Patrick Alan Selepak, the Michigan man convicted of killing three people in 2006, died Wednesday after he was found unresponsive in a single-person cell at Baraga Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula. He was serving life sentences and was 47 years old.
The Michigan Department of Corrections identified the death as an apparent suicide, according to MLive. The initial report did not provide additional details about how Selepak died.
Before his death, the MDOC offender database listed Selepak as serving multiple life terms, including three first-degree murder convictions tied to killings in Macomb and Genesee counties. The record also placed him at the Level V Baraga Maximum Facility.
A 2006 Crime Spree Followed A Prison Release Error
Selepak’s convictions grew out of a February 2006 crime spree that began with the killings of Scott and Melissa Berels in New Baltimore. Melissa Berels was pregnant, and a third victim, Winfield Frederick Johnson Jr., was killed days later in Vienna Township, according to MLive’s report.
Authorities had mistakenly released Selepak from prison because of an error in the Michigan corrections system, even though he had been serving time for armed robbery. A Sixth Circuit opinion reviewing the case described how Selepak and Samantha Bachynski were arrested in Johnson’s stolen truck, with Johnson’s body inside.
Selepak Also Faced A Prison Assault Case
His criminal record did not end with the 2006 murders. In 2022, Selepak was accused of attacking another inmate at the Macomb County Correctional Facility, and the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office said he later pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit murder and possessing a weapon in prison.
The word “apparent” leaves the cause subject to the official investigation. Under a Michigan corrections policy directive, suspected suicide is classified as an unexpected prison death and triggers investigative procedures, including notification of the county medical examiner and Michigan State Police when appropriate.
