INDIANAPOLIS — A healthcare center resident charged with murdering and raping another resident at an Indianapolis facility in February 2022 has entered a plea agreement.
Around 5:30 a.m. on February 2, 2022, officers were called to Homestead Healthcare Center after an employee walked in on fellow employee Dwayne Freeman smothering Patricia Newnum with a pillow.
Newnum was pronounced dead a short time late.
According to court documents, Newnum was a hospice patient of the facility.
According to the probable cause affidavit linked to his arrest, alcohol could be smelled on Freeman's breath and he was rambling incoherently.
Freeman stayed in a different wing of the facility and initially denied being in Newnum's room. Freeman later told authorities he did go into the room because he heard Newnum asking for help. Freeman said the two later had sex, according to the affidavit.
An autopsy showed Newnum's cause of death was asphyxiation by smothering. It was ruled a homicide.
In May 2022, the estate of Patricia Newmum sued Communicare, the owners of Homestead Healthcare.
Freeman plead guilty to rape and murder charges and secondary charges of rape and murder were dismissed.
As part of the agreement, Freeman, 61, will be sentenced to 45 years in prison.
