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Indianapolis Star
04-08-2025
- Indianapolis Star
Two women abducted and killed, their bodies dumped in same area. Was there one killer or two?
Similarities in the 1997 murders of Sharon Myers and Kelly Eckart were as striking as they were tragic. The young women were abducted, just four months apart, from outside their Central Indiana workplaces. Witnesses linked a light-colored van to both kidnappings. The victims were sexually assaulted and strangled with ligatures made from their clothing. And both bodies were dumped in remote parts of Camp Atterbury south of Indianapolis. Those facts begged the question: Were the murders the work of the same person, possibly a serial killer, or were they totally random and unrelated? Police zeroed in on two different men — one in each killing. Both were convicted of murder. But nearly 30 years later, one of them is still fighting his conviction. Jason Hubbell's push to for a new trial in Myers' murder is getting help from an unlikely source: The ex-wife of Michael Dean Overstreet, who is on death row for killing Eckart. Court documents reveal a tangle of ignored tips and missing evidence that Hubbell's attorneys contend point to Overstreet as the killer of both women. Attorneys from the Notre Dame Exoneration Justice Clinic, which represents Hubbell, also have made troubling allegations of police misconduct, accusing investigators of ignoring incriminating evidence against Overstreet in the Myers investigation, while building a weak case against the wrong man. Hubbell's attorneys questioned Overstreet in 2024 about whether he killed Myers. Overstreet, on his attorney's advice, repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Lawless: Legacy of racist, brutal police culture still plagues city of Elkhart Overstreet left home early on May 13, 1997. He'd borrowed his brother's white cargo van and told his wife he was heading to a factory about 20 miles from their Franklin home to apply for a job. Overstreet was gone all day, according to his now ex-wife Melissa Holland. When he came home that evening, she recalled, "he was covered in blood." Holland, in an affidavit taken as part of Hubbell's case, recounted the events of that day almost 30 years ago. The Johnson County woman revealed why she believed then — and still does — that the father of her four children killed a woman that day. Myers worked at the same Columbus plant where Overstreet said he was going to apply for a job, Holland said in her affidavit. She vanished from the plant's parking lot on the same day Overstreet came home in a bloody shirt. Holland recalled telling police all this and more, only to learn that investigators were already focused on a different man: Hubbell. If Holland is right, her ex-husband — one of the remaining six men on Indiana's death row — kidnapped and brutally murdered not just one woman, but two. If Holland is right, the wrong man has spent the last three decades behind bars for a murder he didn't commit. In an 80-page petition for a new trial that cited Holland's affidavit, Hubbell's attorneys put forth what they describe as "overwhelming evidence" that Overstreet killed Myers. This includes information from his ex-wife, statements from other witnesses suggesting he and Myers knew each other, and a deposition from the lead detective who acknowledged that somebody — he said he doesn't know who — removed incriminating evidence against Overstreet from his investigative notes. The former detective acknowledged this amounts to police misconduct. A Bartholomew Circuit Court judge, who presided over a three-day hearing in February, has not yet issued a ruling on Hubbell's petition. Kevin Murphy, one of Hubbell's attorneys, and Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay declined to comment. In a one-page response to Hubbell's petition, Holden-Key rejected the allegations without specifying which claim was disputable. Holden-Key cited a few reasons why Hubble should not receive a new trial, including that he waited too long to file the petition and that the case has already been decided by a court. Overstreet's state-appointed public defender, Steven Schutte, did not respond to a request for comment. He was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing Eckart after DNA tied him to the crimes. Overstreet was sentenced to death, but a judge later found he can't be executed because of his mental illness. Overstreet deemed incompetent: Ruling an injustice to those 'who worked to convict this animal,' prosecutor says A judge appointed to Overstreet's case wrote in a 137-page ruling in 2014 that Overstreet, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, "lives in a world where voices tell him what to do." "Shadow people populate his world with such frequency that they no longer bother him," St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Jane Woodward wrote. "He views them, instead, like mice." Myers and Eckart were young women from small Indiana towns in neighboring counties south of Indianapolis. Myers, a 26-year-old mother who gave birth to a boy just three months before she disappeared, lived in Taylorsville, north of Columbus in Bartholomew County. Eckart, an 18-year-old freshman at Franklin College, was from Boggstown in Shelby County, just east of the Johnson County border. Both were last seen at their workplaces. Myers went to work early in the morning of May 13, 1997, at Arvin Industries, where she was a human resource clerk. She never made it to her desk, although witnesses reported seeing her — and a suspicious-looking cargo van — in the parking lot. Eckart vanished on Sept. 26, 1997, after finishing a late shift at a Wal-Mart store in Franklin, not far from where Overstreet lived. Police found her car at an intersection, its engine was off and its headlights were on. Both women were killed with ligatures made from their own clothes. Myers was strangled with her pantyhose, and Eckart with her shoelace and a strap from her overalls. Both of the victims also had their shoes removed. Myers' shoes were found in the Arvin parking lot. Eckart's were stuffed in a pit toilet at the Atterbury Fish & Wildlife Area in Johnson County. It was an area Overstreet knew well, according to his ex-wife. The toilet was about two miles from Teal Marsh, where he liked to fish. In a wooded area just south of that shallow marsh, a park caretaker stumbled into Myers' bones. Eckart's body was found in a remote ravine in neighboring Brown County. Officials believe Overstreet killed her at Atterbury and dumped her body elsewhere. According to testimony from Overstreet's brother, Overstreet asked him to drop him off at Atterbury the night Eckart disappeared. Overstreet told his brother he had "taken a girl" and was going to "get her lost." Holland declined to speak with IndyStar, but in her affidavit, she recalled immediately suspecting and being in fear of her husband. A chilling interaction inside the Wal-Mart store in Franklin shortly after Myers disappeared seemed to have escalated those feelings. The couple ended up in an argument while shopping at the store, where a missing person's picture of the young mother was posted, Holland said in her affidavit. Overstreet looked at her and then pointed at Myers' picture. There was a "sick look on his face," she recalled. By November 1997, Overstreet had become a suspect in Eckart's murder. Franklin police investigators spoke with several witnesses, including his wife. "I was very scared," Holland said in her affidavit, "but I told them everything I knew that made me think (Overstreet) was involved in abducting both Kelly Eckart and Sharon Myers." Holland told Franklin police about the day Overstreet left in a white cargo van and came home bloodied. She told them about his voracious consumption of news coverage of the women's deaths. She told them about cryptic comments Overstreet made after learning from TV reports that Myers' body was found near one of his favorite fishing spots. "Teal Marsh, I knew that was the place," Overstreet said, according to former Franklin Police Chief Harry Furrer's handwritten notes of his conversation with Overstreet. In a recent affidavit, Furrer said Franklin police received more information linking Overstreet to Myers' kidnapping — including a statement from an inmate who shared a cell with the accused killer after he was arrested. The inmate told police Overstreet kept saying the two deaths "had the same M.O.," Furrer recalled in his affidavit, and because of that, "he'd probably get charged in the Myers case too." Another witness, Johnny Roberts, recounted in a recent affidavit that conversations he had with Overstreet suggested he knew Myers. Roberts said he and Overstreet were former friends and co-workers, and Overstreet had talked to him about having an affair with a "married woman from Columbus." The woman's name, Roberts said, was Sharon. Death row: The solitary life and crimes of Joseph Corcoran, who's set to be executed Dec. 18 Columbus investigators had all of this evidence against Overstreet, according to Hubbell's petition, yet the information was allegedly omitted and withheld, as they focused on Hubbell. In a deposition last year, former Columbus Det. Dennis Knulf testified he documented all tips and leads, including ones about Overstreet, in 54 pages of investigative notes. But two shorter versions of the notes were turned over to the Bartholomew County Prosecutor's Office — neither included the incriminating information about Overstreet. Knulf acknowledged the information was unjustifiably omitted. He testified he does not have memory of doing it himself and acknowledged the removal amounted to police misconduct. Hubbell, who prosecutors alleged killed Myers over a grudge, was charged with murder and criminal confinement in 1998, more than a year after the kidnapping. He was convicted after a four-week trial in 1999 and was sentenced to 75 years in prison. 'I'm living a nightmare:' An anonymous tip helped convict him. It was about the wrong crime There was no DNA or fingerprints tying him to the crimes. Instead, prosecutors relied on "weak" and "unreliable" evidence that pointed to another suspect, according to the petition. For example, one of the witnesses against Hubbell also reported seeing another man with blondish hair walking next to a woman who looked like Myers in the Arvin parking lot. Hubbell has brown hair. Prosecutors also alleged Hubbell killed Myers because of anger over health insurance issues. Hubbell's attorneys argued this was "implausible" partly because the problem was resolved before the kidnapping, according to the petition. Physical evidence that tied Hubbell to the crime were "red acrylic fibers" and "grass fragments" recovered from his van. Prosecutors alleged these matched those found at the crime scene. Fibers were also used to connect Overstreet to Eckart's death. Fibers found in the teenager's clothes were consistent with fibers taken from Overstreet's blanket and from the interior of his van, according to court records. In Hubbell's case, attorneys argued the fibers were not incriminating. The red fibers are commonly found in everyday products, and the grass is abundant in Indiana. As Hubbell awaits a ruling on his request for a new trial, Knulf, the former Columbus detective, acknowledged in his deposition a possible violation of his constitutional rights. When asked if Hubbell should get a new trial, Knulf offered a one-word answer: "Yes."
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Yahoo
Indiana has a chance to prevent wrongful convictions
For 25 years, Leon Benson remained locked up in an Indiana state prison — including 11 in solitary confinement — for a murder he didn't commit while his young children grew up without a father and the real killer remained at large. Half his life was stolen largely because of a case of mistaken identity in the 1998 execution-style shooting of a 25-year-old white man in Indianapolis. Benson, who is Black, did not meet the vague description of a dark-skinned, clean-shaven man provided by a white woman after witnessing the slaying from 150 feet away in the dark. Despite his light skin and facial hair, Benson was later erroneously identified by the woman as the shooter in a police lineup — which could have been prevented if the proper eyewitness identification procedures had been in place. As the director of the Notre Dame Exoneration Justice Clinic, I've represented clients like Benson, who had their liberty stolen from them due to a wrongful conviction. Mistaken eyewitness identifications have been a contributing factor in approximately 3,600 (or 70%) wrongful convictions in the U.S. overturned by post-conviction DNA evidence. When we look more granularly in Indiana, more than a third of wrongful convictions – 36% – involved a mistaken eyewitness identification. So far, this equates to innocent Hoosiers, including Benson, losing a combined 245 years of freedom for crimes they did not commit. As EJC director and throughout my career as a federal and state prosecutor, I've seen firsthand how erroneous identifications occur. Eyewitnesses sometimes see things incorrectly in suboptimal circumstances or have lapses in memory. Unscientific police procedures can also play a role, improperly pressuring or influencing witnesses into identifying a suspect in a police lineup or photo spread, or inadvertently implying through comments or body language about someone's guilt. Indiana lawmakers can pass legislation that improves eyewitness identification procedures, joining 30 other jurisdictions nationwide that have put into place guardrails to protect the innocent and ensure that the actual perpetrator is held accountable. Senators Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, and Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, have authored legislation establishing standard procedures for conducting police lineups and photo spreads. These procedures, which are corroborated by over 30 years of peer-reviewed research and recognized by groups like the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, the National Academy of Sciences, and the U.S. Department of Justice, include: Double-blind administration of a lineup where neither the witness nor the person administering the lineup, usually a law enforcement officer, knows the identity of the suspect, effectively preventing any unintentional cues or biases from influencing the witness's identification decision. Witness instructions that include telling the witness the perpetrator may not be present in the lineup, that they are not required to identify a suspect and the investigation will continue with or without an identification. Proper fillers, meaning non-suspect photos and lineup participants are selected based on their resemblance to the description of the suspect provided by the witness. The suspect should not noticeably stand out from among others in the lineup. Witness confidence statements should be made immediately following the lineup that articulates the witness' level of confidence in the identification. These are not only good practices; they are necessary and easy-to-implement procedures that will go a long way toward protecting innocent people and minimizing wrongful convictions. Had these procedures been in place, there's little doubt that Benson would not have been deprived of decades of his freedom. His conviction primarily relied on erroneous eyewitness identification that violated the Core Four principles. Thankfully, Benson was exonerated in 2023 after the Marion County Conviction Integrity Unit reviewed his case and discovered not only evidence of his innocence, but also the identity of the real perpetrator. Now, Indiana must do the right thing so no other Hoosier will ever lose a day of their freedom due to mistaken identity. Wouldn't it be better if we could prevent wrongful convictions such as these from happening in the first place rather than robbing anyone of precious time? Jimmy Gurulé is the Director of the Exoneration Justice Clinic and Professor of Law at Notre Dame. A career prosecutor, he also previously served as under secretary for enforcement in the U.S. Treasury Department during the George W. Bush administration. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Leon Benson's wrongful conviction should not be repeated | Opinion
