Prison Sentence For Man Who Killed Parents, Ex-Girlfriend While Out On Bond

HARPER WOODS, MI — A Harper Woods man could spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of killing four people in 2022, including multiple family members.

Jonathan Welch, 24, was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison for one count of second-degree murder and 45 t0 70 years for another three counts of second-degree murder.

Since Welch pleaded guilty in the killings, a judge dismissed multiple other charges he was facing, including numerous weapons and assault charges. The sentences will be served concurrently, along with a sentence Welch is currently serving in prison.

Welch was originally placed in jail on June 12, 2022 after police said he tortured and sexually assaulted his girlfriend, Zlayiah Frazir. Prosecutors said Welch strangled his girlfriend with an extension cord, poured gasoline on her, tortured her with a red-hot spatula and then sexually assaulted her with a pole.

He was charged with multiple felonies, including torture, home invasion and third-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was given a $100,000 cash bond, which his mother covered in July 2022, just two days before the massacre inside the Harper Woods home. He was released from jail on a GPS tether and ordered to stay away from his girlfriend.

Police said Welch beat his 70-year-old stepfather Robert Bray Jr. and Frazier, 22, to death inside a Harper Woods home on the 20600 block of Kenosha near Moross Road and Interstate 94. He then stabbed his mother, Flossie Nicole Bray, to death as she ran out the house to a neighbor's home, police said.

As officers approached the home, Welch fired shots at officers and locked himself inside the home, police said.

Police finally arrested Welch after a seven-hour standoff and took him to a nearby hospital, police said. There were no injuries during the standoff.

When officers entered the home, they found the two dead bodies as well as Welch's 1-year-old son in the backyard, police said.

The 1-year-old was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, police said.

While the case was proceeding, prosecutors charged Welch in the killing of another woman, Natayla Morse, in early June 2022.