Michigan man convicted of kidnap, sexual assault of woman who faked an obituary to hide

A Michigan man was convicted Monday on multiple felony charges relating to a 2020 kidnapping and sexual assault incident in Calhoun County. 

The circumstances of the incident in the Battle Creek area had involved so many threats directed toward the then 28-year-old victim that she refused to testify, the Calhoun County Prosecutor's Office said. The woman had even fled Michigan and "going so far as to create a fake obituary for herself to get people to stop looking for her," the prosecutor's office said. 

William Devon Google Jr., 39, will be sentenced on June 1 in the case. 

The Calhoun County Sheriff's Office said Google tried to get the victim to participate in illegal substances on Oct. 12, 2020, but she refused, according to the prosecutor's report. 

The suspect tried to force sexual intercourse on the victim, and she also refused that activity. 

Google then pulled a gun, pointed it at her and pulled the trigger on a weapon that had an empty chamber, the prosecutor said. 

The woman waited until he stepped away from her to use the bathroom. She stole the gun and fled. 

Prosecutor David E. Gilbert said Google was alleged to have sent text messages to other people, seeking the woman's whereabouts and even offering money if she was found and held until he could meet up with her. 

The woman said he found her the following day in Battle Creek. Multiple people saw Google and a co-defendant enter the building, approach her and verbally forced her to go with them, the prosecutor said. 

The woman later said the two took her to a storage unit off Dickman Road that was rented by the other man, where she was sexually assaulted multiple times. The woman reported the rape and kidnapping the next day to the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office. 

DNA testing, along with other evidence, was seized from the storage unit. 

"The woman refused to testify due to numerous threats she received in 2025 from Google and from others on his behalf," the prosecutor's office said. "She reported each incident to law enforcement but was terrified for her life to the point that she fled the state of Michigan in 2025, going so far as to create a fake obituary for herself to get people to stop looking for her. Prosecutors sent multiple agencies to look for her, but could not locate her." 

Given the circumstances, Gilbert said his office relied on the testimony of other witnesses, DNA testing and other evidence to present the charges and seek a conviction. 

The trial began April 14 and concluded April 20, with the guilty verdicts returned after about 45 minutes of deliberation. 

Google was convicted on all charges in the case, Gilbert said.  

Those charges were three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a weapon; assault with intent to do great bodily harm; assault with a dangerous weapon; felon in possession of a firearm; kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment.  

Google was also charged as a violent habitual offender, which adds to the potential sentence.