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19 March 2024

Man kills mum-in-law's husbands, aged 19, 70

Published
By AP

An Oregon man has been charged with killing his mother-in-law's 19-year-old husband and 70-year-old ex-husband during a family trip to the coast, the authorities said.

Timothy Henson then kidnapped his wife and mother-and-law before officers discovered them off a spur road a few miles from the scene of the double homicide, said R. Paul Frasier, the Coos County district attorney.

Henson, 43, was arraigned Tuesday afternoon on charges of aggravated murder, assault and kidnapping. A judge set bail at $6 million and provided him with a court-appointed attorney.

The violence erupted Sunday evening in a Chevy Blazer. After the relatives spent a day visiting beaches, a dispute arose as the vehicle traveled on Highway 101 south of Bandon.

Henson allegedly fired one-to-three shots inside the vehicle, with a bullet hitting his wife, 30-year-old Vallena Tuell, in the forearm. The car came to a stop and Henson shot George Micheaux III, 19, and Milton Chester Leach, 70, outside the vehicle, Frasier said.

George Micheaux died at the scene. Leach was removed from life support Monday at a Portland hospital.

The district attorney said he would present the case to a grand jury later this week. In the meantime, he declined to say what type of gun was used or what the dispute was about.

The family lived together in Myrtle Creek, about 90 miles east of the crime scene. Henson and his wife lived in the house, the Micheauxs have a trailer on the property and Leach, the ex-husband of Ruth Sherrie Micheaux, stayed in the garage.

Frasier said Leach had terminal lung cancer, and the weekend getaway was a chance for him to enjoy the coast for perhaps a final time.

The quintet stayed at a motel Saturday night before heading to the beaches Sunday.

Tuell has three or four children, according to Kim Mccollum, who is an aunt to one of them and lives near the family.

"It's a very sad thing," Mccollum said. "But to be totally and completely honest, I'm just happy the kids weren't there."

Tuell was treated at a local hospital for her forearm injury and released.

Mccollum, who learned of the deaths from a reporter, said she did not know Henson or George Micheaux well, but said Leach was "awesome."

"Milton was an old-school guy," she said. "He always did the best that he could. He was a very caring individual."

It's unclear when Leach and 47-year-old Ruth Micheaux got divorced. Micheaux and her teenage husband were married in New Mexico in November 2009.

(Home page image courtesy Shutterstock)