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Srebnik found guilty for murders

ALPENA -- After about five hours of deliberations, a jury on Thursday found Brad Srebnik, an Alpena man accused of killing two women in 2021, guilty of all five charges.

Srebnik, who is currently housed in the Alpena County Jail, refused to attend court to receive the jury's verdict or tune in via video conference, per his right.

Srebnik was accused of strangling Brynn Bills and shooting Abby Hill in the back of the head in the late summer and early fall of 2021.

The jury found Srebnik guilty on two counts of premeditated murder, weapons charges, and disinterment and mutilation of a body. He faces life in prison but maintains his innocence to the allegations.

A date and time for his sentencing has not yet been scheduled. Bills' father Duane Bills, sat in court waiting for the verdict holding an urn with his daughter's ashes in it. After the verdict was read, and the courtroom emptied, he shared his feelings on the outcome.

"Justice was served," he said. "But, this will always be hard for us. There is never anything easy about a little girl."

Bills' was believed to have been killed and her remains were disregarded only days before her 18th birthday.

There were nine days of trial and dozens of witnesses, including Josh Wirgau, who was also charged with the murder of Hill and helping hide Bills' body in his backyard but reached a plea deal in exchange for his testimony.

He still faces between 15 and 30 years in prison for his role in the crimes. He is slated to be sentenced on Feb. 22 at 1:30 p.m. in the 26th Circuit Court.

Wirgau's testimony was key, as he walked the jurors through the crimes in detail and admitted that Srebnik admitted to him that he strangled Bills. Wirgau testified that he saw Srebnik holding and pointing a gun at Hill when she was killed.

He, and another friend of Srebnik's, Bruce Kinsey, also directed police to where the suspected murder weapon had been tossed into Wolf Creek and the Thunder Bay River. Divers from the Michigan State Police found parts of the handgun and cell phones connected to Srebnik late in 2021. In 2022, Kinsey told police where the other parts of the gun were located and they were also recovered. A gun expert was able to reassemble the weapon and fire some live rounds from it.

Srebnik had sat through all of the proceedings during the trial and considered testifying on his own behalf but decided not to do so on Thursday morning.

He was taken back to the jail by police when the jury began deliberating and made it clear he didn't intend to return, despite the court and Sheriff's Office efforts to make the process easier for him.

Sgt. Michael Jones said Srebnik was offered a tablet to tune in to the proceedings and at one point it appeared on the television screen in the court that he had logged in, but then the screen went blurry and it appeared there was nobody behind the camera at the jail.

The trial was delayed several times, as both the prosecution, which was led by the Michigan Attorney General's Office and Alpena Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski, and Srebnik and Wirgau's defense attorneys combed through tens of thousands of documents, photos, call phone data, interview statements, and other reports from the various expert witnesses that were brought in to crack the case.

Afterward, outside the courtroom, supporters of Bills hugged the Michigan State Police officers, Michigan Assistant Attorney General Danielle Hagaman-Clark, and Muszynski for the hard work they did over the last three years. Many of Bills' family were overcome with emotions.

During the course of the trial, there was a heavy police presence and people coming and going out of the courtroom were met with a portable metal detector. As the jury prepared to issue its verdict, there were eight deputies in the courtroom.