Killer pleads: Torture, murder of West Lafayette woman followed fear ‘she snitched' on meth operation
Sept 4, 2020
KENTLAND –
Garett Kirts, a 22-year-old Lebanon man accused in the 2019 torture and murder of Nicole Bowen,
admitted Friday to a judge that he and two others conspired to kill the West Lafayette mother of two because they were sure she was going to turn them in for cooking methamphetamine.
Kirts said he and Ashley Garth, a Delphi woman also charged with murder, and a friend named Jason Palladino – a White County man who prosecutors have not charged but say remains “a person of interest” – conspired to get Bowen, 30, to a trailer north of Kentland on the night of March 29, 2019.
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On Friday, Kirts pleaded guilty to murder in a deal that essentially took the chance of life without parole off the table. Kirts had been scheduled for trial later in September.
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Molter sent a sentencing date in January 2021. But Jeff Drinski, Newton County prosecutor, said the terms of the
plea deal call for 55 years in prison. The murder charge, had the case gone to trial, could have carried up to 65 years in prison. Drinski had filed for life without parole in the case, saying there were elements of torture in Bowen death.
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The other four people accused of playing roles in the Harrison High School graduate’s death remained in custody, as of Friday, according to jail records.
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According to court documents filed in December 2019 with her murder charge – after DNA evidence suggested she played a larger role in the crime beyond instigating a fight – Garth told police that she considered Bowen “a rival and an enemy because she was the other woman in Kirts’ life.”
Kirts told police that Bowen was reluctant to go in the trailer. At some point, while inside, Garth and Bowen got into it. As they fought, Kirts told police, he stepped in.
Court documents claim Kirts told police that he and Garth then strangled Bowen before wrapping her in a blanket
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Drinski said
Garth has a plea agreement pending that would drop the murder charge for a felony charge of assisting a criminal. Drinski said that charge carries a maximum of
six years in prison. He said Garth is scheduled to take a
polygraph test next week, leading up to her next court date on Oct. 21.
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Three other people have been charged in connection with Bowen’s death.
Talitha Beckley, a 38-year-old Monticello woman who prosecutors say was in the trailer home that night, and
Christopher Mathis, a 28-year-old Kentland man who was recruited to
help Kirts hide Bowen’s body, have been charged with assisting a criminal, a level 5 felony that carries possible prison sentences of
one to six years. Mathis also was charged with obstruction of justice.
Mathis, who Drinski said also is up for a
polygraph test next week, has a pending plea deal and is
scheduled for sentencing Oct. 23.
Beckley has asked for a trail [trial]on her charges. Beckley’s next court appearance is scheduled for a
hearing Oct. 19.
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Parker, 35, pleaded guilty in October 2019 to assisting a criminal after she admitted that she was in her home that night but had hidden in another room when Bowen was killed. The plea agreement came with a
one-year prison sentence, on a charge that carries a sentence of one to six years, along with four years for being a habitual offender.
Kirts’ claim that Palladino was involved was the first in public in the case.
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Still unresolved is Kirts’ possible involvement in the
March 2019 death of
Ray Hanish, a 49-year-old man found dead in his Reynolds home. The White County
coroner ruled the death a homicide, caused by “asyphyxia due to ligature strangulation.”
In December 2019, White County Prosecutor Bob Guy confirmed to the J&C that he was waiting for Kirts’ case in Newton County to wrap up before filing charges connected to Hanish’s death in Reynolds.
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He said investigators did not believe Hanish’s death was murder. He wouldn’t commit to whether a criminal act led to Hanish’s death.
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