A Macomb County jury has convicted a Sterling Heights man of murder in the March 2024 stabbing death of his pregnant girlfriend, prosecutors said — a killing that also claimed the life of her unborn child.

Source: WDIV Local 4 via The Mitten Daily

Damarion Winston Goler, 33, was found guilty on Friday, October 16, after a two-week trial, of second-degree murder, homicide causing the death of an unborn fetus and tampering with evidence, the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office said, as reported by WDIV Local 4 and CBS Detroit. The victim was Talic Mersina, 31.

Source: CBS Detroit

What prosecutors say happened

According to the prosecutor's office, Mersina was stabbed near the door of the couple's apartment near 18 Mile Road and Van Dyke Avenue in Sterling Heights on March 24, 2024. Sterling Heights officers sent to the complex at about 3 a.m. for a welfare check found blood in the hallway but no one inside the apartment.

Later that day, Clinton Township police were called to the area of Harper Avenue and Glenwood Street on a report of a man covered in blood. Officers found Goler and Mersina in her car, parked outside the apartment building where Goler's mother lived, prosecutors said. Mersina was taken to a hospital, where she and her unborn child were pronounced dead.

Sentencing next

Goler is scheduled to be sentenced on December 3. Under Michigan law, second-degree murder carries a penalty of up to life in prison.