Ex–Adult Film Star Nikki Fairchild Accused of Beheading Ex Husband

A former adult film performer who once went by the stage name Nikki Fairchild — real name Devyn Michaels — is on trial in Nevada this week, accused of decapitating the father of her two children and driving away with his head in a grisly 2023 killing that prosecutors say stemmed from a tangled and taboo family relationship.

Testimony entered its fourth day Monday in the murder trial of 47-year-old Devyn Michaels (Nikki Fairchild), who prosecutors allege beat and beheaded 46-year-old Johnathan Willette on August 7, 2023, inside his home in Henderson, a suburb southeast of Las Vegas.

Police say Michaels, a former adult actress who appeared in films for studios including Elegant Angel, Wicked Pictures, Adam & Eve, and Reality Kings between 2000 and 2012, poured chemicals over Willette’s body after the killing and then drove to her Las Vegas home with his cellphone and possibly his severed head.

Investigators believe Michaels later discarded the head in a trash bin, which was subsequently emptied by sanitation services.

Neither the head nor the murder weapon has ever been recovered.

Prosecutors allege that Michaels killed Willette, the father of her two children, so she could continue a romantic relationship with his adult son, Deviere Willette, whom she married in 2021. The marriage made Deviere both her husband and stepson, a relationship prosecutors described as “disturbing” but central to the motive.

“This is the future that she saw and that she wanted,” said Deputy District Attorney John Giordani in his opening statement. “And the only way to have that future was with John out of the picture.”

Willette’s mother discovered her son’s headless body, wrapped in blankets and doused with chemicals, inside his Henderson home.

Michaels initially pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2024 in exchange for a 15-year sentence, but later withdrew her plea, maintaining her innocence. Her defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, now argues that Deviere Willette, not Michaels, killed his father in a jealous rage after learning that Michaels wanted to end their marriage and reconcile with her ex.

“Deviere was getting kicked out,” Draskovich told jurors. “He was no longer going to be in this relationship because the dad — the dad he hated — was coming in and taking both his home and his wife.”

Prosecutors reject that theory, portraying Michaels as a calculating killer who manipulated both father and son for control of the family.

Before the murder, Michaels had been convicted in 2022 of child abuse or neglect, stemming from bruising on one of her children. She was sentenced to probation. At the time, she told police she was attempting to reconcile with Willette and co-parent peacefully, even as she remained married to his son.

During police interviews, Michaels claimed Willette had been abusive and said she struck him with a wooden stick after he “tried to get her to conduct a sexual act on him.”

Prosecutors argue that the fatal violence went far beyond self-defense.

As jurors viewed graphic photos of the crime scene, prosecutors urged them to brace for what they called “a twisted, unbelievable case.”

“And all I can say,” Giordani told the courtroom, “is buckle up, because you’re in for a wild ride.”

If convicted, Devyn Michaels faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Before her name became linked to a grisly Las Vegas murder case, Devyn Michaels (Nikki Fairchild) was a familiar face in the early-2000s porn industry. She appeared in scenes for studios like Wicked Pictures, Adam & Eve, Reality Kings, and Elegant Angel, earning a reputation for her polished looks and intensity on camera.

But behind the scenes, those who knew her say her introduction to the adult world was shaped by her relationship with a man whose own life would later spiral into violence — Rob Baker. Michaels reportedly met Baker in the late 1990s, around the time she transitioned from exotic dancing into adult film work. Baker, an aspiring performer and “talent handler,” was known in Los Angeles circles for managing and promoting new actresses. Industry insiders described him as both “charismatic” and “controlling.”

“He positioned himself as her protector and promoter,” one former industry insider recalled. “He helped her book scenes and pushed her career, but he also had a dark side.”

That dark side emerged years later. In 2013, Rob Baker was convicted of first-degree murder in Florida, where he was accused of killing the husband of his then-lover. Prosecutors in that case said Baker shot the man in a jealous rage, later attempting to disguise the killing as a home invasion. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

At trial, prosecutors described Baker as “a manipulative and violent man who thrived on control.”

Several witnesses, including former adult actresses, testified about his volatile temper and alleged psychological abuse.

The parallels between Baker’s murder conviction and Michaels’ current charges have not gone unnoticed. Both involve domestic entanglements, jealousy-fueled violence, and romantic manipulation that ended in death.

It’s eerie that two people from that same circle, both tied to the same kind of tragedy, just a few years apart.

By the time of her arrest in 2023, Michaels had long left the industry, remarried, and was raising children. Yet, as her murder trial unfolds in Las Vegas, her past under the bright lights of adult entertainment and her connection to a convicted killer from that world have once again returned to shadow her present.