"BEHEADED BOYFRIEND'S SON TESTIFIES AGAINST WIFE, BAD BOYFRIEND AWAITS SENTENCING"

0:03 Callarogus Shark Media. Good morning. I'm read Carter. Wednesday, November twelfth, twenty twenty five. Las Vegas. Devon Michaels on trial for beheading her ex boyfriend Jonathan Willette. Prosecutors say she wanted a future with Willette's son, her husband Devier, so she killed the father. The son testified against her yesterday. Defense says he's lying, says he killed his own father. Wisconsin. Matthew Paul sentenced yesterday to mandatory life for strangling girlfriend Stephanie Pavlon's with her own purse. Strap, dumped her in the woods, searched her obituary three days after killing her.

0:47 I'm red Carter today. Love triangles dead boyfriends, family members testifying to save themselves. This is celebrity trials. Let's start in Las Vegas, State of Nevada versus Devon Jade Michaels. Jonathan Willette, forty six, found dead August seventh, twenty twenty three, in his Henderson home, headless, chemical burns across his torso bedroom reeking of Ammonia. The defendant, Devon Michaels, forty seven, former adult film actress, mother of Willette's two daughters, his ex girlfriend now married to his adult son. Make it make sense, Here's the family tree. Jonathan and Devon had two daughters together. After they split, Michael started a relationship with Jonathan's son from another relationship, Devier Willette. Deviere was nineteen.

1:40 They married in November twenty twenty one. August twenty twenty three, Jonathan decided to move in with Michaels and their daughters co parent keep the family together. Devier was living there too, one house, the ex, their kids, and the son turned husband. August seventh, early morning, Jonathan's mother woke around eight am, couldn't find him, walked to his bedroom, body across the bed, no head, chemical smell, burning her lungs, Bottles of ammonia and bleach in the hallway. Henderson Police responded. Detective Forest Shields arrived, body positioned across bed. Decapitation evident, minimal blood spatter, death occurred before dismemberment. Chemical burns across the front of the body, diamond weave pattern on the burns matching the mattress.

2:29 Superficial insized wounds parallel to the main neck wound. Someone tried multiple times before succeeding medical examiner, doctor Stephanie Yagi, received the headless body August eighth. Body measured sixty eight inches weighed one hundred sixty nine pounds, would have been approximately ten pounds heavier with the head. Decapitation occurred post mortem after death. Cause of death homicidal violence, No anatomic or toxicological cause determined. Couldn't identify what killed him because the head was gone. Leasse Canvass the neighborhood gathered surveillance footage showing the victim's white Chevy truck and Michael's Nissan Armada near the scene before and after the killing. Timeline established.

3:10 Jonathan was alive the night of August sixth, dead by morning of August seventh. Police went to Devon Michaels's Las Vegas home to confront her. Detective Carrie Skinner testified Monday that as they arrived, she noticed a cell phone in the driveway appeared to have blood on it. She didn't retrieve it immediately didn't want to contaminate evidence. Went inside to interview Michael's Moments into the interview, one of Michaels's young daughters ran up holding the phone, said to her mother, Mommy, here's daddy's cell phone. This is why he didn't answer. Michaels had a physical reaction when the child picked up the phone, then offered it to police, saying this should help you. Blood and phone both confirmed to belong to Jonathan Willette. Analysis of the phone's data revealed that Michael placed several calls to Wilette after his death, trying to make it look like he was alive, like she was trying to reach him. Michaels gave multiple police interviews, initially denied everything, later admitted hitting Jonathan over the head with a stick while he was lying on his stomach receiving a massage. Said he went limp, said she left and he was breathing. Saw no blood, Denied decapitation, Denied using ammonia to clean, denied hiding his head, but prosecutors say she did acknowledge disposing of the weapon and Willette's head.

4:32 Drove them to her Las Vegas home, threw the head in the trash. Garbage service picked it up days later. Now it's in a landfill somewhere, never recovered. September twenty twenty four, Michaels pleaded guilty to second degree murder plea deal fifteen years with parole eligibility, but at sentencing in July twenty twenty five, she changed her mind, apologized to Willette's family, then immediately said she was innocent, started crying, having an outburst. Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani suggested the case go to trial. Judge Tierra Jones agreed Michael's plea withdrawn, now facing first degree murder, life in prison.

5:14 November fifth, trial began. Prosecutor John Giordani told jurors this was about motive. Michaels wanted a future with Devier and their daughters. The only obstacle was Jonathan moving back in would disrupt everything, so she killed him. This is the future that she saw and that she wanted, and the only way to have that future was with John out of the picture. Defense attorney Robert Draskovich told jurors buckle up. Oftentimes in the intricacies and complications of human relations, things get unsafe, things are immoral. His theory wrong person on trial.

5:56 Davier Wilette killed his father, had motives about to lose his home, lose Devon, lose everything, had opportunity. Was there that night had technical skills as a home security installer to avoid leaving digital traces. Defense claims Devier owned the tools needed to remove the head power saw that could cut through bone, look at the motivations and find her not guilty. Last Thursday, November sixth, Devier Willette took the stand, twenty nine years old, victim's son, defendant's husband, star witness for both sides. Prosecution asked him directly, did you kill your father? No, Sir Davier testified he was nineteen when he started an intimate relationship with Michael's while she was still dating his father. After Michaels and Jonathan split, Davier moved in with her, married her November twenty twenty one.

6:53 August sixth, twenty twenty three, night of the murder, Devier said he was home, texted Michaels around ten thirty PM, told her he'd put her daughters to sleep and was going to bed. Never left the house again. Prosecutors played jailhouse phone calls between Michaels and Devierre while she was in custody, Michael's telling him they have no evidence, no murder weapon, They have absolutely nothing on me. But then defense attorney Draskovitch, cross examined confronted Devieres with contradictions. Originally told police his marriage to Michael's was one of convenience for insurance purposes, didn't sleep together, didn't share a bedroom. Now he's testifying they had a traditional marriage. Draskovitch showed wedding photos Michael's in white dress and Veil Devier in a suit, both wearing rings. Asked if they had a traditional marriage, Devier said, yes. You're getting more truthful concerning the nature of your relationship with Devon, the further it gets away from you having been charged with the murder, Draskovich said. Deviere also claimed he didn't know his father was moving in, learned about it from police, but Draskovitch noted Devieer told police he saw his father in the garage moving things in and avoided talking to him, which is it didn't know about the move or saw him moving in. You agree with me that you lie under oath if it fits you, Draskovitch asked, after reading a news article pointing to Michaels as the suspect, deVie broke

8:24 up with his wife in a jail call, moved back to California, they're still married. Devier testified he hopes to get a divorce after the trial ends. Here's the prosecution's case. Michaels killed Jonathan because he was in the way she wanted Devier wanted their life together with the daughters. Jonathan moving back in ruined that plan, so she bludgeoned him, decapitated him, disposed of his head, poured chemicals on his body to destroy evidence, made calls from his phone to establish he was alive. Here's the defense's case. Devier killed his father out of jealousy and about to lose everything, had the tools, had the opportunity, blamed Michaels to save himself.

9:06 Initially lied to police about his marriage because he was hiding his involvement. Both have motive. Michaels wanted Jonathan out of the way so she could have her future with Devier. Devier wanted his father out of the way so he wouldn't lose Devon in his home. But here's what points to Michael's her admissions. The phone found in her driveway covered in Jonathan's blood, her daughter bringing the phone to her during the police interview, The calls she made from Jonathan's phone after his death, the fact that she pleaded guilty in twenty twenty four then recanted it sentencing. If you're innocent, why plead guilty? Why agree to fifteen years in prison? Then at the last minute claim innocence. That's consciousness of guilt. That's someone who thought they'd get away with a lighter sentence than panicked when reality set in.

9:54 The trial continues, expected to last several more weeks, forensic evidence, sell phone data, more witnesses than closing arguments, Then the jury deliberates. Jonathan Willette was forty six years old, father of Davier from a previous relationship, father of two daughters with Devon Michaels, trying to co parent, trying to be present in his daughter's lives, sleeping in his childhood bedroom at his mother's house when someone bludgeoned him and cut off his head. He should be forty eight today, should be watching his daughters grow up, should be alive. Instead, his head is in a landfill somewhere in Las Vegas. His son testified against his ex girlfriend. His family sits in court every day watching this circus unfold. Make it make sense. We'll be right back with yesterday's sentencing. In Wisconsin, Matthew Paul gets mandatory life in prison for killing his girlfriend and dumping her body in the woods. Searched for her obituary three days after he murdered her. Welcome back to celebrity trials, I'm reed Carter. Yesterday. In Waukeshaw County, Wisconsin, Matthew Paul was sentenced to mandatory life in prison for murdering his girlfriend, Stephanie Pavlon's August twenty third, twenty twenty two, Waukeshaw, Wisconsin.

11:22 Matthew Paul, fifty five years old at the time, lived in an apartment with his girlfriend, Stephanie Pavlon's, forty four. They'd been in an on again, off again relationship for twenty years, had an adult daughter together. Pavelon's had no car, no friends outside the relationship, very private person. Her mother suspected domestic abuse, said Paul knocked her around that morning. Surveillance cameras at their apartment building captured Stephanie leaving at eight thirty nine am, wearing her usual outfit, carrying a large pink water bottle and black purse. Paul left one minute later at eleven fourteen am. Paul returned carrying Stephanie's large pink water bottle, also carrying a blue folder, black cell phone clipped to his shorts, unknown items in his pockets.

12:13 At twelve twenty pm, Paul left again, wearing a different shirt, empty handed. At twelve twenty nine pm, Paul returned carrying a plastic shopping bag. Inside the bag Stephanie's black purse. The same metal links and chains from her purse visible through the plastic. Stephanie was never seen on camera again. Paul didn't report her missing, not that day, not the next day, not the next week, told nobody she was gone, just went about his life. September ninth, twenty twenty two, seventeen days after Stephanie disappeared, construction workers were posting no trespassing signs in a wooded area golf road in Delafield, Wisconsin, near the Orthopedic Associates of Wisconsin Clinic. Smelled something foul.

13:07 Followed the smell found a body. Stephanie Pavlon's body an accelerated state of decomposition, been there for weeks. No id, no cell phone, no purse, no belongings, just a corpse decomposing in the woods. Autopsy couldn't determine cause of death too much decomposition, but they determined she'd been dead since August twenty third, the day she disappeared. September seventeenth, twenty twenty two, police arrested Matthew Paul interviewed him. He said he hadn't seen Stephanie in weeks, said he was feeling sick to his stomach and had a bad feeling. Claimed Stephanie was threatening suicide all of the time and that really got to him. At one point during the interview, Paul said, I have nothing to do with what happened to her. So that purse, that purse and water bottle ain't shit. Okay, it's not going to prove anything. It's not going to prove or disprove anything. Interesting. Why mention the person water bottle specifically, Why say they won't prove anything, because he knew they were the key evidence linking him to her disappearance. Police searched Paul's apartment, found Stephanie's daily planner, entries describing physical and emotional abuse, pictures documenting injuries, black eye, blown ear, drum, entries saying she was scared to death of him, feared she'd end up six feet under. She was right. Police analyzed Paul's computer. He began searching for Stephanie's obituary on August twenty sixth, three days after he

14:41 killed her, fifteen days before her body was found. Searched local obituaries, read online articles about the investigation, monitoring news coverage to see if police were on to him. Also found Skype records. Paul had online sexual relationships with two women in the Filmlippines accounts named Meijin and Beautiful. Disaster. Messages were explicitly sexual. Paul talked about moving to the Philippines building a new life there, never mentioned he had a girlfriend, never mentioned she'd just gone missing. Nothing says concern like sexting strangers. Cell phone records were devastating. Both Paul's and Stephanie's phones pinged at the orthopedic clinic on Golf Road where her body was eventually found. Both phones pinged there around the same time August twenty third. Then Paul's phone returned to the apartment. Stephanie's didn't. After her death, her voicemails were being checked multiple times. Someone was accessing her accounts, making it look like she was alive. Creating the appearance she'd run away. Paul also deleted nearly one thousand text messages from his phone, trying to cover his tracks.

15:56 September twenty twenty three, Paul was formally charged, arged first degree intentional homicide hiding a corpse, faced life in prison if convicted. Defense tried to get the case thrown out, argued, nobody knows how Stephanie died. No cause of death means no proof of homicide. Maybe she had a seizure, she had epilepsy. Maybe she died of natural causes and Paul just panicked and hid the body. Judge said no, enough circumstantial evidence to proceed to trial. October twenty seventh, twenty twenty five, trial began. Waukeshaw County Circuit Court prosecutor Christy Gordon and Sue Opper for the state. Defense attorney Peter Wolf for Paul. Gordon admitted during opening statements, this case is absolutely circumstantial but overwhelming. No DNA evidence linking Paul to the murder, no weapon, no blood in his truck, no definitive cause of death, no eye witnesses. Just a mountain of circumstantial evidence pointing to one conclusion, Matthew Paul killed Stephanie. Pavlon's prosecution's theory. Stephanie told Paul she was leaving him, had plans to break up. Paul couldn't accept it, couldn't let her have control. He couldn't let her walk away.

17:22 Only he gets to decide when this relationship is done, and in the ultimate act of control, he takes her life from her. Used the strap of her own purse to strangle her, then drove her body to the woods near the orthopedic clinic where he had an appointment that morning, dumped her body, returned home with her belongings, staged it to look like she'd left voluntarily. Evidence video showing him leaving with her, returning with her water bottle and purse, cell phone records placing both of them at the dump site, His searches for her obituary days before her body was found, his online relationships with women in the Philippines, planning a few without Stephanie, his failure to report her missing, his lies to police, her journal entries documenting abuse and fear.

18:08 Defense's theory Stephanie was suicidal. Maybe she died of natural causes, a seizure. Paul didn't kill her, but panicked and hid her body because he thought he'd be blamed. The searches for her obituary, the sexting other women, the deleted messages. All bad behavior, yes, but bad behavior doesn't equal murder. Matthew Paul was private. Matthew Paul was clearly paranoid. Matthew was at times less than kind, perhaps much less than kind with women, in particular Stephanie Pavlon's. But being a bad boyfriend does not make him a murderer. Trial lasted six days, testimony from more than two dozen witnesses. November fourth, twenty twenty five, closing arguments, Gordon told the jury Paul thought he was the smartest guy in the room, thinking he'd covered his tracks. He thinks he's covering his trail, but he didn't know that. We would know. We could look through her phone find things he deleted. We're smarter than him. Jury deliberated eighty five minutes verdict guilty on all charges, first degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse. Paul shook his head slightly, held his hands to his chin, showed almost no emotion as Judge Ramirez read the verdicts.

19:32 Waukeshaw County District Attorney Leslie Bowies released a statement. Justice has been served in the tragic and senseless murder of Stephanie Pavlon's. The jury's swift verdict, reached in just over an hour, reflects the strength and clarity of the evidence presented. We are grateful for their service and hope the decision brings a measure of peace and closure to Stephanie's loved ones. November eleventh, twenty twenty five, yesterday, sentencing in Wisconsin, first degree intentional homicide carries a mandatory life sentence, no discretion, no possibility of parole. Judge Ramirez sentenced Matthew Paul to life in prison, mandatory, no chance of ever being released.

20:19 Paul will die in prison fifty seven years old. Now we'll spend the rest of his life in a cell, all because he couldn't let his girlfriend leave. Stephanie Pavlon's was forty four years old, mother, daughter, sister, epileptic who struggled with seizures but was doing well. Last saw her neurologist in May twenty twenty two. Doctor said she seemed upbeat, no indication of suicidal thoughts. Hadn't had a seizure in over a year. She was quiet, private, isolated in a relationship that her family knew was abusive. Her mother told police Paul knocked her around. Stephanie's own journal documented black eyes, blown ear drums, fear for her life, but she stayed for twenty years, on and off. They had a daughter together.

21:08 She kept trying to make it work until August twenty third, twenty twenty two, when she decided enough was enough, when she told Paul she was leaving. When he decided that if he couldn't have her, nobody could. Stephanie should be forty seven years old today, should be raising her adult daughter, should be living in her own apartment, free from abuse, should be managing her epilepsy and living her life. Instead, construction workers found her rotting in the woods, seventeen days of decomposition, no id, no belongings, dumped like garbage by the man who claimed to love her. Matthew Paul returned to their apartment with her pink water bottle and black purse, proof he'd been with her, proof he'd killed her. Then he googled her obituary, sexted women in the Philippines, planned his new life and never once reported her missing your tax dollars at work. The criminal justice system worked here, slowly, took over two years from arrest to trial, but it worked.

22:11 Paul convicted, sentenced to life. Will never hurt another woman again. Make it make sense. Twenty years together, an adult daughter, a shared life, and it ends with him strangling her with her own purse strap, dumping her in the woods, and googling her obituary three days later. Some people are just evil. Some people can't be rehabilitated. Matthew Paul is one of them. That's celebrity trials for Wednesday, November twelfth, twenty twenty five. Devon Michael's trial continues. Prosecutors say she beheaded her ex for his son. Defense says the sun did it. Victim's bloody phone found at her house. His head's in a landfill. Matthew Paul, sentenced yesterday to life.

22:56 Killed Stephanie Pavlon's strangled her with her purse strap, googled her obituary three days later. Jury took eighty five minutes. Jonathan Willette forty six, Stephanie Pavlin's forty four should be alive. Someone has to say their names. I'm reed Carter tomorrow, whatever fresh hell breaks overnight, this is celebrity trials,