In 2010, paroled killer Gregory Green married Faith Harris, the daughter of the pastor who’d advocated for his release. Years later, he murdered all four of her children in a fit of rage.
Michigan State PoliceGregory Green, the man who killed his family twice.
In 1991, a Michigan man named Gregory Green brutally murdered his pregnant wife, stabbing her several times in the face and chest and killing his unborn child in the process.
But 16 years after being incarcerated for this crime, Green seemed to have turned a corner. He had a nearly spotless prison record, and friends and family members wrote letters to the parole board advocating for his release, insisting he had changed.
He was finally released on parole for good behavior in 2008. But in 2016, history would repeat itself in the most tragic way imaginable.
On a dark September night, Green killed his two young children, aged 4 and 5, by poisoning them with exhaust fumes as they slept in his car. That same evening, he bound his teenage stepchildren and then shot them in the head in front of their terrified mother.
Gregory Green had murdered his family a second time.
Gregory Green’s First Marriage
Gregory Vincente Green was born on December 10, 1966, and was raised in a religious family. Other than that, not much is known about his childhood.
By the time Green hit his early twenties, he had met Tonya Clayton Green. The two fell in love and were married.
Tonya had two young children from a previous relationship. Before long, she became pregnant with Gregory’s child, and it seemed as though the couple were beginning to build a family together.
But things took a dark turn when Gregory’s behavior became increasingly controlling and violently aggressive towards Tonya. Alarmed by the shift, Tonya confided in a friend that she planned to leave Gregory. She never got the chance.
Instead, on July 14, 1991, Gregory Green attacked his wife in their Detroit home. In a fit of rage, he grabbed a steak knife from the kitchen and brutally stabbed Tonya ten times in the neck, cheek, chest, and back. She was six months pregnant at the time.
Both Tonya and the unborn child tragically died. Luckily, Tonya’s two young children, aged 5 and 8, were miraculously out of harm’s way during during the attack.
Family PhotoGregory Green brutally murdered his first wife, Tonya Clayton Green, when she was six months pregnant.
After it was all over, Gregory dialed 911 and calmly told officers what he had done. When the police arrived, he opened the door and welcomed them inside.
“I stabbed her,” he said, according to a 2017 Daily Beast article. “She’s in the kitchen.” Then, he showed them to the refrigerator, where he’d stashed the murder weapon.
Gregory Green’s Time In Jail
In 1992, Gregory Green pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 to 25 years in prison.
Prison records indicate that he showed no signs of remorse or empathy for the murders, instead shifting blame on Tonya for his actions. He was denied parole four times.
Still, Green maintained a virtually spotless prison record, with only one minor altercation with another inmate. He steered clear of prison violence and kept a low profile throughout his time behind bars.
Meanwhile, family, friends, and even corrections officers wrote letters to the parole board advocating for his release, insisting he had changed and become closer to God.
“We believe Gregory is very sorry for what he did and has gained insight into his behaviors,” his parents wrote in November 2006, according to The Detroit News. “He has worked hard in prison and he continues to make a positive adjustment.”
Fred Harris, a pastor of the Church of Risen Christ Ministries International in Detroit who’d known Green before the murders, wrote multiple letters to the Michigan parole board on Green’s behalf, begging them to give him a second chance and promising that the church would help with his rehabilitation.
FacebookGregory Green brutally assaulted his wife, Faith, and killed her four children.
“Gregory and I were friends before his mishap and he was incarcerated,” Harris wrote, according to a 2017 The Washington Post story. “He was a member of our church… I feel he has paid for his unfortunate lack of self control and the damage he has caused as much as possible and is sorry.”
With the help of Pastor Harris, Green was finally released on parole in 2008. Two years later, on Dec. 18, 2010, he married Pastor Harris’ daughter, Faith.
A Tumultuous Second Marriage
Faith Green had two children from a previous marriage: Chadney Allen Jr. and Kara Allen. During their six-year marriage, Gregory and Faith welcomed two more daughters: Koi and Kaleigh Green.
But by 2013, Gregory had begun to subject Faith to the same abuse he had inflicted upon his first wife, Tonya. Faith had reportedly tried to leave him multiple times and even filed for divorce that year.
According to The Detroit News, she tried to get a Personal Protection Order against her husband in 2013, claiming he would often get “belligerent,” “kicking things” and threatening to attack her. On one occasion, she claimed, Gregory told her “things are going to get ugly” if she didn’t leave the house. She also claimed he had kicked the couch while one of their babies was sleeping on it.
At the time, the court denied her PPO request, citing “insufficient allegations.” Faith remained with her husband for another three years, but in August 2016, Faith Green once again found herself filing for divorce.
The Horrific 2016 Murders
Family PhotoChadney Allen, 19, Kara Allen, 17, Koi Green, 5, and Kaleigh Green, 4, were murdered by Gregory Green on Sept. 21, 2016.
On the night of Sept. 21, 2016, Gregory Green turned on his family once again.
That night, he brutally assaulted his wife in the basement of their home. He tied her up with zip ties and duct tape and proceeded to terrorize her, slashing her face with a knife and shooting her in the foot.
The horror continued as Green brought his two teenage stepchildren, Chadney, 19, and Kara, 17, downstairs. He then forced Faith to witness as he tied her children up and shot them each in the head, execution-style.
That night, Green put his two youngest children, Koi and Kayleigh, into the family car and snaked a hose from the car’s tail pipe into the car’s interior, poisoning the little girls with deadly carbon monoxide from the exhaust fumes. Then, he carried their lifeless bodies back into the house and placed them back in their beds.
As he had done the first time he murdered his family, Gregory Green called the police on himself and readily admitted to what he had done.
When the police arrived, he was waiting for them outside on the driveway.
Gregory Green’s Final Sentence
Wayne County Sheriff’s OfficeGregory Green was sentenced to 45-100 years in prison for the murders of his two children and two stepchildren.
In February 2017, Gregory Green was sentenced to 45 to 100 years in prison for the murders, plus 6 to 10 years for additional charges. By the time he is eligible for release, he will be 97.
Faith Green spoke at his sentencing, telling the court that she suffers from migraines and nightmares after witnessing the deaths of her children.
“Sometimes I dream of the night all this happened and wake up screaming and sweating, thinking that I can save my children somehow,” she said. “Then I realize that the nightmare is actually reality, and that my children are really gone. I try to find the strength to start my day somehow.
“There’s no punishment that fits the crime,” she told Gregory in court. “Not even torture and death would do justice. Your justice will come when you burn in hell for all eternity.”
He responded: “First of all, it’s in God’s hands; only he can judge. You know, I do regret and I’m sorry for what has happened.
“However, all I ever wanted was a God-fearing (inaudible) to help me, that would support me, and be faithful no matter what.”
Faith Green’s four children were given a joint funeral. During the service, Faith gave the pastor a simple statement to read.
“My dear babies,” it read, according to AP News. “I loved you all.”
After reading about Gregory Green, learn about Larry Eyler, the serial killer who was released from prison — leaving him free to kill again. Then, go inside the terrifying story of John List, who shot his wife, his mother, and his three children so he could see them in Heaven.
