A Kentucky man has been convicted in the killing of his pregnant girlfriend, who vanished in northwestern Indiana in 2015 and whose body has never been found.
A Lake County jury convicted Derron Fuller, 27, on Thursday of two counts of murder and one count of obstruction of justice in the death of Rochelle Stubblefield, 20. His sentencing is set for May 25.
The Merrillville, Indiana, woman was eight months pregnant when she disappeared in November 2015 after attending a basketball game in nearby Hammond. Stubblefield's body has never been found.
Prosecutors argued that Fuller, a former Gary, Indiana, resident, was the only person with the motive to kill her because he didn’t want to be the father of her child. Before she vanished, Stubblefield texted her mother saying she was going to meet Fuller about the baby, according to court documents.
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Two witnesses, including one of Fuller's cousins, told police Fuller admitted killing Stubblefield. The cousin said Fuller told him he killed Stubblefield because he didn’t want to pay child support, court documents state.
When police traveled in 2020 to Kentucky’s Fort Knox, where Fuller was stationed in the U.S. Army, to arrest him, he passed out.
Prosecutors said that was the sign of a guilty man, while Fuller's attorney called that ridiculous and said the only evidence prosecutors had was the testimony of two people.
