Inset: Michael Devon Webb (Oakland County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Rachel Wooten (GoFundMe).
A 23-year-old Michigan man has been found guilty of murdering his fiancée in front of their child after prosecutors said he shot the young mother in the neck “at very close range” and later told authorities the gun went off while he was “cleaning his gun.”
A Pontiac jury last week convicted Michael Webb of first-degree murder and using a firearm during the commission of a felony in the 2025 killing of his live-in fiancée, Rachel Wooten, according to the Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Wooten was the mother of Webb’s 6-month-old child at the time she was killed.
“On April 15, 2025, Webb shot Wooten in the neck at very close range,” the prosecutor’s office said in a press release Friday. “The defendant and the victim were in a relationship, lived together, and had a child together.”
During the trial, prosecutors introduced evidence that Wooten had sent a text message to a family member on the day of her death saying she was afraid for her life.
Deputies from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office responded around 4 p.m. to the couple’s home in Highland Township, in the 200 block of Maple Drive, roughly 40 miles northwest of Detroit, after receiving a report of a shooting. The caller identified himself as Webb and told a 911 dispatcher that he “had shot his fiancee and himself,” according to the release.
“Webb had a self-inflicted, non-fatal gunshot wound and claimed he was cleaning his gun,” the attorney’s office said. “Their child was 6 months old at the time of the murder and was found inside the home unharmed.”
Webb told police, “It was an accident.” Investigators, however, said evidence collected from the couple’s home “did not support” his claim that the shooting was accidental.
Webb’s gunshot wound was “apparently from the same bullet” that killed his fiancee, according to investigators.
“Michael Webb executed Rachel Wooten in front of their child, then called 911 and lied about it,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald said Friday in a statement.
“He will most likely spend the rest of his life in prison, as he should,” McDonald added. “While this verdict holds him accountable, nothing can bring back Rachel Wooten or change the fact that her child will grow up without a mother. Too many women and children are living in fear of domestic violence without the resources or support to escape. We must do more to protect women and prevent future tragedies like Rachel’s murder.”
Webb is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 7.
