The murder of a 43-year-old Pontiac woman

Pontiac, Michigan, US. On Tuesday, July 11, 1995, the nude and battered body of Margaret Midkiff, a 43-year-old, white female, was discovered in the basement of her home by her 21-year-old son, Jeremy. Her daughter, Angela, became concerned when she couldn’t reach her mother by phone. She had gone to the house earlier that day. When she did not receive an answer to her knocks on the door, she contacted Jeremy. Jeremy, who had moved out of the house on Friday, July 7, had relocated to an adjoining town and had a key to the house.

Responding to Angela’s call, Jeremy went to his mother’s house. Using his key, he entered through the back door, which had been locked. He proceeded into his mother’s bedroom and found the room in slight disarray with various dresser drawers open. The telephone was on the bed with the cords ripped out. He also noticed that one of the pillowcases from the victim’s pillows was missing. He then walked through the house looking for some note or message from his mother. When he entered the basement area, he discovered his mother’s nude body lying on the basement floor with a pillowcase over her head and her hands and feet bound. He immediately realized that she was dead and called 911.

The scene was described as a single-story, white house located on the north side of Peacock Street. The victim was described as a white female, later identified as Margaret. Her body was found in the southeast corner area of the basement floor. The victim was lying on her right side. Her body was totally nude and a multicolored pillowcase had been wrapped around her head and tied at the neck area with a telephone cord. Her hands were tied very tightly with a telephone cord, which had been knotted. Her feet were also tied tightly together with telephone wire. There was a pooling of blood, which appeared to emerge from the head area.

There were also signs of a struggle in the area where the victim’s body was lying. The north-side basement window, above a washtub, was found open and a dark-colored paint chip was found on the basement floor just in front of the washer. The basement wall, just below the opened basement window, had spray painted on it, which was recognized by investigators as some type of gang graffiti. There were also signs of a struggle in the northeast bedroom.

The rest of the house was neat and clean with no signs of forced entry except for the basement window. A number of items of evidence were recovered from both the victim’s body and the crime scene. Among these items were hairs, including suspected pubic hair, swabs from the victim’s buttocks area, blood samples from the crime scene and victim, and hairs and fibers from the basement window. Preliminary examination revealed multiple hair types foreign to the victim.

An autopsy was conducted on July 12 by a Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s office. The cause of death was listed as blunt force head trauma. Margaret died of blunt-force head trauma. Although there were small areas of hemorrhage in the soft tissue of the neck, there was no fracture of laryngeal cartilage or hyoid bone and there was no evidence of conjunctival petechiae indicating strangulation. The injuries in the vagina and anus were indicative of sexual assault. The medical examiner further opined that the brain edema and herniation were suggestive of survival following the impact on the head. This meant that the victim lay there suffering on the floor for some time after the assault. The manner of death was determined to be a homicide. The preliminary investigation and condition of the crime scene suggested more than one assailant.

Margaret had informed a friend that she had called the Pontiac Police on Thursday, July 5, to complain about ongoing drug sales occurring in the DeJesus residence located at 639 Peacock Street. Two Hispanic males identified as Melvin DeJesus, 20 years of age, and his brother George, 18 years of age, lived at this address. They and their friends had an informal affiliation with a Pontiac Street gang known as Los Capones and the DeJesus home had become a “drug hangout.” The DeJesus home was next door to the victim’s house. Margaret’s son Jeremy had hung around with the DeJesus brothers while growing up. In fact, Margaret had even babysat for the DeJesus boys when they were young. However, as they grew up, there was increasing friction between Margaret and the DeJesus boys, especially Melvin.

The police learned from a confidential source that Margaret had a physical confrontation with Melvin resulting in her slapping him across the face in front of other gang members. This confrontation resulted from her concern regarding her son, Jeremy. However, what she didn’t realize was that this physical confrontation became a major affront to Melvin’s ego. Most probably, from her perspective, since she had provided childcare to the DeJesus boys, she felt that she could still discipline them.

Melvin DeJesus and George Dejesus were both members of the Los Capones street gang. They also identified another member, a black male, named Brandon Gohagen, as a member of the gang. Gohagen was a known rapist. However, he had never been arrested because several females had refused to press charges. Gohagen hung out with the DeJesus boys further enhanced the suspicion toward Gohagen as an additional suspect.

A detective learned that Jeremy had intended to leave the Los Capones and move out of the area. About a week before Margaret was killed, Jeremy told his mother that he intended to leave the gang and the area. Margaret indicated to friends that she was fearful of the DeJesus brothers who lived next door to her. The detective also learned that George DeJesus, Melvin DeJesus, and Brandon Gohagen had been in Jeremy’s home many times. In fact, they would socialize in the same area of the basement where Margaret’s body was found. They were also aware that entry to the house could be gained through the north basement window or through Jeremy’s first-floor bedroom window, which did not latch.

Eventually, the police were able to establish probable cause through interviews and the evaluation of forensic evidence gathered at the crime scene, which included the autopsy information and the evidence from the victim’s body. The police were able to secure search warrants for nontestimonial evidence on each of his primary subjects, specifically Melvin and George DeJesus and Brandon Gohagen. The most important evidence would be the apparent seminal fluids found in the perianal area of the victim as well as the foreign pubic hairs gathered at the crime scene. The establishment of probable cause for the execution of these warrants was not developed until November, four months after the murder. The detective established that the Los Capones gang was ruled by fear and intimidation. When Margaret reported drug sales from the DeJesus home to the Pontiac Police Department, the gang claiming authority to this territory, considered this as a direct assault to their turf.

The detective was able to establish through his investigation and information, from confidential sources, that the motive for the murder of Margaret was gang revenge. The revenge was twofold. The report of drug dealing to the Pontiac Police by Margaret and the fact that Jeremy walked out on the gang in violation of the Los Capones code of conduct were the most obvious. In addition, the personal insult to Melvin DeJesus when Margaret slapped him across the face exacerbated the tensions. The gang code demanded retaliation.

Gohagen, who fled the state during the investigation of Midkiff’s death, admitted he raped Midkiff on orders of George and Melvin Dejesus, her longtime neighbors. Under a sentencing agreement, Gohagen pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and criminal sexual conduct in the case and agreed to testify during the 1997 trial that the Dejesus brothers killed Midkiff, their childhood friend and former babysitter. In exchange for his testimony, Gohagen was convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to a maximum of 35 years.

Melvin and George DeJesus were convicted of the murder and rape of Margaret Midkiff, despite there being no DNA evidence linking them to the scene and witnesses who testified that the brothers were elsewhere when the attack occurred. The brothers, who’d been friends with Midkiff and her family, were convicted solely on the testimony of convicted rapist Brandon Gohagen, whose DNA was found at the crime scene. Gohagen claimed the DeJesus brothers had forced him to rape Midkiff, but that he didn’t kill her. A jury believed him, and in 1997 the brothers were convicted of first-degree murder. Robyn Frankel of the Michigan Attorney General’s Conviction Integrity Unit told Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Martha Anderson Tuesday that new evidence shows Gohagen was solely responsible for Midkiff’s killing, along with 12 other sexual assaults in Pontiac from the 1990s.

Melvin and George DeJesus were exonerated in 2022 and released after 25 years in prison for the rape and murder they didn’t commit, a judge vacated the life sentences of the two brothers. In June 2022, each brother was awarded $1,212,225 in state compensation for his wrongful conviction. In November 2022, they filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against Oakland County and several persons involved in their wrongful convictions. Because Gohagen already is serving life in prison for another murder and was convicted of second-degree murder and sexual assault in the Midkiff case, he likely won’t face additional charges and will spend the rest of his life in prison.