DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. – When four Dearborn Heights children were killed in their home two weeks ago, the community wondered how the man charged in their deaths had earned parole eight years ago after murdering his pregnant wife.
Local 4 has learned Gregory Green had help from the now-grieving grandfather of the Dearborn Heights children.
Faith Green was in court Wednesday as her husband faced a judge and was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation. Since her children were slain and she was seriously injured weeks ago, the puzzling question has remained: Did she know about her husband's murderous past?
Faith's ex-husband, and father of her two oldest children, Chadney Allen Sr., told Local 4 the day after the killings:
"I'm wondering did she know about it? You know? How could she not know about it? And being involved with someone like that? She had two kids with the guy."
Faith and her family knew Green had served 16 years in state prisons for stabbing his pregnant wife to death in 1996. Michigan Department of Corrections documents show Faith's father, apostle Fred Harris, not only knew Green, but visited him in prison. Records show he even wrote support letters.
In an August 2005 letter, Harris wrote, "Gregory and I were friends before his mishap and he was incarcerated. I feel he has paid for his unfortunate lack of self control and the damage he has caused as much as possible and is sorry. This will not restore the lives that were taken. He will carry that with him for the rest of his life."
The following year, he wrote, "While interacting with Gregory, I have noticed a great deal of growth, and his understanding has matured quite a bit."
Meanwhile, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is deeply concerned only two parole board members approved Green's 2008 parole.
"I'm sure that there are a lot of people who are going to be looking into this, and I am one of them," Schuette said.
Harris was a longtime pastor and made it part of his ministry to try to help men in prison.
Green back in court Wednesday
A man accused of killing his four children and injuring his wife in Dearborn Heights was in court Wednesday morning for a probable cause conference and a competency exam was ordered to see if he will stand trial.
Gregory Vincente Green, 49, of Dearborn Heights, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, one count of torture, one count of unlawful imprisonment, one count of felonious assault, one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and felony firearms violations.
Green's attorney, Charles Longstreet, told the judge he is investigating an insanity defense. Longstreet said Green's behavior the night of the murders, in which he called 911 and waited for police to arrest him on his front steps, shows mental incapacity.
"I thought it was appropriate to get the ball rolling so to speak in regards to establishing an insanity defense but it doesn't mean there is going to be that defense," Longstreet said. "I just have to have the forensic center to determine whether that's going to be the defense to be used."
Green will be off for a psychiatric evaluation, which will take longer than two months. It forced the court to postpone Green's preliminary hearing, which was originally scheduled for next week.
Officers were called to a home in the 4400 block of Hipp Street near Annapolis Street on Sept. 21 after a man called police at about 1:15 a.m. to say that he had murdered his family. Gregory Green was waiting on the front porch to surrender when officers arrived and was arrested in the driveway of his home.
Sources said Green’s 4-year-old daughter, Kaliegh Green, and 5-year-old daughter, Koi Green, were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning in a car and their bodies were later moved inside the home. Police found duct tape on the muffler of a car in the garage and a plastic tube attached to the car. Gregory Green’s 17-year-old stepdaughter, Kara Allen, and 19-year-old stepson, Chadney Allen, were shot execution style in the basement of the home, authorities said.
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Faith Green in court
Faith Harris-Green, the children’s mother and the wife of the suspected killer, was shot and stabbed. Authorities said Faith Harris-Green was found in the basement of the home, bound with duct tape and zip ties. Gregory Green bound his wife, cut her face with a box cutter and shot her foot before shooting the two older children in front of her, authorities said.
Green made her second public appearance Wednesday when she unexpectedly showed up in court in a wheelchair. She watched as her husband stood in the courtroom in chains.
Green sat through the court proceedings after attending her children's funeral. She's unable to walk because of the gunshot wound she received in her foot during the murders. She also wore a black hat with a veil to hide her face, which was slashed with a box cutter.
A blanket on her lap, Green held hands with her sister as they watched Gregory Green walk into court. The hearing lasted less than two minutes, and Green's attorney told the judge he was investigating an insanity defense.
Autopsies on the two youngest children were completed Wednesday, and the Wayne County medical examiner ruled both deaths as homicides. Autopsies on the two older children were performed Thursday and the medical examiner also ruled their deaths homicides.
"There is nothing that better illustrates the silence of violence than this case. A confluence of events led to the deaths of four beautiful children," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. "The alleged evidence in this case will show an appalling level of domestic violence that was cataclysmic. We must push the issue of domestic violence back to the forefront and be constantly educated about it."
Competency exam ordered
Gregory Green was in court Wednesday for a probable cause conference where he was ordered to a have a psychiatric evaluation to see if Green is competent to stand trial and waive his Miranda rights.
The mother, Faith Harris-Green, was in the courtroom, wearing black and sitting in a wheel chair.
Gregory Green will be back in court when doctors have completed the psychiatric evaluation.
Father arraigned
Gregory Green appeared in court Sept. 22 morning for his arraignment on murder charges. He appeared with ankle cuffs and dressed in an orange jumpsuit.
The prosecutor asked for remand and Green agreed.
“I don’t need bond,” Green said in court. “I don’t think I deserve one.”
He was remanded to jail. A probable cause conference is scheduled for Oct. 5 and a preliminary hearing for Oct. 12.
Green previously convicted of murder
Gregory Green's criminal history shows that he served time for killing a former wife who was six months' pregnant.
According to records, Gregory Green was convicted of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his then-pregnant wife in March 1992. In a similar fashion, he called police to tell them what he had done and waited for them to arrive.
He pleaded no contest and served 16 years in prison.
He was denied parole four times for various reasons, but it was centered around his lack of remorse for the crime. After taking some cognitive-based programs, he was granted parole in 2008 and discharged in April 2010.
He married Faith Green after his release.
Marriage falls apart
The suspected killer and Faith Green were married in 2010, but the marriage began falling apart and the mother of four filed a police report in 2013, saying:
"He is trying to make me leave our home. We're filing for divorce. He's being belligerent, kicking things. He kicked the couch while the baby was sleeping on it. He's just kicking things, threatening me and saying if I don't leave, things are going to get ugly. He jumped at me like he was going to attack. This went on for four hours."
On the same day, she requested a personal protection order, but it was denied because of insufficient allegations. Police said they had not been called to the home in the previous three months and she had also not filed a complaint in that time.
She filed for divorce in January 2014, but since no action was taken after the filing, the case was dismissed. She filed for divorce again last month, saying that there had been a breakdown in the marriage and there was no reasonable likelihood that the marriage could be preserved.
Community mourns young lives lost
Residents who live near the home where the four children were found are trying to cope with losing their fellow students and friends.
Some students at Southfield High School left school early Wednesday after learning about the deaths of C.J. and Kara Allen.
Neighbors are also missing the children, who they said lit up their block. One neighbor said Gregory Green was nice to her, but she suspected that he wasn't nice to his wife.
"He kept her confined," Michelle Carson said. "(She) couldn't socialize, like a prisoner."
As she spoke with Local 4, Carson held the Green family's dog, who was entrusted to her by police. She said she often saw Kaleigh and Koi playing with the dog.
"It's going to be really hard to walk out my door and see this every day and remember those little kids, like, 'Hi, Miss Michelle,'" Carson said. "I can still see them in my head right now."
Among the friends of C.J. and Kara, learning that the teens died at the hands of their stepfather was disturbing news.
MORE: Friends, classmates mourn 17-year-old killed in Dearborn Heights
"I just hope she does get the justice she deserves," one friend said. "No one deserves this."
"It was her senior year," a friend said. "She's not going to experience college, being an adult, having a family, all because somebody was so sick."
Some students set up a makeshift memorial Wednesday at Inglenook Park. Others are planning a candlelight vigil Friday night at Annapolis High after the football game.
Kara was a football cheerleader and a National Honor Society member.
"Nothing we can do about it, just keep them in our prayers and do the best for the mother," a parent at the school said. "I really feel bad for the mom. You know, I'd rather die if my four children were dead."
Neighbors brought a prayer candle after they heard the ambulance overnight.
"We have a lot of old people around here too, so I thought it was something like that, but nothing to do with the babies," a neighbor said.
"It just shows you you never know what's going on behind closed doors," another neighbor said. "It's sad. It's a horrible thing that happened."