True Crime: Small Town Murder

I am a Criminal Justice student. I wrote the following paper for my Juvenile Corrections class.

A crime against a child usually sends shock and concern throughout the community. It also raises many questions: How could this happen? Who would dare hurt a child? Why? It is even more shocking to the general public when they find out that the one who committed the act of violence was also a child.

It is not difficult for someone to begin to throw out accusations as to why a child commits an act of violence on another child. A good portion of people would probably tell you that the child’s behavior is because of his home life. But what about the children who commit heinous acts that live in good neighborhoods with a family who is caring and loves them? This is the case for Michael George.

Michael Eugene George was born on the day of love, February 14^th, 1981. He grew up to be a very intelligent 17 year-old. He was a smart young man who, for whatever reason, never fully applied himself. He was thought of as lazy by teachers. The few friends he did have were troublemakers and often got him into trouble as well. This isn’t out of the ordinary though, it is something seen often in high schools among cliques.

His home life was nothing of the unusual. He had never been in any serious trouble; except once in high school. A hit-list with over 160 names of students and celebrities was found and the Principal had called his mother down to discuss the matter. He was suspended but never talked to a therapist or the police about it. He was your average loner on the outside, but on the inside he was a tortured young man.

He was an only child to parents who divorced when he was young. He lived with his father in the small city of Brookings, Oregon, right on the coast. He didn’t see his mother very often because she lived farther north. Just like so many children, he didn’t like his dad’s new girlfriend. But dislike doesn’t seem to be a strong enough word. In fact he hated her so much he had planned on killing her and her young daughter. He was very close to his father and when his girlfriend broke up with him, Michael got very angry at her for hurting him. Neither his father nor he knew why she had decided to leave.

To vent so much of the anger Michael had, he would secretly write in his journal. He wrote about graphic and disturbing sexual desires, including necrophilia. He wrote about his desire to kill and torture small animals, as well as have sex with them too. He wrote about how and who he would kill if he ever got the chance. In his journal he could be the famous serial killer he so desired to be. He even made a “kill kit” for the future. He wrote about the plans he and his two buddies had to rob every bank in town and never get caught. He wrote about his heroes, Adolf Hitler and Ted Bundy. Journal after journal he poured his secrets out. This evidence would later be plenty of fuel for the prosecution to use against him at his trial.

Michael had his run-ins with authority but never anything too serious. He had detention after detention in high school for things like back talking or not doing homework; petty offenses compared to what would soon unravel and still nothing out of the ordinary for a teen boy. He would rebel against doing homework and he would cop an attitude with teachers. At one point he was even suspended from school again.

In interviews with past classmates, several would remember him as always talking about robbing banks and his heroes, Satan and Hitler. One girl said she didn’t like him at all when they first met, but over time she began to find him funny and said he was always joking. Other students said he wasn’t funny at all and the only reason people were laughing was to laugh at him. A High School teacher who had taught Michael Psychology in school said one day he asked the students their ultimate wish and Michael had said he wished he could be God. When asked why he said he could make people disappear; enemies disappear.

This past July marked the eleventh year since the death of 9 year old Justin Lang. Since Michael cannot in his own words explain to me why he committed such a heinous crime, I called in to the District Attorney’s office to find out for myself. I had the privilege of rifling through his colossal files. Two large, cardboard boxes stacked with all the information necessary on Michael George waited for me in the D.A’s office. One contained two manila envelopes with pictures of the crime scene as well as Michaels own living quarters. Also inside that box were jury questionnaire packets and not just a few but anywhere from 50 to 70 of them. The second box contained numerous amounts of interviews by people who knew Michael, as well as the documents used by both the prosecution and the defense. There was a packet dictating the 9-1-1 call Michael made that sealed his fate, a packet explaining the items taken into evidence and why, and taped interviews of the young man talking to investigators. The only thing missing from the box was a reason why.

It was the middle of summer and 17 year old Michael George was babysitting a local boy, Justin Lang, age 9. Juli and Kenneth Lang left their young son under the supervision of Michael for the day. It wasn’t the first time they left their son with him, but it would be the last. For weeks Michael had been fighting the urges to kill a human being. On July 25^th, he could not resist the urge any longer. When he got to the Lang’s house he didn’t know he was going to kill Justin. After the parents left, the boys played video games and just hung out. A few hours later Michael conned Justin to go into his room to play Donkey Kong. Once there, Michael wrapped a lengthy piece of rope around the boy’s neck and began strangling him. It was taking too long and he couldn’t stand to hear the boy pleading for him to stop. So he grabbed a knife from Justin’s bed and stabbed him first in the back, then the neck, then in the chest. He stabbed him 85 times that the coroner could count but it was difficult to tell because some wounds were wider and deeper than others. Justin died at the hands of Michael that day.

Michael left the Lang’s house with a gun and ammunition he had stolen from there. He walked to the house of some neighbors he knew. He had planned to take the woman’s car at gunpoint, but unfortunately for him, the woman’s husband was home and he realized the ammo he had taken didn’t fit in the gun. He grew scared and walked away. He went to his father’s ex-girlfriend’s apartment where he had planned to rape and murder the woman’s 10 year old daughter. Luckily, the two were out for the day. As his evil plan began to fall apart he started the long walk up the Checto River. A volunteer would later retrace Michael’s steps and say that it took him 3 hours and 26 minutes to walk from the victim’s house to the market at which he called 9-1-1. Somewhere along his walk he began to wake up from his psychotic rampage. He threw his black duffel bag that contained the contents of his “kill kit” over the side of the mountain and into the river and then walked to a payphone where he called the police. He confessed everything to the dispatcher and gave her a play by play of his crime.

He told the 911 dispatcher that he had to confess to a crime he had just committed and he had “been for a long while reading these books on who to kill and stuff” and he wanted to try it. He said, “and I finally did it today, and I…it wasn’t cool”. The dispatcher kept him on the phone and he kept telling her how he had been interested in crime for over a year and thought it’d be cool to kill somebody. Through his sobs he sounded genuinely dissatisfied with the fact that the murder didn’t make him feel the way he thought it would. The dispatcher then contacted Deputy Ensley of the Curry County Police Department and let him talk to the boy. He got directions and then went out to meet him.

Apparently the news of the murder didn’t surprise his dad’s ex-girlfriend as much as everyone else. In fact, she told police the reason she left Michael’s father was because she found some of his journals and his detailed to-do lists. She feared for her daughter’s safety and took her away. She may have been able to stop all of this had she told someone about her concerns.

Detectives from the Oregon State Police worked the case. They had scoured Michael’s room for evidence and had found numerous journals. According to one detective, the boy “had the potential to be a notorious serial killer”. The only reason he would never become one was because his plans unraveled and he lost confidence in himself.

The victim’s stepmother, Donna Lang, said Michael was “normal to be around, he knew right from wrong”. She told investigators the murder weapon, a knife, was in Justin’s room and was part of his collection. She also told investigators that both she and her husband wanted Michael locked up for life.

Throughout the investigation, people who knew Michael were interviewed so that investigators could get a better idea of who he was. Senior Trooper Stone of the Oregon State Police interviewed Cathy Vesper-Wilson, Brookings Harbor High Librarian. Cathy told Trooper Stone in a recorded interview that Michael checked out more books than most students. She said he was a very good reader and nearly 100% of the time he read true crime novels and books on forensics. On very rare occasions he would pick up a history book; “he loved the Wild West”. Trooper Stone asked if any of this concerned her. She said in the beginning it didn’t, but she eventually went to the school counselor and also asked him personally about it. Michael told her that he intended to be a true crime novelist when he grew up and wanted to read as much as possible on the matter. She goes on to tell Trooper Stone how brilliant he was. He never had a late book, he was independent, and knew what he wanted when he was there. His only downfall it seemed was that he was a loner; he never came to the library with friends.

When evaluated, Michael was diagnosed as OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), having personality disorders, being insecure, he relied on deviant fantasies to pump up his self esteem, no major indications of mental illness, no delusions or hallucinations, although he did claim voices were telling him “kill, kill, kill” while he was stabbing Justin.

Michael will never see outside the prison walls he has come to know so well. A cellmate told police that he often talked about the murder but wished he could take it back. He was often heard saying that he still had the desire to kill and if he ever got out he would “go after her”. This alone would keep Michael in prison. He continuously talked about killing, sex, his past and his sick desires. He obviously hasn’t changed, even if he made sure to tell anyone who was listening that being in prison had changed him for the better. He has a dangerous mind that isn’t safe out in the real world.

Case number 90-9079. At trial Michael George was found guilty on three counts: guilty of Aggravated Murder against Justin Lang, guilty of Burglary I, not guilty of Attempted Aggravated Murder of the 10 year-old girl but guilty of Attempted Rape I of the girl.

If one is a juvenile at the time of murder (like Michael was) then the death penalty is automatically taken off the table. This is true even if you are an adult at time of trial (like Michael) or are tried as an adult (also like Michael). Michael Eugene George now spends his days in a prison where he will remain for the rest of life without the possibility of parole.

Measure 11 was put into action by the people of Oregon who voted on it. Since 1995 when it became law, Measure 11 has provided mandatory sentences for a large list of crimes committed by juveniles, including 16 felonies. Because of this measure, any juvenile that committed any Measure 11 crime would automatically be prosecuted as an adult. Michael George was prosecuted under Measure 11 and he was so close to being 18 that he was tried as an adult anyways.

It is truly disturbing to know that a child is capable of such violent acts. The thing people can do to help prevent these tragic cases is to listen to their gut instincts. The librarian knew something was unsettling with the boy but she shrugged it off. His father’s ex also knew that he was a sick boy but she never told a soul until it was too late. If these people had got involved earlier and listened to their feelings things may have turned out drastically different. People fear getting involved because they don’t want to be perceived as noisy or neurotic, but it is important to get involved.

So why is it that children commit violent acts against other children? That question is still hard to answer. In the case of Michael George, he was a very confused and disturbing young man. He may have just needed someone to talk to instead of keeping his anger pent up and inside journals. He showed warning signs that flew somewhat under the radar. With proper medication and counseling it would have been a good step in a more positive direction.

Children show warning signs but so many choose to ignore them. All in all people should look for warning signs and get the child help as soon as possible. None of this should be taken lightly.