Inset, left to right: Jacob Kempainen (Cerro Gordo County Jail) and Alvin Kempainen (Memorial Chapel Funeral Services).
A 22-year-old Michigan man will spend decades in prison for fatally shooting his grandfather inside the victim”s home before attempting to claim the 87-year-old was possessed by “spirits.”
Houghton County Circuit Judge Brittany A. Bulleit on Monday ordered Jacob Kempainen to serve 15 to 50 years in a state correctional facility for the 2023 slaying of Alvin Kempainen, court records show. The sentence was handed down after Kempainen reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to open murder. In exchange, conspiracy to commit murder and felony firearms charges were dropped.
Margaret Kempainen, his mother and the victim’s daughter-in-law, is also charged with murder in connection with Alvin Kempainen’s death.
Authorities said that the mother and son lived in Wisconsin, traveled to Michigan where they allegedly killed Alvin Kempainen, and were then arrested in Iowa.
As Law&Crime previously reported, deputies with the Houghton County Sheriff’s Office at about 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023, responded to a call requesting a wellness check at a home in the 53000 block of Salo Road, just a few miles south of Lake Superior.
Upon arriving at the address, first responders said they found Alvin Kempainen suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators were able to quickly identify Margaret and Jacob Kempainen as potential suspects in the fatal shooting, according to a report from Marquette, Michigan, NBC and Fox affiliate WLUC. They were reportedly located in Minnesota, driving south on Interstate 35 toward Iowa. Authorities contacted the Clear Lake, Iowa, police department and officers were able to apprehend the duo when they stopped at a local gas station.
Additional details about the investigation were revealed in court documents obtained by Minneapolis-based online news site, Bring Me the News.
According to the report, authorities in Minnesota executed a search warrant on Jacob Kempainen’s Minneapolis apartment in connection with the murder investigation.
The warrant reportedly states Margaret Kempainen’s husband, who is also Jacob Kempainen’s father, told authorities that on Dec. 7, 2023, his family left him in Wisconsin and had not contacted him since leaving. However, he told authorities that after seeing a debit card transaction in Bruce Crossing, Michigan, he believed his family was traveling to his father’s home to “get money,” leading him to fear the older man was in trouble.
Alvin Kempainen reportedly texted his son at 9 p.m. on Dec. 18, 2023, that the family — which he referred to as “the crew” — had just arrived at his home. He then stopped responding to additional messages and calls from his son.
Following the arrests, Margaret Kempainen allegedly told police that her son was the one who killed Alvin Kempainen, but both suspects reportedly made numerous outlandish claims about the circumstances of the shooting.
For example, Jacob Kempainen allegedly told police that when they arrived at Alvin Kempainen’s home, they believed the 87-year-old had already been killed by malevolent spirits and that the individual in the home was “not grandpa.”
“[Jacob Kempainen] advised that the spirits stated grandpa opened the well up behind the house and the spirits killed him,” the search warrant reportedly states.
Similarly, Margaret Kempainen reportedly said that Alvin Kempainen was “not her father-in-law,” claiming that he had been moving around “like a 20-year-old.”
Per the report, investigators even noted that the mother and son’s stories were eerily similar to the events in M. Night Shyamalan’s film “The Visit.”
The search warrant reportedly states that Minnesota authorities were authorized to seize any “evidence of paranormal activity, spirits, possession of bodies including but not limited to the 2015 movie ‘The Visit.'”
Margaret Kempainen remains incarcerated without bond. A date for her trial had not been scheduled as of Monday.
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