Gregory Green Murders: 1991 Killing, Parole, and 2016 Murders

Gregory Green is the Michigan murderer who killed four children at a Dearborn Heights home in September 2016, six years after being paroled for stabbing his pregnant first wife to death in 1991. He pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 45 to 100 years in prison, plus two years for a felony firearm charge, making him ineligible for parole until age 97.

The 1991 Murder of His First Wife

Green’s history of lethal violence started with Tonya Clayton Green, his first wife. In 1991 he stabbed her to death. She was six months pregnant. He pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 to 25 years.¹

He served 16 years. The Michigan Parole Board denied him four times, twice in 2004 and twice in 2006, before a two-member panel approved his release in 2008. Earlier reports had described him as showing “little emotion or remorse” and blaming his victim for her own death. By February 8, 2008, the board’s assessment had shifted: a report stated that “reasonable assurance exists that the prisoner will not become a menace to society or to the public safety.”²

How He Got Out

A central figure in Green’s release was Apostle Fred Harris, a Detroit pastor and civil rights activist who had known Green before the 1991 murder and visited him in prison. Harris wrote at least two letters to the parole board urging his release. In August 2005 he wrote that Green “has paid for his unfortunate lack of self control and the damage he has caused as much as possible and is sorry.” A 2006 follow-up said Green had shown “a great deal of growth” and would be “welcomed as a part of our church community.”²

Records showed no letters opposing release were filed between 2004 and 2008. Under Michigan policy at the time, only two of a three-member panel needed to agree. Board members Enid Livingston and Barbara Sampson approved the release, citing model inmate behavior, completion of educational and psychological programs, and community support.² Green was discharged from parole supervision in April 2010.³

Fred Harris was also the father of Faith Harris-Green, the woman Green married after his release. Harris declined to comment when contacted by the Detroit News after the 2016 murders.⁴

Warning Signs in the Second Marriage

Green married Faith Harris-Green in 2010. By 2013, she was reporting escalating abuse to police. She said Green was “being belligerent, kicking things,” including a couch where their baby was sleeping, and had told her “if I don’t leave, things are going to get ugly.” She described him lunging at her “like he was going to attack” and said the behavior went on for hours.³

She sought a personal protection order in Wayne County. A judge denied it, citing “insufficient allegations.”⁵ A neighbor, Michelle Carson, later said Green kept his wife “confined” and that she “couldn’t socialize, like a prisoner.”³ Faith filed for divorce in January 2014; the case was dismissed. She filed again in August 2016. Fewer than six weeks later, Green killed the children.

The September 2016 Murders

The killings happened at the family’s home on the 4400 block of Hipp Street in Dearborn Heights. The victims were Green’s two biological daughters, Koi Green, 5, and Kaleigh Green, 4, and his two stepchildren, Chadney Allen, 19, and Kara Allen, 17.⁶

The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s report described two methods. Green killed Koi and Kaleigh by carbon monoxide poisoning. Their bodies were found in a Nissan Maxima parked in the driveway; a water hose ran from the home into a car window, pumping in exhaust. He shot Chadney three times, including once in the left ear and twice in the back, after binding him with zip ties and duct tape. Kara, similarly bound, was shot three times, once in the top of the head and twice in the back.⁷

Green also attacked Faith. He bound her with duct tape and zip ties, slashed her face with a box cutter, and shot her in the foot. Prosecutors said she was forced to watch as he killed her two teenage children. Police found her injured and bound in the basement.⁸ Sources indicated Green’s actions were driven by a belief that Faith was cheating on him.⁹ At about 1:15 a.m. on September 28, Green called 911 and admitted to the killings. When officers arrived, he was on the porch with his hands raised and was arrested without incident.⁶

Charges, Plea Deal, and Sentencing

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy initially charged Green with four counts of first-degree murder along with torture, unlawful imprisonment, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, felonious assault, felon in possession of a firearm, and felony firearm.⁹ Worthy called it a case of “the silence of violence” and said the evidence would show “an appalling level of domestic violence that was cataclysmic.”³

On February 15, 2017, Green pleaded guilty to reduced charges: four counts of second-degree murder, plus torture, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, and felony firearm. The first-degree murder counts and several other charges were dismissed. The prosecutor’s office said the plea was made “with the express approval of Faith Green, the mother of the children and the father of the two Allen children.”¹⁰

Wayne County Circuit Judge Dana Hathaway sentenced Green on March 1, 2017, at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.¹¹ The sentence was 45 to 100 years for the four murder counts, plus two years for the felony firearm charge to be served first, for an effective maximum of 102 years. He will not be eligible for parole until age 97.⁶

Hathaway told Green that “of all the tragic cases this court has seen, this is by far the worst” and said she was “convinced that you will be incarcerated for the remainder of your life.”⁶ Assistant Prosecutor Trisha Gerard said Green pre-planned the murders: “he knew what he was going to do. He planned it.”¹¹ Faith Green addressed him in a victim impact statement: “You are a con artist. You are a monster. You are a devil in disguise,” and said his “justice will come when you burn in hell for all eternity for murdering four innocent children.”¹² Green told the court that “only he can judge” and that “all I ever wanted was a God-fearing” wife who “would support me, and be faithful no matter what.”

What the System Missed

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette noted that only two parole board members had approved the 2008 release and raised concerns about the process.³ Prisoner advocate Natalie Holbrooke of the American Friends Service Committee said Michigan law did not require the parole board to document whether an inmate had shown genuine remorse or empathy, did not require a written explanation for granting release, and did not require parole interviews to be recorded.²

The parole decision may not even have been the deciding factor. Michigan Department of Corrections spokesperson Holly Kramer said that even if Green had been denied parole every time, he would have “maxed out” his 15-to-25-year sentence by 2012 through accumulated disciplinary credits.² The 2013 PPO denial left Faith and the children without a formal legal barrier for the three years leading up to the murders.

Faith Green After the Attack

Faith Green survived and has since worked as an advocate for domestic violence survivors. She wrote a book titled “The Monster That Killed His Family Twice: The Faith Green Story” and volunteers at a women’s shelter in the Detroit area.¹³ In January 2023 she was the keynote speaker at a fundraiser hosted by the nonprofit How Understanding Something Helps (H.U.S.H.), where she received $2,500 in seed money to fund small businesses in her children’s names, including Chadwear, which showcases her son Chadney’s artwork. Southfield High School awarded Kara a posthumous diploma and established a scholarship in her name.¹⁴

Faith has described the period when a victim is preparing to leave an abusive relationship as “the most dangerous time,” and has urged other survivors to seek professional help. “I am Faith Green, this is my story. Don’t let it be yours,” she tells audiences.¹⁴

1
Detroit News. Details Emerge in Stabbing Death
2
Detroit News. Suspect Remorse
3
Click On Detroit. Grandfather of Slain Dearborn Heights Children Urged for Gregory Green’s Parole
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Detroit News. Slain Kids’ Bereaved Grandfather and Second Chances
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Detroit Free Press. Faith Green, Dearborn Heights
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CBS News Detroit. Dearborn Heights Man To Be Sentenced in Slayings of Four Children
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Detroit News. Dearborn Heights Kids
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CBS News. Mother Who Survived Attack That Left Four Kids Dead Attends Court in Wheelchair
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WXYZ Detroit. Man Accused in Dearborn Heights Deadly Attack on Family Could Face Judge
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MLive. Dearborn Dad Who Killed Family
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Arab American News. Dearborn Heights Father Who Murdered His Children Sentenced to Max of 102 Years
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Fox 13 News. Mother of Four Murdered Children to Ex-Husband: Burn in Hell
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Click On Detroit. Woman Shares Story Six Years After Ex-Husband Murders Her Four Children in Dearborn Heights Home
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Yahoo News. Faith Green, Mother Who Lost Four