Man beheads step-grandma after striking her head 19 times; curses at judge during sentencing

In a horrific incident in Michigan, a man killed his step-grandmother by striking her in the head 19 times, and then cursed at the judge during his sentencing.

Kenny Wayne McBride, who murdered and beheaded 79-year-old Cecilia Gibson, was convicted of the crime in June last year after two hours of jury deliberations. He was charged for first-degree murder and the mutilation of a corpse, after authorities found that he had carved the victim's head off using three different knives, reports WTOL.

Investigators who worked on the case revealed that the convict and the victim were living in the former's father's house in Temperance when they got involved in a heated argument. The victim had been living there to help care for her daughter, the convict's stepmother, who had recently died of cancer, while the convict who was estranged from his father had moved in just six weeks earlier. After the altercation, the convict beat the elderly woman to death with a ceramic piggy bank and a metal child gate.

He later severed Gibson's head, which according to an autopsy was struck 19 times. He carried the mutilated head through the house, opened a back door and tossed it into the yard. He insisted on his innocence during the trial, claiming that the killer had to have been someone he owed money to but refused to reveal the name of that person.

The 45-year-old went on to curse and scream obscenities at Judge Michael Weipert as he was led into the courtroom at Monroe County Circuit last week. "Did you think I was just going to go peacefully?" he said.

Judge Weipert told McBride to wait outside before resuming proceedings. During the hearing, the victim's son said, "This is a shock to us all. This is devastating. She was my mother and grandparent to my daughter. She was in bad health, but it was unnecessary what happened to her. Even though capital punishment is not accepted in Michigan, I expect him to spend the rest of his life hopefully suffering like the rest of us have."

The judge concluded that the convict's actions are "pure evil" and decided he should be spending the rest of his life behind bars. According to court records, McBride has been sentenced to life in prison without parole— plus an additional 114 to 480 months.

In a statement after the convict was sentenced to life imprisonment, prosecutor Michael Roehrig said about his "gruesome" crime, "It is difficult to imagine the hatred that must have driven the defendant to commit such a brutal and horrifying murder. The jury's verdict was just."