COLUMBUS, Ind. — As opening arguments began in the trial of a local man accused of murdering his live-in girlfriend, the first thing jurors heard was the recorded voice of the defendant.
“On any other day, if I hadn’t been drinking, I wouldn’t have killed her,” the voice of Patrick Doyle said in an excerpt from an earlier interrogation that was played for jurors Tuesday in Bartholomew Circuit Court.
A jury of Shelby County residents – nine men and three women – were selected Monday for the trial of Doyle, 40, who is charged with the August 2021 murder of 37-year-old Heather Ann Steuver. Last July, Judge Kelly Benjamin called for out-of-county jurors to be brought in from Shelby County due to pre-trial publicity.
Steuver
In her opening statement Tuesday, Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay told jurors they will hear evidence that Doyle murdered Steuver upstairs in their bedroom while Steuver’s father and the homeowner, Jerry Lowe, was sleeping downstairs. The house is located on County Road 800N, west of St. Louis Crossing.
Once he was certain that Jerry Lowe had left his house, Doyle wrapped the victim’s body in a sheet and dragged her to the back seat of her car. In order to hide the victim from view, Doyle covered her up with trash, Holden-Kay said.
After picking up some of Heather’s personal belongings including lip balm and cigarettes, Doyle drive the victim’s body to Nugent Sand and Gravel Co., located off Old Indianapolis Road. Holden-Kay pointed out that’s the same business where Jerry Lowe got a job for Doyle, Holden-Kay said.
It was 18 days after her death that Steuver’s remains were found after Doyle told investigators where her body was buried, court documents state. During most of that time, “the defendant continued to live with Heather’s father and act as if nothing had happened,” the prosecutor said.
He also used a number of tactics, such as sending out fake text messages, to make it appear the victim was still alive.
Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting ruled the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, and determined the manner of death as homicide.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
