18-year-old awaiting sentencing in Fraser homicide killed in crash

MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - A Warren teen, involved in the highly publicized killing of 14-year-old Trent Redstrom in September 2022, was killed in a car crash on Tuesday.

Collin West, 18, died just days before being sentenced for his role in a stabbing that left two teens injured and one dead. Investigators say it was all over a fight about a girl. 

Sheila, the mother of one of the injured teens, is still trying to make sense of West’s death. 

"It was really shocking when I got the news," she said.

Her son was seriously hurt at the time of the stabbing.

"He had three stab wounds: One through the ear to the neck, one in his spine – close to his spine – and one in his lower back. He did not have a weapon. He fought back as best as he could. I mean the whole thing was over in like 75 seconds or something crazy like that," Sheila said.

West pleaded guilty to assault with intent to do great bodily harm and second-degree home invasion. The more serious attempted murder charge was tossed out. Investigators say Collin was also hurt in the melee. 

"I’m devastated for the family, I’m devastated for him. It’s absolutely tragic. And I feel if he would have been sentenced two weeks ago, I think he would have been in jail right now, and he’d still be alive," Sheila continued.

Attorney Jeffery Cojocar represented Collin and was getting his client ready for the upcoming sentencing.

"I could not have been more surprised and saddened and shocked," Cojocar said. "He was optimistic and positive, and he was hopefully relying upon some of the information that we provided to the court.

"He just recently graduated from high school. He had been working for the last year where his dad worked, and a couple took him under their wing, and he was getting into the electrician field – so he was doing really well, very interested in that."

Doctors pronounced Collin dead hours after he was hurt in a three-car crash on Groesbeck Highway and North Avenue in Clinton Township this past Tuesday.  His death essentially means the end to a criminal case that rocked much of Macomb County.

"I don’t have any idea what kind of justice could come from it," Sheila said. "I don’t know."