A judge handed down the maximum 10.5-year sentence to a Gary man Thursday for burning a Griffith woman’s overdosed body in a Gary abandoned building.
Emmit Yarbrough, 58, pleaded guilty in March to arson, a Level 4 felony, and abuse of a corpse, a Level 6 felony. He said he would appeal.
Judge Natalie Bokota said he was genuinely remorseful for his actions, but noted that Deborah Leslie’s family didn’t have a chance for a dignified funeral.
Family members comfort Griffith resident Maggie Feist Leslie, second from left, as she reads the final journal entry by her daughter Deborah Leslie, whose body was found in a burnt-out Gary residence in late September 2022, during a family gathering to discuss their loss on Monday, October 3, 2022. (Kyle Telechan for the Post-Tribune)
“This is a robbery case,” she said.
Leslie, 30, was found Sept. 23, 2022, in a torched-out house on the 5300 block of W. 8th Avenue in Gary. She was last seen alive on camera at a Hammond Motel 6.
Yarbrough and his late co-defendant Heather Richardson were the last people seen with her. Richardson died of a drug overdose in January 2024.
Leslie’s parents Maggie and David outlined their grief, describing their daughter as a faithful Christian. They noted Deborah’s twin sister recently gave birth to a baby. Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Brandewie later said she asked for her sister’s picture while in labor.
“I just used to love life,” Maggie said. “Now it’s like I can barely even walk out the door.”
Deborah had gone to rehab nearly 10 times, she said.
David said he was left with several unanswered questions: Did Yarbrough know her? Did he try to help her? Did he let her die?
A burned home on West 8th Avenue in Gary is where the remains of Deborah Leslie, 30, were found September 23, 2022 in Gary, Indiana. Leslie, of Griffith, had been missing since September 18. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune)
The family had tried to search for her at the Motel 6. David previously told the Post-Tribune he may have missed them taking her concealed body out in a wheelchair by 30 minutes.
Griffith Police Det. Jacob Schoon testified, saying police matched a phone number linked to Yarbrough to the timeline and at the abandoned building. Police estimated Yarbrough may have taken Leslie’s car to Indianapolis. It was not recovered.
On cross-examination, he told defense lawyer Susan Severtson that there were no automated traffic pictures of her car to Indianapolis. His cell phone investigation was done before Heather Richardson was identified as a co-defendant.
David Leslie talks about his daughter Deborah Leslie during a balloon release to mark a year since since police found Leslie’s body in an abandoned house in Gary. The gathering took place at Oak Ridge Prairie County Park in Griffith on Saturday, August 23, 2023. (John Smierciak / Post-Tribune)
Brandewie argued Yarbrough wanted to “avoid consequences” after Leslie died. He asked for the maximum sentence under the plea.
Severtson said the case was one of the most “difficult” she had faced in recent years. Leslie was friends with Richardson. All three were there to do drugs, the lawyer said.
Leslie died of a drug overdose — Yarbrough didn’t kill her, medical records showed. There wasn’t a plan to dispose of her body, it was a “helter-skelter decision,” she said. She asked for 2.5 years in prison.
“I didn’t know your daughter,” Yarbrough told Leslie’s family.
He alleged that the trio was there at the motel to have sex and do drugs.
Richardson woke him up, saying Leslie was overdosing. Richardson didn’t want to call 911, because she had a warrant. Yarbrough said he was on probation.
“I panicked,” he said, tearful during his comments.
Court and prison records show Yarbrough was convicted for voluntary manslaughter for shooting dead Thomas Karins on Dec. 31, 1981, in Gary. Newspaper clippings indicate Yarbrough was 14. Karins was a construction company executive.
In exchange for his plea in the arson, Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Bradewie agreed not to file a habitual offender enhancement, which would have added 5-20 years. Prosecutors dropped all other lower-level charges.