KOKOMO, Ind. (WTHR) - A Kokomo man is charged with murder and robbery in the killing of his neighbor.
Police say the victim, 60-year-old Paul Andreas, was assaulted with an aluminum baseball bat - the one he kept above his couch as a trophy from his softball days.
A porch light was on Monday night at the Webster Street house where William Hulet found his friend of 30 years.
"I reached over and turned the light on and then I saw pools of blood," Hulet said.
There, he saw Andreas sprawled out in the living room.
"His eyes were swollen almost shut, blood everywhere. I just told him, 'Come on, I'm taking you to the hospital.' Now he's going to argue with me like he always does," Hulet said.
But he says as Paul tried to put a shirt on, he collapsed. Hulet called 911.
"He was just a good man. Good-hearted. He'd give you the shirt off his back. It's just so unfortunate. He was very, very sick," said neighbor Rosemary Joseph.
She says her long-time next-door neighbor suffered severe breathing problems.
"He wore an oxygen tank on his back. He was helpless, actually. It was very unfortunate," she said.
But even as he lay near death with that severe head trauma, Andreas spoke to police.
"He told them who it was. He told them what he did," Hulet said.
With the last of his strength, Paul Andreas identified the alleged killer as 37-year-old Trevor Bean, who lived one block over. Bean was caught a short time later.
"He told them he took $2,300," Hulet said.
The suspect and victim knew each other for years. Family says Paul had no fear of Bean, while court papers allege Bean had had a drug habit.
Don Aaron lives across from the suspect.
"Drugs, as bad as they are, it's just one of those things. You have no control of your thoughts, your body. All you're thinking about is getting that next high," he said.
He said Bean just seemed so clean-cut.
Hulet is now trying to deal with a big loss in his life.
"A friend I would see every day and now don't," he said.
"He's in a better place, I'm sure," Joseph said.
Neighbors say the suspect had a child and often lived with his mother, just a block over from the victim's house.
