WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Devyn Michaels, 47, was found guilty of first-degree murder following a two-week trial in Las Vegas after her ex-husband Jonathan Willette’s headless body was discovered.

Devyn Michaels was detained in 2023 after the discovery of her 46 year old husband Jonathan Willette’s body.

A jury has found a former adult film star guilty of murdering her ex-husband before going on to marry his son, following a lengthy court case...TAP TO CONTINUE FULL READING.

Devyn Michaels, 47, was convicted of first-degree murder last month after a fortnight-long trial in which prosecutors and defence barristers presented vastly different versions of events to the 14-person jury.

Prosecutors John Giordani and Brittni Griffith contended that Michaels held a grudge against Willette after he won sole custody of their two children. Michaels’ defence team tried to suggest Willette’s son as a possible suspect, but failed to provide any corroborating evidence, with no CCTV footage or telephone records linking him to the scene.

Michaels was detained in 2023 after the discovery of her 46 year old husband Jonathan Willette’s decapitated body, which showed severe injuries from chemical burns, at his Las Vegas home on 6 August 2023. Detectives suspected Michaels had dumped Willette’s head in a rubbish bin in her northwest valley neighbourhood, reports The Mirror.

Whilst showing disturbing crime scene images to jurors, including photographs of Willette’s headless body, Giordani cautioned, “And all I can say is, ‘Buckle up, because you’re in for a wild ride.”, reports the Express US.

Griffith further argued that Willette was planning to move away with Michaels and his son, but she wanted her ex-husband out of the picture. “And the truth is, the walls were closing in on Devyn Michaels and the fantasy that she had put together,” Griffith told the jury.

Prosecutors revealed Michaels and Willette wed in 2012 before divorcing in 2018. Michaels subsequently married Willette’s 29 year old son, Deviere Willette, though she characterised both unions as marriages of convenience, according to testimony.

Deviere Willette, the victim’s son, testified to the jury that he had no part in his father’s killing. Prosecutors presented a video during Thursday’s testimony showing Michaels telling police she was giving her ex-husband a massage in his bedroom when she struck him with what she described as “candlestick-like.

“He didn’t say anything. He stopped moving,” Michaels told the detectives in that interview. Clark County District Court Judge Tierra Jones heard evidence from a Henderson police detective regarding his interviews with Michaels.

Henderson police detective Dennis Ozawa revealed that during one interview, the former adult film star told him she placed Willette’s head in a laundry basket and disposed of it in a bin in her northwest valley home neighbourhood. Neither the murder weapon nor Willette’s head have been found.

Her legal team consistently argued that Michaels lacked the physical capability to decapitate someone of Willette’s build, emphasising that nobody witnessed or heard the killing take place.

“Where’s the testimony of a powered saw?” Michaels’ solicitor, Robert Draskovich, questioned the jury during his closing remarks. “We don’t know when that happened. She didn’t do it.”

Prior to trial, Michaels had admitted guilt to second-degree murder, which would have allowed her to apply for parole after 15 years behind bars. She subsequently attempted to withdraw her plea, but Jones ruled that Michaels had entered it “voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently,” according to court documents.

The former adult film actress, who has also gone by the names Nikki Fairchild and Tracee Taverz, offered an apology before immediately declaring her innocence, which led the case to proceed to trial.