Iowa Resident Found Guilty of Murder; Victim's Family Wants Him Charged With Hate Crime

An Iowa man is awaiting his sentencing on Dec. 13 after he was charged with first-degree murder.

According to reports, Steven Vogel killed Michael Williams, a black man whose body was found in a ditch. After his murder, Vogel reportedly wrapped Williams' body in cloth and plastic before asking help from other people to throw the remains in a ditch. Firefighters patrolling the area were the ones that found Williams' body.

Man that helped Steven Vogel testified against him

On Tuesday, Vogel was found guilty of abusing a corpse. His mom and three other people were also charged with abusing a corpse and accessory to the crime, but they all pleaded not guilty.

The three Grinnell residents, later identified as Julia Cox, Roy Garner, and Cody Johnson, were accused of destroying evidence of the killing. In court, the latter testified against Vogel and said that the Iowa resident told him that he killed "Black Mike" by clubbing his head from behind and then hanging him with a rope.

Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown slammed Vogel for killing Williams even though he knew that his victim had a family.

"He had a life, and [Vogel] took it from him. He strangled the life out of him. [Vogel] takes him to a ditch in rural Jasper County. They toss him away, they put an accelerant on his body, and they light him on fire," Brown said via Des Moines Register.

Michael Williams' family not satisfied with court's decision

But even though Adam DeCamp, a special agent in charge at the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said that justice was served for Williams and his family, the victim's relatives are convinced that Vogel should've also been charged with a hate crime.

Williams' aunt, Paula Dee Terrell, accused authorities of minimizing the role that race played in the victim's murder. They insisted that Vogel is a white man and Williams is black, and their race might have played a huge factor in the victim's demise.

However, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office denied Terrell's allegations by saying that Vogel wasn't charged with a hate crime because there was insufficient evidence to prove this claim.

DeCamp also said that if there were sufficient evidence suggesting that Williams' murder was a hate crime, then they would've charged Vogel as such.

Love triangle reportedly caused Michael Williams' death

However, DeCamp said that the two men's issues had to do with their involvement with the same woman. Williams reportedly dated the same woman that Vogel was with for years, and the latter couldn't take it, so he killed the former, according to NBC News.

According to CBS News, Vogel told witnesses that he killed Williams due to jealousy over a love triangle with an unnamed woman.

Vogel's attorney did not deny their client's involvement in Williams' killing in their closing statements. Instead, they said that the incident was not deliberate, and they also said that there is not enough DNA evidence to prove that Vogel killed Williams.