Gregory Green

Case record: Gregory Green

Background

Gregory Green stabbed his wife in the face and chest, killing her and their unborn child. He then called 911 and waited for police to come.

The offence

Gregory Green later killed his family in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. 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. Her foot had been shot and her face slashed with a box cutter. Prosecutors said she watched her teenage children die.

Prosecutors said Green shot his two older children—his stepchildren—who were in the home. Green also poisoned his two younger children with carbon monoxide. 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 called 911 and waited for police to come, telling officers that he had just shot his family and that they were inside the house, authorities said.

The victims included Koi Green, 5, and Kaleigh Green, 4, and stepchildren Kara Allen, 17, and Chadney Allen, 19.

Investigation

Authorities said investigators discovered Harris-Green in the basement bound with tape and zip ties.

Officials said Kara Allen and Chadney Allen had been shot with multiple gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene. Their deaths were ruled homicides by the Wayne County Medical Examiner.

Officials said duct tape was found on the muffler of a car in the garage with a tube attached to a car in the garage. Police later found Green’s younger daughters, Koi Green, 5, and Kaliegh Green, 4, in an “upper portion of the home,” and officials said Green poisoned the two younger children with carbon monoxide. The children were taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

Police administered CPR before the children were taken to hospital, but they did not survive, according to reporting.

Arrest

Green was arrested outside the home without incident, Lt. Michael Krause said, and police then found the victims inside.

Authorities said Green called 911 around 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.

Trial

Green received a competency exam in connection with a preliminary examination. An assistant Wayne County prosecutor said Green was found mentally competent and criminally responsible in the case.

Pleas and sentencing

Green pleaded guilty in 1992. He was sentenced to 15-25 years in prison.

After the Sept. 21, 2016 killings, Green pleaded guilty in 2017. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, torture and assault with intent to do great bodily harm, and to felony firearm.

In the sentencing hearing, Wayne County Court Judge Dana Hathaway sentenced Green to spend 47-102 years in prison, with parole eligibility when he would be 97 years old.

Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Trisha Gerard said Green planned the killings while shopping at Home Depot a week before. Prosecutors said at Home Depot he bought piping to alter the exhaust system of the vehicle used to poison the younger girls with carbon monoxide.

Counts of unlawful imprisonment, felon in possession of a firearm and felonious assault were dropped at the sentencing hearing as part of Green’s guilty plea, according to reporting.

During sentencing, Faith Harris-Green spoke to Green behind a podium in a Wayne County courtroom. She said:

“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.

She said, “No punishment will be enough for her children’s deaths.” She added:

“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.”

She also told Green:

“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.”

During his sentencing statement, Green said:

“I feel bad for how this has deeply impacted everyone, and may God help them, help me.”

Before sentencing, Green said:

“It’s in God’s hands. Only (God) can judge,”

“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.”

Green previously 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. Green also pleaded guilty to torture and assault with intent to do great bodily harm in the attack on Harris-Green, and pleaded guilty to felony firearm.

Green’s guilty-plea statements included:

“Unfortunately, I took the lives of Kaleigh, Koi, Chadney (and) Kara,”

“I shot my ex-wife. I left my two girls in the car … (which was filled with carbon monoxide). Kara and Chadney... I shot them.”

During the attack case, he referred to his “ex-wife” during his plea.

Prior convictions and incarceration

Green served 16 years in prison for the 1991 stabbing death of his first wife, Tonya. She had been pregnant. Green pleaded insanity defense in that case and was ordered for mental examination. In 1991, he called 911 and showed detectives where to find the murder weapon, stashed in a refrigerator.

Green pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 1992 and was sentenced to 15-25 years in prison. Corrections officials said he was denied parole four times—twice in 2004 and twice in 2006—before being granted release in 2008.

Reports also stated he was released in 2008. Chris Gautz said he was denied parole four times, twice in 2004 and twice in 2006, before release in 2008. Another account said he was denied parole four times and was released in 2008 after 16 years in prison, with a note that if parole had not been granted he would have been released in 2012 because of credits.

Parole decisions included findings described in a parole eligibility report that he was respectful to staff and other prisoners, and that he had no minor conducts to report. A ticket in 2002 was described as involving a fistfight over a television.

Green’s parole eligibility report included:

“Excellent, good block reports, good past work history,”

and another report read:

“He is respectful to staff and other prisoners. No minor conducts to report,”

Green’s parole eligibility included projected release date as April 29, 2008 in one report. Another parole report stated:

“Reasonable assurance exists that the prisoner will not become a menace to society or to the public safety,”

In a report dated Dec. 8, 2006, officials wrote:

“(He) still can’t explain his murderous rage. Oddly, he did not utter a word of empathy or remorse,”

“Considering the brutality of the fatal crime, (Green) needs to enhance insight, empathy and remorse.”

In a report dated Feb. 8, 2008, officials wrote about release with “Reasonable assurance exists.”

Earlier language quoted about parole denials included:

“During the parole board interview, (Green) demonstrated little emotion or remorse over this horrendous crime,”

and:

“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.”

Another report stated:

“Despite completion of recommended therapy, (Green) has not gained adequate insight,”

and:

“(He) explains his conduct as arising out of the (victim’s) mistreatment of him.”

A later report said:

“gained some insight”

and that he blamed his actions “on past immaturity.”

Green also had plans for work once released, and he had completed educational programs in prison, according to Gautz.

Appeals

No appeals were described in the provided material.

Outcome

Green was sentenced to 47-102 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2017.

He was in prison at the time of the sentencing hearing.

Aftermath

Faith Harris-Green was granted a divorce in December, according to reporting. She was also described as having asked to not be contacted by the media.

After the killings, a letter written by Faith Green to her children was read during a service. The letter included:

“I know your love,”

“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. She described Kara as a go-getter, an honor student and a cheerleader, and described “Princess Koi” as loving to dress up and be the center of attention while her sister Kaleigh enjoyed ballet and singing.

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.”

Dearborn Heights Mayor Dan Paletko called the homicides “devastating for the community.” Paletko said he had never seen a tragedy of this nature in his time.

Jim Goudie left a stuffed animal and said:

“This is the worst thing that has ever happened here.”

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office described the case as a scene described by veteran law enforcement officers as the worst they had responded to in their careers.

Police believe the younger children were asphyxiated in a car, then taken back inside the home and placed in their beds.

Neighbors described the family as having recently had a birthday party for the little 4-year-old girl.

Timeline

• 1991 — Gregory Green stabbed his wife, Tonya, in the face and chest, killing her and their unborn child, then called 911 and waited for police to come.
• 1992 — Gregory Green pleaded guilty; he was sentenced to 15-25 years in prison.
• 2002 — Green received a ticket in prison for getting involved in a fistfight over a television.
• 2004 — Green was denied parole twice.
• 2005 — Fred Harris, a pastor in Detroit, wrote to the Michigan parole board supporting Green’s release; Harris wrote again the next year.
• 2006 — Green was denied parole twice.
• 2008 — Green was released on parole.
• 2010 — Green married Faith Green on Dec. 18, 2010.
• Dec. 18, 2010 — Gregory Green married Faith Green.
• 2013 — Faith Green applied for a personal protection order against Green on Feb. 22, 2013; the request was denied on the basis of “insufficient allegations for a PPO at this time.” Faith filed for divorce on Oct. 11, 2013.
• 2016 — Faith Harris-Green sought divorce again in August 2016.
• Sept. 21, 2016 — Faith Harris-Green was found bound with duct tape and zip ties in the basement; her foot was shot; her face was slashed; Green shot and poisoned the four children; Green called 911 around 1:15 a.m. and waited for police at the driveway of the home on the 4400 block of Hipp.
• 2017 — Gregory Green pleaded guilty; he was sentenced to 47-102 years in prison with parole eligibility when he would be 97 years old.
• December (year not specified) — Faith Green was granted a divorce from Gregory Green, according to reporting.
• August 2005 — Fred Harris wrote to the Michigan parole board supporting Green’s release; Harris wrote again a year later.

Other details

Gregory Green previously worked at Detroit Metro airport, according to reporting.

Gregory Green’s attorney was Charles Longstreet II, and he appeared before 20th District Court Judge David Turfe in Dearborn Heights.

Green was referred for a competency exam in October at his preliminary examination.

Authorities said 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.

Wayne County Court Judge Dana Hathaway stated Green’s case was “by far the worst” she’d seen as a judge. Hathaway said:

“Fathers are supposed to protect their children. Husbands are supposed to protect their wives,”

and:

“Your actions are inconceivable.”

Hathaway said that 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.

A quote from a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office stated that Faith Harris-Green asked to not be contacted by the media and was granted a divorce in December, according to media reports.

Dearborn Heights School District 7 reviewed 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.

The assistant superintendent Dan Scott said the tragedy was unprecedented in his more than two decades in the district and added:

“It’s very difficult to imagine how something like this could happen to children in this district, or children anywhere,”

“This is very sad for all of us.”

The district raised money to cover funeral expenses, with donations accepted through Sept. 30, and a telephone number was provided in the reporting.

In the protection order request, Faith Green wrote that her husband was threatening that “things are going to get ugly” if she didn’t leave the home, and she wrote:

“(He) jumped at me like he was going to attack,”

“This went on for hours.”

She also wrote:

“He kicked the couch while the baby was sleeping on it,”

and said in the protection request that she did not contact police but “I plan to file a report after work.” She explained:

“I didn’t want to leave my house and not be able to get back in.”