Husband to serve life without parole for the murder of Novi Schools employee

NOVI — A Commerce Township man will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2021 murder of his wife, an employee of the Novi Community School District.

Vincent Vuichard was found guilty of murder by an Oakland County jury on Nov. 26, 2024, for the 2021 killing of his wife, Tatiana Vuichard, 59. On Feb. 25, Judge Jacob James Cunningham sentenced Vuichard to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Tatiana Vuichard’s body was discovered wrapped in a red carpet on the bathroom floor of the home she shared with her husband, after her Novi Community School District colleagues became worried about her when she did not show up for work on May 17, 2021, and contacted law enforcement. Staff, during Vuichard’s preliminary examination in late 2021 in 52-1 District Court, recalled that he seemed to be stalking his wife and would frequently drive up and down Taft Road and park across the street from where she worked.

“(Tatiana) does not miss work,” said Anne Hansen, Novi Community School District director of early childhood services, during her testimony on Dec. 14, 2021. “She took her job very seriously.”

When Oakland County Sheriff’s Office deputies knocked on the doors and windows of the Vuichard residence May 17, 2021, Vincent Vuichard eventually answered the door.

Deputy John Jacobs testified that he noticed several scratches on Vincent Vuichard’s face and asked how he got them. Vincent Vuichard replied that he “got into it” with his wife, Jacobs said.

After gaining entry into the residence, Jacobs and another deputy searched the home.  During the search, the other deputy inquired as to what was wrapped up in a red carpet on the bathroom floor.

“That’s my wife,” Vincent Vuichard responded, according to Jacobs’ preliminary examination testimony.

Jacobs then carefully removed the red carpet and a series of trash bags to find the body of Tatiana Vuichard.

“It was very small, tightly wrapped in this red blanket. … It wasn’t a long, stretched-out body, this was literally a bundle, a very small bundle,” Jacobs said in 2021.

Contract medical examiner Patrick Cho, said the cause of death was slashing wounds on her neck. According to Cho, Tatiana Vuichard would not have lived longer than a minute with those types of wounds, due to extreme blood loss and lack of oxygen to the brain. She also had wounds on her head and shoulders along with her hands. Cho said the wounds on her hands appeared to be defensive wounds.

Vincent Vuichard has been transferred to the Michigan Department of Corrections where he will remain for the rest of his natural life.

“I commend Judge Cunningham for appropriately punishing the perpetrator of this heinous crime,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in a prepared statement. “There is never a justification for committing such an atrocity against another person, particularly one with whom one has previously claimed a loving relationship.”

“Tatiana Vuichard was a loving mother and grandmother. Her brutal murder was a tragedy felt by her family and many in the Novi community,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald said in a prepared statement. “The jury’s verdict was consistent with the facts presented in this case. The sentence of life without parole for Vincent Vuichard fits the severity of the crime.”

An appeal has been filed on Vincent Vuichard’s behalf by his attorney, Judith Gracey, of Gracey Law Firm in Keego Harbor.

Gracey declined to comment on both the sentencing and the appeal.

“I don’t have anything to comment,” Gracey said.