Top inset: Charles Broomfield (Kent County Jail). Bottom insets, from left: Jacqueline Neill, Cameron Kilpatrick and Michael Kilpatrick (WXMI). Background: Police investigate triple homicide in Grand Rapids, Michigan (WOOD).
A Michigan man is facing charges after allegedly killing his fiancée and her two young sons, then attempting to mislead authorities with a fabricated story about a home invasion, according to police reports.
Charles Broomfield, 44, has been charged with the murders of his fiancée, Jacqueline Neill, and her sons, 15-year-old Cameron Kilpatrick and 13-year-old Michael Kilpatrick.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, Broomfield contacted the Grand Rapids police at approximately 7:40 a.m. on Tuesday, reporting a shooting incident on the 900 block of Worden Street SW. During the call, dispatchers struggled to gather details from Broomfield, who was described as being extremely distraught.
Upon arriving at the scene, officers discovered Broomfield standing beside Neill’s body. Notably, despite his earlier distress, police observed that he was now “calm and not upset.” Further investigation inside the home led officers to find the two boys deceased in their respective bedrooms. Broomfield informed officers that his 5-year-old son was also in the house, in another upstairs bedroom, but the child was unharmed.
When questioned about the incident, Broomfield allegedly presented a narrative of a home invasion. He claimed that while he was heading upstairs, he saw two armed men enter the home and confront Neill. Broomfield asserted that he attempted to retrieve his gun from his bedroom, but one of the intruders seized it before he could reach it. He reported hearing gunfire coming from the direction of the boys’ bedrooms downstairs.
Broomfield said he contacted 911 after the supposed intruders fled the scene.
But cops said they found several inconsistencies with Broomfield’s story. Paramedics determined the victims had been dead for at least 40 minutes, which didn’t match Broomfield’s timeline. Investigators also found the gun that Broomfield said the home invasion suspects grabbed in his bedroom in an outside lockbox. There was only one set of footprints in the snow that led to and from the box, police stated. There was no indication that two people had entered the home as Broomfield suggested, cops said.
Detectives found the key to the gun box on Broomfield’s lanyard with a tag labeled “#1 Dad,” the affidavit said. A ballistics test confirmed that it was the gun used in the slayings, officers wrote.
After receiving his Miranda rights, Broomfield allegedly admitted he killed the three victims. He was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, among other charges.
The victims’ family released a statement to local media.
“The tragic loss of our beloved Cameron & Michael Kilpatrick, and their mother, Jacqueline Neill, to a senseless act of violence has left our family utterly devastated,” the statement said. “There are no words to adequately describe the heartbreak we feel over losing multiple family members.”
Broomfield is in the Kent County Jail without a bond. His next court date is set for Feb. 10.
