Sex offender denied bond in 2016 murder

Detroit — Three years and one day after Linda Lee Jackson, 54, was slain on Detroit's west side, the man accused of killing her was denied bond at his arraignment.

Herman Gilstrap, 50, a convicted sex offender who has served multiple prison terms, faces a charge of open murder in Jackson's June 2016 death. 36th District Court Magistrate Jeffrey Kleparek denied Gilstrap bond at his arraignment Tuesday. 

At about 7 p.m. on June 3, 2016, Jackson's body was found in an abandoned commercial building on the 9600 block of Grand River. She died of multiple stab wounds, says the Wayne County medical examiner. Three years later to the day, on June 3, 2019, Detroit police arrested him.

In 2003, Gilstrap was sentenced to eight to 15 years after pleading guilty to an October 2002 armed robbery in Wayne County. He was released in February 2012, said Chris Gautz, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections.

But after a parole violation for threatening a woman's life, he was sent back to prison in July 2013, where he remained until October 2014. His parole ended in October 2016, and he was discharged from the system.

Gilstrap had a home call with a parole officer a "couple weeks" before the alleged 2016 homicide, and had a drug test, which came back negative, just three days later, on June 6, Gautz said. While on parole he had a stable job and home environment, the department said.

In 1988, a Wayne County jury convicted Gilstrap on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in a November 1987 incident.

This February, Gilstrap was charged with failure to register as a sex offender. Initially, he was released on a $5,000 personal bond, but after missing a May 16 court date a bench warrant was issued and he was remanded to Wayne County Jail, court records show.

Gilstrap is due in court June 18 for a probable cause conference and on June 25 for a preliminary examination, both before Judge Lynise Bryant.