Nephew arrested for Warren couple's murder had family hit list

WARREN, Mich. (WJBK) - A Warren couple was found shot to death in their home Friday, with their nephew the main suspect.

A series of chilling Facebook postings led police to Joseph Lawrence Borowiak who was taken into custody just before 10 p.m. for the murders of Steven Collins, 67, and his wife Cindy, 66.

He was found by a viewer at a Buddy's Pizza in Detroit. Police were called, and he fled to a nearby vacant house where he was arrested by the Detroit Police Department.

Officers knew who they were looking for due to an apparent hit list he posted on his Facebook Page.

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Neighbor Greg Birch said he never heard or noticed anything suspicious but wished he had. He said he loved his neighbors Steven and Cindy Collins, now heartbroken to learn they were both found shot to death inside their Warren home on Panama Avenue.

Another neighbor found their dog wandering and their front door kicked in. That's when they called 911 and officers arrived to find Steven in one bedroom and Cindy in another with gunshot wounds to the head.

"The best neighbors you could ask for," Birch said. "Great people, they really were. I spoke to (Cindy) last Tuesday and she was recovering from a medical issue. They (would) give you the shirt off their back if they thought it would help."

Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer said nothing appeared stolen from the house.

Police were looking for the couple's nephew Joe Borowiak, the 37-year-old described as mentally unstable with a criminal past.  FOX 2 learned days prior he posted on Facebook a hit list for relatives including Steven and Cindy Collins and their two children.

Another post at 9:41 Friday morning was a selfie taken in front of his aunt and uncle's house - around the same time we're told the murders took place.

Borowiak was well known to the neighborhood. Many knew his struggles - but never imagined this.

"He would do yard work for different people," said neighbor Jeff Herrell who went to school with the suspect. "He would work with a guy next door, landscaping.

"Kind of a troubled soul I guess you would say."

"He would talk like he was God," said neighbor Alisha Goolsby. "He believed he was God. When I would do yard work for my neighbor Greg, he would act out of the ordinary - like not right in the head."