Indiana man gets 28 years in friend’s killing
Nov 7, 2013, 7:53 PM
KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) – A judge sentenced an Indiana man to 28 years in prison for a cocaine-fueled binge in which he killed a friend and stuffed his body inside an unplugged freezer.
Howard Circuit Court Judge Lynn Murray gave Walter Logan the maximum sentence Wednesday: 20 years for cocaine possession and eight years for reckless homicide in the November 2012 death of Alex Shipp, 29. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped charges of murder and criminal confinement.
Murray said Logan showed “depraved indifference toward the victim” and his relatives by hiding Shipp’s body in a freezer in his home in Kokomo, about 50 miles north of Indianapolis.
Murray also ordered Logan to pay more than $1,800 in restitution for Shipp’s funeral expenses, the Kokomo Tribune reported (
http://bit.ly/1iOSfUi).
Police began looking for Shipp in early December after his mother told them he hadn’t been seen since Nov. 8, 2012. Officers who went to Logan’s house found Shipp’s decomposed but intact body in a freezer that was not plugged in.
Court documents say Logan told investigators that he and Shipp had known each other for about two years and had a sexual relationship. He said the men got drunk, did drugs and had sex. Afterward, Logan said Shipp became belligerent and wanted to fight, but Logan bound Shipp’s hands and feet and placed duct tape over his nose and mouth.
Logan told investigators he tried to kill himself with pills and wrote a suicide note, but he fell asleep before he could finish writing it. When Logan woke up, Shipp appeared to be dead. Logan removed the tape from Shipp’s face before going back to sleep, court documents say.
After he awoke again, Logan allegedly waited about six hours and then carried Shipp’s body to the basement, where he stuffed it inside the freezer, documents say. When police came to Logan’s home, he led them to the freezer.
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Information from: Kokomo Tribune,
http://www.ktonline.com
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