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A few days after we shared a dinner table, Janel Bernard, 79, was beaten and stabbed to death during a home invasion

BarkGrowlBite
July 12, 2017

On July 6, I posted a piece on 79-year-old Janel Bernard’s murder. On Tuesday the Hedwig Police announced that Janel’s killer was in custody. The police were right when they believed that since there was no sign of forced entry, the killer was someone she knew.

The killer turned out to be Michael Susberry, a 55-year-old black parolee who is the son of Janel’s former longtime housekeeper. Susberry confessed to the murder, saying he headbutted the victim, then beat her up before stabbing her to death on July 3.

Police were able to ID Susberry because he used his bus pass to get to and from Janel’s home. Among other evidence, a surveillance camera had placed him near the scene of the crime.

The Houston Police Department assisted Hedwig police by processing the crime scene and Janel’s car, and by lending the small department one of their detectives.

Moteel Susberry, the killer’s 89-year-old mother, retired as Janel’s housekeeper five or six years ago but Janel continued to issue her a check each month. Michael Susberry would come by to pick up the checks. That’s why Janel let him in on that fateful day.

On July 5, Moteel Susberry told ABC 13:

"I hope they catch whoever did it and stab them, but before they die, before they send them to the pen or whatever, they need to be sent to the back of the pen by they self for life with no parole. That's what need to happen. Or let me get ahold of 'em and I fix 'em."

Now Susberry’s mother says she does not believe her son is the killer.

Susberry has an extensive record of arrests for violent crimes. In 1985 he was sentenced to life in prison for aggravated robbery but he was paroled after serving only 20 years. In 2015, he was convicted of aggravated assault for which he spent almost one year in jail. However, Susberry’s parole was not revoked.

“He's been in and out of the penitentiary his entire life,” Hedwig Village Police Chief David Gott said. “It doesn't appear as though he has ever done anything worthwhile since he has been alive on this earth.”

I wonder what kind of parole supervision, if any, this worthless piece of shit got? Had Susberry’s parole been revoked upon his 2015 aggravated assault conviction, Janel would still be alive today.