BEULAH -- Accused killer Joni Holbrook's son awoke to his mother "yelling at the top of her lungs" that she shot her husband, police reports state.
Holbrook, 47, is held on an open count of murder in the Aug. 10 shooting death of her husband, Michigan State Police Sgt. Melvin Holbrook, of the Traverse City post. Investigators believe she shot him at about 1 a.m. as he slept in the couple's residence on Derby Lane near Benzonia.
Joni Holbrook's son, Chad C. Dilts, 24, told police he was asleep in an upstairs bedroom when he awoke to his mother calling his name and yelling, "I shot him, I killed him, he's dead," according to police reports obtained under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.
Dilts headed downstairs and saw his mother in the kitchen. Holbrook's service weapon, a Sig Sauer .40 caliber handgun, sat on a kitchen counter next to the sink. Dilts peered into Melvin Holbrook's downstairs bedroom and saw him face down on the bed.
Joni Holbrook called 911 to report the incident and allegedly told dispatcher Nicole Smith she shot Holbrook. Smith asked to speak with Dilts after Holbrook said he was in the residence.
Smith briefly spoke with Dilts while his mother sat on a couch, according to a transcript of the 911 call. Smith told Dilts to get in his truck, drive down to nearby Zimmerman Road and wait in the vehicle until police officers could arrive on scene.
Dilts left and was met by a Benzie County sheriff's deputy near the home. Smith, back on the phone with Holbrook, told Holbrook to exit the house and have her hands in the air when officers arrived.
Smith, who has worked as a Benzie dispatcher for a combined eight years, received a letter of commendation for the "appropriate and efficient," manner in which she handled the call, Benzie Undersheriff Bill Sholten said.
Investigators interviewed Holbrook at the Benzie County Sheriff's Department. A sergeant asked her if she needed any marks or injuries documented, and she allegedly replied "he is too smart to leave any marks."
Holbrook's attorney, Jesse L. Williams, previously said Holbrook was subject to "physical, mental and sexual abuse" from her husband during their marriage. She told Smith she wasn't fighting or arguing with her husband at the time of the shooting.
Dilts could not be reached for comment.
Special writer Eric VanDussen contributed to this report.
Related Items:
- Police remove computer from Holbrook home
- Editorial: Gag request rightly denied
- Judge denies gag order
- Prosecutor seeks gag order
- Affidavit details night of shooting
- Editorial: MSP shouldn't be involved
- Poll: Should MSP investigate Holbrook death?
- Lawyer: Joni Holbrook 'victim and survivor'
- State police join Holbrook investigation
- Sgt. Holbrook remembered at funeral
- Suspect's friends troubled by murder charge
- Questions build in trooper's death
- Wife charged in death of policeman
- Police sergeant killed in Benzie
Print this story
E-mail this story
