MI MI - Leon Means charged in murders of 4 women in Muskegon Heights

Means, a 61-year-old longtime prison convict, was arraigned late Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 15, on four counts of open murder.

According to a sworn statement by a Muskegon Heights police detective, Means on Wednesday admitted killing four women in their Muskegon Heights homes – two in 1989, two this week...

Means was charged with murdering Judy Bushman, 62, found Tuesday morning, Oct. 14, in her home in the 2600 block of Wood Street; Anna Lawson, 63, found early Tuesday in her home in the 200 block of East Sherman Boulevard; Cynthia Lou Herrera Means, his 30-year-old estranged wife, found June 15, 1989, in her home in the 2800 block of Jefferson Street; and his mother-in-law, Linda Lou Herrera, 48, in the same home.

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By 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, Oct. 14, word was traveling fast about an apparent stabbing death of a woman who lived just blocks away from his mother. That's when members of the Bushman family got worried, and went over to her Wood Street home where Judy Bushman had lived for years.

Dennis Bushman said his sister, Sarah Hooper, and her husband were met with locked doors when they arrived to her house. Sarah's husband went in through a window of the home and discovered Judy Bushman, 61, deceased with obvious signs of trauma...

Means, a convict, briefly stayed with Judy Bushman when Means and his girlfriend needed a place to stay. Means at one time dated the mother of Judy Bushman's daughter-in-law. That's how Judy Bushman knew Means, Dennis Bushman said. "The man who killed my mother was not her boyfriend," he explained. "I want that clear."

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“When I found them my mom, she was stabbed 15 times, shot once in her chest. My sister was stabbed over 30 times and they had been dead for 10 days,” he said. His mother 48-year-old Linda and his 30-year-old sister Cynthia had been murdered. Celestino says he knew from day one his sister’s husband Leon Means was responsible. Means had escaped from prison at the time of the murders.

He was charged with the stabbing deaths in 1989, but those charges were later dropped in hopes of building a stronger case against him for other felonies.

“Better late than never and it came at the bad expense of two other women’s lives,” Celestino said. “I’m sorry it had to come like that but if they had found him before and charged him he would have never got out and these two ladies would still be alive.”

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Documents show how a man suspected of committing a 1989 double homicide was allowed to leave prison, only to allegedly kill two more women earlier this year.

Leon Means, 61, is now charged with four murders that were committed decades apart.

Michigan Parole Board documents obtained by Target 8 through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act show what led to his release after two decades in prison and that police and prosecutors did try to keep him behind bars.

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Leon Means pleaded no contest Monday to the 2nd degree murders of his wife, Cynthia Means and his mother-in-law, Linda Herrera, in June of 1989. Means pleaded no contest earlier this year to killing Judy Bushman and Anna Lawson in October of 2014 and was sentenced to life in prison without a chance of parole.

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Richard said:

Leon Means, Michigan Serial Killer

This guy admitted to four murders:

Cynthia Means, his wife, murdered June 1989
Linda Herrera, his mother-in-law, murdered June 1989
Judy Bushman, 62, murdered 14 October 2014
Anna Lawson, 63, murdered 14 October 2014

There was a span of 25 years between these two double murders. How many other victims did he attack or murder between them?

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