A Plymouth County grand jury has indicted Michael Thompson, 36, and Dayana Slade, 25, in the September 2025 killing of Mike Jonas at Finnegan Park in downtown Brockton, moving the case to Brockton Superior Court nearly a year after the shooting and roughly six months after the pair were tracked down hiding in Maine. Thompson faces one count of murder along with weapons charges, while Slade was indicted on one count of being an accessory after the fact.
According to MassLive, police responded to a report of a shooting and stabbing at Finnegan Park on September 23, 2025, and found two victims suffering from gunshot and stab wounds. Jonas was pronounced dead at the scene, while a second victim was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators identified Thompson as the shooter, and surveillance footage reportedly showed him leaving the area in an SUV with two women, one of whom was later identified as Slade, per the outlet's reporting.
Prosecutors say the violence erupted after an altercation at the park, and court proceedings in February detailed the alleged spark behind it. According to Law&Crime, prosecutors stated Slade claimed Jonas had disrespected her and demanded Thompson “do something about it” shortly before gunshots were fired. Jonas was shot four times and stabbed multiple times, prosecutors said, according to the same outlet.
Bloody Getaway and a Search That Turned Up an Arsenal
Witness statements cited by prosecutors indicate Thompson returned to the getaway vehicle covered in blood, crying and visibly upset, before fleeing the area with Slade and another woman in a black Nissan Rogue, Law&Crime reported. Weymouth police located that SUV shortly after the shooting, and a search of the vehicle turned up more than a dozen firearms along with a sweatshirt worn by Thompson containing shell casings that matched those recovered at the crime scene, according to prosecutorial disclosures detailed by Daily News with Sista.
Thompson and Slade evaded capture for roughly five months. On February 2, 2026, U.S. Marshals and state law enforcement found the pair hiding on the third floor of a vacant apartment building on Howe Street in Lewiston, Maine, ending the fugitive search, per The Maine Wire. The high-risk warrant was executed jointly by federal and state agencies, the outlet reported. Law enforcement details reported at the time noted Thompson had previously served a 15-year sentence for manslaughter before his recent release.
Charges Now Filed in Superior Court
The grand jury's indictment formalizes charges first brought after the arrests. Thompson was charged with one count of murder, two counts of assault and battery with a deadly weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition without an FID card, and unlawful discharge of a firearm within 500 feet of a building, according to MassLive. Slade was indicted on one count of being an accessory after the fact; she had previously pleaded not guilty to that charge and was held on $250,000 cash bail with GPS monitoring, per Daily News with Sista. Thompson and Slade are expected to be arraigned in Brockton Superior Court, MassLive reported.
Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265, Section 1, a first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole, according to Sweeney & Associates, LLC. The statute defines first-degree murder as a killing committed with deliberate premeditation, extreme atrocity or cruelty, or during the commission of certain felonies.
A Father Remembered, A Park Under Scrutiny
Jonas, 40, was a father who left behind an 11-year-old daughter, according to Law&Crime's reporting on his death. His killing renewed attention on Finnegan Park, located near Crescent and Montello Streets in downtown Brockton, where residents had voiced concerns about open drug activity and discarded needles even before the shooting, as Hoodline's earlier coverage detailed in the days after the September shooting.
The case also lands amid broader homicide trends tracked by county officials. Plymouth County logged 14 homicides in 2024, eight of them in Brockton, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office, a slight decline from 15 countywide homicides in 2023. Open questions remain about the defense strategies both defendants will pursue, how bail arguments will play out in Superior Court, and whether additional charges or co-defendants could surface as the case moves toward trial.
