Three Federal Inmates Charged in Murder of Fellow Inmate

Three inmates at the Milan Correctional Facility in Milan, Michigan, were charged in an indictment unsealed today with first degree premediated murder in the death of a fellow inmate, conspiracy to commit first degree premeditated murder and assault with intent to commit murder, announced United States Attorney Matthew Schneider.

Schneider was joined in the announcement by FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Rainer S. Drolshagen and Jason Terris, Warden, Milan Correction Facility.

            Charged were:

            Alex Albert Castro, 39;

            Jason Dale Kechego, 38; and

            Adam Taylor Wright, 39.  Wright was also charged with assaulting and resisting a law enforcement officer engaged in the performance of his duties.

According to the indictment, beginning in December, 2018, Castro, Kechego and Wright, while incarcerated at the federal detention center in Milan, Michigan, conspired to assault and murder fellow inmates who were thought to be smaller and weaker therefore more vulnerable.  It was on January 2, 2019, that the three defendants are alleged to have killed fellow inmate Christian Maire, using a homemade knife commonly referred to as a “shank”.  Allegedly, after stabbing Maire several times, the defendants then picked up Maire off the floor and threw his body down a flight of stairs.  The defendants are also alleged to have assaulted three other inmates by punching, beating, kicking and stabbing them.  Defendant Wright faces additional charges of assaulting a corrections officer and impeding a corrections officer during the assaults on the inmates in order to prevent them from stopping the attacks.

If convicted of the charges, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  It will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney J. Michael Buckley and Andrew R. Picek.