Murder of the DeLisle Children

On the night of August 3, 1989, Lawrence DeLisle, his wife Suzanne, and their four children — Brian, 8; Melissa, 4; Kathryn, 2; and Emily, 9 months — ran errands in Wyandotte, Michigan. After stopping at a drug store near the Detroit River, DeLisle drove down Eureka Road, crashed through a wooden barrier, and plunged the family's station wagon into the river. DeLisle and his wife escaped and were rescued by a passing powerboat, but the four children remained trapped in the sinking vehicle. Wayne County Sheriff's divers recovered their bodies later that night, and all four were pronounced dead after unsuccessful resuscitation attempts at area hospitals.

DeLisle told police he suffered a leg cramp that jammed the accelerator, and his wife said she was unable to steer the car away from the river. Investigators became suspicious after witnesses reported seeing DeLisle in the water before the car was fully submerged, contradicting his account, and after the car was found to have flipped onto its roof, further undermining his story. Witnesses also identified DeLisle's distinctively marked car as having been seen driving slowly near the crash site the night before. Investigators came to believe the crash was an intentional murder-suicide attempt.

On August 10, 1989, DeLisle was interrogated for hours by Michigan State Police and Wyandotte police sergeant Daniel Galeski, producing a videotaped statement characterized by some as a confession, in which DeLisle described financial stress, resentment toward his home life, and ambivalence about the crash. He was charged the next day with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder of his wife. His attorney later moved to suppress the statement as coerced, and in December 1989 a Wayne County judge ruled it inadmissible; that ruling was affirmed on appeal, though the tapes were nonetheless released to media and broadcast in January 1990.

DeLisle was tried in June 1990. His wife testified in his defense that his leg had cramped and that he had been unable to control the accelerator. Prosecution witnesses, including an accident reconstruction expert, testified that the car's path was consistent with a deliberate maneuver into the river, and other witnesses testified DeLisle made no effort to rescue his children. After an eight-and-a-half-hour deliberation, the jury found DeLisle guilty on all four counts. On August 1, 1990, he was sentenced to five mandatory life terms without parole. Judge Robert Colombo Jr., who imposed the sentence, stated at the time that he was uncertain of DeLisle's guilt, though he later said he came to agree with the jury's verdict. DeLisle's appeal, centered on the release of the suppressed confession tapes to media, was denied in a closely split Court of Appeals ruling.

Suzanne DeLisle divorced Lawrence after the trial. Decades later, in a 2024 parole hearing letter, she stated her belief that he had killed their children and attempted to kill her. DeLisle has continued to maintain his innocence, including in a 2014 interview from prison. As of August 2025, he remains incarcerated at Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, Michigan.