Michigan man sentenced for 2018 slaying of hunter at state park

St. John’s, Mich. — A mid-Michigan man who murdered a hunter at a state park near Lansing in 2018 has been sentenced to 22 ½ to 60 years in prison, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Thomas Olson, 35, of Grand Blanc was convicted of second-degree murder and a weapons charge by a jury in February for shooting Chong Moua Yang, 68.

“No jury verdict or sentencing could erase the pain felt by loved ones mourning the loss of Mr. Yang,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement, “though we hope today marks a significant step toward healing and a renewed assurance of justice.”

Olson’s sentence was handed down Monday. Nessel said Olson killed Yang and stole his headlamp, knife, backpack and shotgun.

Yang frequently went hunting at Rose Lake State Park in Bath Township, northeast of Lansing. When he didn’t return home on the evening of Nov. 16, 2018, family members went looking for him and found him lying face down with an apparent gunshot wound to the head, Nessel said.

Witness testimony and a plastic bag with hunting spray that was recovered near the scene led police to Olson, the attorney general has said.

A message seeking comment was left Tuesday evening for Olson’s attorney, Michael Manley.