29-year-old convicted of 2020 murder at Indianapolis motel dies in Indiana prison
BUNKER HILL, Ind. (WISH) — A 29-year-old murderer originally from Indianapolis died Wednesday in an Indiana prison, the state police announced Thursday.
The Miami Correctional Facility inmate was identified as Dwayne Lovell Otis Pope Jr. Investigators with the Indiana State Police, the prison and the Miami County Coroner’s Office were working to determine Pope’s cause of death.
The state prison is located next to the Grissom Joint Air Reserve Base, which is off U.S. 31 and about a 80-minute drive north of Indianapolis. The prison has capacity for about 3,300 men.
Pope was sentenced in February to 100 years in prison for the murder of Dejure Taylor and the attempted murder of another man at the Motor 8 Inn, a motel at 3731 Shadeland Ave. on the city’s east side. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office says Pope also was convicted on other charges after a three-day jury trial in January.
Investigators into the crime say Pope and two other people approached Taylor in the early morning hours of April 4, 2020. A brief interaction ensued before Pope and another person pulled firearms and began to shoot. Taylor was shot more than 10 times and died at the motel.
Indiana Department of Correction had listed Pope’s earliest possible release date as April 6, 2095.