Michael E. Hawkins Jr.
Michael E. Hawkins Jr.
GOSHEN — A man charged with murder in Elkhart appeared in Elkhart County Circuit Court on Thursday for a pretrial conference. Michael E. Hawkins, Jr., 59, is the accused.
Police found Anthony Null’s body in the St. Joseph River on July 17 and, following an autopsy by the Elkhart County Coroner’s Office, determined he died from a gunshot wound.
Elkhart city police arrived at the scene around 1:10 p.m. July 17, to recover a body in the river in the 300 block of East Beardsley Avenue. The Homicide Unit was activated.
Hawkins was arrested on July 18 on charges of possession of meth and paraphernalia but was later accused in the murder of Null, 50.
According to a probable cause affidavit, police spoke to Null’s girlfriend, Markeeta Kirby, and their mutual friend, Hawkins, on July 17.
Kirby told police that the two men had argued over synthetic marijuana that morning, and Hawkins had threatened Null, a probable cause affidavit reads. Null allegedly told Hawkins to “just pull the trigger,” Kirby recalled to the police.
Kirby said she heard a gunshot and looked over to find Null slouched over and bleeding, and Hawkins told her to not move or say anything, the affidavit reads. She said Hawkins then reportedly grabbed Null and brought him to the sand next to the river and then told her to help him, but she ran away.
Detectives searched the campsite and found a pop bottle that appeared to have blood on it and what appeared to be blood leading to the river in the form of drag marks.
The following day, Hawkins was brought in for questioning where he reportedly confirmed that the group had been staying at the campsite for about five or six days, but denied any physical altercation had occurred between any of them.
Hawkins said that after Null and Kirby came back from Burger King that morning with coffee, he packed up his belongings into a red canoe and went down the river leaving the canoe in a backyard off Pottawatomi Drive, the affidavit reads.
A homeowner in the 300 block of Pottawatomi Drive allowed police to search their property where they found a red canoe behind the house next to the river. Inside the canoe, police found Null’s cell phone, what appeared to be more blood on a camping chair in the canoe and a piece of paper with Hawkins’ name on it, the affidavit reads.
On July 21, evidence techs noted several blood spots on clothing obtained via search warrant from Hawkins, which matched Null, per the affidavit.
Another unnamed witness spoke to police on July 22 and said from across the river he heard two men fighting from the campsite and then a single gunshot.
Charges were formally pressed on Hawkins for the murder of Null on July 23.
Hawkin’s jury trial is set for Oct. 20.
BRANDON J. CRISLER
Brandon James Crisler
Brandon James Crisler
A man was sentenced to several decades behind bars for child molestation in Elkhart County Superior Court 3 on Thursday.
Brandon J. Crisler, 40, pleaded guilty to several counts of child molestation that involved recording the acts with the child, who was under 12 years old at the time.
The mother of the child found videos taken by Crisler on a tablet and brought them to the Middlebury Police Department in June 2021.
Crisler was charged with and pleaded guilty to four counts of child molestation, a Level 1 felony; four counts of child exploitation with an aggravating factor, a Level 4 felony; one count of child exploitation managing a video production, a Level 5 felony; and one count of voyeurism, a Level 6 felony.
Elkhart County Superior Court Judge Teresa Cataldo said that the state could have charged a total of eight child molestations and subsequent related charges, as that’s the number that were found on the tablet, but they only charged for four.
“I can tell you that this is the first child molestation case that I have had in 11 years that actually has a recording of it,” she also said at sentencing, adding that his sentence “could have been much much more if they would have charged everything that they had evidence to prove just from the video.”
A victim also spoke at the sentencing, calling him “ugly” and “disgusting.” The mother said there was no sentence that would be high enough, given the harm that it caused the family.
Cataldo seemed to agree, giving Crisler an aggravated sentence.
By plea, he was sentenced on Count 1 to 50 years, suspended on five years of reporting probation; on Count 2 to the same to be served consecutively with Count 1; on Counts 3 and 4 the same but served concurrently to Count 1; on Counts 5 through 8, six years each to be served concurrently; on Count 9, three years to be served concurrently; and Count 10, two years to be served concurrently. The credit time will be restricted to one day for every six days of good time credit.