In the quiet community of Muskegon Heights, Michigan, 62-year-old Judy Kay Bushman was found dead in her home on Wood Street in October 2014. Her death was not from natural causes, and authorities immediately began a homicide investigation. There were no obvious signs of the cause of death at the scene, leaving her family and the community searching for answers. Her daughter described her as a beautiful, caring, and loving person who would give the shirt off her back.
The investigation into Bushman's death took a dark turn when it was discovered that another woman, 63-year-old Anna Lawson, had also been killed in her home just three blocks away on the same night. Lawson's home had been ransacked, there was blood everywhere, and her silver Chevrolet Malibu was missing. Initially, police were unsure if the two murders were connected, causing a wave of fear to spread through the neighborhood. The Violent Crimes Task Force was brought in to assist the Muskegon Heights Police Department in their investigation.
The break in the case came with the arrest of Leon Means. He eventually entered a no-contest plea to the murders of both Judy Bushman and Anna Lawson. In June 2015, a Muskegon judge sentenced Means to two sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. During the sentencing, the niece of Anna Lawson addressed Means in court, calling him a 'cold-blooded murderer' and a 'serial killer.' It was revealed that Means was also a suspect in two other murders, those of his wife and her mother in 1989, for which he still faced charges. He had been an escaped prisoner at the time of those earlier crimes. Family members of the victims requested that he be sent to a prison in the Upper Peninsula to make it more difficult for his family to visit him.
