Charges filed against two in Cadillac death include premeditated homicide, mutilation

Elizabeth Brewer, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
Updated ·2 min read

May 1—CADILLAC — Two suspects were taken into police custody and charged with involvement in a homicide in February, according to a statement from Michigan State Police.

Michael Peter Hayes, 45, of LeRoy, and Katelynne Jonelle Hendricks, 18, of Tustin, were arraigned Tuesday in 84th District Court in Wexford County, and charged with multiple felonies in connection with the death of a 55-year-old Cadillac man.

Hayes faces one count of first-degree of premeditated homicide, one count of committing a felony with a firearm, one count of disinterment and mutilation of a dead body, one count of concealing the death of an individual, and one count of removing a dead body without a medical examiner, according to court records.

He is currently being held without bond in Wexford County jail.

Hendricks faces separate charges, including one count of accessory after the fact to a felony and one count of concealing the death of an individual.

Court records show she has not been released from custody; her bond was set at $500,000 cash.

State police reported discovering large chunks of burnt wood, tires, remnants of burnt clothing and a piece of apparent flesh in a disrupted area in the backyard of the residence of a man who had been reported missing on Feb. 20, according to previous Record-Eagle reports.

Responding troopers also found the man's truck, phone, dog and other personal items at his house, according to state police Public Information Officer Lt. Derrick Carroll.

The state police crime lab in Grayling was brought in Feb. 23 to excavate the yard for more evidence and found a body.

Those physical remains, which had been badly burned, were sent to Western Michigan University's Department of Pathology for identification.

That analysis confirmed a match between the remains and the missing man.

Troopers from the Computer Crimes Unit also collected a DVR home recording system and the man's phone as evidence, the release said.

State police had not yet released the name of the man who was killed.

The missing man had Hayes and Hendricks staying with him before he died, according to the state police news release.

The two suspects were being held in different jails on unrelated charges when the man's body was discovered, according to a news release issued by state police in February.