Fletcher Leann - A Deadly Affair: The Shocking True Story of a High Profile Love Triangle that Led to Murder

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Contents

Instead of heading north the two or three miles to Leanns parents home, the Dakota turned south. The couple, Mick would tell police later, had decided to take advantage of Hannahs absence and race home for some time together. It is about 15 minutes from the Double Action in Sterling Heights to the house on Hazelwood Avenue. So that would have gotten them there about 12:30, 12:35.

Much of what happened next is disputed. Leann went to the bathroom, removed her blue shorts and underpants, washed her hands and returned to the small bedroom.

At some point very soon, the Smith & Wesson boomed out with a roar made deafening by the closeness of the wet-plaster walls.

At 12:48 P.M. , Mick Fletcher called 911 at the Hazel Park police station. His wife, he said between gasps of hysterics and a high, keening whine, had shot herself.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As Red Smith, the legendary New York Times sports writer, once said when someone suggested that writing must be a simple way to make a living: Its easy to write. You just sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.

This book was particularly tough, especially the way it evolved. It was tough because of the circumstancesa beautiful young wife and her unborn child shot to death. It was tough, too, because what was needed to do the story justice was to get to know both families, whose lives were forever ruined in one loud, brief moment late in the summer of 1999. If you think its an easy or fun job to come into a mother and fathers home and talk to them about their dead daughter, or about a son accused of murder, give it a try.

And it was made all the tougher because at the end of the eight months that it had consumed of my life, to my great surprise and that of my editors, I was no longer sure I even had a villain to blame. Things were not as simple as they had seemed.

I will forever be grateful to Jack and Gloria Misener for not only inviting me into their home repeatedly, but for making me feel welcome. I will forever be grateful to Darla and John Fletcher, too, who against the advice of their attorneys finally gave in to my entreaties and believed me when I said I wanted to tell their sons side of the story. They also are wonderful people.

I want to thank Leanns sisters and friends for sharing their stories and tears, and Michael Fletchers siblings and friends for doing the same.

I also want to thank Hazel Park Police Chief David Niedermeier for asking his troops to cooperate; Assistant Prosecutor Greg Townsend for being gracious and accommodating and down to earth from the moment I introduced myself during jury selection; Dr. Ljubisa Dragovic, the engaging, colorful shoot-from-the-hip medical examiner who was so generous with his time and spirit; Judge Jessica Cooper, who told me she had nothing to say and then charmingly proved otherwise; defense attorney Brian Legghio, who, against the advice of his co-counsel, took a chance that I would be fair and finally opened up his files and his feelings as the deadline loomed; and court reporter Karen Hollen, who provided encouraging words and court transcripts at way-below-market rates.

My apologies, too, to the Miseners and to Leanns sisters, who certainly envisioned this book would end up as something rather different than it did. They will likely feel some sense of betrayal by me, for which I am sorry. The book, as books tend to do, just became what it became, and it fooled me, too. I, like the prosecutors, had assumed going in this was an open-and-shut case.

Thats what made this book so difficult. A beautiful, warm womanbeloved by most of those who knew heris dead. Two families are shattered. And there is not even a clear why.

All the characters who follow are real. Where possible, all quotes came from trial transcripts, police reports, court documents or the many interviews I conducted. In recounting some scenes, I have relied on peoples memories of what was said, and, with only a rare exception, when it could be verified by others.

No quotes were made up. Nothing is fiction. Any deviation from reality is a mistake and my fault alone.

Hannah Fletcher, precocious, charming, witty, as pretty as her mother, is the biggest loser in this book of losses. One hopes at least a few readers will care enough about her loss to send a check to her trust fund, a registered non-profit and tax-deductible charity, at: The Hannah Fletcher Trust Fund, c/o First Federal of Michigan, 2225 Eighteen Mile Road, Sterling Heights, MI 48083.

Mick, if you did it, may Glorias curse for you come true. If you didnt, youre the unluckiest guy on earth. What ultimately made this book so tough to live with is that, all these months and all these words later, those last two sentences can be written one after the other.

PROLOGUE

Mid-August of 1999 seemed the best of times in the tumultuous marriage of Michael and Leann Fletcher.

His fledgling legal career was finally taking off, with regular assignments to handle cases for the indigent who came before Judge Susan Chrzanowski of the bustling 37th District Court in Warren, Michigan, Detroits largest suburb and the third-largest city in the state with a population of 144,864. The court was easily the busiest in Macomb County and a good place to be making the kinds of contacts Fletcher had made.

Their marriage, which had survived several separations in the last two years, was better than it had ever been since Mickthats what everyone called himmoved back into their suburban Detroit house over Easter. Everyone had noticed how sweet he had been toward Leann the last few months, cooing in her ear at family functions, calling her honey and sweetheart, and Leann told her friends and sisters shed never been happier.

However, her parents, Jack and Gloria Misener, thought Mick was laying it on a little thick. Every time he walks by her, hes got to bend his head and kiss her. It really looked stupid, when he started kissing her all over the place, Jack would say later. And Mick was doing stuff hed never done before, like help load the car when they were leaving the Miseners after family get-togethers.

On Thursday, August 12, Leann had given Mick the happy news that she was nearly a month pregnant with their second child.

Saturday, they double-dated with her oldest sister and best friend, Lindy, and her husband, Mark. The sisters squealed and hugged over the pregnancy. Sunday, the Fletchers took her parents, Gloria and Jack Misener, out to the nearby Outback Steakhouse, a place the Miseners had heard about for its monster steaks but had never been to. The dinner was two-foldto celebrate the new baby and to thank the Miseners for loaning them money to pay various bills over the last few months as Mick waited for invoices to be paid by the court.

Monday morning, the good mood and good times continued. Mick stopped off at drugstore to buy a card for Leann, the kind of thoughtful, loving act hed been doing with some regularity lately. He wrote a message inside expressing his love for her and his excitement over the baby. When he came back from the office, he handed her the card, which she read with joy, then tucked into her purse to show Lindy later.

They dropped Hannah off at her parents, chatted a few minutes, then left for the short ride to the range. Leanns good mood held until just inside the doors, where the joy quickly turned to discomfort bordering on chagrin upon arriving at the gun range at noon. Too loud, too scary. She hated the gun, she hated firing it, she asked if they could leave before their time was up.