A 47-year-old adult film actress, Devyn Michaels, has been found guilty of murdering her ex-husband, 46-year-old Johnathan Willette, in a case prosecutors described as “a wild ride” involving jealousy, family entanglements, and a gruesome attempt to destroy evidence.
Willette’s headless, chemically-soaked body was discovered at his home in August 2023, wrapped in blankets and covered in blood. His distraught mother made the horrific discovery and notified authorities. According to investigators, Michaels murdered Willette out of jealousy after he obtained sole custody of their two children.
During the trial in Las Vegas, prosecutor John Giordani told jurors to “buckle up” before presenting graphic crime-scene images. In a recorded police interview played in court, Michaels claimed she struck Willette with a “candlestick-like” object while giving him a massage. She then allegedly decapitated his body, placed the head in a laundry basket, drove it back to her home, and dumped it in a nearby bin. The head has never been recovered.
Prosecutor Brittni Griffith said Michaels acted to remove her ex-husband from her life permanently, despite Willette being in the process of moving back in with her and their son. “The walls were closing in on Devyn Michaels and the fantasy she had created,” Griffith told jurors.
Michaels and Willette had been in an on-and-off relationship for years and shared two daughters. They divorced in 2018, but the case took an even stranger turn when Michaels later married Willette’s adult son, 29-year-old Deviere Willette, in what she described as a “marriage of convenience.” Deviere testified that he had no involvement in his father’s killing, and prosecutors said there was no evidence placing him at the scene.
No murder weapon or dismemberment tools were ever recovered.
Michaels originally pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year in a deal that would have carried a 15-year sentence with the possibility of parole. However, during her July sentencing hearing, she abruptly declared her innocence, prompting prosecutors to pursue a first-degree murder trial instead.
Jurors returned a guilty verdict this week. Michaels now faces the possibility of life in prison when she is sentenced in January.
