Murder suspect could serve years, even if acquitted
Kevin Jermaine Wiley, suspected in the April murder of girlfriend Marie Colburn in her Pontiac apartment, was extradited from Kentucky and is in police custody at the Oakland County Jail, where he’s been since Friday.
He faces a charge of first-degree murder.
Wiley, 34, was considered a parole absconder by the Michigan Department of Corrections on April 22, after he slipped the tether he agreed to wear as a condition of his March 2015 parole. It was found in Detroit, police say, along with Colburn’s car.
That same day, Colburn’s mother, Cynthia Simmons, found her body stuffed in a closet of her apartment. Before finding the body, Simmons saw a notice on Colburn’s door that prison officials were looking for Wiley.
In multiple stints on parole, Wiley had absconded parole multiple times and failed drug tests multiple times. Twice he returned to prison after being paroled in February 2009 on a manslaughter charge for which he served four years: On May 2012, when he was convicted on a home invasion charge, and in November 2014, when he went back to prison briefly for disabling his tether.
After being paroled again in March 2015, Wiley was required to wear a tether for a year, but in the 13 months between his release and April 2016, he spent six months off his tether between two different stints. This includes a stretch from August to March 2016, which is much longer than the three weeks he was missing between April 22 and being caught on Kentucky on May 11.
Colburn, 30, was a contract worker for Michigan.com who delivered The Detroit News and Free Press to about 250 customers in the Clawson area. She was a 2004 graduate of Lakewood High School in White Lake.
Wiley is due in court for a probable cause conference before Judge Preston Thomas at the 50th District Court in Pontiac on May 31 at 1:30 p.m., and his preliminary exam is set for June 9 at 9:30 a.m., said Paul Walton, chief assistant prosecutor for the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office.
At this time, the Michigan Department of Corrections is not pursuing a parole violation against Wiley, spokesman Chris Gautz said.
Wiley already has been denied bond, court records show, meaning he will remain in jail until his case is settled. In the event charges were dismissed or Wiley was found not guilty, MDOC could pursue the parole violation charge, Gautz said.
After being convicted on a home invasion charge in May 2012, Wiley was sentenced to a term of 15 months to 15 years. He was paroled on August 2013, and found in violation of that parole in November 2014, when he was sent back to prison until March 2015. If MDOC successfully pursued a parole violation, Wiley would have to serve the remainder of that original term.
No defense attorney has yet filed an appearance in the case, according to the 50th District Court.