Authorities have detailed the process that led them from having no leads to securing convictions against three men involved in a shocking kidnapping plot.
Michael, who owned a thriving marijuana dispensary in California, found his life upended after he was abducted.
At the age of 28, Michael, along with his housemate Mary Barnes, experienced a home invasion in 2012. The intruders kidnapped, blindfolded, and gagged them before taking them to the Mojave Desert.
The captors believed that Michael had buried $1 million in the desert and subjected him to brutal torture to uncover the money’s location. Despite their efforts, Michael maintained that he did not possess such wealth.
During the traumatic two-and-a-half-hour drive to the desert, Michael was subjected to a blowtorch and taser. In a horrifying act, they zip-tied the base of his penis, severed it, and doused him in bleach while allegedly laughing before escaping with the severed organ.
Mary eventually managed to free herself using a knife and flagged down a passing vehicle, which fortuitously belonged to a Kern County Sheriff’s Department deputy. This appalling crime is now revisited in ABC News Studios’ true-crime series, Wicked Game: The Devil in the Desert.
Ryan Peters, a retired detective from the Newport Beach Police Department, and Matt Murphy, a former homicide prosecutor, were instrumental in solving the case.
Murphy highlighted the initial challenges they faced in identifying the perpetrators.
He commented: “At the very beginning of the investigation, we basically had nothing.
“We have this absolutely horrific crime, and they interview Michael, who’s like, ‘Guys, I pay my bills. I have no enemies. I’m nice to people. I’ve never slept with anybody’s wife.’ My detectives are looking for any possible angle, like, who did this?”
A breakthrough came when police interviewed Michael’s neighbor, who provided pivotal information.
The neighbor recalled seeing a white truck with a notable dent parked in an alley the day before the crime.
She noticed three men who seemed to be posing as construction workers, placing a ladder against Michael’s house. Suspicious, she jotted down the license plate number.
The truck was traced to Kyle Shirakawa Handley, a local involved in the medical marijuana sector.
Police detained Handley for a traffic violation. During questioning by Peters, Handley refused to cooperate without legal counsel.
Peters secured a warrant to search Handley’s residence, his possessions, and vehicles.
The search revealed further evidence implicating Handley and connecting to other suspects.
Peters remarked: “We slowly, methodically, kind of start going through these things. And what we’re finding is that they’re white towels with bleach all over them. We test these towels for blood and they’re coming back positive.”
DNA analysis of other items found in the van linked a man named Hossein Nayeri to the crime, identifying him as the mastermind. Ryan Kevorkian was also found to be involved.
Nayeri and Handley received life sentences without parole, while Kevorkian was sentenced to 12 years and four months.