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Gregory GREEN
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Domestic violence - Revenge
Number of victims: 5
Date of murders: July 14, 1991 / September 21, 2016
Date of arrest:
Same day
Date of birth: 1966
Victims profile: His first wife, Tonya Green (six months
pregnant) / His daughters, Kaleigh Green, 4, and Koi
Green, 5; and his stepchildren Kara Allen, 17, and Chadney Allen, 19
Method of murder:
Stabbing with knife /
Poisoning (carbon monoxide) / Shooting
Location: Dearborn
Heights, Wayne County, Michigan, USA
Status:
Pleaded guilty in 1992.
Sentenced to 15-25 years in prison.
Released in 2008. Pleaded guilty in 2017. Sentenced to
47-102 years in prison
A woman married a paroled murderer. Years
later, he killed all her children.
By Kristine Phillips - The Washington Post
March 8, 2017
In 1991, Michigan man Gregory Green stabbed his
wife in the face and chest, killing her and their unborn child.
Then, he called 911 and waited for police to come.
After serving about 16 years in prison for
murder, Green was released on parole with the support of family
and friends, including a pastor who lobbied on his behalf and
whose daughter Green would marry.
“Gregory and I were friends before his mishap
and he was incarcerated,” Fred Harris, a pastor in Detroit, wrote
to the Michigan parole board in August 2005. “He was a member of
our church … I feel he has paid for his unfortunate lack of self
control and the damage he has caused as much as possible and is
sorry.”
“If he was to be released he would be welcomed
as a part of our church community and whatever we could do to help
him adjust, we would,” Harris wrote again a year later.
Green was released in 2008 and later married
Faith Harris. They had two daughters, Koi, 5, and Kaliegh, 4.
Then came a shocking slaughter.
Early in the morning of Sept. 21, 2016, Faith
Harris-Green found herself bound with duct tape and zip ties in
the basement of their home in Dearborn Heights, Mich., just
outside of Detroit. Her foot had been shot and her face slashed
with a box cutter, prosecutors say.
Her two teenage children — Gregory Green’s
stepchildren — were with her, dead of gunshot wounds. She had
watched them die. Her two younger children were dead upstairs,
poisoned with carbon monoxide.
The killer was Harris-Green’s husband, the same
man whose freedom her father advocated for more than a decade ago.
As Green did when he killed his first wife, he
called 911 and waited for police to come, authorities said. He had
just shot his family and they were inside the house, he told
officers.
Green is back in prison. Last week, he received
what amounts to a life sentence. He’ll be 97 by the time he’s
eligible for parole, according to the prosecutor’s office.
During the sentencing hearing, Harris-Green,
wearing a white turtleneck, spoke to her children’s killer,
perhaps for the last time. “You are a con artist. You are a
monster. You are a devil in disguise. You are now forever
exposed,” she said as she stood behind a podium in a Wayne County
courtroom. Her ex-husband, in a dark green jail uniform, sat
stoically a few feet away, his back toward her.
No punishment will be enough for her children’s
deaths, Harris-Green said. “Not even torture and death would be
justice,” she said. “Your justice will come when you burn in Hell
for all eternity for murdering four innocent children, all because
you’re insecure.”
A spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office said
Harris-Green has asked to not be contacted by the media. She was
granted a divorce in December, according to media reports.
What prompted Green to kill his family — and
why he immediately confessed to it — is unclear. He had been found
mentally competent, the Detroit News reported. Last month, when he
pleaded guilty to the charges, Green cried as he described what
he’d done.
“Unfortunately, I took the lives of Kaleigh,
Koi, Chadney (and) Kara,” he said in court, according to the
Detroit News. “I shot my ex-wife. I left my two girls in the car …
Kara and Chadney … I shot them.”
The car was filled with carbon monoxide while
the two children were inside. Investigators found duct tape on the
muffler of the car. A plastic tube was attached to it, according
to the prosecutor’s office. The bodies were later moved inside the
house.
Green also spoke during his sentencing hearing
last week. His brief statement was apologetic, but he gave no
explanation of the motive behind the violent deaths. “I feel bad
for how this has deeply impacted everyone, and may God help them,
help me,” he said in court.
Green was denied parole four times — twice in
2004 and twice in 2006 — before he was released in 2008, said
Chris Gautz, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of
Corrections. If the parole hadn’t been granted, Green would have
been released in 2012, Gautz said.
His prison record provided nearly no trace of
violence, no hint that years after he would be released, he would
commit crimes more brutal than the first. His history while
incarcerated appeared clean, if not perfect. Records show that
although he was unable to explain the outburst that brought him to
prison, he nevertheless followed the rules and stayed out of
trouble.
“Excellent, good block reports, good past work
history,” reads his parole eligibility report.
“He is respectful to staff and other prisoners.
No minor conducts to report,” reads another.
Green had only one misconduct while
incarcerated. He was given a ticket in 2002 for getting involved
in a fistfight over a television, Gautz said.
By the time his parole was granted in 2008,
Green had completed educational programs in prison, Gautz said. He
also had plans for work once he was released.
During a news conference in September, Dearborn
Heights Mayor Dan Paletko summed up the sheer lack of explanation
for Green’s murderous outrage.
“It’s just difficult to understand the
motivation. I just don’t understand what happened in this
household,” Paletko told reporters. “I can’t fathom this whole
process. I just don’t understand it.”
Mom tells killer ex: ‘You’re a devil in
disguise’
By Oralandar Brand-Williams - The Detroit News
February 28, 2017
Detroit — Faith Green spoke candidly through pain Wednesday about
being forced to watch the slayings of two of her four
children, all of whom died by the hands of her ex-husband five
months ago.
Faith Green spoke of loss, trauma and fear she is left with from
the horrific morning of Sept. 21 when her four children
were killed by Gregory Green, the father of the couple’s two
younger daughters — Kaleigh Green, 4; Koi Green, 5 — and
stepfather to Faith Green’s two older children — Kara Allen, 17,
and Chadney Allen, 19 — at the family’s home on Hipp in
Dearborn Heights.
She revealed her emotions and details at Wednesday’s sentencing
hearing for her 50-year-old ex-husband, who pleaded
guilty last week to crimes that caused a scene described by
veteran law enforcement officers as the worst they had
responded to in their careers.
Gregory Green slashed Faith Green in the face and shot her in the
foot during his rampage. She said Wednesday she also
was gagged, duct taped and had her wrists bound with zip ties as
she saw her husband shoot her older children in their
heads. He poisoned the younger girls with carbon monoxide.
She blasted her ex-husband, telling him that he will “burn in
hell” for brutally slaying the children.
“Justice will come when you burn in hell for all eternity for
murdering four innocent children,” Faith Green said.
Gregory Green, who worked at Detroit Metro airport, will spend
47-102 years in prison. He won’t be eligible for parole
until he is 97 years old.
He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, torture and assault
with intent to do great bodily harm. He also pleaded
guilty to felony firearm. Counts of unlawful imprisonment, felon
in possession of a firearm and felonious assault were
dropped at the sentencing hearing as part of his guilty plea.
“It’s in God’s hands. Only (God) can judge,” said Gregory Green,
before the sentencing was carried out by Wayne County
Court Judge Dana Hathaway. “I’m sorry this happened. God knows the
heart. He knows how regretful ... how sorry I am. It
not one day that goes by I don’t think of my girls. ... I pray
that God be with Chadney and Kara. I feel bad how this has
deeply impacted everyone. May God help them ... help me ... help
us all.”
Gregory Green previously served 16 years for the stabbing death of
his first wife, Tonya, who was pregnant, in 1991. He
pleaded an insanity defense in that case and was ordered for
mental examination. Green was denied parole four times,
twice in 2004 and twice in 2006, before being granted release in
2008, state Corrections officials said.
His release came after Faith Green’s father, Fred Harris, a pastor
and civil rights activist, lobbied on his behalf.
Faith Green, who married to Green a few years after his release,
was granted a divorce in December, according to court
records.
“You’re a con artist. You’re a monster,” she said on Wednesday.
“You’re a devil in disguise. You are now forever
exposed.”
She told Green that his plan to hurt her did not work. She also
spoke lovingly about her children as she addressed her
ex-husband.
“I will not suffer as you intended,” she said. “What you did did
not work. While I stand up here trembling with fear I
put on my bravest face to be in the same room with the man who
murdered all four of my children, two of them violently in
front of me with a gun. He killed my other two babies with a hose
that ran from the tail pipe of his car to where they
were innocently sleeping.”
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Trisha Gerard said Green planned
the killings while shopping at Home Depot a week
before. At Home Depot, he bought piping to alter the exhaust
system of the vehicle where he poisoned the younger girls
with carbon monoxide.
Faith Green said her doctor told her she has short-term memory
loss about some details surrounding the slayings. She also
suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has migraines and
nightmares.
“Sometimes, I dream of the night all this happened and wake up
screaming ... thinking that I could save my children
someone how,” Green said Wednesday. “Then I realize that nightmare
is actually reality and my children are really gone,
and I try to find the strength to start my day somehow. I miss my
children so much that words will never be able to
explain.”
“... Some days I wish I had (died). There’s a hole in my heart and
soul that can never be repaired. This wound will never
heal. This wound will never heal.”
Hathaway told Gregory Green that his case was “by far the worst”
she’s seen as a judge.
“Fathers are supposed to protect their children. Husbands are
supposed to protect their wives,” Hathaway said before the
sentencing. “Your actions are inconceivable.”
Hathaway said had she not followed the sentence agreement Green
entered into, “you (would) never be released from
prison”. Hathaway said she was reluctant to follow the sentence
agreement but stated it would be better for the family so
they didn't have to relive the horror of the slayings if a trial
were held.
Green pleads guilty to murder of his 4
children
By Oralandar Brand-Williams - The Detroit News
February 15, 2017
Gregory Green, the Dearborn Heights man charged with killing his
two young children and two older stepchildren, pleaded
guilty Wednesday to the four slayings.
Green also was charged with an attack on his then-wife, Faith
Harris-Green. He pleaded guilty in the attack.
Green, 50, will spend 45-100 years behind bars as part of his
guilty plea to the charges against him, which included
weapons charges. He faces sentencing in Wayne County Circuit Court
on March 1.
Green pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the slayings of
Kaleigh Green, 4; Koi Green, 5; and teenage stepchildren
Kara Allen, 17, and Chadney Allen, 19, on Sept. 21 at the family’s
Dearborn Heights home.
“Unfortunately, I took the lives of Kaleigh, Koi, Chadney (and)
Kara,” said Green on Wednesday. “I shot my ex-wife. I
left my two girls in the car ... and (which was filled with carbon
monoxide). Kara and Chadney... I shot them.”
Green pleaded guilty to torture and assault with intent to do
great bodily harm in the attack on Harris-Green. He also
pleaded guilty to felony firearm. The counts of unlawful
imprisonment, felon in possession of a firearm and felonious
assault will be dropped at the sentencing hearing as part of his
guilty plea. Harris-Green, 39, was granted a divorce
from Green in December, according to Wayne County Court records.
“The plea was given with the express approval of Faith Green, the
mother of the children, and the father of the two Allen
children,” according to a statement from the Wayne County
Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday.
Harris-Green looked on in court as Green pleaded guilty
She declined comment as she left court Wednesday.
Green was referred for a competency exam in October at his
preliminary examination. In court Wednesday, an assistant
Wayne County prosecutor said Green was found mentally competent
and criminally responsible in the case.
Green cried as he described killing his biological children and
shooting his older stepchildren multiple times.
“He wanted to get it over with,” said Green’s attorney, Charles
Longstreet II, following the hearing before 20th District
Court Judge David Turfe in Dearborn Heights.
Longstreet said Green decided to plead guilty to the gruesome
murders and attack on his wife, whom he referred to as his
“ex-wife” during his plea Wednesday.
Authorities say Green called 911 at 1:15 a.m. Sept. 21 and waited
for police in the driveway of his home on the 4400
block of Hipp. Inside the home, investigators discovered
Harris-Green in the basement, bound with tape and zip ties.
Green is accused of slashing his wife in the face and shooting her
in the foot.
Prosecutors say Green assaulted his wife before forcing her to
watch him shoot her two older children. Green killed the
couple’s two young daughters with carbon-monoxide poisoning,
officials said.
Green served 16 years for the stabbing murder of his first,
pregnant wife, Tonya, in 1991. He also pleaded the insanity
defense in that case and was ordered for mental examination.
Green was denied parole four times, twice in 2004 and twice in
2006, before being granted release in 2008, Corrections
officials said.
Tortured mother who survived husband's
brutal attack that left her four children dead goes to court in a
wheelchair to face him as he is charged with murder
Gregory Green was ordered to undergo a
psychiatric evaluation to determine if he is competent enough to
stand trial for four murders
Green, 49, is accused of poisoning his two
young daughters with exhaust fumes and shooting dead his two
stepchildren
He is also charged with torture for allegedly
slashing his wife, Faith Harris-Green, in the face and shooting
her in the foot
Faith Harris-Green attended her husband's
court hearing Wednesday in a wheelchair, her face obscured with
a heavy black veil
Her four dead children, Kara Allen, 17,
Chadney J Allen, 19, Koi Green, 5, and four-year-old Kaleigh
Green, were laid to rest on Friday
Gregory Green previously served 15 years in
prison for killing first wife
She was pregnant at the time Green stabbed
her to death and called 911
He pleaded no contest in 1991 killing and was
released in 2008
By Snejana Farberov For Dailymail.com
October 5, 2016
A mother who was shot, stabbed and tortured in a brutal attack
that claimed the lives of her four children entered a
courtroom in a wheelchair on Wednesday to face her accused husband
as he was charged with murder.
Gregory Green, 49, allegedly poisoned his two young daughters with
car exhaust fumes before placing their lifeless bodies
back in their beds in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, home on
September 21.
Green then allegedly bound his wife, Faith Harris-Green, with duct
tape and zip ties, slashed her face with a box cutter
and shot her in the foot before shooting dead his two stepchildren
in front of her.
Harris-Green watched the proceedings from the audience, sitting in
a wheelchair with a heavy black veil obscuring her
face.
She was surrounded by family members and stared ahead when her
spouse was brought into the courtroom in an orange prison
jumpsuit and shackles, The Detroit News reported.
After the horrifying slayings, the ex-convict called 911 and
allegedly confessed to the murders, which came a month after
his wife filed for divorce.
Green is facing charges of first-degree murder, assault with
intent to do great bodily harm, torture, unlawful
imprisonment, felonious assault, felon in possession and felony
firearm.
On Wednesday, a district judge ordered Green to undergo a
psychiatric evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand
trial, which will likely put his case on hold for several weeks.
At the conclusion of the hearing, which lasted only about two
minutes, Mrs Harris-Green was wheeled out of the courtroom
to meet with prosecutors. She did not make any statements.
On Friday, more than 1,000 people filed into a Detroit church to
say a final farewell to Faith Harris-Green's four children,
Chadney Allen, 19, Kara Allen, 17, Koi Green, 5, and four-year-old
Kaleigh Green.
The service was held at the Detroit First Church of Nazarene and
lasted two hours.
Family members could be seen helping Faith, who is recovering from
her injuries, to her seat before the service.
Chadney Allen Sr was also present to say goodbye to his two
children.
A letter Faith wrote to her children was read during the service,
according toThe Detroit News.
'I know your love,' she wrote. 'My dear babies I love you all. You
were always unique in your own way.'
Faith described Chadney Allen Jr as her 'little big man' who loved
to give tight hugs.
He had recently graduated from the Specs Howard School of
Broadcasting with a certificate in Digital Media Arts.
Faith said Kara was a go-getter, an honor student and a
cheerleader.
'Princess Koi' loved to dress up and be the center of attention
while her sister Kaleigh enjoyed ballet and singing.
It was recently revealed that Gregory Green had been released from
prison in 2008 after serving 15 years for killing his
first wife Tonya, who was six months pregnant with their child.
Green served a sentence for second-degree murder after his wife
was found stabbed to death in 1991. He had pleaded no
contest in Wayne County court.
Police have said Green confessed to killing his four children
during a 911 call.
Authorities said he did the exact same thing after killing his
first wife, calling police and waiting to arrive before
letting them into his home.
Green had been denied parole four times because he showed 'no
remorse for his crime, had not gained adequate insight and
had a lack of empathy', according to Wayne County Sheriff
spokesman Chris Gautz.
On September 21, Green called 911 and said he had killed four
people at his Dearborn Heights home.
Police arrived around 1.20am and discovered that the four children
had been attacked and killed in different ways.
Kara Allen and Chadney Allen were found dead and bound in the
basement after being shot execution-style.
Green's daughters Kaleigh Green and Koi were found dead in their
beds after they were asphyxiated by carbon monoxide
fumes in a car, police said.
Their father had reportedly manipulated the tail pipe of the car,
killing the children with exhaust fumes.
He then placed the young children back into bed on the ground
floor of the home, police said.
The car where the young children were asphyxiated was parked
outside the home and had a hose hooked to the exhaust that
was routed into the car.
Police administered CPR before the children were taken to
hospital, but they did not survive.
Faith Green was discovered in the basement by police and was taken
to a hospital.
Police have not cited a motive but the killings appear to have
stemmed 'from a domestic violence-type situation,'
Dearborn Heights police Capt Michael Petri said.
Records show Faith Green had filed for divorce in August.
She cited a 'breakdown in the marriage relationship' in the filing
in Wayne County Court.
Records show she also filed for divorce from Gregory Green in 2013
but no further action was taken.
Faith had asked for a personal protection order that same year but
it was turned down by a judge.
In the past, police have reportedly responded to the home for
domestic violence and family troubles.
Green completed several cognitive-based programs and was paroled
in 2008,' Gautz told the newspaper.
He was released from parole in April 2010 after spending 16 years
in prison.
Following his release, Green stayed out of trouble until the
recent murders.
The Free Press reported that Green was issued a learner's permit
for a commercial driver's license in Michigan on September 1.
Man urged parole of killer charged in
grandkids’ deaths
By Holly Fournier and Oralandar Brand-Williams - The Detroit News
October 4, 2016
“Gregory and I were friends before his mishap and he was
incarcerated,” Harris wrote on Aug. 17, 2005. “I feel he has
paid for his unfortunate lack of self control and the damage he
has caused as much as possible and is sorry. This will
not restore the lives that were taken; he will carry that with him
for the rest of his life.”
The next year, Harris wrote again in support of Green’s release.
“I’ve noticed a great deal of growth and his understanding has
matured quite a bit as well as his processing skills,”
Harris wrote. “If he was to be released, he would be welcomed as a
part of our church community, and whatever we could do
to help him adjust, we would.”
Harris declined comment Tuesday evening when contacted at his home
by a Detroit News reporter.
Gregory Green, now 49, was incarcerated for 16 years over the July
14, 1991, attack on former wife, Tonya Green, who was six months
pregnant.
The woman was stabbed “several times to the face and chest area”
and pronounced dead at Grace Hospital, according to
corrections records. Gregory Green called police to the scene and
showed detectives where to find the murder weapon,
stashed in a refrigerator.
Green pleaded guilty in 1992 to second-degree murder and was
sentenced to 15-25 years in prison.
Green was then denied parole four times — twice in 2004 and twice
in 2006 — before being granted release in 2008,
corrections officials said. At least five different parole board
members signed off on his rejected attempts; members
Enid Livingston and Barbara Sampson are listed on his successful
2008 bid after each played a role in denying Green’s
previous requests for parole. Attempts to reach both Sampson and
Livingston were unsuccessful on Tuesday.
Parole decisions are handled by three-member panels of the
corrections department’s parole board, according to its policy
and website. Just two are listed on Green's files because they
cast the same vote, according to officials.
"Decisions can be made by the first two members of a three-member
panel, if their votes agree," Corrections spokeswoman
Holly Kramer said. "If their votes are different, then the third
panel member casts a vote."
But even if the Parole Board had continued denying Green's
release, he would have "maxed out" his sentence by 2012
because he was earning prison time-reducing disciplinary credits,
Kramer said.
Two years after Green was released from prison, he married
Harris-Green, on Dec. 18, 2010. Harris’ letters do not reveal
whether Green knew his daughter before the man’s lengthy
imprisonment.
But their relationship was a rocky one, with Harris-Green, 39,
seeking divorce in October 2013 and again in August 2016.
A month later, authorities say Green called 911 at 1:15 a.m. Sept.
21 and waited for police in the driveway of his home
on the 4400 block of Hipp in Dearborn Heights. Inside the home,
investigators discovered Harris-Green in the basement,
bound with tape and zip ties.
Prosecutors alleged Green tied up and assaulted his wife before
making her watch him fatally shoot her two older
children. Green also is suspected of killing their two young
daughters with carbon-monoxide poisoning, officials said.
Green has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and
one count each of assault with intent to do great
bodily harm, torture, unlawful imprisonment, felonious assault as
a felon in possession and felony firearm.Green is due
in 20th District Court in Dearborn Heights on Wednesday for a
probable cause conference.
His court-appointed attorney has said he planned to file a motion
for an insanity defense, mirroring a tactic attempted
after Tonya Green’s death.
Green also planned to use the insanity defense to explain why he
stabbed his then-wife in 1991, according to documents in
his court file. There was no information indicating the results of
a mental competency examination ordered by a Wayne
County judge.
Attitude delayed parole
Green was repeatedly denied parole over the 1991 murder because he
showed little remorse and blamed his victim for his
actions, his prison records show.
“(He) still can’t explain his murderous rage. Oddly, he did not
utter a word of empathy or remorse,” officials wrote in a
report dated Dec. 8, 2006. “Considering the brutality of the fatal
crime, (Green) needs to enhance insight, empathy and
remorse.”
The parole board made an about-face two years later and released
Green.
“Reasonable assurance exists that the prisoner will not become a
menace to society or to the public safety,” parole board
officials wrote in a report dated Feb. 8, 2008. The documents
listed Green’s projected release date as April 29, 2008.
“Accepts it as indicated,” officials wrote about Green’s view of
his criminal past.
Officials in the 2008 report detailed terms of Green’s release,
including abstaining from alcohol and abiding by a
curfew. It is noted his crime was not sexual in nature and Green
recognized the “value of good behavior.”
Green had completed a number of educational and psychological
programs, the details of which were redacted from records
obtained by The Detroit News through a Freedom of Information Act
request.
Missing from that 2008 report were any apparent references to the
parole board’s previous reports on a murderer lacking
remorse and empathy, including this earlier statement:
“During the parole board interview, (Green) demonstrated little
emotion or remorse over this horrendous crime,” officials
wrote in a report dated Jan. 26, 2004. “The murder involved his
wife, who was pregnant with (his) child. (Green) is
unable to give background as to where his temper and violence
developed from.”
By the end of 2004, Green also was openly blaming his victim for
her death, records show.
“Despite completion of recommended therapy, (Green) has not gained
adequate insight,” officials wrote in a report dated
Dec. 27, 2004. “(He) explains his conduct as arising out of the
(victim’s) mistreatment of him.”
By late 2006, Green was reported by the parole board to have
“gained some insight” into his crime but blamed his actions
“on past immaturity,” according to the document.
The parole board’s comments include frequently used words commonly
found in parole denials, according to Natalie
Holbrooke, program director with the prisoner advocate
organization American Friends Service Committee.
“If (the parole board members) depart from the (sentencing)
guideline, they have to provide substantial and compelling
reasons,” Holbrooke said. “You will see (that language) in a lot
of parole continuances. It’s the language that’s used.”
Parole boards set to release prisoners are not required in their
decisions to detail whether inmates have shown remorse,
empathy or any sorrow for their crimes, she said.
“It’s not required by the statue” to provide reasoning for
release, she said.
“If anything, this is a good reason for parole interviews to be
recorded,” said Holbrooke, noting such documentations are
not done in Michigan. “Maybe (Green) did indeed develop some
empathy and remorse. We don’t know.”
Green was released in 2008 because a parole board “determined he
had accepted what happened,” the corrections
department’s Kramer said.
“He had family and community support. Those are the kinds of
things our board looks at when deciding whether to parole
someone.”
Supervision had ended
Kramer pointed out the new allegations against Green surfaced more
than six years after he was released from probation in
2010.
“This incident, while tragic, happened years after he was
discharged from our supervision,” Kramer said. “Our parole
board works hard to review the facts and information they have at
the time to determine whether they have reasonable
assurance that a prisoner wont re-offend ... and to make sure they
make the most informed and responsible decision.
“It can still be very difficult to predict a person’s future
behavior. Especially through a person’s lifetime.”
Information available to the 2008 parole board included Green’s
model inmate behavior and glowing letters of support from
family — both from his conviction and his previous attempts at
parole.
Prison officials reported Green “follows the rules and keeps his
area clean.” He interacted well with other inmates,
receiving just one write-up over a fist fight with another man
about the use of a television.
Letters to the parole board also showed support for Green. There
were no letters written from 2004 to 2008 opposing his
release, according to corrections officials.
“We believe Gregory is very sorry for what he did and has gained
insight into his behaviors,” the man’s parents, Woodrow
and Tommie Lee Green, wrote in a letter dated Nov. 22, 2006. “He
has worked hard in prison and he continues to make a
positive adjustment.”
The couple indicated in their letter their son would be welcome
into their home upon release.
A sister of Green’s told the parole board about her brother’s
apparent turn toward faith.
“Over the years, Greg has become closer to the Lord and reads his
word daily,” Dedra Borders wrote on Nov. 22, 2006. “I
believe this is what has helped Greg through this difficult and
trying time.”
Staff writers Jennifer Chambers and Candice Williams contributed.
Prosecutors: Mom forced to watch slaying of
2 kids
By Holly Fournier and Oralandar Brand-Williams
- The Detroit News
September 22, 2016
Green allegedly called 911 around 1:15 a.m.
Wednesday and waited for police in the driveway of his home on the
4400 block of Hipp in Dearborn Heights. Inside the home,
investigators discovered 39-year-old Faith Green in the basement,
bound with duct tape and zip ties.
“It is alleged that Green bound his wife, cut
her face with a box cutter and shot her foot and then shot the two
older children in front of her,” prosecuting officials said. “Mrs.
Green was taken to a local hospital for treatment.”
Dearborn Heights Police Captain Michael Petri
said there is no record of previous domestic runs to the Green
home or “any knowledge” about the wife filing a personal
protection order against her husband.
Faith Green had filed a PPO in Wayne County
Circuit Court against her husband in February 2013, but it was
rejected by Judge Deborah Ross Adams on the basis that there was
“insufficient allegations for a PPO at this time.” Efforts to
reach the judge, who was removed from office in June 2013 for
judicial misconduct involving her own divorce case, were
unsuccessful Thursday.
Faith Green said in her filing that she had not
filed a complaint with the Dearborn Heights Police Department but
“I plan to file a report after work.” She also wrote: “I didn’t
want to leave my house and not be able to get back in.”
There is no indication in the protection order
request that Green had been imprisoned for killing his first wife.
Local attorney Arnold Reed said it is the
responsibility of the individual seeking a PPO to provide the
evidence against the person from whom they are seeking protection.
Judges do not order an investigation of the person who the PPO is
filed against.
Reed also suggested that if the judge had known
Green’s past criminal record it would have had an impact on her
decision.
Petri said after the court hearing Thursday
that what Green is accused of doing defies logic.
“As a father of three children ... the thought
that you could do something like that to your own children has no
correlation to any reason in my mind,” Petri said. “You’re angry.
... You’re just in disbelief but that has no relevance in our
investigation.”
The suspect’s stepchildren, identified by
prosecutors as Chadney Allen, 19, and Kara Allen, 17, each had
multiple gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene.
Their deaths have been ruled homicides by the Wayne County Medical
Examiner.
Duct tape was found on the muffler of a car in
the garage with a tube attached to a car in the garage, according
to officials. Police later found Green’s younger daughters, Koi
Green, 5, and Kaliegh Green, 4, in an “upper portion of the home.”
“It is alleged that Green poisoned the two
younger children with carbon monoxide,” officials said. “The
children were taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.”
A GoFundMe page was set up Thursday to raise
$50,000 to help the family bury the children. A message attributed
to the family read: “Words cannot describe the horrific tragedy
our family is experiencing over the untimely deaths of Chadney,
Kara, Koi, and Kaleigh. There is no way that a mother could fathom
laying to rest one child, let alone all four of her children at
once without life insurance.”
Meanwhile, the string of charges came more than
two decades after Green was imprisoned for killing his previous,
then-pregnant wife, according to the Michigan Department of
Corrections.
In that case, Green also called police after he
fatally stabbed Tonya Green, who was six months pregnant. The
attack also killed the unborn child.
Green pleaded no contest to second-degree
murder and was sentenced to 15-25 years in prison. He was released
in 2008 after 16 years in prison and after his fifth attempt at
parole.
No letters of opposition to his parole were
filed before Green was released from prison, Gautz told The
Associated Press. Had Green not won parole in 2008, he likely
would have been releases from prison in 2012 because of credits
for good behavior, he said.
Green married Faith Green about two years after
his prison release in 2010, records show. The two were embroiled
in a divorce, filed by Faith Green on Oct. 11, 2013, and again
this past Aug. 11.
Thursday, a memorial of candles, stuffed
animals and balloons graced the one-story home in the 4400 block
of Hipp near Pelham and Annapolis in Dearborn Heights. Neighbors
looked sadly as passersby drove past the house.
Jim Goudie, a longtime resident of the area,
left a small stuffed animal as he expressed his sadness: “This is
the worst thing that has ever happened here.”
Dad linked to slayings killed pregnant wife
in ’91
By James David Dickson , Holly Fournier and
Christine Ferretti - The Detroit News
Sept. 21, 2016
Dearborn Heights — A man suspected in a
quadruple slaying of his family Wednesday spent 16 years in prison
for killing his previous, then-pregnant wife and unborn child,
according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Gregory Green, 49, reportedly called 911 around
1 a.m. Wednesday and told officials he had harmed his family in
their home on the 4400 block of Hipp.
Inside, authorities found the bodies of Green’s
4-year-old and 5-year-old daughters, who were asphyxiated with
carbon monoxide. Green’s stepchildren, a 17-year-old girl and a
19-year-old man, were found bound and shot in the home’s basement.
Their 39-year-old mother — and his current wife — Faith Green was
discovered severely injured.
Wednesday’s 911 call echoes one made by Green
in 1991 after he fatally stabbed his then-wife, Tonya Green, who
was six months pregnant at the time, also killing their unborn
child.
“He stabbed his wife and then he called
police,” Corrections spokesman Chris Gautz said of the 1991 case.
“When the police arrived, he let them in and told them what he had
done.”
Green pleaded no contest to second-degree
murder and was sent to prison in 1992 with a 15-25 year sentence,
Gautz said. He was paroled in 2008.
While in prison, Green completed cognitive
programming and had one “ticket” for fighting over the use of a
television, Gautz said. In denying Green’s previous four requests
for parole, the board noted he “demonstrated little emotion or
remorse ... (and had) a lack of empathy,” Gautz said.
Tonya Green had two other children, 5 and 8
years old, Gautz said. It is not clear if they were at home at the
time of the 1991 killings or if they were harmed. There were no
charges filed related to those children.
About two years after Gregory Green was
released from prison, he married Faith Green on Dec. 18, 2010.
Public records show the couple were involved in a divorce, which
was filed by Faith Green on Oct. 11, 2013, and again on Aug. 11,
2016. Records further show Gregory Green was the subject of a
rejected personal protection order filed by Faith Green in
February 2013.
Victims identified
The Wayne County Medical Examiner identified
the young children killed Wednesday as Koi Green, 5, and Kaliegh
Green, 4, and ruled their deaths as homicide. The cause of death
is pending for both children. The 17-year-old girl and a
19-year-old man were not formally identified Wednesday.
The suspect’s wife, Faith Green, is mother to
all four victims, police said. The older two were from a previous
relationship.
Faith Green was slashed in the face and shot in
the foot, police said. She was found in the basement alongside her
older children and was taken to Oakwood Hospital, where she was
listed in fair condition Wednesday, according to a hospital
spokesperson.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Wayne County
Prosecutor’s Office received a warrant request from police, and
officials were reviewing it for a charging decision, according to
spokeswoman Maria Miller.
Friends and classmates of the older children,
meanwhile, flooded Twitter and other social media sites with
pictures of the siblings, expressing shock and grief over their
deaths.
The Southfield Times student newspaper
identified the older victims as Kara Allen and Chadney J. Allen.
Kara Allen, a Southfield high school student,
was a member of the student newspaper and a varsity football
cheerleader as well as a member of the National Honor Society, the
newspaper reported Wednesday. She dreamed of becoming a medical
doctor.
Chadney J. Allen graduated from Southfield High
School last year.
Protection order denied
In her 2013 divorce filing, Faith Green cited a
“breakdown of the marital relationship” as the cause for seeking a
divorce.
Before filing for divorce, Green applied on
Feb. 22, 2013, for — but was denied — a personal protection order
against her husband, according to court records. In the request,
Green wrote that her husband was threatening that “things are
going to get ugly” if she didn’t leave the home.
“(He) jumped at me like he was going to
attack,” she wrote. “This went on for hours.”
The complaint also claimed Gregory Green was
belligerent and “kicking things” the day before the filing.
“He kicked the couch while the baby was
sleeping on it,” she wrote.
In the protection request, Faith Green
indicated she did not contact police but had intended to go to the
station to file a formal report that day after work.
“I didn’t want to leave my house and not be
able to get back in,” she explained.
The court denied the request without a hearing
based on “insufficient allegations for a PPO at this time.”
Birthday decorations up
Police arrested the suspect outside the home
without incident Wednesday, Lt. Michael Krause said, and then
found the victims inside.
Police believe the younger children were
asphyxiated in a car, then taken back inside the home and placed
in their beds.
Michigan State Police evidence technicians
processed evidence at the scene, where birthday decorations hung
inside a covered driveway.
“They just had a birthday party for the little
4-year-old girl,” neighbor Ronnie Jones said. “And they had two or
three picnics with their whole family this summer.”
Jones, 59, who has lived in his home across the
street his entire life, said the family moved in a couple of years
ago and mostly kept to themselves.
“I just saw the oldest boy out cutting the
grass yesterday,” he said.
Mayor Dan Paletko called the homicides
“devastating for the community” he’s been affiliated with for more
than 40 years. Paletko said he’s never seen a tragedy of this
nature in his time in the bedroom community.
He called the home “very well-kept” and said it
had no ordinance violations. Its occupants had no known conflicts
with neighbors, he said.
“It’s difficult to understand the motivation,”
Paletko said.
Dearborn Heights has had “seven or eight”
homicides for the year, Capt. Michael Petri said.
The headquarters of Dearborn Heights School
District 7 sits at the end of Hipp, on Annapolis. Three of the
four victims attended district schools in recent years, assistant
superintendent Dan Scott said.
Scott, 65, formerly the principal of
down-the-road Annapolis High School, fought back tears as he
discussed a tragedy he called unprecedented in his more than two
decades in the district.
“It’s very difficult to imagine how something
like this could happen to children in this district, or children
anywhere,” Scott said in his office. “This is very sad for all of
us.”
After receiving notification from the police
department about what happened, the district reviewed its
enrollment records and found that the 19-year-old had attended the
high school in 2013, the 17-year-old had attended it for a
trimester last year, and the 6-year-old was in the district last
year as well.
Some students in District 7 were the victims’
friends and acquaintances, Scott said.
The district is raising money to cover funeral
expenses, Scott said. Donations will be accepted through Sept. 30,
and anyone interested in donating can call (313) 203-1000 or stop
by district offices.
Staff Writers Oralandar Brand-Williams and
Nicquel Terry contributed.