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Gary Phillips-Donovan
MENOMINEE – A man from Bark River has filed an indisputable second degree murder plea in the murder of his adoptive father in 2019.
Gary Phillips-Donovan, 35, was originally charged with open air murder and two counts of home invasion in November 2019, for beating his father, Michael Donovan, 74, to death.
Phillips-Donovan made an indisputable plea of second degree murder earlier this week. The case had been scheduled for a jury trial scheduled for April, but the trial has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The sentence is set for November 5.
Michael Donovan, was found in the detached garage of his home at W546 US-2/41 in Harris Township on November 19, 2019, suffering from severe trauma to his head and face. A forensic autopsy determined that Michael Donovan died of blunt trauma to the head and neck, and that it was a homicide.
Gary Phillips-Donovan was later arrested and charged with the death of Michael Donovan. He has been imprisoned since that date.
Phillips-Donovan was linked with the circuit court in the case in January 2020.
Earlier testimonies from witnesses in Memoninee County courts have described the events on the day of the murder.
Reportedly, for Michael Donovan and his wife, Patricia, November 19 started off as a fairly normal day except that one of their granddaughters, who lives with them, stayed home sick from school.
According to Patricia Donovan, she and her husband were sitting at their kitchen table around 11:30 a.m., 12 p.m. EST when their granddaughter Carly Alexander, 9, came out and told them that “Uncle Gary” is in his and in Patricia’s room rummaging through the drawers where Patricia sometimes puts money away. Patricia and Alexander both spoke about how Michael Donovan got up and spoke loudly and sternly with Phillips-Donovan never to come home unannounced again.
According to Patricia, Phillips-Donovan, dressed in all-black clothes, left the house, and then a few minutes later, Michael got up to check the garage to make sure Phillips-Donovan wasn’t stealing anything.
After a while, Patricia and Alexander went to the garage to see Michael. When Patricia found her husband lying on the garage floor with blunt trauma to his face, she said she yelled at Alexander to go home to get his cell phone and walked over to the other residence in the property to look for his son Henry.
A shovel was found next to Michael Donovan’s body, however, Patricia recalled that Henry had moved it when he placed a towel under her head while she was on the phone with 911 dispatchers.
A homicide investigation by Michigan State Police has begun with Phillips-Donovan as the prime suspect.
At approximately 2:08 p.m., dispatchers informed officers that a white truck driven by Phillips-Donovan was at the Oasis gas station near the Island Resort and Casino in Harris Township.
Private Kyle Kelley helped Immel stop the vehicle and get the five people, including Phillips-Donovan, out of it. Phillips-Donovan has been taken into police custody.
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