LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Because Michigan does not allow capital punishment, and hasn’t since 1846, you might be surprised to know that there is one man who is currently on death row for crimes that he committed in our state in 1997.

That person is Marvin Gabrion and his victim was 19-year-old Rachel Timmerman of Cedar Springs. In 2002, Gabrion was tried and convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Timmerman and sentenced to death.

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Timmerman was the mother of 11-month-old daughter, Shannon, when her life was snuffed out by Gabrion. The mother and her daughter disappeared two days before Gabrion was to go on trial for rape charges that were filed by Timmerman the previous summer.

Rachel’s body was found in early June of 1997 by two fishermen, about a month after she went missing. She was gagged with duct tape across her eyes and mouth and was bound with a chain and weighted down by cinder blocks. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back.

The Government argued that Timmerman was alive when Gabrion pushed her off his boat into the lake to drown with evidence to back it up from the coroner’s report.

She was found in Oxford Lake – a muddy lake in the Huron-Manistee National Forests, a federal government-owned forest – which is why federal charges were brought against him. That is the reason he is on death row.

Timmerman had been on a date with a man named John Weeks the night of her disappearance and he had asked her to bring along her daughter, Shannon. He had told his girlfriend that Gabrion had asked him to call Timmerman when he was caught on the phone asking the teenager out for a date. Weeks, a possible witness to the murder, disappeared 18 days after TImmerman was killed and has never been found. Weeks was a handyman who had worked for Gabrion.

Wayne Davis, a witness to the rape who was set to testify against Gabrion, also went missing as did Robert Allen, a mentally disabled man who owned the house that Gabrion lived in. Gabrion had allegedly stolen Allen’s identity and was collecting his disability checks from 1995 through 1997. Davis’ body was later found in the same national forest as Timmerman.

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Baby Shannon has never been found but it is assumed that Gabrion killed the baby as well as Davis, Allen and Weeks even though none of the cases have gone to court. A friend of TImmerman’s reported that Rachel told her that Gabrion said if she told anyone about the rape that he would “kill Shannon and make her watch.” Even though Timmerman was afraid for her life and that of her baby, she reported the rape the next day. She also reported to the Sheriff that she had run into Gabrion twice more after the rape and that he continued to threaten to kill her.

Dr. Kate Termini, a forensic psychologist said of Gabrion, “He was different from most serial killers in that he had a very clear motive. He killed out of pure necessity for self-preservation. He was trying to protect himself against people that could have identified him.”

During the penalty phase of the murder trial, it was shown that Gabrion was a one-man crime spree. 58 witnesses testified against him, describing his predilection for violence. Two of the witnesses said their homes were set on fire after having a disagreement with Gabrion and another said Gabrion shot at his home after he told him to leave a party. Yet another witness said Gabrion aimed a rifle at her and her two-year-old daughter as she walked to her car – and then followed her for two miles after she left.

Michigan News Source contacted the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. According to their inmate search on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, Gabrion is currently being held at the MCFP (Medical Center for Federal Prisoners) in Springfield, Missouri.

Hayley Bedard, Administrative Assistant of the DPIC, said, “The habeas corpus proceedings in Gabrion’s case are not over yet. He has until November to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the split decision in the Sixth Circuit that denied his habeas petition. His competency to be executed is also an issue, but because that depends upon his mental state as an execution approaches, that issue can’t currently be litigated.”

Bedard went on to say that the DOJ has halted federal executions for further review of the events that occurred under the Trump administration including policies adopted under Trump’s Attorney Generals William Barr and Jeffrey Rosen. Those changes had to do with the manner and type of lethal injections used and changes to the DOJ’s “Justice Manual” that would expedite the execution of capital sentences.

As of now, there are no pending federal execution dates.