Who is Devyn Michaels? Woman Decapitates Kids’ Father, Puts Head in Trash

Johnathan James Willette’s mother made the horrifying discovery of her son’s headless body inside his Nevada home.

His corpse was surrounded by toxic fumes from a dangerous mixture of bleach and ammonia, adding to the grim scene where she found her lifeless son, “wrapped up in blankets and bloody.”

She called Henderson police just before 9 a.m. on August 7, 2023, reporting she’d found her son dead at his residence in the 2000 block of Pala Dura Drive.

Devyn Michaels decapitated Willette, the father of her children, and put his head in the trash. More a than a year after the murder, she recently pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on September 17.

Second-degree murder is an intentional killing that was not premeditated or planned in advance. It differs from first-degree murder, which involves deliberate planning and intent to kill. In second-degree murder, the act is still intentional, but it occurs in the heat of the moment, often due to strong emotions or during another crime, without forethought.

The court will sentence Michaels on Oct. 31 in Clark County, Nevada and she is expected to become eligible for parole in 15 years.

Newsweek reached out to the Clark County Courthouse and District Attorney’s Office, however, they have not yet responded.

The Context

Michaels and her ex-boyfriend, Willette, share two daughters but did not live together. According to the arrest report, they were planning to move in together in an effort to make things work for their children.

Michaels was currently living with and married to Willette’s son, Deviere Willette.

She explained they married a few years ago to support each other, as her medical issues made it easier for Deviere Willette to access information and assist her as her spouse. They lived together with the two girls, but Deviere Willette planned to move out so Johnathan Willette could move in for the sake of the children.

On the night of the murder, Michaels was at Jonathan Willette’s residence, where he lived with his mother. His mother didn’t see him that evening, but Michaels told her he had been drinking and smoking marijuana before going to bed early, so they could register their children for school the following day.

The next day, his mother noticed the dogs were in the backyard with the doggy door closed, which she found unusual. She also saw the interior door to the garage was open, and the garage door was slightly ajar—both out of the ordinary.

Spotting Johnathan Willette’s truck outside when he should have been gone with the kids, she searched for him and found him in the downstairs bedroom, “wrapped in blankets and bloody.”

After multiple interviews with detectives, Henderson Police arrested Michaels on August 15, 2023, and charged her with open murder.

In a lie detector interview with Henderson investigators at Las Vegas police headquarters, Michaels claimed Willette “was abusive to her.” She also alleged Willette had a child “take showers in front of him.”

According to the arrest report, Michaels told police while she was rubbing Willette’s back on the bed, she struck him in the head with a wooden stick.

Michaels said when she struck Willette in the head, “his arms went limp.” She claimed she didn’t intend to kill him, only to hurt him enough to send him to the hospital, as she wanted him out of the way to figure out what to do with her children.

She told police before she struck him, Willette had “tried to get her to perform a sexual act on him.”

Who was Johnathan James Willette?

Willette grew up traveling from Tokyo to Montana to California due to his father’s Air Force career. After his father retired on March 1, 1995, the family settled in Henderson, Nevada, where Willette spent the remainder of his life, according to his obituary.

For over 20 years, Johnathan worked on the Las Vegas Strip selling timeshares. He later founded “JW Marketing” and before the pandemic, started a second business, “The Vegas Moving Guy.”

His family said Willette was always eager to help with moving and hauling, often offering jobs to others. He could frequently be seen driving his truck and trailer, proudly displaying two American flags as he traversed the Las Vegas Valley.

“In a word, Johnathan was a hard-worker and his keen intellect drove all his pursuits,” his obituary reads. “His passion to help others exceeded his own desires. Whatever he did, he was all in!”

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