In the cold of late February 2012, a grim discovery was made in a Detroit home on Proctor Street. Firefighters, after extinguishing a blaze that had engulfed the residence, found the bodies of 49-year-old David Simard, a white male, and 46-year-old Felicidad Tabares. It was quickly determined that the fire was not the cause of their deaths; they had been killed before the flames were set to conceal the crime.
The investigation into the double homicide revealed a brutal and calculated effort to destroy evidence.
The subsequent police investigation led to the arrest of two men, Charles Young and Salim Nafsu. They were charged with two counts of first-degree murder, as well as disinterment and mutilation of a body, indicating a particularly gruesome series of events had transpired. The home where the victims were found was shared by the two suspects, and it is believed that a fight had occurred two days prior to the discovery of the bodies, escalating to the tragic deaths of Simard and Tabares.
During the legal proceedings that followed, a jury found one of the accused guilty. A key piece of testimony came from an individual who stated that the defendant had confessed to the murders of both David Simard and Felicidad Tabares. The confession reportedly included details of the attempts made to destroy the evidence of their violent actions. Following the guilty verdict, the court imposed a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
