TROY — New details are being revealed in the murder of a Troy man as a judge contemplates the sentence for the man who admitted to killing him.
Sean Higgins appeared in Miami County Common Pleas Court Monday morning for a sentencing hearing, where prosecutors and defense attorneys laid out information for a judge in their process of determining his sentence.
Higgins, 25, was arrested on April 14 after police said he admitted to killing Easton Ho, 25, and dumping his body out of state. Higgins pleaded guilty aggravated murder, abuse of a corpse, grand theft, receiving stolen property and two counts of tampering with evidence in October after he was found competent to stand trial.
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News Center 7 was in court Monday when Troy Police Captain, Jeff Kunkleman, testified and said that during his interview with him, Higgins said that he hit Ho inside their home with a small handled hammer. Higgins told the captain that when he took Ho out to the garage, Ho started to wake up and Higgins proceeded to hit him more and put him in the back of Ho’s own car, previously described as a Ford Flex.
At some point after that, Ho regained consciousness again and tried to climb out of the vehicle. Higgins then admitted to the Kunkleman that he then stabbed Ho with an approximately 7-inch knife. He then ran over Ho with the Ford.
Sean Kwiatkowski, Miami County Deputy Coroner, testified Monday that there were roughly 60 separate wounds on Ho at the time of his autopsy, including multiple stab wounds. Ho was stabbed in the chest and back more than 10 times each, puncturing his lungs and heart.
Higgins drove Ho’s body across state lines to Indiana. Law enforcement recovered the body on April 15 in Randolph County near the Greenville Creek in the area of State Route 227 and Greenville Pike.
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Investigators previously said Higgins cut “off the dead victim’s thumb and keeping it to access and use the victim’s cell phone” during the crimes. The Ho’s cell phone ended up being recovered in a field in Troy.
Ho’s vehicle was found in the parking lot of the shopping plaza at the intersection of Marshall and Stroop roads in Kettering on the evening of April 14. The vehicle was covered in blood and the license plates has been taken off, court records showed.
A Troy Police detective testified Monday that there were numerous searches made from an account belonging to Higgins, including “My friend has been missing and says they don’t want to be contacted” and “How fast does a stream flow?” The location where Ho’s body was located was also featured in the searches.
A decision on a sentence for Higgins has not been determined yet.
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