MOUNT PLEASANT, MI — John Douglas White, 55, told police he watched necrophilia pornography before beating his 24-year-old neighbor over the head with a mallet, strangling her with a zip tie and undressing her body.

White also admitted to thinking about killing Rebekah Gay for about two weeks before walking into her mobile home about 2 a.m. on Oct. 31, according to the affidavit filed in Isabella County Trial Court by County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. David Patterson.



White told the detective that he had viewed online pornography that shows killings and sex with corpses, the affadavit reports.

"He stated he has been having bad thoughts for about two weeks about killing Rebekah Gay and then having sex with her dead body," Patterson wrote in the affidavit summarizing White's statement.

Gay, a mother of one, was reported missing when she didn't show up for work by co-workers at Goodwill, according to the court record.



Police have said Gay's 3-year-old son was home at the time of the attack in the early morning hours of Oct. 31, and that White cared for the boy before delivering him to his father after dressing him in his Halloween costume. Police have said they did not know if the boy slept through the crime.

Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said his office had received a report that White was last seen near her home at 6:50 a.m. Oct. 31, but Mioduszewski said White later admitted he made that call and lied to officers.

After White was brought in for questioning by Isabella County sheriff's deputies, police said he admitted that he went into Gay's trailer after drinking four or five beers, killed her and later disposed of her body. Gay's body was found near the intersection of Pickard and Coldwater, where White told police to look, according to Patterson's affidavit.

White told police he struck Gay on the head with the mallet several times until she was unconscious, then tightened a large zip-tie around her neck until she stopped breathing, court documents state.

While hitting Gay over the head with a rubber mallet, White said he heard the woman say, "I know you," court records state.

White said he then undressed Gay's body and touched her, though he said he does not remember if he had sex with her, according to the affidavit. He told police he tried to get an erection but couldn't, according to the court record.

He said he loaded the body, bloodied towels he said he used to clean up Gay's blood and the rubber mallet into one large garbage bag. According to the court record, White said he the put the bag into the back of his truck, though he said it ripped and items spilled out.

White told police he threw Gay's purse, phone and car keys in the trailer park trash container and disposed of the other items at the intersection where Gay's body was found. According to the affidavit, he told police that he drove Gay's car to the nearby Barn Door bar parking lot to make it appear that she had been abducted.

The Michigan State Police crime lab found blood in both Gay and White's trailers and blood and a necklace in the back of White's truck, the detective wrote.

White, whose criminal history includes at least two convictions for violent crime, has been charged with one count of first-degree, premeditated murder and an open count of murder.

The man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 1994 in connection with the disappearance of a woman in Kalamazoo County and pleaded no contest to a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm for stabbing a woman in Calhoun County.

Mioduszewski said he did not know of any dealings that White had with the county sheriff's office in the past, though he said he is aware the man has worked in the past as a church pastor.

"He was not on our radar," Mioduszewski said.

The sheriff credited Patterson for establishing rapport with White, leading to the confession.

Mioduszweski said an autopsy is being completed today on Gay's body in Grand Rapids. He expects a full report in four to six weeks.

Even with the confession, the sheriff said his staff is collecting evidence to build a case against White.

"There is no case that is ever a slam dunk," he said. "Confessions can be challenged and thrown out of court for whatever reason."

White was arraigned on the charges by video on Nov. 1 and faces a preliminary examination with Judge William R. Rush in Isabella County Trial Court at 8:15 a.m. Nov. 8. An Isabella County public defender will be appointed to represent White, according to court records.

Isabella County Prosecutor Risa Scully issued a

Nov. 1 but declined to comment further on the pending case.

If convicted on the first-degree murder charge, White could face life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.