Jacob Kempainen was arrested in Iowa after Alvin Kempainen was found shot in Hancock Township.
HOUGHTON, Mich. — A homicide investigation that moved from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Iowa ended Monday with a 15-to-50-year prison sentence for Jacob Kempainen in his grandfather’s fatal shooting.
The sentence marked the first final punishment in a case built through a multistate search, family communications and court fights over police questioning. Jacob Kempainen pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Alvin Kempainen, while his mother, Margaret Kempainen, remains charged in the same case.
The trail began in Hancock Township, where Alvin Kempainen lived on Salo Road. On Dec. 18, 2023, he sent a message to his son saying the family group had arrived. He described them as “the crew.” The message became important after he stopped answering later calls and texts. His son had already grown concerned after his family left him in Wisconsin earlier that month and had not stayed in contact. When he saw a debit card transaction in Bruce Crossing, Michigan, he believed the family may have gone to his father’s home to get money. By the next morning, deputies were at the house for a well-being check. They found Alvin Kempainen dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
Houghton County investigators quickly identified Jacob and Margaret Kempainen as suspects. Information gathered during the first hours of the case showed they were no longer at the home and were moving through the Midwest. Authorities learned they had been located in Minnesota and were heading south on Interstate 35 toward Iowa. Clear Lake police were contacted, and officers arrested the mother and son after they stopped at a gas station. A younger family member who was traveling with them was also present but was later released because she was a minor. The arrests took place hundreds of miles from the rural Michigan home where the killing had been discovered, giving investigators a case that involved several law enforcement agencies and court systems.
The investigation also reached Minneapolis, where Minnesota authorities executed a search warrant at Jacob Kempainen’s apartment. Search warrant details later described statements by Jacob and Margaret Kempainen that investigators considered unusual. Jacob Kempainen reportedly said they believed Alvin Kempainen had already been killed by spirits and that the person in the home was “not grandpa.” Margaret Kempainen reportedly said the 87-year-old man was not her father-in-law and had moved around “like a 20-year-old.” The warrant language included references to paranormal activity and possession, along with a reference to the 2015 film “The Visit.” Investigators noted similarities between parts of that film and the statements they were hearing, but the criminal case remained focused on the shooting death of Alvin Kempainen.
Prosecutors initially charged Jacob Kempainen with open murder, conspiracy to commit open murder and felony firearm. Margaret Kempainen was also charged in connection with the killing. The charges carried the possibility of far greater punishment if Jacob Kempainen had been convicted of the original counts at trial. The case changed after a judge suppressed Jacob Kempainen’s statement to Iowa police. Prosecutor Dan Helmer later said Iowa officers had failed to honor Jacob Kempainen’s Miranda request, meaning the statement could not be used. That ruling narrowed the evidence available to prosecutors and became a key reason for later plea talks. Helmer said the offer was made after careful review of the evidence, talks with investigators and consultation with multiple members of Alvin Kempainen’s family.
Jacob Kempainen accepted the agreement in December 2025 and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. The dismissed counts included open murder, conspiracy and the firearms charge. The agreement required him to cooperate with investigators and testify truthfully in Margaret Kempainen’s case. It also set a sentencing agreement that the minimum term would not exceed 15 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections. At Monday’s hearing, Judge Brittany Bulleit imposed that minimum and set the maximum at 50 years. Jacob Kempainen received credit for 837 days already served in the Houghton County Jail. The sentence means he will not be eligible to leave prison until the minimum term is served, with future release questions handled under state parole rules.
The hearing was originally set for March but was delayed after severe weather closed the Houghton County Courthouse. When it resumed in April, family members were allowed to read victim impact statements. Some asked for the maximum sentence. Bulleit said she reviewed the pre-sentence investigation report and numerous documents more than once, listened closely to the arguments and statements, and considered them before imposing sentence. “I would like to thank the family of the victim for their courage to speak about the impact this has had on their lives,” Bulleit said. The hearing placed the family’s loss alongside the legal terms of the plea deal, which had already limited the minimum sentence the court could impose.
The remaining prosecution is now focused on Margaret Kempainen. Her trial did not begin in January 2026 as once planned because her attorney filed an appeal after Bulleit denied two defense motions. One motion sought to suppress statements Margaret Kempainen made to law enforcement after her arrest in Iowa. Another sought discovery involving counseling sessions for her daughter, who was a minor at the time and was with the group when police made the arrests. Bulleit ruled against the defense on both issues. The defense appeal sent the matter to the Michigan Court of Appeals and left the trial calendar unsettled. Margaret Kempainen remains held without bond while those issues move forward.
The case has unfolded through a series of locations that each added evidence or legal questions. The killing was discovered at the Hancock Township home. A Bruce Crossing transaction helped raise alarm. The search moved through Minnesota. The arrests took place in Clear Lake, Iowa. A Minneapolis apartment search produced details that shaped the public account of the investigation. Houghton County then became the center of the court case, where one defendant has now been sentenced and another awaits trial. The geography of the case has mattered because statements, warrants and arrests from different places have shaped what prosecutors can use in court.
The multistate trail that led from Hancock Township to Iowa has now produced one conviction and one sentence. Court filings in Margaret Kempainen’s case will determine when the remaining charge returns to a trial calendar.
Author note: Last updated May 5, 2026.