Romeo woman who helped dismember Macomb teen's body gets one year in jail

Romeo woman who helped dismember Macomb teen's body gets one year in jail

- March 07, 2019

By Jameson Cook jcook@medianewsgroup.com; @JamesonCook on Twitter

Eevette MacDonald — Eevette MacDonald appears at her sentencing Thursday on charges of mutilating and burying a body and being an accessory after the fact for helping in the aftermath of her then-boyfriend, Andrew Fiacco's, murder of Stephen McAfee in March 2016.
JAMESON COOK--THE MACOMB DAILY
A young woman who helped her boyfriend dismember his friend’s corpse and cover up his murder of him was jailed for one year for her role in the incident.
Eevette MacDonald, 20, of Romeo, was sentenced to one year in the Macomb County Jail and three years probation following emotional statements by the family of the victim, Stephen McAfee, 19, of Macomb Township, who was killed three years ago by long-time friend Andrew Fiacco, 21.

Stephen McAfee
MACOMB DAILY PHOTO OF IMAGE

Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Faunce also denied status for MacDonald under the Holmes Youth Trainee Act in which her two felony convictions would be erased from her record if she complied with probation terms.
MacDonald never reported the incident to police during the time McAfee was missing from March 2016 to April 2017. She confided in a friend who went to authorities.
“I don’t think you deserve it in any way, shape or form,” Faunce said of HYTA. “You deserve to be locked up again. It’s not just what you did, which was horrible, but the fact that you had so many opportunities after to rectify and didn’t. … It’s a shame.”
MacDonald in December pleaded guilty to disinterment and mutilation of a body and accessory after the fact and agreed to testify against Fiacco in exchange for dismissal of the lowest charge, lying to police.
The dismemberment charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and the accessory charge is punishable by up to five years in prison. MacDonald’s advisory sentencing guideline range was from probation up to 17 months behind bars.
Faunce said she considered that MacDonald pleaded guilty with no promises of a sentence.
Fiacco was arrested April 27, 2017, and led Sheriff’s investigators to McAfee’s remains in two spots – in a field near 34 Mile Road and Van Dyke in Bruce Township and on his family’s Ray Township property. He told police he shot McAfee twice in the head and once in the stomach on March 10, 2016, in the Bruce Township field during a struggle. Charged with first-degree murder, he was convicted of second-degree murder last month following a three-week trial. He also was convicted of disinterment and mutilation of a body, felony firearm and lying to police.
He is scheduled to be sentenced March 21.
McAfee’s parents, brother and sister in court said they wanted the maximum penalty possible for MacDonald, with two of them calling her a “monster” for her role in the incident and the lack of candor afterward.
“For 13-1/2 months our family suffered not knowing what had happened to Stephen,” said Suzanne McAfee, Stephen’s mother, who wept at times. “That whole time, Eeverette held the answers. Just months after the murder and mutilation of Stephen, Eevette continued willingly to associate herself with Andrew. … Eeverette continued to live her life as if nothing ever happened.”
Suzanne McAfee complained about Eevette receiving a $20,000 bond, which she posted, from Judge Denis LeDuc in 42-I District Court in Romeo at her arraignment and accused her of not taking the case seriously. Mrs. McAfee held up a photograph MacDonald posted on social media of a friend lifting up MacDonald’s leg showing a tether wrapped around her ankle, with MacDonald making a mocking expression and her friend smiling.
The McAfee family – also including Stephen's father, Michael; sister, Kathryn; and brother, Jonathan, all described the torment of surviving more than 13 months while Stephen was missing, searching for him, posting fliers and creating a Facebook page. They attended a Michigan State Police event held to help families of missing children.
“Waking up and heading out to search the fields, the wooded areas and the streets before going into work – this went on day after day, month after month,” Michael McAfee said, naming several cities and areas where he searched.
“Many times I would (see) someone who was walking or riding a bike that would resemble Stephen,” he said. “If I was driving my car I would stop and turn my car around and go back and get a second look, hoping it was Stevie.”
They noted MacDonald actively participated with Fiacco, helping dismember the body, purchasing cement in which to encase his remains, keeping remains in the trunk of her vehicle for a time and helping bury him.

Michael McAfee speaks in court surrounded by his daughter, Kathryn, son, Jonathan, and wife, Suzanne, on Thursday in Macomb County Circuit Court for the sentencing of Eevette MacDonald, who helped convicted murderer Andrew Fiacco cut up and dispose of Stephen McAfee's body in 2016.
JAMESON COOK--THE MACOMB DAILY

Nearly 20 friends and relatives of the McAfees attended the sentencing, some of them embracing afterward in the courthouse hallway.
In her statement, MacDonald, who appeared upset while listening to the McAfees' statements, apologized “for being cowardly and not coming forward with the information that I had.’
“I’m so sorry for what happened to Stephen, and if I could go back and try to maybe do something differently I would, I would come forward sooner," she said. "I’m sorry they had false hope all those months.”
In her testimony at the trial, MacDonald said Fiacco often accused of her of having a sexual affair with McAfee. MacDonald testified she was too frightened to go to the police because Fiacco had access to weapons. She said she was unable to leave because her car was not registered and lacked license plates.

Eevette MacDonald, left, holding up her leg with a tether wrapped around her ankle in a photo that was posted on social media while she was free after posting bond before her sentencing. The photo was shown to Judge Jennifer Faunce in court Thursday at MacDonald's sentencing.
SUBMITTED PHOTO

A handful of MacDonald’s relatives attended the hearing.
MacDonald’s attorney, Joshua West, said his client and her family were “disappointed” with the sentencing, saying they hoped for HYTA and probation.
"She entered her plea in good faith," he said, adding MacDonald was commended by an assistant prosecutor for her testimony.

https://www.macombdaily.com

Stephen McAfee — Eevette MacDonald appears at her sentencing Thursday on charges of mutilating and burying a body and being an accessory after the fact for helping in the aftermath of her then-boyfriend, Andrew Fiacco's, murder of Stephen McAfee in March 2016.
JAMESON COOK--THE MACOMB DAILY
A young woman who helped her boyfriend dismember his friend’s corpse and cover up his murder of him was jailed for one year for her role in the incident.
Eevette MacDonald, 20, of Romeo, was sentenced to one year in the Macomb County Jail and three years probation following emotional statements by the family of the victim, Stephen McAfee, 19, of Macomb Township, who was killed three years ago by long-time friend Andrew Fiacco, 21.

Stephen McAfee
MACOMB DAILY PHOTO OF IMAGE

Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Faunce also denied status for MacDonald under the Holmes Youth Trainee Act in which her two felony convictions would be erased from her record if she complied with probation terms.
MacDonald never reported the incident to police during the time McAfee was missing from March 2016 to April 2017. She confided in a friend who went to authorities.
“I don’t think you deserve it in any way, shape or form,” Faunce said of HYTA. “You deserve to be locked up again. It’s not just what you did, which was horrible, but the fact that you had so many opportunities after to rectify and didn’t. … It’s a shame.”
MacDonald in December pleaded guilty to disinterment and mutilation of a body and accessory after the fact and agreed to testify against Fiacco in exchange for dismissal of the lowest charge, lying to police.
The dismemberment charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and the accessory charge is punishable by up to five years in prison. MacDonald’s advisory sentencing guideline range was from probation up to 17 months behind bars.
Faunce said she considered that MacDonald pleaded guilty with no promises of a sentence.
Fiacco was arrested April 27, 2017, and led Sheriff’s investigators to McAfee’s remains in two spots – in a field near 34 Mile Road and Van Dyke in Bruce Township and on his family’s Ray Township property. He told police he shot McAfee twice in the head and once in the stomach on March 10, 2016, in the Bruce Township field during a struggle. Charged with first-degree murder, he was convicted of second-degree murder last month following a three-week trial. He also was convicted of disinterment and mutilation of a body, felony firearm and lying to police.
He is scheduled to be sentenced March 21.
McAfee’s parents, brother and sister in court said they wanted the maximum penalty possible for MacDonald, with two of them calling her a “monster” for her role in the incident and the lack of candor afterward.
“For 13-1/2 months our family suffered not knowing what had happened to Stephen,” said Suzanne McAfee, Stephen’s mother, who wept at times. “That whole time, Eeverette held the answers. Just months after the murder and mutilation of Stephen, Eevette continued willingly to associate herself with Andrew. … Eeverette continued to live her life as if nothing ever happened.”
Suzanne McAfee complained about Eevette receiving a $20,000 bond, which she posted, from Judge Denis LeDuc in 42-I District Court in Romeo at her arraignment and accused her of not taking the case seriously. Mrs. McAfee held up a photograph MacDonald posted on social media of a friend lifting up MacDonald’s leg showing a tether wrapped around her ankle, with MacDonald making a mocking expression and her friend smiling.
The McAfee family – also including Stephen's father, Michael; sister, Kathryn; and brother, Jonathan, all described the torment of surviving more than 13 months while Stephen was missing, searching for him, posting fliers and creating a Facebook page. They attended a Michigan State Police event held to help families of missing children.
“Waking up and heading out to search the fields, the wooded areas and the streets before going into work – this went on day after day, month after month,” Michael McAfee said, naming several cities and areas where he searched.
“Many times I would (see) someone who was walking or riding a bike that would resemble Stephen,” he said. “If I was driving my car I would stop and turn my car around and go back and get a second look, hoping it was Stevie.”
They noted MacDonald actively participated with Fiacco, helping dismember the body, purchasing cement in which to encase his remains, keeping remains in the trunk of her vehicle for a time and helping bury him.

Michael McAfee speaks in court surrounded by his daughter, Kathryn, son, Jonathan, and wife, Suzanne, on Thursday in Macomb County Circuit Court for the sentencing of Eevette MacDonald, who helped convicted murderer Andrew Fiacco cut up and dispose of Stephen McAfee's body in 2016.
JAMESON COOK--THE MACOMB DAILY

Nearly 20 friends and relatives of the McAfees attended the sentencing, some of them embracing afterward in the courthouse hallway.
In her statement, MacDonald, who appeared upset while listening to the McAfees' statements, apologized “for being cowardly and not coming forward with the information that I had.’
“I’m so sorry for what happened to Stephen, and if I could go back and try to maybe do something differently I would, I would come forward sooner," she said. "I’m sorry they had false hope all those months.”
In her testimony at the trial, MacDonald said Fiacco often accused of her of having a sexual affair with McAfee. MacDonald testified she was too frightened to go to the police because Fiacco had access to weapons. She said she was unable to leave because her car was not registered and lacked license plates.

Eevette MacDonald, left, holding up her leg with a tether wrapped around her ankle in a photo that was posted on social media while she was free after posting bond before her sentencing. The photo was shown to Judge Jennifer Faunce in court Thursday at MacDonald's sentencing.
SUBMITTED PHOTO

A handful of MacDonald’s relatives attended the hearing.
MacDonald’s attorney, Joshua West, said his client and her family were “disappointed” with the sentencing, saying they hoped for HYTA and probation.
"She entered her plea in good faith," he said, adding MacDonald was commended by an assistant prosecutor for her testimony.

https://www.macombdaily.com

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