NEW CASTLE, Ind. — A convicted felon was sentenced Feb. 29 to 39 years in prison for helping a teenager hide a gun after a man was killed in Henry County in 2023.
Lindsay Earl Willoughby, of New Castle, was found guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and assisting a criminal who committed a murder. He told the judge after his sentencing, he plans to appeal.
Police said the teenagers suspected in the murder of 47-year-old Ernie Thornsberry Jr. took the gun to Willoughby for him to get rid of it. Police later found the gun under a shed at Willoughby's home.
Quinton Marqtez Vann, who was 13 years old old at the time, was later arrested and charged with Thornsberry’s murder.
Investigators believe it was a random attack: a man walking down the street, a group of kids walking as well and Vann pulling a gun and shooting Thornsberry at South 21st Street and A Avenue.
Thornsberry had reportedly been helping a friend restore a race car on the night of his killing. He was heading home when he was shot.
Neighbors heard the gunfire.
"We heard like four pops and he just fell over," said neighbor David Hadley at the time. "It was more blood than I ever seen."
"I actually heard the three gunshots when it happened," said neighbor Deanna McMillan at the time. "I finally peeked out the window, and that's about the time the police started to show up. It was very scary because it's right here at my home. And then I heard it was a 13-year-old boy, and that almost makes it worse because I don't understand that at all, why a 13-year-old would feel like he needed to shoot somebody."
Another neighbor told police he saw four boys running from the shooting scene.
Detectives found and questioned them. Wardlow said they were all kids under 15. Police then arrested Vann on a murder charge. Vann's trial is set for May.
A child, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, was also waived to adult court to face charges of murder and unlawful transfer of a handgun in the man's death.