that was going on in this household, and to say that it is strange would be an understatement. But what we do know, as you mentioned, this poor gentleman's mother, and no, I can't frame this in any other way. I can't make sense of it.

When she comes into the bedroom there before her, lays only who she can assume is her son wrapped in a blanket. And then you try to roust him out of bed. You shake him, perhaps, as maybe your mama shook you, my mama shook me. Wake up, get ready. He's 46 years old at this point. And there she is attempting to wake him up. But there's something odd about the shape of his body. Because even if you have a body that is covered or obscured by some kind of covering, there's still enough within us where we recognize form and function that you can automatically see. I think if you're

not looking through the mother's eyes, there's something wrong here. And what would be wrong is that this gentleman is actually absent ahead. It's not going to look right. No, it's not. It will be certainly bizarre to try to pick up on this and try to understand it. And how do you make sense of this as a mom? I'm glad you brought that up because the mom is going to call 911 and she's going to have to explain the dynamic here. Devin Michaels, 45-year-old suspect, female.

Jonathan Willett is 46. He is the victim. He is the headless man now in the bed. And by the way, chemical smell and fumes seen coming from his body. His mom, Mr. Willett's mother, has to explain to 911 what she has just seen. And she doesn't really know because, again, there is no head. She explain to 911 what she has just seen, and she doesn't really know because, again, there is no head. She doesn't know what she's actually seen. She doesn't know that it's not good. Devin Michaels is married to Jonathan Willett, the victim, married to his adult

son. And all we hear about from this standpoint is that it was a marriage of convenience to help with some medical issues that Devin Michaels has. I don't know what these medical issues are, but that was the reason given for why, even though she has been in a married relationship with Jonathan Willett, the victim, she married the victim's son. Jonathan Willett and Devin Michaels have two children together. Jonathan Willett's mother is dealing with her son, her grandson, and her grandson is married to her son's wife. And there are two children in here that are either children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or aunt, uncle, cousins. I'm not sure. That's what we've got going on. Yeah. And let me ask one more thing. And I know that you're not necessarily

going to have the answer to this, but the authorities are saying that she was married to him or that she's married to the son, but yet she is in a marriage-like relationship with the victim. So on top of this, are all three parties married, have a matrimonial relationship in the sense of law, and is she a bigamist? I'm thinking about why would she have perpetrated such a horrific crime that the authorities at this point in time are pointing at her as the primary culprit here. And you think about this dynamic that's going on, being involved with the husband's son in a matrimonial relationship. Was it just too much to take? And you think about, well, it's for the convenience of medical condition. Well, yeah, I mean, maybe she was

underinsured or had no insurance. And vis-a-vis the victim, she had insurance, being able to cover whatever this issue was. But you got to admit, just give me this. There are a myriad of other rationales that could come into play here that could be the motivating factor. And there's some kind of sinister stuff that she's told the police was the rationale for her taking his life, I believe. Over the course of my career, particularly in academia, I've had students that have taken my medical legal death investigation course. And they have asked me, have you ever seen anything supernatural happen? And I tell them no. And it's always a shock to them. I think that they think that just because I'm around the dead, have been around the dead all of my adult life, that I'm somehow haunted. And no, I'm more haunted by the living than I ever have been by the dead, all of my adult life, that I'm somehow haunted. And no, I'm more haunted by the living

than I ever have been by the dead. I can assure you of that. You mentioned kind of sitting up with the dead. I will tell you very quickly, I worked for a funeral home when I was in my first years of radio because I didn't make enough money. So I actually drove caskets around and stuff like that to make extra money so I could eat. And one night I had to sit up with the dead because you can't leave a body in a funeral home that is not guarded. There has to be somebody in there in case there's a fire. You got the body. It's the only thing that matters. Nothing else. Burn it all down. I didn't know that. But I was in there and they had a visitation, had a lot of people show up in the body that was in the casket. Well, his hair got a little messed up and they were like, can you fix

that for tomorrow? Got an early visitation with the family. Just a family, very private, very early. Would you take care of this, Dave? Well, the dude was wearing a pinstripe suit, Joe. You know what that means? The optical illusion. You find it on television sets all the time when people wear certain things and your eyes play tricks on you. You look at a dead body wearing a pinstripe suit and that body will go. The breathing begins. They will breathe. I saw it with my own two eyes. I know I saw saw it and back then we didn't have cell phones i had a corded phone it had a rotary dial i took that cord as far as i could to get away from that body i'm hanging out the front door i'm calling the funeral home director dude you

gotta get i'm out i'm leaving and he did everything he could to calm me down he explained i saw it he's breathing man you got a live guy in the box. But it didn't happen, though. And that's not the reality. And look, if that man could have sat up at that point in time, listen, first off, you wouldn't be talking to me. You'd be a very wealthy man. This is what I do know. I've never had the dead speak to me. And the one thing I can confirm to you scientifically is that the dead cannot make excuses. They cannot offer up solutions. They cannot bear testimony on their behalf. Now, the police show up, Joe, and they're because mom calls and we got a mess on our hands and the police show up. Do they make the call immediately? We know this. We don't have to worry about this

crime scene and we don't want anybody else here. The dead body is here with no head. So we know we got to deal with this. This is the elephant in the room. Do they call you immediately and say, can you, you need to get over here now? What did the police do first things when you find a body with no head and you've got suspects? Yeah. In a case like this, even if the ME, the coroner, if we don't make immediate entry in most jurisdictions that I worked in, I had a very good rapport with the police department. I was the one constant in the universe. There would be investigators that would come and go and would move on to new jobs, but I would always be there. It was my job. That's what I had a lot of young investigators for the police that would say, hey, what do I do now? And so I would be there on their shoulder. The older guys,

sometimes they would wait, hold me back, and then I would come in and do my thing. But in a case like this, particularly when you are absent a significant element of the body, a head in this case, I would be there ready to rock and roll and ready to look for any evidence that I could to try to track down the head. I can tell you another thing that they would probably do in a case like this. And I don't know that they did. This was actually, it's adjacent to Vegas. It's actually in Henderson for people that are curious. I don't know if the Henderson police actually called out a dog, but a dog would give you an idea to be able to track this down if they have a sample of blood,

which they would in this particular case. Heads are very bloody. They're very bloody things because they are, this is what's so fascinating. We don't know a lot about this at this point. The head is the most vascular area of the human body. So you have the most blood flow that is going to the head because the brain requires so much. So even in death or even in a decapitation, there will be blood draining, gravitational draining out of that opening in the neck. You've got a head that is severed away from the body. I cannot imagine under any circumstances that if his head was removed at that site,

that you would not at least have passive droplets of dynamic blood flow that are like dripping on the floor everywhere you go, unless you have a catch basin. Did this person think about that? And I know it's horrible, but for me, as a forensics guy, if I have no blood there, there's a couple of things that I'm considering. If I have a body that has been decapitated, I want to know, first off, was this individual decapitated there? Was the blood drained from their body prior to arrival at this location where they're deposited? And if they were killed there, where the heck is the blood? Because I would expect there to be copious amounts of blood, not just in the area where the head was removed, saying that it's removed on a bed, the mattress and the bed clothes and everything would be super saturated. But you would have,

Dave, a trail of blood leading away. Even if you tried to wrap it in towels, you would still have that happen. And of course, I would look for any drains that were nearby, anything, a sink, an outdoor spigot with a drain that leads down the ground, in the bathroom, looking at the bathroom sink, the toilet, the tub, just to see if people are trying to clean up. It's a creepy kind of thing as an investigator. When you kind of step back and you think about it, you think, I've got to put myself into the mindset of someone that has just killed and decapitated someone. And you let that sink in. Now that I'm older and I talk to my students, I'll have my students and I'll talk to them about

a case like this and they'll sit back and their eyes kind of open up, you know, and they're thinking, oh, my God, I'm in the room with a monster. But, you know, for a moment, you have to translate yourself into that environment. And as these investigators begin to process the scene, that's one of the things that they're thinking about. To cut a head off the victim here, they're going to have to already be dead, I would think. You're not going to be able to cut somebody's head off if they're alive, right? Unless it's a really, I mean, like a guillotine. I'm not, you know, I'm talking about just... Right, a guillotine. And there are execution cases from antiquity. For a case like this, where a body is in fact decapitated, and there's any number of ways that decapitations can happen,, swords from antiquity, and there are traumatic decapitations,

and you see them, believe it or not, with great frequency in motor vehicle accidents. It happens with some frequency in those cases. But in this particular case, you would have had to have had someone, first off, that would have had the will to do this. And it doesn't take a lot of skill in order to do it. But you do, as in this case, have to have someone that is compliant. And when you're talking about an alleged female perpetrator and a grown man, there's no doubt in my mind that he was already deceased when that head came off. Dave Mack, I don't know if it is just the subject matter that you and I talk about or if it is a real thing, but it seems to me, and I think I've said this on other episodes and I will continue to say it because it keeps slapping me, the reality keeps slapping me in my face. It seems to me that we

are encountering more and more cases with either decapitations or dismemberments. It seems like we've covered so many of these things over the past few months. It's amazing to me. It takes almost an iron will in order to facilitate this, and it's almost like people are desensitized to it. I don't know if that's the case, if we are desensitized and there are just more of them happening because of that. I just remember when you and I were kids and whenever somebody did something crazy, it was if it was a teenager, it was because of TV. And then it was Dungeons and Dragons. And then it was this and video games and rock and roll. Yeah. Oh, I forgot about those

guys. So I think there's always something. But I don't know if it's where there is more happening in terms of people being dismembered or if we just hear about it now because there is a 24-hour news cycle that has to be filled with information, and crime is a big one. But I do think it's worthy of some real statistical help from college professors that could make students do a project. I'm not suggesting a class project for your class, but I think you could do some independent study where they go off on their own and study, and you, if you need me, call me at the house. I got a cup of coffee. Yeah, light bulbs are going off.

So anyway, I don't know if it's happening more, but I do know this, Joe. I have been putting more and more of these shows together. And as I have said many times, if anything were to happen to a loved one of mine and the police came and looked at books and videos and the shows that I do, they probably won't even bother asking me any questions. They'll just go cuff him back of the car. I don't know about Devin Michaels and Jonathan Willett. I don't know about their relationship, but I do know that somehow, some way his 46 year old body ended up without a head and she is arrested and charged with the crime of murder. But my question still comes back to what are they actually seeing on the body? We've got it from the police report.

Henderson police wrote that his head was severed and was not located at the scene, which means there's got to be some really serious pre-planning that that body and head were separated and they're not seeing, as you mentioned in the last segment about blood everywhere. They don't see a trail of blood leading to wherever this head is. Or at least they're not saying it as you mentioned in the last segment about blood everywhere. They don't see a trail of blood leading to wherever this head is. Or at least they're not saying it at this point in time. Yeah. Or they're not seeing blood from the body coming in, the head being left out somewhere else. But beyond that, the police are noting there was a chemical smell, a chemical smell and fumes could be seen coming from his body. What are they talking about, Joe? Have you

ever had this happen? Do you know what this is? Yeah, actually I have because I cleaned a lot of morgues over the course of my career. And there are certain chemical combinations that you do not want to be near. I've actually commingled substances in the morgue where I had to get out of the morgue and leave. Matter of fact, I ran a forensic pathologist out of the morgue one time when I was attempting to clean up a big mess of blood that we had. And it was quite noxious. But what they're saying, Dave, is that there was a strong, now get this, there was a strong smell, ammonia and bleach. That combination in of itself, now hold on to your hat, that is actually a combination that can wind up producing chlorine gas, which is actually an anti-personnel gas that was used in World War I, and it's still used in the Middle East in certain places. It irritates the eyes. It causes hemorrhagic

reactions in the lungs. When they are commingled like that in the right order and the right amounts, it can really wind up creating this lethal event. That's why when you are an investigator and you walk onto a scene, I always keep in mind that someone has just died here and they probably had more value on the person's life that died than they would on mine as an investigator coming in. I always assume that every environment is deadly. And if you walk into this environment, the first thing you should do, if you smell this, and they didn't just smell it, Dave. The police described this as what appeared to be smoke coming from the body. And one of the things that happens when you get these commingled substances

is that they begin to kind of bubble up. It's like a bad chemistry experiment. It's gone awry. And they don't really comment any further about this. This is the type of thing that you would need to call a fire department out there. This is dangerous stuff. And the police officers are walking into this environment. So not only are they contending with a headless remain, a mother who's grieving, but they're also contending with the fact that there's some kind of noxious odor in the air. And listen, anybody in the sound of my voice that's ever come in contact with ammonia, you know, it's the same thing they make smelling salts out of to wake you up. There's a reason it does.

It's horrible. It's absolutely horrible, but it's used in cleaning. You combine that with bleach. So it begs the question, why would a headless body, and remember, we were talking about blood earlier, why would a headless body being obscured by bed clothing, why would it be emanating smoke and this odor? When I think about this, I begin to think about, was there an attempt to clean up? That jumps to mind first. And what do you associate with really getting things clean?

Well, ammonia, certainly. People think that bleach just makes everything disappear and vanish. When you think about that, okay, well, they're starting to put two and two together. Were there containers of bleach and ammonia around there? Was there an attempt to clean up? Had she been in this, the accused, had she been in the room with the body long enough so that if there was blood there, maybe there were scrub brushes as well, or maybe there were rags. Maybe there was a garbage pail there, or just maybe every evidence of cleaning up left along with the head in the same back. Now, that in and of itself is quite the conundrum because all you have to do is drive

down the road. You find a garbage. Matter of fact, I think my garbage bin is still sitting out by the road because I didn't take it in and we just had trash pickup. But think about that. If there's a garbage bin sitting out by the road, you could tie this thing off, drop it in a garbage bin, and the garbage guys are going to come by and pick it up and no one will be any the wiser. I don't know that they will ever find this poor man's head. And that's problematic for them because this is the thing. She apparently admits, Dave, that by virtue of some of the things that he had said to her that had kind of a sexual connotation, she took a stick and hit him in the head. This accused is actually stating that she did this in order to knock him out, in order to, I can't remember, in order to make sure the children were okay or that she was okay. Okay.

At first, I didn't do it. I don't know what you're talking about. He was supposed to move in with me, but he didn't. He's upstairs in his own bed. I don't know what you're talking about. Then it was, well, wait a minute. Yeah, I was in there with him, and he did want me to perform a sex act i didn't want to do it so i popped him on the head and then during the interviews because they are experts at this is it possible devon that you maybe just spitballing here maybe you hit him a little

harder than you thought maybe i mean is that, is that possible? The minute she says, oh, yeah, that's possible. She basically admitted I killed him. But the thing is, Joe, we still have a body with fumes, chemicals and no head. We know one thing that mom who found the body also can't find her meat cleaver. What is it like for somebody who is not a doctor to cut through bone, muscle, sinew, all the stuff in your neck. I'm assuming that's where you're going to go. Yeah. And that is where you're going to go. And remember, a meat cleaver, the configuration of it traditionally has been made with a very heavy spine on it. And the spine of the meat cleaver is meant to transfer that energy from that weight of the spine down into the fine

blade, which is more narrow. And of course, the sharper the blade, the more effective it is. Meat cleavers, like axes, though they do have a leading sharp edge on them, do not make clean cuts unless they are honed to a surgical edge and you have sufficient strength. You have to have energy in order to drive it down onto the object that you're trying to split into, in this case with a neck. And she's going to have to go through vertebral bodies. And it's easy for somebody to say, oh, well, she would just go in between the vertebral bodies.

Really? That's like hitting, that's like saying, okay, I'm going to hit a 100 mile per hour fastball and I'm taking over the left field fence. I'm going to pull it down the line. You might say that you're going to do that, but you're not going to do it. The idea that you could actually swing a meat cleaver with sufficient energy to take a head off in one fail swoop or maybe even two is complete fantasy. You're going to strike, you're going to miss strike, and you're going to strike multiple times. Even butchers, when you see them butcher meat with a meat cleaver, they're striking that multiple times. Now, if the blade is sharp enough, they can drive through the meat itself. But even

butchers, even butchers have bone saws. There's a reason they do that. So just because you swing it doesn't mean that you're going to hit the disc that actually separates the spinal vertebral bodies. That's not a one in a million shot, but it's hard, particularly because the back of the neck is covered in soft tissue. You can't appreciate the skeletal structure beneath the neck. You can't appreciate the skeletal structure beneath the neck. You're just wildly swinging at this point in time. So when you would examine these injuries, the skin itself will have a very jagged edge to it more than likely. The muscle just beneath will certainly be ragged to a great degree. And also the bone.

Once, let's say that just that bone, if she went between, you have the cervical vertebral bodies. So if you think about C1 is what's referred to as the atlas, it's like the god atlas holding the earth up, that classic image that we've seen in antiquity, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6. And so you get down to like the C4 area, C5, that's kind of exposed. So as you strike it, more than likely, you're going to have a strike that's not going to go all the way through. What's it going to strike?

Well, it's going to strike tissue, bone, any kind of sinew, and it's also going to strike the vertebral body, and it will leave a mark there. Now, the head, there's a high probability that that head, even at this point, still has attached vertebral bodies to it, which could be examined by a tool mark expert if they find it. What is left behind will also have marks as well that will have tool marks on them. And there will be multiple strikes on that because every time this meat cleaver is brought down, you essentially scratch that bone. You cut a little channel that's actually, if you look at it on its long axis, is actually

V-shaped all the way down. It marries up with the blade and you'll have these multiple V-shaped strikes all the way across the bone. And those can be married up to the meat cleaver. But the problem here is this, the mother is saying she's missing the meat cleaver. They don't have that at the time of this recording to marry those two things up and compare them. What we do know is that we have a body that is absent its head. There's a high probability that there are tool marks on what remains of the neck that could be married up. We have what appears to be perhaps

an attempted cleanup at a crime scene. And at this point, at this time of recording, we have only an accused person. I'm Joseph Scott Morgan, and this is Body Bags. you're listening to an iHeart podcast