Tenant allegedly beat landlord to death with baseball bat for evicting him

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (TCN) -- A tenant allegedly beat his landlord to death with a baseball bat after getting an eviction notice, authorities say.

Police responded to a home on March 9 following a report of an assault, WOOD reports. Officers attempted lifesaving measures on the victim, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities have not released the name of the suspect.

WZZM reports that according to a friend, Vince Palmeri was renting a room in his house to the suspect and had attempted to evict him. The suspect allegedly has a history of violence.

Court records obtained by WOOD show Palmeri sent the suspect a lease termination letter on Dec. 30, 2025, giving him a month to move out. When the suspect did not leave, Palmeri then filed a landlord-tenant lawsuit in February.

Between February and March, the suspect emailed the court and told them his landlord was retaliating against him, and he asked to be given until the end of March to move out. Palmeri then filed an eviction notice on March 3, according to WOOD.

Palmeri reportedly told his friend Amanda Heeringa to notify him if the suspect returned, according to WOOD. When he did, she called Palmeri. The suspect and Palmeri argued and Heeringa said the suspect then allegedly began beating Palmeri with a baseball bat. She tried to intervene by pepper-spraying the suspect. 

WOOD reports Heeringa said, “It happened so fast. He just pounded his face in... I was pepper-spraying (the assailant), tried to stop him, and I think that’s when he ran at me with the bat.”

According to his friend Frederick Spring, Palmeri would “look out for you. He’d pay for dinners. He would take you in. He would do anything for you,” WZZM reports.

Court records show the suspect has previous violent convictions, per WOOD. He has been taken into custody and is awaiting arraignment.

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