SULLIVAN CO. — An Indianapolis couple pleaded guilty Friday for the 2019 murder of 61-year-old Patricia Dorsett in Sullivan County.
According to the Sullivan County Sheriff's Department, Danny Wilson Jr. and Renee Huffines, both 42, plotted to end the life of Dorsett two days prior to her death. The 61-year-old was asleep on her couch when Wilson killed her. Huffines, according to investigators, was staying with a friend in Jasonville at the time to give "herself an alibi."
Neighbors reported Dorsett missing after not seeing her for several days. Two days after she was reported missing, on May 28, 2019, police found Dorsett's body in an abandoned camper in the back of her property.
While her dead body laid in the camper, Wilson and Huffines continued to live in Dorsett's house, use her truck and use her cell phone.
Two days after Dorsett's body was found by police, Wilson and Huffines were arrested in connection with the 61-year-old's death.
On Friday, Wilson pled guilty to murder and was sentenced to 55 years in prison by Circuit Court Judge Robert E. Hunley, II. Huffines pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder on Friday and received a 20-year sentence by Judge Hunley. Huffines, according to Indiana State Police, received a lesser sentence because she cooperated with detectives throughout the investigation.
Dorsett's daughters, Bernie Racliff and Jessica Harding, consented to the plea.
A motive for the couple's plot to kill Dorsett was not initially made available by investigators.
“This was a joint investigation between Indiana State Police and the Sullivan County Sheriff's Department. The evidence was overwhelming and law enforcement officers made sure there were no loopholes which made these airtight cases. Preservation of phone records and social media accounts sealed the fate of these two defendants," Ann Smith Mischler, the Sullivan County Prosecutor, stated in a release to WRTV.
