Dad linked to slayings killed pregnant wife in ’91

Dearborn Heights — A man suspected in a quadruple slaying of his family Wednesday spent 16 years in prison for killing his previous, then-pregnant wife and unborn child, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.

Gregory Green, 49, reportedly called 911 around 1 a.m. Wednesday and told officials he had harmed his family in their home on the 4400 block of Hipp.

Inside, authorities found the bodies of Green’s 4-year-old and 5-year-old daughters, who were asphyxiated with carbon monoxide. Green’s stepchildren, a 17-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man, were found bound and shot in the home’s basement. Their 39-year-old mother — and his current wife — Faith Green was discovered severely injured.

Wednesday’s 911 call echoes one made by Green in 1991 after he fatally stabbed his then-wife, Tonya Green, who was six months pregnant at the time, also killing their unborn child.

“He stabbed his wife and then he called police,” Corrections spokesman Chris Gautz said of the 1991 case. “When the police arrived, he let them in and told them what he had done.”

Green pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and was sent to prison in 1992 with a 15-25 year sentence, Gautz said. He was paroled in 2008.

While in prison, Green completed cognitive programming and had one “ticket” for fighting over the use of a television, Gautz said. In denying Green’s previous four requests for parole, the board noted he “demonstrated little emotion or remorse ... (and had) a lack of empathy,” Gautz said.

Tonya Green had two other children, 5 and 8 years old, Gautz said. It is not clear if they were at home at the time of the 1991 killings or if they were harmed. There were no charges filed related to those children.

About two years after Gregory Green was released from prison, he married Faith Green on Dec. 18, 2010. Public records show the couple were involved in a divorce, which was filed by Faith Green on Oct. 11, 2013, and again on Aug. 11, 2016. Records further show Gregory Green was the subject of a rejected personal protection order filed by Faith Green in February 2013.

Victims identified

The Wayne County Medical Examiner identified the young children killed Wednesday as Koi Green, 5, and Kaliegh Green, 4, and ruled their deaths as homicide. The cause of death is pending for both children. The 17-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man were not formally identified Wednesday.

The suspect’s wife, Faith Green, is mother to all four victims, police said. The older two were from a previous relationship.

Faith Green was slashed in the face and shot in the foot, police said. She was found in the basement alongside her older children and was taken to Oakwood Hospital, where she was listed in fair condition Wednesday, according to a hospital spokesperson.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office received a warrant request from police, and officials were reviewing it for a charging decision, according to spokeswoman Maria Miller.

Friends and classmates of the older children, meanwhile, flooded Twitter and other social media sites with pictures of the siblings, expressing shock and grief over their deaths.

The Southfield Times student newspaper identified the older victims as Kara Allen and Chadney J. Allen.

Kara Allen, a Southfield high school student, was a member of the student newspaper and a varsity football cheerleader as well as a member of the National Honor Society, the newspaper reported Wednesday. She dreamed of becoming a medical doctor.

Chadney J. Allen graduated from Southfield High School last year.

Protection order denied

In her 2013 divorce filing, Faith Green cited a “breakdown of the marital relationship” as the cause for seeking a divorce.

Before filing for divorce, Green applied on Feb. 22, 2013, for — but was denied — a personal protection order against her husband, according to court records. In the request, Green wrote that her husband was threatening that “things are going to get ugly” if she didn’t leave the home.

“(He) jumped at me like he was going to attack,” she wrote. “This went on for hours.”

The complaint also claimed Gregory Green was belligerent and “kicking things” the day before the filing.

“He kicked the couch while the baby was sleeping on it,” she wrote.

In the protection request, Faith Green indicated she did not contact police but had intended to go to the station to file a formal report that day after work.

“I didn’t want to leave my house and not be able to get back in,” she explained.

The court denied the request without a hearing based on “insufficient allegations for a PPO at this time.”

Birthday decorations up

Police arrested the suspect outside the home without incident Wednesday, Lt. Michael Krause said, and then found the victims inside.

Police believe the younger children were asphyxiated in a car, then taken back inside the home and placed in their beds.

Michigan State Police evidence technicians processed evidence at the scene, where birthday decorations hung inside a covered driveway.

“They just had a birthday party for the little 4-year-old girl,” neighbor Ronnie Jones said. “And they had two or three picnics with their whole family this summer.”

Jones, 59, who has lived in his home across the street his entire life, said the family moved in a couple of years ago and mostly kept to themselves.

“I just saw the oldest boy out cutting the grass yesterday,” he said.

Mayor Dan Paletko called the homicides “devastating for the community” he’s been affiliated with for more than 40 years. Paletko said he’s never seen a tragedy of this nature in his time in the bedroom community.

He called the home “very well-kept” and said it had no ordinance violations. Its occupants had no known conflicts with neighbors, he said.

“It’s difficult to understand the motivation,” Paletko said.

Dearborn Heights has had “seven or eight” homicides for the year, Capt. Michael Petri said.

The headquarters of Dearborn Heights School District 7 sits at the end of Hipp, on Annapolis. Three of the four victims attended district schools in recent years, assistant superintendent Dan Scott said.

Scott, 65, formerly the principal of down-the-road Annapolis High School, fought back tears as he discussed a tragedy he called unprecedented in his more than two decades in the district.

“It’s very difficult to imagine how something like this could happen to children in this district, or children anywhere,” Scott said in his office. “This is very sad for all of us.”

After receiving notification from the police department about what happened, the district reviewed its enrollment records and found that the 19-year-old had attended the high school in 2013, the 17-year-old had attended it for a trimester last year, and the 6-year-old was in the district last year as well.

Some students in District 7 were the victims’ friends and acquaintances, Scott said.

The district is raising money to cover funeral expenses, Scott said. Donations will be accepted through Sept. 30, and anyone interested in donating can call (313) 203-1000 or stop by district offices.

jdickson@detroitnews.com

Staff Writers Oralandar Brand-Williams and Nicquel Terry contributed.