Inset: Melissa Ragen (Iosco County Jail). Background: The house where Ragen allegedly shot and killed her husband in AuSable Township, Mich. (Google Maps).
A Michigan woman is behind bars for killing her husband earlier this week, according to law enforcement in the Wolverine State.
Melissa Christine Ragen, 32, stands accused of open murder and felony firearm, according to a press release issued on Tuesday by the Iosco County Prosecuting Attorney”s Office.
The incident occurred at the couple’s home in AuSable Township, a small charter township located off the coast of Lake Huron.
Just four minutes before 11 p.m. on Monday night, the loud report of gunfire rang out, according to law enforcement.
Officers with the nearby Oscoda Township Police Department responded to the scene and found James Thomas Ragen IV, 31, suffering from a lone gunshot wound to his body, authorities said.
“According to statements by the defendant, she was in an argument with her husband when she retrieved a .357 caliber revolver and shot him in the chest,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
Officers responding to the residence on Second Street arrived along with Iosco County EMS personnel, and various lifesaving measures were attempted in the minutes that followed — but for naught. By 11:13 p.m., the defendant’s husband was dead, authorities said.
On Monday, the defendant was arraigned in the 81st District Court for Iosco County, where she pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.
Court records in her criminal case have not yet been publicly docketed.
In December 2019, the defendant filed a paternity lawsuit under her maiden name against the victim, according to 23rd Circuit Court records out of Iosco County. In June 2020, that litigation resulted in the judge issuing an order of filiation — a court order that legally establishes a man as the biological father of a child.
A review of the defendant’s apparent Facebook profile suggests the couple had multiple children together in the following years.
No one else was harmed in the shooting, law enforcement said.
Melissa Ragen is scheduled to next appear in court for a probable cause conference slated on Oct. 14. Then, a preliminary examination in her case is scheduled to occur on Oct. 28.
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