The prosecution moved through an arrest, a long search for the gunman, a trial and a negotiated murder plea.
SAGINAW, Mich. — Nearly three years after Devon L. Williams was shot inside a Buena Vista Township home, the last defendant awaiting judgment has been sentenced, completing a case that crossed three states and two separate murder prosecutions.
Markeisha Burns-Cross, 27, received 10 to 30 years for second-degree murder after pleading no contest in April. Her former boyfriend, Zakeem F. Jones, 26, had already been convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and sentenced to life without parole. The final punishment closes a timeline that began with an argument in Bay City, continued with an early-morning shooting and flight to Indiana, and later depended on an extradition from Illinois and Burns-Cross’ testimony against Jones.
The first decisive period lasted only several hours. On March 29, 2023, Jones and Burns-Cross were in mid-Michigan after traveling from Indiana for a family event. They spent the evening drinking in Bay City. Burns-Cross later testified that they argued because Jones had been speaking with other women. She contacted her former partner, Williams, and arranged to meet him. Jones found the messages when he searched her phone. Prosecutors said he became consumed by jealousy and directed Burns-Cross to continue the plan. The pair then drove to Williams’ duplex on Walters Drive in Buena Vista Township, arriving during the overnight period that extended into March 30.
At the residence, the planned meeting became an armed entry. Jones had a 9 mm handgun and told Burns-Cross to get Williams to come outside, according to the prosecution. Burns-Cross entered the home, where Williams was babysitting several children. Jones followed when Williams did not emerge. Williams was seated at a table and tried to flee after seeing the armed man, but the front door was locked. Jones fired several shots. Burns-Cross said the blasts produced heat she could feel near her face. Investigators found numerous casings and bullet fragments. Williams was alive but struggling to breathe when responders found him. He died after being transported to a hospital.
The next stage began with immediate flight. Jones and Burns-Cross left Michigan and returned to Indiana rather than remaining at the scene or contacting police. Williams’ death left investigators to reconstruct why two people from another state had arrived at his home and why one had opened fire. The messages, the relationship between Burns-Cross and Williams, and evidence inside the duplex provided a framework. Prosecutors concluded that Jones had targeted Williams as a perceived rival. They emphasized that Williams was unarmed and unaware of the conflict Jones believed existed. The state later called the attack a premeditated ambush against a man who had no warning that he was being pursued.
Authorities made their first major arrest in July 2023, when Burns-Cross was taken into custody. Prosecutors charged her with first-degree murder and firearm offenses, even though Jones had fired the shots. The charges reflected the state’s claim that she had helped create access to Williams by messaging him, bringing Jones to the address and entering the residence before him. Her arrest did not immediately bring Jones into a Michigan courtroom. He remained beyond the state’s reach while the investigation and Burns-Cross’ case continued, preventing prosecutors from trying the alleged gunman during the first year after the killing.
Jones’ fugitive period ended in September 2024. Authorities obtained custody of him as he was being released from an Illinois prison in an unrelated case. Michigan then secured his extradition to Saginaw County. His capture more than a year after the shooting restarted the prosecution’s public timeline and allowed the state to prepare for a jury trial. By that point, Burns-Cross was not only his co-defendant but also the person best positioned to explain his conduct before and during the attack. She had been with Jones during the argument, watched him discover the messages, traveled with him and stood in the room when he opened fire.
The cases converged in Jones’ January 2026 trial. Burns-Cross testified while her own first-degree murder charge remained pending and without a publicly reported plea deal. She described the dispute, the messages to Williams, Jones’ reaction and the drive to the home. Her account gave the jury a direct narrative of intent that the shell casings and bullet fragments could not provide alone. Prosecutors paired her testimony with the scene evidence and the circumstances of the locked door. They argued that Jones armed himself, tried to draw Williams outside and then followed Burns-Cross into the residence when the first plan failed.
The jury convicted Jones of first-degree premeditated murder and multiple firearm felonies. The verdict established that the killing involved planning rather than a sudden impulse formed only after he entered the home. Prosecutors said Jones had sought to obliterate the competition after seeing messages between Burns-Cross and Williams. The phrase described their theory that jealousy supplied a motive while the trip, gun and attempt to lure Williams outside demonstrated preparation. Williams did not know Jones personally, according to the victim’s family, and no evidence described in public reports suggested that the two men had arranged to fight.
Jones returned to court in March for sentencing before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Andre R. Borrello. First-degree murder required life imprisonment without parole. The judge also imposed three two-year sentences for firearm offenses, to be served consecutively, and ordered Jones to pay $1,218. Williams’ mother, Shontele Lockett, appeared by video and asked for the greatest punishment the court could impose. She said Jones had killed a person he did not know and had shown no remorse. Jones responded to his opportunity for allocution by saying, “I’m cool, man. It is what it is.” The courtroom gallery applauded after the sentence.
The life sentence removed Jones’ case from Burns-Cross’ remaining negotiations. She was scheduled for an April settlement conference and entered a no-contest plea to second-degree murder. The plea meant the judge could convict her without requiring an express guilty admission. It also replaced exposure to the mandatory life sentence attached to a possible first-degree murder conviction. Prosecutors dismissed the original top count and the felony weapons charges. The agreement resolved the principal uncertainty left by her earlier testimony: whether the woman who helped the state convict Jones would still face trial for the same killing.
Her sentencing supplied the final trial-court answer. The minimum term of 10 years recognizes serious responsibility while leaving open the possibility of eventual parole. The maximum term of 30 years permits the corrections and parole systems to keep her imprisoned much longer than the minimum. Public accounts have not specified the exact effect of jail credit or calculated her first possible release date. They also have not provided a detailed sentencing statement explaining how the judge weighed her cooperation against her actions before the shooting. The outcome itself shows that testimony for the prosecution did not excuse her role.
Williams’ family experienced each part of the lengthy sequence from a different position than the courts. Investigators could wait to obtain Jones from Illinois, lawyers could prepare separate cases, and prosecutors could negotiate a lesser charge. Williams’ relatives remained without the 33-year-old father of five. His mother’s remarks at Jones’ sentencing focused on the absence of remorse and the lack of any personal relationship between the killer and victim. The case began with Jones reacting to messages on another person’s phone, yet the permanent consequences fell on Williams and the children connected to him.
The timeline also shows how quickly the fatal acts occurred compared with the years needed to resolve them. The argument, messages, drive and shooting unfolded in one night. Burns-Cross’ arrest came four months later. Jones’ transfer to Michigan required about a year and a half. His trial arrived more than two years after Williams’ death, followed by the two sentencing proceedings in 2026. Each later step clarified legal responsibility, but none changed the central scene: Williams trapped behind a locked door as an armed man entered the home where children were present.
The two convictions now assign separate punishments to the participants. Jones, who fired the weapon, will never be eligible for parole. Burns-Cross, who facilitated the meeting and brought him to Williams’ home, must serve a minimum prison term before she can be considered for release. Any appeal by Jones would challenge his conviction or sentence through a higher court. Any eventual release for Burns-Cross would require a future parole decision. Neither possibility changes the current status of the case or the sentences entered in Saginaw County.
As of July 12, both defendants remain imprisoned: Jones under a life-without-parole judgment and Burns-Cross under a 10-to-30-year term. No further trial date is pending in the killing, leaving appeals and future parole review as the next possible legal milestones.
Author note: Last updated July 12, 2026.