Justice has been served in the small rural town of Grinnell, Iowa after a white man who killed a Black man and left his body burning in a ditch was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder.
A 32-year-old man named Steven Vogel was accused of murdering Michael Williams after Williams became involved romantically with a woman Vogel used to date — something prosecutors said the man “just couldn’t handle.” Williams’ family believes his murder was also a hate crime, but Iowa prosecutors in the case refused to bring those charges against Vogel.
On Tuesday, Nov. 16, a jury found Vogel guilty of not just murdering Williams but also abusing his corpse after he tried to dispose of the body by lighting it on fire and leaving it in a ditch to burn.
