BATTLE CREEK, MI (WTVB) A Calhoun County jury found 39-year-old William Devon Google Jr. guilty on Monday of kidnapping and multiple counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct following a six-day trial.
The conviction stems from an October 2020 incident in which Google abducted a woman at gunpoint and took her to a Battle Creek storage unit, where she was brutally assaulted with a baseball bat and other objects. Though the victim fled the state and created a fake obituary for herself in 2025 out of fear for her life, prosecutors secured the conviction using DNA evidence, medical records, and testimony from a co-defendant who had previously entered a plea.
Google, who was also convicted of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and being a felon in possession of a firearm, now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years as a violent habitual offender.
During the investigation, detectives recovered a baseball bat and a nail polish remover bottle from the storage unit that contained DNA from both Google and the victim. Despite Google and his associates allegedly threatening the woman to prevent her from testifying, the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office noted that the comprehensive physical evidence and secondary witness accounts were sufficient to hold him accountable for the life-offense charges.
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