A preliminary hearing added new testimony about what prosecutors say happened inside the Ypsilanti Township home before the body was hidden outside.

YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A 31-year-old Michigan man is facing an open murder charge after investigators said he strangled his 73-year-old grandmother in 2024, buried her in a shallow grave behind her home and left family members searching for her for days before deputies uncovered the body.

The case returned to public view this week after testimony at a March 31 preliminary hearing laid out a fuller account of the killing of Theadra Fleming, a retired nurse and quilter whose relatives had asked deputies to check on her when they could not reach her. Prosecutors say her grandson, Ronald Savoy Fleming, killed her during an argument inside the home they shared on Warner Street in Ypsilanti Township. The charge remains open murder, and the case is now moving toward its next scheduled court appearance in late May.

The investigation began on May 17, 2024, when Washtenaw County sheriff’s deputies went to the 1300 block of Warner Street after relatives reported that Theadra Fleming had not been heard from for several days. Family members told authorities that the silence was unusual. When a deputy arrived, Ronald Fleming was inside the house, but his grandmother was not. At first, there was no obvious sign of where she had gone. Then the search widened. A patch of dirt in the backyard appeared disturbed, and a shovel was visible nearby. Derrick Jackson, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said at the time that the deputy noticed what looked like a freshly dug grave. Deputies dug into the area and found Theadra Fleming’s body in a shallow burial site. Police later said she had been wrapped in a quilt before she was placed in the ground. Ronald Fleming was taken into custody, and the case quickly shifted from a welfare check to a homicide prosecution.

At the preliminary hearing, Detective Heather Morrison testified that Ronald Fleming described a confrontation with his grandmother before her death. According to the detective, he said Theadra Fleming had been pressing him to get a job and go to school. Morrison said he told investigators the argument escalated and that his grandmother came toward him and tried to claw at his face. Morrison testified that he said he then grabbed her by the throat with both hands and strangled her until he felt her neck snap. He also claimed that she had approached him with a knife and lunged at him before he attacked her. Prosecutors presented that account as part of the evidence supporting the murder charge, while the self-defense claim remains likely to be tested later in court. A medical examiner determined that Theadra Fleming died from strangulation. Public reporting on the case has not shown any court ruling accepting Ronald Fleming’s account of self-defense, and the hearing centered instead on whether there was enough evidence to continue the case.

The setting of the case has deepened its impact in Ypsilanti Township because it began not with a violent call but with worry from relatives who sensed something was wrong. Neighbors told local television reporters that Theadra Fleming had been known as a quiet presence on the block. Family members later described her in a fundraiser as a retired registered nurse, first responder and expert quilter who volunteered in nursing homes, schools and community centers. Those details have stood in sharp contrast to the allegations in court. The public record also shows how long the criminal case has taken to return to this stage. Ronald Fleming was charged in 2024, but proceedings slowed after he was found incompetent to stand trial and was sent to a state forensic psychiatric center for treatment. By the time of the recent hearing, he had spent roughly a year receiving treatment before being declared competent to assist in his own defense late last year. That delay means the case now carries two timelines at once: the family’s loss from 2024 and the court system’s renewed effort in 2026 to move the prosecution forward.

The legal path ahead is more defined than it was in the first days after the burial was discovered. Ronald Fleming is being held without bond, and court records cited in public reports say he is due back in court on May 26. An open murder charge in Michigan allows prosecutors to pursue different degrees of murder as the case develops. At this stage, the court’s task is not to decide guilt but to determine whether the prosecution has presented enough evidence to keep moving the case through the system. The testimony so far has established the broad outline prosecutors are relying on: a family argument, a killing inside the house, concealment of the body in the yard and statements made later to investigators. What remains unresolved includes whether the defense will continue to press a self-defense theory, whether additional forensic evidence will be introduced and whether prosecutors will seek a more specific murder count as the case advances. Those questions are likely to shape the next round of hearings.

The human details around the case have kept it from reading like only a court file. Ronald Fleming’s father told FOX 2 Detroit in the days after the arrest that he knew something was wrong when he went to the house during the welfare check. He said the family stood outside hoping deputies would not find what the disturbed ground suggested. “It was surreal,” he said, describing the moment authorities found Theadra Fleming’s body. He also said he could not bring himself to speak with his son after investigators explained the brutality of the killing. In the same interview, family members turned attention back to Theadra Fleming’s life rather than only her death. Her daughter-in-law, Grace Fleming, said she would be “missed dearly.” That grief has continued to frame public discussion of the case even as the latest hearing focused on the mechanics of the alleged killing and the statements prosecutors say the defendant made afterward.

For now, the case stands at a midpoint between allegation and trial: the body has long since been found, the defendant has returned to competency and the court is set to hear more on May 26 as the homicide prosecution continues.

Author note: Last updated April 21, 2026.