WASHTENAW COUNTY, Mich. – Nearly 15 months after 81-year-old Susan Hammerton was beaten, strangled, and fatally stabbed inside her Pittsfield Township home, her family says they are still fighting for basic information about the case — and for a criminal trial they fear may never happen.
“It’s the kind of thing you think could never happen to you,” Hammerton’s daughter, Elana James, said. “It’s been shocking, but especially over the last few months. So shocking because we found out that the DA wasn’t planning on having any sort of criminal trial for the individual who murdered my mother.”
Hammerton was killed in September of 2024. Police said 41-year-old Anthony Flanagan — naked and a stranger to Hammerton — broke into her home after allegedly getting into a fight with his own family.
He has been held since then on six felony counts, including murder, home invasion and torturing an animal.
According to investigators, Flanagan attacked Hammerton in her bedroom.
“He went into her bedroom. He punched her in the face, and he tried to strangle her repeatedly,” James said. “And then stabbed her repeatedly in the abdomen and the chest, and then he cut her face.”
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Hammerton’s partner and the family dog were also stabbed but survived. James said Hammerton’s partner, who James said was never contacted by police after that night, told her that Flanagan left the home afterward, threw the knife into a fountain and attempted to break into other homes in the neighborhood.
Since the homicide, Hammerton’s family told Local 4 they have been denied access to police reports, toxicology results, and investigative records. They said they have received no assistance from law enforcement or prosecutors.
“They’ve done nothing. There’s been nothing,” James said, about the prosecutors on the case. “ I printed out some highlights from the conversation we’ve had with the prosecutor. He accused me of meddling in the investigation.”
When James and her sister have tried to get information from the police, James said: “They’ve hung up on us twice.”
Pittsfield Township police told Local 4 the homicide “shocked our community,” and it is “understandably devastating” to the Hammerton family.
The department said it is standard practice not to release reports or evidence before testimony is given.
Police also confirmed to The Investigators on Local 4 that Flanagan’s blood was never taken, and thus, never analyzed.
“Our detectives, with advice from the prosecuting attorney, determined that the level of intoxicating substances, if any at all, present at the time of these offenses was not connected to the elements of the above crimes,” the department stated. “This decision was made by our detectives and the prosecutor early in the investigation.”
Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, who is also running for Michigan attorney general, told Local 4 that the state forensic center found Flanagan not competent but restorable.
Savit said Flanagan has since been restored to competency but was ultimately determined to be not criminally responsible by reason of insanity at the time of Hammerton’s killing.
James said she and her sister said they want another competency exam, and they want the opportunity for a jury to hear what happened.
“The district attorney is literally just pairing the line of the defense,” James said. “So yeah, I’d like a trial. My sister and I would like a murder trial for the murderer, and I don’t think that’s asking too much.”
Victoria Burton-Harris, Chief Assistant Prosecutor, Washtenaw County, told Local 4:
“We are limited in what we can say as we are still prosecuting this matter. We can confirm, however, that the court has received a report from the Center for Forensic Psychiatry, which states that the defendant was not criminally responsible. The Forensic Center further stated their conclusion would not change based on the presence of any substances in the defendant’s system.”
Local 4 has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the police reports.
A pretrial conference in the case is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2025.