In the early morning hours of August 10, 2012, a group of five people drove to a Detroit, Michigan, apartment building with a plan to commit a robbery. Inside, 25-year-old Joshua Hayes, a male resident, was unaware that his life was in imminent danger, not from strangers, but from a betrayal by someone he knew and trusted. His death would become another grim entry in a violent summer, and the investigation would initially hit a dead end, leaving a painful silence for those who awaited
justice.
The plot against Joshua was orchestrated by Felando Damone Hunter, Jerry Pringle, Amiri Naylor, Jaromeo Gibson, and Chanel McDonald. McDonald was an acquaintance of Joshua's and had maintained a friendly relationship with him. On that August night, she was the key to the deadly plan. Around 1:00 a.m., she sent a text message to Joshua, asking if she could come over to his apartment. After he agreed, she went upstairs alone while her four co-conspirators waited.
Inside the apartment, McDonald spent time with Joshua, intermittently exchanging text messages with Pringle. She concocted a story about needing to retrieve her wallet from her sister's car to get downstairs and unlock the building's door for the others. Hunter, armed with a rifle, and Pringle, with a revolver, went upstairs with McDonald. She re-entered Joshua's apartment, leaving the door slightly ajar, and gave a prearranged signal. The men burst in, and Hunter reportedly said, "Yeah, b----. Yeah, b----, you know what time it is." Both Hunter and Pringle then shot Joshua Hayes in the head.
After the brutal killing, the group ransacked the apartment, stealing a pair of sneakers, marijuana, prescription medication, a handgun, and $250 in cash. Joshua's body was discovered later that afternoon, but with no immediate suspects or leads, the investigation into his murder quickly went cold. For three months, the case sat open with little hope for a resolution, a painful reality for a city grappling with a high number of homicides that year.
The break in the case came unexpectedly in November 2012. Detroit Police Officer Allen Williams brought Chanel McDonald in for an interview as a potential witness in a completely unrelated homicide. Under the mistaken belief that the police wanted to talk to her about Joshua's murder, she began to confess the details of the robbery and killing. Realizing she was talking about a three-month-old cold case, the officer advised her of her rights and recorded a full confession, implicating everyone involved.
Joshua Hayes was one of four proven victims of serial killer Felando Damone Hunter in 2012. Just the day before murdering Joshua, Hunter had killed a military veteran named John Villneff during another burglary. For his string of violent crimes, Hunter was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder, torture, armed robbery, unlawful imprisonment, first-degree home invasion, and felony firearm charges. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jerry Pringle and Chanel McDonald both pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for their roles in Joshua's death. Pringle was sentenced to 42 to 82 years in prison, while McDonald received a sentence of 10 to 30 years and was paroled in 2022. The other two men involved also faced justice for their participation in the deadly home invasion.
