Staff Reports
The Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office today filed a felony murder charge against Daniel J. Denny, 19, of 1075 Robert Drive Apartment B, accusing him of killing his roommate with a knife.
The case, filed in Bartholomew Circuit Court, alleges that Denny used a knife to stab Eric Cavanaugh, 19, of 1075 Robert Drive, Apartment B, multiple times, according to the probable cause affidavit. The address is in Quail Run Apartments in Columbus.
Court documents state Cavanaugh, who was alive at the scene when police arrived at 5:56 a.m. June 1, told investigators that Denny had stabbed him, telling officers “it wasn’t a fight. I was talking to him,” referring to Denny.
Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting said Cavanaugh was pronounced dead at 7:01 a.m. Tuesday at Columbus Regional Hospital. An autopsy at Columbus Regional Hospital revealed that Cavanaugh died of multiple sharp force injuries to his back and chest, believed to have been inflicted by a chef’s knife, Nolting said. Nolting ruled Cavanaugh’s manner of death to be homicide.
Cavanaugh was a member of the 2020 graduating class of Columbus East High School and was employed at AMC Theatre in Columbus.
The probable cause affidavit also states that when police asked Denny and two other roommates in the home who had done the stabbing, Denny raised his hand and said, “It was me.”
Denny has been incarcerated without bond at the Bartholomew County Jail since his arrest, according to jail records.
Tiffani Denny, Daniel Denny’s mother, said her son has lived in Columbus all his life and attended Smith and Parkside elementary schools, North Middle School and graduated from Columbus North High School in 2020.
The suspect had been hospitalized for mental health issues eight different times since 2019 in facilities in Columbus and Bloomington, his mother said. She said the last time family members had heard from Daniel Denny was in March, and they did not know where he was living or have contact with him after that.
For the complete story, see Tuesday’s Republic.
