Coroner Said It’s The Worst Crime They’d Ever Seen. Should 25-Year-Old Be Put To Death?

When 25-year-old Thomas McClellan didn’t know how to respond to his 5-year-old stepdaughter, he repeatedly stabbed the little girl and then set her body alight with vodka. The little girl’s crime?

She simply asked the Michigan man for a snack at the wrong moment – he exploded in anger and now the small girl is dead.

The murderer from Holt, Michigan said he “snapped” on November 1 when Luna Michelle Younger wouldn’t leave his room and kept pestering him for a snack. After the stepfather murdered the girl with a sharp object, he wrapped her body in blankets and then tried to burn her up by soaking the corpse in vodka before setting her on fire.

McClellan appeared in court on Thursday for a preliminary hearing where Detective Chuck Buckland spoke to the 55th District Court in Mason on behalf of the murdered little girl.

A medical examiner claimed that Luna was stabbed at least five times and died from those wounds. Her body was then burned in a fire after she died.

McClellan lost control of the fire when he tried burning her in his bedroom. The Delhi Township fire department arrived on the scene and extinguished the flames.

Firefighter Corey Drolett thought the girl was hiding from the fire. He searched in the closet and under the bed – then he found her corpse wrapped in the burning blankets. He passed her body through a window to his colleagues.

“I knew the victim had expired,” Delhi Township Firefighter Corey Drolett testified. “Based on the situation [I] felt that would show [the mother] that we were attempting some effort.”

Commanding officer Jeffrey Young commanded another firefighter to perform CPR “very lightly” because the girl’s mother was there.

Victoria McClellan who is married to the murderer, was working when he killed her daughter. She later convinced Tom McClellan, who has no criminal history, to turn himself in to the police.

According to WILX: “McClellan was charged with Open Murder, 1st Degree Child Abuse, and 1st Degree Arson in the death of his stepdaughter, 5-year-old Luna Younger.

He is accused of stabbing the child, then setting a fire to destroy evidence of her murder. All three charges carry the possibility of a life sentence. McClellan was arraigned by video at the 55th District Court in Mason.”

Pam Spalding, a community manager, is destroyed by the innocent girl’s death. Now she’s trying to help the girl’s family. She said about Luna Younger:

“It’s been heartbreaking,” Spalding says. She is showing support for Luna’s family. “We’re gonna be just trying to support her even if it’s just with sending prayers for her and her family.”

“They’ve already started up donations for the family to help offset any costs, there was a candlelight vigil that was set up,” describes Spalding. “We’re here for them. Any way that we can help, we want to help. It’s really great to see my community come together.”

How do you think this criminal should be punished?