Man Gets Life In Prison For Killing Man Whose Body Was Found Burning

An Iowa man was sentenced to life in prison Monday for killing a 44-year-old man last year.

Steven Vogel, 32, of Grinnell, was convicted in mid-November of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse after beating and hanging Michael Williams on or around Sept. 12, 2020, then throwing his body in a ditch in rural Kellogg, Iowa, and setting it on fire days later, the Des Moines Register reported.

Witnesses testified during his trial that Vogel, a white man, admitted to three people he killed Williams, a Black man, out of jealousy stemming from a love triangle involving Vogel's girlfriend, whose name was not revealed.

Vogel and the victim were known acquaintances who socialized in the same circles.

Williams' body was found burning in a ditch on the side of the road in Kellogg on Sept. 16, 2020, People reported, citing police complaints. After extinguishing the fire, authorities saw human remains wrapped in plastic and cloth and bound with rope and duct tape. The medical examiner later ruled Williams' death a homicide by strangulation.

Vogel's friend Cody Johnson testified that Vogel told him he killed Williams — whom Vogel called "Black Mike" — by clubbing his head from behind and hanging him with a rope in the basement of the 32-year-old's Grinnell home.

The Iowa State Medical Examiner's office said that Williams' head injuries were consistent with blunt-force trauma and that the victim appeared to have been strangled for five to six minutes until he died.

Vogel kept Williams' body in his basement for four days before disposing of it allegedly with the help of Johnson, Vogel's mother Julia Cox and his mother's boyfriend Roy Garner.

Judge Shawn Showers sentenced Vogel to life in prison without the possibility of parole and five years because Vogel was also convicted on a charge of abusing a corpse.

During Vogel's sentencing, the judge described him as a "dangerous cold-blooded killer," according to Iowa Public Radio.

"You treated Michael Williams like he was not human. You clubbed him. Strangled him to death. Kept him in your basement like an animal that you would kill. You wrapped up his body, set it on fire. And you dehumanized Michael Williams. And Mr. Williams did not deserve that," the judge said.

While all four people charged in Williams' death are white, authorities and the Iowa-Nebraska chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) said no evidence showed Williams was targeted and killed because of his race.

However, the victim's family called Williams' death a "lynching."

“The love interest in this love triangle had been with several other people prior to alleging to be with my nephew,” the victim's aunt Paula Terrell said. “Those people were not murdered. Why kill 'Black Mike,' as he was referred to by the defendant? Why did he have to kill Black Mike? It was a lynching.”

Johnson, Cox and Garner were all charged with destroying evidence of the killing. Cox and Garner were also charged with abusing a corpse.

Johnson and Cox are scheduled to be back in court Monday. Garner will also return to court Monday and will go to trial on Jan. 19.