A jury has convicted a former adult film actress of first-degree murder after prosecutors said she killed and decapitated her ex-husband, discarded his head, and later married his son.
Devyn Michaels, 47, was found guilty last month following a two-week trial in Clark County District Court. Prosecutors argued Michaels murdered 46-year-old Jonathan Willette inside his Las Vegas home in August 2023, motivated by resentment after Willette gained full custody of their two children.
Authorities arrested Michaels in 2023 after Willette’s headless body was discovered at his residence on Aug. 6, 2023. Investigators believe Michaels disposed of his head in a trash bin in her northwest Las Vegas neighborhood. The head and the alleged murder weapon were never recovered.
During the trial, prosecutors John Giordani and Brittni Griffith presented evidence and testimony describing the killing and its aftermath. Jurors were shown crime scene photographs, and prosecutors alleged Willette’s body showed signs of chemical burns.
Prosecutors said Michaels and Willette married in 2012 and divorced in 2018. Michaels later married Willette’s son, Deviere Willette, who was 29 at the time. Michaels reportedly described both marriages as arrangements of convenience.
In a recorded police interview played for jurors, Michaels told detectives she had been massaging Willette in his bedroom when she struck him with what she described as a “candlestick-like” object. She said he stopped moving afterward. A Henderson police detective testified that Michaels later admitted placing Willette’s head in a laundry basket and throwing it into a neighborhood trash can.
Deviere Willette testified that he had no involvement in his father’s death. Michaels’ defense team attempted to suggest he could have been responsible but acknowledged they lacked evidence placing him at the scene.
Defense attorney Robert Draskovich argued Michaels was physically incapable of decapitating Willette and said there was no evidence of tools typically associated with such an act. “We don’t know when that happened,” he told jurors. “She didn’t do it.”
Before the trial, Michaels had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, a charge that would have allowed for parole eligibility after 15 years. She later sought to withdraw the plea, but the judge ruled it had been entered knowingly and voluntarily. Michaels ultimately apologized in court but maintained her innocence, leading to the trial.
Michaels, who has also used the names Nikki Fairchild and Tracee Taverz, now faces sentencing following the first-degree murder conviction.
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