Victor Manious

Victor Manious, (1946 - July 29, 2008)of Gaines Township, MI, on was murdered by Steve Scarborough, who claimed he killed Manious after the older man made sexual advances.

Victor Manious

Manious, 62, lived in Gaines Township, MI, with his wife and their adult daughter. He was active in and helped found the Saint Mina and Saint Mary Coptic Catholic Church¹⁾, and was a dedicated employee at S. Abraham and Sons, a conveience store product distributor where he'd worked for over 30 years.²⁾ His family described him as a religious man, and a deacon in his church.³⁾

Scarborough, 21, had a history of stealing and fighting, according to his acquaintances. Scarborough fled Nashville and headed to Grand Rapids after a police report was filed claiming he'd stolen electronics from a woman who hired him to weed her yard.⁴⁾ Police in Nashville, TN, confirmed a theft complaint filed against Scarborough there. Sources in Nashville claimed that Scarborough said he was planning to move to Texas, where he had a family.⁵⁾

In a police interview, Scarborough claimed that he was sitting in the apartment of his friend Justin Robinson, when Manious entered the apartment. He said that Manious set his keys on the kitchen counter crossed to the living room where Scarborough sat on the couch, and asked if Robinson was at home. At the same time, Scarborough said Manious began removing his clothes. He claimed Manious stripped down to his underwear and then tried to kiss him, and grabbed at him, all while repeatedly asking for Robinson.

Scarborough said he was “freaked out” by Manious' advances, hit him with a bat, dragged his body down some stairs, put him in the trunk of his car, and left it parked on Ottawa Avenue. At the time, Scarborough claimed that Robinson had nothing to do with the crime.⁶⁾

Manious' family reported him missing after he failed to show up at work.⁷⁾ Manious' family was out of town when the assault happened, on July 29, and his car was tracked down by his widow through parking tickets which had been issued to the illegally parked vehicle.⁸⁾

In later court testimony, Manious' wife, Soheil, said that she was out of town on the weekend of July 29, at a church conference with her daughter. She returned home on Sunday afternoon to find that her husband was not there, and called the Kent County Sheriff's Department. She was told that deputies would be on the lookout. The next day she received a call from Grand Rapids Parking Authority, that the couple's Toyota Camry was illegally parked on Ottawa Avenue NW. She and her brother drove to Ottawa Avenue and found the car parked facing the wrong way, with all of the windows open. Her brother opened the trunk and discovered Manious' body.⁹⁾

Manious' body was found in the trunk of his own car, illegally parked on Ottawa Avenue in downtown Grand Rapids, MI. An autopsy revealed that Manoius died from blunt force trauma. Police Searched Manious' home, removing two bags of evidence and a computer from the home.¹⁰⁾ Grand Rapids police confirmed that the case was a homicide investigation at that point.¹¹⁾

Steven Scarborough

After Manious' death, Scarborough went on a shopping spree with the dead man's credit cards, and bought a plane ticket to Texas.¹²⁾Scarborough and Robinson's neighbor, at their Kalamazoo Avenue apartment, said the two men were acting strange the last week in July. She said Scarborough told her a man came by the apartment to rob him, and Scarborough attacked him with a baseball bat. The neighbor said she saw a lot of blood in the parking lot, and a smashed window in the apartment. A neighbor across the told detectives that he saw two men in the parking lot with a flashlight, and that they took off running when they found something on the ground.¹³⁾

Robinson told police that he had seen the name “Vicor” on the credit cards, which Scarborough said had been given to him by a girlfriend. The night before Manious' death, he and Scarborough had fought with some “Peruvian guys” they met at a “gay bar.” The men would later testify to having been victims of an attempted robbery by Scarborough.¹⁴⁾

The Kent County prosecutor's office issued a warrant for Scarborough, for tealing/retaining a financial transaction device without consent, for using Manious' credit card. A warrant was then issued for Scarborough's arrest in Manious' murder. On August 6, 2007, Scarborough was arrested in Houston, TX.¹⁵⁾ On August 14, Scarborough waived his right to an extradition hearing in Texas, and returned to Michigan to face charges in Manious' murder.¹⁶⁾

On August 22, 2007, Scarborough was arraigned in a Kent County court, and held in the Kent Count jail afterward.¹⁷⁾

During Scarborough's trial, on March 27,2008, jurors heard from the State Police DNA expert that Manious' DNA matched stains found on and beneath a couch from the Kalamazoo Avenue apartment where Scarborough was staying, as well as on a vehicle steering wheel and a pair of jeans taken from the apartment.

Robinson's neighbor testified that she saw the Toyota Camry in which Manious' body was found, backed up to the stairs near her apartment. She also testified that she saw both the Camry and Scarborough's truck gone at the same time that morning. She said that day Scarborough bragged about taking the car of someone who tried to rob him, and that she saw to Robinson wearing a new shirt police said Scarborough bought with Manious' credit card.¹⁸⁾

As part of the “gay panic defense,” Scarborough's defense, Paul Denenfed. attorney tried to suggest that Robinson played a major role in Manious' murder, and that there was a connection between Manious and Robinson. Denenfeld told jurors that Robinson was bisexual, and that Manious' had been with him in the apartment previously. He said that Manious' was desperate to hide his “gay lifestyle” from his family — who were out of town the weekend of his encounter with Scarborough— and was “on the prowl” the night of his encounter with Scarborough. He said that earlier that night Manious had “hit on” a young man who did lawn maintenance in the Gaines Township neighborhood, inviting him over for drinks.¹⁹⁾

Under cross examination during the trial, Robinson claimed that he was asleep when the murder happened and that — although he picked Manious out of line-up, saying he looked like a Peruvian man Robinson had been in a fight with earlier — he'd never met Manious. Robinson's girlfriend testified to Robinson's use of Manious' credit cards, which he said were given to him by a girlfriend he met while bar-hopping, and identified the blood-stained t-shirt and jeans Scarborough had worn on the day after Manious was murdered. She also testified to that Robinson was in bed with her the entire night of the assault.²⁰⁾

Peruvian immigrant Carlos Barbaran testified that Scarborough attacked him and two of his friends, two nights before Manious' death. Barbaran, who is married, said the he was bar-hopping with two friends on the night of July 27, and they ended up at Rumor's, a gay bar in downtown Grand Rapids. There they met Robinson, who asked for a ride home. Barbaran took one of his friends home, and then they arrived at Robinson's apartment. Once there, Barbaran said that Scarborough and another man appeared, became aggressive and beat them him up as he tried to get back to his car. He said that Scarborough was the main aggressor, and that after beating him the men took $300 from him, along with his credit cards and his green card. Barbaran denied that any sexual advances were made, as well as the Denenfeld's claim that he returned to Robinson's apartment for cocaine.²¹⁾

Under oath, Scarborough repeated variations on the story he initially told police, but maintained that he'd hit Manious with a baseball bat, after after being knocked unconscious by Manious, and waking up to find the 62-year-old performing oral sex on him. Scarborough claimed he told investigators about the sexual assault, but that they were uninterested.Near the end of the interview, Scarborough told police that Manious didn't knock him unconscious, but did force him onto a couch and grope him.²²⁾ He also said that he'd been sleep deprived and denied epilepsy medicine to control his grand mal seizures.²³⁾

Though he initially said that Robinson — his friend and roommate of seven weeks, who'd been introducing him to to Grand Rapids' bar scene —had nothing to do with the crime, Scarborough's story changed on he witness stand. He testified that Robinson returned to the apartment soon after the assault, and together they hatched a plan to put Manious in the trunk of his car and drive him to Ottawa Avenue. Robinson told Scarborough to keep his name out of it, and to create phony phone messages that would give Robinson an alibi.²⁴⁾

Scarborough testified that he and Robinson carried Manious down a flight of stairs and placed him in the trunk of his own car. They parked the car on Ottawa St. NW, and went back to clean up the apartment, stopping to get something to eat and do some shopping with Manious' credit cards on the way.²⁵⁾

Though Scarborough told an FBI agent that he saw Manious' mouth moving and heard him breathing, he said in court he thought Manious was dead before he was placed in the trunk. He said he found Manious' wallets and credit cards after parking the car with Manious in the trunk.²⁶⁾

During the trial, Manious' family rejected portrayals of their husband and father as living a secret ga life. Assistant prosecutor Helen Brinkman told the jury during the trial that Manious had been out at a gay bar while his family was away, on the weekend of his murder, and Scarborough lured him back to Robinson's apartment to rob him. She said that Manious looked “rich and gay,” and that such men — hoping to keep their sexuality a secret — are less likely to report being robbed.

Manious' wife, Soheir, denied that her husband could have been gay. His brother-in-law, John Fahd pointed out Manious' involvement in the local Coptic Christian church, and said the traditions of his culture and religion would not allow Manoius' to be homosexual. Both the defense and prosecution, however, said they talked to more than one person who had a gay relationship or had been a same-sex romantic interest of Manious'.²⁷⁾

On April 9, 2008, the jury began deliberations on whether Scarborough had beaten Manious to death in an attempted robbery, and kidnapped him by placing him in the trunk of his car and leaving him to die, or had acted to fend off sexual advances or a sexual attack by Manious.²⁸⁾

On April 10, 2008, Scarborough was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in Manious' death. Scarborough was accused of luring Manious to Robinson's apartment in order to rob him.

On May 22, 2008, Scarborough was sentenced to 19-60 years in prison for the Manious' murder. The judge exceeded the sentencing guidelines for the jury's manslaughter conviction, and order Scarborough sent to prison for no less than 19 years and no more than 60. Scarborough also had to pay funeral expenses to Manious' family, and $1,000 for his extradition to Texas.²⁹⁾

• Manious Found
• Stevens Charged