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EXCERPT FROM THE BEST-selling book Murder and Revenge in Delta County by Quinn Harstead:
Voluntary manslaughter by provocation. What comes to mind when you hear those words? Self-defense, crime of passion, eye for an eye? Anywhere else in the country, a woman who was deemed mentally sane by a clinical professional after driving her car to a victim’s house and strangling her on the kitchen floor would certainly be spending the majority, if not the remainder, of her life in prison. Here in Escanaba, Michigan? They take care of their own. They quietly sweep the unsavory bits right under the rug.
Mitzi Matthews, the victim in this case, wasn’t on trial — but you’d never know that by listening to the witness testimony during sentencing. Mitzi’s own husband took the stand in defense of his former daughter-in-law. Lisa Young, who had her vehicular manslaughter record expunged after Mitzi’s actions came to light, testified via Zoom from her hospice bed shortly before her death after a courageous battle with cancer. Stifled sobs filled the courtroom as she recounted the absolute horror of learning that Mitzi was responsible for the death of her own daughter, Kelly.
Two separate witnesses received immunity for their own crimes when agreeing to testify: Tom Strenski, Delta County’s Medical Examiner and Julie Prescott-Sanders, the only adult witness to the crime. Strenski detailed the mental anguish he experienced after surrendering to Mitzi’s threats and a subsequent bribe of $100,000 in exchange for ruling Kelly Young’s death accidental, rather than his initial determination: homicide by blunt force trauma.
Prescott-Sanders’ teary-eyed admissions proved to be the most unlikely testimony of the two-day court proceedings. The mouths of spectators hung open in stunned silence as Julie avoided all eye contact while admitting she was present when Mitzi Matthews attacked Kelly Young from behind on the riverbanks behind the Buckland family camp. She confessed that she hasn’t had a full night’s sleep since the incident; her thoughts were permanently filled with Kelly’s violent demise and Mitzi’s ensuing threats to keep Julie quiet. She detailed years of manipulation and control suffered at the hands of Mitzi. Even Heather Green (who, by now, had legally dropped Matthews as her surname) gasped when she made the stunning admission that she was at Mitzi’s house that fateful day to confront her about the now-infamous rocking horse. Her former mother-in-law, Cindy, let Julie in on the unspeakable cruelty behind choosing that horse as a baby shower gift, and somehow, this was the information that finally led to her breaking point.
She had just begun the confrontation, with shaking hands and an unsteady voice, when Heather burst through the kitchen door and attacked Mitzi. Julie also testified under oath that Mitzi had drunkenly verbalized her desire to “off” Heather on more than one occasion. When asked by Attorney Doug Angeli if she believed at any point in time that Heather’s life was in danger, she quietly responded, “yes.” She lived in constant fear of the woman and a single tear dribbled down her porcelain cheek as she admitted to the relief she felt when she realized she would no longer have to deal with Mitzi Matthews in her life.
Heather was stunned. She always assumed Mitzi worshipped Julie, the angelic beauty who should have married her son. She thought Julie was exempt from the consequences of Mitzi’s covert narcissism, due to her family connections and ivy league education. She considered Julie to be one of the very few worthy of Mitzi’s love and admiration. As Heather would later admit, that moment in court was the first time she sympathized with Julie. Julie, the woman who had a love child with Heather’s then-husband. The woman she certainly never envisioned having an ounce of sympathy for.
Perhaps the most beneficial testimony was given by Heather herself. Heather Green, beloved daughter of Sally and Phil, former Miss Delta County, and adored by hundreds of thousands of social media followers around the world. You can’t have a conversation with Heather and not fall a little in love with the unassuming, kind-hearted, and self-deprecating beauty. While questioned by her attorney, Doug Angeli, Heather gave calm, clear answers in such a direct manner, you never once questioned her integrity. Sitting in the back row of the courtroom, I found myself wondering what I would have done in her situation. Heather was a well-respected, law-abiding citizen who suffered several unspeakable tragedies before snapping in a moment of fury when it all became too much. Who is to say you and I wouldn’t be capable of doing the same? How would you respond after finding out the same woman was responsible for the deaths of your parents and your best friend?
After a long beat of silence and a few seconds of shuffling papers and looking from the family section to Heather and back again, Judge Flanders announced his sentence. Heather received ten years, nine of them suspended, with credit for time served. She was also ordered to attend mandatory mental health counseling once a week for two years. Because of the extended time she spent in the Delta County Jail awaiting her day in court during the pandemic, Heather Green was free to leave the courthouse that day and finally spend unsupervised time with her infant daughter, Evelyn Kelly Green, or “Evie” for short. Assuming she doesn’t violate her probation or break any laws in the next nine years, she essentially can live as a free woman.
Sighs of relief escaped the mouths of onlookers when the light sentence was handed down. I had a direct line of sight to Frank Matthews, who turned to his right and looked straight at Heather’s aunt Meryl Ellison when Flanders finished his announcement. I couldn’t hear everything he said, but I could easily read Frank’s lips when he whispered, “Thank God.”
PART ONE:
HEATHER