On September 21, 2016, Faith Harris-Green woke up in the basement of her home.
She was found with duct tape and zip ties, had been shot in the foot and her face had been slashed with a box cutter.
She watched as her husband, Gregory Green, murdered her two teenage children, his stepchildren, 19-year-old Chadney Allen Jr. and Kara Allen, 17. Green had also killed the couple’s two young daughters, aged five and four.
This wasn’t the first time Green had killed: in 1991, he stabbed his wife in the face and chest, killing her and their unborn child.
He then called 911 and waited for the police to arrive and arrest him.
He served 16 years in prison for the murder. He was released on parole in 2008, after family, friends and his pastor – Faith Harris-Green’s father – campaigned for his release.
"Gregory and I were friends before his mishap and he was incarcerated," Faith's father, Fred Harris, wrote to the Michigan parole board in August 2005, the Washington Post reports.
"He was a member of our church...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."
A year later, Harris wrote that Green would be "welcomed as a part of our church community".
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After his release, Green and Faith Harris married, and they had two daughters together.
Just as he had years earlier, Green called the police after he murdered the four children on September 21, 2016.
Police found his youngest daughters in their beds upstairs: he had poisoned them with carbon monoxide.
Veteran law enforcement officials described the scene as one of the worst they had seen in their careers.
Gregory Green pleaded guilty to the four slayings when he appeared in a Detroit court last week. He also pleaded guilty to the attack on his then-wife, Faith.
"Justice will come when you burn in hell for all eternity for murdering four innocent children, Faith Green during her ex-husband's trial.
"You're a con artist. You're a monster. You're a devil in disguise. You are now forever exposed.
"I miss my children so much that words will never be able to explain...There's a hole in my heart and soul that can never be repaired. This wound will never heal."
Gregory Green will spend 47-102 years behind bars for the murders. He won't be eligible for parole until he is 97 years old.
Top Comments
What a terrible way to find out that people actually are what their actions show them to be, it's a horrific price to pay for being compassionate - but some people are evil, and no amount of kindness or praying will change that. I can't imagine the grief and pain that mother must be feeling, but I think murdering your pregnant wife in cold-blood is somewhat unforgivable, and the unimaginable grief from creating a family with a "man" like that would be unendurable.
'mishap'? Spilling milk is a mishap. Brutally murdering your wife is not. Pastor Harris and his family found that out the hard way.
Nothing could excuse the killer's behaviour or abrogate his responsibility, but things may have been very different if the Harrises and the community had taken his first crime seriously and stood up for the victims instead of the perpetrator. By calling it a momentary loss of control Pastor Harris minimised the crime and acted as though wanting to murder your wife and child was understandable. It isn't.