Man, 21, pleads guilty to 2021 machete slaying

A Union Township man accused of using a machete to kill a teen girl from Big Rapids has pleaded guilty to open murder.

Joel Patrick-Dorlice Travis, 21, pleaded guilty Monday morning to the September 2021 murder of Alexa Lin Riley, 16, in a unit of Jamestown Apartments in Union Township.

The plea was to open murder, leaving open the degree of the crime, which will determine his sentence. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 27 to determine that. If Travis is determined to have committed first-degree murder, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Travis’ case was scheduled for trial on Feb. 27, but a deal came about last week after Travis met with his attorney, Isabella County Public Defender Thomas Hausmann, following an evidentiary hearing.

The case is structured similarly to an open murder plea made by Mark Letunski in Shiawassee County earlier this year. Latunski was later found guilty of first-degree murder in his cannibalistic murder of Kevin Bacon.

Travis admitted to murdering Riley in court Monday, said Isabella County Prosector David Barberi. Travis was originally accused of hacking Riley’s body with a machete. Barberi said Travis also admitted to attacking a second teen about an hour before he killed Riley on Sept. 22, 2021.

Travis was one of two people charged in connection to the crime. Eli Garozzo was charged as an accessory. That case it still working through the court system, Barberi said. It is unlikely to see the inside of a courtroom.

Police found Riley’s body in Travis’ apartment while searching for the machete Travis used to attack the first teen the previous day.

Travis attacked the boy after the boy and a group of his friends jumped Garrozzo in a separate apartment. Garozzo was staying with Travis at the time.

After the assault, Travis, Garozzo and a woman sought shelter in Travis’ apartment. Travis lured Riley to the apartment after telling the other two he was fearful she’d reveal their location to the friends of the other teen, who form what local law enforcement describes as a group of youths mimicking gang activity.

Police were called to a hospital for the first assault, but the assaulted juvenile was less than cooperative. They were able to track Travis back to his apartment and had it under surveillance while waiting for a warrant to search it for the machete.

While they were waiting, Travis and Garozzo attempted to flee but crashed shortly after leaving the complex’s parking lot.