INDIANAPOLIS -- A 60-year-old Indianapolis man is facing murder charges for allegedly brutally beating a man with a wooden board and then dragging his body into a neighbor’s yard.
Rodney Evans, 60, faces one count of murder for an April 22 incident in which he allegedly bludgeoned a man repeatedly in the doorway of his home.
The victim, 66-year-old Rodney Lewis, suffered fractures to both of his eye sockets and bleeding into the brain.
Following the assault, Lewis was transported to hospice care, where he died on Aug. 11. His sister told police he never regained consciousness following the attack.
In a probable cause affidavit filed in the case, Evans reportedly told police Lewis had been visiting his house, but began to annoy him and was asked to leave. When Lewis tried to return, Evans allegedly attacked him with a wooden board described as being like a 2x4, but wider.
Police who responded to the scene described a bloody sight: blood splattered on the wall just inside the home, blood on the front porch and a trail of blood leading from Evans’ front door to where Lewis’ body was found in a neighbor’s yard.
Evans told police it was actually Lewis who had attacked him with the board, but police said they found no defensive marks on Evans that would indicate he was attacked by a 2x4.
Following Lewis’ death, an autopsy determined he died of complications from blunt force trauma to the head. Formal murder charges were filed against Evans on Aug. 23.
Evans appeared for a pretrial hearing in Marion County Superior Court Friday morning. A jury trial in the case is currently scheduled for Nov. 6.
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