Seth Privacky

Overview

Seth Privacky (June 2, 1980 - July 15, 2010) was sentenced to life in prison without parole for shooting five people. He was shot and killed during a failed prison escape attempt at Kinross Correctional Facility in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on July 15, 2010.

Timeline

• November 29, 1998 — Seth Privacky shot his father, mother, grandfather, brother, and his brother’s girlfriend near Muskegon, Michigan; his confession was later described as taking place on November 30, 1998.
• November 30, 1998 — Police arrested Seth Privacky, age 18, and accused him of methodically shooting to death five people; he pleaded no contest to five counts of first-degree murder.
• May 7, 1999 — An 18-year-old boy from Muskegon, Michigan, pleaded no contest to shooting his family to death just before Thanksgiving dinner; he was to be sentenced to an automatic life term without parole.
• May 27, 1999 — Seth Privacky was sentenced to life in prison without parole for five counts of first-degree murder after pleading no contest.
• August 2007 — Seth Privacky was at Kinross Correctional Facility.
• February 2010 — Brian Davidson was transferred to Kinross Correctional Facility in February.
• April 2009 — Andrew Ross arrived at Kinross Correctional Facility in April 2009.
• November 1 — Wallace was acquitted by a jury.
• October 30, 2007 — Wallace, 27, was sentenced to prison for 28 months to 71/2 years for violating probation on a June 2007 felony conviction of receiving stolen property.
• June 2007 — Wallace had a felony conviction of receiving stolen property.
• July 15, 2010 — Seth Privacky was shot and killed during a failed prison escape attempt at Kinross Correctional Facility.

The offence

Seth Privacky was convicted of five counts of murder for the shooting of his parents, brother, brother’s girlfriend and his grandfather in Muskegon, Michigan on November 29, 1998.

Authorities said the shootings were stretched out across Sunday afternoon, with the victims probably shot one by one at the family’s home. The crime was discovered around midnight Sunday when the body of his father, an elementary school teacher, was found in his driveway.

Victims and relationships

Seth Privacky pleaded no contest to five counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of:

• John J. Privacky, 78
• Stephen C. Privacky, 50
• Linda Privacky, 49
• Jedediah J. Privacky, 19
• April A. Boss, 19

Investigation

Police said Privacky confessed to systematically shooting each victim point-blank in the head. In his confession, he described retrieving his father’s .22-caliber pistol, shooting his brother, shooting his father and his grandfather when they arrived, shooting his mother in the bathroom, and shooting his brother’s girlfriend in the kitchen.

Authorities said the shootings were triggered when his father asked him to move out.

The confession described preparations to make the scene look like a robbery. Privacky said he and Steven Wallace took sheets off the bodies, put the sheets in plastic bags, planned to burn them, and put them in the trunk of the car. Privacky said they planned to take the TV and VCR and stereo to make it look like somebody just robbed the place.

Arrest

On November 30, 1998, police arrested 18-year-old Seth Privacky and accused him along with a friend of methodically shooting to death five people: his father, mother, grandfather, brother and his brother’s girlfriend.

Confession transcript (verbatim)

The following is a transcript from the Dec. 1, 1998 confession of Seth Privacky to police after he murdered five people at his home at 1301 W. Riley Thompson. He gave his confession at 1:37 p.m. to Detective Sgt. Dennis Edwards, of the Muskegon County Sheriff’s Department.

Edwards: Okay. If you can start from, uh, just prior to the incident, what led up to the incident. If I have any questions, I'll stop you. Privacky : Okay. Me and my dad never really got along the last five or six years and we'd always argue, just stupid stuff. And my mom would take his side no matter what, she'd always take his side. It's just been getting worse the past six months ... when he talked to me, he just yelled at me. Never had anything positive to say to me. I used to be real close to my brother, we used to get along so well. In the past six months to a year he was beginning to take sides with my parents more. He used to tell me how bad I was doing in school, that I wasn't going to go anywhere in life. And then on Sunday, my parents told me that they didn't love me anymore. Edwards : Which one told you that they didn't love you anymore? Privacky : My father told me that he didn't love me anymore. Edwards : OK. Privacky : And that he wanted me to move out. He didn't want me to live there anymore. My mom and brother didn't say anything. Edwards : What happened then? Privacky : Out of anger and rage I went upstairs in my dad's closet and got his .22 caliber pistol and loaded the clip and went downstairs. And my dad had left. We was supposed to eat dinner at 1:30. This was about quarter after one. I came up behind my brother, he was sitting in the living room, and I shot him once in the back of the head and I dragged his body downstairs so no one would see it. And then my dad got home with my grandpa. I didn't know my grandpa was supposed to be here. But, when they got in the door, I shot them both in the back of the head. Edwards : Where were you at the time when they came in the door? Privacky : I was in the living room and I heard the car pull up so I knew they were coming in and ... Edward s: OK, did you hide somewhere when they came in the door? Privacky : No, I acted like I was just walking out the door and I had the gun behind my back and they were facing the opposite direction and I shot him in the back of the head. And then I shot my grandpa again because he wasn't dead yet. Edwards : I need you to speak up a little. Your voice is dropping a little bit. What happened after that? Privacky : Um, my mom was in the shower while this was taking place and then she had just gotten out of the shower and I went upstairs and I went in the bathroom and shot her in the back of the head. And then when I was coming back downstairs April came through the front door before I could stop her. And she saw my grandpa and dad. And she thought it was just a joke. She walked into the kitchen and I shot her in the back of the head. I didn't know she was going to come to dinner. Edwards : What happened after that? Privacky : Then I called Steve (Wallace) because I didn't know what to do. Edwards : What'd you tell Steve? Privacky: I told him I killed my family. And he was just in shock and I asked him to come over. Edwards : Speak up please. Privacky : I asked him to come over and he did. He came over like a half an hour later. I begged him to help me clean up. Edwards : Did he help you clean up? Privacky: At first he didn't want to, but I begged him and used our friendship against him. Edwards : Okay. And what did you do at the time? Privacky : I asked him to get rid of it for because he was leaving. After we cleaned up the bodies downstairs, we wrapped them up in sheets. He took as little involvement as he could ... Edwards : I can't understand you. He took as little involvement ... Privacky : ... as he could. He did, I did most of the work. He just ... Edwards : Um, why did you wrap the bodies in sheets? Privacky : Because I was gonna bury them. Edwards : Where were you going to bury them at? Privacky : I hadn't decided. Privacky : We wrapped the bodies up. We wrapped my grandpa, my dad, April in sheets and we dragged them outside in the workshop off the garage and left them there. Steve had to go, get back. He didn't tell his parents where he was going. He took the gun with him and I don't know where he threw it. He didn't tell me, I didn't want to know. Edwards : And then? Privacky : And then I cleaned up all the blood downstairs. Edwards : How'd you clean up the blood downstairs? Privacky : With towels and rags. Edwards : What'd you do with the rags and stuff? Privacky : Threw them in garbage bags and put 'em all in the workshop. Edwards : Okay. And then what happened? Privacky : And then I cleaned up the downstairs to make it look like nothing happened. At first glance. Edwards : Okay. And where was Steve while you were cleaning up downstairs? Privacky : He went back to his house. And he went to a church group, youth group meeting or something like that that night. And I asked him if he could come back after that and help me and he said he would. And we came back later that night. I left to go over to my friend's house, because I couldn't be there. And I picked him up at his girlfriend's house later that night after he got dropped off by his friends and we went back to my house. We cleaned up all the stuff. We couldn't get the bodies out. Edwards : Why not? Privacky : Too heavy. We couldn't lift them. Edwards : OK. Privacky : So we just decided to leave them where they lay and make it look like a robbery. Edwards : OK. What'd you do to make it look like a robbery? Privacky : We took all the sheets off them and put them in plastic bags, thinking I'd burn those, put them in the trunk of the car. And we were gonna take the TV and VCR and stereo and make it look like somebody just robbed the place. Edwards : What happened then? Privacky : Then we made every, bagged it up in the trunk. We noticed a car pull up, so I quick ran out and shut the trunk and ran back inside and we went out the slider door. And we were looking out through the back garage door just to see who it was. And I thought it was a cop so we both ran. We ran across to the empty lot next door and we waited for a couple of minutes and then I decided to go back and check to make sure it was a cop. And then I went back and it was. And I was making my way back, I was walking down the road to where Steve was at and there was a car coming down the road so I jumped in a ditch just to make sure it wasn't another cop and it was and I saw his sirens go off. About 15-20 yards before the spot where Steve was hiding, so I thought they saw him and I just ran back in the woods. I didn't know what to do. I ran back to the spot to where he was and I didn't see him anywhere so I went a little further ways back in the woods and I was looking for him and I couldn't find him. And then I just went back a little further and waited to see what was going to happen. I could see cop cars going up and down the road. And then I made my way across the creek. I was gonna circle around the house to see what was going on from the other neighbor's yard. And then I heard dogs and I knew they were search dogs and they were gonna start searching for us so I ran. I ran straight to Whitehall Road and across Duck Lake Road and down Duck Lake and then I turned on Gibson and then I could hear dogs following so I kept running and ran across the golf course and I circled back around and came back up on Duck Lake again. And then from there, I just made my way west, crossing over roads, criss-crossing my direction. I could always hear dogs and see lights and I would always avoid them and keep making my way west. And then I got to Weber Road and I couldn't hear any more dogs and I couldn't see any police cars so I thought I lost them. So I kept going north a couple of blocks and the around where Weber meets Riley-Thompson again I just laid down and tried to sleep under a pine tree. And then I woke up the next morning and I stayed there for a few hours and I thought that they weren't pursuing me anymore. So I was going to make my way back to Jason Fitz's house where I planned to commit suicide. But no one was home so I went in the back pole barn and waited for them to come home and the police found me and arrested me. Edwards : So, is there anything further that you would like to say? How do you feel about what you did? Privacky : I feel awful. I wished I'd never done it. It was all a mistake. I'd take it back a thousand times. When I ran, it wasn't to get away. In a way it was to get away so I could kill myself cause I couldn't live with myself for doing this to my family. Edwards : Did you buy any ammunition? Privacky : No. Edwards : Did you steal some ammunition? Privacky : No. Edwards : Why did you go to Meijer's to get ammunition? (Privacky was shown on surveillance tape at the Meijer's in north Muskegon, just hours before the murders, trying to buy ammunition.) Privacky : Cause I planned on going small game hunting on Sunday. I never thought about killing my parents until that morning. Edwards : OK. This statement is concluded at approximately 1:51 (p.m.).

Trial

Seth Privacky pleaded no contest to five counts of first-degree murder. The no contest plea was described as not an admission of guilt but treated as such for sentencing purposes.

Sentencing

On May 27, 1999, Privacky was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the November 29, 1998 shooting spree. The timeline also described May 27, 1999 as sentencing him to five life terms in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading no contest.

Appeals

No appeals were described in the provided material.

Outcome

Seth Privacky was shot and killed during a failed prison escape attempt at Kinross Correctional Facility on July 15, 2010. He was 30 at the time.

The other two inmates attempting escape surrendered after the incident. Michigan State Police were investigating.

Aftermath

Failed prison escape attempt at Kinross Correctional Facility (July 15, 2010)

Guards from the prison quickly apprehended two of the inmates, but Privacky tried to flee the truck once it stopped and was shot, resulting in his death.

Privacky and two other inmates overpowered the driver of a facilities semi-truck around 9:10 a.m. (ET) and tried to drive it through a double fence. The truck traveled about 100 yards before the men jumped out and began running.

Warden Jeffrey Woods said: "It got wrapped up in the fence," and "Although there's a ton of damage, the fence stopped the truck. It did its job." He also said: "The staff did a wonderful job responding."

Corrections Department spokesman John Cordell said all inmates were accounted for.

Brian Shepard said: "that is scary," and "That's what's scary. I'm just glad they got 'em. We got a lot of little kids out there."

The state Department of Corrections said Privacky was killed by a corrections officer.

Authorities said the alarms go off all the time with testing and that, but this morning they were going off it was a little bit longer than usual.

No other injuries were reported at the prison, and the driver was treated for nonlife-threatening injuries.

Authorities said it wasn’t immediately clear how the escape was planned.

Other escape inmates

The other inmates attempting escape were identified as:

• Brian Davidson, 31, convicted of beating a man to death
• Andrew Ross, 25, accused of killing his parents and older brother

Between 600 to 700 of the prison’s inmates were described as serving life sentences or having at least 20 years left behind bars.

Other details

Early description of motive and background

Authorities said Privacky's shootings were triggered when his father asked him to move out. Privacky told Detective Sgt. Dennis Edwards that his father said he didn’t love him anymore and wanted him to move out, and that his mother and brother did not say anything.

In later reporting, Privacky was described as having troubles at home, having been caught stealing and used drugs, and having been antisocial as early as grade school. He had been described as a “troublemaker and often found myself in the principal’s office.” His upbringing was described as being atheistic or agnostic, based on Privacky’s testimonial letter.

Privacky was described as having been prescribed anti-depressant medication at the time of the murders.

A testimonial letter described him saying: "coming down off a strong dose of LSD." Another part described him stating that he wanted to kill himself after throwing up.

Prison misconducts and living conditions (described)

Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan said Privacky had 29 “misconducts” on his record, including theft, fighting, assaulting another prisoner, possession of a weapon, substance abuse (marijuana) and gambling.

He shared a cell with three other prisoners. He worked on an afternoon yard crew performing general grounds maintenance such as raking leaves, cutting grass, shoveling, etc. He had access to a television set in the housing unit dayroom or in his room if he purchased one, and could take educational and vocational courses and access books in the prison library. A gym and access to other outdoor recreational activities were described.

Privacky was described as having had 36 visitors so far that year.

Steven Wallace (co-defendant mentioned; verbatim quotes included)

The other case involving Steven Wallace described him as having been charged with being an accessory and disposing of the firearm Privacky used in the killings, with up to five years in prison if convicted. Wallace was acquitted by a jury on November 1.

Wallace was described as telling jurors:

• "I wasn't using the best judgment that day after I saw what I saw," The Muskegon Chronicle quoted Wallace telling jurors.
• "I figured he'd be caught one way or another, and I tried to pretend I didn't know about it. I wish now I would've contacted authorities."
• "He just simply said his problems would be solved if his parents were dead ... and he would kill them," and he testified: "I thought it was nothing outside the typical relationship of teen-age kids with their parents."

Wallace’s testimony included details about what he found at the house and his reaction. He said: "I couldn't believe (it)," and "I'd never seen something like that ... I had to see for myself." He also said he passed out and that Privacky shook him awake, and that he was scared he might die because Privacky told him he had killed Ms. Boss because she walked in on the killings.

Wallace was described as being later sentenced on October 30, 2007 to prison for 28 months to 71/2 years for violating probation on a June 2007 felony conviction of receiving stolen property, after earlier convictions including vandalism at age 19, domestic violence at ages 22, 24 and 25, and attempted resisting and obstructing police at age 24.

1998 confession locations and persons mentioned

Privacky gave his confession at 1:37 p.m. to Detective Sgt. Dennis Edwards. The confession referenced his home at 1301 W. Riley Thompson. The confession also referenced fleeing and routes including Whitehall Road, Duck Lake Road, Duck Lake, Gibson, Weber Road, Riley-Thompson, and across a golf course. The confession referenced intending to commit suicide at Jason Fitz’s house and going into the back pole barn. The confession referenced being shown on surveillance tape at the Meijer's in north Muskegon.

The route description included hearing dogs and search dogs, and that he could see lights and avoid them.

Counts and charges stated in different places within the material

Privacky was described as pleading no contest to five counts of first-degree murder and also as pleading no contest to five counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of five named victims. The timeline also described charging as five counts of open murder for both Privacky and Wallace, with Wallace’s charges later reduced to accessory to murder.

Cases and named individuals mentioned in the provided material

• Seth Privacky
• Detective Sgt. Dennis Edwards
• Judge Michael J. Nolan
• Warden Jeffrey Woods
• John Cordell
• Brian Shepard
• Russ Marlan
• Brian Davidson
• Andrew Ross
• Steven Wallace (also written as Steve (Wallace) and “Steven Wallace” in the material)
• Stephen Privacky
• Linda Privacky
• John Privacky
• Jedediah Privacky
• April Boss
• Julie and Tom Cooper
• Janavive Simonelli
• Jason Pitts
• Jason Fitz
• Neil Rockind
• Dennis Edwards (also listed as “Dennis Edwards” in the confession context)
• Chico, Calif., woman who sold letters on the Supernaught Web site
• Bob Ross
• Godsmack
• Evanescence
• Nine Inch Nails
• Anne Rice
• The Vampire Chronicles
• Stephen King
• Mark Twain
• John Steinbeck