Michael Slocum, inset: Victim Veronica Crain
FOX 2 - A 24-year-old Wayne man was sentenced to prison in the domestic violence murder of his former girlfriend.
Joseph Slocum was sentenced to 40 to 60 years for the murder of 19-year-old Veronica Crain, of Detroit, on Friday at a Canton hotel in Feb. 2024.
Slocum fatally shot Crain in the head while she was working the front desk at the Comfort Suites hotel in Canton. Police arrived to find the victim behind the front desk of the hotel on north Haggerty Road.
Slocum fled and crashed in the area of I-275 and Ford Road. Police, responding to the crash, found Slocum lying in the road suffering from multiple injuries.
Crain's family told FOX 2 she tried to get away from the relationship several times over the last few years, according to family and friends. The two finally broke up about a month before the shooting.
"She smiled at everything. She always brightened somebody else’s day," her mother Kimberly Crain told FOX 2 last year. "Like at the hotel – she brightened everybody’s day."
"She was going to to go back to school, she wanted to go places in her life. He took everything from her honestly, everything."
"We extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Veronica Crain as they continue to bear the profound grief resulting from the unimaginable act of murder," said Police Chief Chad Baugh in a statement.
If you or someone you know is suffering domestic abuse, there are resources available:
First Step provides confidential, 24/7 support and resources for those affected by domestic violence and can be reached at 734-722-6800.
The Michigan Domestic Violence Hotline 1-866-VOICEDV is free and confidential. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233 - or text BEGIN to 88788.
The Source: Information for this story is from the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and Canton Police Department.