Demonic influence blamed in court as mother, son stand accused of killing Hancock-area grandfather

HOUGHTON, Mich. (WJMN) — A Houghton County judge advanced the cases against a mother and son closer to trial after hearing new information about the alleged occult motivations for the killing of 87-year-old Alvin Kempainen late last year.

On Monday, Houghton County Prosecutor Dan Helmer argued during a preliminary hearing that there was enough evidence to move the cases for murder suspects Margaret and Jacob Kempainen along to circuit court.

50-year-old Margaret and now 21-year-old Jacob both face charges of Open Murder and Conspiracy to Commit Homicide for the shooting death of Alvin Kempainen on December 18 last year.

Jacob also faces an additional charge of Felony Firearm, as investigators believe he is the one who fired the gun that night.

Alvin Kempainen was Jacob’s grandfather and Margaret’s father-in-law.

Police originally said there were three people of interest when their investigation began on Dec. 19. We learned the third was Margaret’s 16-year-old daughter, who has been given a deal to testify truthfully in exchange for not being accused of any crimes related to her testimony.

All charges against both suspects were advanced by the judge. Their arraignments in circuit court have yet to be scheduled.

In his final remarks, Helmer said, “the actual mastermind of this plan is Margaret Kempainen. She is the one that clearly broke both of her children. She’s the one that hatched this plan starting in Colorado, filled their head with nonsense, and made this poor girl believe that she could talk to demons… and make this poor kid think that his only option was to kill grandpa. Margaret Kempainen didn’t pull the trigger, but she’s the only reason that trigger got pulled.”

During Monday’s hearing, Helmer called four witnesses to testify. One was the underage daughter, but the first was Alan Kempainen; Alvin’s son as well as husband to Margaret, and father of Jacob and their daughter.

According to testimony, Alan lived with his wife and daughter in Hartland, WI and would occasionally visit his father Alvin at least once a year at his home on Salo Road in Hancock. At the time of the killing, Jacob had since moved to Minneapolis, MN to attend college.

Defense attorneys asked Alan about his relationships with the accused killers.

About his son, Alan said “my perception was it was pretty good for a father and a teenage son. We did a lot of things together… We went to car shows together, we had a lot of good conversations. We had, you know, our disagreements as a father and son as well.”

Alan has since filed for divorce from Margaret since her arrest, but said he wouldn’t describe their relationship before December of last year as “hostile” when asked by an attorney if there was a period of such emotion in their marriage.

“I don’t think I would clarify it as hostility,” Alan said. “I would clarify it as more of a coldness an drifting apart-ness… our marriage was more practical—’go pick up this kid, go pick up the groceries, go do this kind of thing.’”

As far as his testimony, that is how life was until his wife and daughter left town on Dec. 7.

Alan had the following exchange with the prosecutor while on the witness stand:

PROSECUTOR HELMER: Did they tell you that they were leaving?

ALAN KEMPAINEN: Yes.

HELMER: Did they tell you where they were going when they said they were going to Chicago?

ALAN: They said they were going to Chicago because Margaret’s brother had been shot, and they wanted to check on her brother in Chicago.

HELMER: And to the best of your knowledge, did you go to Chicago?

ALAN: To the best of my knowledge, they did not go to Chicago.

Alan went on to say that in the following days neither his wife or daughter would respond to his calls or text messages, leading him to examine transactions on a shared debit card for clues on what they were doing.

Through that information, Alan learned they had not gone to Chicago, but had in fact driven out west to Colorado.

After four days of no word from his family, Alan said he contacted police to request a welfare check. During that inquiry a traffic camera picture would also show him their son, who he thought was still in Minneapolis where he attended college, was also traveling with Margaret in a separate vehicle.

Police were able to locate the three and ask them if they were okay, but That’s all they could do.

Alan continued to keep track of them via their purchases, eventually seeing on Dec. 18 a charge in the U.P. at a store in Bruce’s Crossing, which made him think they were headed to Alvin’s house.

HELMER: Did you make contact with your dad?

ALAN: Yes.

HELMER: How did you first do that?

ALAN: I called.

HELMER: And did you talk to him?

ALAN: I did.

HELMER: DID you recognize his voice?

ALAN: I did.

HELMER: What did you tell your dad?

ALAN: I told my dad that it looks like Margaret and Jacob and [their daughter], looks like they’re on their way up to the house… I have not talked to them since December 7th, so I do not know what they want or what their intentions are.

But—I don’t know what to tell you, they might be lookin for money, they might be looking for… Shelter? I don’t know, but they’re on their way up there.

Shortly before 9 p.m. that night, Alan would get a text from Alvin saying, “The crew has arrived, we’ll see what happens. I’ll keep you informed.”

It would turn out to be the last communication Alan would have with his father.

Investigators say that Alvin was shot and killed not long after his last message to his son.

While still maintaining their silence to Alan, the rest of his family would be found by police in Clear Lake, Iowa, and questioned the next day.

Detective James O’Keefe was in the interrogation room when Margaret was interviewed.

O’Keefe said Margaret told him the three had pulled up to Alvin’s garage, with the kids in one car and her in the other. After a brief conversation, it was decided that Margaret and Jacob would enter the house.

“Across that side of the living room is where Alvin was located in his rocking chair,” O’Keefe said. “Alvin got out of his chair and began yelling at them, and she felt threatened by Alvin… and that eventually her son removed the handgun… Margaret said that her son fired the handgun and that shot hit Alvin in the head.”

In O’Keefe’s continued statement, he said Margaret had also told him that she later instructed Jacob to fire a second shot which hit Alvin in the chest.

While even one of the defense attorneys said he agreed with law enforcement’s basic outline of events, an answer as to why the killing happened is harder to pin down. According to testimony from the Kempainen’s daughter, it may have been something that was built over time.

According to the teenage daughter, Margaret had been telling her for the past two years that she had a connection to demons.

HELMER: In fact, your mom told you that you were a necromancer, didn’t she?

DAUGHTER: Yeah.

HELMER: What’s a necromancer?

DAUGHTER: Somebody that controls the dead.

She said she didn’t believe it at first, but began to over time. Then when they left the house on December 7th, the daughter said, Margaret explained it was because Alan, her father, had been possessed by demons.

Later on in Colorado, the daughter said she had a vision that her grandfather was dead and that an old well on his property was full of bodies.

Helmer questioned the daughter about what happened after the three had pulled up to Alvin’s garage, after Margaret was said to have gotten out of her car and walked to jacob’s window.

HELMER: Once those windows get rolled down, do you guys have a conversation?

DAUGHTER: Yes.

HELMER: What is that conversation? What was said during that?

DAUGHTER: I don’t remember. I think it was just about what we were going to do.

HELMER: Did you talk about killing grandpa?

DAUGHTER: We were talking about why he was still alive.

HELMER: What do you mean by that?

DAUGHTER: We thought, going up to the house, he was already dead.

HELMER: Why did you think that?

DAUGHTER: I don’t know anymore.

HELMER: Did you think grandpa had been possessed by demons and that they killed him?

DAUGHTER: Yeah.

In O’Keefe’s testimony, he said Margaret told him she had a dream where Alvin’s spirit came to her and said he had taken his own life.

In both tellings, the alleged spiritual events led the group to drive to Alvin’s home in Hancock to live on the supposedly now-empty property.

HELMER: And so your brother says, “let’s go to grandpa’s so we can live off the land, correct?”

DAUGHTER: Yes.

HELMER: Does he say anything about harming grandpa—no?

DAUGHTER: No.

HELMER: When is the first mention that anyone in your family makes of harming grandpa?

DAUGHTER: It was a little bit after my brother had said something, maybe a day or two, and my mom started mentioning something about killing my grandpa.

Helmer also asked her about the moments when she was alone in the car with Jacob outside of their grandfather’s house. Helmer recalled an earlier interview where she told him and a detective that Jacob had turned to her and asked for her advice.

HELMER: Do you remember that on May 31st, you told the detective and I that your brother turned to you and said, “what should I do?” Like, “what do we do?”

DAUGHTER: Yes.

HELMER: Is that true that your brother said that?

DAUGHTER: Yes.

HELMER: And is it also true that you responded to that question by saying, “we should kill Grandpa?”

DAUGHTER: Yes.

The last witness of the day was Houghton County’s medical examiner, who made it clear to the defense that he did not believe it was possible for Alvin to have died by suicide due to the fatal shot apparently being the shot to the head, which by way of bullet trajectory and other factors, would have made it impossible for Alvin to have also shot himself in the chest.

In his final statement. Helmer said he believed there was more than enough evidence to bind the case over. “It’s very clear that Jacob went in that house in Salo Road back on December 18th because of a plan his mother hatched, that his sister encouraged, and that he was maybe even a little reluctant about it, but did it anyway,” Helmer said.

Then Helmer addressed Margaret’s case. “Turning to the actual mastermind of this plan, is Margaret Kempainen. She is the one that clearly broke both of her children. She’s the one that hatched this plan starting in Colorado, filled their head with nonsense, and made this poor girl believe that she could talk to demons… and make this poor kid think that his only option was to kill grandpa. Margaret Kempainen didn’t pull the trigger, but she’s the only reason that trigger got pulled.”

As for the defense, lawyers seemed poised to point blame toward the other suspect.

“Looking at Jacob Kempainen,” his attorney said, “all of the testimony here is, he was more or less commanded to do this, to do it, “kill Grandpa.” It’s from [his sister] or mother here. There was commands that were made and Mr. Kempainen followed those commands. That’s what the evidence suggests anyway.”

Margaret’s attorney attempted to cast doubt, saying “the fact of the matter is, and the testimony shows, Ms. Margaret Kempainen was in a very separate vehicle, had very little to no contact with Jacob and [her daughter] while they were traveling in the blue Mercedes. The testimony was clear that the murderous intent was going on in the Mercedes vehicle.”

After arguments, the judge found both cases and all charges against Margaret and Jacob over to circuit court. And one step closer to trial. The next step for both cases will be their arraignment in circuit court.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJMN - UPMatters.com.