Docs: Mother aided by daughter in killing Carmel man; plot included poisoning oatmeal with fentanyl

CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) — Three people are facing charges in connection to the January murder of a Carmel man.

Police found Francis Kelley, 46, of Carmel, dead Jan. 18 in his home in the 14000 block of Howe Drive. Officers were called to his home for a welfare check after he had not been heard from for several days. His death was later ruled a homicide.

A forensic pathologist determined Kelley’s cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation after an autopsy was conducted on Jan. 20. A toxicology test also showed that Kelley had fentanyl in his system at the time of his death.

The Carmel Police Department on Thursday announced the arrests of three people in connection to Kelley’s death. Heidi Littlefield, 41, of Sheridan, and her daughter, Logan Runyon, 22, of Englewood, Ohio, both face charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Runyon’s boyfriend, Robert Walker, 29, also of Englewood, Ohio, faces two counts of conspiracy to commit murder.

According to court documents released to News 8, police were notified of recorded conversations of Littlefield saying she wanted Kelley dead and she was making plans on “overdosing” him and planting drugs on him.

Investigators learned that Littlefield had given Walker $2,500 in October 2020 to “take care of her problem.” According to court documents, Walker was asked to use the money to hire someone to kill Kelley. He was promised another $2,500 once Kelley was killed, court documents say.

Court documents say Walker took the money but didn’t use it to hire anyone to kill Kelley.

Littlefield is Kelley’s ex-girlfriend and they have a child together. Court documents say the two were scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 27 due to Kelley’s allegation that Littlefield was violating a custody order.

According to court documents, Kelley accused Littlefield on Jan. 15 of putting something in his oatmeal while she was at his home the day before. He texted her saying he saw her in his fridge and the oatmeal “tasted funny” and he felt “light headed” after eating it.

Kelley was found dead at his home three days later.

Court documents show Littlefield had picked Runyon up from Ohio on Jan. 14 and brought her back to Indiana. Three days later, Walker paid a friend, Kenneth Patterson, $40 to drive him to Indiana to pick Runyon back up from Littlefield’s house.

On March 23, Patterson and Runyon were detained during an Ohio traffic stop and brought in for questioning. Patterson told investigators that Walker had told him Runyon’s mom “killed somebody” a few weeks ago and that he was harboring a fugitive since Runyon had been staying with him.

Walker was also arrested on March 23 due to a local warrant for his arrest in Ohio. He was brought in for questioning and told investigators that he “knew everything.”

He said Littlefield paid him $2,500 to hire someone to kill Kelley, according to court documents. He said Littlefield would talk to him about “doing work around her house” as code for killing Kelley. He also told investigators he remembered Littlefield asking if he thought Runyon was “cool with going to prison for the rest of her life.”

According to court documents, Littlefield and Runyon admitted to Walker that they put fentanyl in Kelley’s oatmeal. He told investigators that Runyon and Littlefield found Kelley unresponsive after eating the oatmeal but that he was still breathing. Runyon told Walker that Littlefield strangled Kelley.

Walker told investigators Littlefield told Runyon to “keep her mouth shut” and that Littlefield had tried to kill Kelley twice before. He said Littlefield put fentanyl in Kelley’s soup in October of 2020.

Littlefield had an initial hearing in court Friday. She will be held at the Hamilton County on no bond. A pretrial hearing was set for June 15 and a jury trial was set for July 15.

Online court records do not yet list initial court dates for Runyon or Walker.