HARPER WOODS (WWJ) – A Harper Woods man has been hit with a long list of charges for a deadly attack on his girlfriend and parents, just days after he was released on bond for a previous brutal attack on his girlfriend.
Jonathan Welch, 23, is facing 20 counts stemming from the horrific attack on Sunday, July 10, including two counts of first degree murder. Welch is also facing other charges from the prior attack on his girlfriend, including torture and criminal sexual conduct.
Welch’s girlfriend, 22-year-old Zlayiah Frazier of Roseville and 70-year-old Robert Bray of Harper Woods were killed, while his 42-year-old mother was severely injured.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office says Detroit police officers were called to the home where Welch and Frazier lived around 7:30 a.m. on June 2 for a report of domestic violence.
Welch allegedly woke his girlfriend while he was sexually assaulting her around 3 a.m. that morning, according to the prosecutor’s office. He then demanded the password to her cell phone, but when she refused, he physically assaulted her and strangled her with an extension cord, according to the WCPO.
Welch allegedly poured gasoline on Frazier’s body, burned her arms and legs with a metal spatula and attempted to sexually assault her with a large pole. He also allegedly beat her with a belt and threatened her with a drill during the attack.
Authorities say at one point, Welch went into the kitchen and his girlfriend was able to escape out the front door and run to a neighbor’s house. He allegedly followed her and pulled on her on the porch, but eventually left.
That’s when the neighbors took her inside, gave her a blanket to cover herself and called 911.
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Welch then allegedly came back and kicked in the neighbors’ door before speeding away in a car before officers arrived. He was arrested later the same day.
Welch was arraigned on June 12 on charges of torture, home invasion, criminal sexual conduct, assault with intent to commit sexual penetration, assault with intent to do great bodily harm and three counts of felonious assault.
He was released on bond last Friday and ordered to have no contact with the victim.
Just two days later, Welch is accused of attacking again. This time it was deadly.
Welch is accused of stabbing his mother in the back multiple times with a butcher knife at her home in the 20640 block of Kenosha Street in Harper Woods and killing Frazier and Bray with blunt force trauma. Authorities have not clarified whether Welch and Bray were related.
Harper Woods police were called to the scene around 8:15 p.m. Sunday. After setting up a perimeter around the home, authorities found Welch’s 1-year-old son in the backyard. The baby was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Authorities say after the attack, Welch barricaded himself inside the home and fired multiple gunshots at officers before starting a fire inside the home and then standing in the front doorway.
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Officers arrested Welch and he was taken to a hospital for treatment. Members of the Grosse Pointe Woods Fire Department arrived on scene and extinguished the fire inside the home.
Welch has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, four counts of assault with intent to murder, one count of second-degree arson, seven counts of felonious assault, and six counts of felony firearm.
He was arraigned in 32A District Court on Wednesday and ordered to be held in jail.
His next court date is set for July 20.
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