A former adult film star who beat and beheaded her ex-husband will spend at least 28 years in prison after a Nevada judge handed down a harsh sentence Thursday, closing one of the region’s most disturbing murder cases.
Devyn Michaels, 47, was sentenced to 28 years to life by Clark County District Court Judge Tierra Jones following her conviction for first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. A jury returned the guilty verdict in November after a two-week trial.
Prosecutors said Michaels killed 46-year-old Johnathan Willette inside his Henderson home on the night of August 6, 2023. Evidence showed she beat him with an object she later described to police as “candlestick-like,” then decapitated him. Investigators believe Michaels disposed of Willette’s head in the trash in her northwest Las Vegas Valley neighborhood. It has never been recovered.
Police discovered Willette’s body inside the home with chemicals poured over it, an apparent attempt to destroy evidence. During the trial, jurors watched a recorded police interview in which Michaels claimed she was massaging Willette in his bedroom when the attack began.
Michaels, who also used the names Nikki Fairchild and Tracee Tavarez, had previously worked as a realtor. She married Willette in 2012 and divorced him in 2018. She later married Willette’s son, Deviere Willette, then 29, describing both marriages as arrangements of convenience, according to trial testimony.
“I cannot deliver what the family is hoping for,” Michaels said briefly before sentencing, moments before Judge Jones imposed the 28-years-to-life term.
Family members addressed the court after the sentence was announced. Valerie Willette, the victim’s stepmother, said the family had been forever changed by the killing.
“We cannot bring Johnathan back,” she said. “God has gained an angel in heaven. We believe he is watching over us and the girls.”
James “JC” Willette, Johnathan Willette’s father, said Michaels’ crime would haunt the victim’s children for the rest of their lives. “Her girls are going to die with the knowledge that she killed their father,” he said. “That’s where she should be. If you take somebody’s life, you shouldn’t be out running around.”
Following Willette’s death, his father and stepmother took custody of his two children. They told the court they had never met their grandchildren before the tragedy and had never met Michaels.
The case took a winding procedural path before reaching trial. In 2024, Michaels pleaded guilty to second-degree murder under a deal that would have made her eligible for parole after 15 years. She later attempted to withdraw that plea. Judge Jones ruled that Michaels entered it voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently.
During a sentencing hearing in July 2025, Michaels apologized to the court and then immediately proclaimed her innocence, a move that sent the case to trial. Jurors were never told about the prior plea agreement, and Michaels did not testify in her own defense.
The case also drew scrutiny over a separate court appearance days after the killing. As reported by 8 News Now Investigators, Judge Mary Kay Holthus sentenced Michaels to one year of probation on a child abuse charge on August 9, 2023, after Willette had been killed but before Michaels was arrested for his murder. At that hearing, Michaels told the court she was “not an abusive person,” even as detectives were actively building a homicide case against her.
