During a custody battle, a mother in Indiana poisoned her ex-boyfriend’s oatmeal and strangled him, resulting in 115 years in prison.
A Hamilton County jury found Heidi Marie Littlefield guilty of murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in August after a seven-day trial.
Francis Kelley, a Hamilton County prosecutor said, died of asphyxiation caused by manual strangulation or neck compression, with acute fentanyl intoxication a contributing factor. The body of Kelley was found in his home.
Logan Marie Runyon, 23, Littlefield’s daughter, testified in “chilling detail” about plans to kill Kelley in January 2021.
She was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder through a plea agreement and is currently serving a 26-year prison sentence.
According to FOX 59, the 42-year-old Sheridan woman and Kelley shared a two-year-old child and had been fighting over custody when Littlefield began plotting his murder.
Additionally, Carmel Police arrested Runyon’s 30-year-old ex-boyfriend Robert James Walker.
During the investigation, Walker told investigators the drug was put into Kelley’s miso soup in October 2020 and that it was Littlefield’s idea to put the drug into Kelley’s oatmeal on Jan 15 he ate that afternoon.
According to FOX 59, Kelley was found dead on his couch three days later, along with a bag of cocaine under the couch, despite not having any cocaine in his system.
Also, Walker reportedly said he wanted to inform police about Littlefield and Runyon’s involvement in Kelley’s death – strangling him with a necktie and smashing his head against the ground – and that the mother paid him $2,500 to hire someone to kill Kelley.
Apparently, he spent that money on drugs instead, and Runyon corroborated it.
According to the paper, Littlefield maintains her innocence and plans to appeal, although the boyfriend at the time of her arrest and father of the child she was pregnant with gave police recordings of their conversations.
As part of a plea deal, Walker was sentenced to 10 years in prison.