Robber who strangled woman with shoelace learns fate
A Michigan man who strangled a 64-year-old woman to death with her own shoelace and later drove off with her body in a stolen truck has been found guilty and now faces the rest of his life behind bars.
Following a two-week trial, a jury in Macomb County convicted 22-year-old Stephen Lee Freeman of first-degree murder, felony murder, first-degree home invasion, second-degree criminal sexual conduct, concealing a death, and receiving stolen property in the killing of Gabriele Seitz.
The shocking crime took place on October 26, 2022, when Freeman broke into Seitz’s Utica Road home through a bathroom window. Prosecutors said he sexually assaulted Seitz before strangling her with a shoelace for “three to five minutes,” causing her death.
After the murder, Freeman stuffed Seitz’s body into a duffel bag and loaded it into her Ford Ranger. Hours later, surveillance footage captured him struggling with the heavy bag before driving away in her truck.
The next morning, Freeman crashed the stolen vehicle and fled on foot. When police inspected the truck bed, they discovered Seitz’s body wrapped in bedding. “I opened the tailgate and saw a human leg,” testified Detective Chris Moran.
Investigators later linked Freeman to the killing through DNA evidence found on Seitz’s body and throughout her home.
Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido called the murder “brutal and deliberate,” praising the jury for delivering justice. “While no conviction can erase the pain and loss suffered, we hope this outcome provides a measure of closure,” he said.
Freeman’s sentencing is scheduled for October 22 before Judge Julie Gatti. He faces a mandatory life sentence, though a recent state Supreme Court ruling requires parole eligibility for offenders who were 19 or 20 at the time of their crimes. Freeman, who was 19 when he killed Seitz, will therefore not face life without parole but could still spend decades in prison.
The case has left the Roseville community shaken, highlighting both the senseless brutality of the crime and the lasting impact on the victim’s loved ones.
