Woman convicted in plot to poison Carmel man sentenced to 115 years in prison

NOBLESVILLE — A judge has sentenced a woman to serve a total of 115 years in prison for the 2021 murder of a man who was strangled and drugged.

Heidi Littlefield will serve 60 years for a charge of murder, 35 for a charge of conspiracy to commit murder leading to death and 20 years for conspiracy to commit murder not leading to death — all to be served consecutively with the Indiana Department of Correction, according to online court records.

Littlefield has accumulated a total of 748 days in jail credit, according to records. That includes 561 actual days and 187 "good time" days.

In August, a jury convicted Littlefield on all charges.

Littlefield is one of three people who were convicted in the killing of Francis Kelley, who police found dead Jan. 18, 2021, inside his Carmel home.

Some charges against Littlefield's co-defendants, Logan Runyon and Robert Walker, were dropped after they both pleaded guilty to counts of conspiracy.

Runyon pleaded guilty to conspiracy as a level 1 felony and had a murder charge dismissed while Walker pleaded guilty to conspiracy as a level 2 felony and had a level 1 conspiracy charge dismissed, records show.

All three defendants were arrested as a result of a criminal investigation into Kelley's death.

An autopsy determined Kelley's cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation. A toxicology test also found Kelley had fentanyl in his system at the time of his death, according to court documents.

Littlefield and Runyon put fentanyl in Kelley’s oatmeal inside the fridge, documents allege.

Around 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 15, Kelley texted Littlefield and asked if she did something “to the oatmeal that was in my fridge,” according to court documents. “What the actual f**k are you talking about????” Littlefield responded.

“You were in my fridge last night and it tasted funny after a couple of bites and now I am light headed,” Kelley said in a text message to Littlefield. He said he just got off the phone and had to ask them to “repeat things basic things.”

Littlefield sent two other messages that went unread by Kelley. The last email he sent on his work computer was at 1:56 p.m., which, his employer said, was “highly unusual” for him, according to court documents.

During the investigation, detectives learned Littlefield and Runyon went inside Kelley’s home on Jan. 15 and found he still had a pulse and was on the kitchen floor, according to court documents. Littlefield then grabbed his “favorite tie,” tried to strangle Kelley, and smashed his head on the floor. They then left Kelley on the floor and left.

Kelley was found dead on a couch inside the home on Jan. 18, according to court documents.

Detectives later learned Littlefield paid Walker $2,500 to find someone to kill Kelley, but ended up spending the money on other items, according to court documents.

Littlefield is scheduled to appear for a sentencing hearing Oct. 7 at Hamilton Superior Court.

Runyon was sentenced to 32 years with six suspended and Whitaker was sentenced to 20 years with 10 suspended.