Chad Hickman’s ex-wife blames an Up North court system for turning loose the man Michigan State Police suspect of going on a shooting spree that killed five people.
“Missaukee County should be held accountable for what’s going on,” Katie Hickman told the Detroit Free Press in a brief phone interview Monday, Aug. 17. “Every last bit of it. Every death falls on the Missaukee County prosecutor who released Chad and let him off all the charges after he raped, tormented, and almost f—ing killed me and 15 years of abuse. Missaukee County let him do this. They were warned and they knew it was coming and they let it happen.”
Hickman died Friday by apparent suicide after shooting six people, killing five, in Lake City, about 25 miles west of Houghton Lake, police said.
In late July 2025, his ex-wife sought a personal protection order against Hickman, alleging years of abuse.
“I fear for my life and my children,” Katie Hickman wrote in a letter to the court seeking the order. “Chad is an evil man. He tortured me for 15 years and he hurt my children. Chad will stop at nothing, he will never leave me alone. Now that he is released, he is back in possession of many guns, pistols, rifles including fully automatic weapons. He is a danger to me and my children.”
Family Court Judge Edward Van Alst denied the request for the protection order and advised Hickman that she could seek a hearing to plead her case. The court records don’t show any hearing ever being held.
“Petitioner fails to clearly establish reasonable cause to believe immediate, irreparable injury, loss or danger will result from the delay to give notice,” Van Alst wrote.
The denial came after Hickman had been released from the county jail, where he’d served time after cutting a plea deal with prosecutors the year before.
In that 2024 case, Hickman was charged with felony counts of criminal sexual conduct and assault with intent to do great bodily harm, along with misdemeanor counts of child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
He agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts. Prosecutors agreed to drop the felonies.
A person who answered the phone in Judge Van Alst’s office Monday said the judge declined to comment on the denial of the protection order. Missaukee County Prosecutor David DenHouten declined an interview request to discuss the plea bargain but released a statement explaining it.
DenHouten said his office had charged Hickman with the felonies even though the crimes were alleged to have happened years before they were reported to police. A police report in the court file shows the accusations were reported in December 2023 and stretched back to 2011.
DenHouten also noted that the allegations were made in the middle of a divorce case. Court records show the divorce was especially bitter.
“Unfortunately … this office became aware of prior testimony in family court that the ex-spouse had given, under oath, denying that an assault had taken place,” DenHouten wrote. “In light of the fact that the alleged victim’s credibility had been severely damaged, and because the truthfulness of her proposed testimony was in question, and without other corroborating evidence to support the assault, the Missaukee County Prosecutor’s office entered into a plea agreement involving the remaining child abuse counts.”
The Free Press was not immediately able to access transcripts of Katie Hickman’s testimony that DenHouten referenced.
Court records related to the criminal case show two children who lived with the couple told investigators that they witnessed abuse. One of the two daughters was the couple’s biological child. The other was Katie Hickman’s from a previous relationship.
One girl, who was 15 at the time, described seeing Hickman choke her mom with his arm and hands, including once in the kitchen when he pinned her against a “cabinet or refrigerator” with his arm against her throat, according to a summary of the police interview from 2023. The girl said she went to call police for help and Hickman smashed her phone.
Investigators asked how the choking incidents would end and the girl said there came a point where her mom couldn’t breathe. She said she had seen her mom’s face “turning purple” and that she was gasping for air.
The ex-wife had been injured in an auto accident and used crutches for a time after a foot surgery. The girl told police about times when Hickman threw the crutches outside the house to prevent her mother from walking.
Hickman’s violent past and the court system’s treatment of it is facing new scrutiny since Friday’s killings.
State police as on Monday had not yet released the names of the victims of the attacks.
They suspect that Hickman shot four people at a home on South LaChance Road in Lake City. A relative identified four victims: Amanda Everitt, 40, and her 16-year-old son, Eric Thomas, both of whom died, as did Everitt’s boyfriend, Shane McGowan, 45. Bella Padilla Everitt, 13, survived the shooting and remained hospitalized in Grand Rapids.
At a nearby home, Hickman appears to have killed a 53-year-old man before killing a 29-year-old woman whose body was found in a wooded area in nearby Caldwell Township, near where Hickman’s body was found, police said.
Staff writers Darcie Moran and Christine MacDonald contributed to this report. Contact John Wisely: jwisely@freepress.com. On X: @jwisely
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Chad Hickman’s ex-wife slams system, warned of ‘danger’ before rampage
Reporting by John Wisely and Arpan Lobo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By John Wisely and Arpan Lobo, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
