FLINT, MI – For more than 20 years, Michael Bur had a secret – a secret that he kept from friends, family and tried to hide from himself with the help of drugs and alcohol.
But on Nov. 10, 2021, that secret was made public.
Bur was arrested at his Lennon home in connection with the 1997 murder and sexual assault of 88-year-old Mary Prieur.
“I received 27 letters from your family members and friends,” Genesee Circuit Judge David J. Newblatt told Bur Friday, Feb. 3, his sentencing date for Prieur’s death. “Although they say that you are a good person, they did not know your secret. So, how am I supposed to receive these letters when an injustice has been done 25 years ago? The letters wouldn’t even exist at all.
“As a judge, I seek to temper justice with mercy,” Newblatt continued. “Based on these facts, to be honest, it’s really hard for me to see how you’re deserving of mercy. Instead, that mercy is going to have to come from Mrs. Prieur’s family.”
‘You do not deserve this’
On a cold morning Friday, Feb. 3, not too different from the chilly February day Prieur’s body was found in a swampy, wooded area about 150 feet from her rural home, Newblatt sentenced Bur to 10-20 years in a Michigan prison on charges of second-degree murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
The sentence came over a month after Bur admitted to sexually assaulting and then killing the elderly woman, who was known as a pious, kind individual who was a longtime fixture of the small community she resided.
The court hearing took place a week after Bur had originally been scheduled to stand trial in the case.
But instead, the 43-year-old defendant – originally charged with first-degree murder, first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping – pleaded guilty in December to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and the single criminal sexual conduct charge. The kidnapping charge was dropped.
Related: Man sentenced in 1997 Michigan homicide case
The agreement, made with input from Prieur’s family, stipulated he would serve at least 10-20 years in prison.
No one would have suspected that Bur, an 11th grader at the time of Prieur’s murder, a former church altar boy and one of the woman’s neighbors, would have committed the heinous crime.
But nearly 26 years to the day later, Bur’s secret was uncovered, as he stood in a courtroom filled with his friends and family, as well as the family of Prieur, a group of women who waited more than two dozen years for justice.
“I have to admit that I greatly struggled with this,” Newblatt said Friday. “But then I realized something: The mercy that the family is showing today is in the same spirit that Mrs. Prieur showed you when she invited you into your house and gave you ice cream. You did not deserve that bowl of ice cream, and you do not deserve this.
“But I see now,” Newblatt continued, “that this is a way that Mrs. Prieur’s family can finally reclaim her story from you. Instead of her being remembered tragically for how she died, she can be remembered for her goodness and help by showing mercy to another of God’s children.”
‘It only took two weeks’
Michael Beer has represented numerous defendants who have found themselves sitting in the very seat Bur was sitting in Friday morning.
Despite that, the defense attorney called Bur’s case “very unique” when speaking on his client’s behalf in the form of allocution.
“The man that you see standing before you is a 43-year-old man. The man that committed this heinous and horrendous crime was 17,” Beer said. “It’s very clear to me after getting to know this family, this Bur family here, getting to know Michael over the last year and a half, I can tell you it’s truly a different man that stands here before you.”
Beer spoke highly of Bur and his family, saying they are hard-working and raise their children to live with integrity and to be truthful.
But for two weeks back in 1997, Beer said, Bur veered off that path.
“It only took two weeks for Mr. Bur to go astray from everything his family had taught him for those years,” Beer said. “Everything was done in two weeks, when he decided to leave his family’s house because he ended up wanting to party, he wanted to do drugs, he didn’t want rules.
“And in just two weeks he went down a path where he made a decision and he’s taking responsibility for it,” Beer added.
Beer said he hoped that by his client taking responsibility for his actions in 1997, Prieur would be able to rest in peace.
It took a lot, Beer said, for his client to dig deep within himself and to live with what he called the “terrible secret” of what he had done. He said the pre-sentence investigation report shows that, after the homicide, Bur turned to alcohol and drugs – something Beer speculated Bur had turned to in order to escape the reality of what he had done.
“The Prieurs would forgive Michael, but I don’t think up until he came clean, he would forgive himself,” Beer said.
‘We have to keep in mind Aunt Mary’
Mary Prieur likely would have forgiven her killer. That’s just the type of person she was, according to her niece, Evelyn Ranke.
“We were glad that it’s finally happened and that Michael came forward and confessed,” Ranke said. “Aunt Mary led a life of kindness and mercy. She was a good person, and I’m sure that long ago she forgave Michael for what he did to her. We have to forward with that in mind.”
Ranke said she and her sister sat in the gallery, clenching each other’s hands and wiping tears from their eyes as they watched Friday’s proceedings.
“You can’t help but feel for his family,” she said. “They’re there also, that’s their child and brother. But at this time, we have to keep in mind Aunt Mary.”
Read more at The Flint Journal:
Plea reached in 1997 homicide case of 88-year-old Michigan woman
Suspect arrested in 1997 cold case murder of 88-year-old Lennon woman
‘Science solved this.’ Sheriff says DNA led to arrest in 88-year-old Lennon woman’s cold case murder
Man accused in 1997 cold case murder of 88-year-old woman gets new court date
Murder of 88-year-old Lennon woman remains unsolved 21 years later
Lennon neighbors hold out hope Mary Prieur’s killer will be found 15 years after her death
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