Christopher Sean John Michaels
Age 5
January 31, 2012 - September 18, 2017
Dixon, Lee County, Illinois
Reports of shots fired sent the Dixon Police Department to the 1014 Fargo Avenue in Dixon, Illinois. They entered the home where they found a bedroom on the second floor barricaded with the door shut. Once they got in to that room, they found five year old Christopher Michaels who died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Next to Christopher was his father, thirty-three year old Robert Michaels, also deceased from a gunshot wound to the head. He was still breathing but unresponsive. The gun used was a semi-automatic handgun. Robert was taken to KSB Hospital, then flown to a Rockford hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Christopher’s mom reported that the day of Christopher’s death, Michael was upstairs playing a video game with Christopher and asked Christopher’s mother who was standing in the doorway, to go downstairs and grab something for him. Immediately after she stepped away from the door, he slammed it shut and barricaded himself with Christopher in the room. Christopher’s mother reportedly heard two gunshots, ran to her car to get the phone and called 911.
Imagining the horror by first responders, Chief Dan Langloss was quoted making his statement after the incident. “Our heart goes out to the family members who have suffered this horrific tragedy. Our officers feel your pain. There is nothing more difficult for a police officer than seeing a young child’s life being taken in such a senseless manner. This is by far the worst situation our officers have been involved in," Nine officers were placed on a short leave to cope with their experience that day.
The father, Robert Michaels was under investigation for allegations of child sexual abuse at the time. The victim was not Christopher Michaels, however because of these allegations, DCFS was involved and specifically included a safety plan to prohibit Robert from having any unsupervised contact with Christopher.
A divorce between Michael and Christopher’s mom was filed May 1, 2017 in Lee County where Michael was the one granted primary custody of Christopher on June 20th. A parenting plan was filed that day. That changed when just one week prior to their death on September 12th, the child abuse allegation came forth. He was no longer allowed to be with anyone under 18 alone without supervision.
Sauk Valley News reported Michael’s dark history.
Michaels had a previous misdemeanor conviction for the sexual assault of a teenager that occurred in August 2003, a month before he turned 19, Lee County Court records show.
He was charged that Nov. 24 with having sex with the girl, who was at least 13 but younger than 17 at the time. He was living at the Fargo Avenue address at the time.
He was sentenced in April 2004 to 18 months’ probation and ordered to undergo a sex offender evaluation. He was not a registered sex offender at the time of his suicide.
OBITUARY
Christopher Sean John Michaels, 5 years old of Dixon, was welcomed home to heaven, on Monday, September 18, 2017. He was a kindergartener at St. Anne’s Catholic School in Dixon.
Christopher was born January 31, 2012, in Dixon, IL, the son of Kassondra Jensen. He loved family and getting together with them. He was always wanting to play with his little cousins, aunt and his friends. Christopher enjoyed playing his video games, Minecraft, Roblox, and anything Mario. He also enjoyed playing on his phone, taking pictures, and being with his mommy. Christopher will be forever loved and missed.
He is survived by his mother, Kassondra Jensen; maternal grandparents, Michael and Dalene Jensen; paternal grandparents, John and Margie Calohan; maternal aunt, Amanda Jensen; maternal great grandparents, John and Brenda Jensen; maternal great aunts, Lisa (Darren) Dexter and Rachel (Glenn) Jensen; maternal great great grandparents, Howard and Dorothy Chapman; and many other great aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Christopher was preceded in death by his great aunt, Shauna Jensen; maternal great grandmother, Bertha Bass; and maternal great great grandparents, Delmar & Celia Motsinger.
Visitation will be from 10:00 a.m., until time of memorial service at 12:00 p.m., on Monday, September 25, 2017, at Preston-Schilling Funeral Home in Dixon with Rev. Dr. Vincent O. Marrandino, officiating. Burial of cremated remains will be at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens in Dixon, following the memorial service. A memorial has been established and donations can be made at prestonschilling.com.
Comments