Opinion ID: 2982356
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Kish’s Tip

Text: Christopher Kish (“Kish”) is the father of Regets’s son. Near the end of 2004, Kish attempted to strangle Regets, which led to Regets’s filing a police report in Livonia, Michigan. Kish was not regularly involved in his son’s life. In June 2009, Kish visited Regets and told her that he wanted to be a father to his son. Kish would come to Regets’s house and play with his son, and he also babysat Regets’s children while Regets and Steiner went out to dinner. Regets testified that at some point in June of 2009, Kish asked Regets for money and she refused to give him any. Kish told Regets that she was “screwed.” Regets testified that, although she understood that statement to mean that her life was in danger, she did not report the incident to any authorities. Prior to June 19, 2009, Regets had not reported any problems with Kish to the Plymouth Police Department. On June 18, 2009, Kish went to the Plymouth Police Department to provide a statement. Kish initially spoke with Officer Matt Stoops. Officer Stoops then asked then-Lieutenant Al Cox to join the conversation with Kish. Officer Cox recognized Regets’s name because there had been a series of issues between Regets and her neighbors. Kish told the officers that he had a son with Regets and that he had just recently returned to Michigan. Kish told the officers that on several occasions while he was visiting his son since returning to Michigan, Regets had stated that she was going to help Steiner commit suicide. The officers asked Kish to write out a written statement. Kish’s written statement, signed under penalty of perjury, states: This statement is about Neileigh Regets and the attempt to help Tom Steiner commit suicide. I arrived in town on June 12th. Upon visiting my son, Neileigh has had many talks about helping Tom commit suicide. Neileigh told me that she is going to help Tom commit suicide before his life insurance policy ends. She also stated that she is going to give him pills that have been delivered to her house -3- Case No. 13-1574, Regets v. City of Plymouth on Arthur Street. When the pills arrived at her house, she looked up at me and said “these are the pills” then her daughter Kaylee said “those are the pills” like she knew what was happening. Tom and Neileigh also discussed waiting to commit suicide after Father’s Day. They also discussed when Neileigh was to call if he didn’t answer the phone then that was the sign to come to the hotel and find him. Tom also stated that he wanted to give one of his sons a Rolex. She told me she wanted to keep it for money it was worth 19,000 and she already found someone to buy the watch for $9,000. Note – the bag with the pills is a small grayish white bag. Was last seen in office on floor on left side of desk. R. 52-7, Cox Stmt. at 2–3, PageID # 753–54. Kish also provided the officers with a handwritten diagram of Regets’s house and the location of the pills. Officer Cox discussed the situation with then-Chief Wayne Carroll. Chief Carroll instructed Officer Cox to contact the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. Chief Carroll testified that he was aware that Kish had a prior relationship with Regets. After Kish left the police station, Officer Cox called the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and spoke with Assistant Prosecutor Barb Smith, who referred him to Bob Stevens (“Stevens”) of the homicide unit. After learning what Kish had told the officers, Stevens stated that he wanted to speak with Kish himself. The following day, Officer Cox picked up Kish and took him to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. Stevens put Kish under oath and then questioned Kish about his statement. Kish told Stevens the same story as he had told Officer Cox the day before. According to Officer Cox, following the meeting with Kish, Stevens told Cox that the officers needed to take Regets into custody and to get a search warrant for her house, which Cox understood meant there was probable cause to take Regets into custody. Stevens denies telling anyone to take Regets (or anyone else) into custody, but agrees that he determined that there was probable cause to support search warrants for Regets’s house and Steiner’s hotel -4- Case No. 13-1574, Regets v. City of Plymouth room. In any event, Officer Cox sought search warrants for both places, and on June 19, 2009, two search warrants were issued and signed by Judge Plakas.