Gonzalez receives 87.5-year sentence for Attkisson murder

Thursday, October 7, 2021
Flanked by Putnam County deputies, John Gonzalez approaches the Putnam County Courthouse during his August murder trial. On Thursday, he was sentenced to 87.5 years for murder and other crimes related to the January 2020 slaying of Lisa Attkisson.
Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

If convicted murderer John Gonzalez ever draws another breath as a free man, he’ll be 103 at least years old.

That was the assurance Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter gave victim Melissa “Lisa” Attkisson’s family outside the Putnam Superior Courtroom Thursday morning following Gonzalez’s sentencing.

In a relatively brief hearing considering the weight of the proceedings, Judge Denny Bridges handed down a sentence of 87.5 years to Gonzalez, 30, Greencastle, for the Jan. 25, 2020 murder of Attkisson, 44, also of Greencastle.

That means Gonzalez, who has been incarcerated since his Feb. 3, 2020 arrest, could be in prison until August of 2107. In his best-case scenario, serving only 85 percent for good behavior, the sentence would end in June of 2094.

In handing down the sentence, Bridges gave Gonzalez the maximum allowed by state law on each count — 65 years for murder, 2.5 years each for auto theft and theft of a firearm (which Bridges noted have to be served concurrently to one another by state law) and a 20-year enhancement as a habitual offender.

The judge had strong words for Gonzalez, noting the brutality of the killing — Gonzalez had already shot Attkisson, a wound expert witnesses said would have proven fatal, before he beat her to death with a 2x4.

“People do kill each other. That’s a sad part of life,” the judge said. “Very few people torture and brutally kill each other for no apparent reason.”

In arguing the aggravating factors of the case, Bookwalter noted Gonzalez’s criminal history, which included Level 5 felony robbery in Fountain County in 2015 and Class D felony sexual battery (reduced from the original rape charge) in Vigo County in 2012.

Moreover, Gonzalez had a pending charge of Level 5 felony battery causing serious bodily injury at the time of the murder. He should not have technically been out of jail at the time, if not for delays in Vigo County courts.

Bookwalter also noted Gonzalez’s lack of remorse — illustrated by the fact that he stole Attkisson’s car, phone and credit cards, picked up a woman later on the day of the murder and went on what the prosecutor called a “seven-day escapade” across three states.

“He murders Lisa, he goes off and picks up Dabryn Tanner and they have sex,” Bookwalter said, “and then have a good time in Lisa’s car.”

As noted in the trial, the killing was also premeditated, illustrated by the fact that Gonzalez’s internet history on his phone shows extensive research of the gun used in the slaying, including how to fire it and how loud it is.

Finally, though, Bookwalter marveled at the brutality of the killing, saying it was unprecedented in his decades as a trial lawyer to see someone actually take video footage of their dying victim.

“I grew up in the Marion County judicial system and I thought I had seen it all,” Bookwalter said. “In all my years in the bowels of the criminal system of Marion County, I’ve never seen a tape like that. Murder happens, it happens a lot, but he enjoyed this murder.

“He took the time to film her,” the veteran prosecutor continued. “He wanted a souvenir. He wanted to hear it again.”

Noting that after shooting Attkisson, Gonzalez later beat her, Bookwalter pulled no punches in his final statement before Bridges.

“He is a depraved, cold-hearted killer,” Bookwalter said. “He has earned the right for the maximum sentence. He has worked hard for a long time for that.”

Bridges, a retiree of the Indiana State Police prior to his legal career, likewise seemed shocked by the crime and Gonzalez’s apparent lack of remorse.

“Your criminal history includes violence against women, which is telling, sadly, about your character,” Bridges said.

Turning his attention to the court, Bridges continued, “He has no idea what he’s done and he doesn’t care. It doesn’t enter his mind and I doubt it ever will.’

This echoed the points made by Attkisson’s family members earlier in the hearing, as two sisters and her mother, overcome at times with emotion, spoke from the heart about their lives in the 20 months since her death.

Younger sister Jamie Long remembered Attkisson as having a huge heart for others in need, even as she fought her own battles.

“She fought for the underdog and showed her passion to them,” Long said to Gonzalez. “That’s what she did to you and you know it. She went out of her way to make people feel special.

“I imagine the terror she felt as she begged you for your life. You left her there alone, plotting your escape,” she continued. “What she endured at your hands is inconceivable, it’s incomprehensible.”

Long touched on how haunted the family is by the tragedy, noting that her father has nightmares and her mother can’t sleep, themes older sister Gina Endicott returned to when she took the stand.

“You have no concept of how much we love Lisa,” Endicott said. “We miss her every second of every day. Our family in this room have lost a bright light. We have lost a mother of two young men, a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, an aunt, a niece and a cousin. The world has lost a friend and a fierce advocate of others.

“You stole away her wish and future of seeing her grandchildren yet to be born.”

Mother Cindy Rogers said she had watched the trial and noted how Gonzalez showed no remorse. She made the family’s final appeal to the court regarding what she saw as an appropriate sentence.

“Lisa wasn’t a selfish person, even to the point that she opened her home to her killer,” Rogers said. “He didn’t even bury her, just ran out to get an afternoon date.

“John, hopefully you will come out of prison in a black body bag, like you did my daughter.”

Rogers then returned her attention to Judge Bridges.

“I want to ask the court to give John every year, every month, every day available for being a cold-blooded murderer,” Rogers said. “John is not fit to walk free.”

For his part, Gonzalez and his attorneys — Jim Hanner and Jim Bruner — offered little in the way of argument. The defense called no witnesses and even the list of mitigating circumstances was brief.

Bruner noted that Gonzalez had admitted to being a habitual offender, had been pursuing college courses to improve himself and came from a troubled childhood. At this point, though, Gonzalez interjected, defiant as he had been throughout much of the court proceedings.

“I don’t need no sympathy for my messed up childhood,” Gonzalez said. “You’ve already got your mind made up of what you’re going to do. I don’t need any of this.”

The judge made note of this.

“Mr. Gonzalez, that is the first remote semblance of giving two hoots and a holler about anything that I’ve seen,” Bridges said. “And I appreciate that.”

This and any mitigating circumstances weighed little, though.

After announcing the sentence, Bridges asked Bruner if his client wanted someone appointed from the Indiana Public Defender’s Officer for an appeal, at which Gonzalez took further umbrage.

“You never asked me if I wanted one,” Gonzalez said.

“Do you want one?” the judge asked.

“Well, obviously I do,” Gonzalez countered.

That will be an argument for another day in court. For now, Gonzalez returned to the Putnam County Jail, to be turned over to the Indiana Department of Correction.

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  • So, why wasn't he sentenced to death?

    -- Posted by donantonio on Thu, Oct 7, 2021, at 6:47 PM
  • A death sentence costs taxpayers around 10 times more than a non-death sentence, as far as trials and appeals go. This is according to information found in this link: https://www.in.gov/ipdc/files/Death-Penalty-Facts,-Indiana.pdf.

    That may be one factor in this decision.

    -- Posted by Koios on Thu, Oct 7, 2021, at 8:25 PM
  • A death penalty trial, and the eventual appeals, would bankrupt the county.

    -- Posted by The Crusty Curmudgeon on Thu, Oct 7, 2021, at 9:01 PM
  • Found guilty and fairly sentenced. May he rot.

    -- Posted by techphcy on Thu, Oct 7, 2021, at 9:16 PM
  • So sorry to Lisa's family. I remember her as the selfless, sweet person they told about. Seeing her as a smiling, nice person who helped those in need. RIP Lisa.

    Good-bye vermin. May your 88 years countdown be slow and torturous like what you did to Lisa.

    -- Posted by infiremanemt on Fri, Oct 8, 2021, at 11:38 AM
  • A public hanging on the courthouse lawn would be a nice touch.

    -- Posted by donantonio on Fri, Oct 8, 2021, at 1:08 PM
  • I hope he suffers every minute of every day for 87.5 years.

    -- Posted by Queen53 on Fri, Oct 8, 2021, at 4:19 PM
  • DONNY ANTONIO said-"A public hanging on the courthouse lawn would be a NICE touch."

    I guess for some folks, such as DONNY, maybe. The Taliban certainly like public executions, but they're barbarians.

    -- Posted by Prince of Stardust Hills on Fri, Oct 8, 2021, at 4:44 PM
  • It didn't take long for HNB to move

    -- Posted by beg on Tue, Oct 12, 2021, at 9:41 AM
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