Who was Christian Maire? Inmate pleads guilty to killing child exploitation ringleader in Michigan prison

On Thursday, March 30, 2023, a federal inmate pleaded guilty to the 2019 killing of Christian Maire, who, at the time, was a prisoner at the Milan Correctional Institution for leading an international child exploitation ring.

The inmate, Alex Castro, was charged with second-degree murder alongside two other prisoners, Jason Kechego and Adam Taylor Wright. They stabbed Christian Maire 28 times and threw him down the stairs of the correctional facility on January 2, 2019.

Christian Maire was a 40-year-old computer graphics company founder from New York state. He was serving a 40-year sentence at the Milan Correctional Institution after a 2018 conviction for running an international child exploitation ring.

Trigger Warning: This article contains mentions of child abuse. Readers' discretion is advised.

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Christian Maire was accused of grooming hundreds of kids

Christian Maire was reportedly attacked a month after he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. According to Mercury News, Maire was the ring leader of a child exploitation ring that preyed upon teenage girls after posing as teenage boys on social media. Maire is accused of grooming hundreds of kids into performing inappropriate acts on camera and later publishing them on a website.

In a statement, officials said that shortly after Maire was sentenced and booked into the Milan Correctional Institution, Alex Castro, along with Jason Kechego and Adam Taylor Wright, conspired to kill him. The inmates reportedly went into Maire’s cell inside the detention center and proceeded to kick and stab him multiple times before throwing him down a flight of metal stairs. The suspects were also accused of attacking an officer who tried to stop the assault on Maire.

In a statement on Thursday, authorities said:

“Castro, along with his two co-defendants, then threw Maire’s body down a flight of stairs. Maire died from multiple stab wounds (28 total) and blunt force trauma to the head from being thrown down the stairs.”

Castro, who was serving a 42-year sentence for an underlying 2017 federal drug trafficking conviction, faces life in prison for Maire's killing. Meanwhile, two other inmates, who also pleaded guilty to a second-degree charge, were sentenced last year.

As per Fox News, Kechego, who was already serving 10 years for possession of a stolen firearm, was sentenced to 28 years for his role in Maire’s stabbing. Adam Taylor Wright was sentenced to 24 years and four months in the case.

Shortly after Castro pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge, Detroit U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said:

“This savage crime deserves the most serious of consequences. My office is committed to preventing violence wherever it occurs. These convictions show that we will not turn a blind eye to this type of conduct and will aggressively prosecute violence within our prisons.”

As per Mercury News, Castro will be sentenced on July 28, 2023.