HARTFORD CITY, Ind. — He beat his wife’s boyfriend to death with a hammer, and then set the boyfriend’s body and pickup truck on fire, said police.
Donald Lamley was charged with murder, arson, and abuse of a corpse on Monday said the Muncie Star Press.
Grant County sheriff’s deputies said they found the body and pickup truck, severely burned, in a field along Wheeling Pike near Matthews, on Saturday.
On Friday, Hartford City police received a missing person’s report for Jeremy Overla, after he didn’t show up for work.
A witness identified Lamley as the man he picked up, near where the truck was found in Grant County.
Investigators used GPS on cellphones to track where Lamley had been and were able to determine both he and Overla had been in the area where the truck was found.
Lamley was arrested on Saturday at a rest stop on I-69 and taken in for an interview.
James Heflin, chief deputy of the Blackford County Sheriff’s Department, said that Lamley eventually confessed to hiding in Overla’s truck when he left for work.
Lamley said that all he wanted to do was talk with Overla, but said Overla continued to insult him. He then hit Overla twice with his fist, before hitting him in the head and face with a hammer.
He told police he “blacked out” and couldn’t say how many times he hit Overla. He said he then “panicked,” and put Overla’s body in the bed of the truck, and used gasoline and a cigarette lighter to set the truck and body on fire.
Lamley is in the Blackford County jail and will appear in court on Friday.
(Photo: WISH-TV)
