Terre Haute man convicted in Greencastle slaying
Aug. 12—A Terre Haute man faces up to 91 years in prison after being convicted Wednesday of murder in the January 2020 bludgeoning death of a Greencastle woman.
John H. Gonzalez, 30, also was found to be a habitual offender based on two previous felony convictions.
The trial concluded Wednesday in Putnam Superior Court, with Judge Denny Bridges setting an Oct. 7 sentencing date for Gonzalez.
Gonzalez took the witness stand in his own defense Wednesday, admitting to shooting Lisa Attkisson, 44, in the abdomen as the couple quarreled in the bedroom of her Greencastle home after smoking methamphetamine together. But he denied killing Attkisson, who was found dead in her home Jan. 29 by her adult son.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Roland Kohr, who performed Attkisson's autopsy, testified the woman died of blunt force trauma to her head after being severely beaten. Kohr said the beating killed her before the bullet wound, which would also have been fatal.
Indiana State Police Detective Sgt. Sam Stearley testified evidence found at the scene showed Attkisson had been beaten with a wooden table leg from a handmade table found in her home's basement.
Video recovered from Gonzalez's cell phone showed Attkisson lying on her bedroom floor with a bullet wound in her abdomen, begging Gonzalez to help her.
Gonzalez testified he had a brief relationship with Attkisson, living with her for a few weeks in the fall of 2019 while he was separated from his wife and child, then returning to her home for a few days in January 2020.
Investigators believe Attkisson was killed Jan. 25, but her body was not found for a few days. In the interim, they said, Gonzalez took her car, credit cards, identification and her pink and silver handgun that he used to shoot her. Police recovered her cell phone after Gonzalez sold it at a kiosk in Terre Haute.
Police in Rock Island, Illinois, found Gonzalez near Atkinson's abandoned Ford Escape, which he had driven around the Wabash Valley, to St. Louis, Missouri, and around Illinois as he visited friends.
The jury also heard testimony that handwritten notes police found in the abandoned Ford showed Gonzalez created a checklist of things to do as he intended to travel to California to start a new life under a different name.
Putnam County Prosecutor Timothy Bookwalter called numerous witnessesl, including Attkisson's former boyfriend, who was ruled out as a suspect early in the investigation.
Defense Attorney James Bruner said Gonzalez admitted to taking Attkisson's Ford and her credit cards, but was not responsible for her death, pointing to a protective order Attkisson had received months earlier against her former boyfriend.
The jury deliberated for two and a half hours Wednesday afternoon before returning guilty verdicts to murder, auto theft and theft of a firearm.
Gonzalez then admitted to being a habitual offender, having felony convictions in December 2015 for robbery in Fountain County, and for sexual battery in July 2012 in Vigo County.
