A number of notable cases are still pending in Livingston County, including several rescheduled trials and upcoming hearings in cases involving sexual or domestic assault, murder or animal cruelty.
Here’s where they stand:
Tamela Peterson
Tamela Peterson, of Brighton, has been charged with nine counts of alleged healthcare fraud by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office. Peterson — CEO of The Oxford Center — is accused of “having knowledge of” and being “the direct beneficiary of fraudulent healthcare claim practices,” including billing for services not completed.
Peterson is scheduled for an examination May 29 in Livingston County’s 53rd District Court before Judge Shauna Murphy. She’s also facing charges of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in Oakland County for the hyperbaric oxygen chamber death of five-year-old Thomas Cooper.
Jeremy Heath
Jeremy Heath is charged with carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, felony firearm, carrying a concealed weapon, and open murder following a fatal shooting at Metro Studios Ink in June 2024. Sean Thompson, 46, of Howell, was found dead inside the building.
Heath was originally scheduled for trial in March 2025 before Judge Matthew McGivney in Livingston County’s 44th Circuit Court. The trial was delayed until November, then taken off the schedule while the defense filed an appeal. Heath is currently scheduled for a motion hearing March 26, and his trial has been rescheduled for July 27-Aug. 4.
Jerome Kowalski
Jerome Kowalski, 79, was scheduled for retrial in October 2025 but entered a last-minute, no contest plea on two counts of open murder. The plea isn’t an admission of guilt, but is treated as such for sentencing.
Kowalski can’t be sentenced until a degree hearing is held to determine whether he’ll be convicted of first- or second-degree murder in the 2008 killings of his brother and sister-in-law, Richard and Brenda Kowalski. There are currently no hearings scheduled.
If a sentencing estimate provided to Kowalski is exceeded, he could withdraw the plea.
Kowalski was originally convicted of both murders in 2013, but was granted a new trial in 2019 after the judge in his case, Theresa Brennan, was disbarred and sentenced to six months in jail. Officials discovered she’d had an intimate relationship with Michigan State Police Det. Sean Furlong, who led the investigation into the killings.
Christopher Beall
Christopher Beall was charged with open murder in November 2024 after his 57-year-old roommate was found dead in their home on Sargent Road in Handy Township. Beall was bound over to Livingston County’s 44th Circuit Court in January 2025.
According to court records, Beall was found incompetent to stand trial, but recoverable, during a review hearing in October. During another hearing Dec. 11, Judge Suzanne Geddis was informed Beall hadn’t yet received the medication and treatment necessary to bring him back to competency, due to a lack of available beds at the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Saline. According to proceedings April 9, he was admitted in March.
Beall is scheduled for another review hearing July 24.
Matthew Swider
Matthew Swider, a former youth pastor in Brighton, faces numerous charges related to child sexually abusive activity, including three counts of distributing obscene matter to children. He was scheduled for a motion hearing May 14 before Judge Miriam Cavanaugh in Livingston County’s 44th Circuit Court.
Robert Kowalske
Robert Kowalske, 63, was bound over to Livingston County’s 44th Circuit Court in April 2025 on charges of failure to stop at the scene of an accident resulting in death and operating while intoxicated causing death. The charges are in connection with the hit-and-run death of 22-year-old Alexander Tubbs in December 2024.
Kowalske posted bond in June 2025. He was originally scheduled for trial March 2-11, but the proceeding was removed from the calendar. He’s now scheduled for trial Aug. 24-Sept. 2 before Judge Matthew McGivney in Livingston County’s 44th Circuit Court.
Aaron Aydelotte and Marqwevell Cummings
Aaron Aydelotte and Marqwevell Cummings were bound over to Livingston County’s 44th Circuit Court in April 2025. The men are suspects in the death of a 25-year-old man found shot, and his car burned, in March.
Aydelotte was found guilty during a jury trial April 13-23 before Judge Matthew McGivney. He’s scheduled for sentencing June 4. Cummings was scheduled for jury trial May-14, but was rescheduled to Aug. 24-Sept. 4 — also before McGivney.
Richard Green
Richard Green, of Gregory, was charged with child sexually abusive activity in 2025 after allegedly sending explicit texts to someone impersonating a 13-year-old. According to police, Green destroyed evidence after the case became public.
Green faces four felony counts of child sexually abusive activity, four felony counts of using a computer to commit a crime, and one felony count of evidence tampering. He was bound over to Livingston County’s 44th Circuit Court in June 2025 and is scheduled for a final settlement conference June 26.
Alex Buley-Neumar
Alex Buley-Neumar, 25, of Mount Pleasant, was arrested Nov. 29 on suspicion of throwing numerous Molotov cocktails at a home in Brighton Township.
Buley-Neumar was charged with one count of manufacture/possession of an explosive causing damage; one count of arson — preparation to burn a dwelling; one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct against a person aged 13-15; one count of aggravated possession of child sexually abusive material; one count of aggravated child sexually abusive activity; one count of aggravated stalking of a minor; one count of using a computer to commit a crime; and one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes.
He pled guilty to all eight charges May 1, and is scheduled for sentencing May 28 before Judge Miriam Cavanaugh in Livingston County’s 44th Circuit Court.
Kirk Lanam
Kirk Lanam, 53, is charged with four counts of embezzling from a vulnerable adult for $100,000 or more, and one count of fraud for a signature on a financial document.
According to officials, Lanam allegedly stole more than $400,000 from an 87-year-old man to benefit himself and his nonprofit, Veteran Service Dogs, based in Livingston County. Lanam is from Hartland.
Lanam posted bond in March 2025. He was bound over to Oakland County Circuit Court on Sept. 3. He’s scheduled for a pre-trial hearing July 2.
— Contact reporter Tess Ware at tware@livingstondaily.com.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Stalking, murder cases to conclude this month in Livingston County
Reporting by Tess Ware, Livingston Daily / Livingston Daily
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