A 30-year-old Algoma Township man is facing an open murder charge after his 56-year-old mother was found shot to death inside their home on Indian Lakes Road just after 9 a.m. on October 15. Ryan Hansen was arraigned Monday in Kent County on charges of homicide-open murder and felony firearms, and a judge ordered him held without bond. The victim, Diane Kilmar-Luman, was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Kent County Sheriff's Office.
Family members inside the home told officials that the shooter was Kilmar-Luman's son, who then drove off, according to FOX 2 Detroit. Other people inside the home called 911, which is how emergency responders were able to reach the scene within minutes, Kent County Sheriff Bryan Muir said at an October 15 press briefing reported by Dearborn.org. Sheriff Muir described the household dynamic in stark terms, saying the victim was an adult mother “trying to take care of her adult son, doing the best they can.”
Cellphone Tracking Led Deputies to a Broken-Down Car
Deputies and Michigan State troopers fanned out to search for the suspect after he fled, per FOX 2's reporting. The search hit a snag when investigators discovered that an automated Flock license plate reader camera in the area had been vandalized on October 14, forcing them to instead track the suspect's cellphone location, the sheriff's office said during the briefing covered by Dearborn.org.
That tracking paid off quickly. An undercover officer located the suspect near Ritchie Avenue and 14 Mile Road in Courtland Township, roughly 5.5 miles from the crime scene, with his car broken down, according to FOX 2. Deputies arrested him there as he was climbing into another vehicle, peacefully detaining him without force within about 30 minutes of the initial 911 call, per the same account from Dearborn.org.
Bullet Casings Found in Searches of Home and Vehicle
Police identified the suspect as Ryan Hansen, Kilmar-Luman's 30-year-old son. Searches of Hansen's home and vehicle turned up multiple bullet casings, police said, according to FOX 2's reporting. The investigation remains ongoing, and FOX 2 noted it relied on information from the Kent County Sheriff's Office for its report.
What Open Murder Means Under Michigan Law
Michigan's open murder statute, MCL 767.71, allows prosecutors to bring a homicide case to a jury without designating the degree beforehand, leaving jurors to weigh the evidence and convict on either first-degree or second-degree murder, according to Coontz Law. The felony firearm charge against Hansen carries its own weight: a conviction brings a mandatory, consecutive two-year prison sentence that must be served before any time imposed for the underlying felony, per Justia.
A Rare Tragedy in a Quiet Township
Algoma Township is a rural civil township in northern Kent County situated between Sparta and Cedar Springs, with a 2026 estimated population of over 12,200 residents, according to Niche. Fatal violence there is exceedingly uncommon — Michigan State Police records show the township recorded zero homicides and just 23 total violent crime offenses in all of 2023. Countywide, CDC death records estimate about 30 homicide deaths per year, while Kent County's overall violent crime rate was 4.6 offenses per 1,000 residents between 2021 and 2025, according to Map the Block.
This marks the second severe domestic violence shooting involving a mother and son in northern Kent County within the same week. Just two days earlier, Hoodline reported that a man shot his mother in her car near Sparta before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Hoodline previously covered the initial response to the Algoma Township shooting and Hansen's arrest in its report, Algoma Township Shooting: Person of Interest Detained. The motive behind the shooting has not been disclosed, and the investigation continues.
