A Michigan man with a documented record of child abuse and domestic violence killed five people Friday after the justice system let him walk with a county jail sentence and dismissed charges including first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Chad Hickman, 39, was found dead in a wooded area of Missaukee County's Caldwell Township after the rampage — another mass shooter the authorities knew about and failed to stop.
The pattern is familiar: a dangerous man with a paper trail of violence, a prosecutor who cut him loose, and a body count that didn't have to happen.
Hickman's ex-wife, Katie Frye, said as much in a blistering Facebook post Saturday. "Missaukee county needs to be held responsible for the death of this child and the other victims!" she wrote. "Six people are dead and one child is in critical condition." She directly blamed the Missaukee County prosecutor and Judge Melissa Ransom: "They let this man walk free after everything he did to my children and I and then when he was released he was allowed to continue to torment us and no one stopped him and now innocent lives were taken."
Court records show Hickman was arraigned in January 2024 on four felony and five misdemeanor charges — including assault with intent to do great bodily harm by strangulation, two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, interfering with electronic communications, domestic violence, and three counts of fourth-degree child abuse. By August 2024, prosecutors had dismissed every charge except one count of fourth-degree child abuse and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Hickman pleaded guilty and got one year in county jail.
The New York Post framed the story around Hickman's social media rants and his gun tattoo. The Lansing State Journal provided the fuller charge sheet — including the strangulation and sexual assault counts that prosecutors dropped — but both outlets agree on the core fact: this man was known to the system, and the system cut him slack.
Hickman's divorce from Frye was what Judge Ransom herself called a relationship "marked by significant disfunction and mutual toxicity." Frye testified that Hickman used "threats of harm, including physical violence, sexual assault, and financial control" to control her during their marriage. He refused to work and placed the financial burden on her, she claimed. The marriage was dissolved in July 2025, but the case was still working through the courts. The pair were due back September 1.
Hickman posted the judge's 16-page opinion on Facebook, claiming his ex-wife's allegations were "bull----" and part of "an orchestrated hit to take literally everything we owned." He insisted he had proven her lies "in front of 3 different honorable judges."
Michigan State Police responded to a reported shooting at a home on South Lachance Road around 11:40 a.m. Friday. Three people were found dead and a fourth was in critical condition. Another victim was found dead at a nearby home. A fifth person was found dead near where Hickman's body was located. Police have not yet released the names of the victims.
The question isn't complicated. A man charged with strangulation and sex crimes against children walked out of county jail after a year. Who made that call, and why?
