Albion resident Orlando Billingsley sentenced to 40-60 years for murder of Battle Creek resident Stanley Wilson

By Sylvia Benavidez

A murder that rocked the Albion Community last spring and the resulting police investigation concluded Friday, Dec. 20. Judge Sarah Lincoln of the 37th Judicial Circuit Court sentenced 46-year-old Orlando Capado Billingsley, Albion, to 40-60 years in prison for the murder of Stanley Wilson, 61, from Battle Creek. Billingsley killed Wilson by striking him with a car then dragging him several yards on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in the City of Albion.

Additionally, to the 40-60 year sentence for second-degree murder, the judge sentenced Billingsley to 228 to 480 months on each of the driving-related charges, with all sentences to run concurrently. He was given credit for 596 days already served in jail. The second-degree murder charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, while the other charges are each punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Billingsley, who was also charged as a fourth felony offender, faced a maximum sentence of life for all offenses.

Billingsley’s conviction of second-degree murder, reckless driving causing death, and driving while license suspended causing death came on Oct. 25 after a three-day trial and nearly seven hours of jury deliberation. In May of last year, Tiffany Juvette Showers also was arraigned on charges for the murder of Stan Wilson in Calhoun County District Court, but in an earlier interview, Calhoun County Prosecutor Dave Gilbert explained, “She testified against Mr. Billingsley and plead No contest to lying to a police officer. She was sentenced Oct. 13, 2023, to three years’ probation.”

Interim Albion Department of Public Safety Chief Aaron Phipps during an interview Thursday, Dec. 26, said, “The sentencing is reassuring knowing there are consequences for Orlando’s actions that night, and it is rewarding that the hard work done by those involved that night doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s a reminder to us as public safety on why we do this job. We don’t get to see this justice served often, and it’s nice to be reminded why we do this job.”

Both Phipps and previous Public Safety Chief Scott have emphasized that whether in this case or others the public’s willingness and courage to step forward and tell what they see is crucial to keeping the community safe. Through talking to witnesses and other methods, investigators discovered in this case that an altercation over an earlier dispute between two children escalated to involvement with the parents. Witnesses said that Billingsley’s family became involved and ended with yelling and a violent altercation at Billingsley’s home just before 11 p.m. The violence in the Sycamore Street neighborhood did not end after Wilson walked away. Billingsley followed him and others, then entered his Dodge Charger pursuing Wilson on the lawn of a nearby apartment complex. Wilson fled between buildings, but surveillance footage shows Billingsley eventually struck Wilson, dragging him a significant distance. Wilson was pronounced dead at the scene.

After the murder, Harrington staff shared in an interview in 2023 that children from the Sycamore St. area were affected for weeks, exhibiting irritability, lack of sleep and concentration, and fear about what would happen next in their neighborhood. In a previous November interview with The Recorder, Gilbert said, “This should have never happened.”