Left inset: Savanah Wilson (Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Luke Macke (Mihovk-Rosenacker Funeral Home). Background: Christian Henderson in Hamilton County court (WLWT/YouTube).
The legal proceedings have concluded for the case in Ohio where two individuals conspired to “entrap” a man to rob him, a plot that tragically ended in his murder.
Last month, Christian Henderson received a prison sentence ranging from 44 years to life for the murder of 23-year-old Luke Macke, which occurred in June 2021. His summer conviction covered several charges, notably aggravated murder and aggravated robbery.
Savanah Wilson’s sentencing, related to Macke’s homicide, happened afterward. Court documents indicate that she pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter among other offenses like aggravated robbery. As part of her plea deal—which included her agreeing to testify against Henderson—Wilson will serve a 14-year sentence with a four-year credit for time already spent in detention.
Even though Wilson was just 16 when the crime occurred, she is accused of planning the robbery, as WLWT, an NBC affiliate, reported. She reportedly lured Macke to Cincinnati’s Westwood area, where Henderson, who was 19 at the time, was waiting to ambush him.
During a court session, Hamilton County Judge Melba Marsh questioned Wilson, referring to Macke’s grieving family: “You knew him. You spoke to him and plotted against him. You say you’re sorry. Can you grasp the depth of their suffering?” she asked, according to WLWT.
“You started catfishing for money, and because of you, Luke is dead,” Macke’s aunt, Leslie Ann Carr, reportedly said. “You are just as much to blame as the shooter is. You have no regard for human life. No regard for the fact that Luke worked hard for his money. The worst part is that you were only 16 at the time.”
It is unclear whether Macke thought he was meeting Wilson alone or whether she misrepresented herself in some way.
Prosecutors said it took four years for them to get to Wilson’s case because they wanted to see a conviction for Henderson first, WLWT reported. And his case saw frequent delays — due to him firing defense attorneys, then representing himself, and seeing an initial mistrial after a corrections officer reportedly found him unconscious and bleeding in his cell in what authorities said were self-inflicted wounds.
“Are you a monster?” Macke’s younger brother, Mitchell Macke, asked Henderson, accusing him of mocking the legal process, per the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Luke Macke’s mother, Nicole Coffin, spoke from the stand in both trials, describing a final voicemail her son left her before he died.
“It was him saying ‘I love you mom,’ between him gagging on his blood and snoring sounds,” she told the courtroom in August. Later, she expressed relief after “four years of hell.”
“We’re elated,” she said after Henderson’s sentencing. “It’s been four years of hell, and we got all five crimes … found guilty for what he’s done to our son. Our son didn’t deserve to die. … And we got our justice.”
Henderson, like Wilson, will receive credit for the time he has already served in jail. He reportedly apologized to the judge — but not to Luke Macke’s family — the day his sentence was read aloud.
“I do not stand here without remorse,” he said, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. “I’m not a terrible person.”
“Rot in hell,” Macke’s younger sister, McKenna Macke, said in court.
“Society is better off without you,” Macke’s father, Craig Macke, added.
