FISHERS, Ind. — A Noblesville man has accepted a plea deal in road rage shootings that led to separate charges of conspiracy to commit murder.
According to the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, Trevor Dahl accepted a plea deal on Friday in which he pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder.
As part of the plea agreement, the charges of conspiracy to commit murder, in which Dahl allegedly tried to hire a hitman to kill two witnesses in one of the road rage shootings, would be dropped.
Dahl's next court hearing, a pretrial conference, is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 31 at 9 a.m. Prosecutors are calling it an "argued sentencing."
Fishers road rage shooting
Shortly before 9 p.m. on Nov. 17, a Fishers Police Department spokesperson said officers were called to East 96th Street and North By Northeast Boulevard. A black Honda passenger car and a black Chevrolet passenger car were crashed and blocking the intersection.
The driver of the Chevrolet was treated at the scene.
The Honda driver was taken to the hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, and police said the injury was connected to a road rage incident.
According to court documents, the incident began when the victim came up on a stopped white car blocking the lane as he was trying to get to the Meijer near East 96th Street and Hague Road. He told police he honked his horn and then went around the car.
According to court documents, the white car followed him to Meijer and cut him off. The victim said he then left the Meijer and tried to get home. While driving on 96th Street, the victim and a witness said the white car pulled up next to the victim's car. The driver of the white car then fired several shots into the victim's car, and the victim was hit in the leg near his knee.
The victim's car then crashed into a Chevrolet and came to a stop. The driver of the white car took off.
Police used the Flock Safety Camera System to get a partial plate. They were then able to learn Dahl was driving a loaner car from an Acura dealership and worked at a Buick dealership.
Noblesville road rage shooting
Dahl was also charged in a road rage incident just days before the Fishers shooting. He was charged with criminal recklessness and intimidation for the Nov. 14 incident.
Police were called to Reggie's Motor Works about a road rage situation.
According to court documents, a man driving a truck was driving to the business to salt the lot. Just before getting to the business, the man said a white car came racing up behind him. The car had to hit its brakes and wait as the man pulled into the business.
The man told police the driver of the car stopped in the street and yelled something to the effect of, "I'll f*****g kill you."
The man then yelled at the driver of the white car to leave. According to court documents, the driver then held a gun out the window and fired a shot into the air before speeding off.
Noblesville officers used information from Fishers Police Department and video evidence from the Noblesville road rage incident to identify Dahl as a suspect.
Additionally, court documents claim shell casing from the Noblesville road rage matched shell casings from the Fishers road rage shooting.
Hitman for hire plot
According to court documents, Dahl allegedly tried to hire a hitman to kill two witnesses in the road rage shooting case in Fishers so they couldn't testify against him.
On Feb. 27, an informant told a Hamilton County sheriff's deputy that Dahl gave them handwritten letters identifying a woman and juvenile Dahl wanted to be killed. The letter included a description of the woman and juvenile, where each of them lived and worked, and a description of their cars. The letters ended with "Don't care if she comes back" and "Don't care if he doesn't come back."
The woman was his former girlfriend.
Court documents say Dahl told the informant he needed the killings done by March 13 so they wouldn't take the stand in his trial. Dahl also allegedly told the informant he would pay them after his release from jail.
The deputy then told the informant to request a second set of instructions from Dahl be sent to a specific address, as well as asking Dahl to include specific code words only the informant and Dahl would know the meanings.
On Feb. 28, court documents say corrections officers found a sealed letter in Dahl's cellblock to be sent to the fake name and address the deputy provided.
According to court documents, the letter said money needed paid to people who did bathroom and bedroom renovations for him, as well as identifying information for both the woman and juvenile.
Court documents say an undercover detective, posing as the hitman, then spoke with Dahl on the phone. Dahl told the detective that if the renovations got done, he would be able to get out of jail and start working on making cash payments to him.
When the undercover detective asked Dahl which job he wanted done first — the bathroom renovation referred to the juvenile and the bedroom renovation referred to the woman — Dahl said, "Umm ... probably the bedroom. They’re both equally important, but probably the bedroom, and that’s probably gonna be the easier one."
According to court documents, Dahl — against his parents' approval — got a notary signed for the undercover detective to tow Dahl's car and sell it. The detective and Dahl allegedly agreed the car Dahl signed over was worth $2,000, and the detective said he'd need an additional $1,000 for each "renovation," with the total price of the job being between $4,000 and $5,000.
"I think it would be easier to go ahead and gut it all and not have anything...We don't want anything left of the bathroom for sure," Dahl allegedly told the undercover detective in regards to the murders-for-hire plot.
According to court documents, a deputy spoke with Dahl March 23 about the letters and trying to sell his car, but Dahl avoided questions specific to the murders-for-hire plot.