BLOOMINGTON – Police in Bloomington say they have contacted authorities in Louisiana about their search for a college student whose disappearance has similarities to that of an Indiana University student who has been missingINDIANAPOLIS – A southeastern Indiana man accused of fatally shooting five people during a drug dispute has unexpectedly pleaded guilty, surprising prosecutors who were preparing for a trial.
David Ison, 46, of Glenwood pleaded guilty to five counts of murder Tuesday and agreed to a sentence of life in prison without the chance of parole in Franklin County Circuit Court in Brookville, prosecutor Chris Huerkamp said.
No court hearing had been scheduled in the case, but both sides were at the courthouse. Huerkamp said Ison pleaded guilty to all charges.
“It wasn’t specifically on the court’s calendar for yesterday,” Huerkamp said Wednesday. “I think the case had been moving in that direction for at least a while, and the opportunity was there to get this done and it got done.”
Ison’s defense attorney, Hubert Branstetter, didn’t immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Ison was charged in the Sept. 25 slayings of Roy Napier, 50; Napier’s estranged wife, Angela, 47; their children, 23-year-old Melissa Napier and 18-year-old Jacob Napier; and neighbor Henry X. Smith, 43.
Their bodies were found inside and outside Roy Napier’s mobile home in rural Laurel, about 50 miles southeast of Indianapolis.
Prosecutors said Ison was upset that Roy Napier had raised the price of oxycodone pills he was selling because Medicaid was no longer going to pay for Napier’s prescription.
Huerkamp said prosecutors had discussed sentencing with the victims’ relatives and some were satisfied with a prison sentence of life without chance of parole. Other relatives wanted a death sentence, and although Ison may have qualified for that sentence, prosecutors had filed paperwork to seek a life sentence rather than the death penalty.
He said Ison qualified for the life sentence due to the heinousness of the killings and the fact that he was on probation on a charge of conspiracy to commit counterfeiting when the slayings occurred. Ison has a lengthy criminal record that includes armed robbery, burglary, forgery and counterfeiting.
“At this point, he’s going to jail for the rest of his life and this provides closure to the case,” Huerkamp said.
