Seth Privacky was a teen killer from Michigan who would murder five people
According to court documents Seth Privacky would get into an argument with his parents that would end with Seth shooting and killing his mother, father, brother and grandfather as well as his brothers girlfriend
Seth Privacky would initially tell police that the murders were committed by his brother as part of a murder suicide pact however that story would soon fall apart.
Seth Privacky would be arrested and ultimately would plead no contest to five counts of murder and would be sentenced to life in prison without parole
However twelve years after the five murders Seth Privacky would be shot and killed while attempting to escape from Kinross Correctional Facility
Seth Privacky Case
An 18-year-old was arrested Monday and accused along with a friend of methodically shooting to death five people–his father, mother, grandfather, brother and his brother’s girlfriend.
Authorities said the shootings were stretched out across Sunday afternoon, with the victims probably shot one by one at the family’s home. The crime was discovered around midnight Sunday, when the body of the father, an elementary school teacher, was found in his driveway in this rural community.
“The house was scattered with bodies. There was blood everywhere,” prosecutor Tony Tague said. “It’s difficult to imagine what possesses 18-year-olds to do something like this.”
Seth Privacky, 18, eluded searchers through the night and was arrested Monday afternoon in a barn a mile from his home.
Earlier in the day, police using tracking dogs arrested 18-year-old Steven Wallace, who had been seen running out of the woods not far from the home, Tague said.
“What we have here is two young individuals who got involved in a very bad situation and attempted to cover it up,” Tague said.
Both men were to be arraigned today on murder charges.
Killed were Privacky’s parents, Stephen Privacky, 50, and Linda A. Privacky, 49; his grandfather John J. Privacky, 78; his brother, Jedediah, 19; and Jedediah’s girlfriend, April A. Boss, 19.
The killings were discovered after Boss’ parents went to the house to look for their daughter.
Investigators believe the killings took place over an extended period of time, with the victims perhaps forced to stay in the house as each was slain, State Police Sgt. Gary Miles told the Muskegon Chronicle.
Investigators believe the killings took place over an extended period of time, with the victims perhaps forced to stay in the house as each was slain, State Police Sgt. Gary Miles told the Muskegon Chronicle.
“There was little sign of struggle, no tying up,” Tague said. “But the shooting occurred with a definite plan of shooting all five.” Some of the bodies may have been dragged through the house, he said.
Two bodies were found in a small room off the garage, another in a room off the basement, and a fourth in an upstairs bathroom.
The Chronicle said Privacky was ordered to take medication as part of his punishment for stealing beer in 1996, but juvenile court papers did not identify the medication or the reason it was prescribed.
Doreena Schaeffer, a cashier at the Dalton EZ Mart who knew the family for a dozen years, said that the Privackys were active in school affairs and that her son played basketball with Seth Privacky.
“The kids were well-mannered. I never had any problem with my son playing with Seth,” she said.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-dec-01-mn-49584-story.html
Seth Privacky Death
An inmate serving life in prison for killing five people was fatally shot Thursday while trying to escape with two other inmates from a northern Michigan prison, authorities said.
Seth Privacky, 30, was killed by a corrections officer at the Kinross Correctional Facility in Kincheloe, the state Department of Corrections said. The other two inmates surrendered.
The three men overpowered a man driving a tractor-trailer at the prison, then crashed the truck through a double chain-link fence. The truck traveled about 100 yards before the men jumped out and began running, and Privacky was shot after ignoring guards’ warnings to stop, prison officials said.
“It got wrapped up in the fence,” Warden Jeffrey Woods said of the truck. “Although there’s a ton of damage, the fence stopped the truck. It did its job.”
The minimum- and medium-security prison, about 275 miles north of Detroit, holds more than 1,800 prisoners and was placed on lock-down but all inmates were accounted for, Corrections Department spokesman John Cordell. Michigan State Police are investigating.
Privacky was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a 1998 shooting spree that killed his parents, grandfather, brother and brother’s girlfriend near Muskegon. At the time, prosecutors called it “the worst mass murder in west Michigan history.”
The other inmates who tried to escape were Brian Davidson, 31, who was serving life in prison for a 2002 murder in Kent County, and Andrew Ross, 25, who was sentenced to up to 40 years for a 2003 triple slaying in Macomb County.
Both men could face charges related to the escape attempt, Cordell said.
The inmates attacked the truck driver at a food service delivery loading dock around 9:10 a.m., took his keys, then drove the truck through a the fence, which was topped with razor wire, Cordell said.
The truck driver who was attacked was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Cordell said. No other injuries were reported at the prison.
Privacky pleaded no contest to five counts of first-degree murder in the Thanksgiving weekend 1998 deaths of John J. Privacky, 78; Stephen C. Privacky, 50; Linda Privacky, 49; Jedediah J. Privacky, 19; and April A. Boss, 19.
Authorities said the killings were triggered when Privacky’s father asked him to move out. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing purposes.
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/1-dead-2-captured-after-attempted-prison-break
