A Lady’s Guide To Gossip And Murder

A Las Vegas porn actress decapitated her baby daddy and drove away with his head — all so she could be with his son, prosecutors said on the first day of her trial.

Devyn Michaels, 45, is charged with killing Johnathan Willette, 47, after his headless body was discovered in his home in Henderson, Nev., in 2023.

Prosecutors claimed the ex-adult film star wanted to get the father of her own two kids out of the way so she could live peacefully with his son, Deviere Willette, CBS 8 reported from her trial, which began Wednesday.

She married her stepson — confusingly making her ex her new father-in-law — and was driven to murder by her desire for a happy family with her new hubby and her kids, whom he’d raise as if they were his children rather than siblings, prosecutors alleged.

“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,” Deputy District Attorney John Giordani said.

Johnathan Willette’s horrified mother found his headless corpse doused in chemicals and smoking, according to a police report.

Michaels initially told investigators that she bashed the man in the head with a wooden stick when he “tried to get her to conduct a sexual act on him” while she was rubbing his back in bed, according to police records. The head never turned up, and prosecutors said Michaels drove with it from Henderson to her home in Vegas and tossed it in the trash.

Michaels cut a plea deal last fall but then asked to withdraw it, leaving the details of the deadly love triangle to be hashed out in court.

Her defense attorney didn’t deny the twisted love triangle, but accused Deviere Willette of being the killer, alleging that he attacked his dad in a jealous rage after Michaels asked for a divorce to get back with the dad.

“Deviere was getting kicked out, he was no longer going to be in this relationship because Dad, the dad he hated, was coming in and not only taking his home, but taking his wife,” attorney Robert Draskovich told the jury in a statement reported by CBS 8.

Step into the chilling story of Bertha Gifford, America’s Arsenic Angel 🕊️☠️. Was she a cold-blooded killer or a misunderstood woman? Uncover the dark secrets of this enigmatic figure from history. 💀✨

August 9, 1969: Manson “Family” members Susan Atkins, Tex Watson, and Patricia Krenwinkel entered the home of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate and murdered her and four others. Linda Kasabian (née Drouin) was also present, but allegedly did not take part. Steven Earl Parent, who was present at the address only by unfortunate coincidence, lost his life that night, in addition to Sharon Tate and her houseguests, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, and Wojciech Frykowski. In an earlier incident involving Charles Manson and his followers, musician Gary Hinman was murdered after being held captive for several days, forced to turn over his property to his captors under torture and threat of death. Manson associate Robert “Bobby” Beausoleil killed Gary Hinman on the orders of Manson.

Above: Lurid headlines abound in the days following the crimes at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, north of Beverly Hills, the home of actress Sharon Tate and her husband, Polish movie director Roman Polanski.

Above: Wilfred Parent, and his wife Juanita (néeJones) were unaware that their son Steven had gone to Cielo Drive that night to visit his friend, live-in caretaker William Garretson, hoping to sell him a used radio. He was shot by the intruders as he was preparing to leave the property.

Above: Linda (née Drouin) Kasabian was given immunity for her testimony against the Manson Family defendants. She has maintained that she did not take physical part in the murders, but acted as a “lookout” only.

Originally from New England, Linda Drouin (later Kasabian) is listed with her parents, Rosaire and Joyce (née Taylor) Drouin in the 1950 U. S. Federal Census, in Maine, Linda’s paternal grandparents having emigrated there from Quebec in the 1920s.

Above: Colorado-born Gary Hinman was a musician living at this residence in Topanga Canyon, California in 1969, where Manson associate Bobby Beausoleil had lived with Hinman previously. During this time, Beausoleil had become acquainted with Charles Manson and his followers.

Above: In late July of 1969, Beausoleil went with Manson associates Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner to Hinman's house in Topanga Canyon. After demanding money that Hinman did not have, Manson told them via phone to hold Hinman captive there at his house. When Manson arrived, armed with a bayonet, he struck Hinman, severely cutting his face and ear. Gary Hinman was held captive for three more days before being murdered by Bobby Beausoleil, on the instruction Charles Manson.

Above: After a well-documented investigation and trial, the principal participants in the Manson “Family” murders were found guilty and sentenced to death. Bobby Beausoleil was convicted and sentenced to death for the July 27, 1969, fatal stabbing of Gary Hinman. Beausoleil, Manson, and the other participants who were sentenced to death were later granted commutation to a lesser sentence of life imprisonment, after the Supreme Court of California issued a ruling that invalidated all death sentences issued in California prior to 1972. Bobby Beausoleil is currently imprisoned in California. Manson died in prison in California in 2017. Linda Drouin Kasabian, who gave a handful of interviews about her participation in the 1969 murders, kept a low profile over the years and died in Tacoma, Washington on January 21, 2023, at the age of 73.

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