Crime

Mich. Man Who Beheaded Step-Grandma Curses at Judge During Sentencing, Gets Life in Prison: 'Pure Evil'

Cecilia Gibson, 79, was struck in the head 19 times

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Published on August 23, 2021 12:18 PM

Cecilia Gibson. Photo: Merkle Funeral Service

A 45-year-old Michigan man responsible for the Feb. 16, 2020, slaying of his step-grandmother will spend the rest of his life behind bars, a judge decided last week.

According to court records, Kenny Wayne McBride was convicted after two hours of jury deliberations of the first-degree murder of 79-year-old Cecilia Gibson in June.

McBride was also convicted of the mutilation of a corpse, after authorities claimed he carved Gibson's head off using three different knives.

Monroe County Circuit Judge Michael Weipert called McBride's actions "pure evil" before sentencing him Thursday to life in prison — plus an additional 114 to 480 months, court records show.

Before he was sentenced Thursday, McBride cursed at Weipert, screaming obscenities as he was led into the courtroom, according to video footage from WTOL.

"Did you think I was just going to go peacefully?" McBride is heard saying to the judge.

According to investigators, Gibson and McBride were living in the convicted killer's father's Temperance house when the murder occurred.

Detectives determined that, after a heated argument, McBride beat Gibson to death with a ceramic piggy bank and a metal child gate.

The victim was struck in the head 19 times, an autopsy later revealed.

McBride later severed Gibson's head, investigators claimed. He then carried her head through the house, opened a back door and tossed her head into the yard.

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At trial, McBride testified that the killer had to have been someone he owed money. However, he refused to name that person, WTOL reports.

Prosecutor Michael Roehrig called the case "gruesome" in a statement.

"It is difficult to imagine the hatred that must have driven the defendant to commit such a brutal and horrifying murder," the statement reads. "The jury's verdict was just, and will result in McBride living out the rest of his life in prison."