Woman accused of murder, arson, animal killing appears in court 

Hope Snyder and her attorney, Tracie Dinehart, discuss her case Tuesday in 51st Circuit Court.

Woman accused of murder, arson, animal killing appears in court 

By Allison Scarbrough, Editor

LUDINGTON — A 42-year-old Chippewa County woman accused of murder, arson and animal killing appeared in Mason County’s 51st Circuit Court Tuesday, Sept. 5, for a “final trial conference.”

Hope Lynn Snyder is accused of killing Jeffrey Grant, 57, along with his two dogs, and burning down his residence at 3746 N. Morse Road, in Sheridan Township, on Nov. 22, 2021. 

Michigan Assistant Attorney General Danielle Joyce Hagman-Clark appeared in court Tuesday via Zoom video conferencing and told Judge Susan K. Sniegowski that she had just received discovery materials in the case last Friday and is not prepared to make a plea offer. The court scheduled another “final trial conference” for Oct. 17 at 3:45 p.m.

Snyder, whose last known residence was 81 Kincheloe Drive, Kincheloe, Chippewa County faces the following felony charges: 

• Homicide, open murder — punishable by up to life in prison. 
• Homicide, felony murder — punishable by life in prison without parole. 
• First-degree arson — punishable by up to life in prison and/or a $20,000 fine, or three times the value of the property damaged or destroyed, whichever is greater.
• Two counts of second-degree killing/torturing animals — punishable by up to seven years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine. 
• Third-offense habitual offender, which increases the maximum sentence on the primary offense to twice the term. She has served prison time for two prior felonies — larceny from a building in Mackinac County and a theft charge in Alaska.

Jeffrey Grant

Snyder pleaded guilty Feb. 1, 2022 to unlawful driving away of a motor vehicle, which occurred Nov. 22, 2021. She has not been sentenced for that crime yet.  

During a preliminary exam in 79th District Court July 25, 2022, Mason County Sheriff’s Office Det. Sgt. Tom Posma (who is now retired) testified that Grant had driven Snyder to Mackinac County Nov. 19, 2021 where she was to appear in court for a probation violation. After the fire, Snyder stole Grant’s Chevrolet Avalanche (which was registered to Victor Adamczak of Fountain) and abandoned the vehicle in a hospital parking lot in Saginaw. Later, Snyder took a flight from MBS International Airport in Saginaw to Detroit Metropolitan Airport where she had then booked a flight to Alaska. 

Mason County sheriff’s detectives were able to obtain a search warrant of Snyder’s phone and find her location. While en route to Detroit airport, Posma and Det. Mike Kenney reached out to airport police who then restrained Snyder. Posma and Kenney then conducted their first interview with Snyder at the airport and arrested her. 

Det. Kenney obtained several warrants for digital files owned by Snyder, including items from her Facebook account and Google Gmail account. During testimony, Kenney read several messages between Snyder and Jacob Snyder, along with messages between Snyder and Lawn Schroeder, who, according to a Facebook account, lives in Anchorage, Alaska. 

The Facebook messages were written Nov. 21 and 22 — the majority of which were prior to the fire on Morse Road, which was reported at 9:06 a.m.

In various messages, Snyder refers to Grant providing her with drugs. She discusses a plan that she describes as “crazy and heartless” to obtain drugs, a house, a truck and money. 

Editor-in-Chief Rob Alway contributed to this article.

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