News Beat
Adult star guilty of decapitating her children’s dad as she was having affair with own stepson who she secretly married
A LAS Vegas adult actress has been found guilty of murder after she decapitated her ex-husband while secretly married to his son.
Devyn Michaels, 47, was convicted of killing former husband and realtor Johnathan Willette, 46.
His headless, chemically-doused body was discovered at his Henderson home on August 6, 2023.
Willette’s horrified mother found him “wrapped in blankets and bloody,” according to an arrest report. His head has never been found.
Prosecutors said Michaels was jealous after Willette obtained sole custody of their two children — even as he was reportedly preparing to move back in with her and his son.
“And all I can say is, ‘Buckle up, because you’re in for a wild ride,’” prosecutor John Giordani told jurors as he showed graphic crime-scene photos, including one of the decapitated body.
According to police interview video played in court, Michaels claimed she struck Willette with a “candlestick-like” object while giving him a massage in his bedroom.
“He didn’t say anything. He stopped moving,” she told detectives.
Investigators said Michaels admitted cutting off her ex-husband’s head, placing it in a laundry basket, driving it home and dumping it in a neighborhood trash can.
Henderson Police Detective Dennis Ozawa testified that during her interview, a garbage truck beeped outside – prompting Michaels to say Willette went “bye-bye.”
Michaels was in a twisted relationship triangle at the time.
She had married Willette in 2012, divorced him in 2018, then later married his adult son, Deviere Willette, 29, in what she reportedly called a marriage of convenience.
Deviere told the jury he had no role in his father’s killing after defense attorneys tried to cast suspicion on him.
Prosecutor Brittni Griffith said Michaels wanted Willette “out of the picture.”
She added: “And the truth is, the walls were closing in on Devyn Michaels and the fantasy that she had put together.”
No weapon or dismemberment tools were ever recovered.
Michaels’ lawyers argued she couldn’t have decapitated a man of Willette’s size and noted there were no witnesses or audio of the killing.
Her trial came after a dramatic reversal.
Last year, Michaels pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a deal that would have made her eligible for parole after 15 years.
But at sentencing this summer, she apologised, then suddenly claimed she was innocent, blowing up the agreement and sending the case to trial.
She had previously told detectives she only intended to injure Willette, reportedly saying she “only wanted to hurt him enough that he would have to go to the hospital because she wanted him out of the way so she could figure out what she could do with her children.”
In court last year, she insisted: “I know right now no one in the family feels that I am innocent at any point and I understand that, but I can actually prove my innocence. I actually can. And I am not going to stop fighting to prove my innocence.”
Michaels will be sentenced on January 8 and faces life in prison with or without parole.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
