Love is blind. At least, that’s what Chaucer claimed in the early 1400’s, and it doesn’t seem to have changed much since then. Certainly not for April Marie Abare anyway, who was sentenced in the Genesee Circuit Court for harboring a felon in the name of love.
According to police records, Daron Gaylor Jr. was charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, and a number of other gun-related charges. Police believed him guilty of the murder of 28-year-old Ali McZick, the critical injury of 19-year-old Tyrell Gaylor, and then the shooting one month later that killed him. Tyrell was Daron Gaylor’s cousin, as was McZick.
Police apparently received a tip that Gaylor was staying at Abare’s home, where she would run surveillance for him to ensure that he was not seen by authorities. Abare also apparently lied to police on a number of occasions about Gaylor’s whereabouts and provided the police with false information in order to mislead them.
All of this finally resulted in an 11 hour standoff with police, during which time there was a shootout and a state trooper was injured. Finally, police brought in an excavator in order to rip the roof off the house, which was completely destroyed in the process.
Gaylor chose death over imprisonment
Gaylor was found in the home, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Although no information was released at that time as to why he took his own life, it can only be assumed that, in the face of limited options, he chose death over incarceration.
According to her defense attorney, Amy Harris, Abare is guilty of falling in love with the wrong person, but the prosecutor believes that she should go to prison for what she did. It certainly is a difficult situation, but the judge seems to think that while Abare made some bad choices, she deserves another chance – to be with her children and to have the opportunity to make better decisions in the future.
Abare, who has no prior felonies on her record, pled no contest to a single charge of attempted lying to a police officer, and attempted harboring of a felon. She was sentenced to be on a tether for six months, and two years of probation. We hope that her children are able to fully recover from what must have been a traumatic event in their lives, and that Abare herself is able to gather the pieces and make safer, smarter choices for herself and her family in the future.