Authorities say that a 28-year-old man who allegedly strangled and then dismembered his girlfriend, told police what happened inside the couples Farmington home early Saturday morning.
William M. Dhondt, who reported his girlfriend, Kaitlin Hehir, 29, missing Saturday night, described a four-minute period inside the couple’s home on the 23800 block of Colchester that ended with Hehir’s body being dragged into the basement, dismembered with tools, put in containers and hid in various places in the home, Farmington Public Safety Detective Andrew Morche told a judge in a Berkley courtroom Tuesday.
“The defendant described hitting Kaitlin in the face with a glass cup, causing her to hit her head on a dresser and fall to the ground,” Morche told the court.
Morche said Dhondt then got on top of her and repeatedly hit her in the face and repeatedly slammed her head on the floor.
“The defendant then used his hands to strangle Kaitlin to death as she struggled and fought for her life,” he said
Dhondt was charged with first-degree murder and is being held in jail without bond.
Judge James Wittenberg of 45-A District Court entered a not-guilty plea on Dhondt’s behalf during his video arraignment and granted his request for a court-appointed attorney.
According to Farmington Public Safety Director Robert Schulz, police went to the couple’s home about 10 p.m. Saturday night because Dhondt reported Hehir missing. While they were there, they found bloody plastic inside garbage bags in the garage.
Dhondt “was detained, interviewed, made statements to implicate himself in a crime, and ultimately a search warrant was executed,” Schulz said.
Police said Dhondt admitted to having an argument with Hehir that turned physical, but police have not said what that argument was about. Schulz said the couple lived in the home for less than six months and that Farmington police have never been called there.
Dhondt worked as a server at an Olive Garden restaurant in Novi. Hehir also worked at the same restaurant in the kitchen.
Hehir also worked as a clerk in the civil division of 47th District Court in Farmington, so judges there disqualified themselves from hearing the case, so it was moved to Berkley.
Wittenberg set a pre-exam conference for March 5 and a preliminary examination for March 12 in the case.
Comments