Michigan – In a grim case that has shaken Michigan residents, a 22-year-old man, identified as S. Freeman, who was only 19 at the time of the horrific crime he committed, has been found guilty of a vicious home invasion that escalated into indecent assault and murder. Freeman has been convicted of multiple felonies, including first-degree premeditated murder and felony murder, for the brutal killing of a 64-year-old woman, identified as G. Seitz, whose body was later found in the back of her own stolen pickup truck. Following a two-week trial, a jury deliberated for more than seven hours before delivering a unanimous verdict. Freeman was found guilty on six counts: two types of murder, first-degree home invasion, second-degree criminal se-ual conduct, concealing the death of an individual, and receiving or concealing stolen property—the latter tied to the stolen vehicle he used to transport the victim’s body.
The chilling events unfolded on October 26, 2022, when Freeman broke into Seitz’s home through a bathroom window while she was away. He carried with him a large duffel bag—one that would later hold the lifeless body of the woman whose home he had violated. Seitz returned home from work, unaware that her killer was already inside. There, in her own home, she was se-ually assaulted and strangled with a shoelace. “Three to five minutes, Seitz had this shoelace around her neck,” Assistant Prosecutor D. Fortier told the jury during his closing argument. “Three to five minutes, Freeman killed her.”
Freeman did not flee immediately. Instead, he placed Seitz’s body into the duffel bag, then loaded it into the bed of her own pickup truck, parked outside her residence. Hours later, at approximately 1 a.m., he was seen on surveillance footage hauling the heavy bag and placing it in the vehicle. By the next day—October 27—Freeman’s attempt to disappear unraveled. While driving Seitz’s stolen truck, he got into a minor collision with a semi-truck nearby. Freeman abandoned the scene and fled on foot. Within 30 minutes, responding officers made a grisly discovery in the vehicle’s bed. “I opened the tailgate,” said Detective C. Moran during Freeman’s arraignment, “I saw what looked like a comforter in the back… I proceeded to pull back the blanket, and the first thing I observed was a human leg. My immediate reaction, based on my years of training and experience, was this was a deceased person.”
Freeman was identified through surveillance footage and cellphone data. When investigators executed a search, they found his DNA on the victim’s body and throughout the house. Combined with video evidence and his attempts to flee the scene of the crash, the case against him quickly came into focus. The prosecution emphasized that this was no spontaneous act of violence. It was calculated, deliberate, and cruel. Prosecutor P. Lucido praised the jury and investigators, saying: “Today’s verdict delivers justice for the victim and her family. This young man’s actions were brutal, deliberate, and have left lasting scars on our community.” He added that while no court ruling could undo the pain caused by Freeman’s actions, the outcome marked an important step toward accountability and healing.
Freeman is scheduled to be sentenced on October 22, 2025, before Judge J. Gatti. He faces a mandatory life sentence, though because he was 19 at the time of the crime, a recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling may entitle him to parole eligibility at some point during his incarceration. Still, the brutality of the attack—the home invasion, the se-ual assault, and the calculated disposal of Seitz’s body—has left a permanent scar on the local community. The courtroom has heard in vivid, painful detail how a woman lost her life in her own home, at the hands of a teenager who brought nothing but violence with him through her window. With a guilty verdict now in place, the justice system prepares to deliver its final word. But for Seitz’s family, the impact of that October night in 2022 will never fully fade.
