Naman Shrestha
In Oxygen’s ‘Serial Killer Capital: Los Angeles,’ the focus is on four different serial killers who were active in and around the Los Angeles area at the same time — one of them was Michael Hughes. Each serial killer had a pattern of murder, and so did Michael, who mostly targeted vulnerable women on the streets of the City of Angels and the surrounding areas. In the 1980s and 1990s, he had a great hand in multiplying the terror faced by the citizens and keeping the entire nation concerned.
Michael Hughes Had a Troubled Childhood
Born in 1958, Michael Hubert Hughes hailed from the Upper Midwest state of Michigan. He didn’t really have a regular childhood as he and his sister were raised without the support of his father, who reportedly left not long after the family welcomed their only son into the world. He mostly grew up surrounded by his mother, who relocated to California with her kids when Michael was 5. In the Garden State, the latter spent some portion of his early life in Pasadena but later moved to Los Angeles. According to reports, the environment in the Hughes household wasn’t even the least bit harmonious, as his mother allegedly had a drinking issue. It has also been alleged that she was not only physically abusive towards both the kids.
Reports mention that he frequented hospitals as a teenager to deal with emotional disturbance. In the City of Angels, Michael enrolled in a local school in the area in 9th grade and was a student there till he completed 12th grade. He joined the Navy in 1976 – when he was 17 years old – as a shipmate. After a few months, he was promoted to performing the duties of a Gunner’s mate. However, Michael’s life took a drastic turn after his exit from the force. Dire circumstances forced him to lead a life as a homeless person in California; soon, he started dealing drugs to get by. He also befriended some folks with whom the former Navy machinist traveled through Oakland to Long Beach. Ultimately, he settled down in Los Angeles.
Michael Hughes Was Responsible For Multiple Murders in California
It was in November 1993 when Michael Hubert Hughes, who was working as a security guard at the time, reportedly first caught the attention of law enforcement after an eyewitness saw him with a shopping cart containing Jamie Harrington’s body on one of the streets of Culver City and informed the police about the same. During the investigation, the police found his fingerprints on the said shopping cart in a parking lot on November 14, 1993, connecting him to the murder of Jamie. In addition, with the help of his fingerprints, another couple of killings were solved. Before Jamie, he reportedly sexually assaulted and strangled Terri Myles, whose body was found partially clothed in another Culver City parking lot on November 8, 1993.
Another victim, Brenda Bradley, was found dumped in an alley in Culver City. On September 23, 1992, the detectives discovered the body of 26-year-old Theresa Ballard in Jesse Owens County Park in Los Angeles, California. After connecting Michael to all these murders in December 1993, he was arrested under suspicion for the murders of Jamie Harrington, Terri Myles, Theresa Ballard, and Brenda Bradley. It took nearly five years for the prosecution to get him convicted. In 1998, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the four murders he was charged with.
After a decade of his sentencing, in 2008, he was connected to several other murders in and around Los Angeles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the help of new DNA matching technologies, the detectives managed to link him to the murder of 15-year-old Yvonne Coleman, who was his youngest victim. On January 22, 1986, she was picked up by Michael, after which she was sexually assaulted and killed. A few months later, on May 26, 36-year-old Verna Williams was found murdered at Sixty-Eighth Street Elementary School in Los Angeles. Initially, she was assumed to be a victim of Lonnie David Franklin Jr., also known as the Southside Slayer. However, DNA evidence confirmed that Michael Hughes was responsible for her brutal killing. Less than a month later, he also murdered 32-year-old Deborah Jackson in LA.
Michael Hughes Remains on Death Row For His Crimes
Three years after he was linked to the killings of Yvonne Coleman, Verna Williams, and Deborah Jackson, in November 2011, Michael Hughes was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder. Several months later, in June 2012, he received a death sentence for the same. After the death penalty, he and his defense attorneys appealed to get his sentence reduced to life without parole, but the court denied it and upheld the death punishment.
Having a reputation for targeting and killing vulnerable women on the streets of California, Michael Hughes is on death row at present. As of today, the 67-year-old serial killer is awaiting his execution while remaining behind bars at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, California.
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