Truitt
A local man has agreed to plead guilty to murdering his great aunt and to abuse of a corpse after accepting a plea bargain Monday in Bartholomew Superior Court 1.
Bobby N. Truitt II, 20, told Judge James Worton Monday that he killed and assaulted his 64-year-old great aunt, Sharon Lovins on Sept. 27, 2020 at her home in Waynesville.
While the defendant faces 45 to 65 years in prison for Level 1 felony murder, Truitt — who had been formally charged with a second count of rape as a Level 1 felony — was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of abuse of a corpse as a Level 6 felony as part of the plea agreement.
That drops the possible sentence on the second charge from a potential 20 to 40 years in prison – to no more than two-and-a-half years. In exchange for accepting the agreement, the state also dropped a third charge of auto theft as a Level 6 felony.
However, Worton is not bound by any pre-determined prison time when Truitt is sentenced at 3 p.m. May 10. The judge said he has set aside two hours for the sentencing.
In addition, the judge told public defender Benjamin Loheide that Truitt will not be eligible for any treatment programs while in prison.
Lovins was killed one day after she bailed Truitt out of the Johnson County Jail, where he had been charged with an April 30, 2020 sexual battery, court records state. The victim offered to let him stay with her temporarily, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case.
In the Johnson County case, Truitt accepted a plea agreement last September, pleading guilty to sexual battery as a Level 6 felony. While he received less than a year in jail, the judge in Franklin ordered Truitt to register as a sex offender and stay at least 1,000 feet from school property.
While being questioned for his great-aunt’s killing, Truitt admitted that he first hit Lovins in the face with a hammer before sexually assaulting her and finally choking her, court documents state.
The victim died of blunt force trauma to the head and asphyxiation, Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting determined.
After Lovins was killed, Truitt stole her 1995 Ford Explorer and drove it to Indianapolis, where he was reportedly seen inquiring about buying a bus ticket to New York, court documents state.
Two days after Lovins was killed, Truitt was arrested after being found on an Indianapolis street among a group of panhandling homeless individuals, the affidavit states.
