Wanchanic cancels plea agreement in double homicide case

A Des Moines man accused of killing a couple he lived with canceled a plea hearing set for Friday and is choosing instead to take his case to trial.

Michael John Wanchanic faces two first-degree murder charges for the deaths of Bryon Howard and Howard's girlfriend, Heather Belieu, who were shot while sleeping in their bed inside a Center Street home in late November 2015. He was expected to appear in court Friday after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors, but defense attorney Philip Reser filed a motion Thursday canceling the hearing.

Reser wrote that he and Wanchanic discussed the case Wednesday evening, and the accused shooter decided to cancel the plea agreement. His trial is currently scheduled to begin in February.

Wanchanic, 40, was arrested after a high-speed chase with law enforcement and a standoff that lasted for hours on Highway 141 the day following the killings. He lived in the home with Howard, 36, and Belieu, 31, who was holding her infant child when she was killed, according to court records.

Friends and family told The Des Moines Register last year that there may have been some bitterness between Wanchanic and the couple, but they were not sure what motivated the violence. Wanchanic's father had purchased the Des Moines home where the killings unfolded and died exactly one year earlier.

"Something must have snapped," his teenage son, Brandon Reed, told a reporter last year.

Wanchanic has remained in the Polk County Jail since he was booked in shortly before 7 a.m. Dec. 2, 2015. Investigators found a .22-caliber handgun in a bedroom that belonged to Wanchanic after the shootings. He was armed with another pistol during the standoff, according to a search warrant application.

Convictions on both first-degree murder counts could lead to two mandatory life sentences for Wanchanic.