A 1998 mug shot of Will Kindred from the Roseville Police Department, when he was arrested on child abuse charges - about a year before Lisa's murder.
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: 04/20/2011
Will Kindred was well known to Roseville Police for taking his rage out on his wife and children. Public records show police were called to Kindred's home 17 times in four years for domestic issues. Some of the incidents were disturbingly violent.
Kindred was arrested three times and convicted twice for child abuse involving Lisa Kindred's son from a prior marriage. He was also arrested for an assault on Lisa. According to police reports, Kindred threatened to kill his wife on two occasions and once threatened to “take out the whole family.” In two of the arrests, police confiscated .22 caliber rifles from the Kindred home for “safe keeping.” The weapons were never returned.
In 1997, Kindred was arrested for assaulting his wife during a wild temper tantrum. Records indicate Kindred trashed the family home during an angry outburst, impaled a two-by-four board in the living room wall. Reports say Kindred then kicked in the bathroom door where Lisa had retreated, picked her up off the ground, threw her on the toilet and threatened to kill her and the entire family. Will Kindred was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence and served 93 days in jail.
In 1998, Police arrested Kindred for abusing his seven-year-old stepson. Reports say Kindred was angry because the boy was “bouncing around in his room.” According to police records, Kindred choked the child, held him down on the bed and whipped him with a belt on his face and chest. The boy's teachers called police the next day after the child told them he didn't feel well and he'd gotten a “bad whipping” from his father the night before.
Will Kindred told the Action News Investigators he regrets the incidents of domestic violence. He says they have prevented him from getting jobs. He also said the incidents were exaggerated by police and that he has since changed his life.
Action News uncovered records showing police were called to Kindred's home twice after Lisa's death for heated arguments involving two different girlfriends. There were no arrests in either of the incidents.
Some of the Roseville police reports are poor quality copies that are a bit difficult to read in spots, but police say they are the best copies available.
Roseville Police Records After Lisa's Murder
Roseville Police Records Before Lisa's Murder
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
During his 22 years as a Detroit Cop, Mike Carlisle had a reputation as a no- nonsense guy who got the job done. During his last 10 years, he tackled some of Detroit's most difficult murder cases.
Will Kindred says he was just walking out of his brother-in-law’s house when he heard a loud noise like a car door slamming and saw his wife’s van speeding down the street.
Will Kindred was well known to Roseville Police for taking his rage out on his wife and children. Public records show police were called to Kindred's home 17 times in four years for domestic issues. Some of the incidents were disturbingly violent.
In the hours and days following the Kindred murder, Detroit Police searched five homes and an apartment looking for evidence that would connect Justly Johnson and Kendrick Scott to the killing. Police records show they found nothing.
Justly Johnson, convicted in the murder of Lisa Kindred, says there is a man who can vouch for his innocence but he doesn’t know his last name, or where to find him.
Judge Prentis Edwards found Justly Johnson guilty after a two-day trial. There was no jury. He acknowledged there were no eyewitnesses and there was only circumstantial evidence.
Shortly after the murder of Lisa Kindred, Detroit Police had two witnesses who fingered Justly Johnson and Kendrick Scott as the killers. But their stories were not consistent. They even disagreed on which of the two men actually pulled the trigger.
According to the affidavits, Lisa Kindred told Jodi Gonterman that if anything ever happened to her she should suspect her husband Will Kindred. According to the affidavits, from people who talked to Kindred's sister, Lisa also told her sister that if anything happened to her, she wanted Gonterman to have custody of her kids.
For 12 years, Justly Johnson has been fighting to get his story out. Now you can hear, in Johnson’s own words, why he thinks he deserves a shot at freedom. After a couple months of studying this murder case, I decided it was time for a face-to-face meeting with Justly Johnson.
The only significant piece of physical evidence left behind by the killer of Lisa Kindred is the casing from the small caliber bullet that pierced her heart.
Justly Johnson was 24 years old when he was arrested for the murder of Lisa Kindred and unless he is successful on appeal, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
With all of the questions surrounding the murder of Lisa Kindred, one thing is undisputed; she and her husband had a very stormy on-again, off-again relationship.
When Justly Johnson was convicted in 2000, he immediately started working to get a new trial. Johnson contacted Innocence Projects in every state. At that time, Michigan had only one Innocence Project at Cooley Law School in Lansing and they only accepted cases with DNA evidence.
Lawyers for the Michigan Innocence Clinic are ramping up efforts to free a man doing life in prison for a murder he says he didn't commit.