Background: Jackie Igafo-Teo (at podium) speaks at the sentencing of Joshua Pirtle, convicted of killing her son, Sebastian Igafo-Teo (MLive via YouTube). Inset: Joshua Pirtle (Jackson County Sheriff”s Office).
A Michigan man who was convicted of fatally stabbing a 30-year-old father will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Joshua Pirtle, 33, did not appear in person for his sentencing hearing on Friday, when a judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to courtroom reporting by local news outlet MLive, he appeared via Zoom from the Jackson County Jail and reportedly disconnected the call while the family of victim Sebastian Igafo-Teo, 30, read their statements. He was ordered to reconnect to listen to them.
Jackie Igafo-Teo, the victim’s mother, addressed Pirtle directly, saying, “You stalked him, you harassed him, you threatened him and you stabbed him until he was basically a pile on the floor.”
She added, “I’ve been sitting in this court for hundreds of hours over the last two years, and you don’t even have the balls to come in here on the last day.”
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Pirtle was found guilty by a jury on Oct. 30, just over two years to the day that Sebastian Igafo-Teo was found stabbed to death in his own home. According to MLive, jurors deliberated for three hours before convicting Pirtle on every count he was charged with, including first-degree murder.
On Oct. 25, 2023, Pirtle and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Klaira Diann Mishaw, were at Sebastian Igafo-Teo’s home with their mutual friend, Mathew Kush. The three men had a verbal argument during which Pirtle made a number of accusations against the two other men, including owing Pirtle $10,000, an affair with Pirtle’s girlfriend, and the sexual abuse of children. When Sebastian Igafo-Teo told Pirtle to leave, Pirtle struck him then went after Kush.
During the altercation, Pirtle yelled, “Kill the lights.” The home went dark, and Kush scrambled out of the apartment. Kush testified that he called Jackie Igafo-Teo and told her to check on her son.
Sebastian Igafo-Teo was found by his mother and father, dead after being stabbed 73 times. They immediately called 911.
Pirtle then fled the scene with Mishaw in his victim’s stolen truck. Police investigating Sebastian Igafo-Teo’s death tracked down the truck while Pirtle was behind the wheel. Pirtle led police on a chase until he crashed the truck into a home and a utility pole in Jackson, Michigan. Both were taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries before they were arrested and charged with open murder.
Mishaw pleaded no contest to being an accessory to murder in June. She was sentenced to three years’ probation.
In addition to his murder conviction, Pirtle was found guilty of two counts of assault with intent to murder, car theft, and third-degree fleeing and eluding police.
Before handing the case over to the jury, Jackson County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Meaghan McKeon told the court that Pirtle had been posting accusations directed at Sebastian Igafo-Teo for months on Facebook as part of some “unresolved grievance,” according to MLive. When he showed up at Sebastian Igafo-Teo’s home on Oct. 25, 2023, he intended to kill him, and not “to injure him or to scare him or to teach him a lesson.”
Despite police testifying that they found a knife with Sebastian Igafo-Teo’s blood and hair on the lawn of the home Pirtle crashed into, as well as his victim’s blood under his fingernails, Pirtle denied having anything to do with the murder during his sentencing. Over Zoom, he told the court, “We need to find out who really did it. It’s a tragedy what happened, but wrongly convicting someone just to be able to point the finger is not right for any side.”
When he tried to interrupt Jackie Igafo-Teo during her statement, she held up her finger and said, “I don’t want to talk to you anymore. You’re done.”
