Michael Wolfe sentenced in murders of Salem mom and son
McMINNVILLE — The family of Karissa and William "Billy" Fretwell has been waiting three years for their murderer to see justice.
The case that ensued after the bodies of the 25-year-old Salem woman and her 3-year-old son were discovered in rural wooded Yamhill County has dragged on longer than William's short life.
On Wednesday, Michael Wolfe was sentenced to life in prison for their murders.
The case culminated before a packed courtroom filled with her family members and law enforcement officers who investigated the case.
Wearing a shirt depicting Karissa and William with the phrase "Gone but not forgotten," Karissa's mother, Nyla Bales, stood and addressed Wolfe.
"She loved that little boy so much," Bales said. "She was working full time and going to college full time trying to make a life for them."
The courtroom was decorated with dozens of photos of the mother and son —smiling in front of a backdrop of cherry blossoms, at her graduation, playing in the pool, smiling at the coast, giving shoulder rides and hugging.
Wolfe, 55, changed from his jailhouse scrubs into a suit. He sat obscured from media cameras behind his attorneys for most of the hearing.
Wolfe could have a chance at parole after 30 years, when he will be well into his 80s.
Last month, Wolfe pleaded guilty to murdering Karissa and William.
William was Wolfe's biological son, but he was not part of the toddler's life. He killed them a few days after he was ordered to pay child support.
Wolfe's change of plea took the death penalty off the table.
Not wanting to jeopardize the criminal case against her killer, Karissa's family refused to talk to the media in the years following her and William's murders.
But after Wolfe admitted he killed them and the case moved toward sentencing, Karissa's mother Nyla Bales and step-father Kirk Bales sat down with the Statesman Journal to talk about their loss.
Read the exclusive interview:'He was her world:' Family opens up about Karissa and Billy Fretwell murders
From working mom to missing person
Fretwell survived her troubled teen years to commit wholely to raising her son, who she called Billy, while working full-time jobs and attending Western Oregon University. When she eventually sought financial support from Wolfe, who was married at the time of Billy's birth, it may have cost them their lives.
In April 2019, the court ordered Wolfe to pay Karissa $904 a month. A judge signed the order May 10. Three days later, she and Billy disappeared from their West Salem apartment.
She didn't drop him off at his babysitter's, her phone was off, her glasses were left on her bed and she was a no-call no-show at work — all very unusual for her, her family said.
Prosecutor Kathryn Lynch said Wolfe's actions in May 2019 showed true premeditation. She outlined the facts of the case during Wednesday's sentencing.
Read more about Karissa and Billy:Chapter I: Karissa overcomes troubled teen years, hopes to be a teacher
Chapter 2: 3 days after winning child support case, Karissa and Billy disappear
Chapter 3: Karissa's and Billy's bodies found in a remote Oregon forest
Chapter 4: Karissa tackles life as a single mom to her 'darling boy'
Salem Police detectives interviewed several friends who told officers Karissa had recently been in court against Billy's father.
Wolfe and Karissa had met while she worked delivering sandwiches. He called Jimmy John's almost every day for delivery, asking specifically for Karissa to deliver his food.
She was in her early 20s. He was in his late 40s and married.
“He groomed her with all the right words," Bales said during the sentencing.
Wolfe worked in security at Cascade Steel Rolling Mills, Inc., a manufacturing facility that takes recycled metal and turns it into finished steel products such as rebar. He helped Karissa get a job there in April 2015 as a security guard. She was 21.
According to Bales, Wolfe's wife once confronted Karissa at the sandwich shop where she worked. Karissa then called off her relationship with Wolfe, saying she didn't want to end his marriage. She found out she was pregnant that same day.
She had a difficult pregnancy according to Bales, and when Billy was born, Wolfe spent “no money or time” with him.
In an affidavit, police said the investigation and interviews all pointed to the one person who could've benefited from Karissa and William being dead: Wolfe.
“He decided the money was more important than the lives of my daughter and grandson," Bales said.
Wolfe was interviewed after Karissa and Billy went missing, and then again at the Salem Police Department after being advised of his Miranda rights. He maintained he hadn't seen Karissa.
Cascade Steel video surveillance and AT&T phone records contradicted his claims, placing him near Karissa's apartment on the last day she was seen alive and her phone near his home the same day.
A text sent from Karissa's phone telling her boss she couldn't come to work the night of her disappearance came from near Wolfe's home, police said.
During the investigation, Wolfe disappeared briefly. Salem police listed him as a wanted man. They searched his rural home in Gaston and another property near Hopewell on May 23. He was taken into custody the next day at Blue Star Donuts in Portland.
Wolfe later told police he was trying to bring Karissa and Billy a "peace offering" gift of diapers and toys the night of their disappearance and admitted he did not want to pay child support.
Timeline: The disappearance of Karissa, William Fretwell
Police found drugs on Wolfe's property "capable of sedating a human being," Lynch said.
The day after the disappearance, Wolfe went to the dump and hardware store. He purchased rope and tarps.
Wolfe was charged with Karissa's and Billy's murders while they were still missing.
Meanwhile, police searched properties and bodies of water along routes Wolfe used.
On June 15, 2019, the bodies of a boy and a young woman were discovered 10 miles west of Yamhill on heavily-wooded property owned by the timber company Weyerhaeuser. They were identified as Karissa and Billy.
They were found together wrapped in the tarps Wolfe had purchased at the hardware store.
Investigators knew Wolfe was familiar with the area and had a permit to cut firewood there.
An autopsy determined Karissa died of a single gunshot to the head and her death was ruled a homicide. The cause of Billy's death was undetermined in the autopsy. Officials said it remains undetermined. Family members said addition testing yielded little information.
Facing the death penalty
Wolfe's trial was delayed numerous times, primarily due to a technical legal fight over how a new state law impacted the county's ability to seek the death penalty.
Wolfe initially faced an aggravated murder charge for Karissa's death. It was dismissed and replaced with counts of first-degree murder and first-degree murder constituting domestic violence following the 2019 passage of Senate Bill 1013 — a law narrowing the scope of the death penalty.
Prosecutors pushed forward on charging Wolfe with aggravated murder for Billy's death. If convicted, a jury could have considered sentencing Wolfe to death.
Last year, Wolfe’s attorneys unsuccessfully appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court to dismiss the charge for Billy. Attorneys took it a step further and filed an appeal in January with the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Feb. 28, the high court denied Wolfe's petition, sending the case back to Yamhill County Circuit Court to continue proceedings.
Wolfe had been scheduled to stand trial in June 2023, but then Wolfe agreed to the plea deal.
No words from Wolfe
During his sentencing, as Karissa's family read their victim impact statements, Wolfe kept his head down.
When it was time for him to stand to receive his sentence, he began to blink rapidly and appeared shaken. He declined to speak on his own behalf.
Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry said the sentencing wouldn't really bring closure to the family but would spare them a grueling trial, which could've dragged the case another two years.
The case has remained his office's top priority since 2019.
"It's impacted not just the community and the family but the investigators and our office," Berry said. "It's been a very tough case."
Detectives from Salem Police worked around the clock during the investigation, collaborating with counterparts from the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office. Some had children about Billy’s age and tacked photos of the boy and his mom above their desks.
Karissa's sister Katrina Kent cried throughout her statement and read it quickly, as if to get it over with.
She described her sister as a passionate and hard-working mom who loved her son more than anything. She wanted to be a teacher and was working toward her dream.
She described Billy as a child with a contagious smile. She said she misses the frequent FaceTime calls with her sister and Billy because she loved seeing “that sweet boy’s face.”
“You and your selfish ways put a dollar amount on two lives," she told Wolfe.
Kent told a story about her own son, who when asked to write down one wish in class, wrote that he wanted to have his aunt and cousin back.
Kent ended her statement by telling Wolfe, “You are a monster."
Bales said she wished Wolfe could be forced to look at a photo of Karissa and William every day for the rest of his life.
As he left the courtroom, Wolfe paused before the collage of Karissa and William — the woman he murdered and the son he only met the day he killed him — and looked at their photos before moving on.
"I want him to think about that every day for the rest of his life," Bales said, adding to Wolfe:
"Live long and miserable."
For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodworth@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-910-6616 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Karissa Fretwell murder: Michael Wolfe sentenced in Salem slayings
