Mom dies of stab wounds, 3rd victim of son’s killing spree in Michigan, reports say
A 23-year-old man is facing charges in the fatal stabbing of his mother, and killing of his girlfriend and stepdad during a violent crime spree that occurred after he posted bail in a torture case, Michigan authorities said.
Six days after the incident, the man’s mother — Flossie Bray, 42, of Harper Woods — died from her stab wounds, Harper Woods Department of Public Safety said in a July 20 news release. She is the third victim to die from the incident, Patch and WWJ 950 reported.
The man, Jonathan Welch of Harper Woods, Michigan, went on a violent crime spree that ended in the deaths of Zlayiah Frazier, 22, of Roseville, his girlfriend and the mother of his child, as well as his stepfather, Robert Bray Jr., 70, of Harper Woods, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
During the July 10 incident, Welch fatally stabbed his mother in the back with a butcher knife several times at her home in Harper Woods, prosecutors said.
His mother escaped and fled to a neighbor. When law enforcement arrived, they took her — and Welch’s 1-year-old son who was found in the backyard — to a hospital.
Welch barricaded himself inside the home, shooting at police officers in a standoff that lasted more than six hours. During this time, the prosecutor said that Welch started a fire inside.
Officers apprehended Welch and entered the home, finding Welch’s girlfriend and stepfather inside after they were killed by “blunt force trauma,” the prosecutor said.
Prosecutors have charged Welch with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of assault with intent to murder, seven counts of felony assault, six counts of felony firearm, and one count of second degree arson.
Two days before the incident, Welch got out of jail after he posted a $10,000 bond in a torture case from June 2, Click On Detroit reported.
Previously, Welch was charged with sexually assaulting and torturing Frazier, MLive reported. Citing court documents, MLive reported that he spent hours “strangling the victim with an extension cord, pouring gasoline over her body, attempting to sexually assault her with a large pole and burning her arms and legs with a metal spatula, beat her with his belt and threatened her with a drill.”
At a July 13 emergency bond hearing, Judge Kenneth King of 36th District Court said, “This is the court’s worst nightmare, the worst possible scenario that could happen. The witness has been killed after the defendant was placed on bond, given the benefit of being placed on bond with house arrest.”
Frazier’s family has spoken out after her death. Frazier’s mother told Click On Detroit, “She didn’t have to die. The system failed her.”
The family held a vigil in Frazier’s memory at Lincoln High School in Warren, Click on Detroit reported.
The court denied Welch bail after the July 10 incident, Fox2 reported.
Welch’s next hearing is scheduled for July 20, the Harper Woods Department of Public Safety said in a news release.
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