PORTAGE, Mich. (WOOD) — A woman accused of killing a man in Portage earlier this year told police she strangled him after he attacked her, court documents show.
Iyanna Colon, 21, was charged with murder in January in the death of 25-year-old Maan Saleh Alblowi.
According to a probable cause document filed with the court Jan. 20, Colon came into the Portage Department of Public Safety on Jan. 18 to report a death at Briargate Apartments near the intersection of Westnedge and Milham avenues.
Colon told detectives she had known Alblowi for about two months and had been living with him at his apartment for about a week. On Jan. 17, she said, they got into an argument. She said that as the argument continued, she asked him to turn down loud music and that when he didn’t, she threw water in his face.
At that point, Colon said, according to the document, Alblowi came at her, pulling her hair and causing her to hit her head and choking her. She said she started choking him, as well, “indicating she thought the situation was life or death,” the document said. Eventually, she said, she realized he wasn’t breathing. According to the document, she told detectives she cried and prayed over him for about an hour before realizing he was dead, at which point she said she covered him with a robe and dragged him into a bedroom closet.
She said she went to sleep for a few hours and then took a walk. She eventually reached out to her family and told them what happened. She and her parents then went to the police department.
When officers searched Alblowi’s apartment, they found “evidence consistent with (Colon’s) statement,” the document said.
They also found that Colon had cleaned the apartment. According to the court document, she told family she did that to hide her fingerprints.
After being charged with open murder, Colon was ordered held at the Kalamazoo County Jail without bond. She is expected in court June 2 for a preliminary hearing.