Kentucky man charged, allegedly killed missing Indiana woman

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) - A Kentucky man has been charged with murder in the 2015 disappearance of a pregnant woman who vanished after leaving a northwestern Indiana college campus.

A Lake County judge entered not guilty pleas on behalf of Derron Fuller, 25, during a Tuesday hearing. Prosecutors allege he killed his girlfriend, Rochelle Thomas Stubblefield, 20, in November 2015.

Stubblefield's body has never been found, according to court records. Prosecutors said she was pregnant with Fuller's child.

Fuller, of Fort Knox, Kentucky, faces one count of murder in Stubblefield's death, a second murder count in the death of her fetus and one count of obstruction of justice, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.

Stubblefield was last seen by friends at Calumet College in Hammond on the night of Nov. 10, 2015. Her mother reported her missing two days later.

Fuller's attorney, Scott King, said he found it odd that police investigated the case nearly five years ago and had not gathered any significant new evidence before charges were filed.

But court records show that investigators re-interviewed a woman in August 2019 and she gave a formal statement that Fuller had admitted to her that he killed Stubblefield after she picked him up in November 2015 from the area where Stubblefield's car was found abandoned in Gary.

That woman told authorities Fuller admitted to her that he choked Stubblefield to death, court records allege.

Two other witnesses told police Fuller told one of them that he didn't want to pay child support, so he choked Stubblefield and stabbed her in the temple. Both witnesses said Fuller told them he buried her body near a Gary elementary school.