Murder charge lodged against PCF inmate in stabbing case

A 37-year-old former Putnamville Correctional Facility inmate was charged with murder Tuesday afternoon during his initial appearance in Putnam Superior Court.

Anthony W. Reid, who reportedly has just nine months left to serve on a Floyd County prison sentence for aggravated battery, has been charged with the June 12 stabbing death of fellow PCF inmate Darwin L. Elmore, 34, Indianapolis. Elmore had been serving time at Putnamville for dealing in cocaine.

Reid, who has been transferred to the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility at Carlisle, is facing one count of murder, a Class A felony punishable by 45-65 years in prison (with an advisory sentence of 55 years) and a fine of up to $10,000.

Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter also filed a notice to seek habitual offender status for Reid, who has accumulated two prior unrelated felony convictions in his home county of Floyd. The habitual offender tag would add 30 years to Reid's murder sentence, if he is convicted.

Flanked by Indiana Department of Correction guards from the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility at Carlisle, murder suspect Anthony W. Reid, 37, makes his way to his initial appearance in Putnam Superior Court Tuesday afternoon.

Reid, now essentially facing the possibility of life in prison, tried to toss a curveball into the proceedings as he asked Judge Denny Bridges to have the case moved to federal court.

"With the nature of this crime," Reid said he was requesting a transfer to federal court because "the killing is going to keep happening."

Surveillance video of the PCF dormitory day room shows inmates sitting watching television last Thursday evening when Reid jumps to his feet and appears to stab Elmore -- seated on the end of the front row -- once in the neck and shoulder. Reid then appears to stab the victim once more in the back with what was described as a four-inch shank, or makeshift knife wrapped in white shoelaces.

The probable cause affidavit indicates Indiana State Police 1st Sgt. Jeff Hearon and Master Trooper Donald Anglin questioned Reid about seven hours after the 6:44 p.m. incident and the suspect said he stabbed Elmore with a piece of metal he had found at the ballfield about an hour earlier.

An autopsy conducted June 13 indicated the stab wound to the neck proved to be the fatal blow to Elmore.

Reid said he did it, the court document notes, because Elmore "was a bully" and he wanted to send him a message.

In the aftermath of the fatal stabbing, authorities said Reid was yelling and "walking around with a broken mop stick in his hands." Guards said they could only understand the words "minds his own" as Reid reportedly knocked over a small desk before officers secured him.

Although authorities stopped short of establishing race as a motive in the case, Reid is white and the victim is black. The probable cause affidavit noted that Reid responded with racial slurs when investigators asked him what had happened.

Investigators also noted that Reid had recently attacked another black inmate and has associated with inmates who reportedly have "white supremacist beliefs."

In court Tuesday, Reid told Judge Bridges he would "rather spend the rest of my life in federal prison than the DOC with all the gangs."

However, Judge Bridges told him there was no legal grounds to transfer the case as the suspect had requested.

"The problem is," the judge said, "you've been charged in state court and you have to be tried in state court."

Prosecutor Bookwalter agreed.

"No federal crime has been committed," Bookwalter said before suggesting the suspect be held without bond "due to the circumstances" of the case and since Reid's current release is listed as March 2015.

Judge Bridges agreed, ordering Reid held without bond and appointing attorney Scott Adams as legal counsel. A pretrial conference in the case for set for 11 a.m. July 30.

Security was tight Tuesday afternoon in Superior Court for the 10-minute initial hearing.

Three DOC guards accompanied Reid on the two-hour trip to Greencastle from Carlisle, standing at the ready behind the defendant in court the entire time. Meanwhile, Putnam County Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Simmons joined courthouse Deputies Mike O'Hair and Danny Wallace deployed within the courtroom for the brief proceedings.