INDIANAPOLIS — A man has been sentenced to 83 years in a 2022 deadly stabbing on the near south side of Indianapolis, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office announced Wednesday.
Christopher Rawlings was convicted of murder in September after a two-day jury trial in the death of Aaron Flora. He pleaded guilty to the habitual offender sentencing enhancement at the end of the trial.
Rawlings was sentenced to 60 years for murder, 20 years for the sentencing enhancement and three additional years for a parole violation, the prosecutor's office said.
(NOTE: The video above is from a previous report on the incident.)
The incident was reported around 1:15 a.m. Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, in the 2900 block of Brill Road, northwest of East Troy and Madison avenues. Responding officers located Flora, 23, who had been stabbed. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The prosecutor's office said Flora was with friends at a home where he would help fix cars and mopeds. He was with Rawlings and a woman in a shed when "the woman asked Rawlings if she could have a minute to speak with Flora alone, Rawlings acknowledged her and quickly began stabbing Flora in the neck with a knife," the prosecutor's office said.
Flora walked out of the shed and people at the home called for help. Rawlings fled the scene before police arrived.
Detectives found a knife with blood on the blade near the site of the stabbing. Home security camera video showed Rawlings walk into the shed with the knife and flee over a fence after the stabbing, the prosecutor's office said, adding that multiple witnesses identified Rawlings as the suspect.
“We are grateful for today’s announcement and to the eyewitnesses who came forward and put us in a position to secure justice for Mr. Flora,” Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement. “The defendant showed no regard for human life, and we will continue to vigorously prosecutor those who continue to commit such senseless acts of violence in our community."