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Indiana Woman Guilty In Deadly Online Date That Ended In Rape, Murder
“The next thing I know there’s a man bursting through the door with a baseball bat attacking us,” the case’s surviving victim testified in court.
An Indiana woman was convicted of rape and murder in the killing of a man who was tortured and beat to death following an alcohol and drug-fueled tryst.
Heidi Kathleen Carter, 37, was convicted on Wednesday in the 2021 murder of 50-year-old Timothy Scott Ivy, who was fatally beaten by her husband, Casey Hammond. Hammond was later killed by Evansville police officers after authorities confronted the couple over the incident.
Carter was also found guilty of aiding, inducing or causing murder, as well as two counts of aiding, inducing or causing rape and three counts of criminal confinement, according to the Evansville Courier & Press.
A Vanderburgh County jury delivered the unanimous verdict in the evening after deliberating for more than seven hours.
On Oct. 19, Carter invited Scott and his female partner to her home for a sexual encounter after connecting with them online, according to an arrest affidavit previously obtained by Oxygen.com. Upon meeting up at Carter’s home, the three consumed alcohol and drugs before partaking in consensual sexual acts. However, Carter’s boyfriend, Hammond, ultimately walked in on the trio, flew into a rage and launched a violent assault on the two strangers.
Prosecutors say Carter allegedly held the couple at gunpoint as Hammond beat Ivy to death and sexually assaulted the unidentified female victim.
“The next thing I know there’s a man bursting through the door with a baseball bat attacking us,” the surviving victim testified in court on Monday, per the Evansville Courier & Press.
Hammond subdued the couple with duct tape while “beating and abusing them for hours,” per case court documents. The female testified that Carter told Hammond to “do anything he wants” to her.
Hammond ultimately strangled Ivy to death with a belt after catching him trying to escape from his restraints, according to the affidavit.
Carter was arrested after Ivy’s body was discovered under a pile of blankets by a woman she’d hired to clean her residence. As officers attempted to make contact with the couple, Hammond was shot and killed by police after he emerged from his home with a metal and plastic object resembling a weapon. He was ultimately found to be unarmed. Officials described his death as “suicide by cop.”
Carter’s conviction marked the second time the 37-year-old had stood trial in the murder case. Her initial trial ended in a mistrial after the case’s judge prevented prosecutors from presenting to the jury more than 600 pages of Facebook conversations with Hammond and other individuals. At the time, Vanderburgh County Circuit Court Judge David Kiely had expressed concern that the records weren’t properly certified or compiled by Evansville Police Department homicide detectives.
Prosecutors successfully entered the social media correspondence into evidence at Carter’s most recent trial. One of the Facebook messages allegedly depicted Carter posing with several handguns that matched the victim’s description of the weapon. The semi-automatic pistol that detectives suspect was used in Ivy’s murder was never found by law enforcement.
"I think the biggest difference here that really helped us secure the conviction was refining the Facebook messages and getting those in," Vanderburgh County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Audrey Beckerle said, per the Courier & Press. "Those really spoke to her true intent in a way that we couldn't get through any of the other evidence."
Prosecutors, who feared a hung jury in the case, breathed a sigh of relief after Wednesday’s verdict was handed down.
"I'm not gonna lie, I was getting a little nervous," Beckerle added. "I expected it to take some time; [the jury] had a lot to chew on... I was hoping we were going to get a verdict, but I'm not gonna lie, about 7 p.m. hit, and I was really starting to get a little nervous."
As of Friday, Carter appeared to still be booked into a Vanderburgh County detention facility, per online jail records, prior to her transfer to state custody.
Carter's legal team, meanwhile, vowed to appeal her conviction. "While we respect the jury’s verdict, we disagree that Heidi played any role whatsoever in the tragic events that occurred in October of 2021," Carter's lawyer, Barry Blackard, told Oxygen.com on Friday. "Ms. Carter has been steadfast regarding her innocence, and after 2 trials, she remains so. I fully anticipate her to appeal this conviction following sentencing in early March."
