Mom tells killer ex: ‘You’re a devil in disguise’

Detroit — Faith Green spoke candidly through pain Wednesday about being forced to watch the slayings of two of her four children, all of whom died by the hands of her ex-husband five months ago.

Faith Green spoke of loss, trauma and fear she is left with from the horrific morning of Sept. 21 when her four children were killed by Gregory Green, the father of the couple’s two younger daughters — Kaleigh Green, 4; Koi Green, 5 — and stepfather to Faith Green’s two older children — Kara Allen, 17, and Chadney Allen, 19 — at the family’s home on Hipp in Dearborn Heights.

She revealed her emotions and details at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing for her 50-year-old ex-husband, who pleaded guilty last week to crimes that caused a scene described by veteran law enforcement officers as the worst they had responded to in their careers.

Gregory Green slashed Faith Green in the face and shot her in the foot during his rampage. She said Wednesday she also was gagged, duct taped and had her wrists bound with zip ties as she saw her husband shoot her older children in their heads. He poisoned the younger girls with carbon monoxide.

She blasted her ex-husband, telling him that he will “burn in hell” for brutally slaying the children.

“Justice will come when you burn in hell for all eternity for murdering four innocent children,” Faith Green said.

Gregory Green, who worked at Detroit Metro airport, will spend 47-102 years in prison. He won’t be eligible for parole until he is 97 years old.

He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, torture and assault with intent to do great bodily harm. He also pleaded guilty to felony firearm. Counts of unlawful imprisonment, felon in possession of a firearm and felonious assault were dropped at the sentencing hearing as part of his guilty plea.

“It’s in God’s hands. Only (God) can judge,” said Gregory Green, before the sentencing was carried out by Wayne County Court Judge Dana Hathaway. “I’m sorry this happened. God knows the heart. He knows how regretful ... how sorry I am. It not one day that goes by I don’t think of my girls. ... I pray that God be with Chadney and Kara. I feel bad how this has deeply impacted everyone. May God help them ... help me ... help us all.”

Gregory Green previously served 16 years for the stabbing death of his first wife, Tonya, who was pregnant, in 1991. He pleaded an insanity defense in that case and was ordered for mental examination. Green was denied parole four times, twice in 2004 and twice in 2006, before being granted release in 2008, state Corrections officials said.

His release came after Faith Green’s father, Fred Harris, a pastor and civil rights activist, lobbied on his behalf.

Faith Green, who married to Green a few years after his release, was granted a divorce in December, according to court records.

“You’re a con artist. You’re a monster,” she said on Wednesday. “You’re a devil in disguise. You are now forever exposed.”

She told Green that his plan to hurt her did not work. She also spoke lovingly about her children as she addressed her ex-husband.

“I will not suffer as you intended,” she said. “What you did did not work. While I stand up here trembling with fear I put on my bravest face to be in the same room with the man who murdered all four of my children, two of them violently in front of me with a gun. He killed my other two babies with a hose that ran from the tail pipe of his car to where they were innocently sleeping.”

Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Trisha Gerard said Green planned the killings while shopping at Home Depot a week before. At Home Depot, he bought piping to alter the exhaust system of the vehicle where he poisoned the younger girls with carbon monoxide.

Faith Green said her doctor told her she has short-term memory loss about some details surrounding the slayings. She also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has migraines and nightmares.

“Sometimes, I dream of the night all this happened and wake up screaming ... thinking that I could save my children someone how,” Green said Wednesday. “Then I realize that nightmare is actually reality and my children are really gone, and I try to find the strength to start my day somehow. I miss my children so much that words will never be able to explain.”

“... Some days I wish I had (died). There’s a hole in my heart and soul that can never be repaired. This wound will never heal. This wound will never heal.”

Hathaway told Gregory Green that his case was “by far the worst” she’s seen as a judge.

“Fathers are supposed to protect their children. Husbands are supposed to protect their wives,” Hathaway said before the sentencing. “Your actions are inconceivable.”

Hathaway said had she not followed the sentence agreement Green entered into, “you (would) never be released from prison”. Hathaway said she was reluctant to follow the sentence agreement but stated it would be better for the family so they didn't have to relive the horror of the slayings if a trial were held.

bwilliams@detroitnews.com

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