Steven Vogel found guilty in 2020 killing of Grinnell man found burning in rural Iowa ditch

The man accused of strangling a Grinnell man last year was found guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse.

Steven Vogel, 32, of Grinnell was charged in the slaying of Michael Williams, 44, whose body was found Sept. 16, 2020, burning in a rural Jasper County ditch. The cause of death was ruled homicide by strangulation.

Family members wept and hugged one another after the jury's verdict.

"I am so glad to see Steven Vogel shackled in handcuffs where he belongs, headed off to prison," said Paula Terrell, Williams' aunt, who came to Iowa from New York for the sentencing.

Vogel's sentencing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Dec. 13 at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma.

Previously: Family of Grinnell man killed hopes trial of alleged killer brings closure, justice

Police believe Williams was killed on or around Sept. 12, 2020, and had been in Vogel's basement for days before being burned in a ditch.

Three other Grinnell residents — Julia Cox, Roy Garner and Cody Johnson — were accused of destroying evidence of the killing. Garner and Cox were also accused of abusing Williams' corpse and helping Vogel transport Williams' body.

Williams "had a family. He had a life, and (Vogel) took it from him. He strangled the life out of him," Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown said during closing arguments on Tuesday at the Keokuk County Courthouse in Sigourney.

“(Vogel) takes him to a ditch in rural Jasper County," Brown said. "They toss him away, they put an accelerant on his body, and they light him on fire."

The courtroom was filled with friends, supporters and family who had come from Williams' native Syracuse, New York, as well as Texas, Florida, Missouri and Michigan.

More: Michael Williams' life and the investigation into his killing

During the trial, which began Nov. 10, the prosecution presented evidence and witnesses that indicated Vogel had allegedly admitted to three witnesses he had killed Williams out of jealousy and anger stemming from a "love triangle" involving Vogel's girlfriend.

Johnson testified that Vogel told him he had killed "Black Mike" by clubbing his head from behind and hanging him with a rope in the basement of Vogel's Grinnell home.

To corroborate witness accounts, the state called in the medical examiner on the case, who testified that injuries on Williams' head were consistent with blunt-force trauma and said Williams appeared to have been strangled for five to six minutes.

During closing arguments, Vogel's attorneys Aaron Siebrecht and Marc Wallace did not explicitly deny Vogel killed Williams. They suggested the slaying was not premeditated and claimed prosecutors lacked DNA to prove the killing.

Family maintains race played a role in the killing

Williams was Black. All four people charged are white. Authorities and the Iowa-Nebraska chapter of the NAACP said no evidence showed Williams was targeted and killed because of his race.

But for Williams' family and other Black Iowans, the imagery of his death was aligned with historical lynchings in the United States in which Black men were killed — many hanged — after claims of sexual contact with white women.

"If this isn't a lynching, then what was it?" said James Williams, 69, of Miami, Fla. "This is hate."

Betty Andrews, the president of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP, said the organization vowed to support Williams' family and acknowledged the racial dynamics in the killing.

"This should have been a national story," Terrell said.

The guilty conviction was a step towards justice for Williams, Terrell said. But the family wonders if there could truly be justice without him.

Andrea Sahouri covers social justice for the Des Moines Register. She can be contacted at asahouri@registermedia.com, on Twitter @andreamsahouri, or by phone 515-284-8247.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Grinnell, Iowa man found guilty in 2020 killing of Michael Williams