Michigan Man, Daniel Clay, convicted of murdering Halloween partygoer, Chelsea Bruck, after claiming he accidentally choked her to death while they had rough sex in his car
Man is convicted of murdering Poison Ivy partygoer, 22, he met at a Halloween bash after claiming he accidentally choked her to death while they had rough sex in his car
Chelsea Bruck, 22, was last seen on October 26 in Frenchtown Township, Michigan after going to a Halloween party dressed as a poison ivy
Six months later, Chelsea Bruck’s naked body was found 15 miles away,in wooded area of Ash Township
Police arrested Daniel Clay in July 2016, charged him in relation to her death
Clay was convicted Tuesday, of first-degree murder over the death of Chelsea Bruck in 2014, by a Michigan court
Clay said he met Bruck at a Halloween party after consuming drugs and alcohol
He had claimed Bruck was accidentally choked while they had sex in his vehicle
He faces life in prison without parole
Daniel Clay had claimed Bruck died after she was accidentally choked while they had rough sex in his car. The jury found him guilty of first-degree murder
A man has been convicted of first-degree murder almost two and half years after the naked body of a 22-year-old Michigan woman who went missing from a Halloween party was found.
Chelsea Bruck was last seen on October 26, 2014, in Frenchtown Township after going to a party while dressed as Poison Ivy.
Witnesses at the time told police she had been seen about 3am in a parking lot with an unidentified man.
Daniel Clay, 28, was convicted of first-degree murder over the death of Chelsea Bruck in a Michigan court on Tuesday.
Bruck was last seen on October 26, 2014, in Frenchtown Township after going to a Halloween party while dressed as Poison Ivy. Her body was found stashed in nearby woods about six months later.
There was no dispute over whether Clay killed Bruck, and jurors in his trial instead had to decide whether his explanation for events was true. Clay’s defense centered on his claim that Chelsea whom he picked up at a Halloween party accidentally choked to death while they were having rough sex in his car. has been found guilty of murder.
Chelsea Bruck went missing after a Halloween party in 2014. She had attended the event dressed as Poison Ivy.
However that account was dismissed by prosecutors, who said injuries to Bruck’s face showed she had been beaten by Clay. He had been arrested in 2016 after DNA evidence found on Bruck’s Poison Ivy costume led investigators to him.
‘The defendant murdered Chelsea Bruck, then discarded her lifeless, naked body,’ prosecutor Michael Roehrig said. The Medical Examiner had already ruled that Bruck died from blunt force trauma to the head when Clay was arrested in July, 2016.
After he was remanded Clay called his girlfriend from jail the next day.and reprtedly had a conversation which led Roehrig to surmise he ‘done it’.
“She said don’t lie to me, tell me what happened and he said it was an accident,” Roehrig said “(She said it was) rough sex. I believe she did not want to have sex and he choked her and did what ever else he wanted to do to her.”
Furthermore, when police arrived, they made a discovery: “They found journals, panties, and jewelry in his backpack. [He] said it was an accident, why don’t you call? Why do you have her stuff?” Roehrig asked.
‘Clearly he never wanted to be caught.’
Chelsea Bruck celebrating her 22nd birthday before she went missing after a Halloween party in 2014
Daniel Clay is pictured in a Michigan court on May 15 prior to his convicted for the murder of 22-year-old Chelsea Bruck in 2014
Bruck disappeared about 15 miles away from where her body was discovered in April 2015 in Monroe County’s Ash Township.
She was dressed as the fictional comic villain at the party and was wearing a leaf-covered top and a dark purple wig.
Her body wasn’t clothed when workers found it while trying to free a dump truck from soggy soil.
The Poison Ivy costume was found about ten miles away at an industrial site near Flat Rock just weeks before her body was discovered.
Daniel Clay had a history of runins with the law. In 2007 alone he had pled guilty to breaking and entering, assault and battery.
Missing person flyer for Chelsea Bruck. More than one million fliers were handed out in the six-month relentless search for the Munroe, Michigan woman. Her body was found in April of 2015
Investigators are seen searching the area near when Bruck’s naked body was discovered after her disappearance
Clay denied striking Bruck during his testimony Monday. He said he consumed drugs and alcohol at the Halloween party and offered Bruck a ride when he saw her on the road.
‘I didn’t mean for this to end like this,’ Clay said.
He now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without a chance for parole.
Roehrig told reporters the verdict means Bruck’s family is ‘nearing the end of a 31-month ordeal’.
‘It’s a huge emotional relief for everyone involved.’
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