Grieving Family Warns Public After Farmington Hills Man Set Up, Gunned Down By Craigslist Killer
FARMINGTON HILLS (WWJ) - A grieving Farmington Hills family is hoping its story serves as a warning to others after a Craigslist meetup ended in murder.
Todd Terry, 49, was killed last Wednesday when he responded to a Craigslist ad for a moped.
The victim's wife, Yvette Terry, said her husband arrived at the seller's address in Inkster where he found a man sitting on the front porch.
"He followed the gentleman, just in the yard, to see the item — where the guy said that it would be — and in doing so apparently my husband recognized something wasn't right and immediately tried to turn and run," she told WWJ's Chrystal Knight.
"What he saw was this guy going for a rifle, a military assault-type rifle."
Yvette Terry said the gunman shot her husband in the back and left him there to die.
Since that time, police have arrested a man in connection with the killing. Tremayne Alexander, the alleged shooter, was arraigned Sunday on homicide, armed robbery and felony firearm charges.
Michigan State Police believe Alexander may be part of a group that's committed similar crimes in the very same Inkster neighborhood.
"We're talking about something that would be, what? A $50 or $100 item?" Yvette Terry said. "These people apparently set people up to do this. This has happened prior in that particular area; so this is something that seems to be a norm for Craigslist, which I'm determined to bring exposure to."
Yvette Terry said her husband, who was a successful contractor and volunteer coach, was a wonderful father to their two teenage sons. "His sons were his heart; he just couldn't do enough with them."
She called his killer "an animal."
"I'm a woman of faith, by the way. I stand on the word of God," Yvette Terry said, "but I do believe that people are what they appear to be and I do think this was pure evil that he met up with that day."
Now the family asking the media to share this story as a warning to others: Do not do business on Craigslist.
Yvette Terry said, ideally, she'd like to see the popular classifieds website shut down.
State police, meantime, continue to urge anyone who makes a Craigslist deal to use extreme caution ans always arrange to meet in a public place. Law enforcement agencies across metro Detroit have suggested police department parking lots as a safer option.